EdNC. Essential education news. Important stories. Your voice.

Search ednc.org

Awake58 podcast with Thomas Stith: ‘I want the North Carolina Community College System to be the first choice for an affordable education’

Share this story

Our republishing policy

EdNC is a nonprofit, online, daily, independent newspaper. All of EdNC’s content is open source and free to republish. Please use the following guidelines when republishing our content.
  • Our content must be republished in full. If your organization uses a paywall, the content must be provided in full for free.
  • Credit our team by including both the author name and EdNC.org in the byline. Example: Alex Granados, EdNC.org.
  • If republishing the story online, please provide a link to EdNC.org or a link to the original article in either the byline or credit line.
  • The original headline of the article must be used. Allowable edits to the content of the piece include changes to meet your publication’s style guide and references to dates (i.e. this week changed to last week). Other edits must be approved by emailing Hannah Vinueza McClellan at [email protected].
  • Photos and other multimedia elements (audio, video, etc.) may not be republished without prior permission. Please email Hannah Vinueza McClellan at [email protected] if you are interested in sharing a multimedia element.
  • If you republish a story, please let us know by emailing Hannah Vinueza McClellan at [email protected].
Please email Hannah Vinueza McClellan at [email protected] if you have any questions. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Canonical tag

Please include the following canonical tag in the <head> of the republished story.

<link rel="canonical" href="https://www.ednc.org/thomas-stith-podcast-nc-community-colleges-education-covid-pandemic-future/">

HTML content

This includes the title, byline, content, and tracking pixel required for republishing this story.

Copy & paste HTML
This story is tagged:
Thomas Stith. Photo courtesy of the US Small Business Administration website.

New North Carolina Community College system president Thomas Stith sat down with us recently to discuss his new position, the upcoming legislative session, COVID-19’s impact on the colleges, and the system’s role in moving the state forward.

“I want the North Carolina Community College System to be the first choice for an affordable education,” Stith told us. “During the midst of the pandemic, obviously, there have been many, many impacts on families across North Carolina, and I want to make sure that the system is properly positioned to be a very viable choice for any family in the state, especially when you look at the cost of higher education.

“Also, looking at diversity and inclusion, as I mentioned, you know, we’re seeing some concerns now in our enrollment figures. But I want to be a national model for diversity and inclusion within our system and providing opportunities across the board. …

“I think the third pillar, as we continue to move forward a year from now, is to enhance our engagement with the private sector and the business sector, being a strong partner with not only economic development and attracting jobs, but to be a strong partner, as businesses expand in the state. Because if you look at our students, you know, at the end of the day, they’re there to receive a solid education.”

Listen to our full conversation below.

https://soundcloud.com/edncorg/awake-58-an-interview-with-president-thomas-stith-of-the-nc-community-college-system

You can view a transcription of this episode here.