H. Martin Lancaster, President
North Carolina Community College System
Report to the State Board of Community Colleges

September 17, 2004

As your staff begins to develop further the budget proposals which have been a focus of this meeting, we become more and more excited about the future of our System and the opportunities we have to really make a difference in North Carolina’s economy. Your continued strong support and the hard work of your staff will make this happen.

Among our exciting initiatives and partnerships for the future include our rural entrepreneurship partnerships with the NC Rural Center and our biotechnology initiative with the NC Biotechnology Center and the universities. Several meetings have taken place since our last meeting, including the Rural Center Board meeting, the Rural Center Economic Development Summit, and a meeting of the Biotechnology Coordinating Council, which brought together the leaders of the Biotechnology Center, the University System, and the community colleges involved. With appropriate funding of our entrepreneurial training programs and the biotechnology programs, we can position North Carolina for significant economic growth in two important areas.

Many of your staff, including me, have been engaged in workshops across the state with middle and high school counselors to help them have a greater appreciation of community college opportunities for their students.

Dr. Kathy Johnson and members of the System staff led by Ray Harrington met with leadership of The School of Public Health to begin the process of developing a homeland security collaboration.

Twice in the last month I have met with Gordon Smith, the visionary developer of Exploris, about his vision for North Carolina embracing a more global perspective in all of our endeavors, especially in job creation and economic development. I hope that these meetings will ultimately result in exciting new opportunities for our colleges and their students.

You will be pleased to know that Drs. Jeff Hockaday and Donny Hunter were awarded the contract for doing our funding study. We are enjoying working with them once again.

Fred and I participated in the North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry membership meeting at the Angus Barn last week. This is one of many such membership meetings across the state. I usually attend several of those meetings, but this year’s schedule will not permit that. However, since some of you and all of our colleges are members of NCCBI, I am certain that our System will be well represented at each meeting.

Leadership of the University System and our System have developed the request for proposals from consultants who will do the studies mandated by the General Assembly, looking at aligning programs with our workforce and demographic needs and aligning facilities with those programs.

Last week I was requested to meet with the NC Center for Public Policy Research to discuss potential research topics for them to consider for the coming year. At their last meeting, they voted to make community colleges one of their focuses for the coming year.

The Investment Committee of the Foundation met this week to review our investments. I am pleased to report that we have over $5 million invested at the present time and Wachovia appears to be doing a good job in managing those funds.

I am pleased to announce that Dr. Delores Parker has been appointed by the Governor as a member of the North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards Commission and she has attended her first meeting of that Commission earlier this week.

David Sullivan has prepared a memorandum based on recent court decisions that will allow local colleges to admit undocumented aliens to curriculum programs at the out-of-state tuition rate. Though most of these students will not be able to afford to attend without outside financial aid, at least the door has been opened to a segment of our population previously denied admission under any circumstances.

Ken Whitehurst has issued a memorandum helping colleges understand the recent legislative policy of charging the in-state tuition rate to all military personnel and their dependents, including the continuation of enrollment at in-state tuition until the completion of their program.

Ken Whitehurst was present at the North Carolina Early College Conference at which time Governor Easley announced the Learn to Earn program that will allow students at 15 sites, 12 of which are on community colleges campuses, to complete high school and a 2-year associate degree in 13 years.

Bob Allen has been elected to serve on the NC Literacy Association Board of Directors.

Dr. Larry Keen hosted a 2-day meeting with representatives from the Alabama Industrial Training Program who came to benchmark their programs against ours. Other states such as South Carolina, Texas, New York, Minnesota, and Wisconsin have done the same thing, recognizing North Carolina’s outstanding program.

BioNetwork held its Biennial Career Fair on August 25 with more than 20 Human Resource Directors and recruiters from 14 leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies attending. More than 100 BioNetwork students met with these recruiters and had the opportunity to pursue BioNetwork careers. Just this week 17 colleges were able to choose from surplus biotechnology equipment offered by Novo Nordisk and Bayer.

Solectron recently hosted a "thank you" luncheon for Vance-Granville Community College and the North Carolina Community College System for the outstanding job they did in training each of their employees in "Lean Manufacturing." Dr. Larry Keen and Kirk Smith participated.

We are pleased to report on the incredible growth of the wine industry in North Carolina. We can now boast more than 300 commercial vineyards and 40 wineries, half of which have been established in the last 2 years. Five more are set to open in the next few months. If the tobacco allotment buyout is approved, we can expect many other viticulture/oenology projects to be undertaken with those dollars. Wine has become an $80 million business employing 855 people in North Carolina. Much of this growth can be attributed to the excellent program we have at Surry Community College which you visited a couple of years ago.

As I said in the opening paragraph of this report, Kennon Briggs, his fine staff, and each division within the System Office have worked incredibly hard in the last month in putting together a draft of our 2005-2007 expansion budget which you have seen at this meeting. The Finance Committee, the Trustees Association, and the Faculty Association have reviewed this draft. With your input, we can continue to refine this budget even further.

All 58 colleges submitted their financial statements to the Office of the State Controller on time. Kim Van Metre was a tremendous assistance to the colleges in these endeavors. She also continues to work with the cash reporting Build Team.

Phil Albano and his team reassessed the cash flow model for allocating Higher Education Bond Funds, updated the quarterly HUB report and assembled the package of information for the quarterly Higher Education Bond Oversight Committee meeting, which occurred on September 13.

Dr. Saundra Williams and her staff continue to be up to their eyeballs in implementing CIS and supporting the research and information technology needs of the System Office and our colleges.

Fred Williams worked closely with the entire staff in outlining the scope of work for the Legislative Study for Higher Education in North Carolina. We have now met with our University partners and have outlined for potential consultants what we hope to obtain from this study. We will be looking at demographic and economic development projections for the future and trying to tailor all higher education programs to support these demographic and economic development needs for the future as we plan for programs and facilities.

Fred and I were pleased to be able to attend the retirement reception for President Robert A. Miller who has retired from Vance-Granville Community College after a 35-year distinguished career in public and higher education, the last 15 of which were at Vance-Granville Community College.

This retreat has laid out for all of us real challenges for the future. However, with the fine leadership that each of you provides at the policy level and the incredible staff that we have gathered at the System Office and on each of our campuses, I am confident that we are more than prepaid to meet whatever challenge comes our way.