After months of discussion and proposed changes, the State Board of Community Colleges (SBCC) approved an amendment to SBCC code regarding the local college presidential reelection process during the Board’s July meeting. With a 13 to 6 vote, the amendment will become effective Aug. 1, 2024.

Historically, local boards of trustees were granted authority to reelect local college presidents. In the 2023 budget passed last September, the General Assembly added reelection authority to the State Board of Community Colleges.

Since January, the Board has discussed the presidential reelection process and proposed amendments to SBCC code to reflect the statute passed in September 2023.

During their April meeting, the Board proposed an amendment to be voted on in May. At the May meeting, Board members added two clarifications to the amendment language:

• “The SBCC shall not approve the reelection of a college president unless it has received a request to approve such college president’s reelection from the applicable local board of trustees, in compliance with this Section.”
• “In consideration of the approval of the reelection of a college president, it shall be the intent of the SBCC to ensure that such decision is properly supported by the materials submitted to the SBCC. It shall not be the intent of the SBCC to substitute its judgment for that of the local board of trustees in such local board of trustees’ reelection of its college president.”

These changes required a 60-day period for public comment after which the Board would consider the public comments before voting in July. Public comments made during that time period can be found here.

During the July policy and governance committee meeting, Board member Mark Merritt moved to amend the May language based on concerns shared in the public comments. Merritt requested a sentence be added to the final section in subsection E:

“The role of the SBCC is to ensure that the process set forth in this section is followed and that the recommendation of the local board of trustees is supported by the material submitted to the SBCC.” 

When addressing the full Board, Merritt said the policy was clear about what the Board would not do during the presidential reelection process but not clear about what the Board would do.

After further discussion during the full July Board meeting, the Board ultimately decided the language Merritt proposed during Thursday’s committee meeting was not needed. The Board approved the amendment drafted in May with one minor change reflected in (a)(3).

In other college presidential news, the Board approved Dr. Maria Pharr, the current president of South Piedmont Community College, as the new president of Pitt Community College following the retirement of Dr. Lawrence Rouse this past June. Pharr, who will be the first woman president of Pitt Community College, will begin her duties on Aug. 13, according to a press release from the college.

Michelle Brock, chief financial officer at South Piedmont, will serve as interim president after Pharr’s departure.

The Board also approved the reelection of 20 local college presidents in one vote.

Board swears in new N4CSGA president

Jennifer Maldonado-Castro, the new president of the North Carolina Comprehensive Community College Student Government Association (N4CSGA), was sworn in during the July Board meeting.

During her report, Maldonado-Castro shared about growing up in challenging economic circumstances as a first-generation citizen. 

“Resources were really limited and a Spanish to English translation book was my prized possession,” Maldonado-Castro said. “The experience instilled a new resilience, gratitude, and a deep appreciation for the value of hard work and community support.” 

Maldonado-Castro went on to discuss how she is grateful for the opportunity to serve on the Board and represent the student voices across the 58. She said she firmly believes that when people unite together that they can make extraordinary things happen.

Maldonado-Castro is a student at Carteret Community College. 

During her report, Dr. Laura Leatherwood, president of Blue Ridge Community College and outgoing president of the North Carolina Association of Community College Presidents, said the reason presidents do this work is because of people like Jennifer and the other 600,000 students who are served throughout the state’s community colleges.

Leatherwood also mentioned the national recognition Nash Community College recently received when the college was read into the Congressional Record on the House floor on July 10. The STEPs4GROWTH program, which helps connect clean energy industry partners with qualified apprenticeship candidates, was recognized.

The program is led by the Center for Energy Research and Technology at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden visited Nash Community College in 2023 to discuss the clean vehicles program and career-centered education at Nash.

Five-year plan to modernize NCCCS’ marketing strategy

The Board heard a presentation about modernizing the North Carolina Community College System’s (NCCCS) marketing strategy. Nathan Hardin, executive director of communications at the NCCCS, said the five-year marketing plan is a framework and guide for more substantial statewide, regional, and national presence. 

The framework establishes cohesive branding for North Carolina Community Colleges, part of which includes brand parameters for current state programs like Career & College Promise, BioNetwork, ApprenticeshipNC, Small Business Center Network, and others. Additionally, the system would deliver marketing assets for these state programs that each individual college could use as needed, Hardin said.

The five-year plan also incorporates marketing automation via a joint Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system and call center. Both the NCCCS and individual colleges would have responsibilities and uses of the CRM system as described in the marketing funnel plan below.

As for the call center, Hardin said there are three potential ways for the system to include a call center as part of its lead follow-up structure, including a student-staffed call center that is system-led, a centralized call center at the system office staffed by professional resources, or a contracted center staffed by a call center partner. 

The marketing infrastructure plan would ensure prospective students receive quicker follow-up communication during the pre-application phase–meaning before the individual has applied or registered at one of the state’s 58 community colleges.

According to Hardin, the marketing strategy allows colleges to maximize their ability to serve and communicate with students once an application has been submitted. 

The final part of the modernized infrastructure is a targeted marketing approach which focuses on high-need jobs and reaching precise audiences for those careers. 

“If you’re in a specific service area in North Carolina and advanced manufacturing is the workforce that’s needed most, we would then promote those associated programs to the target audience,” said Allison Amos, CEO of Honestly, a marketing and business consulting firm.

Hardin said the five-year marketing plan is based on an in-depth discovery process that included input and feedback from the system office, Board representatives, community college presidents and public information officers, current students, and key partners.

The implementation plan for year one includes “work on an initial cohort of colleges on a collaborative, mutually beneficial CRM tool implementation while also providing leadership and support to those colleges that are not in the first cohort.”

Temporary amendment change to student payments

The Board approved a temporary change to the SBCC Code allowing community colleges to adopt local rules regarding student payments. The temporary change is in response to FAFSA delays and technical glitches that have led to significant challenges during the 2024-25 financial aid cycle. These delays and glitches can impact whether students can successfully pay for courses and stay enrolled.

The temporary amendment allows colleges flexibility with regards to payment due dates in an effort to help students stay enrolled. Previously, if a student registered after the first date of a course section, they were required to pay tuition, registration fees, and other enrollment fees at the time of registration. Now, colleges can extend payment due dates to be on or by the course census date.

The amendment will be in effect until Dec. 31, 2024. However, the Board may extend the duration if necessary.

Other meeting items

• The Board heard a presentation from Chris Harrington, director of ApprenticeshipNC. Harrington reported that North Carolina saw a 45% increase in registered apprentice enrollments and a 50% increase in registered pre-apprentice enrollments during the 2023-24 fiscal year. ApprenticeshipNC also registered 147 new apprenticeship programs and 19 new pre-apprenticeship programs.

• The Board approved six colleges for the Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor Program. The program provides support services to community college students with intellectual and developmental disabilities and is designed to help students reach their goals for employment and independence “without duplicating the existing vocational support network,” Board materials state. The six community colleges approved for the program include: Alamance, Asheville-Buncombe Technical, Brunswick, College of The Albemarle, South Piedmont, and Wilkes.
• The Board approved the 2024 performance measures for student success report. The report is the NCCCS’ major accountability document and is a source for the state performance based funding. The funding includes $24 million that is to be distributed between the 58 community colleges. According to the report, the “annual performance report is based on data compiled during the previous year and serves to inform colleges and the public on the performance of our 58 community colleges.” 

The next Board meeting is scheduled for Aug. 15-16 in Raleigh.