WINTERVILLE — Faculty, staff and students of Pitt Community College gathered twice last week to share with a search committee leader just what the future holds for the institution, and said that communication, recruitment and focus on students are important qualities in the school’s next president.
Kennon Briggs, a consultant with the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT), facilitated two meetings at the G. Henry Leslie Auditorium on PCC’s campus on March 13. ACCT is a nonprofit assisting the college’s Board of Trustees in its search for the college’s fifth president after current President Lawrence Rouse announced in January he would be stepping away on June 30.
The auditorium was packed for the noon meeting where posed the audience three questions: What challenges and opportunities will the college face in the next 3-5 years; what are the ideal characteristics for the college’s next president; and what should be the minimum requirements for the next president?
Many staff members spoke up about the challenge of recruiting students and faculty, adding that the next president will need to maintain clear lines of communication across the college. Alvin Frazier, a recruiting coordinator in PCC’s Construction Technology program called the college’s ability to bring in students a clear indicator of workforce outcomes.
“Without (full-time equivalent) we don’t have anything,” Frazier told Briggs. “That’s the most important thing is putting students in the seat. Also supplies, since I work in the construction technology division as it improves training unskilled workers. As we grow as a country and all that, we need people in our skilled trades, which we have a great shortage of right now.”
Other staff and faculty said they would like to see a president with experience working with dual enrollment, high school students who take community college-level courses. Ensuring faculty are also being retained and recruited was also of concern, with one employee stating that bringing on full-time staff rather than leaning on part-time and adjunct faculty would be essential.
Frazier said that, regardless of a staff member’s hiring status, it would be important that they have a place at the table or at least input when the college’s leadership makes decisions.
Speaking on behalf of some students was Jeremy Galang, PCC’s Student Government Association president. He promoted pipeline-style partnerships like the C-Step program between Cape Fear Community College and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which identifies high-achieving students and mentors them first on the path to an associate’s degree at Cape Fear and then a bachelor’s degree at Chapel Hill.
Briggs said that PCC has the advantage of East Carolina University being in its backyard, but added that some institutions like UNC and his alma mater, North Carolina State University, have an opportunity to implement similar programs. He added that working with other community colleges also is important since not every school can offer every program. Galang agreed on the latter point.
Galang also said a president with a track record or at least experience in student life and engagement should be chosen.
“I feel like more sort of often there’s this invisible barrier between campus and administration,” Galang said. “Something that needs to be broken through.
“Somebody who has served in that regard will be able to empathize with students more.”
Staff agreed that soft skills are developed in student involvement and engagement. One staff member said that is sorely lacking on campus at this time and that there is room for students to engage on campus through activities. She added there is not a fully functioning career services program on campus.
Dr. Travis Kinsey, director of PCC’s TRIO program which serves Pitt, Martin and Edgecombe counties added that a new leader should be able to engage with a diverse array of students including first-generation learners.
Briggs prefaced the third question, regarding minimum requirements, with the concepts of a traditional academic president who may have classroom or other college experience with a non-traditional leader, like a business person, physician or lawyer who know how to look at data and operate large-scale entities. The audience seemed open to both of those concepts, but hammered down that the way North Carolina’s community college system works has certain differences that a leader would either need to learn on the job or be familiar with.
Others pointed out that right now, the college has brought on three new vice presidents as Rouse is set to retire, which could make for bumps along the way. Those are Donald Appiarius, vice president of Student Affairs, who started on Nov. 15, Mark Lausch, vice president of Academic Affairs and Continuing Education, who started March 1, and Ernis Lee who was recently promoted to vice president of Strategic Initiatives and Community Engagement, a spokesman for PCC said. Lee has worked at the college since 2002.
One staff member also pointed out that Pitt County Schools Superintendent Ethan Lenker is set to step down on July 31, adding another new piece to the transition.
Briggs offered that all of those points were relevant and that the search committee is discussing an onboarding and transition approach to that issue.
People who want to offer input also may fill out a survey at surveymonkey.com/r/pitt-community-college-presidential-search. Briggs said that he will be around for the duration of the search and that he feels PCC will have a large candidate pool to draw from due to the college’s successes.
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