H. Martin Lancaster, President
North Carolina Community College System
Report to the State Board of Community Colleges
August 20, 2004
Since the General Assembly has gone home, things have settled down at the System Office and we are beginning to catch our breaths. Some are even taking well-deserved vacations.
After our July meeting, most of your senior staff and I met with the Presidents’ Association at Sea Trail. The legislative sessions (last and next) were the main focus of the meetings.
Following that meeting, I traveled to Charlotte to speak at the 20th Anniversary of the Institutional Information Processing System. These professionals have done a wonderful job in their 20 years as technology has become more and more important in all that we do. They have been especially challenged in recent years as we have implemented our College Information System.
I have previously reported to you the receipt by our System and by four colleges of the Lumina Foundation grant which will look at the education gap experienced by low-income and minority students. Lumina Foundation staff came to Raleigh for a "listening session" that involved 20 civic, business, and education leaders looking at our System and giving thought to how we might address this educational disparity.
Of course, many of you participated in the telephonic meeting of the State Board in early August at which time we gave approval to this fiscal year’s budget. The 20/30 Task Force, chaired by Dr. Stuart Fountain, met following that meeting.
Later that week, Kennon Briggs and I met with the presidents and chief financial officers from the colleges to roll out their college-by-college allocations.
The next day, Alice and I left for Austin, Texas, where I presided at the Council of Community College State Directors’ summer meeting. This year we used a slightly different format from previous years by having each of the state directors/presidents report on a significant achievement in their state during the previous year. I made a presentation on our BioNetwork initiative. Though I got good ideas from the other State Directors, which I have shared with you, I am still convinced that we have the best System in the country.
Last week your System Office conducted its semi-annual blood drive. We are pleased to report that our goal was met.
Earlier this week Bill Randall and I participated in a roll out of the Eastern Broadband Initiative in Greenville. As natural gas pipelines have been laid in Northeastern North Carolina, fiber optic cable has been laid in the same trench. This fiber optic cable, combined with other infrastructure in the region and a public and private partnership announced at this event, creates great new capacity for the east. We are excited that with this additional broadband capability throughout Northeastern North Carolina we will be able to fully utilize our wireless licenses which community colleges have obtained to go from where this fiber optic ends to homes and businesses not otherwise served. This will not only have an economic development impact for the northeast, but also will expand our ability to offer educational programs by distance technologies into the living rooms of thousands of families and in the companies in the northeast.
For the first time in months your agenda at this meeting did not include a contract extension or other official action to be taken by the State Board on CIS. However, Dr. Saundra Williams and her staff are pleased that the CIS initiative is going smoothly now, perhaps a calm between inevitable storms, much like North Carolinians are experiencing with their weather.
We are especially pleased that the AR/CR project is going well. The Phase I colleges have implemented the new software and found relatively minor problems that are being quickly resolved. Dr. Williams is also working with the State Information Technology Services and the state’s CIO to iron out details of their involvement in the CIS project as a result of legislation enacted in the short session and to address IT security issues experienced by us and all state agencies.
On August 4, Dr. Larry Keen and his staff welcomed more than 130 participants from across the System as we began the process of a "career readiness certificate program" using ACT/Work keys. This will be a regional initiative with other states in the region to begin working towards a credential that workers can take with them from job to job.
Pat Freeman, one of our economic development specialists in the field, attended the China-US Conference on Community Colleges in July in Beijing. She delivered a presentation entitled "Developing Strategic Alliances to Promote Economic Development." This was an honor for Pat and for our System.
Peggy Graham made a presentation as one of three panelists at the "Forum for Incumbent Worker/Customized Training" in the State of Washington.
Dr. Keen’s staff continues to be involved in many economic development expansion initiatives across the state.
More than 750 people attended the 2004 Basic Skills and Family Literacy Conference held at the same time as the State Board meeting in July.
Our Office of Student Development Services partnered with the NC College Foundation and the US Department of Education to sponsor two Financial Aid Workshops at Nash Community College and Guilford Technical Community College. Representatives from 41 of our colleges attended.
We are pleased to welcome Dr. Cathy Franklin-Griffin to our staff. Her strong background in nursing and service on the State Board of Nursing will be important as she manages our important allied health programs, college transfer, developmental education, teacher preparation, biotechnology, and some of our public service programs.
Kennon Briggs is pleased to announce that when all was said and done we had $18 million left over from last year’s budget for reallocation to the colleges, including Performance Funding for the first time in three years. Through his good work with the State Budget Office, we were able to carry forward all of our potential reversions.
Kennon and his staff are already hard at work developing the 2005-07 Expansion Budget Request, the first cut of which you saw at this meeting. We will continue to develop consensus among all of our stakeholders.
It seems that our work is a never-ending cycle, like life and death. With your help and the fine work of our staff, we keep the wheel turning.
This page maintained by Chancy Kapp.