The Hive

On January 10, 2011, York Technical College, along with Winthrop University and Revenflo, will open The Hive. Located in Old Town Rock Hill on the third floor of the Citizen’s Building, this pilot project is a workforce development/small business incubation program with an industry focus on internet marketing, communication, and technology. The Hive will serve clients by helping to boost their success while using the work as curriculum to train students. Approximately thirty-five students will participate in the first semester from both Winthrop University and York Technical College. The Hive also supports economic development by bringing more energy and people to Old Town and training students for the new knowledge-based services economy. In addition to Winthrop University and Revenflo, major partners include Rock Hill Economic Development Corporation, City of Rock Hill, and Comporium Communications. Edie Dille, Associate Dean for Business and Information Technology, and Jason Broadwater, President of Revenflo, will lead this initiative. We anticipate great success with this project and look forward to the challenges and rewards that will come with it. This is a prime example of how York Technical College continues to utilize innovative thinking to stay ahead of the curve in a world where student and community needs constantly evolve. I encourage you to learn more by visiting The Hive website.

*York Technical College student, Bill Wagner, developed the above design.

Excellence in Teaching

On November 4, I had the pleasure of attending the Governor’s Professor of the Year Award luncheon in Columbia with Jyron Baxter, Department Chair for Information Technology, and his wife, Aramis. As the 2010 recipient of the York Technical College President’s Award for Instructional Excellence, Jyron and thirty-six faculty from other SC institutions were nominated for the Governor’s Professor of the Year award. Congratulations to Jyron who was recognized and presented an award by Mr. Craig Garner, President, SC Higher Education Foundation, and Ms. Betty Davidson, Office of the Governor (pictured above). Last year, Dr. Janie Sigmon was recognized as our nominee for the Governor’s Professor of the Year award. She was presented an award by Ken Wingate, Chairman, SC Commission on Higher Education (pictured below).

I am grateful to all of our faculty for their hard work and dedication to helping our students reach their goals! Thank you!

Campus Master Plan

In fall 2007, we held “listening sessions” where you shared your perspective on things that were most important for the future of the College. The input received formed the College’s six strategic themes: Student Success, Programming, Partnerships, Branding, Organizational Development, and Campus Environment. Based on your input, we embarked on a Campus Master Plan process that would address future building locations, parking, traffic flow, landscaping, etc. Watson Tate Savory was selected as the firm to complete our College’s Campus Master Plan. Throughout 2009, employees, the Commission, and the Foundation were all invited to participate in visioning and design meetings. Thanks to your input, we have a comprehensive Campus Master Plan that supports our efforts to provide an engaging and inspiring place to learn and work. Copies of the Campus Master Plan will be available in the division offices and the library.

Mission Statement

Earlier this year, I solicited your help in reviewing our current mission statement. Our goal was to update and condense our mission statement and to develop a one or two-sentence statement that best captures the essence of our mission. Based on your feedback, we have updated our mission statement and developed a one sentence statement that is both concise and compelling while best summarizing what we do: “Building Our Community Through Maximizing Student Success.” The new mission statement was approved by our governing board in April and was then submitted to the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education (CHE) for approval. We received an approval letter from CHE last week. Thank you for your input!

YTC College Link Program

The College is piloting a new program this year, YTC College Link, which is an outreach program that provides the “link” to YTC for first-time freshman. The program provides high school seniors comprehensive support to students who want to continue their education at York Technical College in either a technical field or transfer to a four-year college or university. The program will provide seniors personalized guidance through the enrollment process, ensuring a smooth transition from high school to York Technical College. At the high school campus, the program offers:

· One-on-one connection with graduating seniors
· Individualized support to students who want to continue their education in either a technical field or transfer to a four-year college or university
· Information on financial aid and transfer information to senior colleges and universities in South Carolina
· COMPASS (YTC placement test) information, testing, and test results evaluation
· Smooth transition from high school to college through comprehensive one-on-one enrollment services including first semester course planning and registration

All services listed above will be available to all high schools, except course planning/registration on the high school campus. York Comprehensive High School, South Pointe High School, Lewisville High School, and Buford High School are piloting this component of the program.

Students can take advantage of these personalized support services before graduating high school!

We appreciate the work of our two new counselors, Carrie Eversole (left) and Lydia Moore (right), for leading this new initiative.

Duke Energy Donates Chester Facility

On Thursday, September 23, Duke Energy officially donated the Chester Workforce and Learning Success Center facility to the York Technical College Foundation. The Center provides career assessment and work skills training for those that are unemployed as well as adult education students, high school students, and current York Tech students. Duke Energy has supported many of the College’s programs and initiatives over the years and has provided more than $1.3 million to the College to foster economic development and workforce training. Through their support, we have developed curricula and labs for mechatronics, welding, robotics, the chemical operator training program, and much, much more. This latest donation of the Saluda Street facility in Chester is a testament of their support of the College, and we are very grateful for their partnership.

Pictured left to right is Chairman Tony Vaughan, myself, Catherine Heigel (President of Duke Energy Carolinas), and Representative Greg Delleney.

Business of the Month Award

The Greater York Chamber of Commerce has selected York Technical College as its September 2010 Business of the Month. The College was given this award in recognition of our work to support and promote economic development in the area. I was honored to receive the Business of the Month award on behalf of the College, as presented by Rick Jiran (pictured left), President of the Greater York Chamber of Commerce. This award is truly a team effort, for all of you help to make this College great.

Desire2Excel Award for Innovation

I am happy to announce that Laura Sturgis, Associate Dean for College Transfer, Articulation, and Special Projects, has co-won the Desire2Excel Award for Innovation. This international award is given each year at the Desire2Learn annual users’ conference, FUSION.

Laura was nominated for her work on the "Advising Course" used in Desire2Learn. In our ever-changing world it is imperative that we seek out the most effective ways to help our students succeed. Many of our students hold very busy and full lives. It is not always easy for them to sit down for a face-to-face with their advisor. This course allows our students to review academic progress, plan for future semesters, and research options when it is most convenient for them. As Laura states, “This advising course empowers students to become active and collaborative participants in their own educational journey.”

Laura’s innovative use of D2L has helped college transfer advisors more effectively use their time with advisees, thus furthering our goal to maximize student success. This course is being used as a model for advisors in the other divisions, as well. We are very proud of Laura for receiving this high honor and representing the College in such a positive, global way.

Please visit the link to view a video of the announcement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Fxog0j2BXM.

Congratulations, Laura, on a job well done!

Find Us On Facebook

If you’re not already active on Facebook, let me give you a good reason to sign up. York Technical College’s Facebook page is really taking off, with nearly 350 fans—100 in the last month alone—most of them students. The page, which is hosted by Kimberly Starnes from our Marketing department, provides a great opportunity for students as well as the rest of the college community to interact with the college and each other in fun, not-so-formal ways and pick up some valuable information along the way. It’s all about staying connected and finding ways to build school spirit, which we’ve discussed many times as being an extremely important factor in student retention and student success.

A growing number of students—and I hope you will join them—are participating in Facebook fun like “Snag Some Swag” (solving puzzles or discovering secret passwords for some nice York Tech gear), searching the campus for hidden pink flamingoes, or hula hooping for fun and prizes. (At least one staff member participated in a recent “Random Hula” event, and we have witnesses to prove it!) So please encourage students to become fans of the college, then begin commenting on our posts and pictures, or swing by a Facebook event to see what it’s all about, and I invite you to do the same.

While we’re on the subject of social media, I would also like to encourage everyone to follow York Tech on Twitter to be the first to hear about college news and events. And anyone into “geocaching” will be interested in knowing that we now have our own geocache here on campus. For those of you not familiar with geocaching, let’s just say it’s a kind of treasure hunting using a GPS or smart phone application. Yes, we know, our inner nerd is showing.

What we value, we measure

If you believe the maxim ‘what we value, we measure’, then you can believe that York Technical College values the principles and behaviors that constitute engaged learning in a supportive academic environment. For every year since 2004, the College has participated in the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE), and this fall will be the second year the College has participated in the Survey of Entering Student Engagement (SENSE). Both of these surveys are designed to measure key areas of student engagement which research has identified as directly related to student retention and other success outcomes. The surveys ask students about their college experiences – how they spend their time, what they have gained from their classes, how they feel about their relationships with faculty, counselors, and peers, and how the college supports their learning, etc.

Although the surveys measure similar areas, the SENSE items focus on entering students’ experiences during the first three weeks of their first semster, whereas the CCSSE items measure all students’ experiences during their time at the College. The SENSE focuses only on the early experiences of new students because research suggests that helping students succeed through their first semester can dramatically improve subsequent success.

The CCSSE data are reported through five benchmarks: Active and Collaborative Learning, Student Effort, Academic Challenge, Student-Faculty Interaction, and Support for Learners. The SENSE data are organized around six benchmarks: Early Connections, High Expectations/Aspirations, Clear Academic Plan, Effective Track to Readiness, Engaged Learning, and Academic/Student Support. You can learn more about both the CCSSE and the SENSE by visiting their websites: http://www.ccsse.org/ and www.ccsse.org/sense.

The key findings of the 2010 CCSSE report for York Tech summarizes the College’s benchmark scores and discusses some survey items where our results are significantly different than the average results for other participating colleges. You may also want to look at the College’s trend data of the survey items comprising the benchmarks for the seven years that we participated in the CCSSE.

As noted in the Beginning-of-the-Year Meeting, you will hear more about the SENSE and our first year of results through Benchmark Fridays during the academic year. These will be similar to the CCSSE Benchmark Fridays the College conducted last year. I hope you will take the time to review this information and participate in the professional development opportunities to further explore these ideas.

New Commission Member

I am pleased to announce that Mr. Harry M. Miller, Jr. has joined the York Technical College Commission. Since 2000, Mr. Miller has served as the Executive Vice President for Planning and Development for The Comporium Group. He began working with the telephone company after graduating from Clemson University as an Assistant Outside Plant Engineer, working on design and supervision of cable projects. With over thirty-seven years of experience at Comporium, Mr. Miller currently provides oversight to the following areas: Engineering and Planning, Information Technology, Internet Planning and Development, Network Services, New Venture Startup, Purchasing, and Wireless Planning and Development.

Mr. Miller has served eight years as a board member of the United States Telecom Association (USTelecom), the industry’s national trade association. He also serves as a member of Clemson University’s Electrical and Computer Engineering External Advisory Board.

Mr. Miller replaces Mr. Ed Barnes, who retired after 24 years of service to the College.

The other nine governing board seats are held by:

Mr. Bruce “Tony” A. Vaughan (Chair), Retiree
Mr. E. Paul Basha, President & CEO, York Electric Cooperative, Inc.
Mr. James “Jim” C. Hardin, III, Attorney at Law, James C. Hardin III, PLLC
Dr. A. Douglas “Doug” Marion, Ophthalmologist, Eye Associates of Chester, PA
Mr. Robert “Bobby” B. Meek, Owner, Century 21 Palmetto Homes Realty
Mr. G. Thompson “Tommy” Myers, Jr., Retiree
Mr. Charles Z. Robinson (Vice-Chair), Human Resources Consultant, Prosperity Resources, LLC
Ms. Geri H. Rucker, Regional Vice President, Founders Federal Credit Union
Mr. Jeffrey C. Sigmon, President, JEFCO Communications

We currently have one open seat on the Board. Ms. Carolyn Carpenter retired after 20 years of service to the College. We hope to fill that seat by the end of the year.

Kimbrell Memorial Golf Tournament

On May 10, 2010, the York Technical College Foundation hosted the much anticipated William C. “Bill” Kimbrell Memorial Golf Tournament. Mr. Kimbrell was an outstanding Foundation board member, serving continuously for over 17 years. He shared a passion for student success and was an enthusiastic advocate of numerous fundraising projects, helping the community and the college.
(Pictured left with me is Mr. Kimbrell's daughter, Willann, his wife Joanne, and Dr. Ed Duffy.)

The day started with lunch, followed by the tournament, and concluded with a reception and awards. One hundred and twenty-five golfers turned out to play. Alongside the seasoned golfers were Robin Breedon and Jacqueline Drakeford, both students who have received assistance from the Foundation. They each spoke about their return to college, educational goals, and appreciation for the work of the Foundation with regard to scholarship funding. YTC Student Jacquie Wells was also recognized for her work in designing the tournament program.

The event was quite a success raising $110,000 to date for student scholarships. We are very appreciative of all of our generous sponsors, volunteers, board members, faculty and staff that made it happen. Congratulations on a job well done!

CPT Alumni Reunion

The first York Technical College Computer Technology Alumni Reunion was held on Saturday, April 17, 2010, at the Baxter M. Hood Continuing Education Center. Six hundred graduates of the associate degree and certificate programs were invited. Attendees included seventy graduates from the years of 1977 through 2010. Activities for the evening included informal networking and "speed networking" where each graduate introduced himself to someone in the room whom he did not already know.

Former York Technical College president and Computer Technology Department Manager, Dennis Merrell, reminded the alumni of how far computer programming has come since the early days. He engaged the audience by quizzing them to identify relic programming paraphernalia that he had brought with him.

Yung Chou, a Microsoft Information Technology evangelist, conducted a presentation on the Future of Cloud Computing. To encourage the audience to answer questions throughout his talk, Mr. Chou tossed out Microsoft software and other prizes to respondents.

Guests enjoyed an Asian buffet provided by CPT alumnus Thi Le of Thi’s Catering and a cake (left) designed by Department Manager Jyron Baxter’s wife, Aramis. Each alumnus was given a custom t-shirt displaying the College’s new logo.

I greatly appreciate all the work by the faculty, staff, and alumni that planned the event.

YTC Foundation Newsletter

The York Technical College Foundation has developed a newsletter, Overview, that highlights the many initiatives the Foundation is working on for the College. The April 2010 newsletter includes information about the William C. Kimbrell Memorial Golf Tournament that will be held on Monday, May 10. I greatly appreciate all the work that the Foundation and the Development Office does to help support the College's goal to Maximize Student Success.

SCTEA Recognitions

The annual South Carolina Technical Education Association (SCTEA) Conference was held February 18-20 in Myrtle Beach. The following York Technical College employees were recognized recipients of the Educator of the Year award.












Lori Ochsner – Administrator/Manager Category













Laura Sturgis – Teaching Category













Debbie Williams – Staff Category

Each recipient received a plaque and a $100 check.

In addition, the College’s Phi Beta Lambda student organization won third place in the SCTEA Student Community Service Project. In all, twelve projects were submitted for review. Their project titled, Learning to Rebuild for Success, focused on providing workshops to help participants improve their employability skills. Participants learned how to:

Search for jobs
Fill out applications
Create a winning resume
Dress appropriately
Present oneself in a positive manner
Exhibit one’s potential value to the company during an interview

Five PBL students (names are below) attended the SCTEA awards luncheon, along with advisor Cathy Kerwan, where they received an engraved plaque and a $100 check.

Susan Pleasant
Megan Floyd
Tameka Gaither
Tonya Graham - President
Jasmine Humphrey

Special thanks to the PBL advisors Ivan Lowe, Gwen Wilson, Cathy Kerwan, and Dane Loflin for their guidance and support to the PBL students.

Innovation Mini-Grant Program

I am pleased to announce an exciting new opportunity for faculty, staff, and student organizations. Through the Innovation Mini-Grant Program, the York Technical College Foundation will award grants for creative, new approaches to enhance student success. The grants will range up to $1,000 and will be based on anticipated outcomes and the impact of the projects on student success. Applications should be submitted by April 1 to the Development Office. We hope you will take advantage of this unique opportunity!

I appreciate the great support we receive from our York Technical College Foundation and for their leadership in creating this new program.

Mission Statement

A mission statement helps to define the fundamental purpose of an organization, basically describing why it exists and what it does to achieve its vision (Best Place to Work, Best Place to Learn, and Best Partner for Economic Development). Our current mission statement was last reviewed and approved in 2004. The SC Commission on Higher Education (CHE) requires us to include specific information within our mission statement which is why it is a page in length. Although we must have this formal mission statement, I would like to develop a concise and compelling statement that best summarizes what we do. Ideally, it would be a sentence or two that we would be able to quote from memory. What message should we convey to our stakeholders?

Included in the following link is our mission statement for your review and a questionnaire to complete. You have an opportunity to make suggested changes to the current mission statement and to create a one or two-sentence statement that best captures the essence of our mission. Please submit your feedback by Tuesday, February 2. Our goal is to present a draft to our governing board at their annual planning meeting in March.

http://www.yorktech.com/ie/surveys/YTC_MissionQuestionnaire.asp