New Mount Olive president envisions growth

The fourth president of Mount Olive College, Philip Kerstetter, stated his vision for the small college on Friday in an inauguration ceremony, explaining that he hopes for expanded programs at all the college’s locations including New Bern.

Kerstetter has been the college’s president since July 2009 when he succeeded J. William Byrd, who held the post for 14 years and is now living in Fairfield Harbour.

The new president said he’s been working since then to learn more about the college and its employees and students. He was previously the president and chief executive officer of Kansas Wesleyan University in Salina, Kan.

“I’m learning a lot about counties in Eastern North Carolina, as you can imagine,” he said.

During Friday’s inauguration speech, Kerstetter noted his goal to increase enrollment at the central Mount Olive campus.

The increase from about 750 students to 1,250 to 1,500 students would allow the college to add the “programs, facilities and services that are generally expected by new students,” he said.

He added that he also wants to expand programs for nontraditional students at the college’s locations in New Bern, Goldsboro, Jacksonville, Wilmington, the Research Triangle Park and Washington, N.C.

“Just as we have recognized that an education is more than an academic experience alone, it is imperative that we examine ways that we can expand other programs and services to the other locations as needed,” he said. “We must be prepared to examine how each of our locations can be the educational provider to each of their respective communities.”

Kerstetter said in an e-mail that the program expansion at the New Bern campus could mean expanded counseling services, tailored programs to meet New Bern-area needs, making the location’s facilities available to other groups for meetings, or partnerships with institutions like Craven Community College.

He said more concrete plans will come out of the college’s strategic planning process. The aim is to develop a plan that would eventually be adopted by the college’s Board of Trustees that would lay out the college’s direction for the next five years.

Kerstetter added that his vision is in line with the college’s mission to transform lives and education.

 “I want to build on that theme, how we will transform this institution, and how because of that are we going to make an impact on people’s lives here at Mount Olive, and all other locations throughout the eastern part of the state,” he said.

The college offers two-year and four-year degrees to about 3,300 students at all of its locations. The college opened in Mount Olive in 1952, and the New Bern campus opened in 1993. The New Bern campus opened in a new building at 2912 Trent Road in the spring of 2008.

Rhonda Jessup, the college’s director of public affairs, said the New Bern location has about 290 students, although it serves about 450 students over the course of a year.

Laura Oleniacz can be reached at 252-635-5675 or at loleniacz@freedomenc.com.