LUMBERTON — The fifth president of Robeson Community College told its trustees Monday that a week into her new job, it is everything that she had hoped it would be.
“This is just as wonderful a place as I thought it would be and I’m enjoying settling in,” said Kimberly Gold, who became president Jan. 3. “I’ve been making the rounds and becoming acquainted with faculty and students.”
Gold replaces Pamela Hilbert, who retired on June 30. Gold most recently served as the executive vice president and chief academic officer at Isothermal Community College in Spindale, which serves Rutherford and Polk counties.
The trustees unanimously agreed that a reception should be held for the new president on Feb. 13 so she can officially be introduced to faculty members, students and community members. The reception will be held from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., followed at 6:30 p.m. by the regular monthly meeting of the trustees. The reception site has not been determined.
Gold told the trustees Monday that it appears RCC’s spring student enrollment will equal or top last year’s spring enrollment. As of 1 p.m. Monday, 1,504 students were signed up for spring classes. On the first day of spring classes in 2016, 1,571 students were enrolled.
“It looks like we are equalling out,” Gold said. “I’m very pleased about that.”
All the students for the spring semester have not yet registered, Gold said. The number of enrolled students is expected to rise when high school students participating in RCC’s Career and College Promise program are enrolled, which should happen soon. These are public school students who are taught by RCC instructors in their high schools.
In other business, trustees were informed by Gold and Eddie Moore, chairman of the trustees’ Building and Grounds Committee, that some “heating issues” need to be addressed at RCC facilities in COMtech business park in Pembroke.
“We are working to correct the problems,” Gold said. “We have moved some of the students out to other locations. We want them to have a comfortable environment in which to learn.”
The trustees on Monday also:
— Were told by Kyle Chavis, chairman of the board’s Finance Committee, that there is $60,000 available in this year’s budget to be used to give RCC staff a one-time pay bonus. The money is available because the state has not required RCC this year to revert back any of its budget allotment, Chavis said.
Chavis said the issue of how the money should be dispersed will be brought before the trustees during their Feb. 13 meeting.
— Received an update from attorney Charles Floyd on the status of RCC’s plan to borrow almost $3 million to hire Brady Trane Company, of Morrisville, to make energy saving improvements to RCC’s buildings on the main campus in Lumberton and at COMtech.
