School inaugurates first president

SCC Construction Technology Program donating labor to build Habitat for Humanity house

Bank endows scholarships

BG Tech looks to employees for aid

The Cincinnati Enquirer
November 16, 2002

School inaugurates first president

Before a crowd of 400 education, business, community and government leaders at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center, Dr. Hughes invoked the event's theme of "Dare to Soar" during his inaugural address.

"It is now Gateway's time to take flight and soar as a comprehensive community and technical college," Dr. Hughes told the crowd, which included his wife, Sarah. "Soaring birds are successful in flight by reacting to their environment and receiving support from the crosswinds and thermals.

"That sounds to me like what our college does well," he said. "We take a bird's-eye view of the region, we react to the environment because we are community-driven, we rely on support from many to do our work and we flap our wings quickly to react."

During the ceremony, Dr. Hughes was presented the presidential medallion by Michael B. McCall, president of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System; R. Richard Jordan, chairman of the Gateway board of directors; and Martha Johnson, a member of the school's board of regents.

Dr. Hughes was named the founding president and chief executive officer of the Gateway Community and Technical College on Dec. 1, 2001. The school is one of 25 colleges in the state's community and technical college system. In Northern Kentucky 2,500 students in 28 areas of study attended classes on campuses in Covington, Edgewood and Highland Heights.

A fourth campus is being built in Boone County on Mount Zion Road near Interstate 75. It is expected to open by the middle of next year.

The college, as well as the state's entire technical and community college system, was created by higher education reform legislation passed by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1997. House Majority Caucus Chairman Jim Callahan, D-Wilder, who spoke at the inaugural ceremony, sponsored the bill.

"In my 16 years in the Kentucky General Assembly, the reform of post-secondary education is one of the most important pieces of legislation we enacted," Mr. Callahan said. "And nowhere is the creation of a community and technical college more critical to the future than here in Northern Kentucky.

"With Gateway, Northern Kentucky University and Thomas More College we have the institutions that can provide a complete package of opportunities for students from technical training to liberal arts education," he said.

Mr. Callahan also praised Gov. Paul Patton for spearheading the education reform legislation and helping shepherd it through the legislative process.

The bill was controversial because community and technical colleges had been under the authority of the University of Kentucky.

At the time UK was under the leadership of President Dr. Charles Wethington, who did not want to relinquish control of the community and technical schools.

A native of Gettysburg, Pa., Dr. Hughes was president of Hazard Community College for 16 years. During his tenure the college grew from 600 to 3,800 students and he helped raise $13 million in private, state and federal funds during two major fund drives.

London News Journal
November 20, 2002

SCC Construction Technology Program donating labor to build Habitat for Humanity house

Travis McQueen, the Construction Technology Instructor at Somerset Community College’s Laurel Campus South, is in the midst of building his third house for the Laurel County Habitat for Humanity group.

“The first two years we helped out by doing the framing, but this year we have taken over the whole construction process,” McQueen explained.

According to McQueen, having his students work with the Habitat for Humanity project “is a great benefit for our students. They can see a house built from the ground up.”

“It’s good for Habitat too because they don’t have to pay for the labor. Sometimes volunteers are hard to get,” McQueen said.

Neal Mullins, a real estate agent for Ford Brothers in London, is the volunteer construction manager for the Laurel County Habitat for Humanity project. He said that the efforts of the SCC students and their instructor save the charity at least $7,000 to $10,000 on the cost of constructing a home.

Mullins got involved in Habitat for Humanity about five years ago through his church, the East London Church of God. “The church encouraged us to get involved in the community and since my brother and I build some houses, I thought I could help with Habitat for Humanity’s work.”

Under the Habitat for Humanity Program, a family in need of better housing applies to the Habitat Board of Directors in their community. If approved the family receives a loan to purchase the Habitat house. The family is obliged to help complete the house and build up what is called “sweat equity” by actually helping to finish the house. Payments from the Habitat family go back into a fund to construct additional Habitat homes in the community.

“This is the first year that the College is doing the whole house,” Mullins explained. “They have been a big help. Travis McQueen is excellent to work with. I’ve been very pleased with their work.”

The eleven adult students in the College Construction Technology Program and a number of students from the high school trades program are working on the Habitat house.

“The students love it,” McQueen said. “They would rather be there than in the classroom. They can see it all being done. They can see step by step house a house is built in a real situation.”

McQueen thinks that the high rate of retention of his students in college can be attributed in part to the work they are doing on the Habitat house. He thinks the work teaches his students exactly what to expect on a job-sight one they get out of school.

The house that McQueen and his students are building for Habitat has 1,248 square feet of space. It is a three bedroom, two-bath house with a big kitchen and living room and a front porch.

“It also going to be handicapped accessible because the person who is buying it needs that feature,” McQueen explained.

McQueen said that a lot of the materials used in the house are donated. He said that he makes sure that nothing donated is wasted. “That’s what my students will be expected to do when they get on the job, so I make sure there is no wasted material.”

So far the students have laid out the foundation, poured the footers, done the framing and roofing.

“I think we will be doing everything on this house. The heating and air conditioning students will be doing that. I think we will even be putting in the flooring and carpet,” McQueen said.

“I’m hoping Somerset Community College’s Construction Technology Program can build a new Habitat for Humanity house every year,” he added.

“If the College continues to help us, we might try to build more than one a year,” said Mullins optimistically.

The Kentucky Post
November 14, 2002

Bank endows scholarships

The first endowed scholarship fund at Gateway Community and Technical College has been created with the gift of $25,000 from the Bank of Kentucky.

The endowment, called the Bank of Kentucky Endowed Scholarship Fund, will provide one or more annual scholarships to Gateway students from the region served by the bank who show academic promise and need financial help. The endowment will be managed by the investment policies of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System Foundation as part of its portfolio.

"We are so pleased with this generous contribution from one of Northern Kentucky's leading community organizations," said Gateway President Ed Hughes. "It is an honor to have the Bank of Kentucky as the first named endowment scholarship for Gateway."

Bank of Kentucky President Robert Zapp said he hoped the bank's gift would be "the first of many endowed scholarships to come."

"We are excited about the evolution of Gateway Community and Technical College," added Zapp. "An educated work force is the key to the economic success of this community."

Daily News
November 25, 2002

BG Tech looks to employees for aid
College’s Family Campaign asks employees to offset budget losses

The 110 employees of the Bowling Green Technical College figure the best way to ask people for money is to open their own wallets first.

The Family Campaign is the college’s first such program, and is aimed at faculty and staff in hopes of offsetting state budget losses. So far, it has been supported by about 55 percent of the employees, according to Campaign Chair Donna Martin.

“We’ve got half of our people on board,” she said. “We hope to finish it by Christmas break.”

To finish it, the campaign wants 100 percent participation. Martin said the final tally should be close.

“I’d say I’ll have high 90s,” Martin said.

This is the first campaign for the college and includes both Glasgow campuses and the Kentucky Advanced Technology Institute campus.

With an uncertain state budget, the college wanted to find a way to keep high-tech equipment in the classrooms, said Family Campaign chairman Kevin Kenady.

“You can’t teach someone to work on high-tech equipment if you don’t have high-tech equipment,” Kenady said.

The employees can give money or gifts to the college. One faculty member donated manuals for a program, Kenady said.

“We’re encouraging everyone to give something,” he said. “It represents our belief in ourselves.”

Kenady said this campaign is meant to be totally internal – faculty members ask faculty members and staff members ask staff members.

“No one is pressured into giving this way,” Kenady said.

Everyone hasn’t been asked to give yet, but Kenady said he hopes to have all but one or two participating in the campaign.

“This tells other people from the outside that we believe in our own system,” Kenady said.

The college also asked recently for help from the 10 members of its board of directors.

An external campaign is still in the planning stages, Martin said.

A successful employee campaign may translate into a successful external campaign, Martin said.

“A high percentage of family participation sends a powerful message to the community,” she said.