October 29, 2002
Tom Zawacki, general manager of general administration for Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky Inc. in Georgetown, has been elected chairman of the board of directors of the KCTCS Foundation Inc., according to a news release.
The foundation raises funds to support programs and services of the Lexington-based Kentucky Community and Technical College System — the organization that manages and oversees Kentucky's public community and technical colleges.
Zawacki has served on the foundation board for more than two years. His term as chairman will run through 2003.
Other officers elected to the KCTCS Foundation board are: Jean R. Hale, president of Community Trust Bancorp Inc. in Pikeville, vice chairwoman; Andrew C. Meko, president and CEO of Associated Industries of Kentucky in Louisville, secretary; and Charles J. Lavelle, an attorney with Greenebaum Doll & McDonald PLLC in Louisville, treasurer.
October 25, 2002
It happens a lot, Karkie Tackett says.
A frightened young woman is in pain. She is about to give birth for the first time and enters a hospital, not knowing if what she is feeling is normal.
She is surrounded by nurses and doctors who want to help her. But she is virtually alone since she doesn't speak English, and the hospital staff doesn't speak Spanish.
The soon-to-be mom is Hispanic and living in Northern Kentucky.
"A lot of times this results in a lot of unnecessary suffering," said Tackett, center director of the Area Health Education Center (AHEC) in Northern Kentucky.
"Many times Hispanics who don't speak English don't know if they should go to the emergency room," she said. "They don't know where to go for various medical conditions, so they don't get help. Sometimes they rely on family members who don't know basic medical terminology to translate for them, and the interpretation is garbled."
That's where Gateway Community and Technical College District, formerly known as the Northern Kentucky Community and Technical College District, is stepping in to help. Through its Hispanic Education Clearinghouse, Gateway has developed a niche to help bridge the communication gaps and cultural misunderstandings that divide Northern Kentucky's Spanish-speaking population and professionals who want to serve them better.
Most recently, Gateway teamed up with AHEC to offer a "Promotores" — or lay health workers — program.
In the program, volunteers — often Hispanics from the community — attend a 12-week training program that teaches them to serve as a vital link between health care providers and the Hispanic community. The volunteer students receive two college credits. They are also encouraged to continue their education at Gateway in the medical and health professions or English as a second language programs.
The volunteers then go back into the community to share what they have learned.
The goal is for members of Northern Kentucky's Hispanic population to be healthier and better educated about their health, said Phil Accardi, the community and economic development coordinator for Gateway who is coordinating the "Promotores" program.
"Basically, these volunteers are promoters of health," Accardi said. "We teach them about basic health care, how to do a simple blood pressure test and where people can go to get the vaccinations they need."
Gateway has offered a long line of classes and programs to help professionals serve their Spanish-speaking clients.
"We continue to seek out and encounter ways we can help," Accardi said.
At St. Elizabeth Medical Center South, Gateway has helped train doctors and staff in the hospital's birthing and neonatal centers, Accardi said.
And about 24 officers from the Covington Police Department have completed one of three 11-week courses offered through Gateway, said Capt. Danny Miles.
"They received a basic introduction to the language and the culture," he said. "They learned simple phrases such as, 'Are you hurt?' The response from the officers has been positive."
Capt. Miles wants to send more officers through the class.
"This is a way we can more effectively help the people that we serve," Miles said.
Gateway also has helped provide Spanish-speaking translators and volunteers at health fairs at the Centro de Amistad — or center of friendship -— in Covington. They've also assisted in classes in home maintenance.
Northern Kentucky's "Promotores" program is the second the AHEC has started in the state.
The first class graduated this month with 11 volunteers in the class. They are now among the few that can help teach the 4,100 Northern Kentucky Hispanics listed in the latest Census about public health and where they can get help for medical problems.
But breaking the barriers that divide Hispanics and those who don't speak their language is a challenge that will likely increase for Gateway.
"The number of Hispanics has tripled in Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties since 1990," Tackett said. "And we still believe that 2000 count (of 4,100) to be low."
October 30, 2002
ASHLAND -- The public response to a proposed consolidation of Ashland Community College and Ashland Technical College was primarily positive during a forum Tuesday night in Ashland.
The two colleges earlier this year started the consolidation process, a process that included last night’s public forum at the AEP building in Ashland. It could be completed by Feb. 21 when the Kentucky Community and Technical College System board considers the consolidation.
Dr. Gregory Adkins, ACC president, said the two colleges could have a single accreditation by next summer or in December of 2003 at the latest. While it’s not official, the name favored by a vast majority of faculty and staff is Ashland’s Community and Technical College. The number of students at the two colleges has increased from 2,904 in the fall of 2000 to 3,519 this fall.
The office system and library services at the two colleges consolidated earlier this year, Adkins said. There currently are 204 faculty and staff members at both colleges. "I have assured everyone there will be no layoffs as a result of the consolidation," he said.
"Change is something that most people resist," said Bill Lauhon, a member of ACC’s board of directors who attended the technical college on Roberts Drive. "This is not change for the sake of change. The time has come to recognize the value of technical and vocational education."
A technical degree needs to be applicable and transferable toward a recognized associate’s degree, he said. "This is not to say that all programs should be degreed," Lauhon said.
"Some programs only require licensure or certification and should remain that way," he said. "Furthermore, this work must also be applicable toward bachelor’s and other advanced degrees."
Dee Lake of Bellefonte, a part-time teacher for 20 years, said she thought the two colleges didn’t belong together. She said she couldn’t see the benefit to such a merger by community college students.
"We live in a new time," Adkins said. "We engender in our students respect for the technical arts. Community and technical colleges mirror the real society in which we live today. I believe in this consolidation."
Gary Bradford, an ACC professor, said neither college has the funding it should and consolidation should help. "This consolidation affords me the opportunity to do more than I could without it," he said. "We can take two faculties and do more with less. It can’t help but benefit our region."
Monte Fowler, ACC director of grants and special projects and a Huntington resident, said the two staffs overwhelmingly support the consolidation. "It makes sense," he said. "It allows us to deliver better service to our students."
"It makes a technical education more valuable," said Doug Vanover, associate professor of automotive technology at Ashland Technical College.
Students who attend the technical college will get the benefit of that education when pursuing a higher education degree, he said.
October 26, 2002
HCC's fall enrollment sets a new record
Henderson Community College's 2002 fall semester enrollment is a record breaker.
While final numbers won't be known until registration for various bi-term courses ends next week, HCC President Patrick Lake told the school's board of directors Friday that enrollment already has surpassed that of HCC's 1992 banner year when registrations totaled 1,500.
"We're very happy, very pleased with the effort," Lake said, adding that enrollment is "a healthy blend" of baccalaureate degree-seeking students and those enrolled in two-year technical programs and one-year certificate programs.
He had additional good news in the form of the college's latest "Institutional Report" for the 2001-2002 academic year. The 31-page, self-study publication reported far more successes than shortcomings and, Lake said, indicates that the school's faculty and staff members "want our students to succeed. We work hard at it."
The report noted that in the past academic year:
- A new associate degree program in Industrial and Engineering Technology was launched.
- New one-year certificate programs in Information Technology and Interdisciplinary Early Childhood Education also were initiated.
- HCC experienced continued growth in recent-year enrollment, with a 12.5 percent increase over the 2000-2001 academic year.
- The "two plus two" partnership with Murray State University continued to expand with additional program offerings. The "Two plus two" endeavor sees area baccalaureate degree-seeking students in several fields spending their first two years of college at HCC and completing their second two years through MSU's program here. Opportunities are expected to substantially broaden with MSU's recently-announced satellite extension at the former Seventh Street Elementary School.
- Overall school standards for student satisfaction and retention have been exceeded.
While positive feedback in the report significantly outweighs negative, there are some instances in which goals were not reached. For instance, the number of students successfully completing developmental writing classes was less than hoped for, but better than the prior year.
In addition, it had been hoped that at least 90 percent of faculty and staff would give a "good" or "excellent" rating to the degree to which their computer equipment meets their needs. Instead, 79 percent indicated the equipment fully or adequately meets their needs.
Lake said he considers the report as a whole "very gratifying."
In other business, the board:
- Was familiarized with the school's new advising center, which serves students who are unable to meet with their own advisors to drop or add a class, change majors, apply for graduation, compare academic plan forms and discuss college and career goals. Heather McCormick is coordinator for the center, which is located in the campus administration building.
- Learned that Lake has completed some 40 executive awareness sessions with area company CEOs to gauge their support for a possible HCC major gifts campaign, and anticipates completing that pre-campaign phase by the first of the year. He said though some have concerns about undertaking a campaign in the near future, "We've gotten tremendous feedback in terms of perceptions (about the college)."
- Heard a report by Rachel Barr, Fine Arts Center director, who related that the center hosted some 300 events last year and drew 35,000-45,000 guests. Because of the center's link to the college, she said, "We're more than a performance hall, meeting space or gallery."
Barr said the center's computerized ticketing system, full-time technical director and other assets make it a facility that is "is a tremendous source of pride for the community."
October 16, 2002
NEW YORK -- Amanda Wilson says that a lot of people tried to talk her out of enrolling in a vocational school two years ago. At her old high school in Hamilton, Ohio, she earned a 4.0 grade point average.
She was told that a bright student such as herself should stay on the academic course -- and continue to excel.
"Everyone said to me, 'Why are you going to do that? You're doing so well here,' " she says. "But I knew that I wanted to work in the medical field, and I wanted to get a head start."
Wilson is now 17 and a senior at the D. Russell Lee Career-Technology Center, where she is earning college credits in the Allied Health program, a program that trains students for health technology careers. She hopes to one day be a respiratory therapist.
Wilson is one of many students who realized early on that vocational and technical education doesn't necessarily translate into learning a lowly skill that puts them on a dead-end course. And schools that offer vocational and technical classes are not a dumping ground for kids who don't succeed in traditional classrooms.
Votech education nowadays involves racking up technical skills alongside academic credits, which can put students ahead of the game in the job market.
"If anyone thinks that we're not doing any work over here, I think that's just nonsense," says Louis Sanchez, 17, and also a senior at D. Russell Lee. "In fact, I think you have to be a little bit smarter to do some of this stuff."
Sanchez was sold on the school after hearing about a friend who went through the program and after finishing his training was making a good living as an auto mechanic. Sanchez, who admits he has a soft spot for Ferraris, hopes to fix them.
The need for skilled labor has grown, especially since more students are opting to go to four-year colleges than ever before. Companies who rely on a well-trained manual labor force are trying to get the word out to students who might be looking for an alternative career that doesn't occur behind a desk.
Mack Trucks launched a campaign that brings company representatives to high schools to explain what sorts of jobs are available in the general trucking industry.
Tom Kelly, vice president of marketing for Mack, says these trips are not to recruit future truck drivers but to show students that the automotive industry is highly technical and not always about turning a wrench.
He uses the example of the new variable geometry turbo charger, a part of an engine that has been developed to take the bad exhaust from trucks and have it consumed again by the engine. These engines hope to make air cleaner by reducing emissions.
Simply designing an engine like this takes knowledge of both mechanics and physics, Kelly says. Using one takes a sharp eye for electronics.
"A highly skilled mechanic can become something like a highly paid baseball player," Kelly says. "These guys get hired from company to company."
Kelly says that he thinks a lot of kids may be turned off to vocational education because of the stigma that is often attached to going to a such a school.
"When I was in school there were two kinds of people," he says, "the college kids and the votech kids," he says. The votech schools have the reputation of been a "last-resort" education for students who don't fare well in school.
"People can knock trade schools all they want but when they're going 75 miles an hour down the highway they better hope that whoever fixed their brakes had a good technical education," Dave Treasure, the head of the Trade and Industrials Program at Idaho State College in Pocatello, Idaho, says.
Succeeding in a technical field may be innate for some people; the key is matching skill with individuals' interests.
Treasure says that most high schoolers, even those who don't perform well in traditional academic settings, follow educational and occupational paths that don't suit them because they feel a four-year bachelor's degree and office aspirations are needed to land them a well-paying job.
But Treasure says the payoffs for a technical education can be measured easily -- and they sometimes offer immediate gratification. For instance, if students started taking career-focused classes while still in high school, they could earn enough experience toward credits so they'd be halfway done with an associate's degree in their chosen field. This could mean only investing in one more year of classroom education after high-school graduation before joining the workforce with a marketable skill.
The average starting salary for graduates of Treasure's program was about $21.33 an hour -- more than many entry-level jobs for college graduates. Treasure says some of his students earned as much as $45 an hour, and Kelly of Mack Trucks reports that someone with specific knowledge of auto mechanics can start out earning as much as $50,000 a year.
"Everyone talks nowadays about the super-high tech, the IPOs and making money," Kelly says, "but people don't realize that there is a need for 'steady Eddies,' the guys that make the world work on a day to day basis."