Thank you, President Johnson. I am pleased to be with you, President Russell and the distinguished attendees for a discussion of the central mission of North Carolina's community colleges -- preparation of our state's citizens for productive work on the job, at home, and everywhere else in life.

When I am asked which of our 59 institutions in North Carolina are involved in workforce and economic development, I answer, "All of them." When I am asked what portion of our budget is devoted to workforce and economic development, I say, "All of it." When I am asked to define which aspects of our programs deal with workforce preparation, I say, "All of them."

The growth and sustained health of our economy depend upon attracting, growing, and keeping good jobs and nurturing healthy communities, as well as the lifelong learning that keeps that work force prepared for the future. Establishing a broad understanding of the integration of economic development goals and educational goals is very important to the future of the community colleges of North Carolina -- and elsewhere.

Almost a half-century ago, leaders in our state were having discussions very similar to those we are having today about our economic future. Those discussions led to programs that emphasized industrial recruitment, sparked pioneering innovations such as the Research Triangle Park, and led to the creation of the community college system as a cornerstone of workforce and economic development in North Carolina.

Obviously, the foresight of those leaders produced marvelous results that have greatly improved our economic circumstances and made North Carolina a national benchmark for economic and workforce development.

But while our circumstances have markedly improved, the economic changes that sparked such discussion 50 years ago parallel the changes we face today. Fifty years ago we were primarily an agricultural state that recognized that our best employment opportunities were to be in manufacturing. Today we are a manufacturing state in an economy that is increasingly being refocused toward information-based and biotechnology services.

A year or two ago, I would have described North Carolina as a thriving manufacturing state. Tremendous shocks in basic industries such as furniture, textiles and tobacco and wobbles in the high-tech sector make today's economic environment more challenging--and the right education much more important. Now, and in the future, the right education must be more about learning how to LEARN and to adapt to unexpected change, and perhaps less about honing narrow skills useful in limited settings.

From an economic development perspective, the shift toward a knowledge economy places greater not less importance on workforce development and the role of the community colleges. We will continue to benefit from our central locations and our wonderful natural resources, but in an economy driven by knowledge, companies will look to grow in those areas that have a workforce with the best available skills. Therefore, a state's workforce development system becomes not just an important part of an economic development strategy, it becomes the central component.

The fact that our leaders recognized the central role of workforce development in promoting economic growth so many years ago means that we have a tremendous head start. It also means, however, that we face a greater risk of complacency. While I am buoyed by the fact that we continue to be ranked by national magazines among the very best worker training programs in the nation, I fear that this will cause some to believe that we have achieved that goal and we can refocus our resources elsewhere.

Certainly, our neighboring states are not taking a complacent approach to workforce and economic development. Look at Georgia, for example, which took the number one spot last year in EXPANSION MANAGEMENT'S rankings. South Carolina is increasingly aggressive and successful.

If we look closely at our own workforce development system, what changes do we see in the past forty years? The most dramatic increase in numbers of students, programs and courses must be in information systems, as computers have taken over the economy…and our lives! Virtually all of us must learn to use -- and to some extent -- understand computers and other electronics to carry out our daily tasks. No longer can we expect armies of support staff to take care of that for us; the skill is as basic as knowing how to read -- or to drive. In 1984, only 25 percent of Americans used computers at work and by 1993 the number had grown to 47 percent. Now, close to 90% of all jobs require some use of the computer.

The information industry needs skilled employees; every industry needs computer wizards. The work of community colleges in this area is impressive and vital. In academic year 99-2000 more than 180-thousand North Carolinians honed computer skills with us. Enrollment in information technology is up almost 240 percent in four years. And who had ever heard of webmasters 40 -- even 10 -- years ago?

Look at health-related disciplines. We have more than 13-thousand students enrolled in degree programs in 45 health disciplines, plus thousands more in continuing education. The related field of biotechnology is one of our state's fastest-growing and best-paying industries. Already a leader in the southeast, North Carolina could have as many as 100,000 biotech workers within 20 years. The industry has told us that they need short courses to train their entry level workers, and strong degrees to support the industry's development. And our colleges have responded with excellent results.

Clearly, we have much to be proud of, in our ability to provide specific responses to requests for specific skills.

Just as clearly, though, we must look at hard at our structures, assumptions and basic ways of doing business, if we want to keep pace with the fast-changing economy around us.

I believe it was Peter Drucker, the management theorist, who said that systems that do not change internally as rapidly as their environment changes externally face eventual obsolescence, and that systems that don't change to meet the needs will create the opportunity for new systems to emerge and take their place. I am not one who advocates change for change itself, but certainly we need to continuously evaluate our position and have the courage to change as appropriate.

Let's consider just a handful of the most important shifts in our economy....and thus, in the education we must offer to prepare our citizens to be part of it.

The first is the staggering pace of change, especially in technology. Today's innovation is on tomorrow's scrap heap. The entire concept of "completing" one's education is obsolete, when our skills are out of date before we've left the classroom. Of course, it's vital for our graduates to have the skills to get the job they want . It's even more important, however, that they develop the habit of...and the genuine desire for...lifelong learning. They must know how to ask the right questions and to seek out the answers on their own. They must also understand the reality of work itself -- the importance of quality, professionalism on the job, effective teamwork, honesty, and diligence.

I know the popular term in human resources for this kind of learning is "soft skills." We must never, EVER, understand "soft" to mean "less important." In fact, the business leaders among you asked that this session be focused on those so-called "soft skills," because that's what's missing in so many of your job applicants today. Why is that? Well, we could spend a lot of time analyzing the causes….unemployed or underemployed people who have little experience with a disciplined workplace, or perhaps immigrants handicapped by little knowledge of English and of our workplace culture, or perhaps an artificial separation between academic learning and workplace expectations in classrooms at every level. I'd rather spend the time, however, accepting the reality and moving forward.

A valued technical skill can be useless overnight. How many linotype operators do you know today, to give just one example? A bright, disciplined mind and a great attitude, however, will always fill a need.

I mentioned immigrant workers, who are just one aspect of the globalization of our economy -- a phenomenon that has caught much of North Carolina somewhat by surprise but is now a daily reality that demands even more in the way of "soft skills."

In the community college system, we are focusing tremendous energy on figuring out how to answer the challenge of globalization; last year's two conferences included a very successful session here at Nash Community College in the fall. We know that one of the most important things our community colleges have to do is to make sure that all our colleges offer every student the opportunity to learn about his or her own culture and to experience other cultures.

Of course that’s important for the full development of every person’s potential. Education is more than just insurance against unemployment. We must never assume that workers who are technically trained to work in our businesses and industries do not also need a broad educational background

However, it’s just as important in the cold, hard light of business. . At a recent meeting of the Southern Growth Policies Board, a speaker noted that US educators are focused …perhaps too focused…now on boosting math and science scores. He cautioned that we should realize that our great competitive advantages in the world marketplace are the unequaled creativity of our workforce and the worldwide admiration of our culture. He said it's easier to boost math scores than to nurture creativity and called for increased attention to the humanities. How can we expect to prosper in the global marketplace, if we have no appreciation for our government, culture, history and faith, and those of people different from ourselves?

We can’t. And community colleges must accept the challenge of providing the educational experiences our citizens' need, when they need them

Our system also has the challenge to design a new philosophy of education and training that focuses on flexibility, problem solving and a genuine commitment to lifelong learning.

That's nothing new for community colleges. We are, after all, the experts on lifelong learning. But I think we have work to do to help our funders and the employers we serve to understand that.

Think for a moment about the language of higher education. How often do we measure "completers" and calculate the average number of years it takes to get a degree? How often do we equate a certain number of credit hours with the "mastery" of a skill? How often do we create barriers between curriculum and continuing education that make sense to us -- but not to the employers who simply want good employees? The reality of higher education for the future will be that we will be educating for competencies, certifications of ability to perform, not degrees, baccalaureates or associates.

Increasingly, we face challenge of responding to the demand for new methods of instruction. Distance learning has arrived, with a vengeance. Last year, more than 50,000 students enrolled in distance learning in our system, including telecourses, two-way video on the North Carolina Information Highway and on-line courses, by far the fastest-growing medium. A big part of that rapid growth is the success of the Virtual Learning Community, which enables our colleges to work together to develop and then offer top-quality courses on-line. So far, the Virtual Learning Community has survived on college commitment, State Board reserve funds, blood, sweat, tears and maybe some baling wire. The Virtual Learning Community has already demonstrated that it is both effective in offering excellent courses, and efficient in pooling resources, but it needs a consistent and continuing source of state funds to meet its full potential.

The growth of distance learning opens up a new area of competition for our programs from proprietary, or for-profit schools. Proprietary schools have been in business for years, many of them much longer than we have. We used to know them as business colleges, or beauty schools. But now they are also technical training centers offering network certification, or NASCAR experience, or preparation for health careers. Many offer courses on-line, often from out of state. They charge tens of thousands of dollars in tuition. Is this bad? No, not if they're meeting legitimate demand for education from students and from industry.

I think the real challenge, though, is figuring out why they are able to attract students when they charge such outrageous prices. Obviously, advertising is one factor. But it's more than that. Many of them flat-out guarantee jobs for graduates. Others focus on speed…. Intensive training packed into a short amount of time. We need to learn from them, if we are to hold on to our mission as the state's primary provider of workforce education and training. We also need to know whether business and industry is as pleased with their graduates as they are with ours.

We know how pleased employers are with us. A recent report from our New and Expanding Industry programs says about 99 percent of employers in that program rank community college training excellent or very good. And about 99 percent of our students who graduate go to work quickly. Those numbers are terrific, and all of you who have earned them are to be congratulated.

As we grapple with the daunting expense and intellectual challenge of change, we need to remember that in fact the machines and the software and the systems are simply the tools that we employ in today's workplace and in training people for it. While specific skills and technology must be addressed, they must not replace the emphasis on fundamental education.

Perhaps you read a story in last weekend's press recounting the results of a recent study by the Southern Regional Education Board of the "career oriented" (i.e., those who will not pursue an academic degree), students leaving our high schools. Your and our human resources come from that pool. It is a disturbing study. Only 11% of this pool read well enough to immediately continue their education at a community college or succeed in the work place where they must process and understand new and often complex information. The news gets worse. Thirty-eight percent of male students and 46% of African-American students could not find and use information from manuals, textbooks and journals--or could not seek and connect information from several sources to solve a problem. Students such as this must receive significant remediation before they can benefit from our programs or productively work in your business. This is an important mission of the Community College System if we are to prepare your work force of the future. Furthermore, most of these same students have little or no experience of working as a part of a larger community or of working as a team to solve problems or complete a task. Thus, if we simply give these students technical skills without these more basic skills, they will not succeed in the work place.

Giving these students these life skills and job skills requires dedicated and capable faculty, counselors, support staff and administrators who make our colleges places of true and complete learning. Despite all of our hard work together in recent years and some generous new investments from the General Assembly, our faculty and staff salaries are still stuck near the bottom in the region and the nation. We cannot expect effective process change without rewards for those who must make it happen.

How fortunate that the founders of our community college system championed the Jeffersonian idea that the most important role of education in a democracy is the creation of citizens who are productive and responsible--capable of earning a living, making informed decisions, and stepping into leadership.

Let me close with a quote I recently heard. The speaker quoted Paul Valery, a French poet of the last century, who wrote memorably: "The trouble with our times is that the future is not what it used to be."

Our community college students do indeed acquire the skills they need to land good jobs in today’s high-tech working world. However, they also acquire the fundamental education that underlies good decision-making, flexibility and the desire to keep learning. If we keep those essentials at the forefront, I am confident that we will continue to be valued partners with our state's business and industry in creating a prosperous future.

Thank you.