On the eve of what she calls “the best day of the year,” Ava Parker has a twinkle in her eyes. That’s because within 24 hours, nearly 2,500 students will have the opportunity to walk across the stage at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach to receive their degrees and certificates from Palm Beach State College (PBSC) at its spring commencement ceremony. And, as the academic institution’s president, Parker beams with pride.
“I am able to see the culmination of the work that we’ve put in together,” Parker says of the graduates, some of whom are the first in their families to receive a post–high school degree. “These students are better now than they were before enrolling here.”
Sitting in the second-floor conference room of PBSC’s Lake Worth Beach campus—one of five across the county—Parker is reflective on her 10-year career as the college’s president. She has built on PBSC’s status as the state’s first public community college, one that offers more than 160 programs of study, including associate and bachelor’s degrees.
With a vision that emphasizes innovation, student success, and business and community connections, Parker is introducing a new $50 million Dental and Medical Services Technology Building this year. The four-story, 83,500-square-foot building will be equipped with a dental clinic, surgical technology suite, and science labs.
Another recent watershed moment was the school’s selection as the exclusive home of Tomorrow’s Golf League, better known as TGL. Co-founded by golfing greats Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy along with sports executive Mike McCarley, TGL is an innovative golf league centered around a state-of-the-art indoor simulator and course. It is housed at the SoFi Center at PBSC’s Palm Beach Gardens campus, where students have access to internships and career development opportunities.
Parker’s own academic career includes both a bachelor’s in journalism and a law degree from the University of Florida. She practiced law for 25 years, and her Jacksonville-based law firm served as general counsel for Edward Waters College, which gave Parker an initial taste of higher education. She later served as executive vice president and chief operating officer at Florida Polytechnic University, as well as on the inaugural board of trustees for the University of Central Florida and on the Florida Board of Governors of the State University System.
When asked what drew her to academia, Parker says, “Education is one of the few vestiges in our country where you are forced to be with people who don’t look like you. It is where people who are different will find a way to get along. And we have a responsibility to continue it.”
Parker says her first decade as president of PBSC has passed by in a blur. She sees the next 10 years as an opportunity to continue growing the region’s skilled workforce. “This job may be difficult to do, but it’s something that I can do. And it’s something I want to do. You want people to feel like you are making a difference.”
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