Warrior Magazine December 2018

From the Desk of the President...

It’s hard to believe that we are putting the finishing touches on another fall semester at East Central Community College (ECCC). It’s even harder to believe that 2018 marks my seventh fall semester at ECCC. And, as happens each year at this time, finals will soon begin, and students and staff will depart for home and what we pray is a peaceful and safe Christmas season. It seems like only yesterday that it was the first day of classes in August. Returning students were making their way around campus with ease and familiarity, while new students were searching for their classrooms and asking many questions. In addition to awarding diplomas at Commencement in May, those first few days of the fall semester are definitely one of my favorite times of the school year.

I hope you will take time to read this issue of The Warrior and the good news it brings about your college. I would like to personally mention three items of interest.

First, in December of 2016, I wrote to you about the college’s updated Campus Master Plan, which is a physical manifestation of our strategic plan, 2020 Vision . I wrote at the time that the Campus Master Plan is a roadmap for the physical needs of our campus for the next five, 15, and 25 years. In this issue you will read about another piece of that “roadmap” coming to fruition as we broke ground November 13 on a much-needed Warrior Hall football operations center. Not only will this facility serve the needs of the Warrior football team, but it will include a state-of-the-art training room that will benefit all student-athletes on campus. This building is being paid for by private donations as well as college funds that we will repay over the next few years similar to how we have funded other recent construction projects on campus. There are several other projects nearing realization as well, all part of the Campus Master Plan. Among these are construction of a new Band Hall, the addition of several parking lots throughout campus, renovations to residence halls, and other infrastructure improvements. If you haven’t done so already, I invite you to review the Campus Master Plan located on the college’s website. Second, you will read some very exciting news in this issue. ECCC is No. 1! Again! For the fourth time in six years, and for the second year in a row, students who transferred from East Central to one of the state’s eight public, four-year institutions earned the highest cumulative grade-point average of any community and junior college in Mississippi. ECCC students earned a 3.34 GPA at baccalaureate graduation in both 2017 and 2018. We are extremely proud of the success rate of students who attended East Central as based on data released by the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL). That is why we are here—to prepare students to continue their educations at four-year schools or move with success straight into the workforce. I would like to recognize the faculty who work so diligently to prepare our students to be successful once they leave our campus. Third, this fall we continued preparations for the college’s 10-year reaffirmation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). You will hear much more about this over the next three years. Important and upcoming milestones in this process include submission of our compliance certification report to SACSCOC in March 2021, submission of the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) report early summer 2021, the SACSCOC on-site campus review in September 2021, and the determination of our reaffirmation in December 2022. This fall we have been gathering ideas for the next QEP using the college’s Council/Committee structure to ensure participation by all faculty and staff. In closing, I want to thank each of you for your continued support and love for East Central Community College. Although I am not an avid reader of Dr. Seuss, I recently came across a quote from his 1971 children’s book titled, “The Lorax.” Dr. Seuss wrote, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” I would say that because so many of you care a “whole awful lot” East Central is getting better and better. We’ve come a long way, but we have so much further to go! And, I look forward with anticipation to all of the wonderful things we will accomplish together in the years to come.

God Bless,

Billy Stewart, Ph.D. President

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