The President’s Report
To the
State Board of Community Colleges
February 12, 2004
Last month my report to you covered two months of activity, but this month’s report does not even cover four weeks! However, it has been a full four weeks.
As soon as the meeting was over in January, I joined a number of members of our staff at First Baptist Church for the Martin Luther King State Employees’ Celebration. Chancy Kapp sings in the State Employees Choir and was a featured soloist. This is an important event that not only recognizes the impact of Dr. King, but also the impact of diversity on state government and on our state.
We are pleased that our Hispanic/Latino Initiative is now up and running, with our first meeting of the Advisory Board having taken place in late January. The Advisory Board is made up of outstanding Hispanic leaders from across the state, as well as others who have responsibilities to serve that community.
Richmond Community College hosted the NC Association of Community College Presidents’ Meeting at which your vice presidents and I reported on activities in the System Office and gained valuable feedback from the presidents on those issues. We also took a spin around the racetrack at Rockingham, reaching speeds well in excess of 100 m.p.h. The most enthusiastic participant in this activity was Dr. Saundra Williams, a native of Richmond County.
A number of important meetings have been rescheduled for later as a result of the ice and snow storm which kept many of our staff from coming to work for as much as four days. Several hearty souls, however, were here on Monday morning! Among the events cancelled were the roll out of the long-range Biotechnology Strategic Plan requested by the Governor and a visit by Danish educators who were to have visited Wake Technical Community College and the System Office.
We feared that the ice and snow would prevent our having an all-employee staff meeting at which we announced another allocation of salary dollars to address equity among our staff and compared to other state employees. But on Thursday, most staff were back and we proceeded with the meeting. This has been an issue to which Fred Williams has brought special urgency and leadership. This process to achieve equity with other state employees actually began several years ago with a request of the General Assembly to address the inequity between our education consultants and their counterparts in the Department of Public Instruction and has continued as we have been able to secure funds. The Governor’s latest allocation of funds took us a long way towards completing the full implementation of the equity study done several years ago. We certainly do not pay our staff enough, but that is true of all state employees. However, our study showed that our staff was not even being paid equitably with similar positions in other state agencies. We will continue to work on this until we have achieved equity and then will work with other state employees to achieve equity with employees in the private sector.
Alice and I were pleased to be present at Cleveland Community College when its Campus Center was named to honor former Representative Jack Hunt, a long-time friend. That evening, we participated in the kickoff of its capital fund drive which will match its bond funds and make possible the building of an allied health and science facility.
The next day we drove to Murphy to meet with the president and some of the staff of Tri-County Community College, followed by a session with the Trustees and then a public luncheon at which other college and community leaders were present. One of our purposes was to support the courageous action of the Board to move a hobby wood working shop, so that that space could be renovated to make room for their nursing programs. It had become a hot political problem. After lunch, we participated in a demonstration burn at its incredible new fire and rescue training facility. This four-story structure enables the college to train fire departments from the entire region, including Tennessee, Georgia, and the Cherokee Nation. This multi-story training facility is especially important for the Cherokee Nation with the construction of high-rise hotels and may be the only such facility west of Gaston County.
Last week I traveled to Belmont to meet as a member of the NC Center for Applied Textile Technology Board.
Larry Keen, Kennon Briggs, Fred Williams, and I have met with Dan Gerlach, the Governor’s principle advisor on budget issues with regard to the exhaustion of our New and Expanding Industry and Focused Industrial Training funds. The Governor’s Office and the Budget Office are working with us to address this issue so that we do not have to say "no" to any company that wishes to expand or locate in North Carolina.
Last week I took personal leave time to attend the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC.
Dr. Stuart Fountain convened the first meeting of his colleagues who will be working with him and members of the Board of Governors to address issues of cooperation and collaboration with the University System. This is truly an historic opportunity.
Chancy Kapp was one of the speakers at a weeklong celebration of the 40th anniversary of Southeastern Community College last week. Alice and I participated in their 40th Anniversary Gala on Friday evening.
This week I have participated in the Emerging Issues Forum; met with the Edgecombe Community College Trustees to begin the search process for a successor to Dr. Hartwell Fuller, who has announced his retirement; and participated in the rescheduled presentation of the Biotechnology Strategic Plan.
Dr. Tim Brewer and Mr. Fred Williams met with the Executive Committee of the NC Association of Community College Trustees to discuss Administrative Code changes, including secondary employment policies. Fred also represented the System Office at the National Legislative Summit in Washington, DC, earlier this week.
Kennon Briggs and Saundra Williams continue their work with Tom Ziko of the Attorney General’s Office on the contract extension document for the CIS project. This has taken an incredible amount of time and effort on everyone’s part. This very complex extension will not be possible without the hard work of Herb Watkins, Kennon Briggs, Saundra Williams and the entire Business and Finance and Administration divisions’ staff.
All Phase 2B colleges have successfully completed the implementation of the human resources system of CIS in January as scheduled. Phase 2C colleges are on target to meet the July schedule for implementing the financial system. The work on the cash reporting resolution continues on schedule.
Phil Albano who has been working with our colleges, the State Treasurer, and the Office of State Budget on the cash flow determinations for bond projects, hoping to move some of them up for earlier completion. Through late January, the System has spent $123.84 million of the $600 million on new construction and renovations projects.
Alice Smith is working with a number of our professional staff on the submission of grant requests. Her fiscal coordination for the Foundation and for the professional staff’s development efforts is very valuable.
Kennon and his staff met with Central Business Officers at Sandhills Community College on February 6 to update them on fiscal matters.
Dr. Parker, members of her staff, and representatives from various colleges attended a meeting at SAS Institute in early February to see a demonstration of what SAS is doing to enhance the use of technology in various curricula. This is an exciting opportunity that we hope will be aggressively pursued by SAS and our colleges.
At the Presidents’ Association meeting, the Distance Learning Strategic Plan was approved that will help manage the explosive growth of distance learning across the System. For the 2002-2003 academic year there were almost 112,000 registrations in distance learning courses, up 35 percent from the previous year. This kind of growth cannot be sustained within existing resources. In the furtherance of distance learning, UNC-TV and Dr. Parker’s division hosted a seminar entitled "Broadcast and Beyond," at which 50 distance learning professionals from across the state attended.
Pam Little and project coordinators in the Minority Male Mentoring Project presented this week at the NC College Access Conference in Wilmington. Coordinators from Durham Technical Community College, Mitchell Community College, Piedmont Community College, Southeastern Community College, and Wayne Community College participated.
Dr. Larry Keen and his staff continue with the implementation of our Biotechnology Initiative, hoping to hire the initial staff in the next few weeks. A schedule for the RFP process has been established which will result in choosing the Center sites in May.
Dr. Keen’s division also is challenged to meet the requests for assistance to new and expanding industries across the state. Economic development efforts by the NC Commerce Department and local Economic Development Commissions are in high gear. Proposals are now pending which will create hundreds of new jobs all across the state.
Happy Valentines to you and to those whom you love!
This page maintained by Chancy Kapp.