By Neil Offen
noffen@heraldsun.com; 419-6646
DURHAM -- The director of the Peace Corps will be the commencement speaker at Durham Tech this year.
The school -- which will graduate around 500 students at its May 19 ceremonies -- was able to snag Aaron Williams because the head of the agency that sends American volunteers around the globe has local connections.
Before being named the 18th leader of the Peace Corps last year, Williams was vice president for international business development at RTI International, working out of the RTP-based research agency's Washington office.
Wanda Maggart, Durham Tech's senior vice president for institutional advancement, ran into him at several functions.
"On a number of occasions, I talked with him about the daily work we do at Durham Technical Community College and the impact our instructors and staff have on the 26,000 students we serve each year -- much like the international development work that he and RTI International are involved in," Maggart said.
She attended Williams' swearing in as the director of the Peace Corps last August.
"I asked him then if he would consider being Durham Tech's commencement speaker," Maggert recalled. "He accepted that informal invitation on the spot."
She worried, though, that Williams' busy schedule would not allow to actually come to the commencement exercises.
"But he put it on his calendar and has now formally accepted the college's invitation to speak," Maggert said. "I am so excited to hear the message he will bring, not just because of his new position, but because he is one of the most genuine individuals I have ever met and has dedicated his life to making our world a better place."
Before RTI, Williams -- only the fourth veteran of the Peace Corps to serve as the agency's leader -- was a senior manager with USAID and led the agency's billion-dollar foreign assistance program in South Africa during Nelson Mandela's administration.
He's a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and once served on the board of directors of CARE and as an adviser to President Obama's transition team.
The Durham Tech commencement will this year for the second consecutive time be in the Durham Performing Arts Center. "We had a very good experience there last year," said Tom Russo, coordinator of career services at the school, who oversees the graduation ceremony. "We're really pleased to be going back there."
