Fall Fest a winner for Habitat for Humanity of Warren County

By Warren Reporter

November 15, 2009, 6:09PM

 

WASHINGTON TWP. - Habitat for Humanity of Warren County was one of several non-profits that hosted a "game fundraiser" at this year's Warren County Community College Foundation Fall Festival.

The group, which builds homes for families in need, got a special "bonus" after raising quite a bit of money during the weekend. As the most successful non-profit at the event, it also garnered a matching bonus that was promised by Dr. Will Austin and his family prior to the festival. As a result, Dr. Austin, along with his family, recently presented Habitat for Humanity with a check for a total of $700 for their efforts.

"Habitat for Humanity, which does so much good for families who really need a boost, truly is deserving of the bonus check," said Dr. Austin, who has been involved with a host of non-profit organizations over the years, including United Way of Warren County. "We know that this money will go to good use, towards supplies as they build their next house for a family in need."

The festival was an opportunity for non-profit organizations to raise money for their groups. The WCCC Foundation, which presented the event, offered a way for non-profits to raise important dollars through either pre-event wrist band sales or game booths. Habitat chose to run a game booth. The festival featured rides, music, including a special performance by original Monkee Peter Tork and the Shoe Suede Blues, a classic car show, and a host of exhibitors.

 

 

Warren County Community College, Felician College partner on historic bachelor's degree program

by Paul Mullin/Warren Reporter

  

WASHINGTON TWP. -- Four-year degree programs and beyond now is attainable at Warren County Community College (WCCC) thanks to a new agreement with Felician College announced at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, July 9.

Starting this fall, students who have obtained an associate's degree from WCCC or who have completed two years of schooling at any institution may take classes toward a bachelor's degree in the areas of criminal justice, business, education and nursing, with advanced degrees to follow if there is sufficient demand.

"We have tried, many times, to begin this kind of partnership, and what we were always lacking was the best partner possible," said Dr. William Austin, president of WCCC. "Felician coming on board and bringing a number of bachelor's degrees to start, and the promise of master's degrees soon to follow, makes this a time when we can really build our educational enterprise for Warren County residents."

According to Austin and Dr. William Morgan, vice president of the Division of Off-Campus Services at Felician College, this agreement was two years in the making, with the main obstacle being the lack of space at WCCC to dedicate to new programs. Once that problem was remedied by way of an expansion, the partnership took off.

The degree options brought forth by the Lodi-based Felician were one of the main selling points to the agreement, Austin said.

"People don't want to come to college for a single degree option; they want to have multiple options," he said. "They agreed to all those parameters in this partnership, and that's really what set it off."
When the conversation began two years ago, one of the first things that came up was where the two colleges wanted to go with the agreement, Morgan said.

"I understand the vision to be that this will be the center of education in Warren County," he said. "Students no longer will transfer from WCCC, they will transition at WCCC."

According to Austin, the courses in the Felician degree programs will be taught on the WCCC campus, either by Felician faculty or by WCCC faculty that have been hired by Felician to teach under their academic umbrella.

"It gives some of our faculty a chance to teach some upper level classes that they might not necessarily get the chance to teach," Austin said.

The most cited upside of this partnership was the affordability and convenience it will offer Warren County residents.

"I think it's a major goal of the trustees to advance the educational opportunities for the citizens of the county," said David Boone, chairman of the WCCC Board of Trustees. "[What really appealed to us about this partnership was] the fact that we could provide bachelor's degrees and higher to folks in the county without them having to travel."

Assemblyman Michael Doherty, who was on hand for the ceremony, lauded the "great education at an economical price" that county college can provide. "Our students graduate and not only are they well trained for the workforce, but they aren't carrying a huge debt load, and they are able to have freedom and liberty and take care of their families without having to write checks to pay back the bank every month," he said.

This marks another step forward in a time of expansion for WCCC. In May, the college saw its largest graduating class ever of 241 students, a 44 percent increase compared to the class of 2008. It is also a 170 percent increase in the last five years, as the college graduated 89 students in 2004.

 

Warren County Community College administrators complete leadership and development program

Warren County Community College and Hackettstown Regional Medical Center make plans for new Health Education Center on hospital's campus

Sixteen years ago, Joan Pollner was running a restaurant with her husband and raising three small children when she decided to pursue a nursing career at Warren County Community College.

Now the head of the college's nursing program and working toward a doctoral degree, Pollner hopes a new education facility for health professionals will provide future students with the same opportunities she received.

"It's just a way of giving back to the community and fulfilling the mission of the college," Pollner said.

College officials announced Saturday the college is teaming up with Hackettstown Regional Medical Center to build the $24 million Health Education Center on the hospital's campus.

The 5-acre facility is designed to train the next generation of health care providers and keep them in Warren County, college and hospital officials said in advance of Saturday's announcement during the college president's ball in East Whippany, N.J.

Center to boost economy

The center would also help attract health-related businesses to the county, boosting economic growth throughout the region, officials said.

"We need to educate our own people, put our own people to work to take care of our own people in this region," said WCCC President Will Austin. "This is really going to have a dramatic impact on people's lives in the area."

Hackettstown Regional and the college have started a fundraising campaign aimed at $5 million to begin the three-phased project. Construction is to be paid for through a combination of college funds, donations and state assistance.

The project is expected to be completed by 2017, with the first phase done in the next four years. The center should accommodate 600 to 1,000 community college students, Austin said.

High-tech facility planned

Besides training dental hygienists, pharmacy technicians and other professionals, the center expands on the college's existing health education program, Austin said.

In its seminar room and lecture hall, local health practitioners would be able to communicate via satellite with medical experts from across the country, he said.

With health screenings and seminars, county residents would be able to learn how to keep themselves well before they get sick, Austin said.

.

Hackettstown Regional Medical Center and Warren County Community College
move to help local economy

Thursday, October 09, 2008
Hospital expansion

The deep thinkers at Warren County Community College and Hackettstown Regional Medical Center are on to something. Frustrated by the "brain drain" ailing New Jersey as a whole and Warren County in particular, they plan to fight back by building a $24 million Health Education Center on the hospital's campus.

The first phase of the three-phase project is expected to be completed by 2012 with the entire complex up and running by 2017. The goal is to educate and train 600 to 1,000 of Warren County's young people (and older folks, too) for careers as nurses, technicians, dental hygienists, etc. This new pool of professionally trained workers is expected to attract a bumper crop of health care-related employers to Warren County, creating a ready-made job market for graduates.

What an innovative way to pump new life into Warren County's economy.

The ambitious undertaking will be financed through college dollars, donations and state money.

WCCC has come a long way since its humble beginnings as a "college without walls." Since President Will Austin came on board in 2003, full-time enrollment has exploded from 336 students to 814, a 142 percent increase.

The decision to focus on health care education for this first large-scale off-campus expansion is wise because it puts Warren County in a position to capitalize on a growing industry in need of a qualified work force.

In addition, this venture will benefit the public at large, offering health screenings and educational seminars. And it will allow local health care practitioners to tap into some of the most up-to-date research and information via satellite hookups with experts across the country.

With this announcement, the Warren County Regional Chamber of Commerce and other business boosters must get moving. This project is the match that could light a fire under the frigid and stalled local economy.

College president turned school in a new direction

Sunday, September 28, 2008
No one dislikes his community college.

Or so Will Austin thought.

He found the exception when he became president of Warren County Community College, where local residents gave him an earful and county freeholders were ready to go to jail to fight a college expansion plan.

After they refused to fund the growth plan approved by the Board of School Estimate, two freeholders were held in contempt of court and threatened with a stay in the pokey, before the state Supreme Court granted a stay.

"I've never been anywhere where people hated a community college before," Austin said.

These days, freeholders are front and center as advocates for expansion at the community college in Washington Township, one of the fastest-growing in the nation.

What changed?

Austin said he and others simply started telling and showing people how the college benefits the community.

"The community was very receptive," he said. "They put the college's past behind it pretty quickly. Everything that was great was already here."

Others say the turning point was when bridge-building Austin joined the college five years ago. At the time, he was 33, the youngest college president in New Jersey history.

"I have to give a great deal of credit to Will," said Freeholder Director John DiMaio, who with former freeholder Mike Doherty was ready to go to jail to fight a college expansion plan they thought relied on frills and not enough classroom space.

"He really brought in a new spirit of cooperation. The whole nature of the college is different now than it was a while ago."

On Saturday, Austin will be feted at a gala that also kicks off a capital campaign for a new nursing center. The formal affair at the Hanover Marriott will be presented by the law firm of Florio Perrucci Steinhardt & Fader and hosted by honorary chair Michael Perrucci.

During Austin's half-decade, the school's enrollment has more than doubled, from 336 full-time students in fall of 2003 to 814 now. In January, an expansion project that will add classrooms and science labs is expected to be completed.

The college also introduced a nursing program that is now accredited, as well as majors in eco-tourism and creative writing....

Warren County Community College finalizing strategic plan

by Kevin Lechiski/Warren Reporter
Thursday October 30, 2008, 3:55 PM

WASHINGTON TWP. -- After experiencing a mammoth 52 percent increase in enrollment over the past five years, including a 143 percent spike in the number of full-time students, Warren County Community College isn't resting on its laurels.

The college is in the process of finalizing its latest three-year strategic plan, which includes ambitious initiatives for further growth, including plans to build a $20 million Health Education Center at Hackettstown Regional Medical Center. While the college is aiming to expand current academic and career training programs, the institution is also in the process of creating new degree programs including food/beverage management and medical assistant.

College President Will Austin, who expects the strategic plan to be formalized within the next few months, said the plan will focus on ensuring the college "does not become complacent" in light of recent successes, by focusing on very specific measures that continue to grow both academic programs and each student's total college experience.

The 35,000 square-foot Health Education Center, expected to be completed over the next decade in three phases, is just one component of the forthcoming strategic plan.
Austin highlighted five main aspects he said are needed to create a successful plan:
1) Establishing a facilities master plan.
2) Expanding "distance education" by looking at opportunities to open another college site in the county and also bringing education "right into people's homes."
3) Addressing developmental education requirements in a way to prepare all students, including those in need of any "remedial" courses, to be ready to take their first college course.
4) Furthering an educational approach that promotes both academics and responsible citizenship.
5) Enhancing individual student's personal experience, by providing them "all the services they need to be successful and engaging." Austin said this needs to be accomplished to the point where students want to actively encourage family and friends to consider attending the college.

Austin expects the Warren County Community College Foundation to be a key factor in future growth at the college by raising money to continue expanding programs. Greater emphasis is being placed in expanding the role of the foundation, which is estimated to bring in more than $134,000 in revenue during the 2008 fiscal year, as opposed to $66,351 last year and $21,351 in 2006. For fiscal year 2009, Austin noted that more than $96,000 was raised during just one event, the President's Ball.

The college's recent expansion in academic and career training programs will be furthered even more through the east wing addition, which is scheduled for occupancy early next year. The 19,000-square foot addition will feature 12 new classrooms, including two science labs and one medical/nursing classroom with an adjacent patient simulator room. The new wing will increase overall seating by 44 percent campus wide.

For more information about the college, visit www.warren.edu or call (908) 835-9222.

Warren County Community College, hospital partner on Health Education Center

by Kevin Lechiski/Staff Writer
Friday October 24, 2008, 11:49 AM

What started out as a lunchtime conversation between Warren County Community College President Will Austin and Hackettstown Regional Medical Center President Gene Milton regarding the needs of hospital and college has evolved into an ambitious project to develop a $20 million regional Health Education Center.

During that conversation, Austin said he and Milton discussed how the college and Hackettstown Regional Medical Center could partner to address critical health care staffing shortages for the region being projected by the hospital and Department of Labor.

A summit soon followed involving the college and executives from Hackettstown Regional Medical Center, Warren Hospital and Hunterdon Medical Center. What evolved from that summit is a planned five-acre Health Education Center on the campus of Hackettstown Regional Medical Center that Austin believes will serve as a national model.

"What we will be doing is training our own local workforce to work for our own local hospitals. It's the community taking care of itself," said Austin, who noted that the Health Education Center will also promote needed economic development in the Warren County area. "This is a way to bring in high paying jobs that respect the local environment and neighborhoods."

The collaborative project is being designed to meet five main goals: address projected shortages in healthcare professionals; train and retain local residents to meet those needs; improve regional healthcare; enhance economic status in the region; and create a model operation other colleges and hospitals can benefit from

College, hospital and labor officials note the importance of continually having a large, well-trained workforce in the healthcare profession, a field they say will always experience increased demand regardless of overall economic conditions.
"There is a great labor market demand for allied health professionals and, with the aging baby boomers, the services (of the Health Education Center) will be both vital to our aging residents and critical to sustaining the regional economy," said Jack Patten, director of the Morris, Sussex, Warren Workforce Investment Board.

Kenneth Janowski, chief medical officer of Hackettstown Regional Medical Center, said the Health Education Center "promotes and stimulates education at every level -- everyone is both a teacher and a student. From the medical staff perspective, we are always eager for the opportunity to teach and to learn. Hospital-wide, everyone feels the need to be cutting edge. Opportunities for continuing education will also help to attract and retain healthcare professionals. Overall, this is a model for all communities: creating a partnership of cooperative institutional resources in service to the community."

The construction of the five-acre facility, estimated to cost between $18 million and $24 million, is anticipated to begin in about two years and be completed in three phases over the next decade. The first phase, anticipated to be ready by 2012, will consist of classrooms, clinical labs, scientific labs and amphitheater. The second phase will include expanded workspace and increased faculty and staff offices, while the third phase will feature lab updates, full equipment and increased classroom capacity, future program creation, and additional state-of-the-art academic programming.

Programs scheduled for inclusion at the Health Education Center include: CAN; LPN, RN, BSN and MSN; Medical Assistant; Dental Hygiene; Phlebotomy; EMS/EMT; Massage Therapy; Dietician; Nuclear Medicine; Radiography; Surgical Technician; Pharmacy Technician; and Community Wellness/Preventative Education.

Austin said the project will be funded through a two-pronged approach, both of which will not require additional moneys from Warren County taxpayers. Half the funding, Austin said, will be provided through the state government's already funded Chapter 12 program for community college projects. The other half will be raised by the Warren County Community College Foundation.
Samir Elbassiouny, the foundation's executive director, said fundraising efforts, which were launched earlier this month, will include seeking grants and naming rights. Residents, businesses and other groups will be able to leave a "permanent legacy" through both larger and smaller contributions.

In an effort to encourage broad community support, legacy contributions start at $1,000, and can be paid for over several years. Supporters can focus on not only making personal contributions, but raising money toward the legacy contributions.
"We want the community at every level to be a part of this project," Elbassiouny said.
For more information about the project, including ways you can help, contact the Warren County Community College Foundation by calling (908) 835-2325 or logging onto www.wcccfoundation.org.