BCCC President Barbara Tansey to Retire in 2017 | Eastern North Carolina Now

    WASHINGTON, NC- Dr. Laura Staton, Beaufort County Community College board chair, accepted the retirement of BCCC President Barbara Tansey on August 2. In her letter to the board, Dr. Tansey announced her retirement was due to family obligations and would be effective May 31, 2017. Dr. Tansey has served as president of BCCC since June 2012.

    "Dr. Tansey has embraced change and brought innovation to the college," said Dr. Staton. "We have been lucky to have her as a leader and an advocate. It will be hard for us to find someone as dedicated and forward-thinking."

    During her tenure at BCCC, she led the charge to develop a public safety complex on the Beaufort County campus. With the help of the BCCC Foundation and the Beaufort County Commissioners, the college purchased 13 acres of land for the complex. This land now houses a new state-of-the-art fire training facility. This new facility allows for firefighters to train with live fire and confined spaces. The addition of the facility has led to the creation of a fire academy along with the Public Safety Weekend training series. Emergency responders in the region have expressed their appreciation for the expansion of programs.

    Dr. Tansey also worked with state legislators to consolidate services for Washington County, bringing the number of counties fully served by BCCC to four. This consolidation allowed for the opening of the Washington County Center in Roper, a 7,500 square-foot facility that features classrooms, computer workstations and a health science lab. The new center offers small business workshops; and computer skills, nurse aide, high school equivalency and defensive driving classes. With the addition of online classes and streaming services to new satellite locations, BCCC has more of a footprint in all of the four counties in its service area than it has before.

    Her commitment to the latest technology also brought about many changes around campus, even if they were invisible to students. This fall, the college will roll-out Self Service, a program that allows students to manage their own class schedules and registration. The college just switched its phones to a modern voice-over-IP system. The networks and servers have been upgraded, including network security. Documents are hosted through SharePoint, which reduces the amount of printing and filing that has to take place. The college now has all of its information backed up off-site so that in the event of a hurricane, all records and documents can be recovered. Dr. Tansey also oversaw the construction of a new electronic sign at the entrance of the college.

    Under her watch, BCCC has opened the Learning Enhancement Center where students can go to work on papers and projects and get help with their studies. Classrooms have been redesigned to facilitate cooperative learning and upgraded with new technology. A one-mile fitness trail was constructed around campus to encourage students, employees and community members to get healthy. Dr. Tansey helped create a student lounge, including a donated pool table, to encourage student life on campus.

    New programs were started, including an agribusiness program, and this fall will mark the beginning of a culinary program. The welding, mechatronics, mechanical engineering and automotive shops have both been remodeled and updated with technology that has kept up with the changing demands of private industries.

    Dr. Tansey is only the fifth person to serve as president of BCCC and the first woman to do so. A veteran educator, Dr. Tansey began her career as a teacher in rural Missouri and later became director of a program serving single-parent, displaced homemakers while she finished her doctorate. She worked several years as director of corporate training for an international construction company before accepting the position as a dean at Pima Community College in Tucson, AZ, and another position as a dean at Arapahoe Community College in Littleton, CO.

    Dr. Tansey is an avid gardener and a member of several local groups including the Board of Directors of the Beaufort County Economic Development Advisory Board. And a former member of the Board of Directors of the Washington/Beaufort County Chamber of Commerce. She holds bachelor's and master's degrees in education from Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, MO. She earned her doctorate from the School of Practical Arts and Vocational Education at the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO.

    Before her appointment as President of BCCC, Dr. Tansey served as vice president of academic and student services at Fayetteville Technical Community College for four years. Prior to her tenure at FTCC, she served more than three years as vice president of student learning at South Piedmont Community College in Polkton.

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