Loxahatchee, Fla. – Palm Beach State College was set to host two commencement ceremonies on Thursday, May 12 at the South Florida Fairgrounds Expo Center to celebrate the school’s more than 2,000 expected spring graduates, in the first occasion since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic that PBSC has held traditional commencement ceremonies.

But before that on Tuesday, PBSC President PBSC President Dr. Ava L. Parker, trustee Wendy Link and myriad other PBSC staff and well-wishers, celebrated the five-year anniversary of the college’s fifth and newest campus in Loxahatchee Groves, and the visionary leader in whose honor the college is named.

Former PBCC President Dr. Dennis P. Gallon, whose exceptional career included being selected as president in 1997, was on hand as current PBSC President PBSC President Dr. Ava L. Parker, trustee Wendy Link and myriad other PBSC staff and well-wishers recognized his immense contributions in leading the institution for 18 years before retiring in 2015.

Those include shepherding the former Palm Beach Community College, founded in 1933 as Florida’s first public community college, into Palm Beach State College, as well as the lengthy process to establish the Southern Boulevard campus that opened on Feb. 27, 2017 with more than 700 students. Today the Dennis P. Gallon campus serves more than 5,800 students annually, college officials said.