Update from TCL President Richard Gough

06 Sep Update from TCL President Richard Gough

Dear TCL Friends and Family,

The 2016 academic year is turning out to be one of the best, and busiest, years at the Technical College of the Lowcountry. I want to share with you some of our recent achievements as well as upcoming opportunities.

For those of us charged with moving the College forward, we continue to stay focused on our strategic priorities, those I first shared with you this past January: (1) building a culinary arts institute, (2) building a regional workforce training center on our New River Campus, (3) expanding our health sciences programs and (4) launching TCL College online. We continue to make progress on all fronts. Thanks to an outstanding team of local restaurant and resort industry representatives, we are close to realizing a culinary institute. And, I anticipate TCL College Online to be available in January. I will share more on these and our other strategic initiatives at my State of the College reception January 19th. I hope you will attend.

Our programs continue to be recognized as best in class. I am very pleased to share that the Commission on Massage Therapy Accreditation recently renewed its accreditation of the Massage Therapy certificate program, making it the only program in the state with this prestigious credential. In addition, Program Director Denise Van Nostran was appointed to the COMTA commission, the panel charged with accrediting massage therapy programs across the nation. In July, the Early Care and Education program announced its national reaccreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Last but not least, two faculty members recently earned their doctorates: Dr. Glenn Levicki, dean of our health sciences division, received his doctorate in health administration and Dr. Hadi Hamid, industrial technology instructor and green building expert, received his doctorate in education leadership.

Our faculty fuel our success. Earlier this year, longtime TCL advocates Liz and Todd Clist established the Liz and Todd Clist Center for Faculty Development and Teaching Excellence to ensure faculty have greater access to the best resources. As the College’s first gift solely dedicated to educators, the Clist Center demonstrates our recognition of the faculty’s importance in making TCL work. The center’s first event was hosting renowned neuroscientist Dr. Janet Zadina, who kicked off the academic year with a workshop on transforming learning in the classroom. This spring, the Clist Center plans to host a workshop on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and how it impacts learning.

Education is our future and our history. To honor that, we hosted the inaugural Mather History and Education Day in February. Middle school students attended and visited story circles, where they heard first-hand about the empowerment of education told through the experiences of Mather School alumni, current TCL students and TCL alumni. TCL traces its ancestry to the Mather School founded by Rachel Crane Mather in 1868. The Mather School sought to provide education for the daughters of former slaves, opening six years after Penn Center on Saint Helena Island was founded. Mather History and Education Day is one example of my commitment to keeping the Mather legacy of education alive.

Throughout this year, your private support has made a difference. Your gifts have provided almost 100 students with scholarship or Guarantors Program support. The Guarantors Program is our guarantee that no deserving student will leave TCL because of financial hardship. Your support of the President’s Fund for Opportunity and Excellence enabled the purchase of equipment for the crime scene processing lab, providing Criminal Justice students with real-world practical experience. Your gifts funded a Human Brain Model and a Human Spinal Cord and Nervous System Models for students in our biology program. And your gifts will help bring to life TCL College Online.

Our work today determines what we will be tomorrow. TCL’s future is up to all of us here in the Lowcountry working and investing together. Thank you for your inspiration, and thank you for being a part of our future.

Sincerely,

Richard J. Gough, President