CHESTER and MIDLOTHIAN, Va. – John Tyler Community College will hold its 46th annual commencement ceremony on Friday, May 16, 2014, at 6:30 p.m. The ceremony will take place at the College’s Midlothian Campus, located at 800 Charter Colony Parkway. The graduating class will be approximately 930 strong.
The commencement address will be delivered by Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Business Dean Ed Grier. Before joining VCU in 2010, Grier was president of Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. He spent 29 years with the Walt Disney Company, during which he held executive positions at Disney properties in Paris, Tokyo and the United States. During his time in California, Grier received numerous appointments, including commissioner of the California Travel and Tourism Commission, member of the California Economic Recovery Task Force, and board member of the Children's Hospital of Orange County. In 2011, he received the Michael R. Jones Business Impact Award from the Black Chamber of Commerce of Orange County. He currently serves on the boards of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the Richmond Forum, and ChildFund International and is a trustee of Brandman University – Chapman University System in California.
John Tyler Community College is a two-year, public institution of higher education and is the fifth largest of the 23 community colleges in Virginia. With campuses in Chester and Midlothian and off-campus classrooms throughout the area, John Tyler offers quality and economical opportunities for students who want to earn a degree or certificate, transfer to a four-year college or university, train for the workforce, or switch careers. The College, which served more than 14,000 students during the 2012-13 academic year, offers 17 associate degrees, seven certificates, and 34 career studies certificates. The institution also serves 15,000 non-credit students and more than 1,200 companies and government agencies annually through the Community College Workforce Alliance. The College also is committed to sustainability. In July 2010, it received a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver Certification for Hamel Hall on its Midlothian Campus, becoming the first in the Virginia Community College System to receive such recognition.