ONE-ON-ONE
- February 2002
by Ed G. Lane
'Education is a Major Economic
Tool'
As head of the Kentucky Community and Technical College system, Dr.
Michael McCall looks for new ways to train workers
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Michael McCall
As president of the Kentucky Community and Technical College
System, Dr. Michael B. McCall oversees a system of two-year
colleges located on 50 campuses across the Commonwealth. Prior
to his appointment as the founding president of KCTCS, McCall
served as executive director of South Carolina’s comprehensive
technical colleges and provided leadership for South Carolina’s
economic development training programs. Earlier in his career,
McCall served as president of Florence (S.C.) Darlington Technical
College and as president of Paul D. Camp Community College in
Franklin, Va. He was also a dean at community and technical
colleges in Virginia. McCall received his bachelor’s degree
in physics and mathematics from the University of North Carolina
at Wilmington, his master’s in physics from Virginia Polytechnic
Institute and State University, and his doctorate in educational
administration from VPI.
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Ed Lane: In 1997, the community and technical colleges in Kentucky were
reorganized by the state legislature under the Kentucky Community and
Technical College System (KCTCS). Has KCTCS’s total student enrollment
increased since then?
Michael McCall: Since reorganization,
credit enrollments have increased from 46,000 students in 1998 to
more than 63,000 students this fall. KCTCS is a major route of access
to higher education for Kentuckians.
EL: In addition to credit
enrollments, KCTCS also provides additional educational services. How
many additional students are enrolled in these programs?
MM: In total, KCTCS enrolls
more than 250,000 students annually in different types of educational
activities dealing with workforce training, continuing education,
fire education and credit.
EL: What is fire education?
MM: Over the years, KCTCS
has had a strong relationship with fire training. In 2000, the Kentucky
General Assembly placed fire education training and administrative
services for the Commission on Fire Protection underneath the Kentucky
Community and Technical College System. KCTCS is developing educational
pathways for students in fire education and training that could lead
eventually to a credit degree.
EL: Does KCTCS train firemen
for all fire departments throughout the state?
MM: Firemen are required to
have recurrent training. Re-training is required for volunteer and
paid fire safety personnel. In the fire science curriculum, these
individuals will have the opportunity to eventually earn a credit
degree.
EL: Why has KCTCS’s credit
enrollment grown so much?
MM: There are a number of
reasons. It has been KCTCS’s primary focus to provide increased
access to our colleges. KCTCS has brought in experts to advise us
on creating an enrollment management program for each of our individual
districts. Our colleges not only work together on the statewide basis,
but also work individually to find out what the specific educational
needs in their market are. They address existing educational gaps,
recruit students and retain these students as time goes on. This is
a very concerted statewide effort by KCTCS.
EL: How many new programs
has KCTCS added to the curriculum?
MM: Since the beginning of
KCTCS, more than 400 new programs have been added in our colleges.
That’s collectively. Three or four colleges may offer the same
type program – but those are three or four new programs at each
college that were not previously available to students.
EL: What is the long-range
goal for student enrollment?
MM: One of the Council on
Postsecondary Education’s (CPE) goals in Kentucky is to achieve
the national average of students going on to higher education from
high school. For Kentucky just to reach the national average, all
Kentucky colleges and universities would have to enroll 80,000 additional
students by the year 2020. KCTCS anticipates at least 50,000 of those
new 80,000 students will be enrolled in its colleges.
EL: Doesn’t that make
KCTCS the largest postsecondary education institution in the state?
MM: Yes. More credit students
attend KCTCS than any other higher education institution in Kentucky.
EL: As KCTCS’s first
president, what were your major areas of focus regarding reorganization?
MM: In the first year, I focused
on several issues. It was a very broad assessment to begin with –
to get a handle on where KCTCS was, where it’s going and how
our colleges could work together. Another goal was to eliminate “silo
thinking” and concentrate on how our colleges were going to work
together in a cooperative manner.
A second focus has been with
our personnel. KCTCS’s greatest asset is our people. So, we continuously
make an effort to work very closely together. Teamwork is a real strength
with us.
One of our challenges is that
KCTCS must work with two different accrediting agencies. The Southern
Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) provides accreditation
for community colleges. Our technical colleges were accredited under
the Commission on Occupational Education. Both of those crediting
agencies are outstanding, but each accredits in a different way. For
KCTCS to have a seamless education product, eventually all of its
colleges need to be accredited under SACS.
EL: If one accreditation group
approves all KCTCS curriculum, would students be able to mix technical
and community college classes and have their credits apply together?
MM: Absolutely, but you take
accreditation a step further regarding transferring within higher
education. Regional and research universities only recognize SACS
accreditation, so credits under the Commission of Occupational Education
are not transferable.
EL: Please describe KCTCS’s
regional structure.
MM: KCTCS started with and
still has 13 community colleges and 15 technical colleges. KCTCS reorganized
into a district structure. Our colleges are operating in distinct
districts. The big umbrella is the whole Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Our goal is to access higher education for all Kentuckians, so we’ve
created 16 college districts. Some districts have both a community
college and a technical college. Other districts have had only a community
or technical college. KCTCS’s long-range goal is that all 16
districts will have both community and technical colleges. That’s
one of the reasons that the SACS accreditation is so important for
us.
EL: Do some of your colleges
have multiple campus locations?
MM: Last year, KCTCS did a
study of students and asked them about what they were looking for
in an educational institution. There were two answers. One being –
what are the programs that are offered? Students had to have a viable
reason to come. In Kentucky, students want to stay near home. So access
is equally important. Access means convenience to students. It’s
a matter of driving five miles versus 25 miles. Location makes a difference
as to whether a student comes to an educational institution or not.
EL: Is cost also a factor?
MM: There’s no question
that cost is a factor. Students are looking for the best value for
their money. KCTCS is a commuter institution, so our students come
and go every day. They do not live on campus, except at Lee’s
College.
EL: How are management decisions
made at each college?
MM: On a statewide perspective,
KCTCS sets the broad guidelines and policies. Our goal is to let the
colleges function and operate within those policies and guidelines.
Each college has its own administrative structure and makes decisions
based on KCTCS’s general policies. Take, for example, the college’s
computer information system. KCTCS has one system, so we won’t
have 28 different systems trying to operate independently. KCTCS sets
curriculum guidelines and standards that are uniform statewide. Individual
institutions are allowed to modify within given parameters to meet
needs within their region. So there’s a lot of individual autonomy
within the broad guidelines.
EL: What about the recruiting
of professors and instructors?
MM: Primarily, that’s
on the local and district level.
EL: You mentioned your interest
in having a community and technical college in each of 16 districts.
What is your strategy to achieve that goal?
MM: We will work in conjunction
with the regional universities as we make this transition. We want
to define the role of KCTCS as opposed to the role of our regional
universities.
EL: What type of assistance
does KCTCS receive from the Council for Postsecondary Education (CPE)?
MM: The Council for Postsecondary
Education manages higher education reform. As an example, CPE submits
a single higher education budget to the governor and to the General
Assembly. CPE has a very key role and is the facilitator of all of
higher education in Kentucky.
EL: Who is your key contact
at CPE?
MM: We have an outstanding
relationship with CPE and particularly President Gordon Davies. I
had the pleasure and opportunity of working with Gordon a number of
years ago when we were both in Virginia. I was very pleased to again
have the same opportunity here in Kentucky. Gordon understands the
role of higher education and particularly the role of a comprehensive
community and technical college system. He’s been a very strong
advocate and a very strong supporter of KCTCS since the beginning.
EL: Does Gordon Davies also
act as liaison and advisor to the governor on higher education?
MM: Yes, there’s no question
that one of his roles is liaison for higher education with the governor’s
office. That’s our linkage into the governor’s office as
well.
EL: Since reorganizing, are
community and technical colleges more responsive to the needs of students
and businesses in the communities they serve?
MM: One of the
governor’s visions was for higher education to be more responsive
to the needs of business and industry. Without question, KCTCS is
more responsive.
EL:
Does KCTCS offer new courses in the area of science or high technology?
MM: To begin with,
KCTCS was heavily involved with all the sciences. The community colleges
have historically had strong academic programs that include the sciences.
What KCTCS has done is develop partnerships in technology areas.
Take our partnership
with Cisco Systems, for example. Cisco is involved with virtually
anything that goes through the Internet. In Kentucky, there’s
a need for trained technicians in Cisco operations. So KCTCS partnered
with Cisco. When a student is Cisco certified, these individuals can
easily get a job. A small five-person shop or a 5,000 employee operation
needs technicians trained on Cisco equipment. KCTCS works with other
tech companies, like Nortel and others.
EL:
Would a student in one of these “partnership” classes receive
a Cisco certification?
MM: Yes, and that’s
where the partnership is important. To be Cisco trained, for example,
they need science-related skills. And KCTCS puts these skills in these
partnership courses, so that when students finish whatever courses
are necessary, then we know they are both competent and Cisco trained.
EL:
How severely will the state government’s forecasted lower revenues
impact KCTCS?
MM: KCTCS began
the year with a budget reserve in anticipation that there could be
some economic downturn. It’s the best management decision to
always have a reserve. You don’t need to spend every dollar that
you take in. Any time the budget gets tight, you just have to look
at how to operate more efficiently. This is not a time to step back
and slow down. As a matter of fact, it’s probably a time to speed
up.
EL:
Has the reorganization of KCTCS increased the short-term requirement
for capital expenditures?
MM: KCTCS has
32 new capital construction projects in process. Some of those are
renovation projects, some are new facilities and some are new campuses
being built across the state. So we’re now managing about $175
million worth of capital construction projects that were approved
in the 1998 and 2000 sessions.
EL:
KCTCS is a long name, hard to remember and difficult to explain to the
general public. Do you anticipate KCTCS will be “rebranded”
anytime in the future?
MM: I think not.
It would be probably more confusing to the public at this point in
time to begin changing our brand name around. It’s not hurting
us enrollment-wise. It is a long name, but that’s what was established
by the reform and at this point I intend to stick to it.
EL:
Kentucky invests a significant amount of its budget in all areas of
education. Some recent national studies indicate that this policy is
flawed unless there are adequate jobs created for recent graduates.
Please comment on this.
MM: KCTCS students
take courses and get enough training to get a job. We call them ELMS
– that’s early leavers with marketable skills. But those
students also return and build their educational base piece by piece.
It may be a year or two, but they come back.
EL:
What is KCTCS’s annual budget and how does it compare with UK and
U of L?
MM: KCTCS has
a $410 million total budget. The state appropriation that comes from
the general assembly is about 48 percent of the $410 million or about
$200 million.
In terms of the
state appropriations, the top three in order are the University of
Kentucky, KCTCS, and the University of Louisville.
EL:
What has been one of the most rewarding parts of your experience with
KCTCS over the last three years?
MM: The relationship
that has been developed with the board of regents. The board of regents
had a formidable task as a brand new board that was established to
focus on this reform of higher education. And this board is as committed
and dedicated as any board with which I’ve ever had the opportunity
to work. They’ve been very focused on our mission and it’s
been probably one of the most rewarding aspects of my job.
EL:
Who is the head of the board of regents?
MM: The chair
right now is Cynthia Read from Louisville. And the first board chair
who was very instrumental was Martha Johnson of Ashland, Inc. Our
board made a decision that it would have term limits on the chair.
They agreed that four years would be the max. I think that’s
a good decision for the future of KCTCS.
EL:
Would you comment on workforce development?
MM: Economic development
is strategic to the future of Kentucky. Kentucky has relied very heavily
on manufacturing, which has been good for the economy. As we now look
at a greater diversity of work places in the future, the critical
piece for economic development is KCTCS’s role to provide education
and training. Our goal is to help provide necessary infrastructure
for any business, any industry, anywhere in the state. What is very
critical to the success of that business is its employees. Their education
and training is necessary for them to produce whatever that product
is. And that product could be manufactured, or it could be knowledge-based.
KCTCS’s role is critical for Kentucky’s future.
EL:
Does KCTCS work closely with the Cabinet for Economic Development?
MM: We work very
closely with the Economic Development Cabinet and its secretary, Gene
Strong. KCTCS is a major player with companies that are interested
in locating or expanding in Kentucky. As an example, UPS wanted a
program to develop its workforce so it could stay in Kentucky. Education
came together and created the Metropolitan College in Louisville,
which provides scholarships to UPS workers. Education is a major economic
development tool.
EL:
When the technical and community college system was spun off from UK
there were a number of educational and government leaders generally
opposed to this concept. How difficult has it been to work through these
issues during the start-up of KCTCS?
MM: I wasn’t
here when the discussions were going on, so my major concern was to
see how we could make this system work. That was one of the things
that attracted me to this particular job. We’ve worked very closely
with the University of Kentucky in making the transition from the
old to a new system. And the University has been instrumental in making
that happen. By the same token, we work hand-in-glove with the Workforce
Development Cabinet.
EL:
How many employees work with KCTCS? Who manages, budgeting, accounting,
marketing, accounts payable, facilities management, etc.?
MM: KCTCS has
about 3,500 full-time employees across our system. Here in Lexington
at what I call the system office, which also includes the Commission
on Fire Protection, we have about 150 full-time employees. I can’t
imagine how many people it would take at our institutions if you took
all the 28 colleges that we have and had to duplicate what we do.
It would be enormously inefficient. KCTCS has a very “bare bones”
operation to provide the services and functions for a system of this
nature. We don’t have 28 independent colleges; we’ve got
28 colleges working together as one system. It requires coordination,
collaboration, cooperation and overseeing, doing the budget, the payroll,
the check cutting, information technology, personnel issues, and all
curriculums. All of those things are brought into a central office,
so 150 is a small number, out of 3,500.
Ed G. Lane is chief executive of Lane Consultants Inc. and publisher
of The Lane Report.
edlane@lanereport.com
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