President’s Report
to the
State Board of Community Colleges
May 21, 2004
The legislature is back in town considering adjustments to the budget and other matters. We have perhaps the best starting point in a gubernatorial budget we have had since I have been here. It includes full enrollment growth, additional funding for faculty and professional staff salaries, a small incremental increase in equipment funding, and additional funding for customized industrial training to include a reorganization of our NEIT and FIT programs. However, there is a ten-percent hit to our formula, other cuts, and a failure to address a number of issues, including Small Business Center funding. We need your help in getting the formula restored, additional equipment funding, and adequate funding for our Small Business Centers to continue their good work in entrepreneurial training and to cover the cost of the transfer of the Businesses Licensing Information Office from the Secretary of State’s office to ours.
Massage therapy has raised its ugly head again for community colleges with an attempt by board to dramatically increase its fees and with a determination that the fees it has already collected may not be legal. We now are in negotiations trying to get ourselves completely out from under that board and to avoid resuming the licensure of massage therapy proprietary programs.
We are pleased to be working with Red Hat to develop Red Hat Academies across the System. As an indigenous software company working in the new open source environment, I think it is important that we provide training to make greater utilization of this product.
Your staff and I have been involved in numerous discussions with regard to the NC Center for Applied Textile Technology, its problems and its future. At the board meeting, which I attended earlier this month, I was pleased that significant progress is being made in refocusing the work of that Center on product design and testing, consultative services, and research.
The Hispanic/Latino Advisory Board continues to meet and develop its strategic plan, the first order of business for that initiative.
The American Association of Community Colleges met in Minneapolis at the end of April and you would be very proud of the number of presenters from North Carolina during that meeting.
Helga Mattei (System Office) presented on "Fulfilling the Promise: The Next Generation of Hispanic/Latino Community College Leaders;"
Tony Zeiss (Central Piedmont Community College) presented on "Weathering the Storm a Year Later: Increased Efficiencies, Better Performance, and Alternative Revenue Sources;"
Cynthia Bioteau and Lucas Shallua (Forsyth Technical Community College) presented on "The New Biotechnology Workforce: Connecting Education, Employment, and Economic Development;"
Johnnie Simpson (Brunswick Community College) presented on "Beyond the Degree: Professional and Community Activities to Facilitate Career Advancement;"
Don Cameron (Guilford Technical Community College) presented on "Succession Planning: Developing Leaders of the Future of Community College;"
Greg Rutherford (Haywood Community College) presented on "Building the Creative Community;"
Stephanie Deese (System Office), Jeanie Moore and Ann Link (Rowan-Cabarrus Community College) presented on Responding to a Major Manufacturer Closing: A Pillowtex Case Study;"
David Sink (Blue Ridge Community College) presented on the Bellwether Award-winning "Programs for the Cyclic Workforce;"
Don Reichard, Lawrence Rouse, and Donna Shumate (Johnston Community College) presented on "Becoming a Student Oriented College Through the Use of Quality Improvement Teams;" and
Lawrence Rouse (Johnston Community College) also presented with Don Spell (Pitt Community College) on "What a Difference a Doctoral Degree Makes in the Advancement of Minorities and Women as Future Community College Leaders: Program Outcomes Tell a Story."
Ernest Grant, the Nurse Education Clinician for Burn Outreach at the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center, received the 2004 Outstanding Alumni Award, having attended Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College.
Danielle Shacklady (Catawba Valley Community College) was named to the USA Today All-USA Community and Junior College Academic First Team.
These presentations and awards make us all proud and indicate to the world what a fine System you are leading.
At the Centennial Celebration of Duke Power, Dr. Ruth Shaw, CEO and former President
of Central Piedmont Community College, announced a $600 thousand challenge grant program for community colleges serving counties in North Carolina and South Carolina in Duke’s service area. Colleges will be able to apply for grants to assist with economic development efforts in their counties which are not or cannot be funded through traditional state economic development programs. I was pleased to be on the planning committee for the celebration and to attend representing the System. We have recently learned that the $600,000 may be increased to as much as $2 million.
The NC Association of Community College Presidents held its quarterly meeting at Johnston Community College. Following that meeting, a number of us attended the Leadership Development Graduation Luncheon.
We have received a grant from United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to provide trustee training for new trustees in the community college system of Thailand. Johnston Community College will be the lead institution, but this training will involve community colleges in the consortium from across the country.
Dr. Leslie Alexandre (President & CEO, NC Biotechnology Center), Secretary Norris Tolson (NC Department of Revenue), President Molly Broad (University of North Carolina) and I spent a day in Washington calling on the Congressional Delegation with regard to the biotechnology initiative. We were well received by members of the Delegation and their staff.
I wish all of you could have been present for the Academic Excellence Awards luncheon. Even though the General Assembly was not in session, sixty-five legislators accepted our invitation and helped us honor the best and the brightest from all of our colleges. The three student speakers were truly incredible. There were few dry eyes in the audience.
Though we hope that the General Assembly will delay the transfer of the Business Licensing Information Office from the Secretary of State agency to our System Office or give us the resources to do the job right we are trying to prepare for the transition. This week we began training of our Small Business Center Directors, so that we would not be caught short-footed if the transfer takes place as planned without additional resources.
I met earlier this week with the James Sprunt Community College Trustees as they begin the search process following the announcement of retirement by President Mary Wood.
All of your staff, and especially your vice presidents, have been incredibly busy since the last meeting. I will not attempt to catalog even all of the high points of the month, because you would be exhausted from just reading them. However, I will give you a representative sampling of the kinds of things our folks have been involved in.
Dr. Randy Whitfield has received a national award for "Outstanding Leadership and Commitment" to the National Adult Education Professional Development Consortium. Dr. Delores Parker received the Pacesetter award at the Southern Women in Public Service Conference in Atlanta. The sponsor of this conference, The Stennis Center, recognized outstanding women from 13 southern states. Delores was North Carolina’s winner. She also received the I.E. Ready distinguished graduate award for 2004 from the North Carolina State University Department of Adult and Community College Education. I know you join me in congratulating Delores and Randy.
We are pleased that the Minority Male Mentoring Initiative has been continued a second year by the Governor’s Crime Commission, with an increase in amount to $125,000.
Ken Whitehurst and Linda McCulloch continue to work on the New Schools Project funded by the Gates Foundation and on the K-13 Initiative floated by the Governor.
Dr. Saundra Williams’ division has published the 2004 Fact Book, a copy of which was included in your materials. This is the result of a great deal of staff time and is a very important tool for all of us to use. Brenda Splawn was the leader of this effort.
Keith Brown presented a session on "Assessment in the North Carolina Community College System: From Whose Perspective?" at the N. C. State Undergraduate Assessment Symposium.
The Economic and Workforce Development Division reports 745 new jobs will be created through new and expanding industry projects on which their staff has been working. More than 825 additional new jobs are in the pipeline.
More than 20 community college instructors have been trained as "On-Board Diagnostic Repair Technician" instructors and their respective colleges have each received approximately $15,000 worth of automotive training equipment. The funds for this program were provided by the N. C. Division of Air Quality to enhance North Carolina’s emissions testing.
Kennon Briggs and his staff hosted more than 300 Business Office staff in Greensboro at the annual Spring Finance Conference. Speakers from the Office of the State Controller, Department of the State Auditor, Department of Correction, Department of State Treasurer, State Construction Office, Office of State Personnel, Employment Security Commission, Legislative Fiscal Research, ACS, Accenture, and Department of Insurance offices and companies, as well as business and finance staff, made presentations. Kennon Briggs was the graduation speaker at Vance-Granville Community College.
Your entire staff, but especially Suzanne Williams and Kennon Briggs, have devoted untold hours to working with legislative staff and members on our appropriations and special provisions’ requests. We are encouraged by what we hear, but we must all redouble our efforts in support of our legislative priorities.
This page maintained by Chancy Kapp.