Bus Stop Shelter for Students
Mark Snelson of Plant Operations builds the retaining wall for the covered bus stop in front of the Simpson Administration Building.
A covered bus stop is making an appearance on campus after five years in the making. Riders will be able to wait for the bus while protected from the elements at the stop in front of the Simpson Administration Building.
Dennis King, Vice President of Student Services, said, "This project started at least five years ago when we determined we needed some sort of facility for students."
Members from the College went to the City of Asheville and asked for a covered bus stop, but the City was not able to provide one.
"Finally last spring the SGA asked us one last time and President Bailey determined we would install the stop and pay for it ourselves," King said.
"We are very excited to have the bus stop go from an idea to reality," said Lola Powell, secretary of the SGA. "We take comfort in knowing that the students will be a little warmer this winter while waiting for the bus."
A-B Tech bought the unit, which is housed in the Chestnut Building waiting for warmer weather. "The concrete can't be poured for the foundation in cold weather," King said.
However, the retaining wall is already built and once the concrete is poured, the actual installation will take one to two days and the stop will be ready, according to King.
In addition to the SGA, the covered bus stop was highly supported by staff members who work with students with disabilities who take the bus and need shelter. Annie Clingenpeel, Disability Services Coordinator, said, "Students will now have a place to wait out of the weather. Students who use wheelchairs find it difficult to wait under the usual shelters, since maneuvering chairs on grass is very difficult in the rain. This is great."
Knott Named Curricula Coordinator for BioBusiness Center
Paul Knott
K. Paul Knott has been named curricula coordinator for the BioNetwork BioBusiness Center of the North Carolina Community College System at A-B Tech's Enka Campus.
Knott was the founder and owner of The People Department, Inc., a business services and consulting firm in Wilmington. He also served on the faculty at UNC-Wilmington and Mount Olive College. His career has included roles in public service, business ownership, executive leadership, consulting engagements and teaching appointments. He brings more than 25 years of front-line and executive management experience to his work.
Funded by a $320,000 grant from Golden LEAF, A-B Tech's BioBusiness Center will develop training programs and curricula designed to help incubated biotechnology-related companies grow and thrive. Workshops and seminars will demonstrate how to assess their needs, provide services, and link them to other resource providers to help ensure they have successful starts. These programs are all designed to help recruit biotech companies to rural areas, and the center will share its expertise in biotech incubation and business enterprises with community colleges statewide.
"A key to success for the BioBusiness Center will be our ability to translate and apply the fundamentals for successful business ventures across the unique issues and characteristics facing life science organizations," Knott said. "We need to be able to provide supportive educational and implementation resources that will allow scientists and entrepreneurs who have intellectual property to develop to find a culture of support throughout the North Carolina Community College System."
Knott was the founding owner/general manger of Adecco Employment Services' franchise operation serving the Wilmington area, where he was responsible for strategic direction, marketing and customer service.
He also served as vice president and chief operating officer of the USO in Washington, D.C., the civilian nonprofit organization with the Congressional charter to serve U.S. military personnel and their families worldwide. In this role, Knott supervised the day-to-day operations of the USO headquarters staff, as well as the activities of more than 170 USO services centers around the world. Following the USO, he was president of the Center for Effective Organizations, Inc., a training and consulting services organization he founded in metropolitan Washington, D.C.
"When the BioBusiness Center achieves its mission, we will have developed outreach programs that convincingly convey the message that biotechnology is a field in which there are immense business and employment opportunities and we have figured out how to realize those opportunities. Our message as part of the BioNetwork is that we understand the workforce, capital, processes and management experience necessary to spread biotech startup success from the coast to the mountains," Knott said.
He earned a B.A. in history and an M.A. in health education from the University of Maryland and a master's in public health from the University of California at Berkeley. In 1981, he joined the staff of the American Red Cross National Headquarters as the coordinator of the National Health Promotion Training Network. In his final assignment with the Red Cross after 10 years of service, he directed the worldwide communication production and distribution system.
BioNetwork Funding Approved by State Board
A-B Tech has been approved by the State Board of Community Colleges to receive a grant of $173,585 for laboratory renovations, equipment and videoconferencing equipment to be used at the Enka Campus if the Golden LEAF Board agrees to the grants March 3.
The A-B Tech Biotechnology Curriculum Laboratory Enhancement Project - Phase II could receive $50,000 for laboratory renovation and $64,790 for laboratory equipment. Also up for approval is funding for BioNetwork Biotechnology Distance Learning videoconferencing equipment to be used by the biotechnology curriculum program, BioBusiness Center, and the Small Business Center. The funding recommendation is $58,795.
"The major piece of equipment that we will be purchasing with this grant is a three liter bioreactor (fermentor)," said Toby Mapes, Biotechnology Chair. "This will allow biotechnology students to perform all aspects of bioprocessing from starting with raw materials to downstream processing to obtain a purified product."
Community colleges are using the grants to obtain equipment, purchase laboratory supplies, upgrade equipment and enhance laboratories. Because the biopharmaceutical industry does not hire people without the specialized training needed to work in an FDA regulated biomanufacturing or pharmaceutical facility, the BioNetwork grants provide community colleges with some of the equipment needed to be able to train more effectively for these industries. The biotech industry is growing by an estimated 3,000 jobs annually, of which 2,000 require education and training at the community college level.
Golden LEAF provided $8.7 million in startup funding for BioNetwork as part of an overall grant to the Biomanufacturing & Pharmaceutical Training Consortium.
This is the third round of funding from Golden LEAF for the North Carolina Community College System BioNetwork's award grants to fund biotech training in North Carolina. The first grant awarded to A-B Tech was in June for $320,000 to create a BioBusiness Center to provide entrepreneurial skills development, incubation support services and coursework in the business and production conditions required to work with biotech companies. The center is one of six across the state that are part of the North Carolina Community College System's BioNetwork initiative to prepare a world-class biotech workforce. The second award, in December, was for $150,000 to help renovate and equip the biotechnology laboratory at the Enka Campus.