Northeast State marks 60th anniversary but looking foward

BLOUNTVILLE — Northeast State Community College marks its 60th anniversary of existence this year, but President Jeff McCord said the school and its leaders have eyes firmly focused on the future. The Tri-Cities State Area Vocational-Technical School, which eventually became Northeast State, opened its Blountville campus in mid-1966. Democrat Lyndon Baynes Johnson was president of the U.S., the iconic Ford Mustang was less than two model years old, Democrat Frank G. Clement was governor of Tennessee and the "Batman" television series was on the airwaves. Fast forward to 2026, and the school has campuses across the Tri-Cities, including one in Elizabethton and Carter County that is getting what Dr. McCord called a much-needed new buildings to replace old ones. Republican Donald Trump is president, and Republican Bill Lee is finishing up his last year as governor. "Batman" remains in reruns, Ford still makes Mustangs, and Northeast State is still instructing students. McCord said Northeast and the Tennessee College of Applied Technology of Northeast Tennessee, known as TCAT-Elizabethton, will share the new facility near Elizabethton's municipal airport, which he said is ironic since the main campus in Blountville is adjacent to Tri-Cities Airport, the region's passenger airline hub that also has general aviation like Elizabethton. "It will be a model for the state, both of us (Nortehast and TCAT) sharing resources," McCord said in a recent interview. The cooperation is more than just using the same facilities; he said students will be able to be enrolled in and take classes at the two schools at once at the new Higher Education Center. In addition to Northeast and TCAT-Elizabethton, TCAT-Morristown and East Tennessee State University also can be involved in use of the new facility, thanks to the Tennessee Board of Regents. "It allows the TCATs and community colleges to function in one building," McCord said. TCAT-Elizabethton is to do cosmetology and Northeast general education courses at the center, he said. Funding for the project was part of a $1 million initiative of Tennessee two years ago, McCord said. The site is the current Northeast campus in Elizabethton. One building already has been torn down, and he said the second will meet the same fate after the new structures are completed. McCord said the buildings were part of a chemical operation circa 1970s and the campus will serve the region, especially students from Carter and Johnson counties. KINGSPORT PLANS In Kingsport, McCord said an expanded machine tools lab is going in at the RCAM or Regional Center for Advanced Manufacturing. Machine tools used to be split between site near Kingsport and the Blountville campus, he said. Medical training programs also are in downtown Kingsport. Meanwhile, the new culinary arts program is finishing up placement of a commercial kitchen. "We're going to build a really high quality culinary program," McCord said of a program that started in the fall of 2025. In addition, he said maintenance programs for utilities are important lto all programs. For instance, heating and cooling equipment, including chillers and boilers, are being replaced at the Blountville campus, McCord said. An effect of that will be the summer events will not be held this year at the Ballad Center for the Arts, but he said the school will work to get other venues for those events and activities this summer. The center is to reopen in time for use in the fall semester, he said. The expenditures range from tens to hundreds of thousand of dollars to almost $1 million on machine tool work in Kingsport, including moving walls, McCord said. "Our (60th anniversary celebration) slogan is 'We're just getting started.'" For videos on Northeast's 60th anniversary, go to YouTube or Facebook at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUKrCwtjpQ4 or https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=847450054784772.