Dr. Thomas L. Hellie, the 19th president of Linfield College, has a broad background in higher education, having served as a faculty member, an academic administrator and a foundation executive.

Dr. Hellie has spent his entire professional career in higher education. He was a tenured faculty member in theatre and English at Hiram College in Ohio from 1980 to 1989. He served first as program officer and then as vice president for the Associated Colleges of the Midwest from 1989 to 1999.

Prior to taking over as president of Linfield College in 2006, he spent six years as president and executive director of the James S. Kemper Foundation in Chicago, Ill. 

Dr. Hellie has had extensive international experience as a student, faculty member and administrator. He studied and taught abroad, and also administered off-campus study programs at a dozen sites on four continents while at the ACM.

Dr. Hellie has a bachelor's degree (magna cum laude) in theatre from Luther College and a master's degree and Ph.D. in theatre history from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He previously served as a trustee of Lenoir-Rhyne College in North Carolina and as a trustee of the U.S. Business School in Prague, Czech Republic.

In 1996, Palacky University (Czech Republic) awarded him its highest honor, the Pametni Medal, for his contributions to Czech higher education.

Scott Carnahan begins his 13th year as the college's director of athletics. Under his guidance, Linfield has been the recipient of the Northwest Conference All-Sports Trophy three of the past seven years. In 2005, he was the NCAA Division III West Region recipient of the GeneralSports TURF Systems Athletic Director of the Year Award.

He served seven years as assistant athletic director in charge of facilities. As head baseball coach from 1984 to 2007, Carnahan's teams won 11 Northwest Conference championships, including five straight titles from 1992 to 1996. His Linfield coaching record is 562-375-2, including a remarkable 359-127 mark against NWC competition.

Carnahan was the head baseball coach for six years at Lower Columbia Community College. His 30-year career record stands at 727-445-2.

He served as team leader for the USA Baseball delegation at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and previously was an assistant coach and team leader/business manager with USA Baseball.

A native of Randle, Wash., Carnahan received his bachelor's degree from Linfield in 1973 and his master's degree from Lewis & Clark College in 1980. He played football and baseball at Linfield, earning all-conference, all-district and all-region honors as a senior.

He and his wife, Cathy, live in McMinnville. They have three grown children.

Kelly Bird is in his 20th year as sports information director at Linfield. He is responsible for all athletics publicity, including production of athletic publications, event programs, and design and maintenance of the athletics web site. He serves on the Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame executive committee and assists with the development of the Linfield Athletics History Room. A member of the College Sports Information Directors of America, Bird serves as a West Region voter for the CoSIDA All-America Football Team.

Since joining the staff in 1989, Bird has produced 22 nationally award-winning sports brochures, including three that were judged "Best in the Nation."

In 2007, he was honored as Linfield's Administrator of the Year for the McMinnville campus and received the Northwest Conference SID of the Year award for the 2007-08 academic year.

Bird was a sports-statistics editor for 14 years at The Oregonian newspaper in Portland. He also worked as an announcer for five years at KUIK radio in Hillsboro. He earned an associate of applied science degree in radio broadcasting from Portland Community College in 1983.

A graduate of Tigard High School, Bird was a two-year letterwinner at defensive tackle for the Tigers' football team. He served as Tigard's baseball and softball public address announcer for six seasons.

Born in Calgary, Alberta, Bird maintains Canadian citizenship but has lived in the United States for over 30 years. He and his wife, Jolene, reside in McMinnville with their two daughters, Karlee, 8, and Jillian, 5.

Polly Sommers is in her 13th year as department secretary and ticket manager. She oversees department purchasing, season-ticket sales and event concessions.

Prior to joining the athletic department, Sommers worked for 13 years in purchasing and human resources. She supervised all purchasing and campus-telephone matters.

Sommers lives in McMinnville and has three grown children.

Psychology professor Dr. Lee Bakner is in his sixth year as faculty athletic representative.

Since coming to Linfield in 1992, Bakner has distinguished himself as an exemplary member of an already strong faculty.

He has been honored with the Samuel I. Graf Faculty Achievement Award and has also been the recipient of the Murdock College Science Research Program Award. Bakner is an adjunct professor in behavioral neuroscience at Oregon Health Sciences University.

Bakner received his bachelor’s degree in psychology at Shippensburg (Pa.) in 1987. He moved on to Kent State (Ohio), earning a master’s degree in 1990 and a doctorate degree in biopsychology in 1992.

He resides in McMinnville with his two daughters, Erika, 14, and Kaelah, 12.