History
For more than 60 years, NC State’s College of Education has supported and advanced community colleges across the state. Building upon the pioneering work of W. Dallas Herring and Ed Boone, we have strengthened our efforts to support all 58 colleges in the North Carolina Community College System by developing a national model and a pipeline of talented N.C. community college leaders – ultimately strengthening North Carolina’s economic vitality.
In recent years, like many other states across the country, North Carolina has been challenged with a leadership shortage in the community college system. But, thanks to generous funding from the John M. Belk Endowment, the Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research will continue to serve North Carolina’s community colleges by creating tools, convening leaders and catalyzing social and economic mobility for learners – creating stronger, more resilient communities.
Belk Center Timeline
2015
- NC State College of Education receives a $525,000 grant from the Belk Endowment to launch the Envisioning Excellence for Community College Leadership program
- NC State College of Education hosts annual Dallas Herring Lecture with a new focus on community college practitioners
2018
2019
- Belk Center hosts inaugural Presidents’ Academy and Statewide Leadership Conference
- Belk Center hosts Finish Line Grants Symposium
- NC State College of Education hosts grand opening of Belk Center headquarters at 706 Hillsborough Street in Raleigh
2020
- Belk Center receives formal endorsement from NC State Board of Trustees
- Belk Center launches Critical Conversations webinar series as part of the Presidents’ Academy
2021
- Belk Center receives additional $4.3 M in funding support to launch Rural College Leaders program and Teaching & Learning Hubs
- John M. Belk Endowment launches NC Reconnect, in partnership with the Belk Center, to engage adult learners and improve student retention
- Belk Center Launches first two Teaching & Learning Hubs in partnership with Achieving the Dream and the NC Student Success Center
- Belk Center Launches Trailblazer Profile Series that highlights and celebrates the work of Black, Latin, Asian and Indigenous leaders in the North Carolina Community College System
- Belk Center launches Rural College Leaders Program
2022
- Belk Center publishes Adult Learner Guidebook
- Received additional grant funding from the Ascendium Education Group to continue its work supporting community colleges in North Carolina serving rural communities
- Added two additional teaching and learning hubs in the Central and Piedmont regions, bringing the hubs to all 58 community colleges
- John M. Belk Endowment Awards NC State University’s Belk Center $25 Million to Support Community College Leadership and Student Success
2023
- Belk Center publishes a 2nd Edition of the Adult Learner Guidebook
- Belk Center partnered with The Hunt Institute and LatinxEd to launch the Avanza program to advance Latino student success
- The Belk Center and The Hunt Institute concluded a successful first year of joint webinars focused on community colleges. A new series began in the fall of 2023 focused on community colleges serving rural communities
- The Belk Center became the new hub for system wide supervision of NCCCLP Cohorts, OLÉ, and Alumni programming
- The Belk Center publishes two reports highlighting the successes of the first year of the teaching and learning hubs and other promising findings from the ongoing work in teaching and learning