Published in the Asheville Citizen-Times, January 29, 2020
Dennis King calls the community college the 20th century’s most significant contribution to American higher education.
At the end of January, King will retire from Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, where he spent 28 years, first as a vice president of student services and currently as A-B Tech president. Earlier this month, the State Board of Community Colleges named him NC Community College President of the Year.
On Jan. 28, King sat down with The Citizen Times to discuss the evolving roles of community colleges in the 21st century and how A-B Tech can keep adapting to an ever-changing Asheville.
New Asheville, new skills
Citizen Times: How does the current job market change A-B Tech?
King: We constantly paid attention, and still do, to the needs of the community in the applied science area. Machining and welding have become more and more necessary here in the community, and the jobs are good jobs.
You can essentially get a $40,000 a year job easily in the field of machining, or the field of welding after two years at A-B tech. That means an 18-year-old out of Asheville High School, by the time he's 20 is making a very good salary in that field because there is a great need here for welders and machinists.
Citizen Times: How has A-B Tech responded to a growing local service economy?
King: We didn't think about starting a brewing program until all the brewers settled in Asheville and they said, "We need brewers. Help us." ... Our hospitality programs — that's culinary, hotel restaurant management, and baking and pastry — were all started here ... and it's grown.
They would grow even greater if the industry required college training, but many people in the industry don't have the training. … They just go out and get a job at a new hotel here in town, and it's hard for us to make them understand that your future beyond that minimum wage or slightly above minimum wage job is dependent on getting a college degree.
Citizen Times: What's Mission’s impact on A-B Tech?
King: Remember our name: community college. We serve the community. ... Mission Hospital is the largest employer in the county, and they have constant need for paraprofessionals, for people below the doctor level. ... So our response as a community college is to the need of our biggest employer, Mission Hospital. Over my 20 years here, we have started programs in sonography. ... We've started surgical technology. ... We started medical assisting.
Undocumented student tuition
Citizen Times: Undocumented students do not qualify for in-state tuition at North Carolina public colleges and universities. What is your stance?
King: Do I agree with that? No, I think it's nearsighted on the part of politicians to say that the undocumented individual is not eligible for in-state tuition, particularly if the individual was brought here as a child and what have you.
Education is the thing that's going to solve most of our problems, and therefore keeping some people away from education because they are not residents of North Carolina makes no sense to me.
Overcoming 'junior' college stigma
Citizen Times: Have you ever sensed a stigma around community colleges? Does that stigma persist?
King: Yes there was a stigma ... universities feeling that their courses might be better than ours, even though they were the same course.
The public has grown to respect the community college more than it did in the '80s, and I think the universities to which our students transfer likewise have grown to respect us more as not … junior colleges, but community colleges. And there's a difference there. That term "junior" is pejorative, it's like you're almost in college, and we've shed that, and the public has allowed us to do that.
Citizen Times: Do more people today view college as a necessity?
King: It’s not that everybody needs college, but everybody needs training beyond high school. ... In all of our medical programs ... we get a number of people who already have bachelor's degrees. What they don't have is training.
Citizen Times: How has A-B Tech developed early college programs?
King: Until the '90s, high school students essentially were left alone until they graduated from high school. In the '90s, we started putting together packages of courses that would ready a student for higher education, either at a community college or university.
We now are just under 30% high school students. That means 30% of our students are basically still in high school.
Citizen Times: What has propelled interest in these programs?
King: Money. Cost. If a student in his junior year can get even two courses a semester, and then in his senior year, two more courses a semester, that's ... 24 credits before graduating high school.
Citizen Times: Is A-B Tech’s enrollment currently high or low?
King: So, when the economy does poorly, people start thinking in terms of using the community college again. ... Right now with our economy being as healthy as it is, our enrollment is not as high as it has been in the past. We still are about 6,500 students this semester actively seeking a degree. We've been as high as 7,000 students in the past.
Citizen Times: How do you think A-B Tech will develop going forward? In five years? Ten years?
King: If you believe like I do, that Asheville is vibrant and growing, then axiomatically, A-B Tech is going to grow also. Conversely, if you think about some of the rural community colleges ... not necessarily here at Western North Carolina, but anywhere in the state, where the community is not as vibrant as Buncombe County and Asheville city, then their opportunity to grow is not going to be nearly as great as ours. Our future is bright.