The Mississippi Community College Board (MCCB), formerly Mississippi State Board for Community and Junior Colleges (SBCJC), is a statutory coordinating board tasked with oversight of the public community and junior colleges of the state of Mississippi in the United States. The state's public university system is governed by a separate constitutionally established board known as the Mississippi Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning, or IHL informally.
Institutions
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Board members are appointed for staggered terms by the Governor of Mississippi to oversee 15 schools: fourteen community colleges and one junior college.
- Coahoma Community College
- Copiah-Lincoln Community College
- East Central Community College
- East Mississippi Community College
- Hinds Community College
- Holmes Community College
- Itawamba Community College
- Jones County Junior College
- Meridian Community College
- Mississippi Delta Community College
- Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College
- Northeast Mississippi Community College
- Northwest Mississippi Community College
- Pearl River Community College
- Southwest Mississippi Community College
Conditions for enrollment to these colleges include dual, early admit, occupational, college transfer, high School diploma, GED, and those requiring high school units. Additionally, students have access to the Mississippi Virtual Community College which enables to students to take courses, via distance learning, at any of the 15 community colleges and receive support from a nearby college.
History
The Legislature created the board in 1986 to receive and distribute funds from the state, federal government, and other sources to the community and junior colleges. The initiation of the SBCJC can be traced back to the 1920s. Senate Bill 131, Laws of 1928, approved April 26, 1928, authorized the establishment of junior colleges, and also created a State Commission for oversight of these institutions. The first action of the Commission consisted of identifying its authority, establishing standards by which existing junior colleges must meet to qualify for state aid and develop criteria required of agricultural high schools seeking junior college status. This action of the Commission constituted the birth of Mississippi State System of Public Junior Colleges, giving Mississippi the distinction of having the first state system of comprehensive two-year colleges in the nation. The Commission had no staff but was served by personnel within the State Department of Education. In 1968, a separate operational division for junior colleges was created in the State Department of Education, which provided state services and oversight until 1986.
Virtual community college
The Mississippi Virtual Community College (MSVCC) is a consortium of the 15 physical community colleges in the Mississippi system that allows students to take classes over the Internet from any community college located in the state. After almost three years of research and planning, MSVCC was inaugurated in January 2000 under the MCCB Distance Learning program, and currently serves over 20,000 students each semester.
As an example of how the consortium works, a student from Northwest Community College (acting as host college) can take a class on the Internet offered from Pearl River Community College (acting as provider college). The host college supports the student with any other resources that they may needâ€"including academic advising and counseling, financial aid, and campus network accessâ€"and the course credit from the provided class is subsequently awarded through the host college. Through this mechanism, the virtual community college provides an opportunity for students take classes that are not offered at their "home" college. Additional learning support is provided by the Mississippi Electronic Libraries Online (MELO), a shared resource hosted by the MCCB that is made available to students and instructors through their respective campus networks and administered under the Distance Learning program.
The mission of the Mississippi Virtual Community College is to provide educational opportunities to constituencies who live within the various community and junior college districts in Mississippi and to others beyond those boundaries. The mission includes providing access to instructional offerings through advanced technologies for those individuals who currently cannot take advantage of the offerings of the community and junior college through traditional means and to those individuals who are seeking alternative educational delivery systems.
The MSVCC maintains an articulation agreement amongst all of its constituent community colleges that is explicitly designed to avoid drawing any distinction between online and traditional lecture courses in order to facilitate a unified curriculum system-wide. Accreditation of the MSVCC is maintained under the oversight of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
Divisions of the board
The State Board was formerly made up of 11 members.
Services
In 1995, the SBCJC adopted the accreditation standards as set forth by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The board uses these standards for quality, accountability, and financial adequacy.
Adult basic education and GED
The Mississippi Community College Board participates in the administering of the Adult Basic Education Program. This program is beneficial to adults because it allows them the opportunity to take a second chance at earning and education. To be competitive in today's society, one must possess basic literary competencies (i.e. areas such as math, reading, writing, communication, teamwork, and computer skills. The Adult Education Program offers assistance to adults in need of gaining these skills. In addition, the program provides adults with sufficient basic education to enable them to benefit from job training and to retain productive employment so that they might more fully enjoy the benefits and responsibilities of citizenship, and enables adults who desire, to continue their education to at least the level of completion of secondary school.
Athletics and activities
All fifteen of the Mississippi Community and Junior Colleges have athletics at their schools. Fourteen of the institutions are affiliated with the Mississippi Association of Community & Junior Colleges athletic conference (MACJC). The only exception is Meridian Community College (MCC), which athletically participates independently since 2008. MCC decided to drop from the MACJC due to recruiting districts which they have to share with East Mississippi Community College and MCC felt they were at a disadvantage when it came to recruiting. The MACJC is part of the National Junior College Athletic Association. Region XXIII comprises the MACJC as well as the MISS-LOU Junior College Conference, which are only schools in Louisiana. Aside from sports, schools have bands and dance teams.
Career and technical education
The Career & Technical Division Education is responsible for working with Community/Junior College Deans and other Community/Junior College personnel to assist with evaluation of programs, the reimbursement process for state upgrade equipment, salaries for Career-Technical personnel and reviews their requests for new programs, deletions or modifications to existing programs and serves as liaison between Community/Junior College Deans, the Mississippi Department of Education and the Research and Curriculum Unit.
The Career & Technical Education division works directly with the community and junior colleges to ensure that curricula and courses are adequate for the various career and technical programs offered. There are currently 97 programs of study available to the students enrolled in Mississippi Community Colleges. This board ensures that college personnel are informed of the various governing policies and program requirements. Additionally, the Career and Technical Education division assists Community/Junior College personnel in developing and reviewing the following: Qualifications Manual for Career-Technical personnel, Practical Nursing Accreditation Manual, the Practical Nursing Self-Study Process, and the Equipment Manual.
Distance education
Distance learning responsibilities of the SBCJC include coordination of the Mississippi Virtual Community College and online course offerings for workforce training. The Mississippi Virtual Community College (MSVCC) is a consortium of 15 of Mississippi's community colleges. Through the MSVCC, students may take courses from community colleges anywhere in Mississippi while getting support services from a local college. Also, an active partnership with Mindleaders opens the door to skills training courses in information technology, management, and other valuable areas at an affordable cost in support of workforce training initiatives.
The fifteen members of the Mississippi Virtual Community College include: Coahoma Community College, Copiah-Lincoln Community College, East Central Community College, East Mississippi Community College, Hinds Community College, Holmes Community College, Itawamba Community College, Jones Junior College, Meridian Community College, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, Mississippi Delta Community College, Northeast Community College, Northwest Community College, Pearl River Community College, and Southwest Community College. Each of the 15 member schools provides a Distance Learning Coordinator (DLC) who handles local MSVCC operations. The DLC at each campus serves as local support for students who are enrolled in MSVCC classes. Some of the local Distance Learning Coordinators also serve as Directors or Deans for the system at large.
Information Services
The information service division is responsible for identifying implementing technology initiatives within the agency as it responds "to the changing needs of the community and the citizens of Mississippi". Their services provide information to all of the community and junior colleges in the state of Mississippi. This team will constitute the agency's leadership for suggesting, requesting and implementing technological needs as it strives to fulfill its mission. The information service consists of training and support services, network management, and application development. Ray A. Smith is the director of information services. There is a head in each of the three departments under the information services. Tina Bradley is the support services manager for the training and support services. Ive P. Burnett is the application development manager for the application development department. There is no named head for the network management area. These department heads all have areas of expertise in their field and are at the disposal of the community and junior colleges in the state of Mississippi.
Workforce education
The Workforce Education Division is responsible for facilitating the Boards’ goals of using state resources to provide workforce education to the citizens of Mississippi giving them the skills needed to be more productive and have an improved quality of life, and to provide the employers of our state a better trained and educated workforce.
Statistics
In state fiscal 2008, there were 71,490 full-time equivalent students and 93,978 non-duplicate total credit: 63.9% female, 55.2% white, and 97.1% in-state.
References
External links
- Mississippi Community College Board website
- Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning
- Mississippi Virtual Community College
- Mississippi GED Online
