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Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education President to Visit Owensboro

Dr. Aaron Thompson to hold listening sessions for OCTC and greater community March 4-5

by Bernie Hale

Owensboro, KY (02/27/2019) — Dr. Aaron Thompson, President of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, will visit Owensboro on Monday, March 4 and Tuesday, March 5 to meet with community leadership, Owensboro Community & Technical College (OCTC) faculty, staff, students,and he will visit the Innovation Academy at Owensboro Public Schools, as part of his statewide listening tour.

Key topics will include pathways for students and adults to pursue and receive a college degree or credential, job placement opportunities and collaborative partnerships between colleges, CPE and communities.

Thompson's visit will include meetings with small groups including: OCTC Early College students, GO FAME students, and students from the Innovation Academy.

Dr. Scott Williams, OCTC President commented, "We are very grateful to Dr. Thompson for his dedication to higher education and his leadership in exploring new pathways and making the vital connections between higher education and the workforce."

Thompson is a nationally recognized leader in higher education with a focus on policy, student success, organizational leadership and design. He was named President of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education in October 2018, following the retirement of Robert L. King. He came to the Council in 2009 from Eastern Kentucky University, where he held a variety of leadership positions, including Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, University Programs. In May 2016, he left the Council to serve as Interim President for Kentucky State University and returned to the Council in the summer of 2017.

His leadership experience spans 27 years across higher education, business and numerous non-profit boards. Thompson has researched, taught and consulted in areas of diversity, leadership, ethics, multicultural families, race and ethnic relations, student success, first-year students, retention, cultural competence and organizational design throughout his career.

"I'm looking forward to visiting with business leaders from Owensboro along with the students, staff and the community," Thompson said. "I hope to learn from their perspectives what we need to do to improve higher education overall, including pathways to careers, as well as what we're doing well and the opportunities we can leverage moving forward."

The OCTC faculty and staff session on March 4 at 3:30 p.m. is open to the community and the listening session is free. For a complete schedule of events please contact bernie.hale@kctcs.edu.

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Owensboro Community & Technical College is one of the sixteen community and technical colleges that make up the Kentucky Community & Technical College System. OCTC serves the KY counties of Daviess, Hancock, Ohio and McLean. OCTC has three campuses in Daviess County and a Center and Annex in Hancock County. OCTC strives to serve the communities in the service area by providing associate degree education for transfer, state of the art technical education for students focusing on entering the workforce, customized business and industry solutions through the Workforce Solutions division, and adult education and business and industry testing through the SkillTrain unit.

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The Kentucky Community and Technical College System is the Commonwealth's largest postsecondary institution with 16 colleges and more than 70 campuses. We also are Kentucky's largest provider of workforce training and online education. Through partnerships with business and industry, we align our programs to meet the needs of local employers. We help students fulfill their dreams of creating a better life through programs that lead directly to jobs or help them transfer to one of our four-year partners.

Connect with OCTC: Owensboro.kctcs | Facebook.com/owensboroctc | Twitter@OCTC_Tweets | Instagram OwensboroCTC

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