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GASTON COLLEGE PRESIDENT RECEIVES PAY INCREASE
Contract negotiations come on heels of award announcement

By Jon Mayhew
Publisher

DALLAS – The Carolina Scoop has learned Gaston College president Pat Skinner is receiving a nearly 5 percent salary increase for the upcoming 2008-09 school year that would raise her compensation to more than $225,000. This past Monday, the college’s Board of Trustees approved the more than $10,000 increase.

According to a salary breakdown, Skinner’s base salary increased more than $9,000 to $212,928 and her car allowance increased more than $1,000 to $13,037.

Skinner also received 20 vacation days and 15 personal leave days, which is an increase of five personal leave days from last year. And while she received a $5,700 bonus during 2007-08, she didn’t receive a bonus for the upcoming school year.

Skinner oversees a total of three Gaston College campuses, including one in Lincolnton. Gaston Colleve, according to board of trustees chairwoman Barbara Voorhees, is one of the largest community colleges in the state and in the area.

Community college presidents receive an average annual salary of nearly $160,000.

The Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) recently selected Skinner as the recipient of the 2008 Southern Regional Chief Executive Officer Award. She and the four other regional winners from across the US will be recognized at the group’s Leadership Congress in New York in late October. One of the regional winners will be selected to receive ACCT’s prestigious
Marie Y. Martin CEO Award, to be announced during the event.

Skinner, who was nominated by Chair Barbara Voorhees on behalf of the Gaston College Board of Trustees, was selected based on her achievements in several areas including the development of innovative programs and service to two-year post-secondary education, as well as demonstrating a caring attitude toward trustees, faculty, staff, and students.

“The Board is extremely proud of Pat and what she contributes not only to Gaston College (GC) but to the entire community” commented Voorhees. “We’ve always known that Pat Skinner is a wonderful chief executive, and it’s gratifying when a national organization recognizes it as well. No community college president deserves this award more.”

Skinner is immediate past president of the North Carolina Association of Community College Presidents, and in that role served on the interview committee for the new president of the NCCCS, coordinated orientation of seven new community college presidents, and served as liaison to the State Board of Community Colleges. She also serves on the board of the Southern Association of Community, Junior, Technical Colleges (SACJTC), and has been the chair and member of the Advisory Committee of Presidents for ACCT.

ACCT is a non-profit educational organization of governing boards, representing more than 6.500 elected and appointed trustees who govern over 1,200 community, technical, and junior colleges in the United States.