BCCC President David McLawhorn announces retirement | Eastern North Carolina Now

    After a decade as the head of Beaufort County Community College, Dr. David McLawhorn, the fourth BCCC president, announced he will retire effective July 1, 2011.

    “I am looking forward to having more time for myself and my family,” McLawhorn said. “At the same time, I’m really going to miss the camaraderie we have at the college.”

    “I am really fortunate to have worked with outstanding and dedicated faculty and staff,” he said. “And I am indebted to the College Board of Trustees and the BCCC Foundation Board of Directors for their support over the years.”

    After an education career spanning more than 30 years, McLawhorn said he looks forward to spending more time with a soon-to-be-born great-grandchild, playing golf, fishing and “piddling.”

    McLawhorn announced his retirement at a recent meeting of the BCCC Board of Trustees. The first step for the board in choosing McLawhorn’s successor is a meeting with N.C. Community College System President Scott Ralls to plan a search, college officials have said.

    Robert Cayton, a member and past chairman of the BCCC Board of Trustees, said McLawhorn has “done a great job” in his years as college president.

    “Dr. McLawhorn is leaving the college stronger and better able to serve the education needs of its service area in the 21st Century,” said Cayton.

    A native of Ayden, McLawhorn succeeded retiring BCCC President U. Ron Champion after serving as BCCC’s Dean of Instruction for 11 years. In his previous post, McLawhorn supervised and coordinated the curriculum programs and library services for the college.

    As president, McLawhorn, known affectionately by BCCC faculty and staff as “Dr. Mac,” has seen unprecedented enrollment growth and several new construction projects at the college, which celebrated its 40th anniversary during McLawhorn’s tenure.

    McLawhorn has overseen the construction of new buildings on campus – including the Public Safety Building and the Public Service Building – the expansion of the college’s nursing programs and the opening of a new campus-based early college high school.

    And during the past two years, enrollment at BCCC has increased some 22 percent to a record 1,918 in Fall Semester 2009.

    Mitch St. Clair, chairman of the BCCC Trustees said, “Dr. McLawhorn has been a great president. He has taken Beaufort County Community College to the next level and beyond. He will be missed by the Board of Trustees, the Foundation Board of Directors, staff, faculty and students. Dr. McLawhorn has been an asset to our community, and I hope he enjoys his retirement.”

    McLawhorn has also been active in civic life in Beaufort County. He has served as chairman of the Beaufort County Partnership for Children, as president of the Washington Rotary Club and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Beaufort County United Way and the Washington-Beaufort Chamber of Commerce. He is a life member of the N.C. National Guard Association and Elder of the First Presbyterian Church in Washington.

    Mary Elizabeth McNeill, executive director of the Beaufort County United Way, has worked with McLawhorn through that agency.

    “Dr. McLawhorn has been a dedicated member of the United Way Board of Directors,” she said. “He does so much for this agency and means so much to the community, particularly our 18 community partners. His leadership has helped this program grow.”

    “In addition to his vast knowledge of community needs, he is a great person to be around,” she said.

    Bill Wall, a fellow Rotarian and member of the BCCC Foundation Board of Directors, has played on a team for several years with McLawhorn in the foundation’s annual golf tournament.

    “Just like in golf and his confident putting style, David has gone through life much in the same manner, whether it has been managing the operations of BCCC, raising a diverse family, or church and Rotary involvement. He is very confident—he evaluates the alternatives, develops a plan, takes aim and executes,” Wall said. “My life has been enriched by having been associated with David in many of these activities. While he may be retiring as president of BCCC, he will continue to be the kind, gracious man we have all come to know and respect.”

    McLawhorn and his wife, Terri Ann, live in Washington and have two daughters, Megan and Anna, and three foster children Michelle, Jennie and Regina. He also has two sons, Matthew and Jeffrey, from a previous marriage, and three grandchildren.

    Among the most recent accomplishments at BCCC under McLawhorn’s direction are the following:

2003 – BCCC’s new Public Safety Building for criminal justice, fire, EMT and Basic Law Enforcement Training opened July 21.

2003 – A new building was erected to house BCCC’s new Heavy Equipment and Transportation Technology programs.

2004 – BCCC’s Board of Trustees purchased some 32 acres of land for future expansion and to maintain wooded buffers around campus.

2005 – BCCC’s welding lab was expanded to include non-ferrous fabrication technology.

2006 – BCCC’s new Public Service Building—housing cosmetology, early childhood development and human services technology programs—opened in January.

2006 – BCCC’s Board of Trustees purchased two additional acres of land for future BCCC expansion.

2006 – The Katie Paul Building was renovated, and the college’s nursing programs were expanded.

2006 – The Delmar Keech Building was renovated to enhance business classrooms and computer labs.

2006 – BCCC and East Carolina University signed an agreement establishing BCCC as a hub for teacher training through the Wachovia Partnership.

2007 – The BCCC Foundation reached $1 million in assets.

2008 – Classes began in August for the first class of students at the Beaufort Early College High School, located in Building 10 on the BCCC campus.

2009 – By July of 2009 construction was completed on the new Public Safety Annex to handle law enforcement and public safety training.

2009 – BCCC received a $200,000 JobsNOW grant to provide short-term training for more than 120 jobless workers.

2009 – BCCC set a record enrollment for the Fall Semester, with 1,918 students enrolled, some 188 students more than the then-record-breaking Fall 2008 Semester.

2010 – Planning went underway for a new Allied Health Building on the eastern edge of the BCCC campus to allow for additional expansion of BCCC’s Nursing and Medical Laboratory Technology programs.