A note from us
Hello, Nation here. I know we said we’d be pausing Awake58 this week, but we wanted to make sure we reached out to you on Giving Tuesday. Giving Tuesday is an international day to focus on generosity during the holiday season — and it has become a day for nonprofits just like us to share more about their mission. If you missed last week’s Awake58 on the most recent State Board of Community Colleges meeting, you can read it by clicking here.
Halifax Community College announced a new president… The system president search committee meets this week… The NC Community College System Advisory Council also meets this week… Central Piedmont Community College announced a $500,000 gift from Duke Energy…
On this #GivingTuesday, please consider supporting EdNC’s mission to make sure more students have access to a better education and a brighter future.
Day in and day out, we share our stories for free, but we can’t do it without your help. That’s why today we are asking you to support EdNC’s independent education news team.
For $1000, Mebane will brief you and your team on what’s going to happen at the legislature this session. For $500, I will take you to the best local BBQ around — and give you other recommendations for your travels. For $250, we will send you an EdNC hoodie. For $100, we will send you an EdNC coffee tumbler (also known to be used as a wine tumbler, according to some).
Please consider donating $5, $10, $15 today — each and every dollar matters in our work to travel to your communities!
Your tax-deductible donation will help support the work of our team, including Alex at the legislature and State Board, Rupen on literacy, Derick on equity, Liz on early childhood, Hannah on postsecondary access, and Caroline throughout our rural counties — all building public support for public education in North Carolina.
And a gift from you helps provide us with the resources we need to travel to your community college to share your stories, meet you and your colleagues, and amplify your work — travels such as my recent trip to Caldwell Community College alongside Mebane.
Thank you for your support of EdNC and our students, our state, and our future.
I’ll see you out on the road,
Nation Hahn
Head of Growth — EdNC.org
EdNC reads
What happens to Randolph Community College when Toyota comes to town?
The announcement of a $1 billion–plus Toyota battery plant coming to a megasite in Greensboro-Randolph was one of the largest wins in economic development for our state. It also meant that educational entities located within the footprint of the megasite needed to be ready to prepare workers for Toyota. Alex Granados reports:
But while for state leaders the reaction was unmitigated joy, for Randolph Community College Interim President Elbert Lassiter, he knew that meant it was time to gear up.
“The challenge for us moving forward is Toyota is building a facility within our county. So that means Randolph Community College is responsible for delivering the initial training,” he said, adding later: “We’re in the process of ordering equipment that will be needed. And we’re looking for space to provide that particular training. We’re actually in conversation with our neighboring community colleges … is there a way to build a regional training center, somewhere in and around that Toyota site that will not only serve Toyota but will serve … all the other companies that may come as suppliers for the two companies and existing companies in that particular area?”
The training Randolph Community College will provide initially will cost about $2.2 million and will cover about 2,400 employees, Lassiter said. But neither Randolph nor Toyota is paying. Community colleges in the state can offer customized training to companies and get reimbursed through the state.
And the opportunity presented by Toyota could bring other boons to Randolph Community College as well. Toyota will be hiring, and Randolph is well positioned to provide the kinds of workers the company needs. At least as far as infrastructure goes.
For the full story on Toyota and Randolph Community College, click here.
Around NC
According to the system office:
The N.C. State Board of Community Colleges Presidential Search Committee will meet virtually on Nov. 30 at 9 a.m. View agenda.
The meeting is open to the public, but some portions may be conducted in closed session, pursuant to state law.
The meeting will be live-streamed on the N.C. Community College System Office YouTube channel.
You may also want to follow along with the System Advisory Council this week:
The System Advisory Council will be meeting virtually on Dec 1, 2022, at 10 a.m.
The Committee will be working to update the Purpose Statement and setting the calendar of quarterly meetings and topics for 2023.
The meeting is open to the public.
The meeting will be live-streamed on the N.C. Community College System Office YouTube channel.
Central Piedmont Community College and Duke Energy announced a significant partnership this morning:
Duke Energy has given Central Piedmont Community College a grant of $500,000 to create a utility line worker training program at the college’s Harper Campus. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates about 23,000 openings for line installers and repairers will be available each year, on average, over the next decade. With this trend in mind, the partnership seeks to develop a pipeline of diverse, skilled, and talented utility line workers by investing in the education and career development of local citizens.
Halifax Community College announced Dr. Patrena Benton Elliott as the college’s next president. Elliott currently serves as Robeson Community College’s Vice President of Instruction and Student Support Services.
Other higher education reads
Want an equitable recovery that lasts? Serve adult learners of color better
We’ve heard a lot of conversation around adult learners of late — and this commentary regarding the REACH Collaborative is worth a read:
The first major focus of this work is on the academic and structural core of the educational experiences that community colleges offer to students. The educational pathways that students pursue should all be thoughtfully designed to formally recognize prior work and learning and include shorter-term credentials that can “stack” on top of one another, leading to associate and bachelor’s degrees and faster academic and career gains.
It is also essential that these pathways are intentionally built to lead to high-wage, high-demand local career opportunities so that students can feel confident about the jobs they can enter after completing their education. All of the institutions participating in REACH are engaging in critical analysis of their local labor markets to identify high-opportunity fields and ensure that they are offering educational experiences designed to prepare students for success in those fields.
For the full read, head over to CCDaily by clicking here.
