Volume 1 — Number 2
MARCH, 1990
CHOWAN
DAY
A Newsmagazine for Alumni, Parents and Friends
Chowan entering
a new decade
What do the 1990’s hold for Chowan College? That’s a popular question on campus this semester
with a Four-year Study Committee in the process of examining whether Chowan should remain a two-
year college or broaden to become a four-year institution. That study is in the minds of faculty, staff and
students who are hovering in balance waiting for the future of Chowan College to be decided.
The Four-Year Study Committee, chaired by Dr. Joyce Elliott, professor of speech is requesting input
from alumni in this issue of Chowan Today, (on page eight), regarding two-year versus four-year ex
pansion. Whether Chowan remains a two-year institution or becomes a four-year one, the next decade
will mean changes for all colleges and universities in many ways.
Education in the 1990’s
Educators can pretty well establish the
‘future history’ of higher education
through the year 2000. A decade of decline
in total number of college-eligible youth
(1986-1996) will precede slight increases
in the youth pool that will last into the next
century. Experts agree many of these
increases will be among minority groups.
What does this mean for Chowan?
During the next decade, as young people
become more scarce, colleges, including
Chowan, will intensify efforts to attract
bright, college-eligible youth.
SsafeM
In the I890's the landmark Columns Building provided offices,
classrooms, library and dormitory rooms for the campus.
1990’s
Marks Hall will undergo a facelift for the decade ahead.
Students in the 1990’s
Research through surveys of incoming
freshmen students indicate that while
students’ attitudes seem to be moving in a
conservative direction on the issues of
drugs and crime, their views on most other
issues are changing in a decidedly liberal
direction, according to Alex Astin,
professor of higher education at UCLA.
Students today also have increased en
vironmental concerns and believe the
government is not doing enough to control
environmental pollution. The leading
careers of choice among students continue
to be business, engineering, social studies,
education, and the arts and humanities, in
that order. Educators are very concerned
about teaching developmental classes, such
as reading, writing, and mathematics, on
the college level to compensate for lack of
skill development in high school. Chowan
also will be investigating a developmental
studies curriculum in the 1990’s.
Curricula in the 1990’s
Chowan Today asked department chair
men at Chowan to predict the future for
their departments in the 1990’s. Here are
some of the predictions:
Dorothy Wallace, chairman. Depart
ment of Business — Prognosticators tell us
that the 1990’s will continue the current
shift toward a service economy. In order
for business graduates to be successful in
this environment, they will need more of
what is referred to as “soft skills,” in ad
dition to the “hard skills”. Soft skills are
those difficult to quantify, such as skills in
communicating, organizing, forecasting,
and problem-solving. Hard skills are those
skills that are task-oriented. The faculty in
the Department of Business are constantly
seeking ways to integrate into their
teaching the soft skills that students must
learn to succeed in the business world in
the 1990’s.
Because of all the changes taking place
in business — the information explosion
that is already upwn us, technological ad
vancements, globlization, and more —
during the 1990’s, the Department of
Business at Chowan will continually
review its goals, curricula, teaching prac
tices, and achievements and seek to im
prove. Throughout the decade ahead, the
emphasis must be on quality rather than
mediocrity.
Warren Sexton, chairman. Department
of Social Sciences — Because of the in
creasing complexity of technology and
society in general, we expect there will be
an increased emphasis on helping students
develop skills that will enable them to in
terpret, analyze, and solve problems. The
growing influence of the non-Westem
world will make it necessary for us to
become more informed about the history
and culture of these countries.
It is imperative that greater emphasis be
placed on physical geography. Smdents
must develop their knowledge of locations
of the nations throughout the world where
important things are happening. It is essen
tial that our students become more con
scious of the problems facing the world en
vironment, and become willing to work to
find solutions to these problems.
The Department of Social Science ap
proaches the 1990’s with optimism con
cerning the opportunities the decade will
offer us. Members of the department are
committed to offering quality education
and believe we can help our students to be
able to build a better world for both the
present and the future.
Herman Gatewood, chairman. Depart
ment of Graphic Communications — The
Department of Graphic Communications
will continue to strive in the 1990’s to keep
abreast with the rapidly changing
technologies in the graphic com
munications fields. Emphasis will continue
to be placed on computer applications in
printing and publishing, as well as in
photographic areas, and efforts will be
made to install additional computer equip
ment in the instructional laboratories.
In an effort to prepare graduates for im
mediate employment after graduation
and/or transfer to a senior institution, the
graphic communications curricula will be
amended to include required internships
for printing and photography majors. This
minimum 10-week internship may be com
pleted during the summer vacation period,
or during a regular college semester, and
will provide the student much “hands on”
experience as well as an opportunity to
earn funds for college expenses.
Chowan Alumni in the 1990’s
Janelle Greene, of Rocky Mount,
president of the Chowan College Alumni
Board, is leading Chowan alumni into the
new decade, and has many hopes for
alumni in the future.
“Our Alumni Board, in the last five to
ten years, has played a significant role in
fund-raising, as well as providing
programs for the growth of Chowan
College awareness. I feel positive that the
Alumni Board will play an even greater in
tegral part at Chowan in the 1990’s, with
members serving as role models for
students graduating and wishing to return
as alumni. I would like to see more alumni
returning to the campus, and our Alumni
Loyalty Fund increase to even greater
goals. I believe we will see larger numbers
of alumni supporting the programs and ac
tivities of Chowan, and our new goal for
the coming decade will be, ‘the sky’s the
limit!’ ”