Dr. Thomas A. Walker, Jr. will be installed as the sixth president of Wayne Community College on Thursday, March 9.
Veda McNair, chair of the college’s board of trustees, will bestow the chain of office upon Dr. Walker.
Also participating in the ceremony will be the college’s academic deans, WCC alumnus Chad O. Evans, WCC Student Government Association President Adam Williams, WCC senior faculty member Paul Compton, WCC Vice President of Academic and Student Services Dr. Gene Smith, North Carolina Community College System President Dr. Jimmie Williamson, and North Carolina State Board of Community Colleges Member Jimmie Ford, representing various constituencies of the institution and carrying symbols of the college or bringing greetings.
Processional and recessional music will be provided by Gabriel DiMartino, who is a trumpet instructor at East Carolina University, and the college’s music instructor, Brad Collier. Members of the Student Government Association and Ambassadors will serve as greeters and ushers.
The chain of office holds special significance as it was designed and created by Compton, who is the chair of the Computer-Integrated Machining Department. It consists of a medallion bearing the seal of the college and links engraved with the names and tenures of the institution’s directors and presidents. Compton also made the mace that he has the honor of carrying in the ceremony.
Dr. Walker’s predecessors were Kenneth Marshall, director of the Goldsboro Industrial Education Center, 1957-1961; Hal K. Plonk, director of GIEC, 1961-1962; Dr. H.B. Monroe, president of GIEC and Wayne Technical Institute, 1962-1966; Dr. Clyde A. Erwin Jr., president of WTI and Wayne Community College, 1966-1986; Dr. G. Herman Porter, president of WCC, 1986-1992; Dr. Edward H. Wilson Jr., president of WCC, 1992-2007; Dr. Kay H. Albertson, president of WCC, 2007-2016; and Dr. Smith, interim president of WCC, August 2016.
Dr. Walker took the reins of the college in September 2016. He came to WCC from Nebraska where he was the campus president of the Grand Island campus of Central Community College, a position he had held since 2014. Prior to that, he was the vice-president for student and enrollment services for all locations of the college, which serves 25 counties. He has also worked in higher education in Missouri, Tennessee, and North Carolina.
He is originally from Lumberton, N.C. and served as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Dr. Walker has a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His graduate degrees include a master of public administration and a doctorate in higher education administration from the University of Memphis.
The installation ceremony is scheduled for 4 p.m. in Moffatt Auditorium in the Wayne Learning Center on the college’s main campus at 3000 Wayne Memorial Drive in Goldsboro. A reception will follow the event.
Wayne Community College is a public, learning-centered institution with an open-door admission policy located in Goldsboro, N.C. As it works to develop a highly skilled and competitive workforce, the college serves 14,000 individuals annually as well as businesses, industry, and community organizations with high quality, affordable, accessible learning opportunities, including more than 70 college credit programs. WCC’s mission is to meet the educational, training, and cultural needs of the communities it serves. More information about the college can be found at www.waynecc.edu.