President’s Report
To the
State Board of Community Colleges
Robeson Community College
Lumberton, NC
April 21, 2006
I know that each of you joins me in thanking President Charles Chrestman and the entire Robeson Community College family for their warm hospitality and for the use of their very fine and beautiful facilities. Off-site meetings such as this are important to our understanding just how great our colleges are, individually and as a part of the North Carolina Community College System.
You will recall that I left the State Board meeting in March with Dr. Stuart Fountain to go to Oriental to meet with the Randolph Community College Board of Trustees to discuss its problems and its presidential search. It was a very positive meeting and I am encouraged to think that things are on track to a good resolution there.
From Oriental, I traveled to Washington, DC, to see my Colorado daughter who was there for a community college meeting. I had hoped that my Arlington, Virginia daughter (whom we would also be visiting) would deliver our first grandchild during the weekend. She did not cooperate in that regard, so I returned to North Carolina on Monday only to be awakened on Tuesday morning at 5:30 a.m. to say that she was in labor. I sped to Arlington, but missed the birth. By the time I got there she was already in the room with my new granddaughter, Ella Kathryn Templer, both looking incredibly fit. Everything in the office was put on hold for three days while I basked in the glow of new grandparenthood. Thanks to the wonderful staff that we have, all of my appointments were kept and everything was dealt with.
The Trustee Association’s Annual Law Conference was one of the things I missed. David Sullivan and Richard Sullins participated in the Conference along with your colleagues, Dr. Linwood Powell, Dr. Stuart Fountain, and Mr. Jimmie Ford. The presentation by Bob Joyce and Donny Hunter on the role of trustees and the relationship between local boards, the State Board, and the System Office was very well done and should resolve much of the recent controversy about that relationship.
The North Carolina Community College Presidents’ Association Executive Committee also met during this Conference and presented State Representative Joe Tolson an award for his incredible commitment to our System and his efforts in the most recent General Assembly session. Issues likely to come in the short session, including non-budget items, were discussed with Chairman Tolson.
Almost 600 people participated in the Tech Prep Conference also held in Greensboro in my absence. Bob Witchger of our System was the coordinator of this conference. Partnerships between our colleges and public schools are growing, especially in the Tech Prep area. Many System Office and college staff participated in this important collaborative event.
I sincerely regret that I missed the African-American Males in Education Conference jointly sponsored by our System and North Carolina Central University. From all reports it was a great success. More than 650 people participated, including your State Board colleagues, Herb Watkins and Jimmie Ford, and five presidents. Wanda White did a wonderful job coordinating the conference.
In the short time I was in North Carolina before returning to Arlington, I joined University of North Carolina President Erskine Bowles in testifying before the Education Oversight Committee about our non-appropriations legislative agendas. Just as you have done at this meeting, he and I endorsed the other’s requests. Among the initiatives testified to and cross-endorsed by you and the Board of Governors were parts of our Biotechnology initiative at North Carolina State University and the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis. The support of the University System in increasing the allied health faculty was also highlighted.
That Monday night I was able to host another delegation of Northern Ireland visitors, including the Minister of Employment and Learning. I was not able to visit with them later in the week as planned, but as I said, the staff, including Larry Keen, Ken Whitehurst, Willa Dickens, and Fred Williams, did a beautiful job of briefing her and her party on our economic and workforce development programs.
I did return on Friday of that week in time to meet with Scott Daugherty, staff from the Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC), as well as Dr. Larry Keen, Willa Dickens, and George Millsaps on our staff to discuss ways in which our Small Business Center and SBTDC could cooperate better to deliver small business and entrepreneurial programs to that important segment of our economy.
I briefly met with the Latino/Hispanic Committee as we continue our efforts to keep that initiative alive without funding. From that meeting, I went directly to the Higher Education Cabinet’s first meeting. We were all very pleased that we were able to reach consensus on all 13 items on the agenda, though some of those agenda items will require further effort and study. It is such a pleasure to work closely with our colleagues at The University of North Carolina – General Administration.
The following day, your Foundation Board met and received an excellent report with regard to earnings and use of funds in the previous year. The budget was approved for next year.
That afternoon I met with Ashley Thrift and officials from various textbook publishers with regard to escalating textbook prices and efforts being made by publishers to control those prices and pressures they are feeling from external forces with regard to those efforts. I explained that all textbook decisions are made at the college level.
Later that week, our System Office celebrated its annual Friendship Day with lots of food and fun. This has become an important tradition that builds camaraderie and raises morale in our building. That afternoon, I met with a coalition of Hispanic organizations who continue to be concerned about lack of higher education opportunities for Hispanics, especially those who are undocumented.
Following that meeting, I went to Durham Technical Community College for the public announcement of C-STEP, a program funded by the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation which has developed programs with prestigious four-year institutions around the country to encourage them to make transfer opportunities available to community college transfer students. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Durham Technical Community College, Wake Technical Community College, and Alamance Community College received this grant and we are excited by this new opportunity for our students.
Week before last I went to Southwestern Community College in Sylva to speak at its Academic Awards Ceremony. Audrey Bailey and I arrived in time to do a campus visit, which included a tour of the main campus and the new campus under construction in Franklin. After the tour, I met with the faculty, and after that, with the senior administrative staff of the college.
I returned from Sylva to participate in the legislative retreat sponsored by the Hunt Institute.
Ms. Suzanne Williams, Dr. Delores Parker, and I met with leaders of the Dental Licensing Board with regard to their interest in introducing a regional licensing exam for the licensing of dental hygienists. We have been concerned about a dramatic increase in cost with very short notice to our students. A compromise has been worked out which will allow existing enrollees in the dental hygiene programs to take the current test at the original cost, with the new, higher priced examination being required only for students who will enroll in the fall of 2006. This will give them two years to plan for this much larger financial obligation.
Last week, President Erskine Bowles, State Superintendent June Atkinson, State Education Board Chairman Howard Lee, Tim McDowell of the Independent Colleges and Universities, and I met with the Governor and his staff to discuss expanding the opportunities for high school students to receive college credit. All of us embrace the goal of adding rigor to the high school curriculum and accelerating the completion of associate degrees and baccalaureate degrees, but recognize that there are significant challenges to be met. We will be working out the details of this initiative in the months to come.
I was honored to participate in the inauguration of President Erskine Bowles in Greensboro on Wednesday of last week. I hope that all of you had occasion to watch the ceremonies on television. Dr. Stuart Fountain represented the State Board at that impressive ceremony. Once again, Erskine affirmed his commitment to a close relationship with our System and reiterated his very positive view of our value to North Carolina’s economy.
The following day, Dr. Peggy Teague, Dr. Weaver Rogers, and I met with Paul Gregg who coordinates the Troops and Spouses to Teachers programs. Both of these programs make opportunities available for military personnel and their spouses to become teachers in our state, in most cases through lateral entry programs. We are encouraged to think that we will be able to contribute significantly to this initiative.
Later that day, I met with Congressman Esteban Bullrich of the Argentinean Congress who is in the United States on an Eisenhower fellowship. His focus in his Congressional career is on education reform at all levels, but particularly as education prepares Argentina’s future workforce for more knowledge-based employment. The country is now heavily agricultural, but with a significant reduction in the need for agricultural workers and a much greater need for skilled workers for services and industries. Of course, that is our exact background. I believe that he was very impressed with our history and what we are doing today.
Over the Easter weekend and Easter Monday, I hosted Dr. Paul Richards and his family. Dr. Richards is a senior administrator at the University of Staffordshire, England and a participant in our United Kingdom Exchange. His wife is a middle school principal. In addition to a fun time, we had substantive discussions on secondary and higher education issues.
I ended my visit with Dr. Richards and his family in time to join Erskine Bowles, June Atkinson, and Mark Milliron for a discussion of how SAS Institute can work collaboratively with us in the use of data to enhance a wide range of programs. We will focus first on allied health and teacher preparation programs and how to use data and data analysis to make these programs and our cooperation more effective.
On Wednesday of this week I spoke at the North Carolina Entrepreneurialship Policy Summit in Chapel Hill.
One of the issues raised by State Auditor Leslie Merritt was the need for internal auditors in our System Office and on our campuses. We have met with State Auditor Merritt and he has agreed to allow us to expand our existing program audits to include audit functions normally performed by internal auditors. We will experiment with this new model to determine whether or not it will be adequate to satisfy his concerns.
Fred Williams met with a group of tutors who have organized and begun sharing best practices in boosting individual academic success.
Mr. Williams and Kennon Briggs have continued to meet with State Budget officials, including Dan Gerlach of the Governor’s Office. We have continued to emphasize that despite incremental funding increases for faculty and professional staff salaries, our relative position in the southern region and in the nation has changed little, if any. If we are to retain our current faculty and staff and recruit new people to replace the growing number of retirees, salary increases simply must be addressed more aggressively.
At a meeting in Boulder, Colorado, Dr. John Pettitt and Vonna Viglione learned that many other states are facing the dilemma we face of serving more students with ever constrained resources. In addition to the representatives from twelve state systems, there were eleven national foundations or research institutes participating.
Dr. Parker’s division continues to struggle with the controversy about a common cut score on placement tests. On April 11, a video conference was held with participants at ten North Carolina Information Highway sites. Discussions continue.
A joint Student Leadership Program and Faculty/Staff Workshop was sponsored by the North Carolina Chapter on Black American Affairs at the Global TransPark’s Education and Training Center in Kinston, NC.
A joint meeting of Academic and Student Services staff met at Atlantic Beach early in the month. This was an excellent meeting that brought together professionals in these two important areas for joint discussions. Included on the agenda were the placement test issue and the high school reform efforts of our colleges.
Dr. Parker had a busy month participating in legislative subcommittee meetings and speaking to the American Association of University Women, NC Citizens for Business and Industry, and the West Raleigh Rotary Club.
Ken Whitehurst continues to take the lead for our System in the New Schools Project, attending its retreat in Pinehurst. We have been discussing with the Governor’s staff the need for state-funded assistance for Ken’s work in this important area. He is now coordinating and overseeing the efforts on 36 community college campuses that are implementing these new high schools with no state assistance.
Dr. Larry Keen and his staff continue to be very busy with New and Expanding Industry Training proposals as North Carolina’s economy shows obvious signs of recovery. Several new Customized Industry Training projects are also in the works.
There have been six planning sessions for the “Dream It – Do It” project. This project will develop state-of-the-art human resource supply-chain management systems involving twelve manufacturing companies and two utilities in Wake, Johnston, and Durham counties. Best practices will be developed that can be replicated across the state.
I was very excited to see the photograph of the new BioNetwork Mobile Laboratory which will be delivered soon. The exterior is complete and interior fitting is nearing completion. Susan Seymour continues to provide incredible leadership for our BioNetwork while at the same time meeting with biotechnology prospects from around the world that are looking at North Carolina. NBC Channel 17 Evening News had a feature on BioNetwork on April 4.
Phase 2B colleges of the CIS Project are completing the implementation of the student module and are using the faculty information software. Sixteen of the colleges are using the admission system and twelve are using the financial aid module. Others will be online in the very near future.
The formal kickoff of the student implementation for Phase 2C colleges was held at Guilford Technical Community College on March 23. More that 240 people from 18 colleges participated. Training is now underway.
Testing of the enhancement to the CIS student system to improve registration via Web and telephone is now underway at four colleges and will be available for registration in the fall.
Keith Brown was selected to lead a seven-state work group in developing new measures of community college student success. The workgroup met for two days in Tampa and agreed to pilot test some new measures of student progression before their new meeting in July.
Dr. Betty Adams has been busy finalizing the 2007-09 System Strategic Plan that was presented to you at this meeting. Final approval should take place in May. Dr. Adams has done a wonderful job with this entire process. Her reputation in the state was recognized when she was asked to present at the North Carolina State University Assessment Symposium held earlier this month.
Tim Mizelle is completing the work on the 2006 System Fact Book which should be available later this month.
We are all very proud of Kennon Briggs and his staff who received an excellent financial audit from the State Auditor since our last meeting. They are now in the midst of a fiscal control audit which is looking at fiscal risks, controls, policies, and communications in the business and information technology areas. This work began October 23, 2005 and will not be completed until April 30.
On March 31 the Business and Finance Division hosted 58 college Chief Financial Officers at Wake Technical Community College. The new one-day format was reduced from the previous three-day meeting and was judged by all to be a success.
Kennon has worked diligently with university and public school partners over the past month to develop a rewrite of the Return-to-Work Policy. We are pleased to report that their work appears to have been accepted and we hope it will be enacted by the General Assembly. Instead of the six-month wait before a person can return to work after retirement, we believe that a more manageable period has been negotiated along with other features you will hear more about in the future.
The pace is already picking up as we get closer to the General Assembly’s short session in May. Suzanne Williams has been particularly busy in juggling lots of Oversight Committee meetings of various kinds. Your continued involvement in pushing our legislative agenda will be greatly appreciated.
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Friday, May 19, 2006 04:55:36 PM
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