RALEIGH: The State Board of Community Colleges heard specific details about the role the North Carolina Community College System will play in the training of new biotechnology workers, enabled by the Golden LEAF Foundation.

Golden LEAF announced last week the commitment of up to $60 million to launch a program to train North Carolinians for the emerging biotechnology industry. The North Carolina Community College System will receive $9.4 million that will provide startup funds for its portion of the initiative.

System President H. Martin Lancaster explained to the State Board that these funds will enable the NCCCS to be a critical player in serving this emerging industry and gave the members a more detailed explanation of how the System will use those funds.

"The Biotech Center indicates that 67% of the workers in biomanufacturing will require some training beyond high school, but not a B.S. or higher degree, so the bulk of the workers who are trained will come through our program," said Lancaster. "Our money will not fund the construction of buildings. We will have access to 12,000 square feet of space dedicated to community college uses at the Biotechnology Training Center which will be build on N.C. State’s Centennial Campus." This location will be a clean room/aseptic process suite.

The community college portion of the plan includes five skills centers at "lead" community colleges, designed to share expertise throughout the system; a mobile training lab; and a Biotechnology Office for the system. Lancaster told the Board that center locations at the community colleges will be determined after a request for proposals. The selections will be made with assistance from the Golden LEAF, which has asked to be part of that process.

Lancaster called the mobile training lab the most exciting part of the program. "It will allow us to move quickly into a community where there is a need for customized training. Biomanufacturing companies have to shut down periodically for FDA recertification, during that period the companies generally use that time for training workers, this mobile lab will assist in that effort."

He told the Board that the first step would be to get personnel hired. Then, the System will move forward with proposal requests by late winter.

Three new members joined the Board: James W. "Jim" Daniels of Asheville, The Honorable Estell C. Lee of Wilmington, and Dr. Linwood Powell of Fayetteville. Anne-Marie Knighton of Edenton began her second term.

In other action:

The Board approved Dr. C. H. "Rusty" Stephens as President of Wilson Technical Community College, effective September 8. Dr. Stephens currently serves as the Vice President of Instruction at Harford Community College in Bel Air, MD. He will become the fourth president of Wilson Tech following the retirement of Dr. Frank L. Eagles, who has served as president for 21 years.

Prior to his current position, Dr. Stephens served as Dean of Instruction at Belmont Community College in Ohio and as Assistant Dean of Evening Programs at DeKalb Community College in Atlanta. He has also worked with a financial services company, served as the director of learning resources, the acting director of continuing education, the coordinator of library services and a librarian at other community colleges.

The Board also approved resolutions of appreciation for former members Peter C. Hans, W.W. "Dub" Dickson, Dr. G. Herman Porter, and Brandon Johnson, the student representative.

-NCCCS-

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