Heart work: Christine Kelly-Kleese retires after 32 years at Durham Tech

In 1993, Christine Kelly-Kleese walked onto Durham Tech’s campus to interview for her dream job of establishing a learning center at the College.

As she walked into her interview at Durham Tech, Bonnie Stone was the first person that Kelly-Kleese saw.

“There were nine people around the table when I walked into the conference room,” Kelly-Kleese said. “What I didn’t know was that Bonnie came into the room before I arrived and told all of them, ‘We found her.’”

Kelly-Kleese was hired as coordinator/instructor for the Campus Learning Center.

“You know when you are on your path, when you are doing what you are supposed to be doing in the place you are supposed to be,” Kelly-Kleese said. “I felt that way when I was in grad school at UNC and I felt that way when I walked on the Durham Tech campus.”

Kelly-Kleese served as coordinator/instructor in the Campus Learning Center for three years before accepting the role of program director in 1996, followed by other roles at the College that included assistant dean, dean, and vice president.  

Kelly-Kleese remembers her time as associate dean, then dean in Developmental Education as a favorite.

“We had the most incredible faculty,” she said. “They were really something. For every one of them, it was their passion. They cared about each other.”

Under her leadership, the Developmental Education team earned two major awards. In 2005, they earned the National Center for Advanced Development in Education’s Most Outstanding Developmental Program in North Carolina. In 2006, the program received the National Association of Developmental Education John Champaign Memorial Award for outstanding developmental program in the United States.

Kelly-Kleese became vice president of student engagement, development and support in August 2015.

Durham Tech President J.B. Buxton then moved Kelly-Kleese into the position of chief strategy officer, her final role at the College.

“I learned to love the strategy role,” Kelly-Kleese said. “I did at one point mention to J.B. that I was upset when the shift happened, but that he was right. It was the next step for me, and it was also energizing to learn a different role and do different work. I shifted my years of experience and knowledge into a new way to serve the College.”

In her final position, Kelly-Kleese guided the College through accreditation. She refined the process and ensured that when she retired, it would be a clear path for the next person at the College who would be responsible for accreditation.

"When I came to Durham Tech three years ago, the accreditation process was a huge beast, but Christine walked us through it step by step,” said Jen Servi-Roberts, assistant vice president of Academics and Guided Career Pathways. Servi-Roberts has taken over responsibility for accreditation since Kelly-Kleese's retirement. “I learned so much from her. She is dedicated to the work. I think it is in her soul. She is invested in doing it right and doing it well.”

Kelly-Kleese said accreditation wasn’t where she had the biggest impact but instead the students she has mentored and made special connections with.

“There have been so many students,” Kelly-Kleese said. “Of those there were probably 20 that I was their person when they were here, and we stayed connected. That matters.”

Kelly-Kleese and her late husband, Tony Kleese, ensured her impact on students would always be a part of Durham Tech.

It was during Tony’s battle with cancer that friends came together to donate money to fund a scholarship at Durham Tech that would be presented annually to the College’s Dallas Herring Award nominee.

The Kelly-Kleese Resilience Scholarship increased from $1,000 to $2,000 upon her retirement.  

While Kelly-Kleese worked in service for students, she also was a strong advocate for her colleagues.

“Finding one word to describe her is tough, but I’ll go with passionate,” said Tom Jaynes, who retired as former executive vice president at Durham Tech in 2021 and is a friend of Kelly-Kleese. “Passionate about students, but also about Durham Tech employees. We would get into good natured arguments, and she would say, ‘This works for students, but how does it affect employees?’ She searched for this balance.”

Friend and former colleague Penny Gluck agreed.

“In all my years being a friend and colleague of Christine’s, it is hard to capture the essence of her impact. ... Certainly, caring about students and her co-workers comes to mind, but her resilience and dedication earned her genuine respect at the College and beyond.”

Kelly-Kleese is proud of her work at Durham Tech and looks forward to the College’s future as she begins her next chapter.  

“It’s not a little thing I will miss, it’s a big thing,” Kelly-Kleese said. “It’s being a part of the promise that education can change lives. We are poised at Durham Tech, under J.B.’s leadership, to deliver on that promise in ways we haven’t before and that makes my heart full.”