Dr. Chad Brown’s Goals for Zane State

Dr. Chad Brown said building pathways to help college become more affordable is one of his main focuses as Zane State College’s new president.

Dr. Brown officially began his duties this week. He told us developing pathways will help people in the community recognize an affordable way to combat rising costs, in order to complete their degree and educational objectives.

“When we talk about pathways, we talk about being able to see how courses you take, maybe as a college-credit plus student in high school, then reduce the amount of credit or time needed to work on completion of the associate’s degree, how it nets to the bachelor’s degree,” he said. “I think an important focus for us has to be career latters, creating the opportunity for continued progress once a person’s in a career.”

Another part of Brown’s mission, as president, is easing the college transfer process, as he hopes to develop a simpler process for students to easily transition to where they would like to go. Brown also said a college education in this community is critical.

“Right now when you look at the stats in Ohio, Ohio lags in the nation in the number of college-educated people, this region also lags the state, the average educational attainment is somewhere between 16 and 20 percent, depending on which part of the region were talking about and if we’re going to meet the demands of a skilled workforce, if we’re going to attract new industry and new work opportunities here, we have to have a skilled workforce,” Brown said.

Brown told us he looks forward to making a difference in his new position.