By Brittany Woodby

BWOODBY@CULLMANTIMES.COM

Hanceville — Alabama’s two-year college chancellor Bradley Byrne said Friday despite financial and legal challenges against the two-year system, he expects Wallace State Community College in Hanceville to remain one of the top schools in the state.

“This is an excellent college,” he said. “They don’t need me to tell them what to do, they know what to do.”

Byrne, who gave the commencement address at WSCC’s graduation, said he hopes to see the school’s programs, as well as infrastructure, grow this year.

“I can’t say I would want to change any programs here,” he said. “I think that we need to grow our programs, which is part of (WSCC President Dr. Vicki) Hawsey’s plan anyway. That’s going to require us to do more building. We’re going to have to do some changes to some of the older buildings because of some structural problems, and at the same time have the building’s program continue to expand.”

One possible expansion is a multi-million dollar robotics training center Governor Bob Riley proposed last year. The center, which would contain three campuses devoted to teaching students how to operate and build robotics equipment, will be built as part of the two-year college system and housed under either Wallace State or Calhoun Community College in Decatur.

Byrne said adding the training center to the two-year system will benefit both entities, as well as the state’s economy.

“I am thrilled it (robotics center) will be connected to our system,” he said. “It’s a campus and it’s going to have three different structures on it, one of which will be an R and D (research and development) structure. To have one of our colleges essentially housing the campus with both our training facility and R & D structure on it is just amazing. It should have an incredible rippling effect on North Alabama because of where it’s located and everything that’s going into it.”

Byrne and Riley visited the Wallace State campus in March to review three potential sites for the robotics center. Byrne said he and the governor agreed a site at Wallace adjacent to the campus would be an optimal location for the three buildings, but no decision has been announced whether or not the center will be built in Hanceville. However, Byrne said he feels confident Wallace would provide the leadership and quality necessary for the center to succeed.

“I think it’d be great,” he said. “Because of the leadership here and the quality of the program here, a robotics center would be a great fit.”

Byrne said he has already been working to coordinate the facility’s curriculum, enlisting the University of Alabama Huntsville to lead the R & D center.

“We’re excited about it, and now we’re waiting on the governor to get some more information about it and to make a decision about where it’s going to be,” he said. “I think we’re ready to move with it.”

Last week the state board of education passed new graduation requirements for high school students, cutting elective hours and replacing them with mandatory foreign language credits. While many students used their elective credits for technical programs, such as those offered by Wallace State and potentially by the robotics center, Byrne said exceptions could be made for technical students and the changes will ultimately benefit the two-year system.

“We think it will make high school students that graduate more prepared for college in general,” he said. “One thing we were concerned about is that it not get in the way of our dual-enrollment technical program, because of reduction in the number of elective hours. But we’ve worked it out with the department of education where we can do our dual enrollment technical program with the two-year colleges and our high schools, and still fit within the new graduation requirements, and we feel really good about that.”

The Legislature should also pass the 2009 education budget, expected to cut funding by as much as $375 million from last year’s allowance. Byrne said while the cuts may hit some schools in the system, he expects Wallace State to continue to grow.

“In some places, it’s a real challenge,” he said. “We have schools that are not in the same financial condition as Wallace Hanceville is. ... While it’s not going to be easy we’re just going to continue on in the direction we’re moving in. We can sit around and whine and wring our hands and say, ‘oh woe is me,’ or we can move forward, and we’re moving forward.”