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| S C T E CHN I CA L CO L L E G E S Y S T EM ’ S
F I R S T 5 0 Y EAR S
ROSIE THE RIVETER MEETS
CAKE DECORATORS
Why? “Because they’re standing there with a tube of stuff ooz-
ing out, and they’ve got to continually move,” said Montez Mar-
tin. “Once you start, you’ve got to go all the way. And they contin-
ually move, and they have to make this series of loops and turns
and twists, and one has got to look like the other one because two
cakes are probably going to be side by side in a case. So when you
look at it, it’s got to look like it has come out of a machine, but the
machine is a human machine.”
“I just stood there flabbergasted. And so, you know, it also
plays into the feminine side. I think the aircraft manufacturers
found out in WWII with Rosie the Riveter that women could do
a better job than men. I sure as the devil couldn’t do that. There
wasn’t a single job they trained for out there that I saw that I said,
‘Oh, I can do that.’”
Without doubt, Boeing is the system’s high-water mark so far.
It’s big in so many ways and big, yes, physically. Martin said Boe-
ing’s four-story plant is 15 acres under a roof.
“You walk in and you go, where does this thing end? You just
stand in awe.”
In 2008, a budget-gashing axe hacked away at state govern-
ment. The cuts went deep, through the bone into marrow, de-
stroying agency budgets and plans. Swinging the axe? Millions
of revenue which never materialized. Many blamed a faltering
economy. “No, tax cuts spilled the red ink,” said some. “The state
spent above its means,” said others.
Regardless of the cause—perhaps all the above and more—
by December 3, 2008, the state had slashed $621 million from
its budget. System president Barry Russell quipped that 2008’s
tough cuts helped ease him out the door. “That experience made
my retirement transition much easier than it might have been
otherwise. Those were not the most pleasant days of my career.
But as folks say, ‘you play the hand you’re dealt.’ It was my turn
in the system office when this happened, but it was devastating
on so many levels.”
The universities took cuts as well, but had other sources of
revenue, one of which is persona non grata in the state board:
tuition hikes. Not so in the colleges. “One of the things that has
made this system so effective and great over the years from its
inception is that we have always prided ourselves on being ac-
cessible,” said Russell. “That’s, for me anyway, one of the corner-
stones of what makes a technical college work; being accessible
to everyone without any regard for their ability to pay.”
“The colleges were able to offset some of it through an in-
crease in tuition, which bothered me greatly,” said Russell. “I hat-
ed to see that happen, but the alternative would’ve been to shut
down programs, which is not a good alternative.”
The colleges were able to offset some of the cuts. Not so
much the system office governed by the state board. “Over eigh-
teen months we went through three major RIFs (reductions in
force),” said Russell. “Just agonizing. We ended up having to
reduce our workforce in the system office by about one-third.
Good people who had been in this system and contributed to it
The 2000s
F L Y I N G H I G H
2005 2006
2005:
General Assembly passed the
Education and Economic
Development Act (EEDA)
, asking technical colleges to provide
seamless transition to postsecondary education.
2006:
Barry Russell was named executive director. The Allied
Health Initiative was created to address workforce shortages in
the healthcare industry.
