A potential technical program at Pratt Community College is in such demand that 17 students have pre-enrolled in it although it hasn’t been approved by the Kansas Board of Regents.
The Information Networking Technology Program was presented to the PCC Board of Trustees at their monthly meeting Monday night. They had to approve the program and it has to be sustainable. Program documentation is reviewed by KBOR and they decide if the school will offer the program, said PCC President William Wojciechowski, who anticipates no problem in the program getting approved.
The program will produce new working systems technicians in the information technology area. There are several other programs like this in the state but with the job demand there should be not problem recruiting and enrolling students in the program, Wojciechowski said.
Microsoft and SYSCO have certification programs that require a high level of knowledge, qualifications and skill in designing, managing, and maintaining computer network systems offered by this program.  
The average starting salary in this area is $25 per hour and in the four major metropolitan areas in Kansas there are 40,000 positions in this area. These job rank in the top 10 in the state and the nation for job openings, Wojciechowski said.
While the administration is in favor of the new technology program, it has some reservations about the proposed funding distribution formula. To some degree, the formula penalizes small rural colleges with low population basis, shrinking demographics and lower assess valuations.
The current formula will phase out the hold harmless clause in four years. The administration will support the formula if it contains a sunset clause requiring a review of the formula before the hold harmless provision is phased out. Without the sunset clause the administration will vote against the proposed formula.
“The demographics of college students continue to decline. That’s a situation other small community college face. If we were to have an enrollment decline of even a few percent, if no hold harmless provision built into funding formula, the cost to us could be as much as $400,000,” Wojciechowski said.
Several PCC chemistry students used a different formula and some applied research to transform used cooking oil into bio diesel. The students tested the fuel on various farm equipment diesel engines and discovered that 80 percent bio diesel was as good at pure diesel. They thought the regular diesel would burn hotter but there were just slight differences
“This is the kind of stuff that makes learning exciting,” Wojciechowski said.
The administration is formulating guidelines for naming buildings on campus. A policy to consider individual donor contributions over a period of time rather than a single contribution is also being considered. The PCC Foundation wants the authority to name unnamed residence halls on campus and that will be part of the guidelines.
A portion of the main building was named for former teacher Linda Hunt. Hunt was on the faculty for 27 years and $77,000 was contributed from her estate to PCC for the Sarah Novotny Scholarship that goes to female students that plan to continue to a four-year-institution after PCC.
The Trustees approved renaming the Learning Resource Center to the Linda Hunt Memorial Library.