UVA President James Ryan Honored at PVCC
Jessica Adkins, assistant editor
On Wednesday, Jan. 30, UVA’s President James E. Ryan gave a speech to faculty and staff in PVCC’s North Mall Meeting Room. The large glass-walled room was filled with faculty members congregating while eating hor d’oeuvres. The weather outside was cold and windy which led to the brief power outage. President Ryan arrived shortly after the power outage and began mingling with attendees.
The ceremony began by PVCC’s President Frank Friedman introducing President Ryan. He described the 30-year partnership between UVA and PVCC through transfers, grants, and scholarships. President Friedman also mentioned that PVCC is no longer the number one school of transfers to UVA; Northern Virginia Community College is now number one. After introducing President Ryan, President Friedman gave him gifts on behalf of PVCC’s faculty and staff. The first one was a running t-shirt because President Ryan used to run while attending Yale University. He also gave him a PVCC office chair.
After receiving the gifts, President Ryan began speaking to the audience. He started by speaking about the partnership between UVA and PVCC then went into a background of where he came from. President Ryan was a first generation college student who attended Yale University as an undergraduate. He then went to study law at UVA’s School of Law. After graduating top of his class, Ryan became the dean of Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. After serving as dean, President Ryan was then sworn in as UVA’s ninth president.
After talking about his background, President Ryan spoke about PVCC’s faculty and staff. President Ryan said, “PVCC plays an [important] role in our community.” He then went on to speak about the connections between UVA and PVCC and how staff from UVA teach at PVCC and how staff from PVCC teach at UVA.
“I don’t think a four-year college degree is for everyone, but those who are persistent should be able to,” President Ryan said as he spoke about the multiple pathways to a four-year degree. He ended his speech by thanking PVCC staff for the continued partnership with UVA.
