President’s Update for October 12, 2009
Good Afternoon!
Well, here we are beginning our fourth week of the term. It’s been so busy with so many students on campus and events that the first three weeks just flew by us. We continually see and hear about the challenges and hardships of so many people impacted by the poor economy, and with the constant daily business of addressing student issues, time has been elusive in terms of keeping track of all that has happened.
Certainly, in this brief period of the new school year some noticeable activities have occurred. Enrollment Services and Financial Aid staff members have done outstanding jobs in meeting the rapidly increasing demands of people seeking college enrollment. Financial Aid has more than doubled in applications from this same time period a year ago. Of course, this trend carries across the state’s higher education institutions and nationally as well. Thanks to everyone in those departments for their extra efforts.
People have noticed the incredibly positive change in the grounds appearance over the course of mid-summer up to now, as evidenced by the flurry of emails across campus acknowledging the Facilities staff for their persistence and hard work in this short time period. They’ve all worked very hard and made deliberate efforts to improve the grounds maintenance and appearance. It has demonstrated a great deal of pride in the campus and contributed to removing the “aging” of our campus but rather supports the quality and innovation that continues to occur here and reaches students in the classroom. Thanks to everyone and especially Facilities staff members.
Speaking of contributions to the campus, the Farmers Market has been a great addition to the weekly routine of campus events. Special thanks to the many people for coming up with the idea as well as those who made it happen. It has been well received by students and staff.
Another significant initiative has been focused on sustainability, and there has been much discussion and action on the part of the committee and campus individuals to improve our knowledge and awareness of how we can positively influence the health of our environment now and for future generations. Conscientious efforts are being made by many on a daily basis to conserve and be prudent in the use of resources. One such effort worth noting has been the work of IT in conserving paper usage by students and the wasteful printing systems we’ve been using for years. This work is not restricted to EvCC but is part of the Governor’s statewide efforts to reduce the unnecessary use of paper products and other resources. Additional evidence that supports our IT efforts is available in last week’s Community College Weekly publication that features IT sustainability efforts across the country that mirror what is happening here at EvCC. Google it and learn more. Congratulations to Michael Klim and staff for their leadership with this national initiative.
Another area in which EvCC has experienced considerable success, especially during the summer, has dealt with our grant-writing efforts. Most recently we were part of a multi-organization grant award (exceeding $400,000) from the Fund for Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE). FIPSE is a highly regarded funding source in the Department of Education that supports innovation and quality in grant efforts. This particular award is one of several recently secured and/or applied for that will be of significance to the College’s building new programs and new partnerships.
As we’ve considered our efforts in expanding resource building efforts beyond our annual state allocations, the environment for securing outside funding sources through federal , state, and private foundations has become increasingly attractive with the stimulus funding, and the Obama’s community college and Gates Foundation initiatives. We’ve discussed with several organizations and colleges their increasing interest and efforts to improve the attainment of external funding via increased grant writing and relationship building. In following through on our budget development priorities to enhance financial resources (International Education, Corporate Training, fundraising campaign, and Monroe satellite campus) beyond the typical state allocations, we have decided to invest institutional dollars in expanding our grant writing and relationship building efforts with the establishment of a resource development office that will include additional personnel devoted to securing external funding. Part of this position will eventually be funded on a commission basis, hopefully to increase incentives to secure additional funding through a multitude of sources. You will soon be seeing an advertisement of the job that will require a highly motivated and incentive oriented person to be successful.
As mentioned above, this is but another opportunity to build revenue resources outside of the state allocation process, especially in an economic climate where there are new multiple funding sources. There will be more information coming as we move forward with this development.
Both the Obama and Gates initiatives focus on increasing community college student completion and graduation. In fact, at last month’s statewide president’s meeting we learned that there will soon be RFP’s for the Gates funding to develop efforts to increase graduation. As an institution we have for the last several years increased our knowledge of student challenges at EvCC through the Student Success and Retention Committee and, more recently, with the findings of the First Year Matters committee. With both of these committees there have been the consistent findings that students need greater engagement with the college, more program advising and greater opportunity for financial assistance. By the way, our own Board of Trustees has also requested for three years that we focus on improving student retention and success.
In the most recent edition of the Trustee Quarterly by the Association of Community College Trustees, several noted educators including Jill Biden and Judith Eaton from the Council on Higher Education Accreditation comment on the critical need and role community colleges play in graduating more students. I encourage you to read the articles at ACCT.org . The topic is receiving considerable attention and interest.
My point in highlighting these conversations about student completion relates to the recent reports that have been shared around the campus concerning Mandatory Student Orientation and Mandatory Student Advising. So far what I have observed has been some thoughtful ideas and suggestions about the implementation of such a program that will lead to greater success for our students. While I am sure there are details and disagreements as to the “how” to be worked out, I encourage people to become familiar with these proposals and to seek reasonable answers for their implementation. Our successful efforts with these proposed programs are very important for our students.
Related to this topic, we have been in successful discussion with the county’s superintendents to build better working relationships between k-12 and community colleges in the county. We agreed to meet with them on a regular basis and develop new efforts in areas of mutual interest that will benefit high school students coming to our college campuses. Our first two priorities deal with math transition and accessing higher education for students from low-income families. We are in the process of building these discussions for a November 13th meeting. I will bring forward more on this topic as we proceed.
It’s been a year since the Board of Trustees funded our proposal to increase efforts with International Education and increase student enrollments in this area as well as interaction with institutions from partnering countries. By reading the recent report shared collegewide by Visakan, I believe we’ve made considerable progress in this area and congratulate him, staff members who work with him on a regular basis, and all college community members for your interest and support of the international students . Thank you.
Finally, while we continue to read and hear of rumblings about the state economy, increasing unemployment, and state revenue shortfalls with more anticipated budget reductions, I want you all to know we are being vigilant about our annual budget yet have allowed for out-of-state travel and hiring replacement positions. We’ve planned with contingencies and built our budget with increased non-state revenue sources. We see tuition revenues increase with increased enrollment. We know future budgets will be restricted and challenging. We want to continue the practice of greater budget planning transparency and will do so as we begin the budget development process. Please keep involved with us and share ideas and suggestions. We’ve been successful so far but have a tough road ahead of us. Your continued work and contributions are very much appreciated. Thanks and continue having a good fall term.