First Posted: 1/13/2015

LUMBERTON — Three rooms at Robeson Community College that will be used to provide health care students with life simulation training will be operating within two months, according to college Vice President Channing Jones.

Jones told the college’s board of trustees Monday that the rooms where state-of-the-art mannequins will be used to give students hands-on training should be open “as early as next month and no later than March.”

The $250,000 in renovations are being funded through a $25 million grant RCC is sharing with five other community colleges. The Better Occupational Outcomes with Simulated Training grant is provided through the U.S. Department of Labor.

Other renovations under way at the college include roofing on Building 8, located on RCC’s main campus, and carpet installation in the administration building. According to Vice President Alphonso McRae, 50 percent of the new carpet will be installed this weekend and the rest on Jan. 25 and Jan. 26.

In other business, the trustees on Monday:

— Heard a brief enrollment update from Pamela Hilbert, the college’s president. Although the spring semester figures are not final, Hilbert said it appears that spring enrollment will be about 1,725 students, down from the fall enrollment of 1,900 students.

“This is the national trend,” Hilbert said. “Undergraduate enrollments are down at colleges and universities across the country except in metropolitan areas.”

According to Hilbert, RCC is trying to recruit new students and maintain those already attending. A committee has been formed, she said, to improve marketing efforts.

— Heard a brief report about the college’s chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. The presentation was made by Shamella Cromartie and Louis McIntyre, RCC staff chapter advisers, and RCC student Darious Johnson, the chapter’s president.

Phi Theta Kappa is an honor society for community college students. To be a member a student must have a 3.5 grade- point average or higher. Currently, there are 28 members of the society on campus at RCC.

Johnson, who eventually wants to become a pediatrician, said his goal as president of Phi Theta Kappa is to increase membership and involve the society in community activities.

— Swore in new trustee John Armstrong, a retired banker from Lumberton. Armstrong was recently appointed to the board by Gov. Pat McCrory. He replaces longtime trustee Tommy Wellington, who resigned.

Also present at Monday’s meeting was newly appointed trustee Paul McDowell. McDowell, a resident of Maxton and a former Maxton police chief, was appointed by the Robeson County Board of Commissioners and will be sworn in after he files all necessary papers with the state. McDowell replaces Lillie McKoy.