President’s Report
to the
State Board of Community Colleges
April 19, 2002
Since we last met, the System Office has been consumed by the budget process and the horrible prospect that we may be crippled by incredible cuts in our budget at a time when the demand for our classes and services has never been higher. We are especially appreciative of the work of a budget strategy group of presidents who have worked tirelessly with Kennon Briggs to develop scenarios and responses to cuts that are being discussed in the State Budget Office and in the legislature. Your continued contact with Members of the General Assembly and the Governor are critically important at this time. Please make every contact you possibly can to express your horror at the prospects of cuts of the size which are being discussed.
We continue to work on the issue of nurse education, having hosted a follow-up meeting with the leaders of the nursing community. We are encouraged by the promise to hold regional meetings across the state open to nurses and various stakeholders in this controversy. At these meetings, the proposal of the North Carolina Center for Nursing will be discussed fully to obtain much needed input before final requests are made for changes in nursing education and licensure.
I was invited to participate in an AACC task force on the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act which met in Washington. I will be working with subgroups looking at performance-based funding using North Carolina as the model and on teacher preparation, again using the degree completion model of North Carolina as the starting point.
We continue to have interest from foreign countries in the Community College System of North Carolina. I spoke to a delegation of higher education and workforce development leaders from Denmark who visited this country to look at various models.
Having not visited Dr. Mary Coleman Wyatt, the new president at Roanoke-Chowan Community College, since she took office and having not visited with Teresa James, the new Dean of the Dare County Campus of the College of The Albemarle, I made a trip to the northeast for that purpose. While there, I also met with Feather Phillips, the director of Pocosin Arts in Tyrrell County. Senator Marc Basnight had encouraged me to visit with her to determine if there are ways community colleges might assist her program. All of the visits went very well.
Scott Ralls and I continue our involvement with the Economic Development Board and in setting the strategic goals and objectives of that Board in workforce development.
The Foundation continues its efforts to wrap up its campaign. The Foundation Board met earlier this week and committed itself to that completion. We have also been meeting with major donors in our effort to obtain funding for the reimaging campaign which has been developed by Rockett Burkhead & Winslow.
Ten days were spent in Europe on an industry-hunting trip. I sincerely appreciate Dr. Steve Scott and Lenoir Community College agreeing that he could remain in his System Office position until I returned. He and the other vice presidents kept everything well under control in my absence. Of course, I was in daily contact by telephone and e-mail. Business calls were made in England, Sweden, Finland and Germany in an effort to attract new investments by European companies in plants to be built or expanded in North Carolina. We are encouraged that a number of them will be creating new jobs in North Carolina as a result of our trip. We will be training their workers, if funds are available.
Since returning, I have spoken in Wilson to legislators in the Nash/Wilson/Edgecombe/Halifax area, along with the trustees of those colleges. I have also gone to Robeson Community College to begin the process of selecting a new president to replace Fred Williams.
In addition to the incredible work that Kennon Briggs and his staff have done in developing various budget scenarios and responding to concerns and questions from colleges, from the legislature, and from the State Budget Office, he and his staff have been engaged in the normal work of that division. Phil Albano and his staff have completed a review of the cash flow model that drives expenditures from the 2000 bond referendum. Kennon, Larry Morgan and their staff also planned and executed the 2002 Spring Finance Conference of Community College Business Officers in Greensboro. Presentations were made by State Auditor Ralph Campbell, State Controller Robert Powell, and your Board Chairman. These business officers are all apprehensive, as are we, about what the future holds for their budgets.
Dr. Delores Parker, Ray Harrington and Ken Farmer attended the Community College League for Innovation Conference in Boston, Massachusetts, and while there, gave a presentation on our Virtual Learning Community. All travel and conference expenses were covered by funds from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation grant.
Dr. Parker’s division hosted a system-wide teleconference to discuss the Leave No Child Behind federal legislation which will require that all teaching assistants working in public schools that receive Title I funds must receive additional college-level preparation. Our System is already doing a great deal in early childhood education and this legislation will present great challenges for our System.
Dr. Parker participated in a closed-circuit broadcast to 12 other colleges from Central Piedmont Community College discussing staff development, global education, and the impacts of budget cuts on Academic and Student Services.
Some of you participated in the annual meeting of North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry and saw the excellent booth (the best, in my opinion) put together and manned by Dr. Scott Ralls and his staff in the Division of Economic and Workforce Development.
Scott has developed an Economic and Workforce Development Leadership Committee which has had its first meeting. It is made up of senior continuing education administrators and a representative of the Presidents’ Association. They will be taking a look at our continuing education program to suggest modifications to the State Board and to provide feedback to the division on those programs.
A new partnership with Kepner Tregoe Corporation has been kicked off with a train-the-trainer session for community college instructors who will provide training to industry across the state in problem solving, the decision making, and analytic troubleshooting.
Joanne Steiner continues to provide wonderful leadership of the Partnership for Biotechnology Workforce Training. We are broadening the representation on this committee to make certain that all stakeholders in biotechnology workforce development are at the table.
I regret to inform you that Dr. Saundra Williams’ father-in-law died unexpectedly recently. I know that you will want to keep her and her family in her prayers. You should also keep in your prayers Parks Todd, our long-time distance learning expert, who has been hospitalized for the last month as he deals with cancer.
The College Information System project continues the dual challenge of completing the new student services system at the eight Phase I colleges while beginning the implementation at the sixteen Phase 2A colleges of the financial accounting system. Dr. Williams is giving excellent leadership to this effort.
I would call to your attention the 2002 System Fact Book that Brenda Splawn has recently completed and that is included in your materials.
Next week the Program Audit Services Section will complete a series of meetings around the state for those who are responsible for reporting student membership hours to the System Office. We will continue these meetings in the future to keep all apprised of the importance of the program audit process.
Dr. Steve Scott worked hard until his very last day, holding things together in my absence, representing the System Office at the installation ceremony for Dr. Gary Green at Forsyth Technical Community College, and presenting the System update to the North Carolina Association of Community College Instructional Administrators at their spring meeting in New Bern. I know that you join me in thanking Steve for the incredible service he rendered our System Office and the System during his tenure as Executive Vice President and Chief Operation Officer. We all join in wishing him well in his new position at Lenoir Community College.
This page maintained by Chancy Kapp.