Retired VGCC dean to speak at Adult Basic Skills Commencement
Vance-Granville Community College will hold commencement exercises dedicated exclusively to new graduates of Adult Basic Skills programs on Thursday, May 12. The ceremony will begin at 6 p.m. in the Civic Center on the college’s main campus in Vance County.
Those being honored will include approximately 500 students who have completed either the Adult High School program or the General Educational Development (GED) High School Equivalency program in the past year, of whom approximately 100 are expected to participate in the ceremony.
Leo Kelly, Jr. of Henderson (pictured above), who retired in 2008 as VGCC’s Dean of Adult Basic Education and head of the English as a Second Language program, will be the principal commencement speaker. Having worked at the college for 37 years, Kelly holds the record as VGCC’s longest-serving full-time employee. Kelly earned a B.A. at North Carolina Central University and a master’s degree from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. He became a part-time instructor at Vance County Technical Institute — the school that later became VGCC — in 1970. In 1971, Kelly started working at the college full-time as assistant director of adult education, and he later rose to become Dean of Continuing Education. Under Kelly’s leadership, VGCC’s GED and Adult High School programs grew to become the third-largest in the state.
Kelly has served on the Maria Parham Medical Center board of directors and has been involved in leadership roles with the Henderson Family YMCA, Vance County Arts Council, Henderson-Vance County Chamber of Commerce board of directors, local State Employees Credit Union advisory board, Cotton Memorial Presbyterian Church and the Community Relations Council for the Kittrell Job Corps Center. Kelly is also a former member of the Henderson City Council. He is a graduate of the Leadership Vance program. Kelly was a leader in the state community college system, serving on the North Carolina Community College Adult Education Association board, the Adult Basic Education Leadership Advisory Board for the community college system, and the American Association of Community Colleges Council on Black American Affairs (North Carolina chapter).
