CCL Program students and alumni who are leaders of community colleges in Virginia recently participated in the 2022 Virginia Community College System's New Horizons Conference in Roanoke. The CCL Program has alumni and current doctoral students who serve all 23 community colleges in Virginia as well as community and technical colleges in more than 25 other states. Pictured are ODU alumni who are community college presidents, vice presidents, deans, directors, and faculty members in Virginia as well as ODU faculty members Dr. Shana Pribesh, Dr. David F. Ayers, and Dr. Mitchell R. Williams.


Dr. Matt McGraw, Associate Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness and Academic Services at Mountain Gateway Community College (formerly Dabney S. Lancaster CC) has been very busy for the past couple years. In addition to being selected as a Fulbright Scholar, he completed the Appalachian Leadership Institute, an economic development leadership program offered by the Appalachian Regional Commission. Dr. McGraw has also presented at Carnegie Melon University on Threat Assessment Practices.



Dr. Staci Forgey, professor of biology at Tidewater Community College in Norfolk, VA, was honored by the TCC Faculty Senate with the Faculty Special Achievement award for her innovative teaching and dedication to student development. Dr. Forgey worked on two special projects last year that contributed to her nomination. She worked with CCL Program Alum, Dr. Lynette Hauser, to collect and analyze a large set of data that compared the final grades in science courses for non-science majors.



The faculty in the Ph.D. Program in Community College Leadership are pleased to announce that Dr. David H. Lerman successfully defended his dissertation on September 1, 2022. His dissertation is titled, Combining Cognitive and Noncognitive Assessments to Predict First Year GPA and Persistence in Community College Students. His dissertation committee included Dr. Mitchell R. Williams, Chair, Dr. Linda Bol, and Dr. Chris R. Glass (Boston College).

Dr. Lerman is Director of Student Success and Retention at Piedmont Virginia Community College in Charlottesville, Virginia. He can be reached at dlerm001@odu.edu.