Weather Delays Public Forum Until Next Week

WINTERVILLE—The public forum regarding Pitt Community College’s presidential search has been postponed until Jan. 25 due to inclement weather.

The meeting, originally scheduled for today, will take place in the William E. Fulford Building (Room 153), from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., and give members of the community an opportunity to share their thoughts on the kind of leader they would like to see as PCC’s next president.

Representatives from RPA, Inc., will be on hand for the event to take notes that will help guide their consulting firm in the search for President G. Dennis Massey’s replacement.

PCC Human Resources Director Ina Rawlinson said the purpose of the public forum is to “provide input to the search firm detailing preferred characteristics” of Pitt’s next president. She added that the public’s attendance and engagement are “very important” in the overall hiring process.

Massey announced in September that he will step away from his role with the college this summer, after 15 years on the job. PCC Trustees hired Massey in May 2003 as the fourth president in the college’s 57-year history, after Lloyd Spaulding, William Fulford and Charles Russell.

PCC’s next president will have big shoes to fill, according to Dr. Peter Kragel, a PCC trustee since 2004 and currently the board’s chairman.

“Under (Massey’s) leadership, we have expanded the campus, achieved objective measures of student success, been responsive to the workforce needs of the county and region, and truly ‘educated and empowered’ our students,” he said.

In terms of student credit hours, PCC is currently North Carolina’s sixth-largest community college. More than 23,000 students take part in credit and non-credit programs each year, which is roughly twice as many as when Massey took over as president.

In August, Pitt dedicated the Walter and Marie Williams Building, a 78,000-square-foot home for STEM programming. It was the 18th building on PCC’s main campus and ninth constructed with Massey as president.

01/18/2018