KCTCS regents approve Elizabethtown consolidation

LEXINGTON, Ky. (December 8, 2003) - The Board of Regents of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) took action on Friday to enhance the development of comprehensive colleges in the Commonwealth.
The board, meeting at Central Kentucky Technical College, approved the consolidation of Elizabethtown Community College and Elizabethtown Technical College into a single institution - Elizabethtown Community and Technical College.
Regents also authorized the college to pursue single accreditation under the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. A new mission statement approved for the college reflects the transition to a comprehensive community and technical college.
“The college is truly comprehensive, with strong academic and technical opportunities that complement and support each other,” said Thelma J. White, college president.
Also, the board approved university transfer programs to be offered by Bowling Green Technical College. The new programs - the associate in arts and associate in science degrees - represent the college’s first liberal arts degrees.
“The KCTCS Strategic Plan has established a goal to develop a unified system of comprehensive community and technical colleges,” said Michael B. McCall, KCTCS president. “We are moving aggressively toward attainment of that goal.”
The regents also approved numerous associate in applied science (AAS) degrees that colleges will offer to students:
· Industrial and Engineering Technology - Gateway Community and Technical College; Hazard Community and Technical College
· Nursing - Gateway
· Medical Information Technology - Madisonville Community College; Hazard
· Agricultural Technology - Madisonville
· Education - Elizabethtown; Gateway; Hazard; Hopkinsville Community College; Jefferson Community College; Owensboro Community and Technical College; Somerset Community College
Since January 1998, the KCTCS Board of Regents has approved more than 1,000 program options that the colleges may offer to students. Program options available to students across the System total about 3,000.
“The new programs that colleges are putting into place to serve students enhance their opportunities to succeed in life and work,” said Cynthia L. Read, chair of the Board of Regents.
In other action, the board:
· Approved the KCTCS legislative agenda for the 2004 session of the Kentucky General Assembly. The agenda endorses all initiatives supported by the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, plus other funding proposals and capital construction proposals advanced by KCTCS. The System is seeking support for increased compensation for faculty and staff; developmental education; Homeland Security initiatives; and a center for excellence in automobile manufacturing.
· Approved a policy that requires that all expenses incurred by the KCTCS president be on a reimbursement basis and in accordance with established KCTCS procedures.
· Received the annual financial audit covering the 2002/03 fiscal year, which ended on June 30. The audit - performed by the independent firm of Deloitte & Touche - was “clean and unqualified,” said Deloitte & Touche partner Jim Carpenter. Carpenter said KCTCS assets exceeded liabilities by $443 million. “It’s a very strong financial report,” he said. The audit firm also reported that there were no weaknesses in the KCTCS internal controls that are considered to be material. The “clean and unqualified” audit was the fifth consecutive such audit received by KCTCS.



KCTCS colleges change lives by providing academic and technical associate degrees; diploma and certificate programs in occupational fields; pre-baccalaureate education; adult, continuing and developmental education; customized training for business and industry; and distance learning. For more information, visit www.kctcs.edu <http://www.kctcs.edu>.