By Patrick Crowley
The Cincinnati Enquirer

COVINGTON - Saying he is driven by seeking "challenge over comfort" Dr. G. Edward Hughes was inaugurated Friday as the first president of Northern Kentucky's Gateway Community and Technical College.

Before a crowd of 400 education, business, community and government leaders at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center, Dr. Hughes invoked the event's theme of "Dare to Soar" during his inaugural address.

"It is now Gateway's time to take flight and soar as a comprehensive community and technical college," Dr. Hughes told the crowd, which included his wife, Sarah. "Soaring birds are successful in flight by reacting to their environment and receiving support from the crosswinds and thermals.

"That sounds to me like what our college does well," he said. "We take a bird's-eye view of the region, we react to the environment because we are community-driven, we rely on support from many to do our work and we flap our wings quickly to react."

During the ceremony, Dr. Hughes was presented the presidential medallion by Michael B. McCall, president of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System; R. Richard Jordan, chairman of the Gateway board of directors; and Martha Johnson, a member of the school's board of regents.

Dr. Hughes was named the founding president and chief executive officer of the Gateway Community and Technical College on Dec. 1, 2001. The school is one of 25 colleges in the state's community and technical college system. In Northern Kentucky 2,500 students in 28 areas of study attended classes on campuses in Covington, Edgewood and Highland Heights.

A fourth campus is being built in Boone County on Mount Zion Road near Interstate 75. It is expected to open by the middle of next year.

The college, as well as the state's entire technical and community college system, was created by higher education reform legislation passed by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1997. House Majority Caucus Chairman Jim Callahan, D-Wilder, who spoke at the inaugural ceremony, sponsored the bill.

"In my 16 years in the Kentucky General Assembly, the reform of post-secondary education is one of the most important pieces of legislation we enacted," Mr. Callahan said. "And nowhere is the creation of a community and technical college more critical to the future than here in Northern Kentucky.

"With Gateway, Northern Kentucky University and Thomas More College we have the institutions that can provide a complete package of opportunities for students from technical training to liberal arts education," he said.

Mr. Callahan also praised Gov. Paul Patton for spearheading the education reform legislation and helping shepherd it through the legislative process.

The bill was controversial because community and technical colleges had been under the authority of the University of Kentucky.

At the time UK was under the leadership of President Dr. Charles Wethington, who did not want to relinquish control of the community and technical schools.

A native of Gettysburg, Pa., Dr. Hughes was president of Hazard Community College for 16 years. During his tenure the college grew from 600 to 3,800 students and he helped raise $13 million in private, state and federal funds during two major fund drives.

E-mail pcrowley@enquirer.com