WASILLA -- Mat-Su Borough Mayor and former Alaska Attorney General Talis Colberg was named as the new director for Mat-Su College.

Colberg, whose relationship with the college began in the 1970s as a student and math tutor, beat out a field of 37 applicants that had been narrowed down to four finalists earlier this month. He will succeed Dennis Clark, who is retiring at the end of this month after serving as director since 2006.

"I'm ecstatic," Colberg said Friday from his Anchorage office, where he works as a state Labor Department hearing officer. "This is a wonderful opportunity to give back to an institution and a community I've had ties with for many years now. I've watched the school grow from one building to four and have known eight of the nine directors personally. I'm very familiar with how it's changed and am every excited to step in full time. More than three-fifths of my life has been associated with the college."

Colberg, 51, said he will have to give up his Department of Labor job, as well as step down from his mayoral post in Palmer. He said that although he will begin his directorship Aug. 16, he will remain with the borough for a few more months to help smooth the transition there.

He was appointed to the job on Thursday by Fran Ulmer, chancellor of the University of Alaska Anchorage. The Mat-Su campus is an arm of the Anchorage university that focuses on classes for college freshmen and sophomores.

"Chancellor Ulmer would like me to step down as mayor," the third generation Valley resident said of his term with the borough. The mayor term expires in 2012. "It's in everybody's best interest to not have a potential for conflict there and also be able to devote all my attention to the college."

Colberg served as then-Gov. Sarah Palin's attorney general and stepped down from that position last year amid fallout from the Legislature's investigation into Palin's firing of her public safety commissioner in 2008.

Clark voiced his approval of Ulmer's selection in a press release issued Thursday by Ulmer.

"He understands the community and student needs, and I know that I am leaving the college in capable hands," Clark said. "I believe he is the right person to keep Mat-Su College moving in a positive direction."