July 14, 2008
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New GSCC head Lavender ready to get started CENTRE — Martha Lavender, Assistant to the President, Cherokee County Operations, is thrilled about the new Gadsden State Community College (GSCC) campus here and the promise it contains. Lavender, a nurse for over 20 years and graduate of GSCC, was “completely honored” to be offered her new position.“I have stayed in contact with Gadsden State really ever since I graduated from there, working with their alumni on various community activities,” she said. “I knew this position was coming, and I was very excited about what was going on in Centre. The most exciting component of it was the grassroots community support for this endeavor.” Lavender said her vision for Gadsden State-Cherokee is for it to become a premier facility in the area. “Certainly we're focusing on the high schools in this county, but I'd like for our reputation to be such that there would be other folks interested,” she said. Eventually, Lavender hopes to attract students from the Rome and Floyd County, Ga., areas. She also wants to expand to other areas, depending on the uniqueness of the programs the Cherokee Campus has to offer. She said she wants to make sure the courses offered at the Cherokee campus meet the needs of the community and businesses in the area. “This campus gives us an opportunity to show not only this area, but the state and the nation, how an educational facility can partner with a local government and a state government in this case,” she said. Despite the long-term look towards the future, Lavender insisted her number one priority is her students. “It's not an easy task to go back to school, because there are many things pressing on young people, as well as non-traditional students who go back,” she said. “I always like looking at them as a whole person during everything else that is going on in their life.” Despite local chatter and Lavender's nursing background, she said the new campus is not just a nursing school. Instead, she thinks of the separate programs the campus offers as equals. “I'm truly excited about the idea that we're going to start off with two, I think, very strong programs,” she said. “One is our associate transfer degree. Now, some students can take all their basic courses at Gadsden State-Cherokee, their basic math, science, English, histories and so forth, and transfer them into a technical, business or supervisory program at Gadsden State and end up with an associate degree.” The new facility will be home to several full-time faculty members when classes begin on Aug. 20. There will be English, math and biology teachers, as well as three nursing instructors, two of whom will be based in Centre on a full-time basis. Faculty members from other campuses will also come as needed. The licensed practical nursing (LPN) program filled 29 of its available 40 slots for this year's inaugural class. Students should be graduating from the program after the end of next summer. All the students in the LPN program are from the Cherokee County area or expressed a desire to take classes at the new campus, Lavender said. With a new campus comes new technology. A $50,000 video conference system will be installed this week in the tiered classroom, which will allow students to participate in classes taught at other campuses, and visa versa. The building will also have wireless Internet, and the classrooms will have smart boards. “I know the high schools in this area have really came front and center with integrating technology into the high school program,” she said. “You can't take students down, they have to continue to move forward.” The LPN program will have lots of new gadgets to play will, as well. Instructor will be able to use a new Human Patient Simulator to mimic any number of diseases and patient problems. Like a real patient, the simulator can either get better or worse. The equipment is supposed to be much more advanced than mannequins used in the past. There will also be a virtual IV machine to help students become more efficient at locating veins. With all the new space, faculty and equipment, Lavender said she believes the Cherokee Campus should be poised to succeed. “I love challenges, and I see that we've got one, but we've also got the tools and resources to do what we need to do to accomplish our vision,” she said. |