CHESTER and MIDLOTHIAN, Va. – John Tyler Community College will hold its 49th annual Commencement Ceremony on Friday, May 12, 2017, at 6:30 p.m. The ceremony will take place in the Multipurpose Building at Virginia State University, located at 20809 2nd Avenue in Petersburg. John Tyler Community College’s graduating class will be approximately 1,192 strong.
This year’s commencement address will be delivered by The Honorable Rosalyn R. Dance, Senate of Virginia, 16th District. Sen. Dance, a resident of Petersburg, who is also a John Tyler Community College alumna and John Tyler Community College Foundation (JTCCF) Board member.
Sen. Dance graduated from John Tyler in 1981 with an associate degree in nursing. She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Virginia State University and a master’s degree in public administration from Virginia Commonwealth University. She worked at Southside Virginia Training Center for 34 years, where she held positions as a psychiatric nurse’s aide, interim facility director, and assistant director of residential services. In 1992, she was elected Mayor of Petersburg, an office she held for 12 years. In 2005, Sen. Dance was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, where she represented the 63rd district until her election to the Virginia Senate in 2014.
John Tyler Community College, celebrating 50 years of providing educational opportunities to Central Virginia, 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 affordable, quality programs 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 14,100 students during the 2015-16 academic year, offers more than 60 majors, including associate degrees and certificates. The institution also serves more than 12,000 non-credit trainees and over 900 companies and government agencies annually through the Community College Workforce Alliance.
