Episode Transcript
[00:00:08] Speaker A: Hello, friends, loyal listeners and bears everywhere. Welcome to the sound barrier, Northeast State Community College's official podcast. My name is Thomas Wilson. I'm your co host today with my fellow co host, Mackenzie Moore. Gent, we're coming at you from the entertainment technology studio here on the Blountville campus in the Technology Education complex.
Thanks so much to our entertainment technology students, always making us sound great on here. Well, along with our guests, of course, who always sound great.
Today we want to welcome two friends from our Northeast state at Kingsport campus, Dr. Stephanie Barham and Mr. Blake Montgomery. Friends, welcome to the sound barrier. We're glad to have you today.
[00:00:47] Speaker B: We're glad to be here.
[00:00:48] Speaker C: Thanks, Tom. Thank you, Mackenzie. Thanks, Jordy.
[00:00:51] Speaker A: To start out a little bit, I know you've both been here with us at Northeast State for a while. Tell us a little bit about your backgrounds and what you what brought you to Northeast State.
[00:00:59] Speaker B: Well, I've spent I guess the last 21 years in public education with the last 12 in higher education.
I came to Northeast State in 2020 right before we all went home for the pandemic as a project manager to the President's office.
Since then I've served as the Chief of Staff and now the Executive Director of Northeast State Kingsport.
I previous had served as the Instructional Design Coordinator at ETSU and had the opportunity to come over to Northeast. Loved the mission of the community college and every great thing that you all were doing and was just glad to be a part of the team.
[00:01:37] Speaker A: Outstanding, Blake.
[00:01:39] Speaker C: Yeah. I spent 30 plus years in local industry as primarily as a senior training technologist and my responsibilities were curriculum development and apprenticeships and new employee development.
I came to Northeast State in 2022 as executive director for Economic Workforce Development and also director of RCAM and Kingsport. So since I've transitioned to Assistant VP in Economic and Workforce development. That was in January of this year. And my responsibilities are RCAM Workforce Solutions and Career Services.
[00:02:11] Speaker D: And you already mentioned, you just mentioned RCAM right there. So that kind of pushes us into a next question. Our Kingsport campus includes so much rcam. So several other places could we dive into those? What encompasses our Kingsport campus?
[00:02:27] Speaker B: So we call it affectionately the Academic Village. So mainly because it sits in the heart of downtown Kingsport, we're up to seven buildings there now. So we have the Regional center for Advanced Manufacturing or rcam. We have RCAM Academy, which sits right behind rcam.
We have RCAM co, which we'll probably talk about later, which is a new building that's the Regional center for Advanced Manufacturing and Community Outreach.
We have kchi, the King Sports center for Higher Ed. We have rchip, the Regional center for Health Professions, rcap, the Regional center for Automotive Programming. And then we have Blazer Wilson hall, which is where we do all our student services and adult education.
[00:03:09] Speaker D: Wow.
A lot going on over at Kingsport.
[00:03:13] Speaker B: Yes, we are full.
[00:03:16] Speaker D: Yeah, but full but growing yet.
So what is that growth looking like right now?
[00:03:22] Speaker B: So we have a lot of new things going on.
One example of that would be in our Kingsport center for Higher Education.
We have added a middle college with Kingsport City Schools.
So we're on our second cohort of that.
We're also housing a new academic program, which is the Radiologic Technology program, and we're housing it in kche.
We've moved over some nursing classes into KT just to kind of help with overflow in the Health Professions building.
So lots of new faces and names around and we're really excited. Blake, you can probably add to that.
[00:03:58] Speaker C: Sure. We've added just recently 22,000 more square feet in the RCAMCO. That's the Regional center for Advanced Manufacturing and Community Outreach, which I know we'll speak to more in a moment. But that's going to enable us to expand our programs, curricula offerings, new programs, and that additional square footage.
[00:04:20] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:04:21] Speaker D: And you had mentioned middle college. For people who aren't familiar with that, what is middle college, Stephanie?
[00:04:26] Speaker B: So middle college is an opportunity for students who are in high school to actually complete college credits. It's different than dual enrollment, though, in that you can actually complete your associate's degree, your junior and senior year before you actually graduate or walk the stage from high school. So just because of the way graduation falls, they would walk the stage with Northeast State probably before they would walk the stage of their high school graduation.
So they will leave high school with an associate's degree and they'll be ready to move on to one of our four year partners.
[00:05:00] Speaker D: Fast track, really, to a bachelor's or, you know, just going out into the workforce directly after high school, already having that associate's degree. That's awesome.
But what makes Kingsport such an important hub for Northeast State? We've talked about all the buildings, all the different fields and industries that are involved in this. What's so important about that?
[00:05:20] Speaker B: I would say that Kingsport is uniquely positioned in the middle of some of our largest industry partners.
So in turn, we have a large number of students and all serve as a part of the answer to the region's workforce. Pipeline, this is in the form of credit programs on the academic side, non credit and even apprenticeships.
[00:05:40] Speaker D: And so when we were talking about all the buildings involved with our Kingsport campus, RCAM was one. What is RCAM and what role does that play in workforce development?
[00:05:49] Speaker C: Give a little history.
The original building, RCAM, we've really been in existence for almost 20 years. So the original building actually has been there since 2008. So Northeast State ARCAM, we like to call it, has been providing world class training and education for our region, including apprenticeships, structured training as well as the degree seeking students are in evening classes in those same classrooms that are for use for apprenticeships and structured training during the day. So as I've shared before, the training covers northeast Tennessee, southwest Virginia. And we're excited about the recent migration of the machine tool program and machine tool equipment from the Blountville campus to Kingsport for degree seeking students. We actually have the opportunity for those degree seeking students to have classes available in the evenings on the Kingsport campus now, which were never available before. So we're continuing to expand, continuing to listen to our partners and industrial partners to see exactly what kind of workforce.
[00:06:48] Speaker D: Training that they need, increased flexibility. I know that everyone's so busy that gives them an option to, you know, if they're working during the day, have other responsibilities to fulfill.
They have that option now. So that's great. And that's just connecting more and more people to, what do we say, connecting people to prosperity and just connecting them to opportunities. Really so wonderful to have that.
[00:07:09] Speaker A: RCAM is kind of based in. There's a pretty wide footprint of arcam. We have arcam, of course, our main building, the ARCAM Academy located behind it. And the new kid on the block, you might say ARCAM co and the ARCAM Academy, like you touched on briefly when it has undergone an expansion, certainly in the machining operations. And can you talk a little bit more about that?
[00:07:36] Speaker C: Yes. So the phase one of our project included archamco, but also included the expansion of the Arkham Academy. The first floor.
We actually did a construction project, just finished it up. Incredible time, just about three months, about 60 working days that we were able to bring 18 pieces of equipment from the Buntwell campus, migrate those to the Kingsport campus, actually do construction to enable us to have those machines and have and finish by the time that fall semester started. So we've got active students in the evenings and during the day, plus our apprenticeship students in our CAM Academy. So it's a hustling, bustling place now because of that expansion. And I'll touch quickly on the crosswalk that we've done through academic affairs at Dr. Barham and Dr. Weber assisted in. We crosswalk the machine tool program apprenticeships to college credit, which is something new for the college. It's new for that apprentice to be able to think about during the time they're on the apprenticeship work towards the degree as well.
So that's with the machine tool program and also with our mechatronics program. We've crosswalked both of those apprenticeships to college credit. So it opens up new doors for apprentices to actually graduate at the end of their apprenticeship with a college degree and their Department of Labor certificate.
[00:09:00] Speaker A: A two for one. Two great credentials to have out there in the professional workforce.
[00:09:06] Speaker D: That's awesome because aren't they getting paid too as they work towards these apprenticeships? So they're essentially getting paid to get. To get a college or to get credits that can become an associate's degree. That's amazing.
And then I don't want to forget about Kingsport center for Higher Education. There's a lot happening there, Stephanie. It's part of the growth.
What programs happen there, what's going on?
[00:09:29] Speaker B: So we usually focus on general education courses in the Kingsport center for Higher Education.
But like I said before, we found that we're kind of busting at the seams in some of our other buildings. So we've welcomed other people in. So along with the Middle College and the Rad Tech program, we have nursing coming over. We've also expanded our hours. So pre pandemic, we were four days a week at night and then we went to two and now we're back to three. So we're open three nights a week until 9 o'. Clock. So we can offer some expanded courses for students who may be working during the day and just need a little bit of a flexible schedule. So that has definitely increased the traffic.
Along with the community events that we do in the Kingsport center for Higher Education, we had over 200 community events this past year. Everything from the firefighters graduation to the police department training for Kingsport City. Even the Boy Scouts come and the Plant Society. So it's just kind of hustle, bustle of different people.
And of course the congresswoman's office is always doing their town halls there as well. So lots going on just through the hallway. Wow.
[00:10:41] Speaker D: Sure. I mean, it's always hustling, bustling when I'm there, over during the day, but I didn't realize so much more was happening.
Wow.
And then what about ardchip, the Regional center for Health Professions?
What makes ARCHIP unique in terms of training? And then the healthcare partnerships that we have.
[00:10:59] Speaker B: So one thing I love about Archip is very much like RCAM in that we rely on our industry partners to tell us what they need. And that's kind of how the Rad Tech program came along, is conversations with Ballad, with State of Franklin, with HMG that were telling us that there was a need in that field. And so we responded to that by a new academic program in that area.
So I think that's what makes it really special.
Same thing that makes RCAM special is just we work so closely with our industry partners that we're not just making up what comes next. We're asking a group of experts in the field what needs to come next, and we're responding to it.
So that has allowed us to really expand our partnerships in the area, but also great opportunities in employment for our students.
[00:11:47] Speaker D: That idea of that pipeline becomes a little bit more tangible knowing that these job shortages. We need rad Techs now. We've created this pipeline to get students from here to there.
[00:12:01] Speaker A: Now, you know, you mentioned how some of the nursing classes had to be migrated into KCHI to help kind of some of the expansion there at Arch Ship. How do all the facilities there in Kingsport kind of seek to connect themselves with our local industry and our local employers, be they large, large commercial industries of manufacturing or healthcare industries that in both ways need trained people. How do we seek to kind of connect with everyone there?
[00:12:28] Speaker C: Every entity really seeks to understand the training and educational needs of local industries in the business.
But we really try to maximize our space for curriculum offerings as needed. And I guess if I could say one word, it'd be relationships. They're important to us concerning the local workforce, local businesses, local partners. So we try to build those partnerships and those lasting relationships to meet those needs.
[00:12:52] Speaker D: Yeah, it's all about community. I mean, we couldn't have what we've built without. We're building together, really essentially. And then rcamco, I know that we touched base on that a little bit earlier, the 22,000 new square footage that we have for labs training.
But this is just another piece of the puzzle. So what exactly happens at rcamco? What does that entail?
[00:13:13] Speaker C: Well, we've been able to take that 22,000 square feet from a ballot disaster relief warehouse to, through the help of some local contractors, a good vision, a good footprint of what we need for the future, but also some of that includes duplicating some more popular classes that we have at ARCAM now so that we can offer, you know, even the same class in two locations. So recently we completed the phase one of a three phase construction inside the Archemco building. And we're currently even during the construction we were able to offer a couple of classes in the building. So we have a welding class, new welding lab there now, new oxy acetylene cutting lab within the welding lab, but also fork truck training and future fiber optic apprenticeship which is new to the college in that building. And also the first Kingsport based carpentry apprenticeship. That's the second phase of this construction. That lab will be completed for that new classroom. But the demand of our current classes has really dictated the space and how it would be used in the new Arkemco building. But that's going to include a robotics lab as I said, two new apprenticeship labs, but also additional classrooms, large classroom for the college in general to use for any class. But it really enables us to schedule those identical class offerings in our CAMCO that have been so popular in our cam. So, and I guess I need to speak to that community outreach at the end of the name.
We thought that it would be great to have a place that somebody moves into the area can come and get a training maybe in forklift training or just one off class. Maybe it's the only time we ever see them. They're not apprenticeship, they're not an apprentice or they're not enrolled as a for credit student. But they can come and get that training and be attracted for being hired for a job. So that community outreach, that building will be used way beyond even our imagination or expectations at this time. So we're excited about it.
[00:15:14] Speaker B: And one cool thing about that space I think is it has really allowed us to think about the needs of the Kingsport campus as a whole. And so we kind of get away from thinking, oh, this is only used for this. Right. We have a need for a large lab space that could be used for people that take ARCAM classes, but also could extend to some needs for nursing or things like that, or adult education for that matter. And so Blake has been so kind as he's the project manager, he's very humble. So I'm just going to tell you it's a huge project that he's managing. But he's been so nice about thinking of the needs of all seven buildings and building a space that can be used and benefit all of us. So I'm really excited about that. Because it just opens up so many more opportunities.
[00:16:03] Speaker D: Opportunities and growth. How does this fit into Northeast State Community College's overall mission?
[00:16:10] Speaker B: So Northeast State at Kingsport, I feel like it perfectly represents the mission of the college, which is to advance that lifelong learning, strengthen those economic and social ties to the community. So our growth just allows us to do that on a larger scale with an even bigger impact in the region.
[00:16:28] Speaker C: I think it's really key too, as we grow to understand who's moving in and what type of training their folks need. And it's, you know, it's not, I say wires and wrenches. It's not always wires and wrenches. In three RCAM buildings, we, we love to see nursing come in and, and I'd love to see an English class in one of these. New building, new building classrooms. So I think it's key to really be in tune with the community and what needs are out there as they move into the area. We're very with the county and the city and the surrounding counties. We're very in tune with them and keep good communication with them to know what that need is in the workforce.
[00:17:08] Speaker D: Exactly. You all had mentioned that you're getting all of this from the experts. We're not just pulling this out of left field and rolling with it. This is strategic. This is strategic openings and creation of opportunities.
[00:17:20] Speaker A: What has the community response been to as far as the college's expansion in downtown Kingsport? Because it really is. You're in walking distance of a lot of different programs right there. Downtown. I know people love to talk about, well, we need a great, strong downtown. Where does Northeast State at Kingsport fit into making that happen for Kingsport? And what's kind of the feedback you get from both the city and from students?
[00:17:43] Speaker B: My goodness. Incredibly supportive of Northeast State. It just amazes me just to see people around who'll stop us and say, hey, do you know, I'm an alumni of Northeast State. I graduated from Northeast State.
Local business owners and things like that that we encounter. But the city of Kingsport, I want to talk about this part specifically, they provide low cost lease options for us for some of those buildings. And in turn that allows us to, to be there and have such a large presence. It actually makes them our largest benefactor because of how much money they help us along with those leases so we can afford them. We couldn't exist without their support, but also without the support of our industry partners. And the Kingsport Chamber is a very large partner of ours.
[00:18:27] Speaker C: And I would say it's always positive that Response. We're able to connect at least quarterly with our state, county and city officials. We have a meeting on a quarterly, it's called the AMP meeting. Amp, It's Advanced Manufacturing Partnership, sort of a roundtable, best practice session where all of our partners get together and they, they share successes, they share events, they share their needs.
And that is city, county and state folks at that. So when we, when we think of it in, in that way, the community supports the college and the college really tries to support, to support the community, whether it's state or county or city. So that gives us a good opportunity at least quarterly to get together and have coffee and share those successes and needs.
[00:19:13] Speaker D: With the talk of all this growth, have we talked about the number of students, just the capacity right now? Where are we at for credit students?
[00:19:20] Speaker B: So we're sitting at almost 1400 students who are among the buildings for credit.
That does not encompass the numbers that we have for our non credit side of the house. I'll let Blake speak a little bit to what those non credit numbers might look like in terms of what encompasses the non credit. But we know that we are at one of the highest numbers that we have seen in 10 years in terms of enrollment for the credit side.
[00:19:44] Speaker C: And I think that number would almost be duplicated on the non credit structured training, apprenticeship side of the house for students that come and go in those three buildings that we've mentioned. Rcam, ARCAM Academy and ARCAM Code.
[00:19:58] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:19:58] Speaker D: And looking five years ahead, what do you hope Kingsport's academic village will look like in five years?
[00:20:07] Speaker B: Well, we are not done growing, that's for sure. So we want to continue to expand our footprint in downtown Kingsport. We want to continue to grow innovative facilities and equipment for new academic programs as the need becomes available. We are revamping the signage down there just to make it look a little bit more like a college campus that sits in the middle in the heart of downtown.
So you know, if you go by our Health Professions building, just finished up yesterday, some new signage all around that building. So it doesn't matter what street you're driving on, you know that that is a northeast state facility and that we're present down there. That's going to happen for all of those buildings. Just making our logo very prominent so people understand that we're there and we're serving the workforce pipeline and we're a partner. Blake and I have talked about this. We want it to be a hub of activity, just a hustle and bustle of people moving around. And it's starting to look like that, especially if you try parking there on a Monday morning. You definitely feel that growth. So we've heard some feedback about that, but we love that because that just means that we're making a larger impact.
[00:21:11] Speaker C: I think it's really key to resemble the college campus, as Stephanie shared, because it's neat to have a mother come in that's never been to Northeast and say, we didn't even know you were here. And you share the number of buildings and the number of curriculum offerings and, you know, their eyes are wide open to that. And so I think when we think about Northeast, I think about the Kingsport campus. It's larger than the community college campus that I attended several years ago. But I think to constantly be striving. And Dr. Barham has led us in a great way to resemble a college campus and function at a high level.
Integrity for the students and especially their parents when they visit.
[00:21:53] Speaker A: For the students and our employers. Maybe you haven't engaged with some of the programs and schools that are offered at Kings Ford. Why should they. Why should you come down to Kingsport and get involved and see what we can do for you?
[00:22:09] Speaker C: I think if I could answer that in a sentence.
Kingsport and frankly, every side of the college offers staff and faculty that are professionals first. But within seconds of talking to them, you realize they. They truly care about you as a student. So. And the diversity of the education and training opportunities, from certificates to degrees, from nursing to automotive, we support the overall goal of the college and we definitely resemble the motto, we're here to get you there. Because especially at. We've just experienced the fall semester start and there's a lot of new students and some parents bring those students and you get to interact with those parents and they get to see that you care. They get to see that you want to spend time explaining whatever their answer to whatever question they have. So we want to be there for the student and again, build those relationships, those lasting relationships, and see them come back and work in the workforce or work for the college or. Or just be friends of the college. So it's important to us.
[00:23:09] Speaker A: Friends of the college, indeed.
Absolutely. Great way to put it. Almost everyone, I'm speaking here of faculty at both RCAM and R chip they bring several years of expertise in the subjects they're teaching. These are seasoned industry professionals in all these academic disciplines. How important have you found that to be as far as the relationships with students and kind of getting them a little bit more than textbook training, shall we say? As far as what they're going to face when they get in their careers.
[00:23:42] Speaker C: Well, we have 35 part time instructors at ARCAM and they're all either degreed or apprenticeship graduates. So they're able to relate, as you said, to the student. They're able to share a mentor type stories, discussions within the class that they're teaching so that young student can understand what their future holds, what mistakes not to make, what things to do to be successful. So it's terribly important for the college to be able to tap into that resource of wisdom for those instructors on a part time basis and to understand that those range from in their 30s, part time, still working in a capacity in the industry, to in their 80s, still sharp, still willing to share, still willing to be on time and be there. So I think it's a valuable resource as far as ARCHAM goes.
[00:24:38] Speaker B: And the same way for health professions. You know, it's one thing to be able to bring relevant experiences to students, but it's something else to be able to share as a professional who's worked in that field, what you've learned and you know, different paths that you could take as a student and you know what to just to help them kind of find their way in the field. And so the same is true, you know, the instructors that sit in health professions building, they're seasoned at what they do and many of them have worked in a variety of roles in healthcare. And you know, it's important to remember that a lot of them could probably make more money out in the field, but they have such a passion for sharing their learning with students that they choose to be with us and they kind of impart that knowledge with a love that, you know, it's just, it's untouchable really.
And that rings true for every faculty member in Kingsport, but also across all of our campuses. I think it's what makes Northeast Stake so special.
[00:25:37] Speaker A: Now we've got done with all the official questions we wanted to talk about, we have a couple of surprise questions to spring on you. These are would you'd rather questions? So, and this is for both of you.
Batman or Superman?
[00:25:53] Speaker B: Batman for sure.
[00:25:55] Speaker C: Batman. Batman for me too.
[00:25:57] Speaker A: Why Batman?
[00:25:58] Speaker B: Cooler car. Hands down.
[00:26:00] Speaker A: Cooler car.
[00:26:01] Speaker C: And I'm much older than Stephanie. I actually watched the show, so.
[00:26:05] Speaker A: Hey, Adam West. You can't beat him. Adam West. Cesar Romero is the Joker. Yes, that's it.
Okay, question two.
[00:26:14] Speaker D: Okay. Would you rather have the ability to teleport anywhere in the world or read people's minds?
[00:26:22] Speaker B: Read people's minds, hands down.
[00:26:24] Speaker D: Oh, I'd get my feelings hurt.
[00:26:27] Speaker C: I'd be afraid to read people's minds.
I'm gonna go because I don't like to fly. I'll go teleport.
[00:26:33] Speaker D: I think I'm on the teleportation too.
What about you, Tom?
[00:26:38] Speaker A: I prefer to read people's minds.
[00:26:40] Speaker B: Oh, gosh.
[00:26:41] Speaker A: Yeah, I think that would be.
[00:26:42] Speaker B: So you and Stephanie want to read.
[00:26:46] Speaker A: You can go on a mission in space. Would you prefer to go to the moon or Mars?
Please keep in mind, there's a space travel.
[00:26:55] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:26:57] Speaker A: Timeline there too.
[00:26:58] Speaker D: So wait, could Blake and I teleport there?
[00:27:00] Speaker C: Yeah. Because I have.
[00:27:01] Speaker A: Hey, it could happen. Yeah. Possibly.
[00:27:05] Speaker B: I'm different. I definitely want to ride in the rocket on my way up there.
You know, I'm gonna go with Mars because I think it's just, you know, largely unexplored, and I would just. That'd be unique.
[00:27:19] Speaker C: I would teleport to Mars.
[00:27:20] Speaker A: Mars.
[00:27:21] Speaker D: I would also teleport to Mars.
[00:27:23] Speaker A: Yeah. The moon is so, like, 1969.
[00:27:25] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:27:26] Speaker A: We're going to Mars now.
[00:27:27] Speaker D: So you and Stephanie would be stuck in a spaceship reading each other's thoughts.
[00:27:30] Speaker B: Yes, exactly.
[00:27:31] Speaker C: Oh, no.
[00:27:32] Speaker D: So we'd get to teleport straight there, straight back.
[00:27:37] Speaker B: We think very similarly anyway, so I think it's fine.
[00:27:40] Speaker C: Mackenzie and I would be looking at each other going, wonder what you're thinking. I don't want to know.
[00:27:43] Speaker A: No.
[00:27:46] Speaker D: Okay. Well, until we reach Mars. Thank you, Blake and Stephanie, so much for joining us today on the sound barrier, sharing all about the exciting growth opportunity at our Kingsport campus. From RCAMCO to Archip to rcam, kche, rcap. I don't want to forget anybody. To each and every one is an important piece of our mission and where we're taking people and what we're doing in the very real lives in our community. I also want to thank Jordi out there recording this entire episode with our entertainment technology department.
You can listen to the sound barrier on thenortheaststate.com, thesoundbarrier, or any of your favorite streaming services. Spotify, Pandora, Apple. I'm probably forgetting a few, but we are on them all, so give us a listen. And also, don't Forget to visit NortheastState. Eduardo. That's NortheastState. Edu. And just learn about all the opportunities, all the happenings at Northeast State Community College. I mean, today we talked about our Kingsport campus, but we've got Kingsport. We've got our Blountville. We've got Elizabethton. We have Gray. We have so many opportunities in so many different places here in the Tri Cities community. Visit northeaststate Edu and see what we have to offer. Until next time. We'll talk to you again on the sound barrier.
Sam.
