New Community College System President to Speak at VGCC Spring Graduation
Dr. Scott Ralls, the new president of the North Carolina Community College System, will be the principal commencement speaker for Vance-Granville Community College’s spring graduation exercises on Thursday, May 15. Adrian E. Davis of Henderson will serve as the student speaker.
More than 400 students are scheduled to receive their degrees and diplomas during ceremonies beginning at 6 p.m. at the gazebo by the lake on the main VGCC campus.
Dr. Scott Ralls (pictured above, left) became the seventh President of the North Carolina Community College System on May 1. He is only the second system president to have served as a local North Carolina community college president. Between 2002 and 2008, Dr. Ralls served as the President of Craven Community College. Dr. Ralls has previously held workforce development leadership positions at the state and national levels, including as Vice President of Economic and Workforce Development for the N.C. Community College System. He has also previously served as the Director of the North Carolina Department of Commerce’s Division of Employment and Training. At the national level, he served as the Manager of Workforce Programs for the National Institute of Standards and Technology at the U.S. Department of Commerce, and as a policy specialist with the U.S. Department of Labor.
Dr. Ralls holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from the University of Maryland.
Student speaker Adrian E. Davis of Henderson (pictured above, right) is the Vice President of the college’s Phi Theta Kappa honor society, a member of the Student Government Association and a student Ambassador. He is graduating with Associate in Applied Science degrees in Accounting and in Business Administration. A graduate of Vance Senior High School, Davis worked for the Vance County public school system for 13 years. He is the recipient of several VGCC endowed scholarships. In April 2008, Davis was honored by Vance-Granville as one of its two recipients of the community college system’s Academic Excellence Awards. Davis is an active member of Spring Street Missionary Baptist Church and will soon become a licensed minister.
Students serving as marshals for Spring Graduation will be Faye B. Orr, Robin Richardson, Amy Ayscue, Shetara Brodie and Craig Bailey, Jr., all of Henderson; Sneha Cherian of Oxford; Jessica Montez of Kittrell; April Harrison of Franklinton; and Lauren Rooker of Norlina.
