The North Carolina State Board of Community Colleges presented Dr. Kai Wang, Wake Tech Senior Dean of Strategic Innovations, with the Staff Person of the Year award. The presentation was made at the Board’s monthly meeting at the NC Community College System office.

Dr. Wang joined Wake Tech in 2002 as an adjunct instructor and went on to serve as a department head and as dean of special projects. In his role as Senior Dean of Strategic Innovations, he furthers Wake Tech’s mission by improving existing programs and services while launching new ideas and turning them into projects with real impact.

Dr. Wang also serves as Chief Campus Officer for Wake Tech’s “virtual campus,” Wake Tech Online, enhancing and strengthening the college’s growing array of online courses and programs. Wake Tech serves more online students than any community college in the state, and was recently ranked number one in the nation for online community colleges by bestvalueschools.com.

In 2006, he was a driving force in the creation of Wake Tech's Simulation and Game Development program, obtaining a $900,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to support its development. The program now trains more than 300 students a year for high-tech jobs in Research Triangle Park and the video game industry.

Dr. Wang has been an innovator throughout his tenure at Wake Tech, and helped create the nation’s first two-year degree in Business Analytics. He has served as a mentor in Wake Tech's Leadership Development Capstone projects, and was the recipient of Wake Tech’s Excellence in Leadership Award in 2017.