SACJTC Newsletter

Southern Association of Community, Junior, and Technical Colleges

May 1998, Volume 32, Number 1

Allen Edwards, Editor


Letter From James L. Hudgins

May 1998

Dear Community College Presidents:

The annual luncheon meeting of the Southern Association of Community, Junior, and Technical Colleges (SACJTC) in New Orleans was one of the best attended in recent years. The 280 attendees were challenged by Lee Noel to develop strategies for increasing male enrollment in Southern community colleges. His topic was "What Is Expected and Valued by Males - The Key to Boosting Male Enrollment at Postsecondary Institutions."

Your SACJTC Board agreed to continue the association's theme of exploring the cause for the declining male enrollment in higher education. We are broadening the emphasis to include a quest for programs that have been successful in enrolling and retaining male students. The association sponsored a forum for the Commission on Colleges entitled "Gender Issues in Higher Education." George Autry of MDC, Inc. presented data documenting the declining trend of male enrollment in all sectors of higher education. Dorothy L. Lord, Julius R. Brown, and Ruth Burgos-Sasscer, representing member institutions, described programs designed by their colleges to serve male students more effectively. This edition of the newsletter includes an article by George Autry that summarizes data presented at the forum.

Also included in the newsletter is a financial report prepared by our association secretary/treasurer, Marshall W. Smith. We have been able to keep association fees low because of our corporate sponsors. They include BellSouth, College Board Accuplacer, Compass Bank, Follett College Stores, Sodexho Management Services, and Wallace's Bookstores. As you have the opportunity, please thank our sponsors for their support.

As we begin this new year, I invite you to help the association in two ways:

Best wishes for a successful year at your college.

Sincerely,

James L. Hudgins, President

 

The SACJTC gratefully acknowledges the sponsorship of the following businesses for our luncheon on December 8, 1997, in New Orleans:


 SACJTC
Southern Association of Community, Junior and Technical Colleges

FINANCIAL STATEMENT

For the Period Ending December 31, 1997

 

ASSETS AS OF DECEMBER 31, 1996
Reserves $18,514.75
Operating $17,865.24
TOTAL ASSETS
$36,379.99

1997 INCOME
Dues $12,500.00
Interest $1,295.57
Luncheon $7,000.00
Other $5,500.00
TOTAL INCOME
$26,295.57

1997 EXPENDITURES AND TRANSFERS
Convention/Luncheon $12,600.87
Honoraria $2,100.00
Miscellaneous -0-
Postage $112.00
Supplies $312.12
Newsletter/Printing $2,086.41
Travel $3,165.60
Operating $3,074.51
Transfers $2,500.00
TOTAL EXPENDITURES AND TRANSFERS
$25,951.51

ASSETS AS OF DECEMBER 31, 1997
Reserves $21,768.37
Operating $14,955.68
TOTAL ASSETS
$36,724.05

Marshall W. Smith
Secretary/Treasurer


Where Are the Men?

George Autry, President, MDC, Inc.

Where are the men? From the Lowcountry of South Carolina to the high desert of New Mexico, from Montana to South Ala-bama, fewer men are attending college. In 1970 men received 57 percent of the associate's degrees and bachelor's degrees awarded by U.S. colleges and universities. By 1980 women had closed the gap, and by 1993 women received 59 percent of the associate's degrees and 54 percent of the bachelor's degrees. But the imbalance seems especially dramatic at many of our community colleges, where enrollment is often two-thirds women.

Why should we be concerned about this trend? The rise in female enrollment is good news for women, whose best chance for earning above-poverty wages lies in postsecondary education or training. In fact, welfare reform has made it more imperative than ever that community colleges offer women a boost into the labor market.

But what about the men? Since the mid-1970s, men with no education beyond high school have suffered a net decline in earnings and a rise in unemployment. And, of course, their plight is not separate from that of women and children. Over the past two decades, the marriage rate for men in their 20s with no college education has fallen dramatically. A man who is unemployable is not marriageable either; and, if he fathers children out of wedlock, they are likely to live in poverty.

The British magazine The Economist did a major story last year entitled "The Trouble With Men," in which it argued that a host of social problems in the U.S. and Europe stem from the plight of undereducated men. Traditional blue collar jobs, which offered decent pay to men with high school education or less, have evaporated. Given this new economic reality, we would expect to see increasing numbers of men enrolling in community college programs. Why isn't this happening? If men do not respond by attaining more education, they face a bleak future. And so does society. Poor, uneducated, and unemployed men are not a human resource but a social threat.

Why is America not educating its men? What can we do to reverse the trend? Increasingly, education is a prerequisite for work and employability is a precondition for marriage. If jobs and marriage are what keep the male civilized, we are headed for trouble unless we find a way to educate more men. At this point, we have more questions than we have answers.

As part of MDC's research for the second State of the South report, we are exploring the reason for declining male enrollment. I was honored to join Jackson N. Sasser and a panel of SACJTC presidents to present a forum on this theme at the annual meeting of the Southern Association of College and Schools. I presented to the forum several graphs (see link) that illustrate the magnitude and consistency of these enrollment trends.

MDC welcomes the opportunity to collaborate with SACJTC. Please share with us your point of view on this issue and provide any information or examples that we can explore in our research.



MIDLANDS TECHNICAL COLLEGE

Midlands Technical College (MTC) is a comprehensive, urban, public, two-year college serving the Central Midlands of South Carolina. College programs and services provide accessible, affordable, high-quality postsecondary education that prepares traditional and nontraditional students to enter the job market, allows them to transfer to four-year colleges and universities, and assists them in achieving their professional and personal goals. Through its programs and services, the college equitably provides higher education opportunities and supports the economic growth of the community.

The college's goals are always to meet student needs for education and training, which includes preparing them for new technological developments in the workplace, and to nurture economic growth in the South Carolina Central Midlands by anticipating and meeting the changing needs of employers.

A multicampus college with a credit enrollment of approximately 10,000, MTC is the largest of South Carolina's 16 two-year technical colleges and has the third largest undergraduate enrollment among the state's colleges and universities. About one-third of collegebound high school graduates in the MTC service area are admitted to the college each fall. Many of these students continue their studies after graduating from MTC; the college is also the single largest source of transfer students to the University of South Carolina.

Since James L. Hudgins became president of the college in 1988, the college's enrollment has grown 108 percent. In response to this expansion, the college is developing the Northeast Campus, its fourth major teaching site. Completion of the Northeast Campus is expected within the next five years. It is expected to include a state-of-the-art Information Technology Training Center that will provide sophisticated training in information processing software both on-site and through distance learning technology.

Many students come to MTC because of its diverse and rigorous academic programs. The college offers approximately 90 academic programs, including degree, diploma, and certificate programs of study in the areas of arts and science, business and information systems, industrial and engineering technologies, health sciences and nursing, and continuing education. The MTC continuing education program is the largest in South Carolina, serving more than 33,000 residents in 1997.

For more than three decades, MTC has been a catalyst for economic growth in the South Carolina midlands, supplying employers with the essential work force they demand. Of employers surveyed, 98 percent rated MTC graduates as good or excellent, and 92 percent would recommend MTC graduates to other employers.

Technology-Based Initiatives
A critical shortage of information technology (IT) employees and allied health employees has provided MTC with an opportunity to demonstrate its responsiveness to the work force needs of local business and industry. MTC's new technology-based initiatives include the following:

MTC's recent achievements are not limited to the technology arena, however. The college recently hosted Vice President Al Gore and Secretary of Education Dick Riley for a town meeting on lifelong learning, and MTC continues to provide national leadership in institutional effectiveness.

Lifelong Learning
On March 24, 1998, Vice President Al Gore convened a forum on lifelong learning at MTC. Before an overflow crowd of nearly 500 students, public officials, faculty, and staff, Gore emphasized that America's two-year colleges are "the cornerstone of the new economy." The vice president announced that in the fall of 1998, he will convene a major summit on lifelong learning at which leaders from higher education, business, labor, government, and philanthropy can explore ways to help encourage lifelong learning.

Institutional Effectiveness
Under Hudgins' leadership, MTC has developed a model of institutional effectiveness programs and processes that contributes to the growth and credibility of the institution. The MTC model is cited by respected collegiate and legislative authorities as they describe the values and quality desired in educational accountability. Determined not to rely on its past successes, however, MTC continues to provide national leadership in institutional effectiveness. Among the college's recent achievements are the following honors:

Hudgins' vision and commitment to institutional effectiveness provided the foundation of MTC's successes. Because of his early recognition of the need for accountability, MTC was identified as a Beacon College by the AACC and charged with developing a model of institutional effectiveness for two-year colleges. Determined to assist other institutions in developing and implementing institutional effectiveness initiatives, Hudgins has served as a member of the AACC Board and as vice chair of the National Consortium on Institutional Effectiveness. He has also encouraged other institutions to learn from MTC's efforts through systematic dissemination of information.

MTC has made steady progress toward the specific goals in its strategic plan, Strategies for the Twenty-First Century, and looks forward to the challenges of the new century. With the continued support of its community, MTC will continue to offer high-quality educational opportunities to the residents of the Midlands, effective training to South Carolina businesses and industries, and national leadership through its technology and institutional effectiveness initiatives.



An Update

Dorothy L. Lord, president of Coastal Georgia Community College in Brunswick, Georgia, tells us the college is expanding its Coastal Georgia Minority Outreach Project:

"We are adding a career experience component to the followup activities for our summer program completers. We are focusing on the manufacturing, banking, and medical fields."