I agree with Chuck Annal’s recent My Turn article concerning the Community College System of New Hampshire (Monitor, June 23).
It has long been the responsibility of the administration of the CCSNH to strengthen ties between New Hampshire businesses and the community colleges, and solving the current skills training gap will take active leadership from the Chancellor’s Office. And I concur that the CCSNH suffers from a lack of leadership at the Chancellor’s Office because the vice chancellor position is vacant.
What needs to be discussed is the funding for this position because the chronic underfunding of the CCSNH, coupled with a $10 per credit tuition reduction, has placed the CCSNH in great financial distress.
While an academic administrator with community college experience is sorely needed at the Chancellor’s Office, the limited financial resources of the CCSNH cannot be spent on yet another upper management position. The two recently created associate vice chancellor positions, which now cost the CCSNH $300,000 annually, are currently held by individuals with no community college experience.
These positions should be eliminated and the resultant savings directed toward hiring an experienced vice chancellor with true academic expertise.
The taxpayers of New Hampshire should not spend one additional dollar on the CCSNH unless the money is directed away from the administration and toward student learning. New Hampshire’s students deserve quality programs taught by experienced faculty, and leaders who spend the limited dollars of the CCSNH in support of academic excellence.
Laura Z. Morgan
Hopkinton