While speaking to a group of educators Wednesday, Sept. 25, at Somerset Community College, Dr. Jo Marshall, the president of the College, explained the current situation regarding the consolidation of Somerset Technical College, Laurel Technical College and SCC.
“We are working to make the three schools a unified whole,” she said.
Marshall told the educators that in June 2001 the Kentucky Community and Technical College Board of Regents decided to “upgrade the system and seek single accreditation for all of its institutions under the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).”
Marshall said that SACS accredited only SCC, of the three colleges. The Council on Occupational Education (COE) accredited the technical colleges.
“At present we have completed Stages I and II of the consolidation process. Stage I was a resolution, presented by the three schools and approved by the KCTCS Board of Regents, announcing the desire to consolidate. Stage II was a public forum. Stage III requires us to present a plan for consolidation to the Board of Regents. We will do that on October 4,” Marshall explained.
If the KCTCS Board of Regents approves the plan, then “we will be one consolidated legal entity called Somerset Community College,” Marshall said.
A team of educators from SACS will visit the consolidated SCC in November and, if all goes well, SACS could approve the substantive change in the college’s accreditation at its January 2003 meeting.
Marshall said, “This means that all technical programs will have a general education component, which will be completely transferable to other state post-secondary institutions.”
“Our technical programs are very strong,” she said. “They are on the cutting edge of technology. We have first-rate programs like aviation technology and information technology.”
“We will simply have technical students and academic or transfer students. That will be the only difference,” Marshall said.
Marshall explained that all three colleges had business technology programs, but they are now consolidated into one program. She said that this was an example of how the new consolidated college would be more efficient and cost-effective.
“We don’t expect anyone to be unemployed as a result of this consolidation,” Marshall said.
Marshall told the audience that current Kentucky legislation prevented a change in the name of Somerset Community College at this time. She said that she hoped at some point to, at least, be able to add the word “Technical” to the college’s title making it Somerset Community and Technical College.
For the present however, the College will begin referring to the old Somerset Community College campus as the SCC Somerset Campus - North. The old Somerset Technical College campus will be called SCC Somerset Campus - South. In London, the old SCC Laurel Center will be know as SCC Laurel Campus - North, while the old Laurel Technical College campus will be called SCC Laurel Campus - South. The center in McCreary County will be called SCC McCreary Center, while the center currently under construction in Clinton County will the SCC Clinton Center.
October 3, 2002
Northern Kentucky technical college (NKTC) received a two-year grant totaling $48,600 to establish a financial literacy program from the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE). The grant will support a two-year curriculum development project to be implemented by Northern Kentucky technical college Business and Office Technology and Adult Education programs.
Chad Grooms, an assistant professor in the NKTC business Technology program, initiated the process because he saw a great need for basic financial literary skills in the students that he encountered on a daily basis in his Economics and Financial Management class.
Grooms worked with Dale Meyer, the college’s grants specialist and Adult Education coordinators Amber Decker and Peg Ramsey, to develop a proposal that will integrate financial literacy skills in adult education classes. Community and Economic development Dean Angie Taylor will serve as project director.
The goal of the project is to provide adult education students with the academic and financial education skills needed to be successful in postsecondary education and the workforce. Curriculum materials produced through the project will be disseminated to Kentucky’s Adult Education and Literacy programs, the Kentucky Community & Technical College System, and will be available electronically through NEFE’s Economic Independence Clearinghouse.
Northern Kentucky Community and Technical College District offers educational opportunities to approximately 2,000 students in 28 program areas and includes three campuses in Covington, Edgewood and Highland Heights. A fourth campus on Mount Zion road will be under construction in the coming month. Students earn associate degrees, diplomas and certificates at the two-year college that is fully accredited by the councilor Occupational Education. NKCTCD has partnered with more than 120 local businesses to serve more than 3,000 students in customized short-term training in the last 12 months.
October 14, 2002
Colleges skip raises in favor of bonuses
U of L, UK workers fear the payments
won't be repeated
Instead of pay raises, the faculty and staff at Kentucky's two largest universities have received one-time bonus payments this year -- and there's no guarantee that the extra money will be a yearly feature.
Some employees fear that such one-time payments could replace annual raises usually given at the universities of Louisville and Kentucky, which, combined, employ nearly 17,000 people. But others said they were glad just to get something, given the weak economy and the state's budget woes.
Earlier this month, U of L sent out checks of $1,350, minus taxes, to about 3,900 of its 5,189 employees who received a satisfactory or better job rating in 2001. The payments -- which excluded University Hospital employees -- totaled $5.5 million. University Hospital employees received raises, but hospital officials would not say how much.
In July, UK divided $11.2 million -- or 3 percent of its salary pool -- as a merit bonus shared by 8,504 employees. The payments did not include UK Hospital employees, who got average raises of 3 percent this year.
The one-time payments are in contrast with the 2.7 percent state employee pay raises included in Gov. Paul Patton's spending plan.
''I don't like it,'' said Carolyn Cochran, a 27-year U of L employee who is an administrative assistant in the provost's office. ''I'm concerned it could set a precedent. I'm concerned they'll say, 'Hmmm, this worked pretty well and it saved us money.' ''
But Katrina Rowe, a U of L library circulation supervisor, said the check was a pleasant surprise.
''Mostly, I think, people didn't really think they were going to get the bonus,'' Rowe said. ''. . . A lot of it is about respect. No one notices the work you do.''
The U of L bonus was the same for every full-time employee who qualified, regardless of rank or salary. Bonuses were prorated for part-time workers. The $1,350 is 2.1 percent of the average $65,315 faculty pay at U of L in 2001-02.
The amounts of the UK bonuses, which were based on merit, were determined by department supervisors.
The $5.5 million that U of L spent on its one-time payments included $4 million from the school's general fund -- money that had been set aside for contingency uses -- and $1.5 million given to employees whose salaries are paid through contracts, grants and private sources.
The total was more than the $4.6 million that it would have cost the university to provide the 2.7 percent pay raises that other state employees received. In the long run, however, the bonuses represent a savings, school officials said.
Mike Curtin, director of U of L's office of planning and budget, said onetime payments like those sent out this month, unlike across-the-board raises, aren't added to base salaries for the next year's budget. Curtin also said the university won't have to contribute up to 7.5 percent of the bonuses into a retirement account.
The state cut university budgets by 2 percent this year. With the state facing a new revenue shortfall of up to $200 million, universities are planning for additional budget cuts of up to 3 percent, said Jim Ramsey, U of L's acting president and the state budget director.
In the past three years, U of L employees received annual pay increases on average of 5 percent, following 3 percent raises each of the two years before that. UK employees have received raises of 4 percent in three of the past five years and 3 percent in the other two. Average fulltime faculty pay was $66,713 at UK in 2001-02, according to the Council on Postsecondary Education.
State employees have received annual pay raises of 5 percent in the previous five years.
Although public university workers are state employees, their pay is determined by university trustees who set each school's budget. Other state employee salaries are set by the General Assembly.
This year, only one other state school, Kentucky State University in Frankfort, didn't provide across-theboard raises. And KSU didn't give its employees a one-time bonus, said university spokeswoman Jacqueline Bingham.
The state's five other public universities are giving raises ranging from 2.7 percent at Eastern Kentucky University to 6 percent for faculty and 5 percent for staff at Northern Kentucky University. Employees at the Kentucky Community and Technical College System are receiving raises between 1.6 percent and 3 percent.
Dennis Jones, president of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems in Boulder, Colo., said schools that give pay raises in the current economic climate are probably just ''postponing the pain.''
U of L and UK are playing it safe out of ''a very large wariness about next year's budget,'' Jones said. ''If the money is in base salaries now and it doesn't show up (next year), they have to look at layoffs or other drastic measures.''
Ramsey said U of L's bonuses were important ''to sending a message that faculty and staff are key to our university.'' School officials considered offering the payments for months but held off because of the uncertain situation with the state budget.
David Anderson, a U of L literature professor, said he understands the budget realities facing the university but worries about its ability to pay competitive salaries in the future.
''In the long run I am a little bit worried, but in the short run I can get by,'' Anderson said. ''A couple of years down the road I'll be worried whether I'm keeping up with the rate of inflation. Will I be falling behind?''
Chandra Stroud, an administrative assistant in the Department of PanAfrican Studies, said university officials should have made employee raises this year a top priority.
''I thought with all the additional work we've been given, at least we could have gotten a raise,'' she said. ''Next year it will hit home. We're not very hopeful that we'll get a raise again.''
Stroud cited an April 2000 survey that showed only 43 percent of U of L faculty and 63 percent of staff would recommend the university as a place to work. The survey did not call on respondents for reasons, but employees said in interviews that the school's increasing emphasis on research did not always benefit faculty and students.
Denise McKnight, an administrative assistant in the College of Business and Public Administration, said she liked the fact that all workers received the same amount of money regardless of salary.
''The lower-paid people got more money (relative to their overall salary) because it's not based on a percentage,'' she said. ''They come out better for the year, but after the year they're back at the same hourly wage waiting to see what happens next.''
But Rowe, the library circulation supervisor, said the bonuses help improve morale, which she said has been low.
''You feel everybody's jumping ship,'' she said, citing the recent departures of President John Shumaker and Provost Carol Garrison. ''Everybody that I know takes their job personally. You deal with it as a family because you have all these kids and you want to take care of them.''
Shumaker left in June to become president of the University of Tennessee. Garrison, who became acting president when Shumaker resigned, left last month to become president at the University of Alabama-Birmingham.
October 9, 2002
Classes with taste
Students follow their passion by studying the culinary arts
Ginger Travis asked several friends what their passion was. They all told her that their work was their passion. That’s when Travis decided to try the culinary arts program at Bowling Green Technical College.
Travis owns a real estate title business, but she’s been wanting to learn more about cooking for 10 years.
“I developed an affinity for cooking and food,” she said. “I’m following my dream.”
The culinary arts program at Bowling Green Technical College is one of three in the state.
“We train them in all aspects of the food industries,” said executive chef and assistant professor Michael Riggs.
Culinary arts classes aren’t like regular classes. The labs can get a little long.
“You have to stay until it’s done,” Riggs said.
Riggs said a lot of nontraditional students come to through the program, many of whom have been laid off from other jobs.
But the classes aren’t just cooking.
“There’s a lot of academics in the culinary arts,” Riggs said. “Before you go in and cook it, you have to know how to do it.”
The students learn to cook meats and vegetables and to bake bread and cakes.
Every day there’s different classes doing different topics,” Riggs said.
The students also get some outside the classroom experience by catering special events, including Taste of Bowling Green and the Duncan Hines Festival.
“We try to get involved in as much as we can with stuff in the industry,” Riggs said.
Riggs also encourages the students to work at restaurants while taking classes.
“The best thing they can do in our program is work in the business,” Riggs said.
Travis said she wants to be a personal chef for about five or six clients. She would come into her clients’ homes, prepare meals for the week and put them in the refrigerator or freezer.
“All they have to do is heat them up,” Travis said.
The students get instruction from more than just the teachers.
“We learn from each other quite a bit, as much as we do from our instructors,” Travis said.
Linda Rogers was laid off from Red Kap, where she worked as a machine operator for 3-1/2 years. She came to the program because she wants to own her own restaurant.
“I’m finally doing something I really enjoy,” Rogers said.
The program has been a little harder than Rogers expected, she said.
“You have to study,” she said. “You have to work at it. I thought I knew a lot about cooking until I started here and I found out I know nothing.”
There will always be an opportunity for the students to use what they learn in the culinary arts program, Rogers said.
“There’s always going to be a need for food,” she said.
Carolyn Spitz moved from Wisconsin to Kentucky eight years ago and also was laid off from Red Kap.
“I love cooking and trying new things,” Spitz said. “I love the side of trying new foods.”
Spitz competed in a state baking contest last year.
“It was the back up from the teachers that gave me the confidence,” she said.
Spitz got the opportunity to go back to school after being laid off. She had been out of high school 25 years.
“One door was shutting and another was opening,” she said.