In this life, some our greatest joys and successes are deeply connected to our relationships. It’s easy to remember and see it in our personal lives, but it can be easy to forget in our professional and business lives. All too often, we get mentally and physically stuck behind our own desks and in our own boardrooms, when we know real innovation can only happen when we look outside of ourselves.
South Carolina is a leader in innovation because our leaders and economic development professionals are continually looking for ways to strengthen relationships with existing employers while working across state lines with progressive and insistent industry recruiting. Even in just the last few years, South Carolina has announced a large number of high-profile, large-scale economic development projects, including electric vehicle manufacturing.
Manufacturing jobs like these are high-skilled, high-demand, high-wage, and high-mobility. They are not the dark, dirty, dangerous jobs of the past. Midlands Technical College provides the direct pathways to these careers in ways that do not cripple students with debt.
And while it’s not new or groundbreaking for technical colleges to be industry resources (it’s literally a part of nearly all of our mission and vision statements), the true breakthroughs come when we find ways to expand collaboration across all sectors in our communities. Working together with our K-12 school districts, the technical college system, other higher ed institutions, lawmakers, and of course business and industry, we can quickly improve the lives of students and bring long-term prosperity to them and our region.
As long as we continue to do this, we will continue to be national leaders. That’s the only way can truly turn vision into reality – together.
Dr. Gregory D. Little became the seventh president of Midlands Technical College on July 1, 2024. A strong believer in the transformative power of education, Dr.Little began his career as a seventh-grade language arts teacher in Durham, North Carolina. He later became an English instructor with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and also served in leadership roles as Lexington County School District One Superintendent, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Innovation for the South Carolina Technical College System, and as the Interim President and Chief Executive Officer for the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education.
