Ashland Community and Technical College to receive first Innovation Center in Ky.

Center to help new high-tech businesses

SCC’s Adult Education Programs in Casey and McCreary Counties exceed goals, earn rewards

Herald-Dispatch
October 27, 2003

Ashland Community and Technical College to receive first Innovation Center in Ky.

ASHLAND -- Ashland Community and Technical College will get the first of 16 Innovation Centers to be located across Kentucky to bring technology-based economic development to the state.

"The goals of this program are to facilitate economic growth that will ultimately lead to the creation of jobs and opportunities for the citizens of this area," said Dr. Greg Adkins, president of Ashland Community and Technical College.

The Kentucky Office for the New Economy is providing a $225,000 grant over three years as part of a nearly $300,000 program to establish and operate the Ashland Area Innovation Center at 14th Street and Winchester Avenue. Adkins will begin looking for a director of the Innovation Center starting next week.

"I believe there is tremendous creativity in our region," he said. "We're looking for someone who can dream with the dreamers. The faint-hearted need not apply."

The Innovation Center will be located in the college's entrepreneur center and will serve Boyd, Carter, Elliott, Fleming, Greenup, Lawrence, Lewis and Rowan counties.

The focus of the Innovation Center will be to nurture and develop jobs in the new economy by providing an array of services including entrepreneurship training, mentoring, networking and access to capital, Adkins said.

Adkins also will recruit "risk capital angels" (venture capitalists) to help finance new businesses and new ideas. "This is a long-term investment in our people," he said. "The Innovation Center will provide welcome assistance to those who have a better idea and are willing to pursue it."

The Innovation Center is a partnership between the college, the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, Eastern Kentucky University, the Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation and the Kentucky Office for the New Economy. Representatives of most of those organizations signed an agreement Friday afternoon at the college to work together on the project.

The state's new economy efforts were launched during the regular session of the 2000 General Assembly in order to spur the growth of high-tech firms in Kentucky with the establishment of the Office for the New Economy.

"We want our region to be part of the new economy," said State Rep. Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook. "I think this is a very exciting day not only for Ashland Community and Technical College, but for the whole region. We're glad we could have the first one of these Innovation Centers here in Ashland."

The goal of the program is to develop businesses that will be competitive and innovative in today's global economy, said Cheryl Stone, director of the center for economic development, entrepreneurship and technology at Eastern Kentucky University.

"We're talking about good-paying jobs, jobs where we're working with our minds and not just our hands," she said. "I can't wait to see the results."

Dr. Bill Brundage, commissioner of the office for the new economy, said Kentucky is more than 20 years behind some other states getting involved in high-tech economic development, but the state is now committed to it.

In the next few years, Kentucky will have invested $1 billion in high-tech industries, Brundage said. He also expects the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville to be major research institutions by 2010.

"This state is well positioned," he said. "We picked niches where we can compete. Our investments have to go into people in a well educated and informed work force."

The Daily Independent
October 27, 2003

Center to help new high-tech businesses

New and existing high-tech businesses soon will be able to get assistance through a new office opening at Ashland Community and Technical College's Entrepreneur Center.

The Innovation Center will be the first of several planned in the state; the cooperative venture between ACTC and the state Office for the New Economy will offer funding assistance and other services to promising companies with innovative ideas, said Cheryl Stone, director of Eastern Kentucky University's Center for Economic Development, Entrepreneurship and Technology, which is headquarters for the innovation center's parent Eastern Innovation Region office.

State and college officials inked the agreement establishing the center at a Friday ceremony at ACTC. The center will be funded through a three-year, $225,000 state grant through the Office for the New Economy.

It is the first of 16 centers to be located throughout the state; others in eastern Kentucky will include offices in West Liberty, Pikeville, Paintsville, Corbin, Monticello and Somerset.

Where the entrepreneur center helps out businesses based on economic promise, the innovation center would seek out entrepreneurs and businesses that demonstrate new thinking, said ACTC president Greg Adkins. "That's very different and very important," he said.

The goal is to bring Kentucky to the forefront of today's technology-based economy, said Bill Brundage, commissioner of the Office for the New Economy. "It's all driven by innovation," Brundage said.

The center will look for business ideas that will attract talented employees and create jobs, Adkins said.

Besides grants and loans, the center will provide entrepreneurship training and introduce the business community to the Office for the New Economy and its programs and services, Stone said.

The center also will seek to recruit venture capital, Adkins said. Already some area investors have said they're interested, he said.

Recruiting a director will start in about a week, Adkins said.

The center will serve Boyd, Carter, Greenup, Lawrence, Elliott, Lewis, Rowan, and Fleming counties.

The Office for the New Economy was established through the 2000 Innovation Act passed by the 2000 General Assembly to spur the growth of high-tech businesses in the state.

London News Journal
October 29, 2003

SCC’s Adult Education Programs in Casey and McCreary Counties exceed goals, earn rewards
SCC Adult Learning Centers awarded $13,934

Kentucky Adult Education, a unit of the Council on Post-Secondary Education (COPE), is rewarding Somerset Community College’s Adult Education Programs in Casey and McCreary Counties for their success.

COPE recently announced financial rewards to programs that met their enrollment and performance goals for fiscal year 2003. Both the McCreary Adult Learning Center and the Casey Adult Learning Center, which are operated by SCC, earned rewards. The rewards ranged from five to ten percent of the each program’s funding base. For the McCreary Adult Learning Center the reward totaled $10,007, while the Casey Adult Learning Center earned a $3,927 reward.

Seventy-five of the 120 counties in Kentucky earned rewards this year. Some $879,555 in rewards money was distributed to the 75 counties this year.

Somerset Community College applied for the grant, which funds the McCreary and Casey Adult Education Program in 2002 at the urging of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) and COPE. At that time, the programs were not meeting expectations.

“Both the McCreary and Casey programs had a long way to go, but thanks to the cooperation and buy-in of those communities, we were successful in meeting our goals,” said Joyce Flynn, the director of the SCC Adult Education Program.

Sandy Claunch handles the day-to-day operation of the SCC Adult Education Programs.

Beverly Murphy, a retired McCreary County teacher, manages the SCC McCreary Adult Learning Center. The Center is located in SCC’s McCreary Center. Other staff members include: Wanda Monroe, Leslie Hamlin, and Jennifer J. Barnett.

The Casey County Adult Learning Center recently moved to a larger facility it shares with the Southern Casey Water District south of Liberty. Michael “Mickey” LaFavers manages the Casey Center. Other staff members include: April Russell and Jackie Card.

"I am very proud of Joyce, Sandy and our staff people in McCreary and Casey Counties,” said Jo Marshall, Ph.D., president of Somerset Community College. “They have done a wonderful job and that is demonstrated with this award.”

Somerset Community College, one of only 10 USDA National Centers of Excellence, is a comprehensive two-year institution of higher education. SCC has campuses in London and Somerset, and centers in Russell and McCreary Counties. SCC currently has a new center under construction in Clinton. Call for admissions toll free at 1-877-629-9722. The SCC website is located as www.somerset.kctcs.edu <http://www.somerset.kctcs.edu>.