President’s Report
To The
State Board of Community Colleges
May 17, 2002
As you know from your having been asked to reduce this meeting to one day and to seek no reimbursement for your expenses, the budget picture gets worse and worse. Thank you for your contributions to our complying with the Governor’s requirements.
The legislature returned to town this week, but we anticipate that they will initially be consumed by redistricting, though some budget work may begin. We anticipate the Governor’s budget being released soon. The Governor’s budget may be the best we can hope for, since his budget anticipates $350 million in revenues from a lottery. Assuming that the legislature will not approve a lottery immediately, but will require a vote of the people, revenues of that amount will be impossible to collect from a lottery. I do not see the legislature raising taxes, so the Governor’s revenue package is likely to be more than the final revenue package approved, meaning further cuts. We cannot ask for better cooperation than we have had from the colleges thus far. They and we are operating under the most difficult fiscal constraints in anyone’s memory. At Parks Todd’s funeral, many community college leaders from across the years, including Governor Bob Scott, were present. No one could remember a worse time than this.
Speaking of Parks, we lost a valuable employee who dedicated his life to expanding opportunity for our students through the use of technology. Please keep his widow and our long-time fiscal analyst and friend, Charlotte Todd, in your thoughts and prayers.
Immediately following our last meeting, I left for Seattle and the meeting of the American Association of Community Colleges. I gave presentations on the budget crisis and our "homegrown teachers" initiative. Elizabeth Isler, Dr. Kay Albertson and Mr. Ray Burrell from Wayne Community College, and Tim Brewer did a presentation on our globalization initiative. It was a good meeting and as always, I came away proud to be associated with the North Carolina Community College System. We are held in such high regards all across the country.
I came back from Seattle a day early because of the budget situation, but left the following week for Thailand with the approval of the legislative Appropriations’ leadership.
As you know, I have been working for more than a year with the Ministry of Education in Thailand, assisting them in the creation of a community college system. My involvement has been fully funded by the Kenan Institute Asia. This trip was long planned, in fact planned to coincide with the primary election, anticipating that that would be the safest time in the entire year to be away from Raleigh. Of course, the redistricting lawsuit delayed the primary and legislators were in town during my absence. Dr. Virginia Mitchell, President of McDowell Technical Community College, and Ms. Susan Seymour of the Economic and Workforce Development Division staff accompanied me, along with Dr. Allen Cissell of the U.S. Department of Education. The purpose of our trip was to provide leadership training to the first 10 presidents of new community colleges and some of their senior staff. In addition to four days in Bangkok during which time the workshop was conducted, we did field visits to Ayutthaya and Mae Hong Son.
We are so blessed in this office to have leadership which carries on in my absence in such a magnificent way. Dr. Brenda Rogers as Acting Executive Vice President did a wonderful job holding things together in my absence and working closely with Kennon Briggs on budget crises that cropped up several times each day. We talked by telephone everyday (except for one when I was near the Burmese border and inaccessible by phone) and we were able to handle the crises as they occurred. Brenda was also the spokesperson for the System, including an excellent interview on WUNC public radio. She also coordinated efforts and strategies of our other community college partners. Except for their own frustrations in dealing with anticipated cuts, the other vice presidents were not so consumed by the budget crises, but they also did a magnificent job in managing their programs and staff in my absence.
The Legislative Strategy Group held its first meeting after my return to begin struggling with a strategy for addressing the shortages and maximizing the appropriation for next year.
The North Carolina Center for Nursing continues to press on with its ill-advised plan to restructure nursing for North Carolina. I met with Dr. Gordon DeFriese of the NC Institute of Medicine and Dr. Tom Bacon, Director of AHEC to discuss their concerns about this development and how we might more broadly address the nursing shortage in North Carolina.
One of the decisions that had to be made from Thailand was whether or not to proceed with the Academic Excellence luncheon earlier this week. We attempted to cancel or at least postpone the luncheon, since there is a freeze on travel. However, when the Hilton would not allow cancellation or rescheduling and insisted on receiving its full payment of over $11,000, we felt that we had no choice but to continue with the luncheon. The spirit was a bit dampened by the budget concerns and very few legislators were present because they convened at 1 p.m. to begin the redistricting process, but it was still a wonderful celebration of excellence in our System.
A delegation of higher education officials from the United Kingdom is here to explore cooperation, collaboration, and articulation between community colleges and universities in North Carolina. The universities in the United Kingdom and the Colleges of Further Education (our equivalent) are just beginning to develop a strong transfer and cooperative relationship. Having heard of our Comprehensive Articulation Agreement and other fine work between community colleges and universities, the officials wanted to visit us and see for themselves. They will be visiting Johnston Community College, North Carolina State University, Guilford Technical Community College, North Carolina A & T State University, Central Piedmont Community College, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Caldwell Technical Institute and Community College, Wilkes Community College, and Appalachian State University. This is a continuing recognition of the North Carolina Community College System as a leader in many ways.
Kennon Briggs and his staff have done their usual outstanding job of managing our fiscal affairs, this time marshalling our cash resources and using them for maximum benefit between now and the end of the year. He and they have constantly been on the phone with presidents, chief financial officers and others as they have dealt with the cash crisis for this year and the budget cuts for next year.
Kennon and Phil Albano reported to the Higher Education Bond Oversight Committee in Greensboro. Dr. Ruth Shaw and Mac Everett, who have oversight of our bond projects, have been very supportive of how we are proceeding and complimentary of the manner in which Kennon and Phil have been managing these resources.
Phase II of the Data Warehouse Project is scheduled to be completed in June. Rick Newsome and his team should be commended for their efforts in completing this phase of the project on time. Likewise, our College Information System implementation continues on schedule for Phase I and Phase 2A colleges.
Kristi Lee Snuggs, Program Coordinator for Early Childhood and Public Service Technologies, has been selected to participate on a state action team for "Walking the Walk." This project, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, promotes linguistic and cultural diversity in early childhood education. She also received the E. J. Boone Adult Education Enhancement Award for 2002.
Dr. Scott Ralls and his division hosted the 19th Annual Meeting of the National Association of Industry Specific Training Directors in Asheville. He also assumed presidency of Association at the meeting, a position he will hold through the annual meeting in West Virginia next year.
Biotechnology continues to be a focus of our System. Scott spoke to the Genomics and Bioinformatics Education Summit at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center and to a professional development seminar for the North Carolina Economic Developers Association. He attended the Western Regional Biotechnology Strategic Plan meeting in Asheville.
Scott spoke at the NCCBI Economic Development Committee meeting on budget issues and made a presentation to the North Carolina Workforce Development Commission regarding our Industry-Sector Training Initiatives.
‘Tis the season of commencements. Kennon Briggs spoke at Davidson County Community College, Dr. Saundra Williams spoke at Roanoke-Chowan Community College, and Dr. Delores Parker spoke at Robeson Community College. Graduation is a time which reminds us all why we are here. Seeing the graduates and their families celebrating a significant achievement, in some cases the first higher education degree in the family, makes the challenges and disappointments of this job seem insignificant. Thank you for the role that you play in making these happy occasions possible.
This page maintained by Chancy Kapp.