June 21, 2001

Regents to Meet June 28-29

The KCTCS Board of Regents will meet June 28-29 at Madisonville Community College. Board committee meetings will be held June 28, and the full Board will meet at 9 a.m. (Central Daylight Time) June 29.

Items on the agenda include accreditation, approval of new programs and election of Board officers for 2001. Board members also will tour Madisonville CC and the Madisonville Technical College Health Technology Campus.

The complete agenda is available on the KCTCS web site.

***

PLT Retreat Summary

During its recent retreat, the President's Leadership Team (PLT) focused on how to achieve the mission of KCTCS, given the forces that will impact the system. After the forces were identified, discussion centered on what issues would need to be addressed. The issues were then prioritized through a voting process.

An exercise to determine how the issues could influence each other revealed future scenarios for consideration. This will lead to a review of the assignment of issues to R. S. V. P. teams, including the Strategic Priority Teams.

Jefferson Community College president retiring

Dr. Richard Green, president of Jefferson Community College (JCC), is retiring after a long career in education and business. Green, president of JCC for six years, will leave the position as of June 30. He announced his retirement June 18 to JCC faculty and staff.

Besides serving as president of JCC, Green has been chief executive officer of the Jefferson Community and Technical College District, which comprises JCC and Jefferson Technical College (JTC). At JCC, Green has supervised more than 400 full-time faculty and staff. The college -- the largest in KCTCS -- enrolls about 9,500 students at campuses in downtown Louisville, southwest Jefferson County and Carrollton.

Green said he is pleased that significant progress has been made during his tenure at JCC.

"I arrived to serve Jefferson Community College in 1995 with a commitment to the mission of the college and its potential as a major force in the education and economic development of Greater Louisville," Green said. "I leave six years later convinced that we have accomplished much, and that the community is more aware of our contributions and supports our efforts as partners in progress. The college has a foundation for an outstanding future. Dorothy and I want to thank everyone for their friendship and support."
.
Green worked for more than 10 years at Honeywell Inc. in Minneapolis. Also, he held academic positions such as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio; vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college at Augsburg College in Minneapolis; and interim president of Metropolitan State University in Minneapolis.

As of July 1, Green will take a one-year sabbatical from JCC. Dr. Michael B. McCall soon will appoint interim leadership.

Also, a search will begin to appoint the next permanent president of JCC. The college's next president also will serve in the dual role of chief executive officer of the Jefferson Community and Technical College District, which includes JTC.

***

News from KCTCS
State Fire Rescue Training

Fire Department Instructors at System Office

Fire department instructors from across the state met at the KCTCS system office June
2-3 to learn how to teach Kentucky's new firefighter survival and rescue course. The course, which provides the knowledge and survival skills needed by firefighters trapped inside a burning structure, is required for all new firefighters.

On June 4-6, one of the largest classes of the 2001 State Fire School was held at the System Office administration building. The staff of the Fire Commission coordinates State Fire School registration.

KCTCS Instructor Recognized by Fire Commission

KCTCS State Fire Rescue Training instructor, Scott Shaw, was recently named first runner-up in the national instructor of the year program. He received the honor for his work in developing curriculum for Kentucky's Firefighter Survival and Rescue Course. Gerald Stewart, chairman of the Kentucky Fire Commission, presented Scott with a plaque acknowledging the award.

Firefighters Association Honors Calhoun

The Kentucky Firefighters Association (KFA) has recognized Steve Calhoun for his efforts in rebuilding the State Fire Rescue Training organization; for his leadership in bringing together the majors state fire service organizations; and for his contributions during the initiative to bring the Fire Commission into KCTCS. KFA honored Calhoun during the June 3 Kentucky Fire Commission meeting in Lexington.

***

New Employee Orientation Scheduled

"KCTCS Orientation 2001-New Horizons" will be held at the Lexington Holiday Inn North August 9-10. New KCTCS employees who have been hired since January 1, 2001, are invited to attend.

Keynote speakers will include Dr. Ron Abrams, president of North Central Technical College in Ohio, Dr. Michael B. McCall, Dr. Keith Bird and Dr. Tony Newberry. Presenters also will include professional speaker, Marie Carter Pollack, author of
"Life is a Journey to be Enjoyed."

Registration and program information are on the KCTCS web site.

***

News from the Colleges

Elizabethtown District

Elizabethtown Community College recently hosted a forum for 20 college counselors and career planning professionals from across Kentucky. Chuck Spataro, ECC associate professor and director of career/life planning, organized the event. Participants explored specific career counseling issues and discussed how career-planning professionals in Kentucky's community and technical colleges can assist students in choosing careers and college majors.

Spataro and his wife Joella, ECC division secretary, teamed up to "break the ice" for participants at the forum (see photo). Joella used FedEx boxes and the theme from the movie "Castaway" in an exercise that helped participants become better acquainted.

Approximately 125 educators from across Kentucky recently met at Elizabethtown CC to learn more about the growing demands for - and increasing options in - distance learning. Distance learning - which includes interactive television, public access television and web-based courses - is one of the fastest growing areas of postsecondary education. Participants at ECC's third annual distance learning conference were told how distance-learning options could reach even more college students. The conference was led by ECC assistant professor Altay Ozgener and associate professor Carla Hornback. A keynote speaker was KCTCS chancellor Dr. Tony Newberry (see photo).

Madisonville District

Madisonville Community College faculty Rozenna Carr, John Lowbridge, and Scott Vander Ploeg helped in three of the four training programs for the Tradewater/Lower Green River Watershed Watch in April and May. They trained nearly two-dozen community volunteers in how to "grab" water samples, perform stream characteristic and biological assessment, and determine pH and dissolved oxygen levels. The first test run in the region was on May 19, and due to their efforts, about 72 sites were tested. The data from the tests is considered valid by many state regulatory agencies. Hopkins County has benefited from four stream improvements due, in part, to the data being provided.

The first "master staff workshop" for employees of Madisonville Technical College and Madisonville Community College was held June 1 at Pennyrile Forest State Park. Twenty classified staff members participated. They included Lydia Wilson, Oneta Bard, Sharon Allen, Martine Ray, Barb McCoy, Glynda Conaway, Jeff Harp, Carolyn Frizzi, Barbara Farris, Kathy Ordal, Sandy Suhre, Kathryn Norvell, Keneda Ellis, Joyce Riggs, Sandy Latham, Paul Cothran, Tim Stutler, Karyn Fletcher, Brenda Thomasson and Dorothy Steele. The workshop topics included discussion of strategies that might help participants perform their jobs more easily, sharing of job problems and techniques to solve the problems.

Madisonville CC Educational Talent Search (ETS) staff (Anna Leasure, Melody Morris, Shawn Stokes, and DeeAnn Hillhouse) recently traveled to Eminence to observe a "paperless classroom" pilot program at Eminence Middle School that has received national recognition. In September, Madisonville CC's ETS will receive a supplemental grant of $10,000 to be used for technology. ETS hopes to use the funds to purchase several "personal digital assistants" (PDAs), such as those used at Eminence, and incorporate them into workshops at the 27 schools it serves. The PDAs provide ETC participants with technology that students cannot access in their regular classrooms. The ETS program at Madisonville CC is the only one in the KCTCS system.

Somerset District

The Bluegrass State Skills Corporation (BSCC) has announced that it will offer, at Somerset Community College, training sessions for electronic grant and tax credit applications. The sessions will provide training for preparing Grant-In-Aid and Skills Training Investment Credit applications for eligible Kentucky firms to receive either reimbursement, or tax credit incentive, for training Kentucky's workforce.

Bowling Green District

The Bowling Green Technical College's culinary arts department has been congratulated for its participation in the recent 5th Annual Duncan Hines Festival. The chairperson of the festival informed BGTC president Dr. Jack Thomas that the culinary arts program created several popular foods during the event, and its "chocolate layered splash" cookie was a crowd favorite.

Maysville District

Two Maysville Community College partnerships have been featured in recent newspaper stories. The "Cynthiana Democrat" reported that Maysville CC and Midway College have teamed up to offer a special joint-study program aimed at helping working adults, who have previous college credit, earn a bachelor's degree in organizational management. Those who have 40 hours or more of college credit are eligible to enroll in the program.

The newspaper also published a story about Kids College, a partnership between Maysville's Licking Valley Center and the Harrison County Schools. Kids College is a summer program for children ages 6-12 and offers classes in such areas as meteorology, crafts, nature, news reporting and life skills.

Southeast District

An exhibition of photography by David Dixon will be displayed in the gallery of the Godbey Appalachian Center through July 31. Dixon, who lives in Harlan County, noted that the exhibit is divided into four areas: coal mining, children, community and friends. For more information about the exhibit, called "Travels With Dave", contact Theresa Osborne, Southeast Community College in Cumberland.

Several faculty and staff members from Southeast Community College and Cumberland Valley Technical College played key roles in the formation and success of Leadership Bell County. Kevin Murphy, librarian at the Middlesboro Campus of SECC and Cumberland Valley Technical College, served as the chairman of the curriculum committee. Ron Mason, director of the Middlesboro Campus of CVTC, served as chairman of the support committee; John Moore, director of the SECC Small Business Development Center, chaired the selection committee; and Vic Adams, economic and workforce development coordinator, served on the steering committee.

Jefferson District

Jefferson Community College has received a Kentucky Foundation for Women grant to help fund JCC's Performing Arts Learning Seminar (PALS), which will be held this summer. Jill Adams is a coordinator for JCC's Center for Community and Economic Development, which operates the PALS program.

#