VGCC celebrates community college system pioneer
Vance-Granville Community College joined its sister colleges across the state in celebrating the legacy of the late Dr. W. Dallas Herring on March 6, proclaimed “Dr. W. Dallas Herring Day” by the State Board of Community Colleges. During a brief ceremony and reception on the college’s Main Campus, VGCC President Dr. Stelfanie Williams told an assembly of trustees, faculty and staff that Herring established the philosophy of the community college system, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. She also unveiled a portrait of Herring, a copy of which was given to each of the state’s 58 community colleges. Commissioned as part of the 50th anniversary celebration, the portraits were sponsored by Duplin Winery and by the North Carolina Community Colleges Foundation.
As the longtime chair of the State Board of Education, Herring was instrumental in the creation of the community college system in 1963. The State Board of Education had jurisdiction over the community college system for many years after its founding. Since Herring’s tenure as leader of the Board included the establishment of VGCC, his signature graces the official charter that created Vance County Technical Institute in 1969, as well as the new charter issued when the technical institute became a community college in 1976.
Williams said that Herring devoted much of his 90 years to public service, and to education in particular. “He was the mayor of his hometown, Rose Hill, and chairman of the Duplin County School Board before he served on the State Board of Education for 22 years, 20 of those as chairman,” the president noted. “We remember Dallas Herring not only for his service, but also for articulating the purpose and the vision of our community college system. In fact, his words were so profound and inspirational that we quote him in each one of our VGCC student catalogs , as saying: ‘The only valid philosophy for North Carolina is the philosophy of total education, a belief in the incomparable worth of all human beings, whose claims upon the state are equal before the law and equal before the bar of public opinion; whose talents the State needs and must develop to the fullest possible degree. That is why the doors to the institutions in North Carolina’s System of Community Colleges must never be closed to anyone of suitable age who can learn what they teach. We must take the people where they are and carry them as far as they can go within the assigned function of the system.’ That philosophy continues to guide us today at Vance-Granville.”
Above: From left, VGCC Board of Trustees vice-chair Stan Fox of Oxford, chair Deborah Brown of Henderson, college president Stelfanie Williams and trustee Donald C. Seifert, Sr. of Henderson participate in the formal unveiling of the portrait of Dallas Herring. (VGCC photo)
