What a better way to start our next hundred episodes of First in Future, than talking with someone who is looking at our state’s future on a daily basis—Peter Hans, president of the NC Community College System. He is responsible for 700,000 students in 58 colleges dotted across the state, all within a 30 minute drive of most citizens. Besides awarding degrees, the colleges help underemployed workers gain new skills and certificates. They train the people who build your houses, keep you electricity running, unclog your sink, take care of you in the hospital and take care of your finances. All this gives people like Hans a terrific grasp on our state’s issues and in our conversation with him, we cover many of them, including: our state’s skills gap, rural and urban differences, underemployment, and the opportunity and threat of artificial intelligence.
