I don’t know if Gov. Cooper will be remembered for his advocacy for community colleges given the state and national attention Medicaid expansion, school choice, and #1 rankings in business garnered.
But in part because his tenure spanned four system presidents, his voice and his presence at community colleges rises up among statewide leaders. And while his message visiting schools across the state was consistent, Cooper showed up at community colleges for a wide variety of reasons. There were the industry announcements and workforce partnerships you would imagine, but note the photo of Walter Dalton’s family watching the governor present their dad with the Order of the Long Leaf Pine. I didn’t include them all but Cooper showed up over and over again in Canton and Haywood County to bear witness to the floods, the papermill closing, the hurricane. I wouldn’t have remembered that he held student roundtables at some of the colleges he visited or how often community college students were invited to the mansion. Somehow I missed it that Surry-Yadkin Works made it to the National Governor’s Association. That’s awesome.
Cooper advocated for community colleges and faculty pay to the very end. “Our skilled, diverse and dedicated workforce is North Carolina’s most important asset. And our community colleges help make it that way,” he said yesterday. “And one of the main reasons for that is our amazing community college faculty. Getting help for students helps the faculty, but we need to continue to fight for higher community college faculty salaries.”
Today, Gov. Cooper will deliver his farewell remarks at Nash Community College. Thank you for your public service and your leadership.
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