Minutes of the June 8, 2012, meeting was approved.

 

 

John Capps, John Poole, Joey Fronheiser, Leticia Forster Mary Evans, Linda Daye, Jim Lemons, Irene Wheeler, and Dianne Sykes

 

Data As Of Sunday (7/1/2012)

 

 

 

 

 

 

John C. opened the discussion by referring to the “everyone” email he sent this morning concerning the SACS’ sanction of Probation that was recently imposed on CVCC. He started with a little history and stated CVCC had an onsite visit from SACS (Substantive Change Committee) in January of 2009 at which time the College was given until October 2009 to respond to a recommendation relating to the deficiency of the College’s evaluation of its academic programs.  John C. stated the College requested for that report to be delayed until April 2010. John C. stated in spring 2010, CVCC had completed assessments for only 12 of the 70 academic programs; by spring 2011, that total was raised to 25 and today assessments are completed for all but two of the curricula. (This takes in account the discontinuance of 22 unproductive programs.) He stated the College has not crossed the finish line because of its lack of a consistent and cohesive assessment plan. John C. stated the fault does not lie with SACSCOC but lies with CVCC. He stated it is up to the College to provide the necessary documentation and end the Probation sanction, and he feels that goal can be accomplished with a collective effort from everyone here. John C. stated no longer can this be assigned to others and point fingers saying it is others’ responsibility, and more than ever before, the College must band together to complete the assessments successfully so it can emerge from Probation. He stated the College jumped from “Monitoring” to “Probation” because of the length of time it had remained on “Monitoring.” SACSCOC only allows an institution to remain on “Monitoring” for only two years, and it had been three years for CVCC since the initial recommendation. He stated in April 2012, the College submitted the report and then hoped for the best. SACSCOC’s Compliance and Reports Committee reviewed that report in June and will be sending a visiting committee in April 2013 to advise the College on where it stands. John C. stated there are three possible outcomes after being placed on Probation. They are: (1) remove the institution from Probation without a report, (2) continue accreditation for good cause, continue Probation, request an additional report, and authorize a special committee visit, or (3) remove the institution from membership with the Commission on Colleges for failure to comply with the standard or failure to meet the provisions of good cause. He stated the third outcome would be calamitous and must be avoided at all costs. John C. stated the College must work together as never before putting differences aside. Responsibility must be accepted by everyone if the process is completed successfully.

 

Joey commented on the assessments and stated the College did not address the leadership required and the sources required to change the culture here at CVCC on assessments use for improvements. He stated the faculty and deans worked very hard on individual programs but did not come together for the report which made it look unfocused. Joey stated he is committed to this College and to make this happen.

 

Jim stated he also felt the College had made great strides and stated BAH had completed all of its assessments, and he is willing to help the other divisions where needed.

 

John C. stated this should be a wakeup call for everyone to realize they must do more than what is just merely required of them. He stated that if the College does not rally together and succeed, all will be unemployed. 

 

John C. reported even though the assessment instruments will vary within the different programs, the information must be communicated consistently in coherent templates. He stated this is one of the key items the visiting committee will be looking for.

 

John C. stated that one problem with the College assessments was there were lots of programs that had few graduates if any at all. He stated that CVCC was still responsible for assessments of those programs that in reality did not even exist. He stated this creates a situation that requires consolidation of resources, concentration of efforts, and being ruthless in eliminating curriculum that are marginal in their productivity. CVCC’s curriculum must be whittled down to something more manageable to ensure good program assessments. Joey stated that another program viability study has been recently conducted and some were found to not meet VCCS and SCHEV standards. John C. stated to continue programs with few students was draining the College’s resources and energy for developing top-notch assessments.

 

John C. stated the College is in process of creating Program Heads who are responsible for particular curricula and to carry out assessment and evaluation of the programs.

 

Irene reported on the Compliance Certification and stated despite a slow start, it is moving in the right direction (with 10 of the requirements written and under review). Irene stated guidelines and definitions have been created for uniformity writing. She stated next week, Merritt Hall’s Room 5114, will be the groups’ new meeting location.

 

 

Leticia discussed the need for establishing employees’ working titles or roles to make contacting the correct person easier. (David L. stated for his area all calls should first go to the Help Desk.) John C. stated this would be helpful to new employees.

 

Irene reported the Faculty/Staff Handbook Committee had been working very diligently but found some policy information non-existent or needed updates. She distributed some of the policies that had been revised by the Committee and requested the President’s Staff approval. David L. requested for a section on Google email to be added since a lot of faculty use that to communicate with students. Joey stated he thought everyone should be using their CVCC accounts instead of g-mail. David L. will write and email a statement on this subject to be included to Irene. Jim recommended providing information about eBooks to be included under the textbook section. Jim will work with John P. to create a statement concerning this. Joey discussed the fact that textbooks used by faculty are different within the same course. John P. stated it was recommended to use the same textbook but not required. John C. stated book uniformity could be reviewed but not acted upon at this time. Irene also stated Linda Adams will be writing a policy on the how and what is placed on the Campus monitors.

 

 

Jim (in Geoff’s absence) reported that Joseph Penrod has been hired as biology faculty to replace David Wiseman, Christopher Parker has been hired in EMS, and currently interviews are being held for the engineering faculty position, two English faculty positions, and an instructional design/blackboard administrator position.

Leticia reported HR is fully-staffed at this time with the addition of Lori Counts and Linda Daye. She also reported Loretta is diligently working on the Knowledge Center.

Mary reported on the Part-Time Staff Association and stated new officers had been elected: president is Gayle Kiger, vice president is Sandra Viar, secretary is Kelli Seagraves, and treasurer is Mary Evans. Mary stated future plans included a fund raiser.

David L. reported he has been busy with the installation of the new door access system. He also reported a 72-inch TV with SmartBoard technology has been installed in Room 5114 to serve as a pilot for possible future usage in the conference rooms and smaller classrooms.

David L. stated plans are to provide training during Convocation for this technology.

Irene (in David McGee’s absence) reported two taskforces have been created—one for program heads and another for course evaluations. She stated the two groups are meeting and getting close to resolutions. Irene stated the Program Heads Taskforce group met yesterday, voting and adopting a policy recommended by the deans.

Linda reported on the Classified Staff and stated an email had been sent to all Classified requesting their preference of serving on one of the governance committees.

John P. reported the 2012-2013 budget and was happy to say he will be able to fund a lot of the items requested during the Planning Session. He also stated a significant amount of money has been budgeted for the SACS’ assessments. John P. reported the budget information with a letter detailing what projects are being funded will be sent out next week to all budget managers. John P. reported Tom Bushley began Monday as the Buildings & Grounds Director. He also reported preparations for the Bookstore relocation have begun, and he will be meeting today with Facilities’ personnel to discuss the progress of that move. He also reported the year-end is almost here with a large amount of carry-over which can be used to fund projects (such as the access doors and Admissions and Record’s new counters) that were not completed in this fiscal year.

John C. stated the budget that John P. just reported on, is based upon a modest enrollment increase but for now, CVCC is showing a large decrease in enrollment. He stated CVCC as one of the six Financial Aid pilot colleges has submitted 3,100 ISERS to TCC but only about 1,300 have been processed which explains why enrollment is low. John C. stated he has spoken with the Chancellor concerning this and will continue until the problem is resolved.

Ruth was absent.

John C. stated everyone at this meeting are considered leaders at this College and asked that everyone continue to lead and set the pace for others to follow. He stated everyone must work together.

 

The meeting adjourned at 2:18 p.m.

 

The next President’s Staff meeting will be held on July 9, 2012.