President’s Report
to the
State Board of Community Colleges
October 19, 2007
Thanks to the incredible System Office staff we have, my absence for more than two weeks of the last month was hardly noticed! Immediately following the September State Board meeting, Alice and I left for the American Community College Trustees (ACCT) meeting in San Diego, stopping for a long weekend with our daughter and her husband in Colorado.
The ACCT meeting was highlighted by the installation of Linda Stanley of Brunswick Community College as National Chairperson of the ACCT. Of course, helpful trustee training sessions were scheduled for every hour of the workday and opportunities to interface with trustees from across the state and nation were important elements of the meeting. As always, North Carolina had the largest delegation there and we all came home, confirmed in our belief that the North Carolina Community College System is the best in the country! Most folks across the country recognize that fact, too!
In the week I was in the office between San Diego and my trip to Japan with Secretary Fain of the NC Department of Commerce, we packed a lot in!
The System Office celebrated its Employee Appreciation Day on October 2. This year’s theme was “History Happens Here.” Employee Appreciation Day is a chance for me to thank everyone for the tremendous efforts they make on behalf of the Community College System for the past year. It was also a time to talk about what we have been able to achieve in the past year and what we need to do to meet the many challenges ahead.
Our Appreciation Day is also special in that it ends our State Employees Combined Campaign. Chancy Kapp, along with a number of System Office staff, led our campaign. I am pleased to announce that our cumulative total was over $24,000 from 103 contributors, far surpassing our goal of $20,000.
Our Appreciation Day recognizes total state service of employees at each fifth anniversary an employee has with the state. This year twenty-two employees in the System Office met eligibility requirements for service awards.
Elizabeth Brown received on October 15 the 2007 State Employee Award for Excellence. For the past few years, she has been the Director for the Federal Vocational Education Programs. This is the first time in the System’s history that one of our employees has received this award. We recognized her as part of employee appreciation.
Kennon Briggs has two colleagues to brag about. In addition to Jan Hopkins receiving the NC Community College System President’s Award for outstanding support staff at Employee Appreciation Day, Alice Smith received the Barry K. Sanders Award as the Most Outstanding Fiscal Officer in State Government. In addition, Barbara Boyce of our Economic and Workforce Development Division received the President’s Award as the outstanding professional staff person.
Fred and I continue hard at work helping colleges with the Presidential searches. Following our September meeting, Fred met with Tri-County Community College, Blue Ridge Community College, Surry Community College, and Durham Technical Community College boards from which you have received each of the colleges’ final recommendations. We continue to work with Bladen Community College, Richmond Community College and Rowan Cabarrus Community College.
I met with Joe Freddoso, the new CEO of MCNC about a community college replacement on his board following the retirement of Phail Wynn and with Bill Scoggin of Alcatel-Lucent about new capabilities of that combined company. Bill Randall met with us. Chuck Barham, Barbara Boyce and I met with representatives of the North Carolina Bankers Association with regard to continuing education and curriculum programs for prospective bank employees.
I was pleased to participate in the 40th Anniversary Celebration at Edgecombe Community College and a rededication of its buildings on campus. It was a wonderful event!
In Japan I joined Secretary Fain in calling on a number of Japanese companies who are already in North Carolina exploring with them the opportunities for expansion of their operations in North Carolina and with potential new companies which might locate a manufacturing facility in North Carolina. As always, our New and Expanding Industry and other worker training programs were at the heart of these discussions. We also met with the president and senior administrators at the University of Nagoya to discuss the recently announced technology transfer office which they will be establishing in the Research Triangle in collaboration with North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Following these business calls, I participated in the annual meeting of the Southeast US/Japan Association meeting in Tokyo, returning just in time for the State Board Retreat at Halifax Community College. I was pleased that we were able to meet on that campus to observe how the new president, Dr. Ervin Griffin, has turned the situation around at that college. As you know, they were wonderful hosts!
George Milsap, Frank Scuiletti, and Fred, along with help from Kennon, continue to work on the planning for the Motorsports Consortium. This will be the initial year for program planning and development along with a developing a funding plan to implement successful motorsports offerings. Dr. Gary Green, President at Forsyth Technical CC is the leader for this program.
We thank all who have worked on the Intercollegiate Athletics Task Force chaired by Dr. Bob Keys. The committee is represented by State Board members, Presidents, local Trustees, System Student Services Representatives, NJCAA women’s and men’s regional directors, and a student representative. We are grateful for the time this committee has given to this issue.
Bladen Community College celebrated its 40th anniversary on Friday, October 5. Dr. Vince Revels, Interim Director of Program Audits, and Fred participated in celebrating these four decades of service to Bladen County.
North Carolina Magazine, the monthly publication of the North Carolina Chamber, gave community colleges great coverage in the annual education issue in October. The North Carolina Community Colleges Foundation joined with about 20 individual community colleges and other advertisers to produce a special community college section. The entire issue of the magazine was made up of many articles with positive references to community colleges, including articles that were focused on university or public school topics.
The CIS Release 18 Migration Project continues to be implemented across the state, with eight having completed their migration by the end of September, twenty-three more by October 21, and the remaining colleges by November 15. This initiative has taken much of the time of Dr. Saundra Williams and her staff.
In partnership with Jobs for the Future and the National Council for Workforce Education, Dr. Parker’s division has received a $733,865 “Ready for College” grant from the US Department of Education Office of Vocational and Adult Education. Vonna Viglione, Dr. Randy Whitfield, and Lou Ann Parker are to be commended for their leadership role in obtaining this grant. The grant follows a two-year initiative funded by GlaxoSmithKline called “Breaking Through.”
Governor Mike Easley was the plenary speaker at the October 4-5 “Double the Numbers Conference” hosted by Jobs for the Future and funded by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Vonna Viglione and representatives from our Achieving the Dream colleges were among the several hundred participants looking at how our state can expand the number of low income students earning college credits.
We are pleased that with significant leadership from President Erskine Bowles, the university members of the Transfer Advisory Committee have accepted major revisions to the Comprehensive Articulation Agreement that will provide for acceptance of college transfer courses taken by any community college student entering the UNC System without regard to whether or not a degree has been awarded. This is a major step forward in recognizing the educational value of our courses taken for transfer and in supporting the increase in college level courses offered to high school students through Learn and Earn.
We are pleased to have Renee Batts as the newest member of Program Services section of Dr. Delores Parker’s division as our Health Sciences Program Coordinator. We are also pleased that Wanda White, Director of Student Development Services, has been selected to participate in Leadership North Carolina for the coming year.
As you know, the General Assembly approved funding for fifteen new Minority Male Mentoring Programs across the state. Twenty-three proposals were received and are being evaluated.
Sharon Rosado and Kennon’s staff have been hard at work on the grant applications for the Facilities and Equipment Grant Funds. Keith Brown and Dr. Betty Adams are also hard at work on the Long Range and Facility Planning efforts which will lead to the approval of funding for colleges which was appropriated by the General Assembly.
We are excited that this year our Superior Performing colleges each received $270,000 from carry forward funds.
Willa Dickens continues to have personnel changes in her division. Pat Freeman who has been the long-time Regional Training Director for the Western Region has been named Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs at Isothermal Community College. We hate to lose Pat, but this is a wonderful promotion for her. Jim Whitley, who previously was the Regional Training Director for the Northeast Region has moved to the Global TransPark Region as its director.
Maureen Little was a presenter at the North Carolina Employment Security Commission Conference in Winston-Salem and also represented us at the 2007 National Association of Industry Specific Training Directors Conference in Biloxi, Mississippi.
Stephanie Deese and Robin Coates have been appointed by Governor Easley as members of the North Carolina Council of Women.
As you can see from this report, this office does not stand still when I am away.
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