A-B Tech Receives Superior Rating
A-B Tech has once again received a superior rating on state performance measures mandated by the General Assembly to ensure quality programs and services are offered by North Carolina's community colleges.
Published in the 2006 Critical Success Factors Report of the Community College System, the results show high satisfaction rates among A-B Tech students about the quality of the College's programs and services, and among employers about the performance of the A-B Tech students they hire. Business and industry also indicated they are pleased with the services the College provides.
"I am proud of the outstanding job our faculty and staff do," A-B Tech President K. Ray Bailey said. "Our superior rating attests to their good work and to the support we receive from our Board of Trustees, Foundation Board, and community partners."
The performance measures began in 2001 as the result of a mandate from the General Assembly to ensure strong public accountability from the state's 58 community colleges. The most recent report, based on the 2004-05 academic year, found:
- 100 percent of A-B Tech's completers met their educational goal.
- 100 percent of the businesses and industries surveyed reported satisfaction with the services provided by the College.
- 99.64 percent of graduates were employed within one year of graduation.
- 99 percent of A-B Tech's students said they were satisfied with the quality of the College's programs and services.
- 97 percent of employers reported satisfaction with the performance of the graduates they hired.
- 91 percent of first-time test takers passed licensure and certification exams. A-B Tech was one of only 20 colleges that passed this measure.
Damore Tells Graduates To Continue Learning, Set Goals
Mission Health and Hospitals president and CEO Joseph Damore speaks during the A-B Tech spring commencement, where 450 students received degrees and diplomas.
Four hundred and fifty degrees and diplomas were awarded during spring commencement May 12 at Thomas Wolfe Auditorium. Joseph Damore, president and CEO of Mission Health and Hospitals, gave the address during the ceremony.
"Many of our Allied Health students have been provided clinical rotations in the Mission Hospitals, and if you've ever been a patient in one of those hospitals, the outstanding care extended to you is most likely from an A-B Tech graduate," said President K. Ray Bailey, thanking Damore for the outstanding partnership between the college and the hospital system.
Damore told A-B Tech graduates that this was not the end of their educational life. "You are going forward to learn more," he said, explaining that they were at the beginning of their lifelong learning, as the word commencement means beginning.
"Successful people establish a core set of values built on integrity," he said. "If you always tell the truth, you don't need a long memory." He also acknowledged that there is no such thing as a self-made man or woman. "We are all dependent on other people for our successes."
Damore said other attributes of successful people included setting clear, measurable goals. "There was a survey at Yale University done on the class of 1962 where it was discovered only two percent of the class had clear goals," he said. Thirty years later, it was determined that those in the two percent had acquired 70 percent of the wealth of that class.
Damore encouraged students to take risks and not let setbacks defeat them. "I hope you find your passion and not be afraid of new things," he said. "Success comes from within, not without." He mentioned Victor Frankel's book "Man's Search for Meaning" and how the greatest gift humans have is the choice about our own attitude. "Happiness is a choice."
During the ceremony, President Bailey presented the Faculty Member of the Year Award to Developmental Math Instructor Ron Layne and the Adjunct Faculty Member of the Year Award to Biology Instructor Ron Ferrigno.
Morrissey Receives I.E. Ready Award
Dr. Sharon Morrissey, vice president of Instructional Services, received the I.E. Ready Distinguished Graduate Award from N.C. State University.
Dr. Sharon Morrissey, vice president of Instructional Services at A-B Tech, was presented the I.E. Ready Distinguished Graduate Award from N.C. State University during its graduation May 13.
The award is given annually to graduates of N.C. State's Adult and Higher Education program who have given distinguished leadership in the community college sector.
I.E. Ready was the first president of the North Carolina Community College System. He was appointed after the system was established in 1963 and served until 1970.
Dr. Leila Gonzalez-Sullivan, Distinguished Professor of Higher Education at N.C. State, presented the award. "I became acquainted with Sharon three years ago while I was organizing a new professional development program for academic department chairs in community colleges," said Gonzalez-Sullivan. "I wanted someone to conduct a session on the responsibilities of chairs to guide the academic programs of their departments and Sharon's name kept coming up as a leader who advocated strongly for learners and the learning process."
Morrissey's accomplishment include being selected to direct a statewide project to use computers to teach writing skills and directing conversion of the 58-member community college system from a quarter-hour to semester system. She also chaired the committee that developed the NCCCS Comprehensive Articulation Agreement, which allows community college students to transfer to institutions in the University of North Carolina system.
"Dr. Morrissey has made a significant impact not only on A-B Tech, but on the entire Community College System through her tireless efforts to identify ways in which we can better serve our students," President K. Ray Bailey said. "We are delighted to see her receive such well-deserved recognition for all she has done."