Dr. Betty Hope Adams is a South Boston, Virginia native who has happily returned home to Halifax County. Dr. Adams left the County to follow career opportunities in North Carolina shortly after graduating from Radford University in 1981 with a Bachelor of Science degree.  Dr. Adams continued her academic pursuits in NC earning a Master of Business Administration degree in 1988 from East Carolina University (Greenville, NC) and a Doctorate of Education degree in 2002 from North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC). 

Career highlights

With twenty-five years experience developing, implementing, managing, and evaluating adult learner programs in private and public sectors, Dr. Adams’ career experiences include successful tenures within retail service, private college, regional state university, and community college settings. Career highlights include the following:

Employment vitae
1981-1988
Dr. Adams has held a variety of leadership, teaching, and educational administration positions. From 1981 to 1986, she held the positions of unit manager, multi-unit supervisor, and regional training director with two national food service retailers. As an ECU MBA student from 1986 through 1988, she worked as a full time graduate teaching assistant in the marketing department. Upon receiving her Masters in Business Administration, Dr. Adams pursued a career in higher education, accepting a 1988 appointment as visiting assistant professor of
business at North Carolina Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount, NC.

1989-Present

In 1989, Dr. Adams was recruited to serve as Associate Dean of the ECU Professional Programs Division, a position she held until 1994 before transferring to the North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS) and commencing doctoral studies at North Carolina State University. Hired in 1994 as the Assistant to the Vice President of Curriculum Services at Wake Technical Community College in Raleigh, North Carolina, Dr. Adams was later promoted to Assistant to the President for Institutional Effectiveness, Planning, and Research. In 1997, she was recruited by Edgecombe Community College (ECC) in Tarboro, North Carolina, where she served as the Director of Institutional Effectiveness until 2005. Dr. Adams left ECC to lead planning and effectiveness efforts at the state level, serving as Director of Strategic Planning and Initiatives for NCCCS until accepting her current position as SVHEC Executive Director.

Professional affiliations

Family
Dr. Adams is the proud daughter of William S. Adams, Sr. of South Boston, Virginia and Virginia M. Yeaman of Accomac, Virginia and is the grateful niece of O. Tuck Adams of Richmond, Virginia.