Dr. Thomas A. Walker Jr. has been official elected to serve as the sixth president of Wayne Community College.
The college’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously for Dr. Walker at its July 26 meeting. It had selected him as its candidate for the position on June 17 and submitted his name to the State Board of Community Colleges, which approved him at its July 15 meeting.
The Trustees’ action was the last step in the process of finding a successor to Dr. Kay H. Albertson who will retire July 30, ending a 33-year career with the North Carolina Community College System that included 19 years at WCC, nine of that as the college’s president.
Dr. Gene Smith, WCC’s vice-president for academic and student services, was unanimously elected by the board to serve as the interim president of the college for the month of August. Dr. Walker will take the reins on Sept. 1.
Dr. Walker is coming 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.
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, it 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 waynecc.edu.