Remarks on the Occasion of the Visit from Vice President Kamala Harris

On behalf of our Board of Trustees and the outstanding community of faculty, staff and students, I’m pleased to welcome you to Durham Technical Community College.

Vice President Harris and Secretary Walsh, we are especially gratified to welcome you to Durham Tech during our year-long celebration of our 60th anniversary. In this anniversary year, we recall that we were founded on the promise of providing access to the education and training needed to succeed amidst changing economic times. When industries like tobacco and textiles were being joined by information technology, advanced manufacturing and medicine.

Through the decades, this College – serving Durham and Orange counties – has innovated and partnered to respond to the community, workforce, and economic development needs of this region – and ensure a skilled and diverse talent pipeline.

In 2022, with tens of thousands of new jobs and new industry sectors calling Durham and the Research Triangle home, Durham Tech is committed to be a gateway to great universities and a pathway to opportunity in areas like health care and the life sciences, information technology and the skilled trades.

Now as ever we are resolved to make good on that promise.

At Durham Tech, we are thankful that the Vice President of the United States and the nation’s Labor Secretary would come to Durham and our campus to highlight the importance of community colleges, apprenticeships, and partnerships among community institutions and organizations to connect people to good jobs, great careers, and social and economic mobility.

Thank you.

- Durham Tech President J.B. Buxton