Durham Technical Community College’s Abraham Dones talks equity, innovation and preparing students for success in today’s evolving higher education landscape
Abraham Dones, vice president and chief student services officer at Durham Technical Community College, is a steadfast advocate for equity and student success in higher education. He stepped into the role in 2022 after a nationwide search, bringing with him seven years of experience from his previous position as the college’s registrar and assistant dean of admissions, registration and records. This past summer, he was named one of just 40 leaders from across the country selected for the 2025-26 Aspen Rising Presidents Fellowship, a yearlong experience grounded in more than a dozen years of research from the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program about how to lead an institution to higher and more equitable levels of student success.
“When you look at some of the mentors and many of the networked professionals who are part of the Aspen Institute, there’s opportunity to gain greater insight from practitioners who are in the field, who are actually moving the work forward,” Abraham says. “I really felt like this was an opportunity for me to expand the network, get a greater sense of what it means to be a community college president and to really position myself to be at the top of my professional career when it comes to knowing the best strategies and having the insights on how to transform community colleges to be the great economic engines that they are.”
*responses have been edited for clarity and length
What skills and perspectives do you think the next generation of community college leaders must have?* One of the biggest shifts in the world is AI. How do we capitalize on the advancement of AI to be more timely with providing student support? And how do we become innovative with the financial resources needed to ensure student success?
Any college leader coming into this arena now needs to understand that education is transforming. Not only are we interested in providing access to students, we now need to create a connection between completing [their degrees] and starting their careers. [As leaders, we] … now need to be aware and research how the industry is evolving to make sure there’s that connection. It’s going to require leaders to be a little bit more mindful of not only what they are doing institutionally but how it connects to the greater overall ecosystem of where they are geographically located.
Community colleges are serving increasingly diverse student populations, many of whom are first-generation college students. How is Durham Tech adapting to meet their needs? We work toward demystifying the higher education complexities, especially for first-generation college students. Creating simpler language and more efficient processes where students know where they are in the trajectory of their admissions process, for example. And how do we leverage early success systems, early alert systems, and how do we then make sure that we have the right resources in place for us to respond to those specific needs for students? If I have a student who is facing some type of life circumstance – say, the electricity was just turned off – and this is a remote student who needs to join their classes virtually, how can we be sure that the student is then connected to somebody on campus to request support to get that bill paid so we can get them up and running? We are finding ways to ensure that students get what they need at the moment they need it – to either eliminate a barrier or to further enhance the experience of their engagement with us, which leads to academic success.
We’re trying to make sure that we have enough resources available to respond to those specific needs for students, that students are aware of where they need to go [and] who they need to contact. We’re utilizing and leveraging technology to communicate with this generation very differently than past generations. It used to be email that we could depend on; it’s now text messaging. We’ve had to adopt systems to help improve our ability to connect with students. Those are the types of things that we’re paying attention to when we talk about how we support students and why Durham Tech should be a go-to institution. We have a food pantry for our students that provides food and supplements for individuals and their families. There are a lot of ways we’re positioning ourselves to be a student-centered and student-serving institution that takes into consideration the whole student and not just the academic aspect.
How do you see anti-DEI legislation and changes in federal funding impacting the way colleges deliver support services to students? When you’re an open-door institution like Durham Tech, we don’t have an option of who comes through our doors. We accept every student. What becomes complex, when you think of anti-DEI work, or when it comes to the restriction of federal funding, is it creates challenges to ensuring that we’re providing students with what they need to be successful. First-generation college students [are a] population who comes with many diverse needs when it comes to enrolling, getting admitted, taking courses and graduating. When you start restricting certain populations that have a higher representation of that type of student, then you impact the overall institution. But when you improve or enhance the outcomes and the performance of a specific demographic of student – say, I’m receiving funding to support first-generation college students – it doesn’t just improve the outcome for that group of students; it shifts and transforms your institution as a whole [and] raises the overall quality of the institution.
A relatively recent New York Times article, “Trump Went to War With the Ivies. Community Colleges Are Being Hit,” featured Durham Tech and highlights community colleges as “workforce-development arms” of local economies. How is Durham Tech fulfilling that role in the Triangle region? I think Durham Tech is positioning itself in many different ways. No. 1, when you think of the programming that is offered at the college, there are really different constituents and segments of types of students who we serve. We have curriculum students, and we have continuing education students.
Many continuing education students are coming to us for several reasons. Some are coming to complete a high school credential – they started this journey a long time ago, and for whatever reason, it did not work out. Then you have students who are coming to either learn the English language or become proficient in a specific trade or skill. Those are the individuals who are coming to us because they have a greater interest in transitioning either into the workforce or advancing their careers in the workforce – they’re trying to capitalize on some skill set or some training that will advance them professionally. We also have other industry partners, where we are providing the training to maintain certifications [in areas like public safety and for police officers and firefighters]. We also are creating opportunities for students to advance or pursue continuing education options where it’s not a two-year, full-time commitment for an associate degree. Some of our programs are one day, some are weeklong, some are several months, and some programs are a year. But they do lead to certifications and meets demands from those in our business and industry sector who are asking us for trained and skilled workers within those disciplines.
Finally, our curriculum students are those coming for certificates, diplomas and degrees to then transition into some type of applied technology field; [they] are pursuing applied science associate degrees. And then we have university-transfer programs, which are students who are trying to pursue a baccalaureate degree, but they come to the community college because there are so many different benefits that come along with attending a community college, especially the economical factor, but also some of it has a lot to do with proximity of where they live and wanting to stay home and save some expenses of having to move away to a full university.
It has become a viable option for us to create and really focus everything we do on the end product, meaning that, once we graduate students from our programs, we want to make sure that they’re given livable wage jobs to improve their economic standings for themselves and their families, but also so they can contribute back to the community. We’re constantly thinking of how to create pathways for our students to come in, wherever they are, in any of those descriptions, and advance them as far as we can take them as it relates to their educational aspirations.
What unique programs or partnerships at Durham Tech are you most excited about for students entering the workforce in the next few years? One of the amazing programs that we have – and we have many – that really has piqued interest, especially in our area, is the life sciences program, our BULLS program. It focuses on young adults – high school students and recent graduates – trying to get them certifications in the life sciences field, because it’s such a demand right now, especially in the Research Triangle area. Environmental sciences, biotechnology arenas and lab technicians are really careers that lead to livable options for students. There are individuals entering these careers who could easily make $60,000 to $70,000 a year and then advance their careers over time by pursuing a higher level of degree or certification.
For teens considering college, what would you say are the biggest advantages of starting at a community college versus going directly to a four-year university? We have a dual-enrollment option for students in the state of North Carolina, where they can enroll in high school and be in college at the same time, and we offer those options with the Durham and Orange county school districts. Not only is the partnership unique, but it’s a completion agenda. It’s not just students coming to us taking a couple of classes. We’re trying to establish pathways for students to know exactly what they will be taking at any given time within their four years of high school at the college level, where their college coursework satisfies their high school credential requirements and also satisfies degree completion at the college. Students in our school districts, homeschool students and even charter school students in our service areas are able to graduate high school with a college degree. In fact, many students will graduate with a college degree before they graduate high school with their diploma. We also have pre-high school programming to try to expose students to what we offer.
For individuals who may have completed high school already, the economic factor is extremely beneficial, but also it’s in your backyard. The other thing that will draw students to us is, when we think of the community college system, we’re used to a commuter student population, which means our students are not residential. We position ourselves to ensure that the support and the services – the coaching that we provide our students, the advising – is one that is attentive and ensures that we are paying attention to the specific needs of students. Life circumstances happen, and what we try to ensure is that we’re removing the barriers of life circumstances so the students can maintain focus on their academics.
Affordability is often a deciding factor for students and families. What resources should they know about? Our students are eligible to pursue federal financial assistance, the FAFSA process. Within that, if you meet eligibility for Pell Grant because of your income level, then you’re at an advantage, because typically that money covers your tuition and your fees. Many times there’s a surplus left over that qualifies you for a refund, and it all depends on how many credits you’re taking per semester – there are some eligibility criteria. That extra financial resource helps with what you have going on in life. If you have to pay rent [or] bills, that refund typically goes toward that purpose. For many of our students, there are scholarships available as well, not only scholarships external to the institution, but our foundation has an [annual] scholarship for our students. Finally, you have state grants. If you are qualified for Next NC, it’s really a tuition-less option – I’m not going to say free, because you put time and effort into your education – for you where your college expenses are being covered in a way that you will not experience any out-of-pocket expenses..
The Aspen Institute research emphasizes ensuring graduates succeed in their next stage – whether in work or transferring to a four-year school. How is Durham Tech measuring and improving in that area? How does the college help students successfully transfer to top universities? We want to make sure that a student who comes to Durham Tech is in fact getting a certification degree that then allows them to transition into the workforce where they’re now positioned in a much better way to gain financially. Or coming back to college as a current employee, gaining a skill set and then having something in their pocket that allows them to advance when they return to employers.
We have advisory councils with our business and industry partners who come to us and say, “This is the trend in our profession. These are the skills that our students need.” Then we look at, “How do we take what the industry is demanding and pair it with what we offer? What are the learning outcomes for a specific class that can lead to this credential?” We work with our industry partners, with our educational institutions and even with our K-12 partners to see how we can continue to create pathways that are seamless for transfer or movement from one entity to the other.
The other piece of that is making sure that we’re providing career services to our students. How do we expand their portfolios? How do we build their networks of professionals? How do we get them in the spaces where they long to be, but somehow, someway, did not have the right resources to get there? We have many partnerships with our four-year universities, especially the public ones, but – by State Board of Community Colleges code – students who complete an associate degree at any community college in North Carolina are eligible to transfer to any of the 16 public universities and are guaranteed admission. That doesn’t mean that because you graduated from Durham Tech with an associate degree in the arts, that you’re guaranteed admission to UNC Chapel Hill. What it means is that, if I graduate from Durham Tech with an associate of arts degree, I now have admissions options to 16 public universities in North Carolina. Now, my academic rigor and my performance will determine what school I can get into. But one of them has to admit me. And all of my credits that I’ve earned at the community college to satisfy my degree at minimum will transfer and be counted as credits. [That] means I will be entering a four-year university, technically, as a junior versus a freshman.
We’ve created Transfer Pathways where, if you’re an English major interested in going into English at NC State or UNC or North Carolina Central University, we’re telling you which classes those universities are looking for you to have to satisfy the degree within that discipline. [The] transfer center supports our students [to] make sure that we are advising, counseling and providing the guidance they need to satisfy those universities’ requirements.
“We don’t just want you to come to Durham Tech. We want you to be successful, complete your degrees, and then we want to assist you in transitioning to the workforce and make sure you’re getting a job that provides value for what you’ve committed to in the time that you spent with us.”
Abraham Dones
Can you share a recent student success story that reflects Durham Tech’s mission to “connect the full range of talent to the full range of opportunities”? One in particular who comes to mind for me is we had a gentleman – who actually came to be one of our convocation speakers – share his story. He’s an adult learner (we use the criteria of 24 and older). We talked about how he believed he was not good at math, because earlier experiences were not favorable. But he reenrolled in college, completed his associate at Durham Tech and transferred to NC State to pursue a physics degree, which is not an easy feat.
We have other stories where students come to us, and they’re committed to building a skill. With the housing market and how things are evolving and developing here in the state of North Carolina, housing welders [are] making some really nice income as a career option. You have students who come, get to their coursework, and boom, they land jobs where they’re making a very comfortable income. There are countless stories of students who are accomplishing some great things, and I wish we could profile each individual one.
What do you see as the biggest opportunities for Durham Tech and other local colleges over the next five years? It’s happening right now. We have multimillion dollar capital campaign projects so we can grow our institution and have more offerings for these critical areas. We are building a life sciences building on our main campus, and a new health sciences building.
The other amazing opportunity is a collaboration among Duke University, Durham Public Schools and Durham Tech. We were awarded a Bloomberg [Philanthropies] grant close to $29 million to create the Durham Early College of Health Sciences. It’s the first of its kind for Durham Technical Community College, which is really trying to position itself in a way like never before. Students are pursuing disciplines within the health sciences such as nursing, clinical trials, surgical tech and medical assisting, because there’s the demand and need for those skilled workers in our service area, and this is a way that we can create a partnership to ensure that these students are being exposed to those disciplines. Not only that, but Duke has committed to accept a certain percentage of those students [as] employees once they graduate. So they’re being offered jobs directly from transitioning from their high school experience.
We’re [also] figuring out ways that we can expose these students to the clinical areas a lot earlier. If you look at state mandates, they require you to be 18 years or older. What Duke has done is create access to and expose [younger] students to this type of learning. It’s really a creative way [to] address needs but also position students very early on in careers that have really promising financial benefits and gains over time.
If you could speak directly to high school students and their parents right now, what would you want them to understand about the value of post-secondary education in today’s world? Make sure that you’re really understanding what it means to commit to a post-secondary education: the financial responsibilities, the academic rigor that comes along with it and the time commitment it takes to fulfill degrees.
I would encourage parents to understand how you align or pair [your child’s] interests with a future that’s promising for them. Sometimes that’s a little difficult, but there are ways to do it. For instance, take a student who may be interested in art. A parent might ask, “Well, you can be interested in art, but how is that going to lead to any type of career?” I’m hoping that families, when they’re having these discussions, don’t dim the light on that student’s interest, but instead become very innovative and understand that a student can pursue a degree in art, then they can become a business owner, or they can become an artist. Instead of closing doors, give them the option and explore what a discipline provides you. What skills does it prepare you with? And then, how are those skills flexible for you to possibly transfer them to a specific career. How does [this discipline] contribute to the greater overall ecosystem of the world, and how does it contribute to meeting workforce demands and business and industry needs? [At Durham Tech], we’re trying to make sure that what we offer is meaningful, that it has value, that it has potential and that it has promise to ensure that a student is going to be better off than they were when they started.
Anything else you would like to share that might be of interest to parents of teens or teens looking for post-secondary opportunities? Durham Tech should be the first choice institution when it comes to higher education. We’re working toward that, and we believe that the shift is changing. We love the fact that, not only locally, but nationally, people understand the importance of the community college system. We are the economic engines of our community. We are the institutions that make things happen for so many different individuals, the families and the community overall. And we are able to not only create opportunities and advance individuals to accomplish their goals and dreams but also create an ecosystem of individuals for our communities who then contribute back.
What’s fascinating about our community colleges, and Durham Tech in particular, is we’re able to get students to pursue or complete their high school credential degrees; we can get a student to build upon and enhance a specific skill or training that they want to either elevate or something brand-new that they would like to pursue; and then we can create opportunities for students who would like to pursue a two-year degree and then transfer to a university to pursue their bachelor’s degree. That makes us unique in itself, but that makes us such a vital and important role in the education system overall. When you think about the state having a completion agenda of 2 million skilled workforce employees by 2030, community colleges are such an important part of that.
I just think we’re a hidden gem, and the more people get to know who we are and get to know what we do, the better off we will be at not only being the first choice institution, but also committing to the success of our students. – as told to Alison Grau
