Southside Virginia Community College (SVCC) will hold a commencement ceremony for its graduates on Saturday, May 11 at the Joan Perry Brock Center, located on the campus of Longwood University in Farmville. 

The commencement ceremony will be held indoors beginning at 9:30 a.m. Graduates and their families are invited to attend and tickets are required. 

“We are excited to host our commencement ceremony inside the beautiful state-of-the-art Joan Perry Brock Center on Longwood University’s campus,” said Dr. Quentin R. Johnson, SVCC President. “Commencement is always a special event as we celebrate the accomplishments of our students. I am very honored and excited to shake the hands of our deserving graduates as they walk across the stage.” 

SVCC will welcome Chadwick S. Dotson, retired Judge and Director of the Virginia Department of Corrections, as this year’s commencement speaker. 

Chadwick Dotson received his B.A. from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, and his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. After a short stint in private practice, Dotson was elected in 2003 as the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Wise County and the City of Norton. While serving as Commonwealth’s Attorney, he was appointed as a Special Assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia. 

In 2007, Dotson was elected by the Virginia General Assembly to the General District Court bench, and he was elevated to the Circuit Court bench in 2011 (and reappointed in 2019). He served as the Chief Judge of the 30th Judicial Circuit and presided over the Circuit’s Recovery Court program for the entirety of his tenure on the Circuit bench. In addition, Judge Dotson served a term on the State Drug Court Advisory Board, appointed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia. 

After retiring from the bench, Dotson served as Dean of Students and Distinguished Professor of Law at the Appalachian School of Law where he taught constitutional law, criminal law, and criminal procedure. 

In 2022, Governor Glenn Youngkin appointed Dotson to serve as the Chairman of the Virginia Parole Board (VPB). He served as the agency head of VPB until September 2023, when the Governor appointed him as the Director of the Virginia Department of Corrections.