Higher education in Graham is poised to take a major step forward — if the voters agree.
The board of directors of the Graham Education and Workforce Center recently voted to change the focus of the college and invite North Central Texas College to open a community college branch in Graham.
Neal Blanton, the president of the board, said the decision was not easy but it was necessary to ensure higher education had a constant presence in Graham. Blanton explained that while the GEWC has been successful in many ways over the last three years, the college never was able to get all the classes it hoped to offer in Graham. To guarantee class offerings, the best solution right now is to invite a community college to come into Graham.
The question was what college?
For years, Ranger College offered courses in Graham, but the relationship never grew to a level that pleased local leaders. When Ranger refused to offer more courses, local leaders went to the Legislature and got permission to break free from Ranger and begin its own college which became the GEWC.
So returning to the community college level was not something that was easy to do until NCTC came into the picture. Blanton explained that a relationship with NCTC began when Graham began looking for a college to bring in a nursing program.
“The board started talking to NCTC about starting a nursing program,” he said. “Last month, I signed with NCTC to begin a nursing program.”
Around the same time, the board began debating the future of the GEWC.
“We started looking at and evaluating what the board thought the vision was originally — that was higher education, vocational training, dual credit courses,” Blanton said. “We started looking for someone who could fill that bill. Every time we turned that corner, there they were — NCTC.”
Blanton said returning to a single community college was not something the board wanted to do — until they began meeting with representatives of NCTC.
“I can’t tell you in visiting with them how impressed I am with them,” Blanton said. “You need the identity of a college. Our idea was great, but you need the identity of a college.”
Emily Klement, dean of the Bowie campus with NCTC, will oversee operations in Graham on a temporary basis, and she said she hopes it will become permanent.
“We want to provide the opportunities the people of Graham deserve,” Klement said. “A branch campus allows the college to provide every service the main campus does. We would want to do that any way. We will be able to give this college the same focus as the main campus.”
The main campus of NCTC is located in Gainesville and satellite campuses have been opened in Bowie and Denton. NCTC hopes to open a branch campus in Graham.
But before NCTC can come in, there is one hurdle that must be cleared — finances.
“We would have an election called by the school district,” Blanton said. “It would be presented to the voters for a five cent per $100 property tax. That will raise us $300,000 per year. That will go toward the district. It will go toward the campus.”
Blanton said some of the money would be spent on salaries, but the vast majority would be used to maintain and improve the campus.
If the tax is approved, NCTC could move in and open the branch as early as the fall semester. When that happens, the courses available to students will grow quickly.
“We think in a very short period of time we can have a welding class, electric, plumbing and vocational courses,” Blanton said. “We think almost immediately we will have more classes and we will have better classes.”
Klement said NCTC has already agreed to run the nursing program in Graham, offering students the ability to earn LVN certifications at home.
“That’s going to be very important that we provide allied health for this area,” she said. “We’re going to start with the LVN program.”
Klement hopes that the nursing program will grow to offer opportunities to become registered nurses quickly.
As for the rest of the academic opportunities in Graham, Klement said there is no limit to what can be offered.
“If we can start this college here, not only can we have the academic transfers that will lead to teachers and engineers, but we can be leaders in workforce development,” Klement said.
She explained that NCTC makes vocational training and workforce opportunities a priority. She said in Graham she could quickly see a welding program to meet the needs of employers like Southern Bleachers. She said the Bowie campus recently opened an oil and gas technology program that could be shared with Graham.
“If we’re to have a branch campus, we would have those opportunities,” Klement said. “That’s something the public may not know.”
In addition, NCTC has made an effort to reach out to public schools, working with students from the fifth grade through graduation.
“It is important that we partner with the ISDs, not only with dual credit but with readiness for college that is so important in their lives,” Klement said.
Big changes could be on the horizon, but for the time being, things will continue as normal, Blanton said.
“Vernon will continue its classes for the spring semester,” Blanton said. “NCTC will have its classes. They had an open registration recently and had more people turn out than at their Corinth and Gainesville campuses.”source
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