Building, program challenges ahead for new CCC president

Greg Smith is destined to be Central Community College area president during interesting times.

According to a reputed Chinese proverb, the line "May you live in interesting times" is actually a curse.

Smith, who officially began his duties as CCC area president on July 1, certainly does not consider interesting times for the college to be a curse, but they do carry challenges.

CCC covers 25 counties in Central Nebraska.

Smith served as executive vice president for educational services at CCC before being chosen by the college board to be the college's fourth president.

One interesting time on the horizon is the construction of a health-science addition on the east end of the main building on the Grand Island Campus.

Smith said the addition is a response to the nursing shortage that exists everywhere in the United States. More space will allow for more students in the associate's degree nursing program, which produces registered nurses.

"Although our retention rate is already very good, we also would like to increase the retention of nurses in the program," Smith said.

When it came to building the health-science addition, he said, "what we're experiencing is a great increase on construction costs."

That phenomenon has occurred nationwide. To compensate, college officials have scaled the addition back from approximately 49,000 square feet to 42,000 square feet.

"We've been able to do that without losing any of the teaching and laboratory space," Smith said. "All the square footage in those areas is the same as before."

But spaces such as the addition's commons area were scaled back.

Because of design changes, the schedule for the health-science addition has been changed, Smith said. However, the addition is still scheduled to open in 2010.

Another interesting event on the horizon is a joint venture between CCC, Grand Island Public Schools and the local business community to create a small pilot program for a manufacturing career academy.

Smith said CCC will provide the space and instructor, while the business community would provide equipment. Businesses also are being asked to provide career counseling, mentoring and job shadowing opportunities to Grand Island Senior High students.

The pilot program was supposed to begin with the fall semester. But Smith said the college has not been able to renovate its space for the pilot program, so the start has been moved back to January 2009.

However, that delay creates the possibility of involving Grand Island's other three high schools in the program.

Another interesting concept is a proposal for a 3-cent building levy for the CCC campuses in Grand Island, Columbus and Hastings. The levy would last for five years and raise a total of $36 million.

Some new construction might result, but maintenance would be a major focus. The Grand Island Campus is 35 years old, the Columbus Campus is 40 years old, and parts of the Hastings Campus are 65 to 70 years old.

The board has approved putting the levy on the November ballot, but Smith made the final decision just this past week to put the issue on all the county ballots for voters to decide.

CCC is also working on an occupational therapy assistant program, while partner institution Southeast Community College is working on a new physical therapy assistant program, Smith said. Programs are needed in each area to provide workers for those careers.

Renewable energy is important to CCC's curriculum for a very good reason.

"Half of all of the state's ethanol plants are in the college's service area," Smith said. As a result, CCC has started a renewable fuel training program.

That was relatively easy because CCC was already offering 44 of the 69 hours for a full program for a two-year degree, one-year diploma and shorter certificate programs.

Smith said plant owners and managers have told CCC that "65 to 75 percent of the jobs are for operators." Most operators will need only a certificate.

Most of these areas seem to be cases where CCC is helping local business and industry deal with shortages of workers with required skills.

But Smith said CCC's real mission is to be student oriented. With that in mind, tuition and fees for the 2008-09 school year will remain the same as for 2007-08.

Smith said that's good news not just for vocational-technical students but for students in CCC's academic transfer program. CCC has credit transfer agreements with most Nebraska universities and colleges.

CCC's academic transfer agreements with two of those schools, Bellevue University and Doane College, mean students can get a four-year degree without ever leaving Grand Island.

 

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Central Community College founding President Dr. Chester H. Gausman died July 15 in Custer, S.D., where he had lived since retiring from the college in 1984.

Following his appointment as president of Central Nebraska Technical College (CNTC) on July 1, 1966, Gausman supervised converting the World War II-era Naval Ammunition Depot east of Hastings into Nebraska's first multi-county vocational-technical college.

It opened two months later on Sept. 1, 1966, with 196 students. That original campus became Central Community College-Hastings.

 On July 1, 1973, Gausman became president of Central Community College. The school was formed through the legislatively mandated merger of CNTC and Platte College in Columbus, now called Central Community College-Columbus.

Under Gausman's leadership, CCC's central administrative office and a third campus -- Central Community College-Grand Island -- were established at Grand Island. An education center also was created in Lexington during his tenure.

Enrollment grew to more than 20,000 students in classes offered on the three main campuses and in communities through CCC's 25-county service area.

Gausman developed an international reputation for pioneering individualized instruction, a method that allows students to begin courses at any time and advance at a pace that permits them to master course competencies.

His career as a vocational educator spanned more than 40 years, including teaching electronics at the Merchant Marine Academy during World War II, when he also served as a U.S. Marine Corps officer. His military career included serving in the Pacific Theater.

His educational career included teaching assignments in Nebraska and Wyoming. Before helping found Central Community College, Gausman had worked 11 years as vocational and adult education programs director for Lincoln Public Schools.

Following his retirement, Gausman and his wife, Mary, moved to Custer, where he worked with his daughter and two sons on various development projects.

Greg Smith is the fourth CCC president in the school's history. The other two CCC presidents have been Joe Preusser and LaVern Franzen.