Dr. Daniel Bain will not be returning to Jefferson Davis Community College, according to officials with the Alabama Community College System.

Bain, who was placed on leave last month and escorted off campus, had served as president since January 2012.

Community college officials could not say why Bain was removed from his post.

Camille Cochrane, who was named acting president of the college on Oct. 1 — the same day Bain was placed on administrative leave — will serve as interim president beginning Dec. 31, when Bain is off the college’s payroll, ACCS spokeswoman E.J. Cooper said Friday.

“A presidential search is on the horizon,” Cooper said. “No official timeline has been set yet.”

A college presidential search typically takes several months, even up to a year, as was the case when Bain was hired about a year after former president Susan McBride retired.

Cochrane, who will remain acting president until Dec. 31, has most recently served as a special assistant to the community colleges chancellor and as special assistant to the president of Shelton State Community College.

Cooper said there is distinction between “acting” president and “interim” president because the college cannot have an interim president while a president is still on the payroll, as Bain will be until the end of the year.