New Greenville Tech President Aims to Sustain Growth and Momentum

Larry Miller officially took over as president of Greenville Technical College on July 1. 

For the past five years, Miller served as the vice president of learning and workforce development at the college. He was selected to succeed former president Keith Miller by the Greenville Technical College Area Commission in March. Despite a shared last name, the current and previous presidents are not related. 

Some of Miller’s top priorities as the college’s third president include increasing student enrollment, enhancing workforce development, creating innovative facilities, strengthening the college’s partnerships, and supporting faculty and staff. 

“I’m really excited about the momentum that the college already has going for it, and I want to just build on that momentum and continue to grow,” Miller said.

Student enrollment

Greenville Technical College continues to see strong student enrollment. Miller said the college’s enrollment is up 8% this summer and is trending toward an increase for the fall 2025 semester. 

One of Miller’s priorities is to continue to grow the college’s dual-enrollment program. Greenville Technical College partners with Greenville County Schools to offer students the opportunity to earn college credit while in high school. 

In his previous role, Miller helped expand the college’s dual-enrollment program to serve more than 3,000 high school students. He now hopes to see more dual enrollment in the college’s career and technical education programs.

“We’ve just renovated our HVAC and industrial electricity labs. We’ve been working on that for about the past eight months, and those will open for the fall term,” Miller said. “Those are example programs that I’d like to see more dual-enrolled students take part in, especially students who might be considering going right into the workforce after they graduate from high school.”

Workforce development

Workforce development remains a top priority for Miller. He aims to continue increasing the talent pipeline for high-demand fields by scaling up the college’s health care, advanced manufacturing and logistics programs.  

To understand the industries’ needs, the college has an industry advisory board and maintains strong ties with local economic-development organizations. Miller serves on the board for the Greenville Area Development Corp. and the Greenville Chamber of Commerce. It allows him to learn about companies that are expanding or relocating to the area, sometimes two to three years in advance. 

“We can’t do what we do without good partners, and so definitely strengthening our current partnerships is one of the priorities that I’ll have in my first year in office.” – Larry Miller, Greenville Technical College president

“That gives me a lot of lead time and gives us information as an institution to make sure that we have the programs in place, the capacity and the quality of graduates that those employers are going to need three to five years from now,” Miller said. 

Miller said Isuzu North America Corp. has partnered with Greenville Technical College to help train its future workforce in Greenville County. The commercial vehicle supplier will open a temporary manufacturing line at one of the college’s satellite campuses. The commercial vehicle supplier announced plans in February to establish a $280 million production facility in Greenville by 2027, creating 700 new jobs. 

Innovative facilities

Greenville Technical College will continue to create new industry-aligned facilities under Miller’s leadership. The college opened its Prisma Health Center for Health and Life Sciences in August 2024 and is building a new Center for Welding and Automation Excellence. The new facility in Simpsonville aims to address the ongoing workforce shortage of welding technicians. 

“We’ve developed a center-based approach for new facilities,” Miller said. “It really starts with what our workforce, industry and partners need. So we always start with that in mind, and then we work backwards and design the facility and the academic programs to support it.”

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Miller announced plans for a new Center for Industrial Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence at Greenville Technical College. He said the new facility will teach students the skills to protect factories against cyberattacks and how to use AI technology to anticipate maintenance needs in advanced-manufacturing sites. 

The college secured state funding to renovate the Willie B. McMahand Engineering Technologies building on the college’s Barton Campus in Greenville into the new center. Miller said they expect to break ground on the project within the next 12 months.

Stakeholder engagement

During his first 100 days in office, Miller said he will hold a series of listening sessions to gain feedback from the college’s various stakeholders, including students, faculty, industry partners, elected officials and others.  

Miller said he will develop an action plan based on the feedback. The action plan will outline ways to build on the college’s strengths, create strategies to address challenges and take advantage of new opportunities identified from stakeholder conversations. Miller also plans to assess Greenville Technical College’s strategic partnerships and continue to communicate the college’s expectations for its top-tier partners.

“We can’t do what we do without good partners, and so definitely strengthening our current partnerships is one of the priorities that I’ll have in my first year in office,” Miller said.

Through the listening sessions, Miller will also identify the needs of the college’s faculty and staff. Miller said he wants to enhance employee engagement at Greenville Technical College and will roll out plans this year to ensure that happens. 

“My goal is to have a happy, engaged and healthy workforce,” Miller said. “We’ve got to have faculty who are highly engaged and have everything they need to serve our students.”