FRANKLIN
Paul D. Camp Community College has hired Angela Lawhorne as its director of workforce development, a position the college created in late January following the resignation of Randy Betz, the college’s former vice president of workforce development. Lawhorne assumed her duties as director on Feb. 27.

According to Lawhorne, Paul D. Camp’s administration created her role to focus on new programs and making the Regional Workforce Development Center in Franklin the go-to place for customized and industry-recognized training in the area. She will work alongside Dr. Renee Felts, the college’s vice president for institutional advancement, who took over as vice president of workforce development following Betz’s resignation.

For Lawhorne, her new position is more of a homecoming than a new work environment, as she had previously worked for Paul D. Camp as its coordinator of career development centers for three years.

“PDCCC has always been near and dear to my heart as they are serving my community and working hard to make our workforce and employers stronger,” Lawhorne said. “Workforce development is a passion of mine.”

Most recently, she has spent the last year and a half working in Richmond for Virginia’s Community College System overseeing the federal EleVAte SNAP E&T Pilot project. Lawhorne said that Virginia was one of 10 states to receive that grant, with an expectation to serve over 5,000 SNAP recipients. She worked with seven of Virginia’s community colleges to implement and operate that project.

One of her initial goals as director of workforce development is to create new non-credit programs that will give students industry-recognized credentials.

“With our new Workforce Credentials Grant, a student will pay only one third of the cost of their training program,” Lawhorne said. “Adding to our new non-credit financial aid (FANTIC), that same student would then pay only 10 percent of that one third. We also have scholarships graciously donated by PDCCC’s Foundation, which have made the cost zero for some students.”

She also plans to pursue on-site training programs for employers, where the college would bring instructors to an employer’s facility and conduct the training on their preferred schedule.

Lawhorne is pursuing her doctorate in community college leadership from Old Dominion University. She holds an executive MBA from Texas A&M as well as a Bachelor’s in business management. Lawhorne has also served four years in the Air Force and is a native of Boykins.