RALEIGH (March 17, 2016) – Once again, North Carolina voters affirmed their deep support for public higher education Tuesday, approving $2 billion in Connect NC bonds by a vote of 66% to 34%.1 More than two-thirds of the bonds will build capacity at public universities and community colleges across the state in high-demand fields: Medicine…. READ MORE
Voters Approve $350 Million for NC Community Colleges
Much-Needed Construction, Repair and Renovation to Begin at all 58 Colleges RALEIGH (March 16, 2016) – North Carolina voters approved Tuesday’s $2 billion bond referendum with nearly two-thirds supporting the infrastructure projects, including $350 million designated for North Carolina’s 58 community colleges. The vote marks the initial step in the first major infusion of capital… READ MORE
CONNECT NC: Don’t pass up an important decision
March 14, 2016 – Not long before an early-voting site in Raleigh closed Saturday, two blind women made their way, white canes in hand, to vote in the primary election and the Connect NC bond referendum. One was young, one was elderly. One white, one black. If they can do it, so can you. Don’t… READ MORE
Connect NC bonds would fill critical STEM needs
By Susan D. DeVore President & CEO, Premier, Inc. Trustee, UNC Charlotte According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, healthcare represents our nation’s largest and fastest growing employment sector, generating close to 20 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), and projected to increase 10.8 percent, adding 15.6 million more jobs, by 2022. By and… READ MORE
BONDS: NC ramps up for 10 million residents
You don’t add 2 million people without scaling up. Two million people have moved here since the last state bond referendum in 2000.1 The Connect NC bonds on the ballot Tuesday are a modest effort to build educational capacity for a state of 10 million people that’s now the 9th-largest. The bonds amount to $2… READ MORE
UNCW health professionals in demand as NC grows
WILMINGTON – The number of students at UNC Wilmington’s College of Health and Human Services has more than doubled since 2010, and the University expects even greater expansion in the years ahead. 1 That’s why the Connect NC bonds on the ballot March 15 would bring a much‐needed, $66 million upgrade to the University’s health… READ MORE
UNC Asheville fuses engineering and the arts
ASHEVILLE – Engineering at a liberal arts school? You bet. If North Carolina voters approve on March 15, $21 million from the Connect NC bond proposal will go to renovate two buildings at UNC Asheville and create collaborative space where engineering, art and management students will pursue interdisciplinary solutions to problems.1 Owen Hall is a… READ MORE
ECU Life Sciences: The intersection of education and jobs
GREENVILLE – The technology involved in East Carolina University’s proposed Life Sciences and Biotechnology Building is far from simple. But the goal isn’t. “We can make a major difference on Eastern North Carolina,” ECU Chancellor Steve Ballard says in the accompanying video. The Connect NC bonds on the ballot March 15 include $90 million for… READ MORE
$110M in bonds would help WCU science escape the ‘70s
CULLOWHEE – When Western Carolina University’s Natural Science Building was built in the 1970s, Western had 6,100 students – 15 studied nursing, and none studied engineering.1 But as students increasingly gravitate to high-demand, high-tech fields, WCU has 10,400 students today, more than 600 of them nursing or pre-nursing majors, 1,700 more in health and human… READ MORE
Connect NC and NC Community Colleges
If voters approve on March 15, North Carolina’s community colleges plan to use proceeds from the Connect NC bond package to help students fill jobs in each community they serve. The $2 billion bond proposal includes $350 million for construction, repairs and renovations at the state’s 58 community colleges.1 State officials stress that no tax… READ MORE