Dr. Albertson to retire from Wayne Community College with no regrets
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on December 27, 2015 3:05 AM
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Dr. Kay Albertson presides over a meeting of the Wayne Community College board of trustees. She plans to retire in August.
When Dr. Kay Albertson, president of Wayne Community College, recently announced her plans to retire Aug. 1, 2016, she did it without hesitation or regret.
"This is just the right time," she said. "I think all of the accomplishments of WCC, since I became president, were highlighted with our recent SACS/COC (Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges) reaffirmation, when we got no recommendations for anything. That's what you work for.
"We've got everything in place and always there's an opportunity for improvement and always there are new innovations that need to be put into place. But our peer institutions looked at us and said, this is an institution of integrity. And that's for me the crowning highlight."
It is an achievement she shares with the staff and employees at the college where she became its fifth president, the first woman, when she was hired in 2007.
"I would not have wanted to have left had there been some gaping challenges," she said. "I feel like the college is in an extremely good place now and ready for new leadership with people who are dedicated, talented and willing to do whatever is necessary to keep this college in its excellent status."
If there are any regrets, she said it would be the day after spring break when the very fabric of the campus changed -- April 13, when a former student came onto the grounds and shot and killed print shop supervisor Ron Lane.
"There was not one thing that any of us could have done to have stopped it," she said. "But crises come in many forms."
Today's climate, unfortunately, is one that leaders are tasked with having to face, she said.
"It was our employee. It was our concern for the safety, ongoing safety," she said. "It's a reality check.
"One of the things that had to be accomplished, we had multiple plans for all kinds of crises. We have just had to expand on that and look at things that someone else might not consider to be a crisis ... I think we're just a lot more vigilant and a lot more aware, reading signals a little bit differently. But you can't let it stop you. You have to move forward. And we did."
In the months remaining on her tenure, Mrs. Albertson has a short list of goals she hopes to accomplish -- pushing for a bond referendum, seeing the Advanced Manufacturing Center come to fruition and continuing all the student success initiatives.
The state bond referendum, she says, would bring a little over $5.8 million to the college, most earmarked for the completion of the Advanced Manufacturing Center.
"I know that looks like we're putting a big egg in one nest, but I feel very strongly about a bond referendum," she said. "I wish the N.C. community college system were getting more, but I'll take $5.8 million for repairs and renovations, and that's what it's to be used for."
Starting in January, she plans to work with community leaders who have a stake in the funding -- helping the community to understand there will be no new taxes, she pointed out.
"We haven't had a bond referendum for higher education since 2000," she said. "Fifteen years is a long time to have no capital improvement dollars."
Officials are currently in the process of applying for grants, one of which could result in $750,000 toward the Advanced Manufacturing Center.
"We're going to be working really hard in the spring to open up two phases. The pre-phase is getting our Wayne Business and Industry Center over there, the Small Business Center and customized training, soft skills training, all have so much to offer to potential businesses and industries," she said.
The third "hard push" will be building upon efforts to advise students, particularly those in the college transfer program.
Despite tuition hikes and rampant funding issues during an economic downturn that prevailed throughout her time at the helm, Mrs. Albertson maintains WCC is still "the best bang for the buck."
"We have to tell our story better and we did -- you're going to get an outstanding education, and you'll leave with skills and knowledge," she said. "Parents are beginning to realize that this is a good place for our students to start higher education."