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U.S. Education Dept. Official Visits WKCTC Campus, Touts Obama Administration Initiatives

Lance Dennee

A senior US education official says community colleges can be successful when they react quicker to crisis than four-year universities.

Kim Ford is the Education Department’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Management and Planning in the Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education.

She spoke at West Kentucky Community and Technical College in Paducah Tuesday as part of a Education Department-wide speaking tour touting the Obama administration’s key initiatives over the last eight years. Ford says the goal is to also get some feedback on the ED big picture ideas for higher education.

“What’s working? What’s not working?," said Ford. "What can we do to support more institutions like this great institution to scale so every American has the opportunity to achieve their dreams.” 

Ford says she can't under emphasize community colleges' importance to a local community and that those institutions often show greater success than some universities because of how closely connected they are with the public.

“The community comes before college, always," said Ford. "And I think that that’s a part of success in community colleges around this country.  They respond to things that happen, we heard about the [Vers0] paper mill closing, the community responded, the community college responded. And that’s why you see community colleges becoming so successful, because they’re so rooted."

Ford says community colleges are also crucial to veterans needing to reapply their military-taught training to domestic workforces.

Rob Canning is a native of Murray, KY, a 2015 TV Production grad of Murray State. At MSU, he served as team captain of the Murray State Rowing Club. Rob's goal is to become a screenwriter, film director or producer and looks to the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie for inspiration. He appreciates good music, mainly favoring British rock n' roll, and approves of anything with Jack White's name on it. When not studying, rowing or writing, Rob enjoys spending his free time with a book or guitar.
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