LILLINGTON — North Carolina Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, a long-time leader in education and economic development, will visit Central Carolina Community College’s Harnett County Campus April 28.

Dalton, who serves on the State Board of Community Colleges, will speak briefly on the future of community colleges and then hold a question and answer session. Following that, he will be given a tour of the campus and some of its programs.

The public is invited to the event, which starts at 3 p.m. in the Miriello Building Multipurpose Room at the campus, 1075 E. Cornelius Harnett Blvd. (Highway 421), in Lillington.

Dalton is a strong advocate of the partnership of education and business as a tool for the state’s economic development and for improving the quality of life of all North Carolinians.

“I was pleased to be invited and look forward to visiting the Harnett County Campus and speaking with the students,” Dalton said. “North Carolina is privileged to have the best community college system in the nation and, more than ever, we must protect these critical institutions that are training our citizens for 21st century jobs.”

Central Carolina Community College serves residents of Chatham, Harnett and Lee counties. The Harnett County Campus, West Harnett Center, and other educational facilities in Harnett are a driving force in workforce and economic development in Harnett County, according to Bill Tyson, the college’s Harnett provost since 2003.

The college is part of the Fort Bragg Regional Alliance, which deals with the challenges and opportunities created by the U.S. Department of Defense’s Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) initiative in the 11 counties surrounding Fort Bragg. Under BRAC, the U.S. Army Forces Command and Reserve Command from Fort McPherson, Ga., have been moved to Bragg. More than 20,000 new military and base-related civilian personnel are expected to move into the area. That will impact CCCC, particularly in Harnett County where many military and civilian families are relocating.

In addition to this military-based expansion, the college in Harnett is also responding to the challenges of an increase in displaced workers returning to school to train for new careers, more university-bound students taking their first two years of schooling at the community college, and the increase in enrollment due to general county population growth. The challenges CCCC-Harnett faces typify those confronting most of the community colleges across the state.

“CCCC-Harnett is an excellent setting for Lt. Gov. Dalton to address the future of community colleges,” Tyson said. “We are delighted to have him visit our campus and see what we are doing to educate the people in our area for the future."