PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

Contact: Julie Woodson, NCACCT

919-467-9754 (ext. 222)

Training Sessions to Focus on the Role of Community College Trustees in Student Success

CARY – Over the next nine months, community college trustees from across the state will attend regional training sessions focusing on how boards of trustees impact student success at their colleges.  There will be 19 sessions.  The first will be held at Beaufort County Community College on Jan. 21.

“Trustees and presidents are the people who are ultimately accountable for the community colleges,” said Dr. Donny Hunter, President/CEO of the NC Association of Community College Trustees.  “Trustees have the legal obligation and moral responsibility to ensure our 58 community colleges are operating effectively and efficiently and that our students are getting the education they need and deserve.”

The agenda for the training sessions will include information about student success initiatives taking place at the national, state, regional and local levels; and, ways of evaluating student success through performance measures, data-driven models and key performance indicators.  Trustees will also learn about the boards’ role and responsibilities for the success of the colleges’ students and its impact through its legal obligations, mission, policies, procedures, and behavior. The key focus of the training is for the trustees to understand how each member and the board as a whole can best support the leadership of the college in improving the success of its students.

The NC Association of Community College Trustees (NCACCT), the trustees’ membership association at the state level, is organizing and conducting the 19 training sessions. Funding for the training is provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“Now, more than ever, our community colleges are the driving force for educational initiatives in North Carolina that train, retrain, and educate our workforce” Hunter said.  “Community college trustees are already community leaders.  It’s important for the trustees to also understand how they directly impact student success through their actions as a board and as individual trustees.”

Dr. Lawrence Rouse, President of the North Carolina Association of Community College Presidents (NCACCP) said the group strongly supports the training.   “The NCACCP unanimously endorsed this project and its members have helped develop the program,” he said, adding that “the focus has to be about on how many students are successful in gaining the skills and abilities they need to acquire and be successful in the jobs they desire. This is our mission and this is how we will be evaluated in the future.  The time is ending when our colleges will be evaluated by how many students enter our doors. Boards of trustees are critical to the success of everything that happens at our colleges, and they must play a major role in the colleges’ efforts to improve student success at our colleges.”

There are approximately 800 trustees serving 58 community colleges in North Carolina.  The colleges serve more than 840,000 students statewide.  For a complete list of the training sessions and dates, visit the NCACCT website at www.ncacct.org.