Dr. Walter G. Bumphus to Deliver Keynote Speech at Hudson County Community College Commencement Exercises
May 16, 2012
The President and CEO of the American Association of Community Colleges will address the Class of 2012 and their guests on Wednesday evening, May 23.
Jersey City, NJ – Hudson County Community College President Dr. Glen Gabert announced that the keynote speaker at the College’s Commencement Exercises will be Walter G. Bumphus, Ph.D., the President and CEO of the American Association of Community Colleges. The College’s Commencement celebration will be held on Wednesday evening, May 23 beginning at 6 p.m. in Prudential Hall at New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, N.J.
Dr. Bumphus, who has more than three decades of service in higher education, began his career as Director of Minority Affairs at Kentucky’s Murray State University. He went on to become Dean of Students at East Arkansas Community College and was later named Vice President and Dean of Students at Maryland’s Howard Community College. In 1991, Dr. Bumphus was named President of Brookhaven College, one of seven colleges of the Dallas Community College District (TX).
In 1993, Bumphus was elected to the Board of Directors of the American Association of Community Colleges — which is considered the leading proponent and national voice for community colleges — and he became Board Chair in 1996. Dr. Bumphus worked in the private sector of education as President of the Higher Education Division of Voyager Expanded Learning. In 2000, he was named Chancellor of Baton Rouge Community College, which became one of the country’s fastest growing colleges. He subsequently served as President of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System, and was responsible for the creation of two technical community colleges, the development of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System Leadership Development Institute, as well as statewide efforts for articulation agreements. In the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Dr. Bumphus led the recovery efforts to to ensure students and displaced employees received the assistance they needed. LCTCS later conferred upon him the title of President Emeritus of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System.
From 2007 to January 1, 2011, Dr. Bumphus served as a professor in the Community College Leadership Program and as Chair of the Department of Educational Administration at the University of Texas at Austin. He held the A. M. Aikin Regents Endowed Chair in Junior and Community College Education Leadership.
Dr. Bumphus holds a Bachelor’s degree in speech communications and a Master’s degree in guidance and counseling from Murray State University, and a Ph.D. in higher education administration from the Community College Leadership Program at the University of Texas at Austin. He holds the distinction of being one of the few leaders in the field of education to receive the National CEO of the Year Award, to chair the American Association of Community Colleges Board of Directors, and to receive the AACC National Leadership Award.
Dr. Gabert noted that at the Commencement Exercises, Paul Silverman, co-owner of SILVERMAN, will be presented with the College’s 2012 Heritage Award, an honor that recognizes members of the community who have made significant contributions to the College, and Reverend Robert Reiser, S.J., the President of Saint Peter’s Preparatory School in Jersey City, will deliver the invocation. The Class of 2012 Valedictorian is Union City resident Rogelio “Roger” Sales.