VGCC president accepts top job at Guilford Technical Community College
Dr. Randy Parker, the president of Vance-Granville Community College, announced today that he has accepted the presidency of Guilford Technical Community College, effective September 1, 2011. Parker (pictured above) will succeed Dr. Donald W. Cameron, who is retiring after 20 years at the helm of the state’s third-largest community college.
In an e-mail to VGCC trustees, faculty and staff members, Parker wrote, “To be named GTCC’s next president is an honor for me and indeed a testament to the dedication and work that each of you, VGCC’s Board, faculty, and staff, have contributed to by striving everyday for excellence… I have enjoyed the past seven years at VGCC and the multitude of successes that we together have accomplished.”
Parker became the fifth president of VGCC on September 1, 2004. A product of the North Carolina Community College System, Parker began his higher education at Lenoir Community College in Kinston, where he would one day serve as a vice president. In 1972, Parker earned an associate in applied science degree in Drafting & Design from LCC. He later earned a bachelor’s degree in Engineering Technology from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and a doctorate in Higher Education Administration with a focus on Community College Leadership, both from N.C. State University.
Since joining VGCC, Parker has lived in Henderson and has been active in community organizations, including the Henderson/Vance Economic Partnership; Franklin County Committee of 100; Chambers of Commerce in Vance, Granville, Franklin and Warren counties; the Henderson Kiwanis Club; and the Oxford Rotary Club. On the state level, Parker has been a member of the Board of Directors of the North Carolina Community Colleges Foundation Inc.
“It came as no surprise that when Guilford Tech began considering Randy Parker for its next president that they soon discovered what we at Vance-Granville have known for the past seven years, namely that Randy Parker is a fine person and an outstanding community college president,” said VGCC Board of Trustees Chair Donald C. Seifert, Sr., “and, if it is possible to be happy and sad at the same time, let me say that while we are extremely happy for Randy to have the opportunity to further his career as president of Guilford Tech, we are nevertheless sad for Vance-Granville Community College. We shall miss him a great deal. We wish him much success at his new school and know that he will do an excellent job as president of Guilford Tech, just as he did at Vance-Granville.”
