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Jefferson inaugurates Anthony Newberry as third president

LOUISVILLE, KY. (September 12, 2003) -- Topping a year of a successes and growth, Jefferson Community College formally installed Anthony L. Newberry, PhD, as its third president and fifth chief administrative officer during a ceremony today on the college’s downtown Louisville campus. The ceremony was the symbolic start of a new era for the college, which has seen tremendous change and overcome great challenges in the past year.
More than 400 people attended the ceremony, including faculty and staff members as well as education and government leaders from throughout the state. Mayor Jerry Abramson brought greetings from Metro Louisville. Michael McCall, EdD, president of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, and John Kinney, vice chairman of the Jefferson Community College Board of Directors, performed the investiture.
Newberry, named in July 2002 as president of Jefferson Community College and chief executive officer of the Jefferson Community & Technical College District, followed Richard Green, who held the president’s post for six years. Newberry came to his new post from the Kentucky Community & Technical College System where he served as chancellor, but coming to Jefferson was actually a homecoming. Newberry began his teaching career at the college as a history instructor in 1976. He later served as dean of academic affairs at Southeast Community College and was president of Ashland Community College before joining the community college system and then KCTCS.
“When I started my career at Jefferson. I could not have imagined that one day … I would have the opportunity to return as president,” he said in his inaugural address. “It is a dream come true and a great honor. And it is at the same time a very humbling experience.”
Newberry took the helm just as Jefferson was tackling deficiencies that could have affected the college’s accreditation. Those deficiencies were corrected and the college’s accreditation was preserved. Newberry then faced the task of re-energizing his faculty and staff and restructuring the leadership team. In addition, he began the long process of consolidating Jefferson Community College and Jefferson Technical College, which is expected to be completed in 2005.
Newberry addressed those and other challenges facing the colleges, such as state budget cuts, in his address. “We have initiated a time of restoration and renewal … a restoration of pride in our heritage and a renewal of confidence in the future that we are building together.” His remarks reflected the theme of his inauguration, “Shaping Tomorrow Together.”
In the year since Newberry’s arrival, the Jefferson District opened a new campus in Shelbyville, which currently enrolls more than 400 students and serves as a workforce training and education center for the community; has seen overall enrollment growth for the second straight year; launched several new partnerships with area agencies and businesses; resolved accreditation issues and laid the ground for consolidation of the community and technical colleges; and launched or expanded academic programs.
In his speech, Newberry outlined his three primary expectations for the colleges. The first was the consolidation of Jefferson Community and Technical colleges. Community-driven consolidation of community and technical colleges across the state has been a key objective of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System.
His second expectation was for expanded involvement in the region’s workforce development efforts. Newberry named several partnerships the colleges have formed recently with Norton Healthcare, Sullivan University, Jefferson County Public Schools and the eMain initiative, the Kentucky Center for the Arts, and Metropolitan College. He stressed the key role that the community and technical colleges play in the city’s long-term economic development.
Finally, he addressed colleges’ critical need for physical and financial resources as programs continue to grow to meet workforce needs.
“A key factor in our success over the next decade will be our ability to improve our financial and physical resources. At present, we struggle to support a multi-campus, 13,000-student operation,” he said. He pledged to work with community, business and government leaders to address these concerns.

FACTS
History: Jefferson Community College was founded in 1968. When the Kentucky Community and Technical College System formed in 1997, JCC joined with Kentucky TECH (now Jefferson Technical College) to form the Jefferson Community & Technical College District.

Enrollment: 13,000; Jefferson is the second largest institution of higher learning in Louisville.

Size: Five campuses; downtown Louisville (JCC and JTC), southeast Jefferson county, Carrollton and Shelbyville.

Programs: More than 50 academic and technical programs leading to associate degrees, baccalaureate transfer degrees, certificates and diplomas.
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