News

Parkhill to retire as BRCC president

Molly Parkhill

By Bill Moss, Published: July 12, 2016

Blue Ridge Community College President Molly Parkhill announced on Monday that she plans to retire from her decades-long career in higher education.

“After careful thought and personal reflection, the time has come for me to transition to a new phase in my professional and personal life. I have decided to retire on June 30, 2017,” she said in a letter to the Board of Trustees.

​She officially announced her decision to the Board of Trustees, BRCC faculty and staff and other leaders on Monday. Parkhill, who has been at the helm since 2007, is the third president and only woman, to lead Blue Ridge since the college was founded in 1969. Prior to being named president, she served for 21 years in various roles, including director of cooperative education, associate dean for Transylvania County programs and dean for continuing education. In 2006, Parkhill was the North Carolina Community College System Staff Person of the Year. She has served in leadership roles on the Board of Directors for Henderson County Chamber of Commerce, Pardee Hospital, United Way of Henderson County and YMCA.

“Students are the reason we exist,” Parkhill wrote in the letter. “I have had the good fortune to meet and get to know so many of the students who have attended Blue Ridge Community College. It has been extremely gratifying knowing that the work we do collectively is impacting thousands of lives.”

Under Parkhill’s leadership, BRCC, in partnership with Henderson County public schools, established Henderson County Early College High School in 2009. An expansion of the highly successful Early College, along with a Career Academy, will open on the Henderson County Campus in 2017. The College has also been part of a recently established historic partnership with Wingate University, Pardee Hospital, Henderson County, and City of Hendersonville to establish a state-of-the-art Health Sciences Center. The College will move its health care training programs to the Center in August. In 2015, Blue Ridge Community College joined Achieving the Dream, a national network for student success in higher education.

Blue Ridge Community College Board of Trustees will meet on Sept. 12 to announce a transition plan and begin the search for its next president.