LANE: All right, here we go. So right after the bill was signed--
ZAWACKI: Right, and it became public knowledge that, uh, that the
governor had taken a bold move to try to put all the community and technical colleges together under one umbrella--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --and I thought to myself, what a great idea--
LANE: Yeah.
ZAWACKI: --uh, to, to connect all these schools together, and, uh, I,
I also thought, in terms of, uh, Toyota's, uh, with my Toyota hat on, that--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --what a, what a great move this would make for us as well.
LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: Because of the obvious, uh, strength to the system that it
would bring, and, uh, and probably greater, greater resources, and talent, and, and so forth that--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --would, uh, come as a result of, of consolidating under one
umbrella.LANE: Right.
ZAWACKI: At that time, of course, everything--(clears throat)--was
going to be consolidated with the exception of what was called LCC or Lexington--LANE: Right.
ZAWACKI: --Community College, back then.
LANE: Right. That's correct, sure.
ZAWACKI: And so, uh, not too long after that, uh, after the System was
formed, excuse me, I received a call, uh, from, uh, Tim Burcham. 00:01:00LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: Actually, it was, it was a, it was a, uh, it was one of my
managers, uh, you probably know, uh, Helen Car-, Helen Carroll--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --uh, was, uh, manager of, of, uh, public affairs here at TMMK,
and she--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --she reported to me, and she said to me, uh, "I've got a
meeting that I'm setting up with this new, uh, uh, KCTCS organization; they want to talk to Toyota about, uh, you coming out to their foundation board."LANE: Hmm.
ZAWACKI: And at that, at that time I had more than I could, uh, handle--
LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --from the voluntary or volunteer--
LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --uh, basis, and, uh, I remember when, uh, when I became
involved in that part of the business, at, uh, uh, one of our VPs told me, you got to be careful in your--(Lane laughs)--when you're, when you're getting involved in community relations activities and board memberships and so forth, because, the more you do, the more you're 00:02:00going to be asked to do.LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: And so, having that in the back of my mind, I sat, sat down
in a, in a conference room with Helen, and Tim Burchfield, and, boy I can't remember who the, the, the, the other person was from KCTCS.LANE: Hmm.
ZAWACKI: But they were--(clears throat)--they were there to, to ask me
to, to join the, the KCTCS Foundation board.LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: And after they explained to me a little more about the mission
of KCTCS, and, what had happened over the, the last year and, and, uh, their, their new president, uh, Dr. McCall--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --and some of the great things and plans that they had, it was
pretty obvious to me that I needed to participate--LANE: Yeah.
ZAWACKI: --at least on the foundation board at that time.
LANE: That would have been in 1999, maybe. I think the foundation was
technically formed in August of '99.ZAWACKI: Yeah, I don't recall exactly--
LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --when it was--
LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --but it was shortly after the foundation was formed.
LANE: Right.
ZAWACKI: Excuse me--at that time Tim Mosher was the president of the
foundation board.LANE: Okay.
ZAWACKI: And I, I was on early enough to be one of the, what were
00:03:00called, uh, the charter members of the--LANE: Okay.
ZAWACKI: --foundation--
LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --so, it was very early on in the process.
LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: And of course as, as time went by and, and I got more involved,
in not just the foundation's activities, but by the, the fact that, uh, each, each foundation board meeting we would have a report from Dr. McCall--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --and from others from, from the System--
LANE: Right.
ZAWACKI: --I became more and more excited about what was happening, and--
LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --and, uh, obviously it became one of, one of my most favorite,
uh, boards, because of the, uh, opportunities for, uh, Kentuckians, but also the opportunity for Toyota to participate in, in this great organization.LANE: Great.
ZAWACKI: So, after a couple of years of being on the board, uh, then I
was, I was, uh, I was named the, uh, foundation board chair--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --and that was, uh, uh, uh, a, a different level of, you know-
-(Lane laughs)--of involvement, it was, it was a little more involved in terms of the amount of time I would spend, but I was also able to, uh, 00:04:00deepen my understanding and my appreciation for KCTCS--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --and some of the, the things that Dr. McCall was trying to
do, and some of the struggles he was having with, uh, getting everybody aligned under the same--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --uh, umbrella and, and singing from the same hymn book, and--
LANE: (laughs) Right.
ZAWACKI: --whatever other analogy that you want to use.
LANE: That's it.
ZAWACKI: (clears throat) But, uh, it was, it was clear to me that, that
early on, that, uh, that KCTCS had built a, uh, uh, a, a very capable executive leadership under Dr. McCall, and people like Keith Bird, and Tim Burcham and, and, uh, and many of the other, uh--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --uh, president's leadership, uh, cabinet members that I would
have interface with as, as my role as chairman of the foundation board.LANE: Right.
ZAWACKI: So, lo and behold, uh, uh, several years, or a couple of years
had passed and, and, uh, uh, I was, I was asked to consider filling the vacancy for a, a, a KCTCS Board of Regents member-- 00:05:00LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --who had, uh, unfortunately had to resign before his term
expired--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --and, and I was asked to fi-, to, to submit my name to the
governor's, uh, uh, board and, and commissions appointment list-- (clears throat)--and be considered for a, a position on the KCTCS Board of Regents, and I thought what a wonderful opportunity to continue to, to deepen my involvement in this wonderful system. And so, to make a long story short, uh, Governor, uh, Fletcher, uh, appointed me, and then I, I had to leave my, my, uh, role on the foundation board so--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --that I could devote, uh, full-time--
LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --uh, to the, uh, the board of regents.
LANE: Right. Okay. You don't remember the dates on that? I, I can get
it, no problem.ZAWACKI: Uh--
LANE: You were board chair--I know you were chair in 2004, I can't
remember, I will have to go back and see when you were appointed but, uh, that's fine, we'll, we'll-- 00:06:00ZAWACKI: Yeah, I'm sure--
LANE: --we g-, --
ZAWACKI: --you can get -----------(??)--
LANE: --we, we'll get that, we'll get that, that's no problem. Okay.
So how, how different was it serving on the board of regents than serving on the foundation board?ZAWACKI: Well, it was, uh, it was very different--
LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --uh, the, the involvement that I had in, in issues and in, uh,
roles and responsibility was, was greatly different than the foundation board, uh, by the way, I should point out that while, while I, while I did give up my, uh, my seat on the foundation board, Tim Burcham, who was always, uh, the great arm twister--LANE: Hmm.
ZAWACKI: --uh, twisted my and Tim, Tim Mosher's arms to, the two of us
were named the state, uh, uh, oh, what is it, the, uh, uh, Fulfilling the Promise, uh, campaign.LANE: Oh, campaign chairs, yes.
ZAWACKI: Right we were both camp-, co, co-chairs of the Fulfilling the
Promise campaign. 00:07:00LANE: (laughs) Great.
ZAWACKI: So, in addition to this, to be a board of regent member, Tim
and I, and Dr. McCall, and Tim Burcham, and Kay Yates worked very closely--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --together as we--
LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --developed the strategy for the statewide campaign. But, uh,
you asked how, how my role on the--LANE: Yes.
ZAWACKI: --board of regents changed--
LANE: Right.
ZAWACKI: --uh, the, it, it took on a, a much different, uh, role in, in,
as far as the, the foundation board, of course, my role was to help, uh, to build support and to solicit, uh, funds--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --and, and support, fi-, financial support for the--
LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --the foundation.
LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: Um, my, my role as, uh, statewide co-chair, uh, continued that,
but my role on the, on the board of regents was, was basically, uh, but how do we run this business--LANE: Yeah.
ZAWACKI: --how do we, how do we develop strategy and, and goals, and
objectives--(clears throat)--uh, and how do we assist in, in the leadership of, of, of the System itself. 00:08:00LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: And, uh, within a year or so, after being on the board, after
I got my feet on the ground then I was named as, uh, chairman of the Finance, Technology and Human Resources Cabinet or not cabinet but, uh, Committee--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --and--(coughs)--of course, uh, uh, it, it, it's like, it's
like running a, uh, helping to run a business.LANE: Yeah.
ZAWACKI: Uh, so much of, uh, that committee is spent on, uh, human
resources--LANE: Yeah.
ZAWACKI: --issues, whether it be--
LANE: Right.
ZAWACKI: --uh, uh, additional staffing and, and leadership and, and, uh,
uh, compensation issues, and, uh, benefits issues--LANE: Um-hm, um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --and things to the System employees, the faculty and staff, in
addition to the, uh, uh, the budget, the operating budget, the capital budget, the, uh--LANE: Wow.
ZAWACKI: --participation of the annual audit, and the report of the
audit to the, the board members, uh, and, and a number of other, uh, 00:09:00oversight roles that, uh, that, that committee, uh, requires of the, the chair, and the members of that committee. So, -----------(??)--LANE: That's a very, that's a very important role.
ZAWACKI: Yes, it is.
LANE: And I'm sure time consuming as well.
ZAWACKI: And much more time consuming than, uh, the foundation board--
LANE: Um-hm, um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --I remember telling Tim Burcham, and some of the other board,
uh, members of the foundation that, uh, if, in, in the event that they, the foundation board members are interested in getting on the board of regents, please k-, keep in mind that is, it's a, it's a, it's a, uh, much larger, uh, role and re-, would require additional time and--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --and so forth, but, uh, it, it also allowed me to deepen my
appreciation and my, my knowledge of, of what the System is doing, and the benefits that we are providing to the, the thousands and thousands, almost, nearly a hundred thousand--LANE: That's right.
ZAWACKI: --this year in the state of Kentucky.
LANE: That's exactly right. Is that what intrigued you at the very
beginning? I know you, you said that when House Bill 1 was instituted 00:10:00you, you thought well, that's a reasonable, logical idea, but the more you learned about it, what intrigued you the most, uh, the numbers, the efficiencies or maybe ever-, a little of everything?ZAWACKI: Uh, I guess a little of everything, yes--
LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --that the, I guess initially, what intrigued me about this
was, early on, Toyota expressed dissatisfaction with the amount of, of, uh, of properly skilled--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --skilled trades members in the state of Kentucky--
LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --in fact, early on, twenty-one years ago as a, as a company,
we had to go outside the state, in some cases, to hire our skilled trades people.LANE: Hmm.
ZAWACKI: And made, the, the, tech-, technical education, uh, uh, that
was available at that time and, and the resulting graduates were, uh, frankly not--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --exactly meeting our expectations.
LANE: Right.
ZAWACKI: So what intrigued me, and, and Toyota as well in the very
beginning was the fact that we are going to combine, uh, these, the sixteen, uh, I'm sorry, the, these, however many technical schools-- 00:11:00LANE: Twenty-five, twenty-eight, yeah, at that time.
ZAWACKI: -----------(??) together and the, the resulting synergy that
would develop over the, over--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --over a reasonably short period of time, and then when you
throw in a leader like Michael McCall--LANE: Yeah.
ZAWACKI: --uh, just--
LANE: What--
ZAWACKI: --and again, some of the other presidential leadership team--
LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --instances--instant success--(coughs)--and over the years,
KCTCS has, has been, has become our sole provider of technical--LANE: Hmm.
ZAWACKI: --training for our skilled trades members.
LANE: Well, so the sole provider--
ZAWACKI: Yes.
LANE: --for your, uh, skilled trades people, wow.
ZAWACKI: So, what a metamorphoses the--
LANE: It is.
ZAWACKI: --there, there was resulting from, uh, the, the combination
of, uh, and the, uh, the, the synergy of, uh, these organizations, uh, but a-, again the, uh, the improvements and the efficiencies, and the, uh, growth in the enrollment, and the capability of the staff and the 00:12:00faculty members, uh, could not have happened--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --had the System not been created as it was, so Governor Patton
was very visionary in his--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --uh, approach to this, this aspect and, I know one of our
goals is to become, uh, the, the, the best--LANE: Yes.
ZAWACKI: --uh, community, technical college system in the nation, but
frankly speaking, in my opinion, we're there.LANE: I agree with you. I, I--having studied what's happening, and
looked outside the state, and seen what the national leaders are saying, I think you're right. I think it's just to be recognized now.ZAWACKI: Yeah.
LANE: Hmm, nation, we're there, I am going to write that down as a good
quote, if that's all right with you.ZAWACKI: That's fine with me.
LANE: Now, tell me about the, is it the Center for Automotive Excellence?
ZAWACKI: The Center of Excellence in Automotive Manufacturing.
LANE: That's it. Okay.
ZAWACKI: Uh--(coughs)--excuse me--Toyota donated, uh, over the years,
00:13:00Toyo-, Toyota has donated a lot of, uh, financial and non-financial--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --uh, things, if you will, to, uh, to the System, but back and
gee I can't remember the, the year, Margaret, but it was before I left the foundation board.LANE: Yeah.
ZAWACKI: Uh, Toyota donated half a mil-, actually we donated, uh, some
early money, and I think it was around fifty thousand dollars--LANE: I think so too, yeah.
ZAWACKI: --to create a, uh, manufacturing skills standards evaluation--
LANE: Okay.
ZAWACKI: --tool, and the System office could tell you more about
that, but, seeing that, uh, seeing what they did with the early, uh, financial contributions that Toyota made, we're very impressed, as a company, and we saw to it that we donated a half a million dollars to, the, the System, and the foundation for the creation of this, uh, Center for Excellence in Automotive Manufacturing--LANE: Okay.
00:14:00ZAWACKI: --(clears throat)--and together, between Toyota and, uh, and
KCTCS, and under the leadership of Dr. Bird, uh, we, we created this, this concept that has, uh, has been expanded over the years and is now in place, waiting only for its facility to be built here in Georgetown across the street from Toyota.LANE: That's exciting.
ZAWACKI: Yes it is.
LANE: That is so exciting.
ZAWACKI: And, and, uh, the purpose of the center is to establish best
practices in manufacturing--LANE: Right.
ZAWACKI: --not just at car companies, but in companies that manufacture
products for car companies.LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --and providing innovative technology and providing up-to-date
skills for, uh, technical, uh, employees, but both, both automakers and the automaker suppliers, and in fact other manufacturers--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --it may or may not even have anything to do with the
automotive industry.LANE: How about that, what a wonderful idea.
ZAWACKI: And so, uh, over the years, uh, we, we, for example, we, uh, I
00:15:00mentioned financial and non-financial contributions--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --in KCTCS, we, we have, when they became our sole provider
for, uh, technical skills training, we gave them all of our equipment and machinery that was in our training center--LANE: Oh.
ZAWACKI: --uh, in order to use--(clears throat)--for not just Toyota
training, but for any training that they would, uh, uh, be providing to companies outside of--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --of Toyota as well. In fact, in order to get the center up
and running as quickly as possible, we, they currently use some, uh, floor space in our, our, uh, former training center here--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --on site at Georgetown.
LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: And, uh, I'm not sure of the current enrollment, I think, uh,
Ro-, Rob Knight could probably tell you that, uh--LANE: Okay.
ZAWACKI: --or Jim, Jim White could probably tell you that, but that
program is up and running and is, and is currently located in, in the former, in the former training center of Toyota--LANE: Okay.
ZAWACKI: --here in Georgetown. In addition to the equipment and
00:16:00machinery and the, and the funds that we've, uh, donated to KCT-, over--KCTCS over the years, we have also, uh, transferred one of our executives to help--LANE: Oh.
ZAWACKI: --lead this, the establishment of this, uh, Center for
Excellence in Automotive Manufacturing--LANE: Hmm.
ZAWACKI: --and his name is Rob Knight.
LANE: Okay.
ZAWACKI: Rob is the manufacturing executive that--
LANE: Okay.
ZAWACKI: --was loaned to KCTCS a couple of years ago--
LANE: Okay.
ZAWACKI: --and, uh, has helped start this program up.
LANE: Great.
ZAWACKI: Now, my understanding is that the, the General Assembly
has included, uh, the Georgetown campus of Bluegrass Community and Technical College, which it will be located across the street from Toyota's location--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --and will be located in the Lanes Run Business Park,
uh, strategically located, not only to serve Toyota, but to serve businesses and will be locating anywhere in Scott County-- 00:17:00LANE: Hmm.
ZAWACKI: --uh, in particular in this, in this business park, uh, and,
uh--LANE: Gosh, what a draw, what a draw that is.
ZAWACKI: Yeah, it'll be a might, uh, certainly be a ----------(??) to
fill this business park, but also allow, uh, ordinary citizens in this, in the, in the Scott County area--LANE: Hmm.
ZAWACKI: --uh, to come and take, uh, classes as well, it's not--
LANE: Wow.
ZAWACKI: --going to be just, just devoted to technical education, but
anything that, uh, that the Bluegrass, uh, campus can offer in--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --Lexington. Idea-, uh, ideally would be offered here at the
Georgetown campus as well.LANE: Wow.
ZAWACKI: So, in addition to technical skills training that are provided
for companies like Toyota, also allow, uh, ordinary citizens to come and get their associate's degree in--LANE: Hmm.
ZAWACKI: --in a number of, uh curricula.
LANE: Wow. How big is that new facility going to be?
ZAWACKI: Uh, I don't know, uh--
LANE: I'll find out.
ZAWACKI: --Jim White--
LANE: I can find out.
ZAWACKI: --Jim White would be a good source--
LANE: Okay.
ZAWACKI: --for that information.
LANE: Okay, I will call.
ZAWACKI: He is with the System office.
00:18:00LANE: Sure.
ZAWACKI: In fact, uh, let's see, what else, uh, uh -------------(??),
it's across the street here.LANE: Um-hm, okay. Well, are, are there other, you know, that, to me
that's quite a story, that's, that's probably going to be one of our feature stories, obviously, but, um, are there other projects that impressed you, where--you know, when you were on the foundation board, you know, were there needs? I'm sure there were many, many needs that arose, that the foundation was able to assist with, state, state funding, even though that budget appears to be large, we know when you divide it among the sixteen colleges and the System office, that really isn't that much for, for the growth that they have realized.ZAWACKI: Well, I think Tim Burcham will probably be a better source of
00:19:00information on that, but I, I do know that one of our goals early on was to grow the endowment of the foundation.LANE: Um-hm. Right.
ZAWACKI: I, I, I don't know, Margaret, to what extent the foundation has
dispersed funds for programs.LANE: Okay, okay. I just thought maybe there was something that struck
your fancy, but, uh, certainly the Toyota Project is, is right up there at the top. Um, tell me, um, do you always enjoy the gala, I'm sure you all were, are able to participate in that every year, it's quite a--ZAWACKI: Yeah--
LANE: --an, an event.
ZAWACKI: Yeah, one of the, uh, I think, things I like about the gala is
to, to be able to observe the huge, uh, amount of support--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --statewide, uh, for the system.
LANE: Yeah.
ZAWACKI: And, uh, the captains of, of, of industry, whether they be
manufacturers, or non-manufacturers alike, uh, the leadership of health care, uh, uh, and, and the, the numerous other, uh, uh, secretaries in 00:20:00our, uh, industry in, in the state of Kentucky are obviously on board with the, the mission of KCTCS--LANE: Yeah.
ZAWACKI: --the resulting support that we are able to, to get from them.
I should tell you a kind of interesting story--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: Uh, wh-, at, it was in my role as, uh, as, uh, co-chair of the,
uh, Fulfilling the Promise campaign. Occasionally, Dr. McCall and I would, uh, call on, on, uh, various leaders within the state, uh, visit manufacturers, and law firms--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --and bankers, and, and oth-, uh, people in leadership in
other, uh, parts of other, other sectors of the, of the industries--LANE: Right.
ZAWACKI: --in Kentucky. And Michael and I, when I went in to call on,
uh, Nick Nicholson, who is the president of Keeneland--LANE: Yeah. Oh definitely, know Nick.
ZAWACKI: --one day, and we were wanting to go into, uh, to Nick and,
and, uh, in Keeneland, actually, and, and we were looking for some 00:21:00financial support.LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: And so, uh, Keith--or, uh, while we were talking, Nick, it
occurred to Nick that there woul-, had been a, uh, some discussion, uh, between a, a former jockey by the name of Chris McCarron--LANE: (laughs) Oh, yeah.
ZAWACKI: And, uh, Chris was beginning to start up, uh, what would become
the first jockey school--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --in all of North America. (Lane laughs) And it was very
popular in Europe and, uh, it, it was, it was remarkable that there wasn't a, a, uh, a jockey school in, uh, all of the United States, and Chris, as a former jockey and Hall of Fame jockey, and, and, uh, very noteworthy person in the horse industry, was looking to start this up, and, and Nick, before we could even ask for, for financial support, Nick was making arrangements for Dr. McCall to become part of a meeting that was going to be held within the next few days.LANE: Wow.
ZAWACKI: Michael attended that meeting, and, uh, made a few suggestions
00:22:00to Chris McCarron and some of the other principals, uh, that were behind this initiative, and what resulted was the North American Racing Academy.LANE: Isn't that amazing, which is quite unique.
ZAWACKI: Which is very unique, yes.
LANE: Yes.
ZAWACKI: --under the, uh, the KCTCS, uh, helped in a number of ways to,
to get that program off the ground and, and, uh, we are proud to be part of that, uh, that organization, and proud to have been part of the, the formation of, uh--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --it will become a benchmark, uh, program in all of the world.
LANE: Oh it certainly will, it probably already is. We, we've done a
little study on that and taken some, some photos of those students and, and gathered some of their stories, and they're just fascinating, so you're right. That's very unique, that, that, so that all came about just by your, your calling on Nick and he, he put everybody together and, uh, the rest, as they say--ZAWACKI: Right.
LANE: --is history.
ZAWACKI: He helped open the door, and, uh, we helped, uh, demonstrate
that we could meet a need, and, uh, the rest is history, as you said. 00:23:00LANE: How about that, that's wonderful. Um, any other good stories that
come to mind, I love these, uh, the human interest-type stories.ZAWACKI: Well--(clears throat)--um, once a year or so, uh, we, Michael
and I, and Tim Burcham, and, and, uh, and others get together and call on our, our legislators in Washington--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --uh, we have been very successful in, in obtaining some
federal funding for a number of KCTCS initiatives.LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: Uh, early on, I think our, our, our legis-, our Kentucky
legislators do not fully grasp the power and potential of--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --the KCTCS as a, as a, as a system, uh, but as we began to
call and educate our law-makers on the kinds of things that we can 00:24:00provide to Kentuckians, namely a higher standard of living as a result of, of, uh, helping them--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --get basic higher education and go on even, uh, either
graduate with their associate's degree or go out and get their bachelor's degree at a, at another, uh, uh, college or university.LANE: Right.
ZAWACKI: They began to understand the, the, the role--
LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --and, as a result of that, we've developed a tremendous
support among our state, uh, I'm sorry our federal legislators--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --not the least of which is Senator McConnell and Senator
Bunning--LANE: Sure.
ZAWACKI: --uh, and our US Congressman, Ben Chandler--
LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --have been very strong supporters of KCTCS.
LANE: Um-hm, yes they have, haven't they? Well, and it's just a matter
of, you know, that public-private corporate synergy as you're s-, you're speaking of, uh, that when one sees that, that everyone is interested in this, and it's going to be good for everyone, then I th-, you know, they, they certainly need to get on the bandwagon and--ZAWACKI: Absolutely.
00:25:00LANE: --and help. All right, Tom, uh, as we're writing the ten-year
history, um, do you have any wrap-up statements, um, that you would like to offer?ZAWACKI: Well, you're probably getting similar statements to the one
I'll make, uh, that, that comes to mind, additionally, and that is what a tremendous success this, uh, experiment of--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --Governor Patton has become, uh, he's truly, he, Governor
Patton can be described in a number of ways, but he's truly our education, truly was our education governor, and, uh, I called him the other day, we were at a, uh--(clears throat)--we were at, uh, a legislative reception--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --(coughs)--excuse me--before a UK game, you may have been
there.LANE: Oh, I know which one it was though--yes.
ZAWACKI: It was the one down in Lexington--
LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --and Governor Patton came in and I was standing there with a
circle of KCTCS, uh, Foundation board members, and board of regents, 00:26:00and other friends of KCTCS and, Governor Patton made his way over to our circle. I introduced him to the, the group as the father of KCTCS--LANE: (laughs) Oh, oh, oh, that's great.
ZAWACKI: --and he looked a little, uh, taken aback, but, uh, he, he, he
looked very honored.LANE: Um-hm, he is.
ZAWACKI: And he truly is.
LANE: Yes.
ZAWACKI: Uh, had, uh, he not as, as been--had he not been the visionary
that he was--LANE: Yeah.
ZAWACKI: --as it led to the consolidation of, of the--
LANE: Yeah.
ZAWACKI: --colleges and, and technical schools, uh, we would not be
where we are today.LANE: I totally agree with you Tom, I have heard that characterized as,
as just strength of well, political power, getting that done, let's say, in '97, and will, simply, I am g-, this is going to happen. Of course he was, he was smart, as far as putting together good minds, and, and coming up with a good plan, but you're right, it was an experiment. I interviewed him not too long ago, and I'll, I'll share with you a quote that he made. He said, "You know, it was the biggest poker game in my 00:27:00life, and of course I had staked my political reputation on the success of that house bill and that education reform." He said, "The chances were fifty-fifty." He said, "We n-, we had to know when to hold them, and know when to fold them, and we made as few compromises as possible from the original plan." So, he, he knew, uh, that, that it was risky, but you're right, it, it is just turned out, in fact, lately, he said, "Much better than I ever thought it would in the beginning."ZAWACKI: Yeah, yeah.
LANE: Yeah.
ZAWACKI: The only other thing I would say, and maybe this is not what
you're looking for, but, uh, as a board member, as a regent, I am very disturbed at the, uh the budget issues that we have, we and the other colleges and universities have got to face in Kentucky, and I am so nervous that we're going to take a step backward instead of s-, uh, steps forward. 00:28:00LANE: Yes.
ZAWACKI: Uh, KCTCS plays a huge role in the education of, of people who
would, who would never, uh, would think that they would, not only go to college, but graduate with a degree--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --and a huge role in providing, uh, education that, uh, the
s-, the students can, can then take and transfer to a four-year, uh, institution, and get their bachelor's degree--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --or, or more.
LANE: Yeah.
ZAWACKI: And, if the, if the, uh, goals of House Bill 1 are to be met,
uh, then adequate financing needs to occur--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --especially to the, to the community college system, community
and technical college system.LANE: Yeah, you're, you're exactly right. I'm, I'm very concerned about
that as well. It's just the whole process. Now, did you all have much interaction with SCOPE, which was part of that house bill, but I, I don't, I understand that it's, that whole concept of putting education 00:29:00first, before, before all of the other, uh, factors came into the budget, ask if you will, has not, has met with limited success. Did you all have any involvement with that?ZAWACKI: What did SCOPE stand for?
LANE: Well, it's, it's a Secondary Council on Postsecondary Education
had--it totally had to do with the budget, and I think the, evidently not, because not many people--(laughs)--know a whole lot happening here. Uh, it, it probably had to take a back seat to many of the more successful, uh, components of House Bill 1, so we won't--ZAWACKI: But it's, when was SCOPE, uh--
LANE: Nin-, it was in the '97 reform--
ZAWACKI: Yeah.
LANE: --it was part of the companion budget bill; it was supposed to
be a group that kept, kept higher ed before the legislators and the funding needs were ideally to take precedence, to be taken right off the top before any of the remainder of the budget was enacted. But it, obviously that has not, has not happened, so. 00:30:00ZAWACKI: No, no.
LANE: So, you're right, we're, we, I've heard more people say that
lately, I'm just worried that we're going to take steps backward because we've come so far.ZAWACKI: So, I know we were involved in STEM--
LANE: Um-hm, um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --uh, within the last year or two years--
LANE: Right, right.
ZAWACKI: --which was a, was led by colleges and universities, and--
LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --I think Chamber of Commerce--
LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --the science, technology, engineering and math--
LANE: Right.
ZAWACKI: --group that pretty much demonstrated if we are going to move
forward, not only we have to provide the, the, uh, post-secondary education, but we also need to fix the sec-, primary and secondary problems as well.LANE: That's right, we have--
ZAWACKI: I'm amazed--
LANE: --to begin a little earlier, don't we?
ZAWACKI: Yep. I'm amazed at the, the amount of remediation that needs
to occur--LANE: Yeah.
ZAWACKI: --at all of the colleges and universities in this state.
LANE: Yeah. Something is going on there, that's--as an educator, I've
been concerned about that for many years. What can we do early on, 00:31:00um, to, to correct this, because you're right, it's, it's a tremendous percentage, and that, that doesn't speak well.ZAWACKI: Yeah.
LANE: Yeah.
ZAWACKI: And if, uh, Kentucky is going to become the economic superpower
that it can be, uh, we've got to address this from the very beginning--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --teach kids how to read, teach them how, how, a love for
reading, teach them, uh, a love for math and science--LANE: Um-hm.
ZAWACKI: --and, uh, provide, uh, adequate education in the classroom.
LANE: Yeah, yeah. Uh, I'm not sure exactly what's going on there.
I'd, I heard, I need to look this up, but I found a, an essay that was written by a high school student, uh, commenting on how, how Kentucky c-, there was, there's simple things that you could do, have, have high school students write more, and, and I think in KERA they certainly are, but, but have them write more composition-type papers that, I was a, I was a bit unprepared in college for that sort of thing, so, you're 00:32:00right, that's something we must address, and I think that's part of, uh, of the, the s-, the Plan for the Commonwealth, isn't it, that, that we, we've got to work--help--ZAWACKI: Yes.
LANE: --those other schools work on, uh, on early training. Well, I
certainly thank you. Is there anything else you would like to add to the record, Tom?ZAWACKI: Oh, I'm sure there is, Margaret--(Lane laughs)--the closer I
get to my next meeting, the more I find myself getting ready for my next meeting.LANE: Right, I understand.
ZAWACKI: I apologize.
LANE: No, no, and thank you so much for your time. It's a pleasure to
talk with you.ZAWACKI: I appreciate it as well, and, and, uh, uh, thank you so much
for what you're doing in terms of capturing our, our ten-year history, and, and documenting it.LANE: Well, it's a pleasure, hope to see you soon.
ZAWACKI: Thanks.
LANE: Bye now.
ZAWACKI: Bye-bye.
[End of interview.]
