President’s Report
to the
State Board of Community Colleges
June 2003
The System Office and all of our colleges are on pins and needles as the negotiations go forward with regard to next year’s budget. After two years of cuts, we are in really critical shape with regard to resources. Whatever cuts are made this year will have dramatic, negative impacts on the classroom. Your continued contact with legislators on our behalf is appreciated.
I have had a busy month of speeches: Johnston Community College graduation, Goldsboro Rotary Club, Raleigh Crabtree Rotary Club, the Eastern North Carolina Economic Development Summit, Wake Technical Community College’s Health Sciences Building Dedication, the Hispanic Leadership Development Institute at North Carolina State University, the Community College Student Leadership Institute, and the Ohio Economic Development Conference in Columbus. I also gave the same briefing to the General Assembly on our Biotechnology Initiative that I gave to you at the May State Board meeting.
We continue our work in bringing to conclusion our solicitations for the Foundation. It is our hope and belief that when we celebrate our 40th Anniversary on July 11 that we will also celebrate pledges and gifts of more that $5 million to the Foundation. With other solicitations that remain outstanding, we hope that we will go significantly over that figure. A number of calls have been made in the past month in this endeavor.
I met with the Board of Trustees at McDowell Technical Community College to begin the process of replacing Dr. Virginia Mitchell, who will be retiring towards the end of the year.
The System Office hosted the Higher Education Bond Oversight Committee and heard presentations by Kennon Briggs, Phil Albano, and Presidents Kathy Johnson, Ed Wilson and Jim Owen.
Dr. Delores Parker and her staff have been involved this month with two student events, the Student Leadership Institute at Peace College and the N4CSGA’s Transition and Bonding Conference in Corolla.
Dr. Parker, Darryl McGraw, Kristi Snuggs, Mike Pittman, Elizabeth Isler and I met with senior leadership at East Carolina University to explore partnership opportunities between our colleges and that university.
The Basic Skills Department has been awarded a grant of $11,000 from the American Foundation for the Blind to conduct a statewide symposium for instructors who work with students with low vision and low literacy skills. A $73,580.78 grant was received from the Governor’s Drug & Substance Abuse Commission to pilot five colleges to implement a mentoring and drug and substance abuse prevention program for minority males.
Brenda Splawn in the Planning and Research section has completed the publication of the 2003 System Fact Book. This document provides comprehensive information on our System and can be found on our Web site.
Dr. Soyoung Yim presented a paper at the National Association for Institutional Research meeting in Tampa last month.
Dr. Saundra Williams continues to do an excellent job in shepherding the CIS implementation and in negotiating with our vendors and our colleges as problems arise.
Because of the problems of the cash module in CIS, Kennon Briggs and his staff, as well as the staff at our colleges have also spent incredible time in working with Dr. Williams and her staff and with the vendors.
Much of the time of Kennon’s division has been spent in managing the shortage of cash and in setting up the mechanism for closeout at the end of the year.
Kennon delivered the commencement address at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College.
Dr. Larry Keen represented community colleges in the United States and our System at a workforce development conference in Spain. You may recall that several years ago Dr. Steve Scott represented us in a similar conference. We are pleased that we have again been asked to represent all community colleges in this country at this conference.
Our colleges continue to be in the thick of biotechnology and the development of programs in support of that important sector of our economy. Forsyth Technical Community recently received a grant from the US Department of Labor in the amount of $754, 140 to support its biotechnology partnership with industry, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and colleges in its region. Central Carolina Community College and Johnston Community College have scheduled maintenance shutdown training for 490 Bayer employees.
Our New and Expanding Industry Training Program continues to go gangbusters. More than three hundred new jobs have been added in various areas of Western North Carolina in the last month.
I thought our June meeting by telephone was excellent and a real savings to the taxpayers. Thank you for your participation by phone.
This page maintained by Chancy Kapp.