S C T E CHN I CA L CO L L E G E S Y S T EM ’ S
F I R S T 5 0 Y EAR S
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The 1990s
A H I G H E R R O L E I N E D U C A T I O N
that the word ‘community’ says it all. I don’t see that changing
from ‘technical’ to ‘community’ college would cause us to veer
from our mission at all. By all definitions, we are a community
college.”
Dr. Fore understands the argument that “technical” makes the
colleges unique, but she has a complaint. “Across the street we’ve
got Miller-Motte Technical College. A student comes into this
area, and they see Horry-Georgetown Technical College, Mill-
er-Motte Technical College, and ITT. What differentiates us giv-
en they have that name? Community college is just more widely
understood across the United States and would help set us apart.”
In church one day Dr. Murph Fore saw a retired legislator who
knew of her stance. He told her, “I’m sorry that the technical col-
leges have sort of veered away from their original mission.”
“Being that I was sitting in church I didn’t want to argue with
him,” she said. “We’re not going to lose that, not Horry-George-
town Technical College. What we’ve been able to do is to open
the doors to many people who had never had an opportunity.
When I make that statement, I go back to the university transfer
programs where students can have a start that is going to make
them successful because they go on to the senior institutions and
do as well as the native students.” She pauses ... “The longer they
stay with us, the better they do when they go on to their senior
institution.”
Dr. Hudgins, however, believes “technical” is praiseworthy.
“That’s why I favored leaving ‘technical’ in and if I had thought
about it when I came to the board I would have asked for ‘Mid-
lands Technical Community College’ because that’s our history,
our legacy, and I’m very proud that we do technical work and that
we provide people for hands-on manufacturing.”
A LOCAL FLAVOR
The technical colleges enjoyed strong local support, and they
focused on what their home base needed. This pragmatic loyalty
contributed to course credit transfer problems. “Each college had
the personality of the area it served,” said Bill Dudley, who served
as the system’s executive director from 1976 to 1986. “Greenville
Technical College, say, would be different from Florence-Dar-
lington or Trident Technical College.”
The technical colleges were not hamstrung by rules and regu-
lations. If they saw a need, they would rise to the occasion. If an
area college or university dropped a program, nonetheless need-
ed, a technical college would pick it up. Dr. Murph Fore recalls
how the population explosion in the Myrtle Beach and George-
town area created a curriculum need.
“With the growth in the Myrtle Beach, Georgetown and sur-
rounding areas, there has been far more demand for healthcare
providers, and the hospitals and doctors have asked us to train
individuals in those professions.”
The turning point for Horry-Georgetown Technical College’s
healthcare provision came in the early 1990s when Coastal Caro-
lina decided it was not within its mission to offer an associate de-
gree in nursing. “They asked if we wanted that program,” said Dr.
Fore, “and we said we did. We admitted 48 students in that first
year, and from that day forward we have had over 300 students
in the program on an annual basis and at least 1,000 students
waiting to get in.”
Given such success Dr. Murph Fore finds the public percep-
tion of the technical college’s role in higher education perplexing.
“I don’t think people understand where we fit in higher educa-
tion. They feel we’re somewhere between high school and col-
leges. Even in the funding stream, they think we’re funded by
public education and they don’t understand that we are the first
two years. I even fight with my own faculty and staff: ‘Don’t say
we’re not transferable.’ Because even when you look at the cours-
es that aren’t on the list of 86 (transferable courses), don’t tell me
we’re not transferable. These are college courses. They are going
to transfer.”
