President’s Report
To the
State Board of Community Colleges
July 20, 2007
With no June meeting, it seems like an eternity since we last met.
Most of our substantive legislation has passed or is in good shape, several Legislative Strategy meetings have occurred, the Faculty Legislative Rally was a great success, and progress continues to be made towards a final budget. Suzanne Williams, Kennon Briggs, and I have had frequent one-on-one meetings with legislators throughout this two-month period. A number of our colleges have conducted program demonstrations in the Legislative Building for the edification of our friends in the legislature. The General Assembly passed a resolution in honor in the life and memory of Dr. Dallas Herring which was attended by many family and friends of Dr. Herring.
I have spoken at civic clubs in Asheboro and Goldsboro, and appeared on UNC-TV’s NC-NOW.
The group which meets to distribute Duke Energy Foundation funds met and once again proved the great value of this pool of funds to assist with economic development projects in the Duke service area.
Dr. Allen Goben of SAS Institute met with Dr. Betty Adams and other senior staff with regard to a white paper he has written on institutional effectiveness, a subject of greater and greater importance to the SACS accreditation process and the success of our colleges.
During a family trip to the beach at Memorial Day, I took a day and went to Havelock for a major announcement involving East Carolina University and North Carolina State University. At the Aviation Institute at Craven’s Havelock Campus, a rich array of aviation and technical four-year degrees will be offered in collaboration between Craven Community College and those two universities.
Your former colleague and our great friend, Phil Kirk, received the Jay Robinson Leadership Award presented annually by the Public School Forum for outstanding contributions to public education. No one ever deserved this award more than Phil.
Following that luncheon, I went to Elon University to become a part of the Executive Board of North Carolina Campus Compact, an organization of two- and four-year colleges focused on the use of service learning in the educational process.
During this two-month period, Fred Williams met with the Fayetteville Technical Community College Board of Trustees with regard to its finalists for president. Of course, you have approved at this meeting Dr. Larry Keen as that new president. This is a bittersweet decision, since we will miss the incredible leadership Larry has given to our economic and workforce development programs for the last five years, but we are happy that he has this wonderful opportunity for leadership.
I have met with the Rowan-Cabarrus Community College Board of Trustees to kickoff the search process as it seeks to replace our longest serving president, Dr. Dick Brownell.
I met with the NC Community College Comprehensive Student Government Association Leadership Bonding Session at Peace College and the following week spoke to the NC Community College Student Leadership Institute Breakfast, also at Peace College.
Pitt Community College pioneered in locally sponsored leadership institutes at which I spoke again this year. I also spoke to the Edgecombe Community College Leadership Institute, modeled after Pitt’s.
In early June, I met again with the Community College Advisory Panel of the College Board in New York. It continues to focus on expanding its services to community colleges through a National Commission on the Community College and additional and improved assessment tools that our colleges can use for student success.
Dr. Larry Keen and I have been hard at work with a major industry recruitment, which if successful will be one of the most significant in our history. This recruitment required an out-of-state trip for the two of us, Willa Dickens, Secretary Fain, and others. This is but one of many economic developments underway!
Alice and I attended a wonderful dinner sponsored by Action for Children at which our long-time friend and I.E. Ready Award recipient, Tom Lambeth, received their highest award.
Your staff and I have met with the Executive Committee of the NC Association of Community College Presidents and the summer meeting of the NC Association of Community College Trustees. On the night of the Trustees’ meeting, Helen Dowdy was honored for her many years of distinguished service to the Community College System in various important roles. We will all miss Helen as she begins her retirement. We are excited that your former staff member, Donny Hunter, will be replacing Helen. We wish him well and look forward to working with him. We have already met with Donny with regard to the important work Joanne Steiner has led on responding to the State Auditor’s report on internal audit.
Wayne Community College celebrated its 50th Anniversary with a rededication ceremony. At the end of June, Dr. Ed Wilson retired from Wayne Community College. What a loss to our System!
Other auspicious retirements since you last met included Ray Bailey at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College and Bill Lewis at Isothermal Community College.
Among the meetings during this two-month period were the UNC Tomorrow Advisory Committee, the NC Community Colleges Foundation, the NC Global TransPark Board, and the Emerging Issues Business Committee of Higher Education.
Sir Reg Empey, the new Minister of Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland, and a delegation from that country visited the System Office and Vance-Granville Community College. I continue to work with post-secondary education in Northern Ireland as they move forward with the evolution of their programs to look more like ours.
Last week, five of our southeastern community college presidents, representatives of other community colleges, the Chancellor of Fayetteville State University, your Chair, and I met to celebrate the community college and university partnership at a luncheon and to review those programs.
I met with Joe Freddoso, the new President and Chief Executive Officer of MCNC, about his plans for that IT organization and how it might provide IT services to our System. I also met with retiring President Reg Ponder and incoming President Michael Clyburn of Louisburg College.
Jane Phillips and her Human Resources staff have done an incredible job in filling new and vacant positions. We had 20 such new employees who started work during the month of June alone. Jane and her office have also been very busy in the implementation of the new payroll system called BEACON and in completing our Equal Employment Opportunity Plan update.
Despite meager funding for professional development, our staff is to be commended for the number of training sessions this summer and not just in CIS. Programs have focused on institutional effectiveness, program management, community college laws and Administrative Code, and Strategic Planning.
Willa Dickens, Jane Phillips and Jim Clark have led the effort to develop a Continuity of Operations plan in response to Executive Order 102, which will keep our System operating in the event of a communicable disease pandemic in the workplace or a major natural or man-caused disaster.
We were all pleased that the US Department of Education’s audit of our Basic Skills program went very well. Dr. Randy Whitfield and her staff received commendations for their use of State Leadership funding (especially for the Appalachian State University grant), the Great Teachers Retreat, and the North Carolina Literacy Ambassadors Program. Our federal vocational education program was also monitored during this DoE audit visit.
Dr. Delores Parker and Tracy McPherson attended the National Correctional Education Association Conference in Atlanta last week, and Dr. Peggy Teague participated in the National Smart Start Conference in May. Both Tracy and Peggy made presentations at these national meetings. Peggy also accompanied a group of culinary faculty members and students to Paris to explore culinary exchange opportunities. The group was lead by Chef Kimrey Jordan of Wilkes Community College.
The Institute of Medicine has reconvened the Steering Committee for the Nursing Workforce Taskforce Update. Kim Jernigan represented our System at that meeting.
Also a workshop to address “The Impact of Health Care and the Allied Health Workforce on North Carolina’s Economy” was held at the Friday Center. Dr. Judith Mann was a panel member.
We are all excited that the 18 Phase 2C colleges will be able to register students for the fall term using CIS. The migration to Release 18 has continued to make outstanding progress.
Dr. Soyoung Yim has completed the compilation of the Critical Success Factors report which is now available on the System website. Thirty-eight colleges were ranked as “Superior” – a record!
Keith Brown has been appointed to the North Carolina Blue Ribbon Commission on Testing and Accountability which will be reviewing those programs used by the State Board of Education for those purposes. He is also serving on the Technical Review Panel for the National Center for Education Statistics.
Our System and the University System have established the Open Source Collaborative, creating an ability for e-learning and distance learning professionals from both systems to join their efforts in creating more cost-effective alternatives to the expensive proprietary software systems now being used to support online learning. Dr. Bill Randall has led this effect.
Kennon Briggs and his staff have been spinning like tops as they are in the midst of year-end closing of the books and dealing with the end of the legislative session. Kennon anticipates that this will be the earliest the System has ever completed this arduous task.
Several new employees have joined Kennon’s staff since the last meeting and all are being incorporated into the staff and impressing everyone with their ability and enthusiasm.
Of course, Kennon and his staff have been in the thick of things with the legislative budget process, providing untold information to the legislators and their staff.
Dr. Larry Keens reports that his System Office and regional staff are hard at work with many recruitments that should lead to thousands of new jobs for North Carolinians.
Maureen Little, Charlotte Regional Training Director, was in France recently to work with Turbo Mecca to learn about their production and training programs for a new Monroe, NC location.
Though we regret the loss of Dr. Larry Keen to Fayetteville, we are excited that you have approved Willa Dickens as his replacement. We look forward to working with Willa.
Until the General Assembly adjourns, we need your continued contact with legislators in support of our legislative priorities.
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