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- We spoke to many people,
but Laura initially stood out anyway.
She was very engaging.
She did her research on the college,
taught me a few things I didn't know
right from the start, so...
She made a very, very good first impression with us.
- When I first met Doctor Douglas,
when she first came for her first interview,
because I was on the presidential search committee,
and I thought she was very poised,
very confident, courteous.
She had a warm smile with a sense of humor,
and I found her to be very professional.
- My first impression of her was
she was on top of everything.
She was one of the few that tweeted,
so we were impressed with that.
And she had a real hold on what we needed
as a president of the college.
- I was very impressed with President Douglas
in terms of her quick grasp of Southeastern Massachusetts.
Here's a person with all kinds of energy,
lots of ideas, collaborative to the bone,
and ready to work.
- I looked at her resume, and I noticed
that she worked at the Khao-I-Dang refugee camp,
where I grew up, spent seven years of my life there.
First thing I said was, "Thank you for your service
"for my people."
She's genuinely compassionate about the people
that she serves,
and the refugee camp is just one small example of that.
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- She's really taking
an approach of listening, seeing what our school needs are.
She's taking everybody's input
and utilizing that as a catalyst
in order to figure out what direction to go.
- She's very visible, attending many of the events.
She's also made herself available
to listen to the students with her coffee hours.
She's seeking to improve the way we operate and function
as a college, and I like that.
- She's very friendly,
and she always listen to a student voice.
It is important her to listen to a student,
so that she can get feedback from the students.
And then she can make a positive difference.
- I think that she's been a strong supporter
of both, well, the needs of adjunct and full-time faculty.
I know that she has committed publicly
to hiring more full-time faculty.
And for that, I think, I'm greatly appreciative.
- So one of the things that the senate had established,
as a joint initiative with the administration
a few years back, was something that was called
an Academic Initiative Proposal and Guidelines.
In initial conversations I've had with her, letting her know
about this Academic Initiative Proposal that we have,
she seemed very receptive to that being something
that might be more broad in college life.
Although something might be housed within academic affairs,
or something along those lines,
or be considered an academic initiative in nature,
there are other areas that are either touching that
in some way,
and unless we're all having the same kind of conversation
about things, then somebody could be excluded.
- We just try to make it the best place it can be.
And Doctor Douglas is sort of harnessing that,
and she's listening to us.
And I think she's gonna bring us together
so that BCC becomes even better than it was before.
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- She seems to have taken the fact
that we've got these locations in these cities, these towns,
that are in need of economic development,
has latched onto opportunities
to join the educational aspects of Bristol Community College
to use for the benefit of economic development
in each of those communities.
- It think that her dialogue is going to be very important,
moving forward, for the Taunton community.
BCC can have a play in every casino that's in Massachusetts,
because of the unique education that is gained at BCC.
- She's been really wonderful to work with
and has hit the ground running
in terms of new ideas, new programs.
And to take our relationship, BCC2BSU to the next level.
- I was immediately impressed by her enthusiasm
for community partnerships and her ideas
on inclusion of students.
We provide basic education for students,
and our dream is to get them ready for community college.
Doctor Douglas is very supportive of that
and of making opportunity for our students.
- She supported veteran's efforts from the very beginning.
I mean, she hit the ground running.
From the beginning, she realized that veterans were unserved
relative to BCC, 'cause she can understand
how many veterans have graduated from here.
How many do we have enrolled?
She saw that as a opportunity to help veterans
and also to help the college
by having them enroll in the college.
- We have 35,000 alumni, and they are everywhere.
If you ask them, "Do you know about BCC?
"Have you been to BCC?" you find more and more alumni.
And Doctor Douglas reaches out to people in the community
all the time.
She's always inviting community people and new people in
to different events that she's created
that we have not had at BCC before.
And during that, I think she pulls in some alumni as well.
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- One of the things that thoroughly impressed me
about Doctor Douglas was when I met her at the
NAACP 100th anniversary gala.
She brought two tables of students with her.
She has expressed a continued interest
in trying to draw a closer relationship
between her students and NAACP, which I find amazing.
And we're really looking forward to that relationship.
- She also instituted family night, which is something new,
trying to bring the community in.
- What we find many times,
especially with the non-English-speaking population,
the immigrant population specifically,
is that college is very much under their radar.
During the Latino night, one of the things
that Doctor Douglas spoke to,
not only does she speak Spanish,
but she spoke about was the fact that
in order to break the cycle of poverty
we really need to start investing in our children
in an education.
- I believe that she is going to have
the people in this community get more education
and maybe I can help my people in here,
urge them to go to school
for more education at Bristol Community College.
At least, you know, the adult can go to take the ESL class
to writing, speaking, or reading in English.
We need to communicate with the English language here,
different from our country.
- [All] Congratulations!
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