“Milestone,” “momentous occasion” and “incredible journey” were among the recurring phrases implicating an overarching theme of renewal, Tuesday morning, at Paine College’s HEAL Complex, during the school’s First 100 Days Address.
Since Rev. Dr. Lester McCorn was installed as Paine’s 18th president on Jan. 2, the college has raised more than $400,000, established partnerships with the Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) for STEM scholarships and increased alumni engagement, among several other achievements.
Augusta Commissioners Jordan Johnson, Tony Lewis and Francine Scott were among the attendees to event commemorating McCorn’s first 100 days as president. The president’s address was preceded by remarks on the history of Paine by retired professor Mallory Millender, and a primer on Paine’s academic vision by Pamela Richardson-Wilks, the school’s new provost and executive vice president of academic services.
“These recognitions honor our past, elevate our present, and they inspire our future,” said Richardson-Wilks, who began her role as provost about a month after the beginning of McCorn’s tenure. “What we’ve accomplished in these first 100 days is not the culmination of a journey, but the bold beginning of one. Together, we are building a stronger Paine College, a Paine that honors its heritage, adapts with intention and advances with purpose.”
In his address, McCorn, who was previously president of Clinton College in Rock Hill, S.C., underscored shifting Paine College from operating with a deficit model, “the business is running at a loss where expenses exceed revenues. In other words, the company is spending more money than it earns,” —to an asset model.
McCorn noted possible causes for Paine’s current deficit-based operations: a decline in enrollment coupled with a rise in operational costs, cuts to public funding, overreliance on debt or endowment spending, and unexpected major expenses, such as the estimated $8 million cost of ongoing recovery efforts from damage to the campus due to Hurricane Helene.
The new president’s response to these conditions includes revamping the school’s marketing and communications for efforts to draw 500 students by fall (Paine currently has 327), partly by revising its approach to online engagement and increasing its social media presence, and updating its marketing, complete with a new logo.
McCorn also mentioned reassessing labor costs, noting that this might entail cutting staff, as well as adding professional development initiatives, including performance evaluations—“you cannot manage what you do not measure.”
Moreover, the school is also seeking to expand its curriculum, adding degree programs such as cybersecurity, nursing, tourism, supply chain logistics and sports and entertainment management; and redesigning current programs to offer concentrations such as accounting and computer science.
“Instead of focusing on what a community or organization lacks… it focuses on what it has, its assets, and builds from there,” said McCorn, emphasizing the Paine campus’ location in Augusta’s medical district. “Examples of these assets are people, physical spaces, networks, cultural capital and programs… Paine College has some incredible assets, and I don’t think we have fully realized, nor have we capitalized, on the assets that this iconic institution has, and that’s what I want to focus on.”
The construction of a new fine arts center and a cyber center on campus, and the refurbishing of the former 15th Street WifeSavers restaurant into the Lion Café and Bookstore, were among other plans outlined in the address.
McCorn highlighted other partnerships established for the school’s improvement, such as with Bank of America and D.C.-based consulting firm EAB, and his meeting with Raphael Warnock, who is slated to be the commencement speaker at Paine’s convocation ceremony in May, and Rep. Rick Allen, about ways to help support the school’s improvement.
“This is helping to position Paine now as a significant institution in the city,” said McCorn. “I think in many ways, Paine has not been at the table, has not been a part of the discussion and planning for the city’s future. This will ensure that Paine is a part of that going forward. I think this is just the beginning.”
Skyler Andrews is a reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
