{"id":5283,"date":"2026-07-23T23:04:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T23:04:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=5283"},"modified":"2026-07-23T23:04:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T23:04:53","slug":"meet-monty-sullivan-new-leader-of-ncs-community-college-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=5283","title":{"rendered":"Meet Monty Sullivan, new leader of NC\u2019s community college system"},"content":{"rendered":"

AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.<\/p>\n

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North Carolina\u2019s community college system has a new leader: Monty Sullivan, who ran Louisiana\u2019s community college system for more than a decade. During his time in the Bayou State, the number of graduates doubled and its foundation assets tripled.<\/p>\n

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After announcing his retirement, he now comes to North Carolina, a state known for its robust community college system. The News & Observer spoke with Sullivan on Thursday to learn more about his career in higher education and his vision for North Carolina\u2019s system.<\/p>\n

Sullivan\u2019s nomination must still be confirmed by the General Assembly, so he will serve as the acting president for now.<\/p>\n

The new leadership comes as the state implements Propel NC, a new funding model for the community college system that ties funding to labor-market data, directing investment toward in-demand sectors.<\/p>\n

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.<\/i><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been in the community college business now for over 30 years. You get to know those states that rise to the top from a quality perspective, because you want to emulate the great work that is going on there. For a student of the community college mission, North Carolina has always been a state in that top tier that stands out as understanding the community college mission, and the workforce aspect of it in particular.<\/p>\n

The draw for [my wife] Kelley and I to North Carolina is as much about time and opportunity as it is anything. We find ourselves in a place where we\u2019ve graduated four girls from college and they\u2019re off doing their own thing.<\/p>\n

We have an opportunity now to find a community to sink our roots into and really invest ourselves in through this mission for the people of North Carolina.<\/p>\n

And the other side of the coin is that you have a legislative body that has just come forward with substantial resources behind this mission through Propel NC<\/a>. There are a number of opportunities for us to do a better job aligning our curricula to the workforce demand and transforming the student experience. We want to ensure that every student in every part of North Carolina has the opportunity to be educated and skilled.<\/p>\n

When you see these kind of job advertisements come out, you can anticipate some that are tired and recycled. That\u2019s not what the North Carolina community college system board chose to do. Instead, they went out and engaged with a huge number of stakeholders, some 1,300 involved. It said flat out<\/a> that this is \u201cthe most important job in North Carolina.\u201d<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t about coming in and changing. It really is about coming in and making sure there is a quality experience for every student. This business is about ensuring that students in every corner of North Carolina get a quality opportunity and get into programs that are aligned with regional market demands.<\/p>\n

While we may look at programs and say we feel pretty good about the alignment today, the fact of the matter is that the economy is constantly changing. Alignment is a moving target for us. We\u2019ll continue to see that work through Propel NC and a number of other initiatives.<\/p>\n

I look at this not as change for change\u2019s sake. I look at it as an opportunity to continue to skate to where the puck is headed for North Carolina\u2019s community colleges.<\/p>\n

One of the things I\u2019m probably most proud of is the Foster Promise<\/a> program. We created an opportunity for adults in Louisiana to be able to return to college free of charge. That\u2019s not something that existed previously, and frankly, some states have tried that and not been able to [sustain] funding the program.<\/p>\n

Probably the largest challenge \u2014 and it\u2019s sort of in the rearview mirror now, and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s on the horizon for North Carolina in any form or fashion \u2014 was dealing with the budget circumstance there. We saw a number of budget challenges, and we navigated those.<\/p>\n

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While it was challenging, the thing I\u2019m most proud of is that we made decisions that were focused on the mission and in the best interest of the students. That is the mantra, and people that I\u2019ve worked with over the years can attest.<\/p>\n

The circumstances in North Carolina are so different that there probably is not much comparison between the two. You\u2019re talking about a state of 11 million people [compared to Louisiana\u2019s 4.6 million], with quite a difference in the number of colleges, the curricular variations, and the growth in the economy.<\/p>\n

This is a state that\u2019s growing in population. We see states, particularly in the Deep South, that are losing population. So that in itself is part of the environment that we\u2019re excited about moving into.<\/p>\n

To color in a little bit more of the circumstances, I had faced a pretty difficult health circumstance while attempting to do this job. Now, mind you, this is a role that we\u2019ve been in for 12 years. We had accomplished an incredible amount. But we found ourselves dealing with not only back surgery, but a difficult time when I had to go back for additional time down because of an infection.<\/p>\n

That put us in a place where we really needed to take a pause for a second and take care my health to get things back up and going again to return to this mission.<\/p>\n

It was one of the most difficult decisions I\u2019ve ever made to step away from this mission in order to make my health work. But an interesting thing happened along the way: My father passed away. Because of the health circumstance, I had an opportunity to spend the last few weeks of my father\u2019s life right there holding his hand.<\/p>\n

As a leader of a community college system, you don\u2019t typically have the time to do that. So as I look back on this time, I feel it was written by someone other than me. The good Lord above had his hand on us as we walked through some very difficult times.<\/p>\n

But look at the opportunity that lies ahead. When you think about the renewed sense of energy in the state around the community college mission, I think there is just so much possibility ahead of us.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s important is to always go back to the mission. Our mission in community and two-year colleges is about lifting people. I think there is something to be found in every political party that is for that notion of lifting people. It could be around economic mobility and economic opportunity. It could be around providing a strong business workforce to see our businesses succeed in the state. It could be both.<\/p>\n

I really don\u2019t think of our mission as being partisan, so much as I think of it as being mom-and-apple-pie. It is the party of mom and apple pie, and that continues to be a focal point. There\u2019s not a student out there \u2014 be they a student without a high school diploma or a student with a doctoral degree who just wants to go back and gain language skills \u2014 that doesn\u2019t have a place at a community college.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s really important that we focus on the notion of an open door, ensuring everyone has access, and that the access they have is common. Your ZIP code should not determine the quality of the service you receive.<\/p>\n

The thing that I look forward to is engaging in communities across North Carolina. Kelley and I are so excited to meet the people of North Carolina \u2014 to get to know you, and get to know the state even better, and to really focus on how this mission can help North Carolina succeed and thrive. The people of North Carolina deserve that, and it\u2019s our job to get it done. And we will.<\/p>\n

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The acting president Monty Sullivan shares plans to expand access, align curricula with workforce demand, and build on Propel NC for students across North Carolina.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5282,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"\nMeet Monty Sullivan, new leader of NC\u2019s community college system - Durham Moving Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=5283\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meet Monty Sullivan, new leader of NC\u2019s community college system - 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