Dr. Kris Williams is leaving the presidency at Henderson Community College to take a new position as Chancellor of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS), where she will serve as the Chief Academic Officer with responsibilities in academic and technical programs and economic development. A reception will take place on Wednesday, August 8, from 3-5 p.m. (remarks at 3:30 pm.) in the Preston Arts Center. The public is invited so Dr. Williams can thank the community for their support of HCC and its students.
During Dr. Williams’s seven and one-half years of leadership at Henderson Community College, college faculty and staff have developed a number of new ways to support student learning, including the creation of the Start Center, a one-stop shop in the Sullivan Technology Center that brings all student support services together to meet student need.
The Kyndle FAME program was created with leadership from local industry and Kyndle to help meet the need for industrial maintenance technologists in the region. Students in this nationally-recognized work and learn/work and earn program work in a manufacturing environment in partnership with local business and industry and attend HCC fulltime to earn an Associate of Applied Science in the Advanced Manufacturing Technology track of the Industrial Maintenance Technology program.
In partnership with Henderson, Union, and Webster County High Schools, juniors are dually enrolled in classes at Henderson Community College. At the end of the two-year program, students earn a high school diploma and an Associate of Arts or Associate of Science degree at the same time.
A new Welding Building was built on campus with 24 teaching bays to ensure access for students and local industry to have a teaching facility for this important technical skill.
Very successful scholarship campaigns for Rotary Colonels to College, Braves to College, and Webster County Kids to College scholarships to HCC for high school graduates have taken place with the College Foundation.
The BuildSmart Campaign, a five million dollar renovation project across the campus, generated over $1.25 million in local support, and helped ensure that the campus remains in good shape to allow HCC to meet its mission. Projects included two new classrooms, a new study hall, new fire and water management devices, redesign of buildings for access and safety, re-flooring, air handling, roofing and a new Administration Building entrance.
These successful fundraising campaigns raised more than $2.9 million dollars and included a new initiative to support students in a time of crisis with the Emergency Support Fund.