DCCCD’S FORMER CHANCELLOR, WRIGHT LASSITER RECEIVES NATIONAL LEADERSHIP AWARD

(Dallas) – Dr. Wright Lassiter Jr., chancellor emeritus of the Dallas County Community College District, received the 2016 national Leadership Award from the American Association of Community Colleges during the organization’s annual conference in Chicago this month.

AACC’s Leadership Award, which began as an annual tradition in 1982, is presented to individuals whose accomplishments and professional contributions to the community college field have been outstanding. An awards committee comprising the AACC board of directors reviews all nominations and makes the final selections.

Lassiter is one of three recipients who were honored for their service and leadership to community colleges.  Dr. Walter Bumphus, president and CEO of AACC, said, “With nearly 150 years of higher education among them, Wright Lassiter, George Boggs and Brice Harris have helped usher community colleges into the modern age and to prepare them for the future.”

Boggs served as the ninth president and CEO of AACC, and Brice retired this month as chancellor of the California Community Colleges system.

Dr. Joe May, DCCCD’s current chancellor, said, “Throughout his distinguished career, Dr. Lassiter has provided leadership and vision not only for the Dallas County Community College District but also for the mission of community colleges across the entire country.  He’s an esteemed colleague and friend, and we congratulate him on this well-deserved national honor.”

Lassiter said, “I am deeply honored and humbled to have been deemed a worthy recipient of the AACC Leadership Award and to share the award program with two leadership icons in the community college field. A special word of thanks and gratitude to my long-time friend and colleague, Walter Bumphus, for presenting my name to the board of directors for consideration.”

He added, “I have long held the view that awards should also be shared with the various individuals and teams that I have been privileged to work with for nearly four decades.  Our work together has been shaped by two lasting themes: ‘The largest room in any house is the room for improvement”; and ‘Service is the rent that you pay for the space that you occupy here on earth.’”

Lassiter was appointed DCCCD’s sixth chancellor in 2006. He also was the district’s first African-American chancellor. During his tenure as CEO, he provided leadership for the system’s seven colleges and multiple locations.  He oversaw a successful $450 million bond election and program implementation which resulted in the construction of 29 buildings throughout the district – including five new community education campuses in either underserved or fast-growing areas of Dallas County. The new facilities met the needs of unprecedented enrollment growth as DCCCD enrolled more than 80,000 credit and 25,000 continuing education students.

Grants from the Texas Workforce Commission allowed DCCCD to work more closely with companies and also to prepare more workers in the county for high-demand jobs.

Lassiter served as president of DCCCD’s El Centro College for 20 years before he was appointed chancellor.  He played an instrumental role in founding the El Centro College Middle College in 1988, which now is named the Wright L. Lassiter Jr. Early College High School. Students earn dual credit at Lassiter ECHS and can graduate with both an associate degree and a high school diploma.

DCCCD’s former chancellor retired in 2014. He continues to serve as a graduate school faculty member at Dallas Baptist University and is the author of 13 books. Earlier in his career, Lassiter was president of Bishop College in Dallas. In 1979, he became the first black college president in the State University of New York System when he led Schenectady Community College.

For more information, contact Ann Hatch in the DCCCD office of public and governmental affairs at 214-378-1819 or at ahatch@dcccd.edu.