Creating Community College Leaders
The Center was named in honor of Dr. Bill J. Priest, the founding Chancellor of the Dallas County Community College District and the inspiration for the Bill J. Priest Center at UNT. Dr. Priest served as Chancellor from 1965 to 1981. He is credited with building the community college system in Dallas. Today, the DCCCD is comprised of seven different colleges located throughout Dallas County, the R. Jan LeCroy Center for Educational Telecommunications, and various centers across Dallas County.
In addition to being the founding chancellor of DCCCD, Dr. Priest held leadership positions in a number of national community college initiatives including:
- Serving as a founder of the League for Innovation in the Community College
- President of the American Association of Community Colleges
- Chairman of the American Council on Education
Although the community college was a major part of Dr. Priest's life, he also has had a lifelong love of baseball. He played professional baseball (a pitcher) and was inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame at the University of California at Berkeley. Additionally, he served his country as an intelligence officer for the United States Navy in the Philippines and postwar Japan.
He is a man loved and respected by people nationally who have benefited from his commitment to the community college movement and to the students the community college serves. Dr. Priest was born September 23, 1917 and died December 31, 2014.
To watch a tribute to Bill J. Priest by the Dallas County Community College District, visit: https://www.dcccd.edu/AU/WhoWeAre/History/Pages/Bill-Priest-Tribute.aspx