60 for 60: Durham Tech kept needing Tom Jaynes. He always delivered.
In celebration of Durham Technical Community College’s 60th anniversary, the College is publishing 60 for 60 – a storytelling campaign that highlights the people, places, and events that have progressed and shaped the College’s six decades of impact. The following story has been republished in its entirety. To view more 60 for 60 stories, visit www.durhamtech.edu/60for60.
Tom Jaynes walked onto Durham Tech’s campus in the spring of 1992 for his dream job: a community college counselor.
He was desperately hoping for the job and desperately hoping not to go back to his current one.
Jaynes, brown-bearded with shoulder-length hair at the time, was dressed in a suit and tie with his best pair of shoes. He launched into his passion and excitement for the opportunity, only to learn he was talking to a fellow counselor in the office – not the dean who was hiring for the job.
But Jaynes rebounded, found his groove, and landed the job offer. He later asked the dean, “Why him?”
“Your shoes,” he recalled the dean saying.
“Perhaps I was a bit too radical for Durham Tech then,” Jaynes said with a smile. “But when they took a look at my sensible -- and in the ‘90s still fashionable -- Rockport shoes they figured I was OK.”
Nearly 30 years after arriving at Durham Tech, Tom Jaynes will retire Friday as the Executive Vice President with a storied and monumental career at the College. In recent years, Jaynes has spearheaded the College’s shift to Guided Career Pathways and the One-College Model, a seismic transition to merge previously separated academic and skill-based programs.
In 2020, he also led the College’s COVID-19 Response Team, keeping Durham Tech at a remarkably low case count, overseeing the shift of most classes to virtual learning, and finding new opportunities to serve students remotely. Jaynes has also served as right-hand consultant and institutional expert for President J.B. Buxton as Jaynes looked to inform and impart three decades of College wisdom.
“I am deeply grateful for Tom’s willingness to postpone his retirement to support the College during a year of leadership transition,” said Buxton. “His leadership and unwavering focus on student success has been critical. I feel fortunate to have worked with him.”
Previous and current Durham Tech employees and community members say Jaynes fingerprints are on the College’s top initiatives in recent decades.
Throughout his tenure, he continued to take on new responsibilities and needs at the requests of leadership. He rose to a dean, division head, and later into managing other division heads. He retires as the College’s Executive Vice-President and served in the summer of 2020 as interim president.
Jaynes didn’t look for advancement opportunities at Durham Tech – in fact, he never applied for any of the subsequent positions the College offered him. He just always stepped up when called.
The Durham Tech community is better for it.
‘A calming presence’
Penny Gluck, who retired in 2020 as the Executive Dean of Orange County Services, worked nearly her entire career while Tom Jaynes was at Durham Tech.
Few people, she said, are as dedicated to students and the mission of serving the community than Jaynes.
On several occasions, she recalled Jaynes being directly involved with initiatives near and dear to his heart.
One time, Gluck said, Jaynes spent a day in a wheel chair with Occupational Therapy Assistant program students, experiencing first-hand how disabled community members experience traversing the College’s campus. He later led initiatives to revamp Durham Tech’s ADA policies and implemented needed accommodations.
In another instance, Jaynes took public buses to Chapel Hill and back, to see the length and experience for students. He later forged the College’s partnership with GoTriangle to provide free bus passes to all Durham Tech students.
Jaynes brought that same passion and approach to boards and committees he served on in the community.
“When Tom spoke, he had done his homework,” Gluck said. “He was asking for a very specific request. You wanted his voice. Everyone knew that Tom was an advocate for services."
The white-bearded, soft-spoken Jaynes is renowned at Durham Tech for his Dumbledorian demeanor, unparalleled empathy, and unrelenting compassion for others.
Former President Bill Ingram, who promoted Jaynes to Vice President of Institutional Advancement and Support in 2013, said Jaynes brought the right combination of institutional knowledge, vision, and approach.
“I saw in Tom what everyone sees in Tom – he's an empathetic, compassionate, thoughtful person. He's a calming presence. He’s deeply loyal to the College and to the people of the College and the College's mission. He was an ideal person to serve in that role following (former Vice President) Wanda Maggart’s retirement.”
Ingram said Jaynes had an outsized impact at Durham Tech with focal points on campus access, equity and inclusion, and student services.
“The number of things that Tom has led – the number of initiatives that Tom has been central to - you think about the most important things that have happened at Durham Tech over the last five or 10 years, he's been in the middle of those things, leading those things,” Ingram said.
Barbara Baker, a retired former Vice President of Student Services at Durham Tech, said Jaynes was an advocate, not only for students, but for teaching colleagues about the importance for listening and understanding.
Baker said when Jaynes once worked with students facing challenging situations, he made it a mission to show empathy and demonstrate that need for others.
“Not only did he see the differences in those students and what they brought to the community, but he made us understand what those students brought to the community,” Baker said.
‘The power of listening’
For years, Jaynes had a vision of breaking away from the traditional community college split of curriculum and continuing education courses, marrying the College’s offerings together.
In leadership meetings, he used the scenario of a new student asking the simple question of where they could go to start the process of enrolling in the College, despite the litany of options and entry points for different students.
Jaynes wanted Durham Tech to be student-focused with one entry point for any student needs.
That dream began to be realized last year during the response to COVID-19 with the establishment of the Student Resources Center, which provided a one-stop location for student needs.
Whether short-term or long-term projects, Jaynes never shied away from pushing the College forward.
In 2017, he and Dr. Kara Battle began a multi-year effort to integrate continuing education and curriculum courses into seven Guided Career Pathways. The transition impacted every area of the College and put Durham Tech among a small group of North Carolina community colleges adopting the ambitious national pathways model.
“He’s been a mentor to me. He’s been an advisor to me. He’s been a friend. Durham Tech is a much better place because he was here,” Battle said. “Having been here through three presidents, he had such knowledge, but he has prepped us well for carrying on the work that he started.”
“You can’t do it alone. One of the first things you have to do is assess the landscape and figure out who are your champions. Do they agree or disagree with you? It begins with listening,” Jaynes said.
“You may have a sense of what the problem is, but you have to listen very deeply to a lot of different areas at the College in order to solve the problem. And when people have been heard, they’re very likely to be part of solving the problem together. I can’t understate the power of listening.”
As Jaynes wrapped up his last days in leadership of Durham Tech, former colleagues shared the same sense of professionalism, praise, and well-regard for the soft-spoken Jaynes.
“I can say that Tom's sense of fairness for his employees, his laid-back style, the ever twinkle in his eyes and his laugh were all a part of why Tom is so appreciated by so many people,” said Valerie Evans, retired and former Vice President of Student Engagement, Development, and Support.
In his last week, a student approached Jaynes in the College parking lot. She wanted to be admitted to the College and wanted to know where to go.
“Of course,” Jaynes said as he instructed her to the Student Resources Center in Building 10.
“It struck me,” he said after. “We had arrived. I have been able to say there is one place you can go to get assistance and start the process. That was significant to me.”
Contact Nathan Hardin, Director of Marketing and Communications, at hardinn@durhamtech.edu or call 919.998.9616.