Dr. James “J.W.” Kelley
To Become New MTCC President

The McDowell Technical Community College Board of Trustees announced that Dr. James “J.W.” Kelley of Wendell, NC has been selected to become the college’s next president, succeeding Dr. Brian S. Merritt who resigned last summer to accept a position as Senior Vice President and Chief Academic Officer at the NC Community College System Office in Raleigh.

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“I am enormously grateful to the McDowell Technical Community College Board of Trustees and to members of the State Board of Community Colleges for giving me this opportunity to serve the citizens of McDowell County and Foothills Region of Western North Carolina as seventh president of McDowell Tech,” said Dr. Kelley. “The trust board members had in selecting me is an honor that I do not take lightly, and I look forward to earning their respect as I work with the wonderful faculty and staff at the college to continue our role as servant leaders in the place I will soon call ‘home.'” Dr. Kelley currently serves as Associate Vice-President for Student Services at the North Carolina Community System Office in Raleigh, setting the direction of Student Services programs and activities across the 58 community colleges in the NC Community College System. In a recent conversation about his new job, Dr. Kelley described the role of a community college president as being somewhat like a conduit, bringing the college together with local partners to serve the needs of not only individual students, but the larger community as well.