The Rowan-Cabarrus Community College Board of Trustees unanimously approved Dr. Michael Duane Quillen as its new vice president of academic programs Monday.

Quillen currently leads all academic affairs for Kentucky’s Community and Technical College System. Prior to that, he taught at Maysville Community and Technical College, where he was the division chair for math, science and agriculture.

Quillen received his Doctor of Education from the University of Kentucky, and both his bachelor’s degree in biology and master’s degree in biology from Morehead State University.

The board also approved four change orders to its contract with Monteith Construction Corporation, the company overseeing construction at the college’s North Campus.

Vice President in Corporate and Continuing Education Craig Lamb updated the Board of Trustees about the changes the college’s R3 Career Services Center.

The center “grew out of the Pillowtex lay off” when 4,800 local workers lost there job more than 10 years ago, Lamb said.

“The reaction of the college was to build a college-wide response to that,” he added.

So, they developed a program to respond to lay-offs and to help workers find jobs.

Since the program’s inception, they’ve served 51,135 individuals, 746 of whom have received GEDs and 1,378 completed training.

Over the past few years, however, there’s been a shift in the market.

“We have fewer job seekers knocking on our door saying, ‘help me find a job,’ and more employers knocking on our door saying, ‘help me find workers,’” he said.

While the R3 center will continue to help the unemployed find work, they are working with businesses to help find qualified employees.

Before the board meeting, the college hosted its monthly Strategic Conversation, where Kannapolis Mayor Darrell Hinnant and representatives from various programs located at the North Carolina Research Campus discussed development in downtown Kannapolis and at the Research Campus.