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  Dr. Breeden congratulates Sylvia McDonald (R) and Gloria Buck between Lighthouse Institute sessions. |
 he 2001 Lighthouse Institute featured a three-hour session in “Developing Your Teaching and Learning Styles,” led by Dr. George Baker III, Professor Emeritus, North Carolina State University, a nationally recognized expert in professional development for educators. Dr. Baker also led an afternoon session of team-building activities designed to help participants practice how to apply the knowledge gained in the morning session to their teaching responsibilities. Other sessions included Dr. Timothy Mescom’s “Teaching in the New Millennium” and two important panel
discussions: one from business and industry representatives and another led by six
technical college presidents.
Business & Industry Panel McDaniel, introducing the session, which began at noon on September 11, 2001, began by addressing the historic events of the morning and voiced what became, for many of the technical colleges, the credo as to how the system and the professionals who staff it could best support the country: “Let’s not panic. Let’s continue to do what we came here for. Serving Georgia by training people for work and careers is our mission. The Lighthouse helps us get better at our jobs; the better we are, the more significant is the difference we can make in people’s lives.” He went on to introduce the panel, saying that a panel like this “gives companies an opportunity to tell the teachers about what skills they are looking for in the people they hire.”
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Southern Company is working with many of the technical colleges, and his company appreciates that the schools are located throughout the state, just like Georgia Power is. His company is delighted with the basic computer skills program that serves those in the company who might not ordinarily be exposed to computers. The technical college co-op program is the first of its kind for the company. He also explained how important the CMS Academy in Milledgeville and the nine-month program in Industrial Maintenance Technology are to the generating plants. Additionally, the CCSS program in Griffin is likewise important to Southern Company because of its large customer care center in McDonough. “In my role as technical recruiter, I visited over twenty-five of Georgia’s technical colleges last year. Of course, we are concentrating on the technical programs, but many of the other programs at your schools offer training that is of value to us in other positions that are vital to our operations.” | ||
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Several years ago, Caterpillar began building “focus facilities,” operations that involved 100 to 500 employees instead of the traditional big brick and mortar facilities. “We currently have five facilities located in Georgia.” They have lots of new partnerships forming, which will mean more growth. Caterpillar has worked extensively with Quick Start in partnership with the technical college in the area where the various plants are located. “This is vital to us,” she said, “as most of our employees need computer skills just to get their work instructions. We were skeptical at first about Quick Start, but that quickly disappeared.” The Quick Start/West Georgia Tech partnership is “one of the highlights of my career.” Due to this partnership, “Nine months after start-up, keys to the first machines were presented to customers during our open house. The training program was so good, we sent it to corporate, who certified our assemblers using the Quick Start training materials.” | ||
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Leigh discussed the wide range of jobs that comprise a hospital’s workforce and the fact that there are many opportunities for students. Critical needs areas include nuclear medicine, lab technicians in many specialties and imaging MRI. She emphasized the excellence of the preparation provided by Georgia’s technical colleges and that she, like Spencer and Wood, sees a need in her field for students with strong preparation and work ethics, like that students learn in the technical college work ethics program. She strongly agreed with Tom’s statement that “more and more we’re looking at behavioral traits like honesty and service attitude; we’re using tough, pointed screening processes with pointed questions.” | ||
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Presidents’ Panel The Presidents’ Panel, a new session this year, was developed in response to meeting surveys from the past year’s Lighthouse, where teachers asked to have an opportunity to have open dialogue with the presidents in this setting. Participants were Coy Hodges, president of Griffin Technical College; Diane Harper, president of East Central Tech in Fitzgerald; Steve Deraney, president of Ogeechee Tech in Statesboro (now acting president of Lanier Tech in Gainesville); James Bridges, president of Valdosta Technical College; and John Pike, president of Okefenokee Technical College in Waycross.  The presidents responded with open, candid presentations that included both the opportunities and challenges their schools currently face. Here’s a sampling of statements from the presidents’ briefings: “I believe the technical colleges must be run like businesses; we run a no-nonsense operation. When our folks graduate they stay in our community, pay taxes. Another thing I think we try to do on a daily basis is promote confidence.” “I’m excited because of what we do for people: we change lives, we put people to work.” “At our school, student services has taken on a real ‘customer-service attitude.’ If you’ve been coming to school, working towards something and then you don’t show up for registration, a vice president will call you.” “I consider that the teachers at my school are examples for the students and also that they represent us to the community. Their attitude, approach to their job, and their professionalism are central to the success of our technical college.” The presidents discussed everything from the thrill of the enrollment increases to the fear of how to ensure that infrastructure keeps pace with that growth and then participated in an intense, open question-and-answer session. - FTC | ||
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| Among the Lighthouse Institute attendees were (top from left) Jimmy Manning, Travett Witherspoon, (bottom from left) Lynn Futral and Edie Cox. | Also attending were Pam Adams and Kathy Ellington, Patsy Wilkerson, Becky Hill and John Hatfield. | |||
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Lighthouse Institute Participant Comments: | ||||
 “The camaraderie that I’ve shared with my fellow teachers - and also the ideas we’ve shared – has been wonderful.”
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“I felt very honored that my work was recognized. Sometimes you work awfully hard, but you don’t necessarily realize people see it. And then out of the blue I heard ‘you’ve been nominated to go.’ I felt very proud for that; it was very much an honor.”
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