Nov 20 2025
Dr. Robert Brandon was installed as New River Community College’s (NRCC) seventh president at an inauguration ceremony, “One Legacy, One Future,” on Friday, November 14 at the campus in Dublin.
The ceremony included remarks from William Cunningham, NRCC local board chair; Roy Worrell, NRCC staff; William Friedl, NRCC faculty; Montie Fleshman, NRCC faculty; Michael Watson, NRCC alumnus; Jessica Brown, NRCC student; Lorelei Gerow, NRCC student; Dr. David Doré, Virginia Community College System (VCCS) chancellor; Dr. Deborah Kennedy, NRCC Educational Foundation interim executive director; and Dr. Brandon.
“In the months I’ve spent listening and learning in this valley and at this college, I’ve found an institution defined by its values: people who work hard, people who are optimistic, and people who care for each other and their students. Those values are the soul of this college, and they are the reason I am proud to serve as your president,” said Dr. Brandon.
Other ceremony participants included the Old Pros Big Band Orchestra; Dr. Tammy Parks, professor of art and faculty assembly president; Scouts BSA Troop 158; Emily Brandon, President Brandon’s daughter; Radford Singers, Raford University; Dr. Graham Mitchell, retired NRCC professor; and Ryne Brandon, President Brandon’s son.
The event also included 31 college and university presidents and leaders from VCCS colleges and other four-year and two-year institutions across Virginia as well as North Carolina and Tennessee.
“I know Dr. Brandon will seek to enhance support services to help our diverse student body overcome barriers and achieve their educational goals,” said Dr. Doré. “I know that your new leader is honest, approachable, and a true collaborator. He wants nothing more than for students to be successful.”
Dr. Doré announced the appointment of Dr. Brandon on Oct. 24, 2024. Dr. Brandon began serving as NRCC’s seventh president on January 1, 2025. Inaugurations for institutions in the VCCS are held each time a new president is appointed, typically around a year into a presidency.
Prior to joining NRCC, Dr. Brandon was vice president of academic and student services at Southwest Virginia Community College in Richlands, Va. Previously, he served as dean of humanities, social sciences, and education at Cleveland State Community College in Cleveland, Tenn. From 2005 to 2013, he served as an associate professor of English at Rockingham Community College in Wentworth, N.C. where he also chaired both the English and student success departments. Before that, he began his career as a middle school English teacher in Bristol, Tenn.
Dr. Brandon earned a bachelor’s degree from Virginia Intermont College in Bristol, Va.; a master’s degree from East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tenn.; and a doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in Greensboro, N.C.
Dr. Brandon and his wife, Melissa, live in Pulaski County and have a teenage son and daughter, twins Ryne and Emily, and a basset hound named Hank. They enjoy baseball, travel, community service, and fellowship with friends and family.
Other inaugural festivities leading up to Friday’s ceremony included a student Pancakes with the President and tie-dye t-shirt event, a faculty/staff barbeque, and a donor appreciation breakfast where President Brandon provided a State of the College update. AccessU sponsored the post-inauguration reception.
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