FRANKLIN—Dr. Douglas W. Boyce, who has served as the president of Paul D. Camp Community College since 2002, plans to retire next summer.

Boyce made the announcement Friday during a college in-service meeting held at the Regional Workforce Development Center at the Franklin Campus of PDCCC. He said that it was important to personally inform the school’s faculty and staff of his plans.

“I will miss working with these dear friends on a day-to-day basis, but I look forward to seeing them and still continuing to be a part of their lives by being in the community,” he said.

Boyce, 63, came to PDCCC seven years ago from Southwest Virginia Community College in Richlands, where he served as the vice president of instruction.

Over his tenure as president, Boyce oversaw record enrollment, increasing graduation rates and the introduction of numerous programs and community partnerships.

“I’m most appreciative of the opportunity to serve as president and to work with such a fine faculty and staff and to help the college advance,” he said. “It’s a mosaic and there’s no one part of the mosaic that’s more important than the others.”

Dr. Patsy R. Joyner, vice president for institutional advancement at PDCCC, said that Boyce “will be sorely missed.”

“He has really provided great leadership,” she said.

Boyce is well liked by faculty and staff and students at PDCCC. Student Nancy Altstatt said that she met Boyce and he bought a “passion for education and will be greatly missed.”

“He has been a real asset,” she said.

While he has enjoyed his time at PDCCC, it hasn’t been easy. Budget cuts have been the norm for several years, adding to the stress of record enrollment. Even without growing enrollment, there is still a constant need to upgrade and expand academic programs, according to Boyce.

“It’s been a significant challenge,” he said. “It’s hard to serve more students and do new things when funding is tight.” He said he will be spending a lot of time working on fundraisers during his final months in office.

“That’s our best hope of getting capital to start new initiatives,” Boyce said.

Boyce said that ongoing budget cuts and a weak economy could cause even more problems for community colleges like PDCCC. He said that maintaining a balanced budget and maintaining the quality of services is “going to be one of the biggest challenges for the next president.”

The search for a new president will be launched later this fall, according to Boyce.

Holt Livesay, who served on the college’s foundation board from 2000 until last July, said that Boyce has “done a good job.”

“He’s been a good leader and I’m sorry to see him go,” Livesay said.

Boyce and his wife, Grace, live in Franklin. They have three adult children, Janet Nye, Laura Boyce and Emily Marks and one grandson, 2 1/2-year-old Wesley.

Boyce, a native of Trenton, Mich., in suburban Detroit, is looking forward to retirement to play his guitar, do family research and do some consulting work as well as spend more time with his family.

“I’ll be glad to be available for babysitting duty,” he said.