The mission of a community college is to provide educational services to the community. These services are dictated by the priorities of the specific community. The first priority for Lexington, Kentucky, is employment. The two factors of employment are an available position and a qualified applicant. For local business, the majority of computer-related technical positions are in data entry, operations, and programming. The community college must be able to prepare individuals to be qualified for some of these careers. Lexington Technical Institute (LTI) is one of thirteen institutions under the University of Kentucky's Community College System. LTI offers programs in many technical areas. Among them is a Business Data Processing curriculum leading to as Associate Degree in Applied Science. The intent of the curriculum is to prepare individuals for careers in computer programming for business applications. Other state-supported institutions cover data entry and other types of programming. Formal training for data entry is given through local vocational schools. Formal training for research and advanced programming positions is given through the Computer Science Department at the University of Kentucky. There is no institution providing adequate formal training for computer operations. The curriculum at LTI is oriented toward preparing individuals for entry-level positions as computer programmers within the Lexington area. To ensure that an institution continues to provide a relevant curriculum, the needs of local business must be periodically reviewed (Little, 1977). A mailed questionnaire was returned by 142 companies in the Lexington area in 1975 (Hager, 1975). The important facts identified were: 1. the predominant computer languages (in decreasing order of use) were COBOL, RPG, and Assembly language; 2. trend toward increased use of BASIC timesharing systems; 3. a preference for an education stressing business systems as well as programming; 4. job opportunities enhanced by practical experience. A follow-up survey was undertaken through the support of the University of Kentucky's Community College System during the summer of 1979. Selected employers of computer programmers within the Lexington area were interviewed.