Plans for Randolph Community College call for an expansion of its current facilities and the purchase of a 22-acre property in Liberty, North Carolina.

What You Need To Know

  • The expansion will happen in the next couple of years

  • Shah Ardalan was appointed president of Randolph Community College (RCC) in June 2023

  • The property in Liberty is in the due diligence period, with other approval processes in motion

  • The campus won’t be far from the new Toyota manufacturing site, which will give students job opportunities nearby

The property in Liberty will focus on workforce development and expansion. Additionally, it won’t be far from the new Toyota manufacturing site, which will give students the opportunity to work within the community.

“We want to be where the action is,” said Shah Ardalan, president of RCC.“We want to be where the action is,” said Shah Ardalan, president of RCC. “The more you think about the college, you need to have a presence because Liberty is going to grow and the college should be a part of it. This community needs a college, and the college needs them.”

The expansion of RCC’s campus makes Ardalan proud.

“Community colleges are the strongest engine of prosperity and workforce development,” Ardalan said. “With all the growth that is happening, it makes perfect sense for us to have a presence.”

He says this presence will allow students to be ready to join the job force.  

“Helping the students to achieve their goals and dreams. That’s the most rewarding part of any presidency, and that’s what I have signed up for,” Aradalan said.

The new campus in Liberty will give new opportunities in Randolph County.

“If students want to do an internship or anything with the industry, they’ll be right there in the same location,” he said. “We’re going to have the opportunity to offer more degrees depending on those partnerships and other industries that are going to move to the area.”



Ardalan says they have students whose ages range from 17 to 70. But no matter the age, the possibilities are the same.

Griffin Ginther, a student mechanist, chose to attend RCC for the opportunities that would be possible for him. 

“Here I feel like I have a better chance of getting into a career that really will help me in the future and with my further aspirations,” said Ginther, who is in his second year at the college.

The hands-on training, he says, has really prepared him more than anything.