Out of more than 80 applicants, Winthrop University selected Dan Mahony, the current Kent State dean of the College of Education, Health and Human Services, to be its president starting in July.

After a search process that went almost six months, Mahony entered the week as one of three finalists in contention for the job, but it became a two-candidate race after Alan Shao, from the College of Charleston, withdrew from consideration. Jeff Ewell from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga was also a finalist for the job, according to The Herald, a South Carolina newspaper.

Mahony will be the South Carolina University’s 11th president and was hired a year after the university fired their former president for failure to comply with their nepotism policies.