Alabama Community College System

The Alabama Community College System thanks all who have fought for our freedom as we celebrate Independence Day, including, from left, ACCS Central Region Director of Adult Education Dr. Kathleen Jones and ACCS Chancellor Jimmy H. Baker! Happy Fourth of July!

Wallace Community College is offering a drone training course. One student, Andrew Arnold, has already received his drone pilot license thanks to Dothan’s Wallace Community College. He is now a certified Unmanned Aircraft Systems Remote Pilot after taking courses through the college’s criminal justice program. The course is to prepare people to take the Federal Aviation Administration Drone Pilot Licensure exam. “Wallace Community College is a community college. We work for our industries and our partners and our community, so we can accommodate different types of training, different types of requests,” said Martha Compton, the Associate Dean of Career and Technical Education at Wallace Community College.

We're proud to share the story of Delanie Richardson, a Coastal Alabama Community College alumna, who saved 15-year-old Lulu Gribbin's life after a shark attack in Rosemary Beach. Delanie's quick thinking and nursing skills were crucial in applying a tourniquet to Lulu's arm. Our hearts go out to Lulu and her family. Read Delanie's moving account on Rick Karle Good News, where she credits her education at Coastal Alabama for her preparedness. Join us in applauding Delanie for her extraordinary courage and skill!

Thank you to Lindsay Cline, the Gulf Coast Lead as the Submarine Industrial Workforce Program Manager, for presenting today at the 2024 Adult Education Conference! Lindsay earned her GED at Gadsden State before earning postsecondary degrees at Jacksonville State and Auburn University! Lindsay C. Gadsden State Community College

🎉🚜 Central Alabama Community College (CACC) proudly congratulates the inaugural group of veterans who completed our Skid Steer Operator Training at Dovetail Landing! 🚜🎉 This program represents our commitment to offering opportunities for personal and professional growth to those who have served our country. We are excited to continue our partnership with Dovetail Landing and to support the ongoing development of valuable skills within our community. Thank you to all who contributed to this program's success. We look forward to many more successful training sessions! #CACC #SkidSteerTraining #Veterans #DovetailLanding #WorkforceDevelopment #SkillsForSuccess

☀️ Splish, splash, and tons of laughs! Our Thomasville campus ambassadors are diving into the 2024-2025 year with some epic water games and team-building fun.

ACCS ALUM SPOTLIGHT: For more than 60 years, Alabama’s community colleges have provided more than just an education. They’ve been the framework for family traditions and legacies, including the family tree for Dr. Susan Williams Brown! Dr. Brown has taught mathematics at Gadsden State Community College for 34 years. She currently serves as the Alabama Education Association President and was named the National Education Association’s 2024 Educator of the Year in April. A Sardis High School and Snead State Community College graduate, Brown has been an instructor for 44 years, teaching part-time for Snead State and working part-time at Shelton State Community College, in addition to her Gadsden State career. She’s also taught full-time at the University of Alabama and Auburn University. From Williams’ mother to her siblings to her cousins, Snead State and Gadsden State have been important chapters of the family’s story. “Community colleges give you confidence to succeed, whether you want to be a welder or a math teacher. Community colleges care about their students. It’s accessible. It’s community. You see the instructors at the grocery store and can have a conversation. You run across the Snead State Singers performing at the Harvest Festival in Boaz or the Gadsden State band at an event in Gadsden,” Williams said. “Snead State is part of our family’s legacy. It is indeed more than an education. It allowed my siblings and I to achieve things we otherwise might not have.” The community college roots for Williams’ family rewind to the early 1940s when her mother Mary Ruth Perry Williams attended Snead State when it was once known as a seminary college. Williams’ oldest sister, Elizabeth Kathleen Williams Amos, attended Snead State around 1964. Amos’ son and grandson both attended Snead State, establishing four generations to enroll in courses at the college. Williams’ sister, Lisa Jane Williams Smith, attended Snead State and Gadsden State, graduating from Gadsden State before transferring to Auburn University. Lisa Smith is currently a NASA engineer at Marshall Space Flight Center. Williams’ brother, Timothy Wayne Williams, attended Snead State in the late 1970s before transferring to Auburn University, where he earned an engineering degree. His son, Daniel Lamar Williams, also attended Snead State from 2012-2014, marking three generations to take classes at the college. Williams’ brother-in-law, John Andrew Smith, majored in pre-engineering at Southern Union State Community College before transferring to Auburn University and UAH to become a mechanical engineer. Her husband Ronald Eugene Brown graduated from Gadsden State in 2002, ultimately working for Honda Manufacturing as an engineer. “Alabama’s community colleges empower students, no matter where they’re at in life. It can empower a first-generation student or someone looking to earn a nursing degree. It can empower a family like it has ours,” Williams said.

"Passport to Success" is the theme of the 2024 Adult Education Conference, held this week in Montgomery and hosted by the ALABAMA ASSOCIATION FOR PUBLIC CONTINUING AND ADULT EDUCATION! The Alabama Community College System offers multiple avenues for success for Alabamians through Adult Education - Alabama Community College System, Skills for Success and much more! ACCS Chancellor Jimmy Baker and David Walters, ACCS Vice Chancellor of Adult Education, Special Projects, & System Initiatives, were among today's speakers.

Dr. Anika Lodree, Dean of Student Services, represented SSCC last week at Rickwood Field as each HBCU in Alabama was celebrated during the MLB events honoring the Negro League. Dr. Lodree took the field with other HBCU representatives during the Birmingham Barons and Montgomery Biscuits game on Tuesday, June 18.

As demand from employers for transportation and material moving jobs continues to increase throughout the state, Alabama community and technical colleges play a vital role in training workers to meet those needs. “Over the past five years, there hasn’t been any indication of a shortage in these fields,” says Barry May, executive director of workforce and economic development for the Alabama Community College System (ACCS). “In fact, demand has remained consistently high and has continued to grow each year. This suggests a sustained need for trained professionals in transportation and logistics, which should also lead to a steady growth in the salaries associated with these careers.” Skills for Success training is mentioned in this article in addition to practices at J F Ingram State Technical College, Lawson State Community College, Wallace State Community College - Hanceville and Bevill State Community College! Alabama Trucking Association