Page 12 - Laker Connection Fall 2009

portunity and the Board of Regents ap- pointed me at its meeting that month. On Mar. 1, I set up a temporary office in Forest Park and officially began my quarter century as president of the in- stitution.
A University System faculty com- mittee recommended, and the Board of Regents approved, a core curriculum that provided clear guidelines for the first two years of study at all University System institutions. Additionally, a com- mittee of librarians and faculty of junior
The late Senator Terrell Starr and Representative Bill Lee, two pillars of the Clayton State community, were recognized during the 2009 spring commencement ceremony with honorary doctorates. Clayton State’s student body, alumni, faculty and staff are here, in large part, because of the diligence of these two advocates of higher education.
colleges had developed a list of books and periodicals that guided the library acquisition for new colleges. Having these system-wide roadmaps already in place took
care of two tasks that would otherwise have taken consider- able preparation time.
My experi- ence facilitating the opening of two-year col- leges told me that the primary
to provide quality instruction and ex- traordinary care of students. In addition to the core curriculum programs de-
signed for transfer to senior insti- tutions, CJC soon added programs in Nursing and Dental Hygiene. A developmental stud- ies program was very effective in enabling older students who had been out of high school for sev- eral years to sharpen their skills in reading, English, and math and become successful students
effort of a president
preparing to open a new
college was the recruit-
ment of faculty. That ef-
fort proved to be
unusually successful.
Many of the faculty re-
cruited as the opening
day faculty remained at
the college until retire-
ment. The college
opened in September of
1969 with 942 students.
Even though some of
the buildings were still under construc- tion, facilities for classes and offices were adequate.
The faculty that had been recruited
in college pro- grams.
In addition to college credit pro- grams, CJC placed a significant em- phasis on Contin- uing Education to provide courses for workers in business and in- dustry. When computers ar- rived, the college provided thou- sands of student hours of instruc-
8
THE LAKER CONNECTION
Terrell Starr
Bill Lee
tion in how to use computers. Delta Air Lines became a major user of computer instruction. Soon, the Continuing Edu- cation program became the second
Downs at the first commencement ceremony in 1971.
A SPECIAL THANKS