President Barbee Says RichmondCC Continues to Achieve Great Things

Oct. 24, 2025 – As Richmond Community College President Brent Barbee nears his one-year anniversary in this leadership role, he delivered his first State-of-the-College speech at Convocation on Wednesday at the Cole Auditorium.

“It gives me great pleasure to report that the college is fulfilling its mission,” Barbee said. “We’re serving our students and our communities, and we’re working to continue to be one of the best colleges in this state.”

Barbee has worked for RichmondCC for over 21 years and has seen tremendous growth in enrollment and academic offerings.

“We set a goal 15 years ago to become a destination college, and I’m pleased to say that has happened across several of our programs, including our substation program, lineman program and 911 telecommunicators program to name a few,” he said.

The college is currently constructing a state-of-the-art automotive training center on the Hamlet Campus.

“Partnering with industry leaders such as Hendrick Automotive, we will be providing opportunities for our students to start a career in another high-paying industry,” Barbee said.

The Hendrick Center for Automotive Training will be completed next summer, with students enrolling by the 2026 fall semester.

“We have also broken ground on the new truck driver training facility in Scotland County. This facility should be completed in early spring and will allow us to add to the approximately 370 current CDL drivers who have earned their license through this program,” Barbee said.

In addition to these projects, RichmondCC will play a major role in the largest economic development project in the history of North Carolina. Several months ago, Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced a $10 billion investment in Richmond County to build a data center, bringing 500 new jobs to the area over the next five years.

In partnership with AWS, the first classes to train future employees start next week. These classes will provide specialized training on fiber optic cables, the backbone of the modern world, carrying internet, TV and telephone data.

“These are exciting times for our college, and I could not be prouder to lead our employees and our students as we continue achieving great things,” Barbee said. “It takes all of us working together to be the change agent that we need to be, to keep the bar set high and to remain one of the best community colleges in the state.”

Also at Convocation, Evonne Moore was announced as the winner of the 2025 Outstanding Alumni of the Year award. Moore graduated with a degree in Human Services when RichmondCC was known as Richmond Technical College. She worked as a school social worker for the Richmond County School District for 32 years. She currently serves on RichmondCC’s Board of Trustees.

Other award winners included:

• Faculty Member of the Year – Dr. Amy Williams, psychology instructor
• Adjunct Instructor of the Year – Billy Dennis, adult education instructor
• Staff Member of the Year – David “Duke” McDonald, head groundskeeper