BSCTC PRESIDENT PARTICIPATES IN PANEL DISCUSSION AT SOAR CONFERENCE
Dr. Devin Stephenson, president of Big Sandy Community and Technical College (BSCTC),
participated in a panel discussion entitled: Tech Hire and the Digital Economy at
the Shaping Our Appalachian Region (SOAR) conference on Monday, June 6 at the East
Kentucky Expo Center.
It was an honor to talk about the possibilities and opportunities of innovation and
collaboration that can and is going on across eastern Kentucky, said Dr. Stephenson.
We are at a crossroads of opportunity. Its ours for the taking.
Others participating in the panel discussion were Jeff Whitehead, executive director
of the Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Inc. (EKCEP); Paul Green,
Ed.D., director of the Appalachian Technology Institute at the Kentucky Valley Educational
Cooperative; and Ankur Gopal, CEO of Interapt.
Dr. Stephenson based his presentation on a quote from President Harry Truman: It is
amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.
We want to partner, leverage resources and watch the economies of scale work, he told
those in attendance. When we work within the realm of true collaboration and innovation,
we must collectively labor to be solution seekers and problem solvers. We must understand
that we are the pieces to the puzzle of true transformation that will affect not only
our generation, but generations to come.
Big Sandy Community and Technical College was the first college in Kentucky to launch
a Fiber Optics training program last year. More than $3.2 million in grants from the
Economic Development Agency, Appalachian Regional Commission and Community Development
Block Grant has led to the construction of the states first Advanced Technology Center.
The facility, which will open next year, will be the first fiber-to-the-desk structure
in Kentucky and will house the colleges new Broadband Technology degree program which
was approved earlier this year by the Kentucky Community and Technical College (KCTCS)
Board of Regents. The program is just the third of its kind in the United States.
Dr. Stephenson said the creation of the Fiber Optic and Broadband Technology programs
displayed the colleges entrepreneurial leadership style.
Entrepreneurial leaders see opportunities before they become obvious to others, said
Dr. Stephenson.
The presentation highlighted the success Fiber Optics graduate Tyler Martin. Martin,
of Floyd County, returned from working in New York to attend the SOAR summit. He is
leaving for training in Texas, along with nine other BSCTC Fiber Optics graduates
all laid off miners to train for positions working on a project with Google on the
east coast.
If we have a digital, world-class infrastructure, we must complement it with world-class
workforce training and education, said Dr. Stephenson. When you have world-class infrastructure
and world-class human capital, I dont believe the sky is the limit, when there are
footprints on the moon.
For more information on the colleges Fiber Optics and Broadband Technology programs,
contact Sally Porter at (606) 218-1276 or email sporter0044@kctcs.edu.