Good morning and congratulations. Dr. Ray Hoy, thank you for the invitation to share in this celebration with you, your dedicated faculty, staff and board, your talented students, and your proud neighbors in Worcester, Wicomico and Somerset Counties.
Governor O’Malley and I have set ambitious goals for Maryland. Goals which are guided by our values that there is more that unites the people of this state than divides us, that an honest day’s work deserves an honest day’s pay, that we ought to cherish the dignity and contribution of each person.
So we’re working with partners from all reaches of this One Maryland to meet our goals, which are to strengthen and grow our middle class and our family owned businesses and our farms. To improve public safety and public education for all Marylanders. And to expand opportunity for Marylanders of all walks to earn, to learn and to enjoy the health of the people they love as well as the natural beauty we cherish in this State.
And I want to recognize several of those leaders who embody and share our One Maryland philosophy. Wicomico County Council President John Cannon and Worcester County Commissioners President James Pernell. Delegates Page Elmore, Jeannie Haddaway, Jim Mathias. And, of course, one of Wor-Wic’s biggest supporters in Annapolis and the man who brings home the bacon, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Delegate Norm Conway. Thank you all for welcoming me, once again, to our gorgeous Eastern Shore.
It’s a distinct privilege to be a part of this morning’s dedication. This really is a spectacular building: 12 new classrooms; 3 computer labs; a state-of-the-art resource center; labs built specifically for the culinary arts and hotel, motel, and restaurant management. Truly, a spectacular facility.
We’re not here today to celebrate just a building though. Today’s ceremony is about more than bricks and mortar. It’s about something larger than the new lecture room and the department offices. This is a time to celebrate the first day of what I’m sure will be a long-running success story not just at this college or on this cherished Eastern Shore, but a story for our One Maryland.
Last week, in Ocean City, Governor O’Malley reminded us of the tremendous opportunities in Maryland, opportunities that are ours for the taking if we show the ability to advance along three fronts:
First, sustainability. Environmental preservation, energy conservation, ‘Smart Growth’ policies that ensure that our development reflects the character of our state and not the other way around.
Second, security integration so that our criminal justice system, indeed, resembles and acts as a system rather than parallel lines, parallel cultures and datasets that never meet.
And, lastly, the reason we’re here today: a commitment to people-driven, workforce creation. We’ll build and expand our workforce and it will be a workforce that is healthy, that is mobile and that is skilled and educated.
Governor O’Malley and I, and I know each of you, share the belief that we start the process of equipping and expanding our workforce by investing in education – education at all levels. So we were proud to provide $400 million for school construction; $580 million additional for Thorton; and an increase of more than $100 million for higher education.
We already have a strong foundation in Maryland to compete in the global and technological and creative economies. We have access to many of the Nation’s most renowned and respected research universities and colleges, many of which Wor-Wic Community College feeds into. We’re one of the wealthiest and most-educated states in the country. And we are blessed in Maryland with an unemployment rate that is nearly a full percentage point below the national average.
This growing economy, where our State’s businesses are competing with companies not only in Virginia, Delaware and New York, but also with companies in Dublin, London and New Delhi, is propelling Maryland toward the top of the global marketplace.
Yet despite our many strengths, despite our wealth and high levels of education, Maryland’s employers, many of them small and family-owned business owners, are struggling to find skilled and trained workers to sustain their business.
So, we’re looking to you, Wor-Wic Community College.
The hub of today’s workforce creation exists on the campuses of Maryland’s community colleges. Community Colleges, led by dedicated teachers and administrators, are working tirelessly to meet the immediate needs of our workforce. Maryland’s community colleges are the economic incubators of our people-driven economy. Community Colleges are the institutions of first response that are helping us meet the workforce demands in nursing, in teaching, in IT, in hospitality and in the culinary arts. To borrow Governor O’Malley’s words: “Community colleges are where America goes to college.”
And, because we all understand the important role that community colleges play, we’re going to support you.
Under Governor O’Malley’s forward-looking leadership, and with the help of Delegate Conway in the Legislature, we increased our investment in community colleges by more than 16 percent – nearly $30 million – the largest increase in recent memory.
Yet, we know we can do more. We need to make a greater commitment to adult education in order to help established professionals meet their full earning potential. We need to offer easier and more available access to online course work and distance learning. We need to support the creative efforts of our community colleges to develop new programs in workforce specialization, like the programs in culinary arts, hospitality, help desk technology and emergency medical services that you offer here at Wor-Wic. So, just last week, at MACO, Governor O’Malley announced that he’ll soon be proposing a new covenant with higher education that targets state investment to help our colleges and universities address specific demands of our new economy.
We’ve got a responsibility to develop a stronger workforce and we must come together to fund and realign our education system, where necessary, to fulfill this responsibility.
We must continue to invest in higher education and in a system that will look at innovative strategies that’ll enhance the academic curriculum – as well as skill-based curriculums – in grade schools, in high schools, in community colleges and beyond to better prepare our students so that the employers of today and tomorrow have access to a workforce that will meet the demands of our changing, adapting and evolving economy.
So, here we are today in this brand new facility which represents much more than Wor-Wic’s ability to add a few more classes to the Fall schedule. The learning that will take place inside these classrooms and labs is the blueprint for our new workforce. Today we’re celebrating all the opportunities this building represents, today and tomorrow, to all those who will fill its seats over the years.
Thank you and congratulations.