STCC is a valuable asset
Dr. Tracy Hall, Southwest Tennessee Community College’s now not-so-new president, and some of her senior administrators visited The Commercial Appeal’s editorial board the Monday before Thanksgiving.
It was a great meeting that included a frank, transparent discussion about the state of things at Tennessee’s largest community college – what is working, what is not and what needs to be done to help students stay on course to obtain an associate degree, and maybe pursue a four-year degree.
Hall asked to come by, keeping a pledge she made at an earlier editorial board meeting a few months after she assumed the STCC presidency that her administration would be more open and visible to the community.
It was a refreshing change from the previous administration, which pretty much was out of sight while other institutions of higher learning here were publicizing and talking about their roles in the drive to create a skilled workforce.
Southwest is an important player in that collaboration, especially regarding Gov. Bill Haslam’s Drive to 55 initiative, which aims to have 55 percent of Tennessee residents earn a college degree or work certificate by 2025.
A key part of that effort is Tennessee Promise, which offers lastdollar scholarships that allow graduating high school seniors to attend a state community college tuition free.
That makes Southwest an even more important player in Drive to 55, but puts extra pressure on the STCC administration to improve a dismal single-digit graduation rate.
Hall, who took STCC’s helm July 13, 2015; Vice President of Student Affairs Jacqueline Faulkner and Vice President for Institutional Advancement Karen Nippert talked about the college’s all-out push to improve retention and graduation rates, and fixing what they described as a “broken” process that created barriers for students trying to be admitted to the school and to then successfully steer them toward obtaining an associate degree that came lead to a rewarding career.
That is an important admission for a college that for years admitted students — and the grant, scholarship and tuition money that accompanied them — without having effective systems in place to help them graduate.
Hall and her staff have a difficult task ahead. Many of the freshmen entering STCC are unprepared for college work. I will be surprised, however, if she is not able to get the job done.
The first step toward fixing a problem is admitting that there is one, and then coming up with a strategic plan to fix it. Hall, with the help of administrators, faculty and students, has a plan in place.
I also want to make this point: There is an unfair perception in this community that only seniors, who cannot get into a four-year school, attend a community college.
I use to have the same “bougie” attitude, but I have learned better.
When I was editor of our old Neighbors section, we published a yearly list of valedictorians and salutatorians from area high schools and where they planned to attend college. It struck me that quite a few of those honored graduates from DeSoto County High Schools planned to attend Northwest Mississippi Community College, whose main campus is off U.S. 51 in Senatobia.
Given the fact that DeSoto officials were always bragging about the quality of their public schools, the natural thing running through my plan was “If the schools are so great, why were so many of these top graduates attending a community college?”
But that was my Memphis mindset, and you all know what I’m talking about. Over time, though, I realized that community colleges in Mississippi are held in much higher esteem. They are seen as a natural stepping stone toward a four-year degree, and they have effective programs in place to make sure that happens.
STCC has similar programs in place but, in some cases, Northwest has been at it longer.
Otis Sanford, my former colleague at The CA, and who writes a Sunday column for us, is a Northwest graduate, who went on to become a distinguished alumnus of the University of Mississippi.
And, Northwest works overtime to inform the public about its programs, students and faculty. They are constantly sending out information about campus happenings, and staff and student accomplishments to area media outlets.
They are not exactly hitting home runs with their graduation and retention rates, but they are doing better than the national average for community colleges.
A reasonable argument can be made that Northwest Mississippi and Southwest Tennessee are not a true apple-to-apple comparison because Northwest draws from high-schoolgraduate pool that is more prepared to handle college work.
That’s true, which makes STCC’s Hall’s job tougher because under Tennessee Promise, any high school senior who graduates from a Tennessee eligible high school or completes Tennessee home school program is eligible apply to a community college.
Still, as a community, we need to shed the “bougie” about Southwest because it is a valuable asset to the multilayered business, government and education collaboration underway to create a skilled workforce that can attracted high-paying jobs.