New president outlines course for Craven Community College

As Craven Community College faculty and staff members returned to campus Tuesday morning, their new president outlined customer service, a strong foundation endowment and technological improvements as points she would like them to focus on beginning this fall.

Catherine Chew spoke to faculty and staff members at an assembly in Orringer Auditorium. She has now finished her work at Orange County Community College in Middletown, N.Y., where she was vice president for academic affairs, and she will become Craven's president Oct. 1. She had been working at both schools.

"Boy, it will be nice to have just one job," Chew said. "It was an emotional departure. But it's like that when you leave people you love. But now I'm coming to a group of people at Craven that I'm soon going to love."

Several faculty members talked Tuesday morning about the unusually cool temperatures for August. Before Chew spoke, a couple of people serenaded her with a few words of "Carolina in the Morning."

Chew told them she saw great people and great promise when she visited New Bern to interview. She likes the Havelock campus, Craven Early College partnership with the school system and new buildings such as the Bosch and Siemens Advanced Manufacturing Center, which is scheduled to open soon.

She said she knows college employees have been doing something right, because Scott Ralls left the school to lead the state system.

"We have a lot of work ahead, but we're on the right track," she said. "I'm delighted, not to walk in Scott's shoes, but to walk in Scott's footsteps."

Faculty and staff members applauded Chew when she said a she wants to give students an education that includes a heavy dose of arts and humanities.

She said a strong fund-raising campaign will be important for the college during a difficult economic time. She said the college will need a reliable supply of money for staff development and student scholarships.

Chew also wants to improve the technology system at the school, citing Internet registration for students as an example of where the college is behind. She said she worked at a college in Dallas, Texas, in 1998 that had online registration. She wants Craven to offer the option.

Near the end of her presentation, Chew promised faculty and staff members she will always be candid and honest, listen and be willing to make tough decisions. She said every employee will be important, and everyone needs to practice good customer-service skills.

"We need to treat people who come to us better than other businesses do, in a time when customer service is not that good," she said. "We can have the best facilities and the best equipment. But if we don't have the best people, it won't matter."

Chew has been looking at houses in the New Bern area since Monday. The Craven Community College Board of Trustees will meet at 4:30 p.m. today to discuss her contract. She will be in town until Thursday, when she will travel to Raleigh to meet with the State Board of Community Colleges on Friday.