Dr. Thurman Brock was a part of Craven Community College's story from the very beginning. His first day on the job was Aug. 15, 1961 as the inaugural Director of Vocational Education for Craven County Schools. He went on to become the College's first president, serving April 23, 1968–December 31, 1989.
To help preserve his institutional knowledge from those early years, Dr. Brock wrote an 18-part history of the College in 1984-85 for the school newspaper, "The Panther."
On August 9, 1977, a special call meeting of the Board of Trustees was held to review a report of the Long-Range Planning Committee, chaired by Mr. Lynn Kelso. Dr. Braughn Taylor, Director of Development, had worked with Mr. Kelso and his committee in the development of a plan for further campus construction.
The plan was approved and included the construction of a science building, a general classroom building with shops, a fine arts building with an auditorium, a student center, and physical education building. An estimate of the cost was $11 million. It was a plan for the orderly development of the College from the period 1977 through 1986. The plan called for $5 million in local funds and $5 million in stat funds and $1 million in federal funds.
The preceding plan did not call for the construction for the Learning Resource Center. This was also in the planning stages to be constructed with federal (EDA), state, and local funds. Construction of the LRC was critical since our continent upon the library space is contained to adequately satisfy accreditation standards.
Fiscal year 1977 began with Dr. Charles Barker as the new Board Chairman, and Mr. James Gavin was elected Vice-Chairman. Both men worked hard on the development of the plan with total support of the College Board. However, the plan did not materialize because the county commissioners would not allow the College to hold a bond referendum in the amount of $5 million to help finance the plan.
College Board members who served on the planning committee in addition to Mr. Kelso were Mr. Sidney French, Mr. Ernest Richardson, and Mr. Charles Denham, Mr. James Gavin, and Charles Barker. Employees of the College who worked with the Trustees as a committee were: Dr. Braughn Taylor, Chairman; Ms. Barbara Bain Dr. Sam Cunningham; Mrs. Jean Hemphill; Dr. Mike Henderson; Ms. Rosie Joyner; Mr. Wayne Neel, Dr. Steve Redd; Mrs. Edna Barrett; and Jim Wrenn.
The committee held 11 meetings from Jan. 26, 1977, through June 6, 1977, when Dr. Taylor and his committee made its recommendations to the Long-Range Planning Committee of the Board of Trustees. In that report, the committee had projected that the College FTE (full-time equivalent) curriculum enrollment was just 26 less than that figure, with FTE of 1,586 in 1987.
The enrollment came despite the fact that the College had only constructed one building during this period – the Learning Resources Center. It is appropriate to the point out that the projected 1,612 FTE was based upon the construction of additional buildings on campus to accommodate new curriculum programs as well as provided adequate space for existing programs. Adequate space continues to be our biggest problem today and the construction of Building D and E will hardly allow us to keep up.
Building D will house the Machinist, Electronics Engineering Program Technology and Cosmetology programs and Building E will provide room for growing programs in Business Computer Programming, Computer Office Automation Technology, and Fine Arts. The two buildings will allow carpentry and masonry programs housed off campus to move into space vacated in Building C.
Craven Community College will be 20 years old July 1, 1990. We operated as a unit of Lenoir Community College through April 1968, when Craven Technical Institute began operating as an independent institution with its own Board of Trustees. In my opinion, the continued number of students served is an outstanding job for Craven County.
However, the construction of only three buildings during the past 24 years has been a handicap that has limited the capacity of the College to serve the county as well as it could. Despite the handicap, I would like to commend the faculty and staff who worked hard and long hours to provide our students with the best training and education possible. I congratulate them and count it a pleasure and a privilege to work with all of these fine individuals.
The students of the College have been the real losers in this situation of inadequate facilities. There are also untold numbers of students who have not been served because we have not offered the kind of curriculum programs they needed or desired. Also, our service to the business and industrial community has been severely limited due to the availability of appropriate space on campus.
A critical need on campus is an adequate student center. Our students are forced to use the hallways or sit in their cars during the time between classes. This is not fair to our students, and this situation should be corrected as soon as possible. The next building planned (after the General Lee Anderson Athletic Center) for the college would provide a Student Center; however, funding has not yet been secured.
Despite these adverse conditions, the College continues to do well. It will continue to grow as the population of the county grows. Our Board is working hard to make Craven Community College the kind of institution it should be and to provide the educational services within our mission that people of Craven County deserve.