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Prior to touring the Pitt campus, Golden LEAF President Scott Hamilton, left, presents PCC President Lawrence Rouse with a mug crafted in a pottery class by North Carolina community college student Sydney Williams.
Prior to touring the Pitt campus, Golden LEAF President Scott Hamilton, left, presents PCC President Lawrence Rouse with a mug crafted in a pottery class by North Carolina community college student Sydney Williams.
WINTERVILLE — Pitt Community College’s efforts to provide quality educational programming in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to new instructional delivery methods and collaborations.
A prime example came in August, when the college’s Paralegal Technology curriculum partnered with its Fire-Rescue continuing education program to offer a highly-sought “Law and Administration” course.
Even though both programs are part of PCC’s Public Services & Fine Arts Division, collaborations between degree curricula and continuing education professional development programs are rare.
PCC Paralegal Technology Instructor Chris Young taught the course to more than 30 students, using a hybrid flexible (or HyFlex) format that gives students the option of attending class 100 percent in person or entirely online. Roughly half of Young’s class came to the classroom while the rest participated remotely via video conferencing technology.
“I believe that this is the first time any school has given students the option to attend the ‘Law and Administration’ course in person or remotely,” Young said. “… I have been teaching like this in our curriculum program for quite a while. The pandemic has required a lot of creativity from instructors, and we have been lucky to have the [technological] means to do what has been needed.”
Like many continuing education courses required for professional certifications, Young says “Law and Administration” is in high demand.”
He explained that it’s a standard certification class that the state’s Code Officials Qualification Board requires code enforcers to complete to perform building inspections within their technical fields. The course consists of 15 instructional hours that must be taught by an attorney licensed by the North Carolina State Bar and certified by the N.C. Department of Insurance.
Mekenzie Newkirk, PCC Director of Fire & Emergency Services Training, invited Young to offer the course shortly after her department merged into the Public Services & Fine Arts Division.
“Chris has been teaching legal classes with all kinds of delivery methods for a long time,” Newkirk said. “I thought that we could leverage that for the legal courses we need over in the continuing education side of things.”
“All of the materials for the course were available to students electronically. They could access everything from the computers in our lab or their own devices at home or at work,” Newkirk said, adding that student reviews of the course were “universally positive.”
For Young, “Law and Administration” is only the beginning. He’s working on a suite of courses for lawyers and paralegals to satisfy annual certification requirements, particularly in the areas of technology and ethics.
“I’m a big believer in cross-divisional and interdisciplinary education and projects,” he said. “Any time I get a chance to branch into other areas, I take it. I’m looking forward to continuing ‘Law and Administration’ and implementing more courses to serve the legal education needs of the community.”
Dan Mayo, dean of PCC’s Public Services & Fine Arts Division, says the “sky is the limit” with regard to future training possibilities.
“We are so excited; this is only the tip of the iceberg,” Mayo said. “We’re lucky to have dedicated education professionals and subject matter experts, like Mekenzie and Chris, leading the way in these kinds of collaborative efforts. More certification courses, continuing education for attorneys and paralegals, and customized field-specific training are all possibilities here.”
Golden LEAF President Scott Hamilton visits
PCC welcomed Golden LEAF Foundation officials to campus last month for a tour of academic facilities and meetings with faculty from select curricula.
The visit, according to PCC President Lawrence Rouse, gave college administrators an opportunity to discuss workforce development with Golden LEAF Foundation President Scott Hamilton and Program Officer Jason Rochelle. He said it was also a chance for Golden LEAF officials to tour programs and areas of campus their foundation has directly supported over the years.
“Pitt Community College’s tremendous relationship with the Golden LEAF Foundation has produced a number of quality educational initiatives,” Rouse said. “Having President Hamilton and Mr. Rochelle on campus was a chance to show them our appreciation for Golden LEAF’s support and let them see how their organization’s financial assistance is making a positive difference in the lives of eastern North Carolinians.”
Held Aug. 31, the tour began in the Walter & Marie Williams Building, which has housed Pitt’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics programming since opening in 2017. Biotechnology Department Chair Christy Weeks spoke to the group about PCC’s effort to prepare students for work in companies that use living organisms to make or modify processes for specific purposes, such as agriculture and medicine.
From Williams, the tour moved to Pitt’s new mobile training labs before proceeding to the nearby Craig M. Goess Construction & Industrial Technology Building. There, the group met with Automotive Systems Technology Department Chair Norman Lilley and visited automotive training labs and Building Construction Technology shops.
Dr. Thomas Gould, PCC Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs and Student Services, participated in the tour and said the longtime partnership between PCC and Golden LEAF has centered on local and regional workforce and economic development.
“Golden LEAF’s support has been essential in allowing PCC to move forward on many important workforce development initiatives, including the college’s Pharmaceutical Services Network and the PCC-PCS Technical Academy,” Gould said.
Established in 1999 to build economic opportunity across North Carolina with money the state received from the National Cigarette Manufacturer Settlement Agreement of 1998, the Golden LEAF Foundation has partnered with state and local governments and other foundations on more than 2,000 projects totaling $1.19 billion. The foundation has made a lasting impact on North Carolina’s tobacco-dependent, economically-distressed and rural areas by helping create 66,000 jobs, $700 million in new payrolls and more than 90,000 workers trained or retrained for higher wages.
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