Meet The New President Of Bristol Community College

NEW BEDFORD- The newest President of Bristol Community College Laura Douglas held a meet-and-greet at the Purchase Street campus in New Bedford today. Invited to the event were students, community, and business leaders who were given the opportunity to meet the new leader of the community college.

Douglas spoke with WBSM News at the event and said that the areas developing economy will make aligning the local workforce needs with the classes offered at BCC a focus for her.

"This is a changing area economically, growing and developing in a lot of ways," Douglas said. "So we can't do business we've always done business, and we also need to make sure our program inventory- those are the majors that we have, the short term trainings, the long term trainings. We have to make sure that those programs are aligned with our workforce needs."

Douglas also explained the goals for growth of BCC within the community.

"One of my primary goals in this community is to raise the educational levels of our community members. We really need to develop a culture that is focused on going to college."

"Todays jobs need college, some college, not necessarily four years of college. In order for this community to really rise up economically, that is a really important part of our growth and development," she said.

Douglas said that it has been her dream to become the President of a Community College for over twenty years, and expressed pride in overcoming what she calls a challenge for women in college administration, citing a new statistic that says 30% of women in the United States work on college administration staffs.

Douglas is scheduled to appear at the Fall River campus tomorrow for a final meet-and-greet. She visited the Fall River and Taunton campuses earlier this week as part of BCC's Workforce Education Initiative.