Contact: Bill Wagnon
For the second consecutive year, community college administrators and teachers from Alabama will be joining counterparts in Mississippi for a week-long professional development program organized by Mississippi State University.
More than 30 educators are registered to attend the 1998 Mississippi Community College Fellowship Program that begins Sunday [July 19] at the Lake Tiak O'Khata Conference Center near Louisville. Graduation ceremonies will be held Friday [the 24th].
Now in its fifth year, the Community College Fellows assembly is organized and sponsored by MSU's educational leadership department. The Phil Hardin Foundation of Meridian, the state Board for Community and Junior Colleges and the participating community colleges are providing support.
"We continue to grow and attract attention from community colleges outside of the state," said department head Ned Lovell. "It is important to help nurture and prepare the next generation of community college leaders and that's what this program has done since 1994."
The program gives special attention to the encouragement and training of minorities and women for leadership positions, Lovell added.
Representatives from 12 Mississippi schools and the state Board for Community and Junior Colleges in Jackson will be joined by colleagues from three Alabama schools. The neighbor-state institutions include Bevill State Community College in Sumiton, Bessemer State Technical College in Bessemer and the University of Alabama--Birmingham's Walker College in Jasper.
Keynote speakers include Pensacola (Fla.) Junior College President Charles A. Atwell, MSU Dean of Libraries Frances Coleman, East Mississippi Community College President Thomas Davis, state Sen. Grey Ferris, Jefferson State (Ala.) Community College President Judy Merritt, Mississippi Lt. Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, and MSU President Malcolm Portera. Ferris, of Vicksburg, chairs the Senate Education Committee.
Others participating on the program include presidents David Cole of Itawamba Community College, Eddie Smith of East Central Community College, Harold Wade of Bevill State, Foster Watkins of UAB Walker, and Ron Whitehead of Jones County Junior College.
Problem-based learning, team building, technology in education, decision-making, conflict management, and diversity in the workplace are among topics to be addressed during the week.
MCC Fellows are nominated by their institution's president or the state Board for Community and Junior Colleges.