Published on: Monday, Nov 21, 2005
FTCC honors Harry Shaw
Published on: Monday, Nov 21, 2005
FTCC honors Harry Shaw
Henry Rankin went to Harry F. Shaw in 1969 and asked if he would serve on Fayetteville Technical Community College's Board of Trustees.
Shaw
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The board needed some younger members, Rankin said. Thirty-six years later Shaw - eight days shy of his 79th birthday - is still on the board. He was the board's president for 29 years. The college honored Shaw on Sunday, naming its new $6 million virtual learning center in his honor. Shaw, with a characteristic chuckle and smile, tried to give others the credit."I was along for the ride," Shaw told a crowd of admirers shortly before cutting the ribbon. "The ride never stopped. It just got better and better," he said.
State Sen. Tony Rand told Shaw, "You have been an advocate for everything good on this campus." The Harry F. Shaw Virtual College Center is across the street from the Tony Rand Student Center.FTCC President Larry Norris praised Shaw's commitment to the college and the community college system.Norris said Shaw focused on three key factors to help make the Fayetteville campus among the state's best:
Harry F. Shaw stands at a podium and talks about
the new FTCC building bearing his name, The Harry F. Shaw Virtual College
Center is dedicated Sunday afternoon. The center brings all of the
college’s distance learning programs under one roof.
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"He set high expectations," Norris said. Making FTCC a people's college means the door is open to students - regardless of whether it is on campus or at home, said Shaw. He helped FTCC become a state leader in offering courses over the Internet.
FTCC offered its first two Internet courses in 1995, a year before the rest of the state system. There were 12 students taking freshman English composition and introduction to business. The Harry F. Shaw Virtual College Center brings all of FTCC's "distant learning" options under one roof.
More than 8,000 students - including U.S. Army soldiers stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq - take courses online. The community college offers 13 degrees online. College officials say they expect those numbers to increase because of the opportunities offered at the new building.
"Shaw's instructions to me were simple," said Bob Ervin, the associate vice president for learning technologies. "Don't you mess this up!"The new building has 15 classrooms, 26 offices, a video-conference center and a television studio. The physical layout can change. Ervin took Shaw's advice. There are no permanent interior walls.
It's a building designed, not for the students of 2005, but for those of 2025, Norris said.
Staff writer Don Worthington can be reached at worthingtond@fayettevillenc.com or 486-3511