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January 27, 2015
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January 27, 2015
Retired Chancellor Travis Lavigne had a vision of excellence for Fletcher Technical Community College – an unwavering drive that saw the school make countless strides in his nearly 42 years of service.
New Chancellor Earl Meador has a similar competitive fire for excellence burning in his gut. And it’s that fire that has kept the local educational institution on firm footing in 2014.
Fletcher’s leadership structure was altered dramatically when Lavigne wrapped up his career this past June. But those closest to the technical community college tout that Meador has stepped in and kept Fletcher on the right track for the future.
“Chancellor Lavigne poised the college for such growth,” said Jessica Thornton, Fletcher executive director of institutional advancement. “Our new chancellor, Earl Meador, has the tenacity and knowledge to see it through the next stages of development and expansion.”
Away from the leadership swap, things have been very busy for Fletcher.
In the past 12 months, the local educational center opened its doors to two new facilities – the BP Integrated Production Technologies (IPT) Building and its Marine and Petroleum Safety Training Center.
The facilities combined to cost nearly $14 million and broadened Fletcher’s scope.
Also in 2014, the community coach saw its IPT program earn designation as the official Louisiana Deepwater Center for Workforce Excellence – a huge honor, according to Thornton and Meador.
Also a help is that Meador oversees both Fletcher and South Central LA Technical College (SCLTC) – a relationship that is beneficial to the entire Houma-Thibodaux area, according to Thornton.
“With Chancellor Meador overseeing both Fletcher and South Central LA Technical College, the two schools are collaborating more now than ever,” she said. “This has been a true benefit to the entire Bayou Region.”
Meador said one thing that makes Fletcher such an appealing option to students around the area is that its curriculum is so heavily dictated on the economy in the Houma-Thibodaux area.
A vast majority of Fletcher’s degree programs are focused heavily on jobs that can be found in abundance in coastal Louisiana – jobs like welding, oilfield services, business, accounting, nursing and marine operations, among others.
“Fletcher has a very strong focus on filling workforce needs,” Meador said. “The college has various industry advisory boards for all of the programs and is constantly assessing industry’s needs.”
The chancellor used a study conducted by Louisiana Economic Development (LED) and Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC) to show exactly how important Fletcher is to the community.
The study states that Louisiana’s workforce forecast projects an additional annual job demand for more than 14,000 “Tier One” jobs within the state. The study lists “Tier One” jobs as computer science, construction crafts, electricians, engineering technology, finance, accounting, industrial production and welding.
Of the estimated 14,000 jobs that will come available regionally each year, the study says that four-year institutions will fill 2,085 of the openings.
“This means that two-year colleges will make up 12,152 annual completors for the same category,” Meador said. “That’s 85 percent of additional Tier One jobs that will be supplied by schools such as Fletcher and SCLTC.”
But while competing with four-year institutions, Fletcher continues to work hand-in-hand with the only four-year university in the Bayou Region.
As it has for many years, Fletcher and Nicholls have continued its working relationship in the past year – a bond started on Lavigne’s watch, but that is continuing under Meador. It’s a friendship between the schools that makes life easier for everyone involved – students, faculty and administration at both institutions.
“Fletcher and Nicholls continue to have a strong working relationship,” Thornton said. “The colleges have a cross-enrollment agreement, housing agreement and our graduation ceremony is now held at Nicholls. We are consistently striving to increase the number of transfer students, and we are increasing efforts to expose students to their ability to easily transfer to Nicholls for the last two years of their post-secondary education.”
So in a year filled with so much positive transition, Fletcher is now trying to carry its momentum into 2015 – while battling in the face of a tough economic and political climate for higher education in our state.
Meador said that in the next year, Fletcher will be embarking on a multi-institutional Center of Excellence designation for its maritime programs – a center that will encompass Fletcher, SCLTC and Delgado’s marine programs, according to the chancellor.
The local community college is also partnering with SCLTC to create a Simulator Training Center at Fletcher’s facility in Houma (the Allied Health Building).
And on March 1, Fletcher and SCLTC will be launching a capital campaign to try and better assist its students.
“The campaign is focused around a Student Services Center,” Meador said. “The new facility was proposed within ACT 360 legislation, in which the state will provide $4.5 million with an additional 12 percent private match. Student Services’ current accommodations will soon create a bottleneck for enrollment. As the college grows, that division must grow as well, always striving to better suit the needs of our students.”
But other statewide money might be hard to come by.
Meador admitted he is keeping a close eye on Baton Rouge to see what happens with Louisiana’s state budget – especially what is slated to come to higher education.
In the past few years, higher education has been bludgeoned by cuts, and Meador said he hopes the same doesn’t happen again. But he added that no matter what happens, Fletcher will keep pushing.
The local community college has come too far in the past few years to quit chugging along now.
“We are currently in a time of great concern for the Louisiana state budget and its impact on the funding of higher education,” Meador said. “Wisely, these events have our attention, but we are not in panic mode. We have all seen the economy go up and down. The college is in a stable position, and while we may be a bit bruised by the events that are unfolding, we will not be broken.”
Local lawmakers and higher education officials join Gov. Bobby Jindal (center) and famous athlete Lolo Jones (seventh from left) gather to open the BP Integrated Production Technologies Center this past year.
