State Board Names Two College Presidents
RALEIGH – The State Board of Community Colleges today named presidents for McDowell Technical Community College in Marion and Caldwell Community College & Technical Institute in Lenoir, and honored former System President, Dr. Scott Ralls with the title of President Emeritus.
Dr. Mark Poarch, who is currently Executive Vice President at Caldwell, will become the college’s fourth President on July 1, succeeding Dr. Kenneth Boham who has served as President since 1995. The Caldwell Board of Trustees voted to approve Poarch on May 19 pending the State Board’s concurrence.
Dr. John Gossett, Vice President for Learning and Student Services at McDowell, succeeds Dr. Bryan W. Wilson who will retire on August 1 after more than 12 years at the helm. The McDowell Board of Trustees appointed Gossett as the college’s next president at their May 19 meeting pending the State Board’s approval.
Dr. Scott Ralls served as President of the North Carolina Community College System from April 2008 to September 2015. In conferring the President Emeritus title, State Board Chair Scott Shook said, “Not only did Dr. Ralls steer this System through the Great Recession, record enrollments and record budget reductions, he also led it through several systematic changes focused on increasing student success.”
Ralls is the fourth former System President to be designated Emeritus. The others are the late Dr. Ben E. Fountain, Jr., the late Honorable Robert W. Scott and The Honorable H. Martin Lancaster. The Emeritus title is given to a person of outstanding merit who moved the System to new heights.
The board meeting was a rare occasion in which three System Presidents were in attendance: current Interim President George Fouts, Ralls and incoming President Jimmie Williamson, who will begin his tenure on July 1. Chair Shook read a resolution in appreciation for Fouts’ service as interim president, a role he will leave on June 30, and honored him with a portrait among the System Presidents in the Dr. Dallas Herring State Board Room in the System Office’s Caswell Building.
