BSCTC

The Mountain Arts Center & Big Sandy Community & Technical College will proudly present the inaugural Appalachian Arts & Entertainment Awards, virtually, on Saturday March 20 at 7pm. Virtual tickets will be sold on cmh23.com for the ceremony.

The “Appys” represent 6 categories and 43 awards including best songwriter, best graphic artist, and best music educator. Contestants were included from 6 states of the 13 state Appalachian region.

A new dual credit course for high school juniors and seniors is being taught at Prestonsburg High School this semester. Audio Production I is a creative partnership between the Mountain Arts Center, Big Sandy Community & Technical College, and Floyd County Schools. The course is being taught at PHS and the MAC.

Big Sandy Community & Technical College (BSCTC) is pleased to announce Daniel K. Jeffries has won the 2020 Student Essay Contest with his work entitled "The Power of Hope." Jeffries will receive the $100 prize and an award certificate.

In writing his essay, in which he highlights the importance of forgiveness, Jeffries pulls from his studies in Comparative Religion, Introduction to Sociology and Anatomy and Physiology.

Morehead State University and Big Sandy Community and Technical College (BSCTC) signed a Memorandum of Agreement on Tuesday, February 18 affirming joint admission and reverse transfer for students between the institutions.

The program, known as Eagle Express, provides academic advising and admissions counseling for bachelor’s degree seeking students, from the beginning of their college careers at BSCTC to the point where they are ready to transition to MSU.

The Mountain Arts Center and Big Sandy Community & Technical College are pleased to officially announce the launch of an annual arts and entertainment awards event beginning in 2021.

The Appalachian Arts & Entertainment Awards or “The Appys” will seek to elevate the exceptional work of artists, musicians and industry people from the state of Kentucky and throughout the Appalachian region.

Dr. Denise King will become Big Sandy Community & Technical College’s provost/CAO on January 6, 2020.

Dr. King is currently vice-president for Academic Affairs at Cleveland State Community College in Chattanooga, TN. She is responsible for the administration, policies, integrity, budget and personnel of all instructional and workforce development programs and support services. She is also the primary liaison between faculty and administration.

Big Sandy Community & Technical College has been awarded the Strengthening Institutions Program (Title III) Grant.

The project entitled “Achieving Academic Excellence through Advisement, Apprenticeship and Academic Innovation” is for $2,250.000.00 spread equally over five years.

The work of renowned Appalachian artist Jeff Chapman-Crane is now on exhibit at the McCall Art Gallery of Big Sandy Community & Technical College. The exhibit runs from August 19 through October 11, and an opening reception will be held on August 27 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Jeff Chapman-Crane is a full-time professional artist from the southern Appalachian Mountains, where he has lived and practiced his art since the early 1970s. His art focuses on the culture of Appalachia, with an emphasis on portraits of mountain people.

Big Sandy Community & Technical College is pleased to announce the graduates of Skills U 2019. The commencement ceremony took place on the Mayo Campus on June 21, 2019.

Samantha and Regina love everything about motors. Samantha loves the outdoors and motorbikes, four wheelers, and side-by-sides. With her love of off-roading, scaling-the-side-of-hills adventurous spirit, she is earning a degree in Automotive Technology at Mayo Campus. Regina loves lightning- fast cars and a quarter-mile strip. She loves the sleek lines and aerodynamics of a dragster or a “digger”, and she, too, is earning a degree in Automotive Technology at Mayo Campus.

Big Sandy Community and Technical College (BSCTC) opened the doors to its Nursing Program recently to allow prospective students and community members a glimpse inside the program.

The Nursing Program began at the former Prestonsburg Community College (PCC) and graduated their first class in 1974 and has continued to graduate high demand well trained students since.  Several program graduates have made the Nursing program at BSCTC their home as they returned to become instructors.

Big Sandy Community and Technical College (BSCTC) and the Mountain Arts Center (MAC) will host a Night of Appalachian Storytelling at 6 p.m., Saturday, September 8 at the Gearheart Auditorium (One Bert T. Combs Drive) on the Prestonsburg campus of BSCTC.

The event is presented by Gearheart Communications and Appalachian Wireless.  Admission is $5 for adults and children under the age of 12 are free.  The event is family friendly.

Big Sandy Community & Technical College (BSCTC) and SilverLiner together with Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program (EKCEP), Big Sandy Area Community Action Program, and LKLP Community Action Council celebrated SilverLiner’s inaugural class of welders from the Workforce Solutions Welding Training on the Mayo campus.  

These students are well-trained and ready for a career in new and emerging industries in eastern Kentucky.

Big Sandy Community and Technical College’s (BSCTC) Human Services program and Community Garden held an Earth Day celebration on Saturday, April 22 on its Prestonsburg campus.

Rainy weather didn’t dampen the spirits of volunteers and visitors to the celebration, which included demonstrations on how to make potting soil, recycling, battery recycling, small-scale gardening and other sustainable efforts to better take care of the earth.

Big Sandy Community and Technical College (BSCTC) will host commencement ceremonies on May 5-6 at the Mountain Arts Center (MAC).

A ceremony for allied health (nursing, respiratory therapy, and dental hygiene) graduates will be held at 7 p.m., Friday, May 5. Ceremonies for all other graduates will occur at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., respectively, at the MAC.

Dr. Kathryn Miller, professor and coordinator of the Computer and Information Technologies program at Big Sandy Community and Technical College (BSCTC), was a recipient of the Horizon award at the Phi Theta Kappa state convention on Saturday, March 25 at Madisonville Community and Technical College.

Dr. Miller serves as an advisor for BSCTC’s Alpha Nu Zeta chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, alongside Diana Pack and Mark Wells.

Dr. Nancy B. Johnson, former provost of Big Sandy Community and Technical College (BSCTC), gave a guest lecture on leadership for the college’s Honors Program on Tuesday, March 28 on the Prestonsburg campus.

Dr. Johnson retired in 2016 after spending 38 years in higher education.  She started her career at Maysville Community and Technical College and came to BSCTC in 1998.  She served as provost from 2005 to 2016.

Myra Elliott, dean of academic services, said it is important for students to have a firm understanding of leadership.

The Kentucky Historical Society and Big Sandy Community and Technical College (BSCTC) will hold a special listening session to commemorate the 225th anniversary of Kentucky’s statehood at 2 p.m., Monday, April 17 in the Gearheart Auditorium on the Prestonsburg campus of BSCTC.

Dr. Stephanie Lang, associate editor of the Register of the Kentucky Historical Society and graduate of Prestonsburg Community College (now BSCTC), will facilitate an engaging discussion about what makes the Bluegrass State, when viewed through the lens of history, unique.

The Big Sandy Community and Technical College (BSCTC) Library Seminar Series will host its annual Women’s History Conference from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Friday, March 24 on the Prestonsburg campus.

The event is free and is open to the public.

Registration will be from 8 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. in the atrium of the Magoffin Building. The event will feature a variety of presentations, including:

• Dr. Shirley Thomas — Morbid, Injurious and Toxic Fashion Throughout History

• Professor Mike Austin — Social Media and the Pursuit of Happiness

When American Metal Works moved in machinery to launch its incubation site on the Mayo campus of Big Sandy Community and Technical College (BSCTC), they had a lot of wood available from the pallets that housed the Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machinery it purchased.

That was just another opportunity for the company and the college to collaborate.

The Diversity Committee at Big Sandy Community and Technical College (BSCTC) will host The Get Together: A Multicultural Symposium from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Thursday, March 30 on the Prestonsburg campus of the college (Johnson Building, Room 102).

The event is free and open to the public.

“Eastern Kentucky is a melting pot of diversity,” said Bobby McCool, dean of community development at BSCTC. “This is a day to celebrate, to learn and to understand that we are all working for a better eastern Kentucky.”

The EntreEd K-14: Every Student, Every Year program is a regional effort to drive entrepreneurship education in Appalachia. The program, funded through a three-year grant by the Appalachian Regional Commission’s POWER (Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization) funding, seeks to establish and strengthen relationships between K-12 schools and local community colleges to ensure participating schools deliver entrepreneurship education to every student in the building each school year.

  Second-year students in the Respiratory Therapy program at Big Sandy Community and Technical College (BSCTC) got hands-on experience with pediatric patients this past week as part of their Neonatal/Pediatric Respiratory Care course. 

Students practiced patient assessments on children ages eight months to 12 years old.  Following the assessments, the children learned about Respiratory Therapy and its role in the healthcare field.

Big Sandy Community and Technical College (BSCTC) was awarded a $3.5 million POWER (Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce Economic Revitalization) grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) to create a vibrant economic future in coal-impacted communities in eastern Kentucky.

Dr. Alan Scheibmeir, interim president of Big Sandy Community and Technical College (BSCTC), attended the board of directors meeting of One East Kentucky on Wednesday, January 18 on the Prestonsburg campus of BSCTC.

One East Kentucky is a non-profit, privately funded regional economic development organization that represents nine eastern Kentucky counties.  Its exclusive mission is to recruit industry and investment to the region.  One East Kentucky’s corporate offices are located on the Prestonsburg campus of BSCTC.

The National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE), the nation’s leading organization focused on promoting entrepreneurship through community colleges, and the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) will co-sponsor a regional summit for high school and college educators and community leaders in Appalachia who are interested in expanding entrepreneurship curriculum in the region. The summit, “Entrepreneurship in Appalachia,” will be held November 17-18, 2016 at Big Sandy Community and Technical College in Prestonsburg, Kentucky.

The staff and board of directors of the Mountain Arts Center, along with the City of Prestonsburg and Big Sandy Community & Technical College will be celebrating 20 years of delivering music and the arts to the community and eastern Kentucky. They will be hosting an anniversary gala on Thursday, October 20th at 7pm in the theater of the MAC.

Dr. Devin Stephenson, president of Big Sandy Community and Technical College, joined Governor Matt Bevin, Congressman Hal Rogers and other dignitaries at a news conference on Friday, September 16 in the Capitol Rotunda to announce that the Kentucky Wired project will be completed by mid-2019.

Kentucky Wired is the much-anticipated statewide fiber installation project.

Dr. Devin Stephenson, president of Big Sandy Community and Technical College (BSCTC), was a presenter at the Appalachian Region Commission’s (ARC) Aspire Appalachia Conference held on Wednesday, August 31 at the Millennium Centre.

The one-day event focused on collaborations in rural development.

“You cannot do this alone,” Dr. Stephenson told those in attendance. “It takes collaboration, motivation and an approach that focuses on results, not who gets the credit.”