President’s Update – September 21, 2009
Good morning!
So here we are at the beginning of an historic fall term, and the official end of a real summer (with actual hot weather). Record numbers of students will appear on campus today and we’ll begin the new academic year with many more challenges including parking, potential flu, new construction, changing faces and offices and continued budget issues, most notably, possible reductions. At the same time we will be expected to meet these growing needs of increasing student population with the same high level of quality and expertise that is our trademark. It’ll all be somewhat chaotic and interesting.
Hopefully, everyone did have some quality time during the summer season to relax and recreate, enjoy family and friends and certainly be outdoors in the very appealing climate most of the time. Janelle and I have certainly enjoyed the summer season. It began with our great graduation in early June followed by the first annual EvCC Hall of Fame dinner, held at the Events Center. Both events continued to affirm the great work of faculty and staff as we witnessed success among our graduates and former graduates. The Hall of Fame dinner, in particular, was quite exhilarating, hearing stories of successful past experiences from former teachers, coaches and student athletes. The acknowledgement of the 1947 undefeated football team was quite emotional as 12 former EvCC stood for a five minute standing ovation, not only for their accomplishments on the football field, but in the classroom, for their careers, and , most importantly, because many were veterans of World War II. The scene and event were quite impressive.
Another big event for us was the graduation of son, Tom, from college and even more amazingly, securing fulltime work. We are quite pleased and proud that things have worked out for him so well. He feels very good about these recent life transitions and is already making plans for the next major life event.
We did our typical Midwest trip to see relatives and to spend time with my mother during the celebration of her 88th birthday. Siblings and their children were all around during the joyous times and the climate was actually cooler than here. We always had good food and conversation.
We also traveled some on the Oregon coast which is a favorite trip and spent a great deal of time working on flower beds and gardens. In fact, this summer I built several raised gardens that have grown great vegetables for our consumption and sharing with neighbors. We’re excited for more next summer.
As you can see upon arrival at the campus, people have been busy here as well with many construction projects including demolition of the fifty year old gymnasium/pool facility, and beginning the excavation work for the new fitness center/gymnasium. That particular facility will receive considerable attention this next year because of its need, visibility and impact for residents of north Everett. Neighbors, colleagues and others will benefit in many ways but, most notably, for the fitness space and equipment that we shall all be able to utilize.
If last week’s activities are any indication of the nature of our school year, we’ll see a busy but successful experience for all of us. Accreditation, obviously, is at the top of our list of priorities to complete and to secure a positive outcome with the April visit by the evaluation team and the reporting of their findings. There’s been much effort and work and the part of many in preparing the report of our self-study and we eagerly await the draft for review and comment.
Likewise, the news of the status of the state budget will continue to be of interest, as it influences our institutional financial resources and campus climate. We are hoping that our attention can be readily focused on the importance of teaching and learning and not the continuous news of impending reductions. Most recent information from Olympia has the revenue fall at or near bottom, with some level of reduction predicted but not near where we have been. More interesting is what we might anticipate with respect to enrollments (commentary from SBTCT):
“The unemployment rate correlates so tightly with our annual change in enrollments (specifically Worker Retraining) that it’s worth watching. The unemployment rate is currently at 9.2%. It is not expected to peak until the second quarter of 2010 at 9.85% (approximately 9-12 months from now). More interesting than that is the fact that under the current forecast the unemployment rate will be at or above today’s level until the third quarter of 2011. Therefore we are probably looking at demand for Worker Retraining to remain quite steady for the next two years. Having served 9,000 total FTES last year, we expect this year’s number to land somewhere between 12,000 and 15,000 FTES – we are funded for 6,200 from the state.”
Undoubtedly, we’ll note this impact throughout the course of our school year.
Some other topics of note include our institution’s recent efforts in regard to sustainability initiatives and the continuous efforts we’ll be making to more meaningfully educate and manage people about the use of our resources as they affect the environment. Please consider getting more involved with the College’s sustainability committee and related activities.
Student completion and success is another area that will receive considerably more attention than in recent years both internally and externally. With President Obama’s $12 billion community college initiative to increase the number of degree earners at community colleges, and The Gates Foundation’s interest in funding projects that increase degree completion at community colleges nationwide, especially for low-income students, there will be new opportunities to create thoughtful and creative programs that addresses this topic. Of course, student retention and success has been a priority for EvCC for some time now, and, hopefully, we can secure some needed resources to improve the institutional effort.
“First Year Matters” has certainly brought to surface findings about some important actions that we must incorporate into our work with students, and mandatory student orientation and advising, are among several that are always at the top of the list. There’s been considerably work thus far with these findings and will continue to be with the Student Success and Retention Committee.
Much of the above has received considerable attention from our Trustees over the past three years, with student retention improvement a very important priority for them. So we seem to be in concert at a fortuitous time for community colleges to be creative and active in addressing increasing educational needs of our country. We seem to be garnering more attention on both a national and statewide basis, so perhaps there’s some leverage in that enhanced public awareness.
We will also be sharing more information about College Foundation efforts this year, especially with regard to a capital campaign plan and you will be hearing more about increased EvCC programs in Monroe.
So hang on, because I feel a whirlwind beginning to contour up many new people, ideas and activities as the school year begins. And welcome to new employees as you experience your first new school year at Everett Community College. Have a great first week.