July 18, 2002
Centreville resident Robert G. Templin Jr., 54, has been selected to become the next president of Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC) — the largest of the 23 colleges in the Virginia Community College System.
Templin replaces Dr. Belle S. Wheelan, who left in January to become the secretary of education in Gov. Mark Warner's administration. He will assume his new post effective Aug. 27.
Dr. Templin, who spent 16 years with the VCCS previously, including serving as president at Thomas Nelson Community College, is currently a senior fellow and advisor at the Morino Institute in Reston, a position he has held since 1999. He left Thomas Nelson in 1994 to become president of Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology, a state funded private non-profit organization responsible for technology-based economic development in cooperation with Virginia colleges and universities.
"Bob is a highly capable professional who has tremendous connections with both academic and corporate Virginia," said VCCS Chancellor Glenn DuBois. "He'll do an outstanding job in raising the national image of the college and in generating resources."
Connie Gilman, who now chairs the Northern Virginia Community College Board, said the board is excited to be bringing Dr. Templin to the College. "We invited the College community into our process," she said, "and they gave their reports to the board last week. Dr. Templin was the overwhelming choice." Dr. Gilman said the new president will play a key role in making Northern Virginia Community College an even more integral part of the Northern Virginia community than it already is.
Dr. Templin was president of Thomas Nelson Community College in Hampton from 1986-1994, and was dean of instruction at Piedmont Virginia Community College from 1978-1986. He has also served as assistant professor of education and continuing education at the University of Virginia and as dean of the college at Somerset Community College in Somerset, Kentucky.
In accepting his appointment, Dr. Templin commented that his new position represents "an outstanding opportunity to serve the Northern Virginia region" where he and his family already reside. "Northern Virginia Community College is already one of Virginia's best institutions," he said. "I hope to help lead it to the national prominence it deserves."
Dr. Templin holds a doctorate in adult and community college education from North Carolina State University, a master's in international relations from Georgetown University, a bachelor's degree from Towson University in Baltimore, Maryland and an associate's degree from Harford Community College in Bel Air, Md.
Since January, Dr. Charles Downs has been serving as interim president. Dr. Downs retired last July from Virginia Western Community College, and accepted the temporary assignment at NVCC until a permanent president could be found.
Northern Virginia Community College is the largest institution of higher education in the Commonwealth of Virginia and enrolls more than 63,000 students at its five campuses in Alexandria, Annandale, Loudoun, Manassas and Woodbridge, and through its Extended Learning Institute. A sixth campus dedicated to medical education is currently under construction in Springfield, and is expected to open in fall 2003.