Ivy Tech Chancellor Dr. Kim Barnett-Johnson was able to hear from community members Tuesday at a meet-and-greet event at the Warsaw site.
Barnett-Johnson, who took over the role of chancellor on Aug. 16, said Warsaw was the first meet-and-greet event she was attending in a series of them in October. She said she was excited to meet people in the community and get their ideas of Ivy Tech services.
The point of the events was so Barnett-Johnson could meet the community and they would hopefully be the beginning of many conversations, she said. She is also planning on setting up time to talk with Ivy Tech staff to get their ideas as well.
“There is a lot of opportunity available here. You know we have a lot of programs and things of that nature. We want to expand those programs and we want to make sure the community knows that we’re here and what we have to offer here. So there’s a lot of opportunity and we’re looking forward to it,” Barnett-Johnson said.
She said one of the ways she hopes to help Ivy Tech grow is to have community members on Ivy Tech’s advisory board. She hopes any community members on the board are open with their ideas.
When asked what she hopes to bring to the position of chancellor, she said she wants to continue some of the great things her predecessor has done. Barnett-Johnson said her focus is going to be partnering with K-12 schools.
“Studies have shown us that if we make contact with young people early and you know, get them engaged in possible careers and things of that nature, then they most likely will follow through and go on and get those certifications or whatever they need. And so I want to increase the partnerships with K-12 and open up opportunities to meet them in their schools to offer courses or possibly even have them on campus to offer some classes,” she said.
She said the sky is the limit, so if there’s other ways Ivy Tech can partner with schools to increase the awareness of children on different careers, she’s open to suggestions.
She said one of the reasons she was having the meet-and-greet events was to find out what people wanted to have available in their community.
“And once I get that information, we’ll start doing some planning and things around those,” she said.
She said Ivy Tech serves 11 counties and her goal is to provide something unique for each of those counties, “so whatever each of those counties are saying they would like to see happening, I’m hoping to be able to provide that.”
Barnett-Johnson said the class aspect is very important, but she wants to grow Ivy Tech more.
“I want to be connected in the community. I want to be able to go into the community and provide services if there’s a need for us to provide those services, as well as bring people on campus to take classes and things of that nature,” Barnett-Johnson said.
