Dr. Gregory Little, president of Midlands Technical College, was the Lexington Chamber’s September Business over Breakfast guest speaker.

Little, who was elected as the seventh president of Midlands Tech earlier this year, spoke about the college’s successes across Lexington, Richland and Fairfield counties amid its 50th year serving locals.

According to earlier reporting from the Chronicle, Little was most recently the acting executive director and president of the S.C. Commission on Higher Education, according to a release from MTC, but before that, he held roles as vice president for strategic partnerships and innovation for the S.C. Technical College System, and was also superintendent for Mount Airy City Schools in North Carolina and was well-known to Lexington locals as superintendent of Lexington County School District One.

Little replaced former MTC president Ronald Rhames on July 1. Rhames announced his 2024 retirement in August 2023, according to a release from the college.

Rhames had been a part of MTC for over 35 years with two years as a student and 33 years as an employee, which includes eight years as the MTC president.

Two scholarships were announced for two Lexington County high school graduates starting their undergraduate degrees at Midlands Tech.

Here are some statistics Little shared during the event:

• There are over 88,000 Midlands Tech alumni
• MTC serves over 23,000 students annually
• There are over 12,600 academic and dual-enrollment students
• There are over 11,100 corporate and continuing education students
• 36% of students are male
• 64% of students are female
• The average age of students is 25
• 25% of students are full-time students while 75% of students are part-time students
• There are over 150 degrees, diplomas and certificate programs offered in eight schools of study
• Midlands Tech has a $1 billion annual economic impact in the Central Midlands
• 99% of graduates are employed or continuing their educations within six months of graduation from MTC
• The majority of students stay in the Midlands after graduation

Midlands Technical College is the product of three separate entities merging together in 1974.

“On March 21, 1973, the Columbia Technical Education Center, Midlands Technical Education Center and Palmer College in Columbia merged to form a single, multi-campus college,” according to midlandstech.edu. “This new college operated as three separate entities governed by one local commission through June 1974. On July 1 of that year, the three separate institutions merged to form Midlands Technical College under the guidance of the Richland-Lexington Counties Commission for Technical Education.”