WALTERS STATE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
MID-EAST TENNESSEE REGIONAL P-16 COUNCIL MEETING
MEETING THEMEà P-16: Priceless
Minutes Summary
DATE: September 11, 2008
TIME: 9:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.
PLACE: Walters State Community College,
Duggins Foundation Room, Morristown Campus
ATTENDANCE: 55 attendees
ORDER OF DISCUSSION:
SUBJECT: Welcome & Opening Remarks Dean, Linda Roberts
HIGHLIGHTS: Linda Roberts welcomed members to the Mid-East TN Regional P-16 Council September meeting and started the meeting with a moment of silence in remembrance of the tragic events of 9-11. The meeting began with a video presentation of an abstract of 2 Million Minutes and Do You Believe In Me? Both promoted the idea that we must ready our children for the future to keep abreast of nations such as India and China and that all children count. For viewing, these may be accessed at http://www.dallasisd.org.keynote.htm and www.YouTube.com search Two Million Minutes.
SUBJECT: Updates – Review of April Minutes Dean Linda Roberts
HIGHLIGHTS: Minutes from the April meeting were distributed to each council member present. The minutes were reviewed and approved by the council with a motion to approve by Mike Collins and seconded by Gary Seal.
SUBJECT: Updates – Revised Strategic Plan 2007-2010 Cathy Woods
HIGHLIGHTS: Revisions were made to the strategic plan to include specific objectives with qualitative and quantitative measure of assessment. Cathy Woods pointed out that the college quality enhancement plan (QEP) had been incorporated into the strategic plan to provide successful student learning and teaching effectiveness.
SUBJECT: Updates – P-16 Survey of Program Cathy Woods
HIGHLIGHTS: The council members were asked to complete a survey in order to more adequately meet the needs of the council members by addressing the meeting times, meeting formats and agendas in order to deliver programs appropriate to the strategic plan and the concerns of the local councils and regional members.
SUBJECT: Real World Design Governor’s Challenge Dr. Wade McCamey
Dr. Lori Campbell
HIGHLIGHTS: Dr. Wade McCamey addressed his visit, along with other college Presidents, to the Oak Ridge National Laboratories as a prelude to the Real World Design Challenge, a design concept sponsored by the U.S. Dept of Energy and Cessna which will become a yearly event to inspire and engage students in STEM areas. This year’s focus will be on aviation. Tennessee was one of 10 states chosen for this challenge because of its connection to Oak Ridge National Laboratories. WSCC embraced this idea by planning for this challenge offering training by a WSCC faculty member in Pro-E software deliverable to several area high school instructors. Future training will be offered to high school instructors and Mid-East Regional P-16 colleges. Trained instructors will receive 300 Pro-E licenses valued at $3,000 each and will then be eligible to compete in the Real World Design Challenge. The RWDC teams of students will compete in the state with winners receiving an all expense paid trip to Washington. D.C. where they will participate at the national event April, 2009.
SUBJECT: RODP Lap Top Project Dean Linda Roberts
HIGHLIGHTS: WSCC was one of a few TBR colleges chosen to participate in Regents Online Degree Program Lap Top Project through a Tennessee legislative proposal. WSCC will receive 50 lap top computers to be given to schools chosen through P-16 in order to deliver dual enrollment courses on-line to students who otherwise would have limited access to a computer or to the internet. The schools chosen to participate in this pilot are Grainger County in English II and Hancock County in Math. The students must meet eligibility for college admission, dual enrollment and be either an 11th or 12th grader.
SUBJECT: E-Stem Grant Proposal Dr. Nancy Brown
HIGHLIGHTS: Dr. Nancy Brown, Executive Director of LWIA 2 announced that the proposal submitted is in its second reading and if funded would become a resource for expansion of career camps. It would further be used for career education and mentoring students within these camps and educational initiatives.
SUBJECT: Broadband Access in East TN Mr. Don Hurst
HIGHLIGHTS: The main focus of the P-16 meeting was to convene a panel of educators and other community members, representative within their job functions responsible for internet access, to discuss the challenges in delivery of services through the use of technology. Don Hurst, Carter County Tomorrow, became part of a team to explore broadband as 9/11 made it impossible for Eastman in the Tri-Cities area to access their computer files. Eastman, as one of several companies, with this dilemma realized they had to be able to back –up their files for immediate access in the event of emergencies. This began a search to look at all circuits within the region. They began mapping the major cities in proximity to Eastman and then they drilled down to the employers. They found that the sectors of education, health, and government were those who would be the greatest users of broadband. Eastman of course did not fall into one of these business sectors; however, they did employ 12,000 people. Mr. Hurst stated that, Tennessee without broadband is like TVA without electricity”. Mr. Hurst expressed his belief that broadband should be an infrastructure within a community, just as any other utility, such as water, gas, electric, and sewer. Mr. Hurst showed several charts that emphasized our challenges and our strengths within providing broadband to Tennessee. He encouraged engaging in public and private partnerships if citizens expect to have a wired connected Tennessee.
SUBJECT: Panel Discussion Dr. Nancy Brown, Moderator
PANEL MEMBERS: Mr. Don Hurst, Carter County Tomorrow; Mr. Adrian Smith, Hawkins County; Mr. James Atkins, Grainger County Schools; Mr. Joe Sargent, Walters State Community College IET; Ms. Brandi Coppock, Union County Schools; Ms. Connie Campbell, Jefferson County Schools; Mr. Tim Landefeld, Jefferson County Mayor’s Office; Mr. Steve Buttry, Connect Tennessee; Mr. Mike Ramage, Connect Tennessee.
HIGHLIGHTS: “Importance of Broadband Access to Education”
The panel moderated by Dr. Nancy Brown focused primarily on education within the area and the need for broadband access to address the technological challenges faced by students without internet access. The panel addressed needs within the community for county employees without access to the internet or without appropriate skills in order to use technology. They discussed the issue of affordability of broadband and the current and potential use with broadband access. Equality for all students was considered in this panel discussion and how education could be more equitable for all communities through the available resources of the internet and alternative educational course delivery. Last, security with the internet was discussed. The county mayors who were present and are part of the E TRAMA group provided some supportive thoughts to bring attention to this need and to bring about partnerships to support connecting their communities in a regional effort toward the greater vision of a connected Tennessee.
SUBJECT: Broadband Forum Mr. Don Hurst
HIGHLIGHTS: All members of the P-16 council who remained for this discussion and other invited guests were asked to answer a couple of questions on how this could be promoted to the communities and what was available within the service area for delivery of information via telecommunication methods. Each individual contributed to this part of the program and were enthusiastic in meeting again to be a part of the base to build a wireless connected region.
SUBJECT: Action Items / Announcements
HIGHLIGHTS: The following announcements were made:
· Next P-16 Council Meeting Morristown, WSCC,– February 12, 2009
The meeting adjourned at 2:00 p.m.
Special Thanks to Center for Workforce Development for cooperative efforts in providing the P-16 Council Meeting and Broadband Forum.
Special Thanks to Phillips Food Service for lunch.
Respectfully submitted by Tammy Wells / Cathy Woods