Wake County's record holder for most goals in a season - Fuquay-Varina's Adrian Gonzales - has signed to play at Louisburg Junior College.
Gonzales had 56 goals for the Bengals in his only season of high school soccer. That number was second in the state last season and ranks 10th all-time in NCHSAA history.
Louisburg College has finally received some good news after a lot struggle to stay afloat.
The university has retained its accreditation after a battle that included significant budget cuts.
Details here.
In this weak economy, private colleges are feeling a serious pinch.
Around North Carolina, small, private colleges are scrambling to pay their bills. Some are actually merging with other institutions. At many, enrollment is dropping.
As my colleague Jane Stancill reports today, private colleges without the benefit of massive endowments are slashing budgets, freezing hiring, laying off employees and delaying construction projects, all in effort to just get by.
This isn't just a North Carolina phenomenon. In Atlanta, for example, one small college didn't pay the water bill and thus can't open for the next semester.
Louisburg College has been put on probation by the major regional accrediting agency.
The action happened at the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools' Commission on Colleges meeting this week in San Antonio, Texas.
Louisburg, the state's only private, two-year college, has struggled with financial problems and burdensome debt in recent years. The college will be on probation for a year related to four unspecified standards of the accrediting organization, a news release from Louisburg said.
Louisburg was placed on warning status a year ago. Probation is more serious, according to a description of sanctions on the association's web site. If the college loses accreditation, it would be almost impossible for Louisburg to remain open, because its students would no longer be eligible for federal financial aid.
A group from the accrediting body will assess the college again after a site visit next fall. At the meeting in Texas, Louisburg leaders were asked questions about admissions, academic support, financial recovery and overall stability of the institution.
The college is trying to emerge from its trouble with the help of a new president, Mark La Branche, who was appointed last month.
Louisburg leaders have made progress, Rodney Foth, interim president, said in a news release. "We must continue our current efforts, which will result, absent of any unforeseen events, in the Commission lifting the probation sanction in December 2009," Foth said.
As my colleague Jane Stancill reports, Louisburg College has a new president.
The troubled college, the only private, two-year institution in the state, has named Mark David La Branche its new president.
The college's last president resigned after one year after making significant budget cuts.
As my colleague Jane Stancill reports, Louisburg College has a new president.
The troubled college, the only private, two-year institution in the state, has named Mark David La Branche its new president.
The college's last president resigned after one year after making significant budget cuts.
Two candidates for the presidency of Louisburg College will visit the campus for interviews next week, the News & Observer's Jane Stancill reports.
The board there will vote on a new leader Nov. 21.
The candidates are Mark David La Branche, senior vice president of external affairs at Huntingdon College in Alabama, and Judy Blankenship Cheatham, an English professor at Greensboro College who also headed graduate programs there.
La Branche will tour Louisburg on Monday and Tuesday, while Cheatham will visit on Thursday and Friday. Both will interview with faculty and staff.
Louisburg's next president will have a tough task ahead.
Late last year, the financially troubled school was warned that it could lose accreditation. That would bring almost the almost certain demise of Louisburg, the only private junior college in North Carolina.
The last president, J. Michael Clyburn, resigned after less than a year. He had cut jobs at the heavily indebted college, which revived a long-dormant football program in 2005 to attract more students.
