New JCC president looks to the future

Mar. 24—WATERTOWN — Jefferson Community College's new president, Daniel J. Dupee II, is hoping to leave his mark on the college.

Dupee, a Watertown High School graduate, said this time he felt more comfortable where he was educationally and professionally after finishing his doctorate. He had previously applied for the job when there was an opening in 2017.

In 2017, the JCC Board of Directors selected Ty A. Stone as the college's next president. She left in 2022 to lead Cleveland State Community College in Tennessee and has since resigned.

Dupee became the Administrator in Charge following Stone's departure. He was selected by the Board of Directors in June 2023 and was inaugurated as president on March 15.

Since he worked at JCC prior to becoming president, Dupee thinks that allowed him to "hit the ground running."

When he became Administrator in Charge, a study was conducted on enrollment, which is lower than it has been in recent years. Dupee said a portion of that is because of lower population in high schools.

Over the period of the last 10 years, in 2014, enrollment across New York state was at 1,359,112. In 2022-2023, that number is 1,242,577.

Dupee said the college is about where it was before the 2008 market crash.

Currently there are 1,600 full-time students and around 2,400 total students.

He said that the community college's highest enrollment numbers come from years with high employment.

"It's people retraining, getting ready to go back into the job market in a different role," he said.

Despite the high school population going down, Dupee said the same percentage of students going to the college are from local schools. However, more of those students are taking fewer credits because they can make $17 or $18 an hour off campus.

Their head count, or total enrollment, is only down about 28 or 29%. Their full-time equivalent student population is down close to 40% or 45%.

"Until the job market isn't pumping out $17- and $18-an-hour jobs for them to take part time, it's a little bit more of our reality," he said.

It may be difficult for a student to turn down those opportunities in order to go to college because that's how they feed their families.

Dupee said enrollment is going up, however.

"If we stay here, we'll be in good shape," he said.

The high mark for full-time students was in the early 2010s with 2,873.

"It's more looking at what new things can we do, career-ready degrees, career-ready trainings, career-ready workforce development and really pushing that and trying to find the student populations that don't typically come here, find those student populations to come here," he said.

JCC is looking into programming around the needs of Micron, a company that plans to invest up to $100 billion over the next 20 years or more to build a memory manufacturing megafab operation in Clay, near Syracuse.

"That's where we see the largest opportunity," Dupee said.

Typically the technical jobs at Micron require an associate's degree or certificate program.

"Which is right in our wheelhouse," Dupee said.

They are currently trying to get funding to renovate a building on campus to provide space for programs they don't currently have.

"We want to take some of what we currently do and be able to modify that into a degree that would correlate directly to employment at a Micron, at any of our advanced manufacturers. We have MetalCraft here...We'd love to be able to supply some weldors there," he said.

He also specifically mentioned Allied Motion and Car-Freshner would need people to have technical skills.

"We can be the one to be able to provide some of that," he said.

The biggest challenge Dupee said he feels surrounding higher education is the rhetoric on how valuable getting a college degree is.

Dupee said their economic impact study shows that every dollar a student put into JCC, they got $4 out of it, meaning that if someone gets a two-year degree and spent $12,000, the return on investment takes about three years.

"We're very affordable, which is great, and we can provide degrees that lead to that ability to make more per hour when you go out to the market," he said.

They also are looking to bring more four-year degrees to JCC. Currently, through a SUNY Potsdam partnership, students can receive their education degree and business administration degree.

The degree and tuition are with Potsdam's rates.

Post COVID, Dupee said hybrid classes, those that are both online and in person, may be tougher to teach, but adds flexibility as classes could still go on during a bad snowstorm, in the event campus needs to close, or if a student needs to stay home with a child who has a school closure.

Dupee said they are advocating for more money from the state as it is supposed to give 33.3% of money to community colleges, something he says has not been done in full for decades. He says the state is giving about an average of 26%, meaning the schools are missing out on 7%.

"It's a large impact for many of our community colleges," Dupee said. "We're hoping that through our advocacy efforts, we can get there. The issue becomes it goes on to the back of our students at the end of the day."

Students currently pay around 40% of the total amount of the money that JCC sees.

Tuition for JCC is about $5,400 a year.

Overall, Dupee said he is looking to add more workforce, career-ready programs that could get students into the workforce.

One way they are looking to do this is through the Community Impact Fund for Career Education, which will allow them to put things together quickly instead of waiting for state aid or a grant.

"We're looking at 'OK, what can we do now? How can we impact the local job market?'" he said.

Surgical tech is an area Dupee felt the college is lacking so Mohawk Valley will be teaching that on campus at JCC since there were only about 20 spots needed at JCC.

The program has raised more than $18,000.

Having students stay local for the program may keep them in the area to work at local hospitals.

"We were really focusing on 'What are those niche programs that we can't make a program, and how can we partner?'" Dupee said. "Us being able to use this to support the students, support the program, so that we meet our community need, not necessarily us meeting it, but allowing somebody to come here and meet that community need through a partnership with us."

Dupee said they are trying to focus on what the college can do for the community along with the impact it can have on the community. He said they will continue to do what they do well, including liberal arts and AAS degrees.

The college is currently going through structure changes, as when numbers increase, positions get added, but when the numbers go back down, people may need to be moved.

"We want to make sure we're structured properly," Dupee said.