Dr. DeSandra Washington, Associate Vice President for Academic Support at FTCC
Dr. DeSandra Washington of Fayetteville Technical Community College has been selected for the 2020-2022 class of the William C. Friday Fellowship for Human Relations.
Washington is Associate Vice President for Academic Support in the Academic and Student Services Division at FTCC.
The William C. Friday Fellowship is a competitive statewide program of intensive leadership training that seeks to transform communities by improving human relations. Fewer than 30 people from across North Carolina are named to each two-year class. Washington is one of 24 members of the new class, which will be the 11th since the program began in 1995.
Washington said she is honored by the selection. “I am looking forward to collaborative efforts and dialogues on improving human relations, with the other 23 fellows, on the lives of all North Carolinians,” she said.
Washington has been with FTCC since 1998. A native of Fayetteville and a graduate of E.E. Smith High School, she holds a master’s degree from N.C. Central University and a doctorate in educational leadership from Fayetteville State University.
Washington is a mentor to several young men and women. Her community involvement also includes volunteering with the United Way of Cumberland County, The Links, Inc., and the HBCU Initiative. She sits on the board of the Greater Spring Lake Chamber of Commerce, participates in The Household of Faith World Outreach Center, and is a member of the Omega Kappa Omega Chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.
Washington told the Fellowship program that her mantra – “do no harm” – has never meant more to her than now.
The new class of Friday Fellows will begin meeting in October and members will focus individually and as a cohort on using stories and objects to question, examine, and transform the places that people inherit and inhabit in the world. The program says the Fellows “will build on their innate curiosity, courage, creativity, and connectivity to nurture relationships capable of transforming North Carolinians and their communities.”
The free program includes six four-day development seminars, as well as guided practices before and after each seminar weekend. The Friday Fellowship is the flagship program of Wildacres Leadership Initiative.
Previous Friday Fellows include Dr. Mark Sorrells, the Senior Vice President for Academic and Student Services at FTCC. Sorrells was a member of the class of 1999.
For more information about the Friday Fellowship program, please visit fridayfellowship.org.
