Dr. Scott Ralls, who is currently the president of Northern Virginia Community College, also known as NOVA or NVCC, has been named president of Wake Technical Community College, effective May 1.
Ralls, who has had 20 years of experience in community colleges and has been a strong proponent of diversity, looks at his latest appointment as “a homecoming” given that he lived and worked for a large portion of his life in the Raleigh, N.C. area.
Ralls, however, didn’t initially intend on leaving Virginia’s community college system.
“I was by no means looking to leave NOVA, it’s a very unique place because of its student population, the diversity of the student population,” said Ralls, who’s been president of the community college since 2015. “It’s full of just really brilliant students who are looking for opportunity and as a unique community being a technology community and technology hub. I loved everything about NOVA, both as a college and the Northern Virginia region.”
Though his time at NOVA will be short-lived, the community college has made several “unique” achievements under his tenure.
NOVA has established some “remarkably unique relationships” to help its students reach their goal of earning an associate’s degree and transitioning to a four-year university, Ralls said.
For instance, the community college recently partnered with George Mason University to establish the ADVANCE program, a unique joint admissions program where NOVA students can utilize the resources from both institutions to help them earn a bachelor’s degree within four years.
