For the past two weeks Charles Murray, as new dean of career technical education at Bevill State Community College, has found a lot of things to be exited about.

With his recent appointment, he’s found a wealth of ideas and support, not only from the faculty and students, but from the community as well. It’s these ideas and the support he’s received that he plans to use to help move BSCC’s Career Technical Education Department forward into the future.

“One of the first things Dr. Anne McNutt (president of Bevill State) said was that she is interested in bringing some new technological programs,” Murray said. “There’s many superb ideas that our faculty have come up with for new programs and we’ll be working to apply and implement several programs with the space that we have.”

The ever changing career atmosphere in America, as well as the economy and demand for technical jobs has motivated Murray in his efforts to improve Bevill State’s technical programs for its students.

“We need to find ways to increase classes and find the right class size for the that class,” Murray said. “It’ll take some shuffling to get those larger classrooms to accommodate students. With our enrollment numbers, it’s going to be a challenge to achieve it, but I feel we’re going to accomplish it well. Also, with so much of the educational process being online, there’s a great deal more resources that available to us and I’d like to see more of our technical classes made available on the internet. I would like to bring on more night classes as well. I feel that with the way that the economy and prospective students’ schedules are in their life, there’s a higher need for it.”

With Alabama’s burgeoning automotive manufacturing industry growing steadily, Murray said that courses that instruct in the skills for these current and future developments will be an area of concentration.

“Max Weaver and Brian Gann are two of the reasons I wanted to work up here as both have such a vision for the future and understand the potential our area has in the automotive manufacturing industry,” Murray said. “They’re working hard towards those programs, with new and innovative courses that can help us educate students in several areas. It’s very exciting for all of us and the college.”

Murray’s background with education, as well as his career stops in his path leading to Bevill State have seen him experiencing great changes as well. Murray holds degrees from the University of Oklahoma, UAB, and a Ph.D. from a University of Alabama/UAB joint educational program.

His calling in education began in Lawton, Okla., at Career Tech, where he stayed until 1985 when he relocated to Alabama and began working at what was Bessemer State Technical College before it merged with Lawson State, up until his new appointment two weeks ago.

Another change Murray hopes will happen soon will be his relocation from his current home in Bessemer to the Walker County area, where he and his wife are eager to be a part of the community.

“Being a part of the community is so important; when a community college loses that since of community, it loses its support,” Murray said. “People here in Walker County have wonderful ideas and they’re their very open to giving us their ideas. When you’re part of the community, you’re able to listen to the people like that, and that’s what I want to be part of.”