A-B Tech Community College Renames Library in Honor of Dr. Don C. Locke

Dr. Don C. Locke, Ph.D.
Dr. Don C. Locke, Ph.D.

Locke has also been honored with the Order of the Long Leaf Pine by the State of North Carolina.

The A-B Tech Board of Trustees unanimously approved a resolution at its June 6 meeting to rename the college’s Holly Library in honor of fellow trustee Dr. Don C. Locke, a noted educator, author, and community leader.

“This is a fitting tribute for a man who has devoted his career to education, the written word, and public service,” said A-B Tech President Dennis King. “Dr. Locke also has been a valued board member who has contributed greatly to the college as a trustee, community advocate and mentor for our students.”

The Don C. Locke Library, located on the college’s main campus in Asheville, will be dedicated at a future date and will feature a collection of books written by Dr. Locke. During his distinguished career, Dr. Locke authored or co-authored more than 100 publications. His 1992 book, Increasing Multicultural Understanding, was a Sage Publications Best Seller. His co-authored book, Culture and Diversity Issues in Counseling, was published in 1996. He also co-edited The Handbook of Counseling, published in 2001.

A-B Tech’s Holly Library will be renamed in honor of fellow trustee Dr. Don C. Locke, a noted educator, author, and community leader.
A-B Tech’s Holly Library will be renamed in honor of fellow trustee Dr. Don C. Locke, a noted educator, author, and community leader.

“I am so grateful and honored to know that my name will be on the Holly Library at A-B Technical Community College and to have received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine Award from the State of North Carolina,” said Dr. Locke. “I have spent my career working to improve education and opportunities for women and the ethnically diverse. To receive two such prestigious acknowledgements in one week has been overwhelming,” Dr. Locke concluded.

Before coming to the Asheville area, Dr. Locke was Professor and Head of the Department of Counselor Education at NC State University in Raleigh. In July 1993 he was appointed Director of Diversity and Multiculturalism at UNC Asheville. He was also named Distinguished Professor Emeritus at NC State University. Upon his retirement from UNC Asheville in July 2007, he became Director of the Asheville Graduate Center and of the NC State University doctoral program in Adult and Community College Education housed there.

Among his professional awards are the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision in 2014. The same organization named its mentoring award in his honor in 2014.

He was presented with the 2015 community service award by the Martin Luther King Association of Asheville and Buncombe County. He also received the 2015 Leadership Asheville Community Trustee Award from Leadership Asheville.

Dr. Locke was appointed to the A-B Tech Board of Trustees by the Boards of Education on July 1, 2010, and currently serves as its Vice Chair. Dr. Locke is a member of Emmanuel Lutheran Church. He is a life member of the American Counseling Association, the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision, Alpha Phi Alpha, the NAACP, and the YMI Cultural Center. He is a member of the Buncombe County Health and Human Services Board, and a former member of the Pisgah Legal Services Board. He and his wife, Marjorie, live in Weaverville, NC, and are the proud parents of two beautiful daughters Tonya and Regina.