RALEIGH:  North Carolina Community College System President H. Martin Lancaster talks with host William Friday about the transitions and challenges that lie ahead for North Carolina’s Community College System on UNC-TV’s North Carolina People. This program airs Friday, September 29 at 8:30 p.m. and repeats Sunday, October 1 at 5:30 p.m.

Since Lancaster became president of the 59 campuses of the North Carolina Community College System in July 1997, he has provided leadership to one of the largest and best community college systems in the country. Lancaster’s major initiatives have been to increase funding and private support for upgrading the equipment and technology of the colleges, to improve salaries of faculty and staff and to make the system a major player in economic development in North Carolina through its mission of work forced preparation.

One of the challenges faced by Lancaster and the individual campuses of the North Carolina Community College System is the diversity of students’ needs across the state. "The beauty of the Community College System is its focus on the community…bringing the needs of that community to the president and the faculty," says Lancaster.

While 25 percent of students currently enrolled in the state’s community college system will be transferring their credits to four-year colleges and universities, many rely on community colleges for their basic education needs.

"One of our greatest impacts in communities is giving a high school diploma to those people that the public education system has failed in some way," explains Lancaster. " In some counties we will give out more diplomas than the high schools in the county."

During the next couple of months, Lancaster’s focus will turn to the relationship between the Higher Education Improvement Bonds on November’s ballot and the growing facility needs of the system’s 59 campuses. "We anticipate, over the next 10 years, 50,000 additional students coming to our campuses…and we simply aren’t prepared to meet that obligation."

The plan for the Higher Education bond will be spread out over six years and will cover 300 buildings, between the University and the community colleges, making it possible for the community college system to modernize its facilities and provide additional buildings to accommodate increased enrollment.

"We want an open-door institution, an institution where we never turn away a person when they come to us…[but] for the first time in our history we are now having to turn students away. This bond referendum will give those communities a reprieve," says Lancaster.

UNC-TV is the statewide 11-station broadcast network of the University of North Carolina Center for Public Television.

The North Carolina Community College System, with 759,000 students, is the third largest community college system in the United States. The System is the state's primary agency for delivery of job training, literacy and adult education programs.

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