Dr. Vivian Blevins to give SKCTC commencement address

Revered educator Dr. Vivian B. Blevins, a Harlan County native and a former president of Southeast Kentucky Community amp; Technical College, will be returning home as she will deliver the commencement address to the 2011 graduating class.

The event, which will feature the awarding of degrees and diplomas to the class numbering over 350 individuals, will be held Friday, May 6 in the gymnasium at Harlan County High School beginning at 6 p.m.

Members of the graduating class are enrolled at each of the schools five, full-service campuses located at Harlan, Cumberland, Whitesburg, Pineville and Middlesboro.

Dr. Blevins, who served Southeast as its president from 1983 to 1986, was the first female to lead a Kentucky community college. The college at that time was affiliated with the University of Kentucky. After leaving Southeast, she served as the president of Lee College in Texas and later she would serve as chancellor of Rancho Santiago College in California and as chancellor of St. Louis Community College in Missouri. Presently, she is on the faculty of Edison Community College in Piqua, Ohio, teaching classes in ethics and literature. She also markets the colleges successful Travel Abroad Program.