President’s Report
to the
State Board of Community Colleges
July 18, 2003
The legislature has completed its appropriations work and we anticipate their leaving town this weekend, not to return until a special session on redistricting or next May. Given the fiscal circumstances of the state, we did better than we might have expected, though we were all disappointed that funds were not available to significantly address the salary problems of our faculty and professional staff. We will continue to work diligently on that issue. In addition, funding for much needed equipment was in short supply as well.
We appreciate the participation of several State Board members in our 40th Anniversary Celebration in Wallace, NC, at which time we honored Dr. Dallas Herring both verbally and by creating an endowment within the Foundation to support the W. Dallas Herring Leadership Development Institute. The first five Fellows to receive leadership training were also announced. They are Dr. Kay Albertson, Dr. Mark Kinlaw, Dr. Sharon Morrissey, Dr. Ralph Soney, and Dr. Linda Thomas-Glover. The remarks of community college alumni who spoke so movingly highlighted the evening. The Planning Committee, which involved your staff, trustees, and presidents, planned an excellent program that included a student singer, Celina Gray, and a former artist-in-residence, Philip Evancho. It was a wonderful celebration of 40 incredible years.
Following our June meeting, I briefed the President’s Association Executive Committee and interested presidents on the Biotechnology Initiative. We have continued to work on that issue with the NC Biotechnology Center, the universities, and the biotechnology industry. The Governor has appointed a special task force to be chaired by former Governors Martin and Hunt to develop a strategic plan for developing biomanufacturing in the state and meeting its needs. We continue to pursue funding through the Golden L.E.A.F. Foundation to begin the community college role in this initiative.
Our System and especially Rowan-Cabarrus, Stanly, Central Piedmont and Rockingham Community Colleges will be challenged to meet the needs of displaced workers who are likely to be laid off by Pillowtex. Many meetings have been held with the Governor’s staff, with the NC Department of Commerce and with the affected colleges. Dr. Larry Keen and his staff have been and will continue to be involved in this effort.
A decision has been made with regard to the director of our Latino Initiative, which has been funded by a grant from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation. A formal announcement will be made very soon and the person we have chosen will be coming in mid-August to undertake this important work. It is our hope that we can serve the Hispanic population of North Carolina in a more significant and comprehensive way than we have in the past. Unfortunately, many Hispanic students come to us only for language training. It is our hope that we can create programs and approaches that will encourage those students to pursue skills training and educational opportunities.
We are excited that the Curtis Media Group is going to begin extensive coverage of education issues in North Carolina, along with other government issues. Your public information staff will be working closely with them in the implementation of this exciting new opportunity for media outreach. It is also interesting to note that the Presidents of colleges with cable television opportunities met yesterday to begin a consortium to broaden and deepen the impact of cable television on our public information effort.
I have spoken at the Wake County Bar Association meeting, at a meeting of the Stanly Community College Board of Trustees and the Stanly Board of Education at their new facility in Locust and at the American Association of Community Colleges Presidents Academy in Breckenridge, Colorado.
Dr. Saundra Williams and her staff, along with hundreds of other community college personnel at the System Office and college level, continue to work on implementation of the College Information System (CIS) and to resolve the remaining problems surrounding cash reporting. Phase 2B colleges are beginning to use the CIS for financial transactions.
We are excited to welcome Dr. Bill Randall to the System Office as our new Associate Vice President for Learning Technology. Bill has extensive experience in distance learning, having provided leadership for distance learning at Stanly Community College and Forsyth Technical Community College.
Elizabeth Isler, six community college deans, and senior administrators from Wayne, Richmond, Lenoir, Nash, Mitchell, and Stanly community colleges, along with 28 public school principals, completed an international leadership program for educators provided by World View at UNC-Chapel Hill in late June. Elizabeth Isler was elected the class president and will serve on the Board for World View for one year.
Jalaine Gross and Douglas Long attended a 12th Congressional District grant’s workshop at Livingstone College to learn more about federal resource opportunities.
Regional teleconferences via the Information Highway are underway to clarify policy and procedure changes in the Operating Procedures Manual for Enrollment of High School and Intellectually Gifted and Mature Students in Community College Courses and Programs. This is primarily a manual for the operation of Huskins Bill courses.
Congratulations are in order for Dr. Saundra Williams for her selection to participate in Leadership North Carolina in the coming year. Judith Mann has just completed a year of participation. Dr. Delores Parker is a leader in Leadership North Carolina.
As you can imagine, Kennon Briggs and his staff have been incredibly busy in recent days with year-end close out and the identification of carry forward needs. Of course, they were simultaneously preparing the budget allocations for the coming year. We should all commend this staff on their incredibly hard work, including late nights and weekends.
The Business and Finance staff have also been working on a revision to the Higher Education Bond Cash Flow Model, closing out capital records for the last fiscal year, and capturing new Historical Underutilized Business utilization information.
We were honored to once again be invited to represent community colleges in this country at the International Congress on Vocational Education held in San Sebastian, Spain. You will recall that Dr. Steve Scott participated in that Congress several years ago, representing our System. This year Dr. Larry Keen represented us.
Eight community colleges from North Carolina and our System staff participated at the North Carolina Pavilion of BIO 2003 International Conference held in Washington, DC. The Pavilion enhanced the visibility and awareness of North Carolina’s biotechnology leadership and innovation.
The Division of Employment and Training of the Department of Commerce has approved a one-time allocation of $600,000 to support funding for the Focused Industrial Training programs to support our Incumbent Worker Training Program.
As you know from these monthly reports, your staff here at the System Office is overworked and underpaid. Fred Williams has taken on as a very personal goal improving those salaries and improving the equity in salaries among our staff. He has maximized the use of available funds, but significant change that is needed will await further appropriations from the General Assembly. You and I are fortunate to have Mr. Williams and the dedicated staff who do work so hard for you and for the people of North Carolina.
I know you each join me in congratulating Dr. Tim Brewer in the completion of his doctorate!
This page maintained by Chancy Kapp.