Celebrating Frank Friedman’s 20-year Commitment to PVCC
Callan Shore, assistant editor
Most students know that Frank Friedman is the president of PVCC, but they may not know that he has been leading the college for 20 years and juggles many other responsibilities as well. As a result of his hard work and the 42 years he has spent in community colleges, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges recently delivered the 2018 Carol Luthman Meritorious Service Award to President Friedman.
He received this award due to his dedication to not only PVCC, but also for the years he spent on college accreditation boards and as the executive vice president of Austin Community College in Texas. At PVCC, he is responsible for over 100 faculty and staff, an average of 5,500 students, and about 24 million dollars. Friedman is also responsible to the governor of Virginia.
“It’s a diverse job; obviously I don’t handle everything, but ultimately, I’m responsible,” said Friedman.
On a daily basis, his main role is to take PVCC to the external community, often in order to get funding, and also to take ideas back to PVCC.
“The governor will tell me what he needs, or UVA will say they need more people in one department, and then we’ll make changes based on that feedback,” said Friedman.
President Friedman has also been acknowledged by Who’s Who in American Education, a dictionary of notable U.S. educators and is a Phi Beta Kappa scholar. Despite these accolades, he said he was “surprised to win the Carol Luthman Award.”
After working at Austin Community College, he felt ready for presidency and moved to Virginia to work at PVCC. He said, “PVCC is special mainly because of the outstanding faculty and staff and their commitment to excellence.”
Friedman can understand and relate to students better because of his own college career. After earning a bachelor’s degree from Muhlenberg College, he went on to get a master’s degree in experimental psychology from Purdue University.
Friedman says he originally wanted to teach, but he fell in love with the open and accepting nature of Community Colleges, so he decided to work in administration.
