“I may represent more community colleges than anybody in the United States Senate,” joked Sen. Jerry Moran Wednesday afternoon. The senator took a tour of Allen Community College and visited with staff and board members.
“I want to be helpful to you,” Sen. Moran told ACC President Bruce Moses. “We believe in community colleges and technical education. The future of Iola and the surrounding area has a lot to do with your success here.”
Moran and Moses got right to business.
“Housing is one of our biggest challenges,” said Moses. “We’re looking at some options. A couple of our dorms are pretty dated.” Moses explained that two of the existing dorms were built to withstand a tornado. Because of this, the infrastructure is difficult to renovate. “We’re talking about plumbing inside of concrete walls and things of that nature,” he said. “It’s cheaper to build than to renovate.” He added that they’d like to repurpose the lower level of Horton Hall for academic space.
MOSES NOTED that enrollment has been trending down. “This is true for most community colleges in the country,” he said. “With our new programs we’re going to be rolling out in the fall, we think that we can start to make some strides on enrollment increases.”
Beginning next fall, ACC plans on offering certificate programs for career and technical education (CTE) courses. “How do we engage people in higher education knowing that they don’t necessarily want to spend two or three years with us, but they want to get a credential that will get them into a liveable wage job?” asked Moses. “The answer is these CTE short-term certificate programs.”
Moses informed Moran that students may stack credentials. Once they start working and see the benefits of their education, they may want to continue at ACC and move on to the next level of credential.
Kara Wheeler, vice president of academic affairs, added that both B&W Trailer Hitches of Humboldt and Precision of Iola are in need of CNC operators. “That is one of our first programs we’ll be getting this next fall,” she said.
During the tour, Sen. Moran asked about access to local media. Moses noted the college has access to The Iola Register online for all students and faculty. “Our students also have access to all of their archives for research,” he said. Moran shared his appreciation of this. “We need to make sure newspapers aren’t a thing of the past,” he said. “I’m a fan of community journalism. National journalism mostly pulls us apart, while community journalism can pull us together.”
The tour concluded after viewing a couple classrooms, the cafeteria, library, and student life center. “The campus looks beautiful,” said Moran. “It looks well cared for and modern. You’re doing some really good things here.”
