|
The President’s Report |
| to the |
| State Board of Community Colleges
|
| Brunswick Community College |
| Supply, NC |
| October 20, 2000 |
It has been a fast and furious month since our last meeting, but it only promises to accelerate between now and November 7. Since our last meeting, I have been in Iredell, Martin, Durham, McDowell, Buncombe (five events there), Sampson, Rowan, Cabarrus, Union, Guilford (three events), Brunswick, New Hanover, Catawba, Craven, Carteret, Cumberland, and Nash Counties for events related to the passage of the bond referendum. Though I participated in only two stops on the southeastern bus tour, three southeastern university chancellors and eight community college presidents conducted an incredibly successful bus tour of the southeast, with stops at each of the campuses for rallies. Significant media coverage was achieved at each stop.
UNC-TV has produced A Growing Crisis; an excellent documentary
on our facility needs, which I hope you have seen. If you have not, the schedule
of remaining showings is as follows:
Sunday, October 22, 7 PM
Monday, October 23, 12 AM
Wednesday, October 25, 8 PM
Friday, October 27, 10 PM.
One of the most encouraging developments of the bond campaign has been the remarkable cooperation between chancellors, community college presidents, supporters and staff from both systems, and President Molly Broad and myself. This new spirit of cooperation should yield other positive benefits in the future. On Tuesday of this week, President Broad and I participated in a regional bond event in the Research Triangle Park and will appear together at other events between now and the seventh.
Dr. Steve Scott also has had an aggressive bond schedule, having spoken in Lenoir, New Hanover, Iredell, Catawba and Rutherford Counties. Of course, all of our staff are talking about bonds wherever they go. At this point, the bond referendum appears to be in good shape, though a lot of work remains to be done. I know that each of you is doing your part to sell bonds wherever you go.
I have met with the NCCBI Economic Development and Education Committees to discuss the budget proposal which you adopted at your last meeting in an effort to obtain their endorsement for some or all of our initiatives. I was well received at both meetings. Dr. Scott Ralls will meet soon with their Small Business Committee.
Dr. Scott Ralls and I met with officials at SAS Institute to discuss the possibility of our partnering on a data mining certification program.
Dr. Brenda Rogers and I met with officials of VALIC; a company that provides alternative benefits packages for higher education employees. We had previously met with TIAA-CREF, a similar company. We anticipate that they will be requesting legislation to make it possible for community college employees to choose these alternative benefits packages in lieu of the state benefits, something that is increasingly popular in higher education across the country. Having these options makes the portability of benefits much more convenient as faculty and staff move from institution to institution, including across state lines.
While in Buncombe County, I also spoke to the annual meeting of the North Carolina Community College Student Development Personnel Association. I also spoke to the North Carolina Adult Educators Conference in Greensboro.
Dr. Scott Ralls and I both participated in the Knowledge Nova Conference sponsored by the North Carolina Electronics and Information Technology Association. This is a part of our ongoing effort to create closer relationships with that important industry and to develop an initiative in information technology similar to our successful Biotechnology Initiative.
At the invitation of the Friedrich-Naumann Foundation, I participated in their workforce development conference in Gummersbach, Germany. Having always been dependent on apprenticeship training for their workforce development, some in Germany are exploring other ways to train and retrain the workforce, having experienced significant challenges, especially in retraining older, out-of-work and untrained workers in the East, where unemployment is close to 30%. They also seek greater flexibility and responsiveness to business and industry in their higher education programs of all kinds.
The North Carolina Community Colleges Foundation fall meeting was held in High Point, with our most successful attendance since our initial meeting. Continued progress towards our goal was celebrated, but perhaps our most important achievement to date was the approval of the firm of Rockett, Burkhead & Winslow to begin a project of making clear to the people of North Carolina the value of our System and what it has to offer to all citizens. This project will involve significant market research and receiving the input of the State Board, presidents, trustees, faculty and staff, and the entire business and industry community of North Carolina. We hope to have a presentation by the firm at the November State Board meeting.
On the day following the Foundation meeting, family, friends, and admirers of Governor Luther Hodges gathered in the lobby of the Caswell Building to dedicate the entrance lobby in memory of Governor Hodges. This naming was in response to a generous gift from Luther Hodges Jr. in memory of his father and to recognize the role Governor Hodges played in the creation of our System. Hereafter, that lobby will be known as Hodges Hall. You will note on your next visit, a portrait of Governor Hodges to your left; an appropriate plaque will be cast later.
Several community college presidents and I represented our System at the inauguration of Dr. James Moeser as the new chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Following that inauguration, I participated with the Governor in the announcement that CargoLifter, Inc., a German company, would be coming to a two or three thousand-acre site in Jones and Craven Counties. This is a new facility to build airships larger than the Hindenburg, which will be used for transporting very large and very heavy cargo over long distances. The first of two anticipated buildings will be as tall as one football field and as long as three fields. Governor Hunt and I visited that company when we were in Germany in the spring. Several community colleges in the region will be involved in extensive training for the manufacture and operation of these airships.
I participated, along with Chancellor Marye Anne Fox and President Joe Barwick, in the dedication of the Center for Marine Sciences and Technology, a collaborative effort between North Carolina State University and Carteret Community College on the community college campus. This is a joint-use facility that will involve much collaborative work between the two institutions to train technicians and professionals in marine science and to do research in a broad range of marine issues.
I was a part of a panel on community colleges at a higher education conference sponsored by the John Locke Foundation last Saturday. Though they have been our only vocal opposition to the bonds, I strongly advocated passage of the bonds as a part of my remarks.
I sit on the NC Biotechnology Board, which met earlier this week.
Dr. Steve Scott, in addition to his numerous bond activities, has attended the JobReady Business and Education Summit in Chapel Hill and spoke to the Public Relations, Information & Marketing Association of North Carolina in Wilmington. He began discussions with our six southeastern community colleges and members of the Coastal Hospital Alliance to begin planning for a Southeastern Regional Healthcare Initiative to address training needs of nine hospitals in the region. Dr. Scott also hosted a delegation from Moldova State University visiting North Carolina.
Dr. Scott Ralls reports that this has been one of the most active periods for New and Expanding Industry Training in the history of that program. Division staff and community colleges are currently supporting almost 250 projects statewide. Even if no other projects were added for the rest of the year, this would be a program record. Many of these projects are involving large training efforts, including a project to train 2,500 workers for the expansion of Flextronics in rural Franklin County, the largest NEIT expansion project on record.
Gayle Harvey and the Small Business Center Directors recently met with Joyce Ashby of the Department of Administration to begin training on how to increase state business opportunities for Historically Underutilized Businesses. This is an initiative of the Small Business Centers’ Minority Business Development Initiative. The Small Business Center Directors have also been working with the Department of Commerce in developing a new marketing and strategic plan for the Export Outreach Program.
Division staff members were involved in at least ten presentations at the Adult Educators Conference in Greensboro, which was attended by over 400 community college staff. They also made four presentations at the Governor’s Workforce Development Conference. That conference was capably directed and organized by Stephanie Deese of our staff.
Dr. Ralls represented our System at a meeting in Washington sponsored by the Ford Foundation to explore the concept of promoting "accelerated learning networks" to enhance economic and workforce development through community colleges.
Dr. Delores Parker and her entire division staff in Academic and Student Services deserve high praise for the Instructors Conference that they organized and executed in Greensboro October 8-10. Close to 3,000 instructors benefited from the 310 workshops representing different program areas. In addition to keynote speakers, Sharon L. Bowman and Dr. Mary Beth Susman, a very successful Bond Forum was attended by almost 1,000 people at which they heard Governor Hunt, President Don Cameron, Chancellors Pat Sullivan and James Renick, Governor Bob Scott and others speak.
The Resource Development Office continues to work with colleges and programs within our colleges on grant proposals through workshops and one-on-one assistance.
In preparation for a new GED Test in 2002, Dr. De Boyer has conducted six regional workshops. The Basic Skills State Leadership Advisory Board will meet next week to discuss among other things, the Basic Skills funding formula recommended changes.
Dr. Randy Whitfield represented state directors of adult education at an Adult Basic Education Research Roundtable in Washington last week. Our Basic Skills Division has partnered with the NC Department of Transportation to develop a literacy program designed to improve literacy among employees of that department.
We continue to work with Dr. Frank Leak and the NC Medical Society to create a curriculum to train office managers for small, rural practices. We are also working with the NC Health Care Facilities Association to develop pilot programs to train more certified nursing assistants.
The new Pathways Internet Portal, which will give students and their parents credible information on college opportunities, continues to develop with training taking place in high schools, middle schools, and community colleges on how to use this exciting new tool. More than one and a half million "hits" have already been recorded.
Dr. Parker has been appointed to the Martin Luther King Center Task Force to make recommendation to the Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina as to where the Center should be located. She also attended a Global Education Seminar in St. Louis in preparation for our seminar we will host in March.
Dr. Brenda Rogers and her division continue in the very difficult task of implementing our data warehouse and management information system projects. She also continues to work with colleges and technology contractors on the Army University Access Online project, which will make available to soldiers community college degrees during their first enlistment using the Internet. The important work of the Virtual Learning Community will enhance the chances of our participating in this project. Development teams are hard at work creating 50 new on-line courses as we speak.
Kennon Briggs and various staff members have been active during the last month in making presentations to many association meetings across the state on the budget proposal you approved at our last meeting. They continue the hard work of putting everything together for presentation of our budget to the Governor and developing information required for various studies now underway by consultants or the General Assembly.
As I reflect on the hard work our staff has put into passage of the bonds, conducting the Instructors Conference, preparing the budget, training new workers and implementing the new management information system, I am awe struck and grateful that you and I have such wonderful colleagues working so hard for North Carolina.
This page maintained by Chancy Kapp.