The area's technical college has "raised the ceiling" by offering high-tech courses, but a candidate for Chippewa Valley Technical College's president position said it shouldn't forget to "raise the floor" too.
CVTC's current vice president of operations, Bruce Barker, said Monday afternoon at a public forum that the school needs to make sure it serves the area's population that need high school diplomas and those that don't primarily speak English.
"We can't forget that part of our population that really struggle and need our help starting a career," he said.
Barker is one of two finalists for CVTC's president position.
"Unfortunately, the second candidate, Tim Wynes, has postponed his visit to CVTC," said Joe Hegge, CVTC's vice president of education. Wynes currently serves as chancellor of the Iowa Valley Community College District.
In the forum in front of mostly CVTC faculty, Barker said the college's focus has trained people for high-tech and health care careers, but he feels there's a growing demand for more basic post-high school courses.
Educating that population could get more people off of Medicaid, energy assistance and other government programs, Barker said.
A long-range plan to address growing enrollment at CVTC's River Falls campus is one of the first projects Barker said he'd want to begin if he gets the president post.
"It's busting at the seams," he said.
The western part of CVTC's territory is seeing the fastest growth, Barker said, and the college's 20,000-square-foot building needs to be replaced or added onto soon.
Barker began working in CVTC's human resources department in March 1999 before becoming vice president of operations in June 2000. His duties include overseeing the college's functions not directly related to instruction, including registration, enrollment, human resources, staff development and facilities maintenance.
One of the recent projects he credits as a success is an agreement that allows faculty members and the college to share intellectual rights and the revenues associated with them for new teaching techniques or lessons developed by CVTC teachers.
In recent years, Barker said he's been involved in the creation of the college's Health Education Center, Chippewa Job Center and NanoRite.
The CVTC board is scheduled to hire a new president by the end of this month, but mixed messages on candidate Wynes could complicate the process.
An article in the Marshalltown, Iowa, newspaper, the Times-Republican, stated that Wynes announced Thursday he would withdraw from the CVTC presidencial race.
Wynes declined comment Monday on the Times-Republican article when contacted by the Leader-Telegram.
CVTC Board Chairman Frank Bucheger said that the college did not get notice from Wynes of withdrawing and that the hiring process would continue with the two candidates.
The CVTC president search began after Bill Ihlenfeldt announced in January that he would retire but agreed to stay until his successor could be hired.
Dowd can be reached at 833-9204, 800-236-7077 or andrew.dowd@ecpc.com.
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