NCCU Chancellor to Speak at VGCC Graduation
Dr. Charlie Nelms, the chancellor of North Carolina Central University, will be the principal commencement speaker for Vance-Granville Community College’s graduation exercises on Friday, May 14. Rockele R. Bryant of Henderson, a Criminal Justice major who has served both as Student Government Association president and as president of the college’s chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa honor society, will be the student speaker.
Approximately 460 students are scheduled to receive their degrees and diplomas in curriculum programs during ceremonies beginning at 6 p.m. at the gazebo by the lake on the college’s main campus in Vance County.
Charlie Nelms (pictured above, right) is the tenth chief executive of North Carolina Central University, which celebrates its centennial this year. Since taking the helm of NCCU in 2007, Nelms has emphasized student success and the measures to achieve it. Two years after his arrival, U.S. News and World Report ranked NCCU as the best public historically black college or university (HBCU) in the country. A native of Crawfordsville, Arkansas, Nelms majored in agronomy and chemistry at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, graduating in 1968. He later earned a master’s degree in higher education and student affairs (1971) and a doctoral degree in higher education administration (1977) from Indiana University. Early in his career, Nelms held teaching and administrative positions at Earlham College in Indiana, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Indiana University Northwest in Gary and Sinclair Community College in Ohio. In 1987, Nelms began a seven-year tenure as chancellor of Indiana University East, and in 1994 he was named chancellor of the University of Michigan at Flint (UMF). Before joining NCCU, Nelms served as vice president for institutional development and student affairs for the Indiana University system.
Rockele Bryant (pictured above, left) is graduating with an Associate in Applied Science degree in Criminal Justice Technology . A Henderson native and Southern Vance High School graduate, Bryant enrolled in the Criminal Justice program at VGCC in order to pursue her goal of becoming a juvenile counselor. She plans to transfer to North Carolina Central University in the fall. During the 2009-2010 year, Bryant has served both as chapter president of the PTK honor society, as president of the SGA and as the student member of the VGCC Board of Trustees. While a full-time student, she has held two jobs, including one at a local restaurant and a Cooperative Education/work-study placement as a part-time security officer at VGCC.
Students serving as graduation marshals will be Katie Hollers of Creedmoor, Blake Fletcher of Henderson, Julia Gordon of Oxford, Anne Abraham of Raleigh, Deborah Powell of Stovall, Lisa Brown of Wake Forest, and Sheila Codo and Michelle Moore, both of Youngsville.
