President’s Welcome

Dear Northeast State Students,

I would like to welcome you to Northeast State where the faculty and staff have created a warm and welcoming learning environment.  Because of its dedicated faculty and staff, Northeast State has one of the highest retention and graduation rates in the state.  Our graduates learn skills and gain knowledge that helps them become successful, with 95% placing into jobs in their fields of study.  Additionally, our graduates regularly meet or exceed critical performance measures. These performance measures include general education competency exams, major field tests, academic program reviews, and licensure exams. Several of these performance measures compare Northeast State graduates against other students from across the state or nation.

A new initiative at Northeast State, called STEP (Strategies for Teaching Excellence Program), focuses on helping students learn more effectively.  Over the next several years, instructors will be utilizing research-based instructional strategies to improve student learning and more actively engage students in the learning process.  These strategies will charge the students with setting, monitoring, and pursing learning goals; encourage them to take the initiative to find solutions to answers on their own; show them how to learn in groups; and help them to relate what they have learned in the classroom to their life, career, and any new situation.

Northeast State offers many support services to help you meet your goals.  Please visit the learning centers located on the Blountville campus as well as centers located at the Northeast State teaching sites in Kingsport and Elizabethton if you need tutoring, advising, or other academic and student support services.  It is important that you meet with your academic advisor at least once a semester to make sure you are on track for graduation.  I encourage you to register early each semester in order to get the courses you need and to develop a schedule that works best for you.

To continue receiving financial aid, you must complete the FAFSA (application for federal financial aid) each year.  So your application can be processed in a timely manner and you will be eligible for special state grants, please complete the FAFSA application by March 1.  If you need assistance, please contact the office of Financial Aid and schedule an appointment.

Northeast State has articulation agreements with several four year colleges, and I encourage you to work with advisors from the college if you plan to attend after you complete your degree or certificate program at Northeast State.  Throughout the year, Northeast State invites representatives from four-year colleges and universities to assist you in your plans to transfer.  Also, the Kingsport Center for Higher Education houses offices for representatives from Carson Newman, King College, Lincoln Memorial University, and the University of Tennessee.

Again, welcome and congratulations on selecting Northeast State to further your education.

Janice H. Gilliam, Ed. D.
President