‘Getting everyone’s act together is key to NMC’s success’

Northern Marianas College president Sharon Hart brought her message of making the college an “engine of economic growth in the region” to the Saipan Rotary Club yesterday, saying this could only be achieved if all stakeholders come together and move in the same direction.

As featured speaker for yesterday’s meeting, Hart said that successful community colleges throughout the U.S. mainland “have their act together,” which means having legislative appropriations and the support of the business sector in their communities.

“We’ve got to make sure that we are very involved in the community and the community is [coming] together. …The college needs to be there and to be part of the equation,” said Hart, who also pointed out that “a lot of it rests in appropriations.”

Although NMC is on probation with the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, Hart said small island institutions such as NMC “have some challenges that I think sometimes are just inherent in the institution or the community you serve.”

According to Hart, NMC is currently “moving forward.”

“Let me just say if I could that, in my opinion, we are absolutely going in the right direction and that hopefully, by October when we have our next report due and the team coming out, we’ll continue to move forward and continue to climb the ladder,” she said.

Hart added that they’re “hoping to ultimately get out of probation here in just a matter of a couple of months.”

She noted that the NMC also needs to do a better job of “selling” the benefits that the island community gets from its only community college.

“We’ve got to paint a stronger picture of what we are doing, who we are serving, and the economic impact that we have in this region,” said the college president.

According to Hart, statistics shows that a student who attends and graduates from a community college has a higher grade point average compared to a student from a big university.

While Hart underlined the need for NMC to provide more options to students, she admits that it “could not be everything to everyone.”

“We don’t have the resources now, we will never have those resources. But what we can do, we can partner with other institutions to bring [more] programs here. We could also serve as a gateway to help students if they’re interested in going elsewhere, we help them in that transition,” she said.

Hart, who served as deputy president of the University College of the Caribbean, said she is “absolutely thrilled” to be with NMC, which she said has dedicated faculty, staff, and board.

During her remarks, Hart also acknowledged NMC staffer Frankie Eliptico, longest-serving college president Agnes McPhetres, NMC Foundation president Ben Babauta, and presidential search committee member David Sablan.

Hart, who is a Rotarian from four different clubs in Wisconsin, Connecticut, and North Dakota, added that she would like to be involved with community service during her stay on island.