Dr. Sonny White, President of Midlands Technical College

By Alan Cooper

MidlandsBiz:

As you reflect on eight years as president of Midlands Technical College (MTC), what are you most proud of?

Dr. Sonny White:
We have achieved a great deal at Midlands Technical College over the past decade, but you don’t get results without having the right people in place. I am the proudest of the people: the faculty, the staff, and the commissioners. Everyone has rallied behind a mission and a vision to transform the lives of people who otherwise would not get the skills and education to earn the great careers that exist in the Midlands and in South Carolina.

I am proud that we have earned three national awards. We recently attended the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) annual convention where, out of 1,300 community colleges in the nation, we received a top national award for the relationships that we have established with local companies. To me, that’s the most important thing we do for the community. We produce the pipeline of educated and skilled people that go to work in these great businesses.

We also received the equity and diversity award at the AACC Trustees meeting. That is tremendously important, too. It is critical for us to have a diverse faculty and staff and to educate and train people from a wide background.

The third thing that I am very proud of is that during our accreditation process we had zero recommendations. Less than one-tenth of one percent of all colleges and universities in the country ever get that recognition.

MidlandsBiz:
How is Midlands Technical College different today from when you first took office as President?

Dr. Sonny White:
There are three key ways that Midlands Technical College is different today: access, talent pipeline, and financial stability.

First, Midlands Technical College has greatly increased access for students in the three counties it serves: Richland, Lexington and Fairfield counties. New facilities have helped us increase our enrollment and attract students.

We now have a new Engineering, Technology and Sciences building on our Northeast Campus that serves the nuclear industries and advanced manufacturing industries in our area. We built a new theater on our Harbison Campus that attracts 20,000 people a year and helps us train students in theater and the science and technology of film. We put up two new facilities, one in a rural community in Batesburg-Leesville, and the other in Fairfield County. Additionally, we were able to build an MTC Center at Batesburg-Leesville High School and one at Fairfield Central High School.

The more than 100-acre Enterprise Campus at Midlands Technical College, part of the MTC Northeast property, now presents an innovative opportunity for enhancing economic development by recruiting and retaining regional business expansions through public-private partnerships. The MTC Center of Excellence for Technology is the anchor facility on the Enterprise Campus. This 50,000-square-foot facility is one of the Southeast’s largest and most advanced metalworking training facilities.

We have plans to build a new skilled craft center on the Airport Campus, which will start this fall to support the construction and advanced manufacturing industries. We are building a new Success Center on the Beltline Campus, too.

Second, the most critical thing that we do is to produce the talent pipeline for our great customers in the Midlands. There is no economic development discussion that happens in the Midlands that doesn’t involve Midlands Technical College. We are proud of that.

Michelin has expanded and invested close to a billion dollars in Lexington County. Their manufacturing facility is now Michelin’s largest in the world, and it’s the largest tire manufacturing facility in South Carolina. We sat down with Michelin over the course of a year-and-a-half, working with two local school districts in Lexington County, and developed a model that would ensure them the pipeline of reliable technicians they need for the future. The Michelin Scholars program pays students half time while they work and hires them out of school at $50,000 a year. Michelin has taken and used that model not only in other parts of our state, but throughout the nation.

Since 2008, we have worked with South Carolina Electric & Gas Company to increase the pipeline of nuclear operators. We are now graduating about 20 nuclear operators per year who can work at their two new nuclear facilities in Fairfield County.

BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina has 7,000 to 8,000 employees in the Midlands area. Half of their employees are insurance technologists. Every year, BlueCross BlueShield will hire computer engineers from USC, Clemson, The Citadel and colleges from outside of South Carolina. After they hire them, they bring them to us and we give them hands-on training for six months to a year so BlueCross can put them to work.

Third, we have achieved much greater financial stability. Our staff and commissioners have worked hard to find new ways to keep tuition costs reasonable. We sought out and received a $50 million grant from the Department of Labor. We also earned grants from the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Importantly, we have made a great effort to increase what we do with our Foundation. We will be starting a new capital campaign in the not too distant future to support our college.

MidlandsBiz:
Going forward, what are the three biggest challenges MTC faces in the future?

Dr. Sonny White:
Our main challenge still remains that a workforce-talent pipeline must be met for the future. We have made great progress in this area, but we need to stay the course. The Affordable Care Act means that we will need more nurses as well as surgical technicians and physical therapy technicians. In the energy industry, the facilities that are being built in Fairfield County are going to need support in a broad range of areas.

Another big challenge is our own leadership succession planning. We need to make sure that we have qualified leadership to guide us into the future. That starts with finding a new president and having talented people fill our executive council. A lot of department heads and managers within the college will be leaving in the next five years so it is important we find the right replacements while maintaining diversity on our staff.

The third big challenge for us is that we have to continue to focus on our customers, both our higher education customer as well as the ultimate hiring customer. More and more students are looking at Midlands Technical College as an affordable first choice for higher education. Many come here and go through our college before transferring to the University of South Carolina, Columbia College, Allen University, Benedict College, or South Carolina State University.

Several years back we started a Gamecock Gateway, a collaborative bridge program that allows our students to earn a degree at the University of South Carolina. Over the past two years, we have had 160 students in the program. This year, it’s going to be 350 students. Students coming through the Gamecock Gateway have a very high success rate when they transfer to the University of South Carolina because we offer small classes and academic advisors who work closely with the students.

The critical thing for us right now is to get the message out to potential students, both adults and K-12, about the great jobs and careers that exist here in the Midlands.   A big opportunity exists right now to rebrand ourselves and to market ourselves in a way that we have never done before. Higher education is changing. There are massive online open courses (MOOCS) and growing competition from both the private and for-profit side. Parents, students, counselors, teachers, and the adults all have to understand that Midlands Technical College is a great first choice for education.

Dr. Sonny White from MidlandsBiz on Vimeo.