FRANKLIN
Dr. William C. Aiken will lead Paul D. Camp Community College for at least one year beginning next week, the community college system announced Tuesday.

Aiken replaces Dr. Paul Conco, who announced in October that he would retire in June.

Aiken retired after working for a dozen years as the president of Sampson Community College in Clinton, North Carolina. He also has served as interim president at two other North Carolina community colleges.

Aiken’s higher education career includes numerous positions at institutions throughout Tennessee and North Carolina, dating back to his first job as a teacher in Athens, Tennessee in 1965. He holds a doctorate and master’s degree from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

“Bill Aiken is a proven and seasoned higher education leader and I’m delighted to announce his appointment as the interim president of Paul D. Camp Community College,” Glenn DuBois, chancellor of Virginia’s Community Colleges, said in a press release. “The college is facing a number of serious challenges. Were this college a private enterprise, its financial sustainability would be questionable. Our mission, however, compels us to serve these communities, helping people there find opportunity, and we intend to return the college to a standing where it can do that. In the meantime, it is simply unfair to hand over the college, in its current condition, to a new permanent president. Aiken has experience as both an interim and permanent college president and his accomplishments bode well for leading PDCCC through this transition period.”

Aiken said in the press release that he is looking forward to the opportunity.

“From a preliminary look at the college’s indicators, it is not meeting its potential for the leading role that it can and should play in the community,” he said. “I’m excited to bring people together in this effort to help the college find its footing.”