It begins…

The legislative season has begun.  This is an important session in that the Fiscal Biennium 2007-2009 budget will be determined by this legislature.  The month opened with hearings on that budget and the legislators seemed very interested in the University and our potential for contributing to addressing State needs and solving State problems.

UH Day at the State Capitol was a blast!  Community colleges clearly showed the diversity of our programs and the breadth of our impact on students and our local communities.  I also learned a lot about other UH colleges and programs.  I kept finding myself saying, "I didn’t know UH did that!"  

And community colleges played a front and center role in the Governor’s State of the State message.  Her commitment to developing an economy based on innovation requires a strong community college system as part of the foundation.  She recognizes this and included several initiatives to help strengthen this foundation.  Mahalo to Mike Rota, Ramsey Pedersen, and others who helped shape that message.

And it is a message that bears repeating.  Hawai‘i needs more people taking advantage of higher education to create good jobs, to earn a living wage, and to build the kind of society we want.  By virtue of our locations, our access, our low cost, our willingness to take someone where they are to make them what they wish to be, community colleges are key to this growth in an educated population.  It is a role we relish and that is our fundamental mission.

All in all, a good beginning.  Now to keep the momentum going.

John Morton

This entry was posted on Monday, February 5th, 2007 at 5:28 am and is filed under Day to Day. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.