Virginia's Community Colleges

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DuBois, Glenn

Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges 
Volume 25 
Number 2 A Lasting Legacy Pt. 2 Article 5 
12-14-2022 
Virginia's Challenges Underscore the Community College Mission 
Glenn DuBois 
Virginia Community College System 
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 Part of the Higher Education Commons 
Recommended Citation 
DuBois, G. (2022). Virginia's Challenges Underscore the Community College Mission. Inquiry: The Journal 
of the Virginia Community Colleges, 25 (2). Retrieved from https://commons.vccs.edu/inquiry/vol25/
iss2/5 
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ VCCS. It has been accepted for 
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Virginia’s Challenges Underscore the Community College Mission 
 
This was written exclusively for the Richmond Times-Dispatch on January 12, 2009. 
 
 
irginia’s Community Colleges were established were established to address the commonwealth’s 
unmet needs in higher education and workforce training.  We are serving nearly half-a-million 
Virginians this year in transfer-related degree programs and high-demand, high-growth workforce 
training programs – creating the intellectual infrastructure essential to minimizing Virginia’s 
recession and enhancing its global competitiveness.  
 
I am writing to offer some context to the Richmond Times-Dispatch’s recent story on the state budget 
trends outlined in a report of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission.  While I do not 
question the RTD’s reporting of the numbers, I am concerned that those numbers could be 
misleading without the context of the incredible enrollment growth occurring at our colleges and the 
hard work of those 
colleges to serve that 
influx with per-student 
funding that is virtually 
unchanged since the 
2000-2001 academic 
year. 
 
Virginia’s Community 
Colleges have no greater 
partner than the 
General Assembly and 
we do not envy the 
tough budget choices 
that await our delegates 
and senators.  But it would be a mistake to believe our community colleges have been protected 
from budget cuts.  Already, we have cut $40 million and are preparing for the additional $20 million 
cut included in the proposed budget.  We have been willing partners along with the governor and 
the General Assembly to play our part in balancing Virginia’s budget. 
 
We do this while meeting a record demand for the offerings of Virginia’s Community Colleges. 
Since the fall of 2006, the enrollment in our credit-bearing courses has increased by 16, 285 – a 
figure that is larger than the individual enrollment numbers of nine of Virginia’s 15 public four-year 
institutions.  In fact, two out of every three undergraduate students attending a public institution in 
Virginia are enrolled at a community college. 
 
Awareness is growing of the unique guaranteed transfer agreements we hold with more than two 
dozen public and private colleges and universities – a way for families to save a lot of money as their 
child pursues a bachelor’s degree.  Last year, more than one-third of those who earned a bachelor’s 
degree in Virginia began their education at, or supplemented it along the way with courses from, 
Virginia’s Community Colleges. And hardly a day goes by when I don’t hear from an employer who 
is seeking from our community colleges more qualified people for good-paying careers that don’t 
require a four-year degree like dental hygiene, nursing, engineering and welding. 
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Through career readiness certificates, apprenticeships and other cutting-edge workforce training, our 
community colleges offer people an affordable and quick way to begin or re-start a career. Those are 
the opportunities that will help Virginia navigate through the recession as quickly as possible, while 
minimizing the pain and confusion that comes with layoffs and company closures.  Those are the 
opportunities that will help individuals gain some control over their future.  And those are the 
opportunities that will help our employers enhance their global competitiveness. 
 
While helping Virginia fight-off economic challenges is a central focus of our colleges, it is not our 
only one. We are seeking ways to combat a growing vulnerability to Virginia’s future prosperity: 
stagnation in the number of Virginians who earn a postsecondary credential. Nationally, our nation 
is poised to replace its most highly-educated generation, the Baby Boomers, with a generation that is 
less educated.  Germany is the only other industrialized nation to share that distinction. In the 
commonwealth, the percentage of people born in Virginia, who are now between the ages of 25 and 
64, who have earned a bachelor’s degree is 24, placing us well below the national average of 42% 
and ranking us 45th among the 50 states. 
 
For years, Virginia has prospered through immigration, attracting college degree-holding people 
from other states and other countries.  This is simply not a sustainable strategy as the global 
competition for talent intensifies. Compounding the challenge is Virginia’s population, which is both 
growing older and growing more diverse.  Between now and 2025, demographic groups that 
traditionally have lower levels of higher education participation will represent a much larger 
percentage of Virginia’s population.  The need to include those individuals in higher education to 
ensure they have the skills and knowledge necessary to lead an independent life will reach every 
corner of the commonwealth. 
 
The economy we have all heard and read so much about, and probably lost sleep thinking about, 
underlines the urgency of our mission.  But the needs of Virginia over the next few decades truly 
demonstrate just how critical our mission is.  
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Virginia\u27s Challenges Underscore the Community College Mission

Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges 
Volume 25 
Number 2 A Lasting Legacy Pt. 2 Article 12 
12-14-2022 
Virginians with "Some College" Earn National Attention 
Glenn DuBois 
Virginia Community College System 
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 Part of the Higher Education Commons 
Recommended Citation 
DuBois, G. (2022). Virginians with "Some College" Earn National Attention. Inquiry: The Journal of the 
Virginia Community Colleges, 25 (2). Retrieved from https://commons.vccs.edu/inquiry/vol25/iss2/12 
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ VCCS. It has been accepted for 
inclusion in Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ 
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Virginians with “Some College” Earn National Attention 
 
These remarks for the Virginia Governors Association were delivered on October 21, 2010. 
 
 
o shake off the recession’s effects and bolster our international competitiveness we must 
produce more college graduates. The Baby Boom generation is the best educated in America’s 
history.  As they retire, however, we risk replacing them with a generation less educated.  Germany is 
the world’s only other industrialized nation to share with us that dubious distinction.  
 
Awareness is growing of this coming crisis.  Consensus is elusive in our nation’s political 
conversation but leaders from both parties and all levels of government agree that we need more 
college graduates. 
 
Wanted: more college graduates 
Virginia is embracing this challenge with vigor.  Governor Bob McDonnell’s call for an additional 
100,000 college graduates and the focus Gerald Robinson, Virginia’s secretary of education, is 
placing on that goal, are among the key reasons for today’s National Governors Association in 
Richmond examining what 
Virginia is doing to help more 
working adults to become 
college graduates. 
 
Americans who hold an 
associate’s degree earn twice 
the median salary and are half 
as likely to be unemployed 
compared to those who failed 
to finish high school, 
according to U.S. Census data.  
The numbers look even better 
for those who go on to earn a 
bachelor’s or graduate degree. 
 
Attracting more high school 
graduates to pursue a college education remains essential to their future and Virginia’s.  A myopic 
focus on that group, however, will leave us short of the governor’s college graduation goals. 
 
Helping adults finish college 
Nearly one million working-age Virginians have what I call a bag of college credits, but no 
postsecondary certificate or degree. Virginia’s Community Colleges are aggressively pursuing those 
individuals with the help of a Lumina Foundation grant aimed at helping adults complete degree 
programs they started but never finished. 
 
More can and must be done by Virginia’s Community Colleges, universities and employers to help 
working adults maximize their talents by earning a college credential. The value and potential of 
those partnerships have been illuminated by the work of Governor McDonnell’s reform 
commissions. 
 
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DuBois: Virginians with "Some College" Earn National Attention
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Today’s National Governors Association meeting is intended to explore how much more those 
partnerships could accomplish.  In broad terms, the meeting is focused on four general areas: 
 
Cost-sharing success 
How many more working adults could we turn into college graduates if public and private entities 
shared the costs and the benefits of that success?  Billions of dollars are spent every year by both 
employers and taxpayers to finance college and workforce training programs.  How much of that is 
coordinated and how much is redundant?  What if tax credits or other incentives were used to 
elevate a company’s training program into a college curriculum that rewards its graduates with an 
accredited postsecondary credential? 
 
Minimizing bureaucracy  
How many more working adults could we turn into college graduates if we made the college process 
more straight forward?  At most institutions, for example, students are required to apply for 
graduation.  In other words, we ask them to say, “Pretty please” to get their hands on the degree or 
certificate they have rightly earned.  Whether it is transferring between institutions or creating a 
career pathway to guide someone from the classroom to the jobsite, we should make the experience 
more user-friendly.  This can be done with no threat to academic rigor and quality.  
 
Accommodating real life 
How many more working adults could we turn into college graduates by helping them with life’s 
demands outside the classroom? Academic tutoring and financial aid are not the only support 
services they need to earn a college credential.  Transportation, childcare and career counseling, and 
the hours at which they are offered, are further challenges.  We could also leverage our successful 
career coach model to help working adults in their college pursuit. 
 
Data-driven policies 
And finally, how much smarter would our policies and programs be if they were built on better data?  
Throughout the 20th century a college education was one of many ways to get a good job with 
benefits that would allow you to raise a family.  That’s no longer the case.  By the year 2018, two out 
of every three jobs available in Virginia will require more than a high school education.  As a 
consequence better data is needed to ensure that academic programs are effectively designed, 
updated and coordinated with employers’ needs, and that students understand the options that are 
available to them.  The early success of the Virginia Education Wizard gives us a head-start in this 
area. 
 
For years, Virginia’s success was attributed, in part, to attracting college-educated people from 
elsewhere.  That strategy is less viable now.  Other places are now prioritizing retaining their own 
talent and competing for ours. Our success moving forward relies on harvesting our own talent, 
ensuring that everyone has the skills and knowledge to maximize their success.  Doing that more 
effectively is the heart of today’s National Governors Association conversation. 
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Virginians with  Some College  Earn National Attention

Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges 
Volume 25 
Number 2 A Lasting Legacy Pt. 2 Article 36 
12-14-2022 
Statement After Charlottesville Violence 
Glenn DuBois 
Virginia Community College System 
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 Part of the Higher Education Commons 
Recommended Citation 
DuBois, G. (2022). Statement After Charlottesville Violence. Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia 
Community Colleges, 25 (2). Retrieved from https://commons.vccs.edu/inquiry/vol25/iss2/36 
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ VCCS. It has been accepted for 
inclusion in Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ 
VCCS. For more information, please contact tcassidy@vccs.edu. 
Statement After Charlottesville Violence 
 
This statement was posted on August 14, 2017 in reaction to a fatal weekend of violence in Charlottesville, VA. 
 
 
t is with a heavy and sad heart I offer my condolences and prayers for those who lost their lives, 
and those injured, in the violence that erupted this past weekend in Charlottesville. Heather 
Heyer is a former student of Piedmont Virginia Community College. It is with strength and 
determination however, that I affirm that the racially motivated division, hatred, intimidation, and 
fear outsiders brought to the City of Charlottesville has no place on a Virginia community college 
campus, and are a violation of both the words and spirit of our community college mission. 
 
Virginia’s Community Colleges exists to give everyone the opportunity to learn and develop the right 
skills so lives and communities are strengthened. Our faculty, staff, and students should never 
question if that mission includes them because it always does. Higher education has been, and 
continues to be, an antidote to ignorance, bigotry and hatred. This past weekend is a painful and 
powerful reminder of how much work remains for us to do. 
 
I am a passionate student of history. Throughout the extensive narratives that tell the Virginia story 
and the America story there is a clear and convincing pattern that regularly emerges: our progress 
and our success depend on our inclusivity. We move forward farther and faster when we move 
together. Community colleges were built to advance that purpose. I have dedicated my 36-year 
career to it, and remain steadfast to it. 
 
I 
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DuBois: Statement After Charlottesville Violence
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Statement After Charlottesville Violence

Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges 
Volume 25 
Number 2 A Lasting Legacy Pt. 2 Article 48 
12-14-2022 
Veterans Day Note to VCCS System Office Staff 
Glenn DuBois 
Virginia Community College System 
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 Part of the Higher Education Commons 
Recommended Citation 
DuBois, G. (2022). Veterans Day Note to VCCS System Office Staff. Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia 
Community Colleges, 25 (2). Retrieved from https://commons.vccs.edu/inquiry/vol25/iss2/48 
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ VCCS. It has been accepted for 
inclusion in Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ 
VCCS. For more information, please contact tcassidy@vccs.edu. 
Veterans Day Note to VCCS System Office Staff 
 
This letter was sent to VCCS System Office staff on November 11, 2021. 
 
 
ear VCCS System Office Colleagues: Happy Veterans Day! It is a pleasure to write to share 
my appreciation for those that have served our country, especially the dozen of our System 
Office colleagues who have proudly worn our nation’s uniform. 
 
When I was growing up, military service and postsecondary education were often presented as a 
choice. One could pursue either path but rarely, if ever, both. Much has changed since those days, 
and I like to think that community colleges 
are a big reason for that. 
 
By the time I became a community college 
student, I shared the campus with countless 
students who were military veterans, mostly 
from the Vietnam War. We took the same 
classes, served in the same clubs and 
organizations, and became good friends. 
Having already lived through the adult 
experience of uniformed service, they found 
the rhythm of campus life comfortable, the 
career-focused programs appealing, and the 
class schedule convenient. In other words, 
the community college was an adult place 
through which they could enjoy adult 
pursuits. 
 
We’ve only improved since then when it 
comes to asking what veterans and military-
related students need, and what our 
community colleges can do to serve them. 
I’m grateful for all that you do to keep these 
important students top of mind as we seek 
innovations, like more expansive credit for prior learning, to connect them with high-demand career 
opportunities. 
 
Like you, I am proud of the work we do to bring the community college mission to life. And I can 
think of no higher honor, and no more satisfying experience, than serving those who proudly served 
America. Thank you for everything you are doing to serve the students of Virginia’s Community 
Colleges. 
 
Sincerely, 
 
Glenn DuBois 
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DuBois: Veterans Day Note to VCCS
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Veterans Day Note to VCCS System Office Staff

Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges 
Volume 26 Number 1 Article 1 
4-17-2023 
Front Cover (Spring 2023) 
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Recommended Citation 
(2023). Front Cover (Spring 2023). Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges, 26 (1). 
Retrieved from https://commons.vccs.edu/inquiry/vol26/iss1/1 
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Video: ALICE and Virginia\u27s Community Colleges

Errico, Charles

Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges 
Volume 25 
Number 1 A Lasting Legacy Article 4 
4-6-2022 
Preface 
Charles Errico 
Northern Virginia Community College 
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 Part of the Higher Education Commons 
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Errico, C. (2022). Preface. Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges, 25 (1). Retrieved from 
https://commons.vccs.edu/inquiry/vol25/iss1/4 
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inclusion in Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ 
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Preface 
By Charlie Errico 
 
 
r. Glenn DuBois feels passionately about the lessons we can learn through the study of 
history. A deeper understanding of the past fuels his commitment to a community college 
system that offers hope for a better life to every student. I remember loaning him a favorite book on 
Thomas Jefferson; I was surprised when two weeks later he quoted from it in a speech at New 
Horizons. The Chancellor had singled out a passage about Jefferson’s vision of a school within “a 
day’s horseback ride” of every Virginian. Our community college system, the Chancellor noted, with 
campuses within a short drive of every citizen, was a fulfillment of Jefferson’s dream. He knew that 
while many colleges take pride in their selectivity and the number of students they reject, the VCCS 
values the number of students it accepts – Dreamers, veterans, women, minorities, hard-working 
Virginians who struggle every day to achieve an education while holding down a job and raising a 
family.  
 
If you review the Chancellor’s speeches through the years, you will see themes emerge that tell you 
about the man and his values. Words such as “equity,” “diversity,” “accessibility,” “affordability” 
and “social justice” are sprinkled throughout his remarks. He spotlights the importance of 
workforce training, developmental education, and “great expectations” for the Commonwealth’s 
disadvantaged youth. 
 
There is one theme, more than others, that captured my heart and those of my colleagues. In the last 
two years, the Chancellor has focused on the issue of race and disparities that exist in educational 
opportunities, incarceration rates, life expectancy, and family wealth. Resolving these problems, in 
his words, will take “tireless dedication and collective vigilance.”  
 
I remember attending VCCS meetings years ago in the old James Monroe Building in a conference 
room with pictures of VCCS presidents. A token woman and African American graced the wall 
filled with pleasant-looking white men with balding heads and graying temples. Thanks to the 
Chancellor, the majority of today’s VCCS presidents are women and minorities.  In our divided 
America, many leaders know the politically correct verbiage, but few walk the walk and make 
meaningful changes. Dr. Glenn DuBois is a leader who supports his words with actions. 
 
In the past decade, the Chancellor’s Faculty Advisory Committee (CFAC), blessed with dedicated 
and thoroughly professional chairs such as Ray Bailey and Patrick Tompkins, has worked with the 
Chancellor and his leadership team to make the VCCS the best community college system in the 
nation. This achievement was a product of the Chancellor’s belief that institutional progress is a 
team endeavor. Meetings were respectful and collegial, and there was a level playing field because 
participants left their rank and titles at the door before entering the room. We were all there for a 
common purpose: to enhance the welfare of our students. If we replace the words “students” with 
“nation,” our political leaders would learn an important lesson. 
 
In a recent speech, the Chancellor stated, “nobody travels this journey alone.” But for that statement 
to have meaning, the travelers need to have common goals and aspirations. Through shared services 
and other initiatives, the Chancellor kept his promise to maintain a twenty-three college Virginia 
Community College System. He knew that was important because he is one of us. Like most of our 
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students, he was the first in his family to attend college and worried, in his words, that he was not 
“college material.” His “mother’s persistence” persuaded him to enroll at a community college in 
New York where his academic journey began. Perhaps he never dreamed of one day earning a 
doctorate, becoming a college professor, and leading a nationally recognized statewide system of 
community colleges with forty campuses. Yet, as our Virginia community college students know, 
open-access affordable education is the path to make your dreams come true.   
 
I know that I speak for my community college colleagues in saying that we are honored to have 
taken this journey with our Chancellor. He has been both an inspiration and a friend. 
 
Charles Errico, PhD 
Professor of History 
Northern Virginia Community College 
Chair, Chancellor’s Faculty Advisory Council  
 
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Preface

Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges 
Volume 25 
Number 2 A Lasting Legacy Pt. 2 Article 4 
12-14-2022 
State Community College Director Award of Distinction Speech 
Glenn DuBois 
Virginia Community College System 
Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.vccs.edu/inquiry 
 Part of the Higher Education Commons 
Recommended Citation 
DuBois, G. (2022). State Community College Director Award of Distinction Speech. Inquiry: The Journal of 
the Virginia Community Colleges, 25 (2). Retrieved from https://commons.vccs.edu/inquiry/vol25/iss2/4 
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ VCCS. It has been accepted for 
inclusion in Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ 
VCCS. For more information, please contact tcassidy@vccs.edu. 
 
State Community College Director Award of Distinction Speech 
 
This speech was delivered at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, PA on April 4, 2008. 
 
 
t is a pleasure to be with you today. I am humbled by this award – most especially because I 
know so many of the other state directors from across the nation; I admire their work and 
frankly, have no hesitation about stealing their best ideas. 
 
What truly humbles me about receiving this award is that it is based on, and I quote, “Outstanding 
efforts to promote the goals of Phi Theta Kappa.” 
 
As a kid who struggled to barely finish high school; as a high school graduate who held no greater 
ambition than to work in the kitchen of the neighborhood restaurant; as the young man who sent an 
application to a community college only because my mother insisted; as a new community college 
student who kept my acceptance letter in my pocket because I was sure someone would spot me and 
say I didn’t belong; as a student who found myself intellectually engaged for the first time by my 
community college instructors; and as someone who believed in the community college mission with 
my head, heart and soul – dedicating my entire professional career to advancing it; I cannot think of 
a higher professional honor than to be 
recognized for promoting the goals of 
Phi Theta Kappa. 
 
As I stand here looking at all you – 
folks who share a passion for the 
community college mission, I am 
excited.  I cannot imagine a better, 
more important or more exciting time 
to work in community college 
education. 
 
Every hour of every day of every year, 
our institutions are the agents of 
change. 
 
And it’s not change for the sake of 
change. It’s not change because we’re 
bored with what we did yesterday so we want to do something different tomorrow. We offer the 
change that the individuals, families and communities we serve need to be successful in a global 
struggle for opportunity that gets only tougher. 
 
The workforce training we offer is the fastest way a person can go from making seven-dollars-an-
hour to $17-an hour. 
 
The guaranteed transfer agreements we hold in Virginia with two-dozen public and private four-year 
institutions, are letting people begin their bachelor’s program at home at a third of the tuitions costs. 
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DuBois: State CC Director Award of Distinction Speech
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(All you have to do is buy a gallon of gasoline or milk to know how important that cost savings is to 
a family these days.) 
 
And with our ability morph, customize and change yet again the opportunities we offer we are 
increasingly becoming the reason the communities we serve are landing blockbuster economic deals. 
The Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Penn State and institutions of that level always 
have, are today and will always play an important role in America’s fate. 
 
Our role is different, though just as vital. 
 
In an age of information that adheres to Moore’s Law, which doubles the rate at which information 
can be shared every two years, our ability – as community colleges – to be flexible, dynamic and 
responsive will determine our nation’s competitiveness.  It will determine the quality of life in places 
that scratch and scrounge to have enough first responders, nurses and teachers. It will determine the 
ability of our children to train and re-train to lead the way on the next big thing. It will determine 
how fast cutting-edge research can be brought to market. It will determine the winner and losers in 
the global search for talent that plays out through the remainder of our lives. 
 
The excitement of that potential gets me out of the bed every morning and I hope it moves you as 
well. 
 
When the story of what occurred in the 21st century is written, I believe it will say that America’s 
Community Colleges led the way. And it falls to us to determine whether or not that potential can 
be fulfilled. 
 
Once again, thank you. 
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State Community College Director Award of Distinction Speech

Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges 
Volume 25 
Number 2 A Lasting Legacy Pt. 2 Article 20 
12-14-2022 
Letter to the Editor of Time Magazine 
Glenn DuBois 
Virginia Community College System 
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 Part of the Higher Education Commons 
Recommended Citation 
DuBois, G. (2022). Letter to the Editor of Time Magazine. Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community 
Colleges, 25 (2). Retrieved from https://commons.vccs.edu/inquiry/vol25/iss2/20 
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ VCCS. It has been accepted for 
inclusion in Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ 
VCCS. For more information, please contact tcassidy@vccs.edu. 
Letter to the Editor of Time Magazine 
 
This letter to the editor was printed in March 2014. 
 
 
ear Ms. Foroohar, 
 
 
I applaud the innovation that you recently wrote about in your article, “The Diploma That Works” 
in the February 24, 2014 edition of TIME. Better ways to align high school, post-secondary 
education and career opportunities, like those occurring at Sarah B. Goode High School in Chicago, 
are the priority today. Leaders from Virginia’s 23 community colleges are seeking, and offering, new 
ways for students to connect with affordable postsecondary opportunities that lead to careers in 
high-demand, good-paying fields – opportunities that begin while those students are still in high 
school. 
 
This is succeeding in Virginia. For a decade now, our students have been earning community college 
credit while still in high school. We served nearly 32,000 high school students last year in our Dual 
Enrollment effort.  Virginia’s most rural, economically- and educationally-deprived areas boast our 
largest programs.  In fact, nearly a 
quarter of Dual Enrollment students 
were from minority racial/ethnic 
groups and just under half of these 
students were age 16 or younger. 
 
Our results are impressive.  
 
Nearly 700 Dual Enrollment students 
earned awards (associates degrees and 
certificates) from Virginia’s 
Community Colleges last year. More 
than 400 received associates degrees in 
general studies and other transfer-
related fields.  Another 200 students earned certifications in nursing, emergency medical technology 
and other allied health fields.  Southside Virginia, Central Virginia, Rappahannock and Patrick Henry 
had the programs with the largest numbers of graduates. 
 
The future is bright for this work. A new law, passed in 2012, requires every Virginia public school 
system to work with their community college so that every one of their students have a way to earn 
college credit, and even a credential, prior to high school graduation. This collaboration is inspiring 
robust discussions about teacher preparation, college readiness and career readiness. Improving this 
alignment on a continual basis is essential to connecting individuals, knowledge and skills, and 
employers to foster strong local economies. 
 
Sincerely, 
Glenn DuBois, chancellor 
Virginia’s Community Colleges 
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DuBois: Letter to the Editor of Time Magazine
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Letter to the Editor of Time Magazine

Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges 
Volume 25 
Number 2 A Lasting Legacy Pt. 2 Article 23 
12-14-2022 
It's Time Virginia Credentials Up 
Glenn DuBois 
Virginia Community College System 
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Recommended Citation 
DuBois, G. (2022). It's Time Virginia Credentials Up. Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community 
Colleges, 25 (2). Retrieved from https://commons.vccs.edu/inquiry/vol25/iss2/23 
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ VCCS. It has been accepted for 
inclusion in Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ 
VCCS. For more information, please contact tcassidy@vccs.edu. 
It’s Time Virginia Credentials Up 
 
This op-ed was published in December 2014. 
 
 
ostsecondary workforce credential is a rather sterile moniker for what amounts to today’s 
passport to a solid and stable middle class lifestyle. Awareness of these important 
opportunities is growing this week as the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) 
releases a new report on the programs placing those credentials within reach. While some of its 
recommendations, like those calling for additional bureaucracy, won’t move Virginia forward, I 
applaud JLARC for calling attention to promising possibilities about which too few Virginians know. 
 
The industry-recognized credentials, at the heart of this matter, open doors to many of Virginia’s 
fastest-growing and most highly-demanded jobs. The opportunities run the gamut from blue-collar 
to white-collar careers, including healthcare, specialty welding, project management, next-generation 
manufacturing, and pharmacy technician.   
 
These certifications, credentials and licenses represent knowledge and skills obtained through 
training beyond high school, and are considered just 
under the associate’s degree. People typically earn these 
credentials in a matter of weeks or months, not semesters 
and years acquiring mountains of debt along the way. 
People pursuing these credentials today come from every 
segment of Virginia, including: 
 
• High school graduates who lack both the means 
to immediately pursue the university experience 
and the desire go into debt for it; 
• Bachelor’s degree holders who seek to add 
technical relevance to their university educations; 
and 
• Working professionals wanting to advance in an 
existing career track, or begin another. 
 
These credentials often represent critical missing links, in 
the chain connecting Virginians seeking great jobs to the 
companies that are ready to hire skilled employees. A 
growing number of states across the nation are acting to 
connect that chain and become more competitive. Some 
19 states are investing heavily in the workforce training 
necessary to earn these credentials, including several of 
Virginia’s neighbors like Maryland, North Carolina and South Carolina. Sadly, Virginia trails the 
pack in investing in these high skilled, high-wage jobs. 
 
The JLARC report draws attention to that, mentioning a general perception that Virginia lacks the 
capacity to increase access to, and to increase the production of, these sought-after credentials, 
P 
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DuBois: It's Time Virginia Credentials Up
Published by Digital Commons @ VCCS, 2022
though it stops short of recommending additional resources that can be directed toward this 
priority. 
 
Fortunately, Governor Terry McAuliffe and members of the Virginia General Assembly are 
currently working to remedy that. Last August, the Governor issued Executive Order 23, calling for 
an additional 50,000 credentials by the end of his term. Over the next decade, 1.5 million jobs will 
be available in Virginia, according to the Governor’s Office. More than half of those jobs will 
require these industry-recognized credentials, not bachelor’s degrees.  
State Senator Frank M. Ruff, Jr. (R-Clarksville) advanced a modestly priced proposal last year to 
generate an additional 7,500 high-demand credentials by reimbursing a Virginia community college 
$1,000 when a student successfully earns a credential. 
 
Larger fiscal challenges facing the state budget make it nearly impossible to initiate anything new. 
The case for investing in these credentials – and the life-changing promise they hold for both 
families and employers – is so compelling, though, that it ought to be an exception.  
 
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work," 
Thomas Edison once said. I think he was talking about moments like this.  In the face of decreasing 
state revenues, federal sequestration, and shrinking federal spending that has supported a large part 
of the Virginia economy for decades, it makes great economic sense to invest in the education and 
training that will help to attract and sustain a more balanced and stable mix of industry sectors in 
Virginia.  
 
In conversations with employers, economic developers, and elected officials from across Virginia, I 
am hearing a clear and gathering consensus that Virginia must invest in growing the number of 
these credentials, held by Virginians. Specifically, I am talking about the credentials that address 
business-led priorities and are emphasized by the commonwealth’s leading industry sectors and 
organizations. 
 
These credentials create opportunities. They help existing businesses compete in a fierce global 
market. They play a significant role in attracting new businesses, diversifying our economy.  And, 
perhaps most importantly, they enable Virginians to pursue the American Dream by establishing a 
firm foothold in the middle class. 
 
Virginia’s Community Colleges are not the exclusive providers of the training programs that lead to 
these credentials, but we do deliver the lion’s share. Incentives that can expand our capacity will 
answer the regular and repeated demands to do more from the employers and communities we 
serve. Only time will tell, but a bold step to produce more credentials could become Virginia’s most 
significant education reform of this young century. 
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Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges, Vol. 25, No. 2 [2022], Art. 23
https://commons.vccs.edu/inquiry/vol25/iss2/23


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