State Board of Community Colleges Welcomes Two New Members, Bestows Annual Awards
RALEIGH –State Board of Community Colleges welcomed two Board members Treasurer Dale Folwell and Mr. Robert Stephens.
Treasurer Dale R. Folwell is a Certified Public Accountant with a B.A. and Masters in Accounting from UNC-Greensboro. He is the former Assistant Secretary of Commerce for the state Division of Employment Security. Treasurer Folwell served four terms in the N.C. House of Representatives including two years as Speaker Pro Tempore as well as eight years on the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School Board. Treasurer Folwell is from Winston-Salem and is married with three children.
Mr. Robert Stephens has most recently served as General Counsel to Governor Pat McCrory. He was a lifelong resident of Charlotte prior to taking the job with the Governor’s Office, but chose to stay in Raleigh after the term. Mr. Stephens was senior partner at Hamilton Stephens Steele + Martin PLLC prior to working for the Governor. A few of Mr. Stephens’ honors include: President of the Mecklenburg Bar Association, Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Rating of AV® Preeminent™, Best Lawyers® – 2012 Lawyer of the Year for Construction Law in Charlotte, Business North Carolina Legal Elite, Law & Politics North Carolina Super Lawyer.
The State Board also announced the 2017 recipients of the President of the Year, Excellence in Teaching, Staff of the Year and Distinguished Partners in Excellence awards, as well as the I.E Ready Award, the highest honor bestowed on an individual by the Board.
Dr. David R. Shockley, President of Surry Community College (SCC) in Dobson, was named President of the Year. In less than five years at SCC, Dr. Shockley has hit the ground running through engagement of local businesses, industries and county leaders to gather feedback and address challenges and concerns. In response, Dr. Shockley restructured the college to alleviate deficiencies and better serve both the students and the community. He has also implemented technological changes on campus in various areas, netting a cost savings of over $100,000 per year. Dr. Shockley has developed a strong partnership with both Surry and Yadkin County Schools through their Early College Programs, achieving 100% pass rates for their students. Dr. Shockley is well respected in his community as a forward-thinking leader.
Ashley Hagler, Biology Instructor, Program Coordinator and SPARC3 Program Coordinator at Gaston College in Dallas, is the recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award. In addition to being the champion of a $600,000 NSF STEM grant, Hagler was instrumental in implementing systematic changes that earned Gaston the 2016 Bellwether Award in Instructional Programming, under which the SPARC3 program was established, and transforming the Associate in Science classes into inquiry-based instruction that embeds undergraduate research. Hagler has been an innovative member of the faculty at Gaston College since 2007.
Susan Nobles, Vice President of Institutional Advancement at Pitt Community College (PCC) in Winterville, is the recipient of the Staff of the Year Award. Nobles, employed at PCC since 1987, always keeps the needs of the students in the forefront. Having served in the past as Director of Marketing and currently as the Director of the PCC Foundation, “she is an effective leader that knows when to take initiative, how to be innovative and why leadership in the workplace is crucial in order to move the mission of the college forward.” Nobles has demonstrated leadership in a plethora of areas, including organizing Community Day to raise awareness of PCC’s colleges and services to developing the PCC Ambassador Program to the establishment of VISIONS Scholarship Program created in 2004 to help at-risk high school students graduate and attend PCC.
Richmond Community College (RCC) in Hamlet and Service Thread in Laurinburg were named Distinguished Partners in Excellence. Established in 1976, Service Thread is an innovative manufacturing company that produces high-quality, hard-to-process yarns. Service Thread partnered with RCC to provide a comprehensive training program for employees to meet the required levels of competence as determined by the Work Keys Job Profiles. This training allowed 95% of their employees to obtain the Silver Career Readiness Certificate. Additionally, Service Thread has utilized Customized Training at RCC to develop pre-employment training, create 15 new jobs, and retain 198 jobs in Scotland County over the past three years.
Dr. Jeff Hockaday of Sanford was named the I.E. Ready Award Recipient. Named for Isaac Epps Ready, the first state director of the North Carolina Community College System, the award was created in 1983 to recognize individuals who have made significant, statewide contributions to the establishment, development or enhancement of the System. Hockaday served as President of Central Carolina Technical College (CCTC, now Central Carolina Community College) as it became the first college to receive accreditation from SACs. Under his leadership, CCTC was also one of the first colleges to partner with 4 year universities to offer university courses to students on campus. Hockaday’s career includes service as a teacher, principal, superintendent, community college president in North Carolina, Arizona, Florida, and Kentucky, System President for the Virginia Community College System and visiting professor at George Mason University.
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