Carroll Community College

Amid non-alcoholic champagne toasts, fresh fruit and the congratulations of faculty, staff and advisory board members, officials of Carroll Community College equated the college's new autonomy yesterday with several historical fights for liberation."

As part of its effort to open doors to four-year schools, Carroll Community College has partnered with Shippensburg University in south-central Pennsylvania to streamline the transfer process and prevent students from losing time or duplicating courses. Last week's agreement with Shippensburg is the latest in a series of transfer agreements signed by the two-year college in Westminster. The school has similar arrangements with Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., Johns Hopkins Hospital Schools of Medical Imaging, University of Maryland University College as well as all public colleges and universities in Maryland.

Credit union grant benefits CCC students First Financial of Maryland Federal Credit Union recently awarded a $45,000 grant to benefit Carroll Community College students. The grant is the third made by the credit union to the college in the past 10 years. The grants total $100,000. Carroll Community College Foundation Inc. will use the grant to support two full, need-based scholarships for the next five years for students pursuing associate arts of teaching degrees; for continued support of the First Financial Federal Credit Union Child Care Fee Assistance Fund; and for the First Financial Federal Credit Union Equipment Fund to provide annual grants to purchase equipment and education materials for the Child Development Center.

The eighth annual Random House Book Fair to Benefit the Carroll Community College Foundation will be held Nov. 13. Carroll County students in grades one through 12 can submit previously unpublished short stories, poems or both to the Random House Book Fair Student Writing Contest. Each entry must have one author, and one entry per author may be submitted for each category. First-, second- and third-place winners will be chosen at each grade level for prose and for poetry. Winners will be contacted and given directions to provide an electronic submission of their work for publication.

Carroll Community College officials, warning against possible budget cuts and tuition increases, pressed the county commissioners yesterday to help them secure an additional $843,000 in state funding.Executive Dean Joseph F. Shields told the commissioners that the Maryland Higher Education Commission has agreed that the college is entitled to an additional $843,000 as an independent institution.However, Mr. Shields said, the funding didn't appear in the governor's fiscal 1994 budget. The money would be given to the college to correct an "inequitable funding formula," Mr. Shields said.

The county's contribution to Carroll Community College's operating budget this year depends on many factors beyond its control, the Carroll County Commissioners were told yesterday.In the best-case scenario, the college would not request any more money than it did last year. In the worst case, the commissioners would be asked to contribute about $350,000 and tuition could go up by $6 per credit hour."There are many scenarios if we don't achieve independence" from Catonsville Community College, said Carroll Community's executive dean, Joseph F. Shields.

BY OFFERING to raise $75,000 toward the construction of Carroll Community College's amphitheater, Westminster's Rotary Club has given a tremendous boost to the fund-raising effort and established an ambitious example for the county's other service groups.Financing and building the amphitheater is also the first big project for the newly formed Carroll Community College Foundation. The amphitheater, expected to cost about $300,000, the college's first major capital project to be financed strictly through private efforts, without state or county money.

In an attempt to better serve students from the Mount Airy area, Carroll Community College will offer six credit courses this fall semester at the Mount Airy Senior Center.For the past four years, the college has held the courses at the Mount Airy Middle School.The change in location will provide a more "collegiate" setting for students, said Jim Bruns, Carroll Community College's vice president for academic affairs."The aesthetics of being in a building that's designed for adults -- that's the key reason for this change," Mr. Bruns said.

Board elects chairman, vice chairwomanWestminster businessman Michael Mason was elected chairman of the Carroll Community College Board of Trustees. ++ He officially will begin his duties at the board meeting this month.Janet R. Colburn, adult services specialist of the Carroll County Library, was elected vice chairwoman.Mr. Mason, a real estate broker specializing in commercial and industrial sales and leasing with O'Conor, Piper and Flynn Realtors, has been associated with the college since 1988.

On November 26, 2009, Dwight O Kirsten and Kayla Dingle. Friends may call at the Pritts Funeral Home and Chapel, 412 Washington Road, Westminster on Wednesday from 6 to 8 P.M. A Memorial Mass will be held on Thursday at 11 A.M. at St. John Roman Catholic Church, 43 Monroe Street, Westminster. Interment will be private. Memorial contributions may be made to Carroll Community College to establish a scholarship in his name, 1601 Washington Road, Westminster, MD 21157. Online condolences may be sent to www.prittsfuneralhome.