WCC names new president
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on July 17, 2016 1:45 AM
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Dr. Thomas Walker Jr.
Dr. Thomas Walker Jr., a native of Lumberton, will become the sixth president of Wayne Community College when he takes over the helm Sept. 1.
The announcement came Friday afternoon, after being approved by the state board of community colleges.
Walker, president of the Grand Island campus of Central Community College in Nebraska since 2014, succeeds Dr. Kay Albertson, who served in the role for the past nine years. She retires July 30.
The gap in time prompted the appointment of an interim president, officials said.
"We're delighted that Dr. Gene Smith (WCC vice-president for academic and student services) has agreed to be our interim president," Chris Martin, board of trustees chair, said. "He's going to keep things going for the month of August.
"Kay is retiring the end of July. Thomas Walker needs to get his youngest kid off to college, he asked that we wait until he does that."
Appointing Smith as an interim is a show of confidence on the board's part, Mrs. Martin said.
"Gene will do a good job of keeping things rolling like they should be," she said.
Both Walker and Smith will be voted on by the board at its July 26 meeting, she explained, but had to first meet approval at the state level.
"We have to jump through these governmental hoops," she said. "We have to pick the person, send it to the state, they bless it and then it goes back to our board for the election."
The past few months have been spent narrowing the field of applicants down to six candidates, then holding public meet-and-greet sessions to enhance the interview process last month, before the best person for the job emerged.
The board of trustees selected Walker as its candidate for the job on June 17, but has had to refrain from public comment until the state board met July 15 and held the official vote.
"We're delighted to get Dr. Walker," Mrs. Martin said Friday. "We were very pleased with the candidates, with the quality of the candidates that we had. They made the decision kind of tough because we had some excellent candidates.
"We feel like Dr. Walker's background -- he's a North Carolina guy, he's had a lot of teaching experience, he has the right personality, the right fit for our college."
The board had maintained throughout that the one quality they were seeking was the person who would be the best "fit," for WCC as well as the community it serves.
"We really felt like he'd be a good fit for us," Mrs. Martin said. "He's very low-key, he listens to what people say and his references were wonderful.
"Everybody's saying that he's just real good working with people. He's got a business background as well, in that he worked with private industry to develop programs at the college that would benefit industry."
He has impressive educational credentials, she said, while being very articulate and down to earth.
Mrs. Martin said the board is looking forward to introducing Walker and his wife, Camelia, to the community.
"We hope that he'll be with us for a long time," she said.
"We hope that he'll retire with us."
In addition to being from North Carolina, Walker attended college at UNC-Chapel Hill, receiving a bachelor's degree in political science.
He also earned a master of public administration degree and a doctorate in higher education administration from the University of Memphis.
He served as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps. Other experiences during his education career include being vice-president for student and enrollment services for all locations of Central Community College in Nebraska, vice president for student affairs at St. Louis Community College at Forest Park, Mo., founding executive director of K.I.P.P., or Knowledge is Power Program in St. Louis, dean of administrative services at Metropolitan Community College in Kansas City, and dean of student services and enrollment management at Davidson County Community College in North Carolina and Southwest Tennessee Community College in Memphis, Tenn.
Walker has also been involved in several executive development programs, including Harvard University's Institute for the Management of Lifelong Education, the League of Innovation Executive Leadership Program and the Lakin Institute of the President's Roundtable of the American Association of Community Colleges.