A sample of recent articles of interest to Morehead State University 606-783-2030 The Daily Independent, Ashland, Kentucky, Friday, February 28, 1997 BY ANGIE MUHS community college system has aca­ Geveden presents HERALD-LEADER EDUCATION WRITER demic tenure. That"s not true in HICKORY, N.C. - North Car­ Kentucky"s community colleges. college proposal olina and Kentucky"s different ap­ which have academic ranks and PADUCAH - State Rep. proaches to their communitv col­ tenure. Charles Geveden has given leges and technical programs have The other major difference is in Gov. Paul Patton a copy of a deep historical roots. the power structure. Kentucky"s 1-l bill that he introduced Catawba Valley Communitv community colleges fall. under the during the 1992 legislative College, like most of North Caroli­ University of Kentucky; their local session. that proposes na's community colleges, started its boards are advisory and major de­ life as an "industrial education cen­ changing the way the state's cisions are made in Lexington. colleges are managed. ter," focusing on technical and vo­ The Keritucky Tech system. Geveden's bill, which was cational programs tailored to the lo­ which includes 29 post-secondan­ cal job market. not debated during the 199Z schools, is run by the Workforce session, proposed that the _ The mission of providing train­ Development Cabinet, which is part mg for the work force remained community colleges and of state government. regional universities be paramount - even as the system ln North Carolina, the commu­ grew to include a liberal arts col­ governed by a single board nity ·college system falls tinder a Each regional school · lege transfer program. statewide, free-standing board that Kentucky, on the other hand currently has its own was established in 1981. But most governing board with started its community college sys'. of the day-to-day decision-making tern to make a university education community colleges managed -rests with the local governing by the UK board of trustees. more accessible'to the public. The boards, not with the systems office. Under Geveden's plan, UK idea -Was :·that students attended "Each president of a communi­ community college near home for ty college is a little duke in his and U of L would continue to tlie, first two-years before transfer­ be managed by their own dukedom," said Ferrel ·Guillory. boards of trustees. ring to another university. writer in residence at MDC Corp., a ·-Meanwhile, the Kentucky Tech Chapel Hill-based non-profit corpo­ postsecondary vocational schools ration that studies economic devel­ offered iechnical and vocational opment and work-force training is­ programs. sues. There are two other key differ­ ences in-the systems . .In North Carolina, no one in the LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER, LEXJNGTON, KY. ■ MONDAY, MARCH 3, 1997 The Furniture Center features "Colleges have to realize it's a tdile·ges' several large rooms, which contain new day and the campus is just a .. an upholstery lab, sewing ma­ headquarters," college President chines and many of the same ma­ •Phail Wynn Jr. said. "When there's chines that would be found in fur. a need, we'll take it there." µtdustry niture plants. An'd- the college was ready to The Hosiery Center's space is move when asked, said Bernard crammed with sock-knitting ma­ Farmer. the director of the City of µes pay chines, ranging from antiques to Durham's Office of Employee sleek computerized machines with Training and Development, which $40,000 price tags. It even teams up asked the college to teach basic lit­ with the college's English as a Sec­ eracy and GED classes to city em­ off in N.C. ond Language program to offer ployees. customized courses for the growing number of mill workers who are Re-engineering needed Schools provide Hmong and Hispanic immigrants. But the differences in emphasis. The college almost always gets history and culture, experts say, il­ workers, training called on when new industries are lustrate why policymakers can't thinking about locating in the area, just look at another state's system ■ Yesterday: North Caroli­ said its president, Cuyler Dunbar. na's -public university system and think that they could come up That might be anything from with one-size-fits-all answers. routinely wins national training in a high-tech skill to · "It's worked well here because praise. Ask leaders there teaching literacy courses - an it started out this way and people ~ow it happened and they'll area-in which community colleges are used .to it," Dunbar said. say there's n·o· magic are a primary player statewide. North Carolina's community A couple of years ago, Alcatel, formula. college system, after all, is not which makes fiber-optic cable, was without its occasional controversies ■ Today: Community thinking of expanding a plant near and challenges . colleges in North Carolina .Hickory. But it was worried about For example, much like in Ken­ and Kentucky have big :~ning trained workers. tucky, ·one concern has been im­ differences in emphasis, ~ :fhe college, with some state proving coordination and commu­ -funding, offered training at its cam­ nication - both within the system history and culture - but pus for potential workers while Al­ North Carolina's system is and between it and universities. catel was still building. the plant. said former Gov. Bob Scott, the recognized nationally for its -Now the college is hoping to start system's• president from 1983 to work with local industries. an associate degree program in 1995. ::fiber optics, -Dunbar said. The result is a systemwide re­ BY ANGIE MUHS "By the time they walked into engineering that, among other HERALD-LEADER EDUCATION WRITER that brand-new plant, they had a things, is converting the colleges' HICKORY, N.C. -A quick trip lot of trained workers," Dunbar calendar to . semesters from . the around the campus of Catawba said. "It worked beautifully, and to quarter system. It is also trying to Valley Community College in west­ me, that's\what a community col­ make it easier for students to trans­ ern North Carolina illustrates that lege is all about." fer without losing credits. what a community college· is can . But that partnership works James Dixon, the system's vice depend on where you are. only if the community college re­ president fqr academic and student You would find a parking lot spects business's views and needs, services, said some students have roped off for a semi-truck driving said Dan St. Louis, who directs the had trouble transferring between school and a high-tech knitting ma­ Hosiery Center. community colleges. chine in a mini-hosiery factory - When it does work, though, the "It was enough to give us vocational pro­ effort can pay_ off for the college. pause," he said. "We want to be grams that you. Most of the machines in the hosiery sure that English 101 at Asheville­ wouldn't find in and furniture centers, for example, Buncombe Tech is the same thing Kentucky's have been donated or lent to the as English 101 at Edgecombe Com­ community col­ college· by plants or manufacturers. munity College." lege system. 'The industry's gone down to You'd find Raleigh and raised Cain to get us the liberal arts money before," St. Louis said. "Be­ for Hi2her programs cause they saw we were doing . Educalion meant to help what they wanted, they stuck up students trans­ for us down in Raleigh." SECOND OF fer to four-year A few hours away, in the urban Two PARTS universities -- Raleigh-Durham area, the story is but at Cataw­ similar. ba, unlike in Kentucky, they're not Durham Technical Community what the college was primarily College once flew two instructors to founded to do. a Motorola plant in Texas to learn In short, you'd find that a com­ what managers wanted from work­ munity college in North Carolina is­ ers before the company opened a n't; exactly the same thing as a plant in the Research Triangle. The corfunuiiity college in Kentucky. college then taught those skills to •But in both states, most agree future workers. that community colleges are crucial It also teaches skills at an IBM to the state's future prosperity. plant and offers registered nursing "A.state, to step up as an eco­ courses. for nurse's'. aides at Duke nomic.force; cannot do it without a University's Medical-Center - at strong· community college system," .the hospital. said William Friday, the former LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER, LEX!N<l_TON, KY. ■ FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1997 president \,of 'the · University· of North.Carolina system. · - . · ■ BOBSLEDDING - . The North Carolina system has •been recognized nationally, includ­ Shimer finishes second: Brian Shhner cap­ ing•'in• a· recent front-page Wall tured a silver medal yesterday in the final World Cup Street Ji~! art_icle; for its work . four-man bobsled.race of the season. The former with local industnes. _. _ . Morehead State football player from Nai?les, Fla.,_ fin- · · It's a theme that permeates the ished second in the overall season standmgs, which . Catawba· Valley's campus. combine two-man and four-man results. He ':"a~ fifth 111 - ..... four-man World Cup points. R1;to ~etsch1-p1\oted Switzerland I won with a combm<;d nm~ of 1 mmute, 47.02 seconds. Shimer's USA I fimshed m 1:47.43. l.ExiNGTON HERALO-lEAOER, LEXINGTON, KY. ■ SUNDAY, MARCH 2, 1997 higher education system that lacked a central vision and was teeming Comparing N.C. ·had· with unnecessary competition. North Carolina ended up with a North Carolina radical shake-up - a "shotgun and Kentucky marriage," in the former governor's FEDERAL SUPPORT FOR RESEARCH to battle words.