NCC Hosts Professional Development Day for Community College Leaders
ESAP Professional Development Day, Peter Hans, NC Community Colleges president
Nash Community College hosted more than 200 leaders from North Carolina’s 58 community colleges for networking and professional development this week.
As the hub site for the “Employability Skills Alignment Project”, the college held a networking event at Rocky Mount Mills on Wednesday, June 5 where visitors enjoyed mill campus tours, local fare and networking opportunities. On Thursday, June 6, attendees discussed system-wide project implementation during professional development activities held in the NCC Brown Auditorium.
More than half of employers who responded to a 2018 statewide survey indicated a lack of employability skills among applicants when hiring. The North Carolina Community College System, committed to closing the gap between training and employer needs, seeks to address these needs through specific training provided by each community college in the Employability Skills Alignment Project.
“I have had the chance to visit all 58 community colleges in my first year on the job and I came away truly inspired by our faculty, staff and especially our students,” NC Community Colleges president Peter Hans said. “Today’s event represents what is so great about community colleges: aligning with the business community responding to the needs so that our students have the life skills that are so desperately essential to their success. Community colleges figure out a way to get it done time and time again. There is no better investment in North Carolina’s future for those 700,000 students that attend the 58 colleges.”
Using specially designed curriculum, North Carolina Community Colleges are offering soft skills training in the topics identified by employers including: critical and analytical thinking, problem solving and decision making, cultural sensitivity, interpersonal skills, oral, written and non-verbal communication, reliability and dependability, team work and time and resource management. The online training is non-industry specific and recommended for current and prospective employees in any sector.
The Employability Skills Alignment Project is led by the North Carolina Community College System, Nash Community College, an advisory team, team leaders and delegates representing each community college. Funding is provided by the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act 2006, NCCCS State Board Reserve and Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA-Title II).
“Dr. Carver has been a great leader for Nash, for the system,” Hans said. “He is recognized among his peers as one of the finest presidents in the system. And indeed across the country the work he has done here at Nash with a great team that you’ve assembled is tremendous.”
For more information, call 252-451-8273 or contact a North Carolina community college.
