NCC Announces Spring Commencement Speakers

James Fletcher “Jim” Goodmon, President and Chief Executive Officer of Capitol Broadcasting Company will deliver the commencement address at Nash Community College’s Spring 2018 Curriculum ceremony. Photo by Christer Berg.

Nash Community College students, faculty and staff are preparing for spring commencement exercises which will be held Thursday, May 10 and Friday, May 11, 2018. Students will be recognized for completion of degrees, diplomas and/or certificates at the College’s fiftieth graduation ceremony.

James Fletcher “Jim” Goodmon will deliver the curriculum commencement address on Friday, May 11. In over 40 years that CEO and Board Chairman Goodmon has led Capitol Broadcasting Company, it has become media industry leader with award-winning local programming and public service; a technology innovator and change agent; as well as leader in efforts to revive downtowns, particularly in Durham and Rocky Mount.

During his oversight of the A.J. Fletcher Foundation, Goodmon as Board Chairman, has established it as an unwavering advocate for the arts, education and social justice. Capitol Broadcasting traces its roots to a small AM radio station Goodmon’s grandfather, A.J. Fletcher helped start.

His devotion to the community where he grew up has put in the forefront efforts to transform the Dix campus in Raleigh into a downtown park and leading early efforts to establish statewide early childhood education in North Carolina as the first chairman of the North Carolina Partnership for Children, helping establish the Smart Start program.

Goodmon and the Fletcher Foundation provide backing for an education reporting fellowship through the UNC School of Media and Journalism as well as support for up-to-date broadcast labs for the school.  He was the first president of the UNC-TV Foundation that helped provide new facilities for the state’s public television station.

Part and parcel to Capitol Broadcasting Company’s ownership of the Durham Bulls minor league baseball team has been its development of the American Tobacco Campus in downtown Durham.  The two efforts are catalysts to the revival of downtown Durham.  Similarly, the company’s development of the Rocky Mount Mills is helping bring life back to downtown Rocky Mount.

He has been inducted into the North Carolina Media and Journalism Hall of Fame as well as the N.C. Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

Goodmon served in the U.S. Navy, attended Duke University and received honorary degrees from Peace University, Pfeiffer College and Duke University.

NCC Director of Student Wellness and Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences, Marbeth Holmes, will deliver the address at the College’s Adult High School and High School Equivalency graduation. Photo by Gene White.

Nash Community College’s Adult High School and High School Equivalency commencement ceremony will be held Thursday, May 10, 2018 in the Nash Community College Brown Auditorium. NCC Director of Student Wellness and Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences, Marbeth Holmes, will deliver the address.

Holmes earned an Associate of Arts degree in Liberal Arts from Louisburg College and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Meredith College. She graduated with a Master of Arts from Abilene Christian University and Master of Social Work from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Holmes is a National Certified Trauma Clinician, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, and Licensed Clinical Addictions Specialist.

She is recipient of the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award, 2016 Recipient Nash Community College Ambassador Award, and 2014 Recipient Burns Award for Excellence in Clinical Social Work at UNC-CH.

Each ceremony will be held in the Nash Community College Business and Industry Center Brown Auditorium and streamed live online at Youtube.com/user/NashComCollege.