Minutes of the September 26, 2016, meeting were approved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Name(s) highlighted in yellow were absent.

Data as Of Monday (10/24/2016)

 

 

None at this time.

Randall distributed and discussed the proposed 2017 Holiday Calendar. Ruth made a motion to accept the calendar as written and Muriel seconded the motion.

David stated (as previously approved by the Cabinet) CVCC’s email domain will change from @cvcc.vccs.edu to @centralvirginia.edu. The President’s Cabinet approved the user’s name to continue as it is currently written (last name and initial of first name). The President’s Cabinet also approved for the domain change to begin on the evening of January 3, 2017. David will explain all the changes during the first day of Spring Convocation (January 3). He stated this will be communicated carefully and staffing will be available to address questions and problems. He also stated it is important to note that after the change, emails sent to a user’s @cvcc.vccs.edu address will continue to be received, but when the user replies to the email sent to @cvcc.vccs.edu, it will be sent from @centralvirginia.edu.

 

Russell distributed and discussed the proposed changes to the numbers for exterior (three numbers) and interior (four numbers) doors. The numbers will be located on the top right corner of each door and will illuminate at evening time. Russell stated this will be very helpful to first responders in an emergency situation. Tom made a motion to approve the numbers as shown in the drawings and Ruth seconded the motion.

Muriel reported the VCCS will have a regional deans’ conference held here on November 15.

Muriel reported Patti Saffioti and Jack Freeman submitted an application and received the Chancellor’s Innovation Grant for Building Student Success Through Appreciative Advising. Muriel stated that with this funding a counselor workshop will be held in March 2017 with an invitation to the area high school counselors and career coaches.

Muriel discussed the dual enrollment experiment (Financial Aid for Early College and STEM students) and stated 47 students applied for financial support with 27 students being awarded so far, and 12 students pending for verifications. She stated 15 students were ineligible. Muriel stated these students represented most of the area schools and even included home schooled students.

 

Randall thanked everyone for their efforts in completing performance evaluations.

Randall discussed a change which will take place on December 1, 2016, in the Fair Labor Standards Act concerning overtime changes. He stated employees must make a minimum pay of $47,476 each year (raised from $23,660) to be considered for exempt status and not receive compensation for working over 40 hours per week.

Stephanie stated it would be worthwhile for the Classified Staff to learn more about this. Randall stated he had spoken with Francie about speaking at their next meeting.

John stated an “everyone” email will be sent from HR detailing this change, and individual letters will be sent to all employees that will be affected.

Will stated as previously discussed, CVCC has received $25,000 to create a solar lab to support CVCC’s Energy Technology Career Studies Certificate. Will stated work has begun to purchase needed equipment and the solar lab should be available to students by January 2017. He stated the lab will be located on the second floor of the AREVA building.

Will stated Meagan Healy (from the VCCS) has awarded CVCC $10,000 for cyber-security training and will give some funds towards a cyber-security summer academy.

Tom reported the Faculty Association has not met since the last President’s Cabinet meeting.

Sarah reported the Part-Time Association’s pizza fundraiser was a great success and raised over $281 for the student emergency fund.

Sarah stated the food drive has begun (to benefit the new student food pantry) with boxes available around Campus for contributions.

Sarah reported a job fair will be held here on November 15.

Russell reported a three-day emergency planning training will begin tomorrow. He stated this training will help prepare for the spring functional exercise and also if a significant incident was to occur on Campus. 

Russell stated he is still in the process of getting a signed agreement for the new radio system. Lewis stated some of the language in the contract has caused a delay.

Dianne reported the Weekly Bulletin content will be absorbed into the Daily Bulletin beginning this week.

Dianne reported the Virginia Education Summit that was held here at CVCC was a huge success and thanked all those departments and individuals that helped make this event happen.

Ruth reported the College has received a significant Workforce capacity building grant (about $350,000) for developing new programs and for hiring a Workforce coach to work and encourage non-credit students to complete their programs and certifications. She stated this grant will also help the College by supporting the credit-side with a mobile welding lab (with welding stations and welding trainers) that CVCC will share with Germanna and Piedmont Virginia Community Colleges.

Ruth reported she will be in Richmond a lot during November working on the pricing of non-credit programs. She stated there has never been a consistent pricing across the VCCS but is being required to do so now that the General Assembly is providing funding.

Ruth reported non-credit semester beginning dates will now coincide with the academic calendar. Ruth stated she is working with Cindy Wallin in creating the first credit-non-credit MT1 class. She stated being on the same calendar will be make this easier.

John distributed and discussed data listing the number of certifications and licensures awarded by each college. He stated CVCC for FY ‘16 had the most with 458 non-credit and 762 credit. John also called attention to FY ‘17 (through 10-10-16) and stated CVCC is also at the top. Ruth stated this was a college-wide effort with special thanks to Jason Ferguson and Jim Lemons.

Stephanie reported the College’s first participation in downtown Lynchburg’s First Fridays Meet and Greet was a success with about 50 attending.

Stephanie reported attendance at the Classified meetings has increased.

Kris stated on Thursday, she will be meeting with departmental coordinators to close the annual departmental planning process from last year and to make sure all the goals are in place for this year. She stated the faculty and the divisional deans have been hard at work on creating these structured programs and the new template. Kris stated there is much enthusiasm and innovation in how these programs are coming together, how they will be displayed, stackable when possible, on the new website.   

David reported two speakers have been added to Room 2123.

David reported last week a firewall (purchased by the VCCS) was installed.

He reported the web redesign is going well, and the process of creating the templates continues. He stated all content must be reviewed and rewritten by October 31 with a projected “go live” date of February 2017.

David requested that all supervisors please encourage their reports to complete the Security Awareness training.

Lewis reported he is pleased to say that the cooling systems in the Campbell and Bedford Buildings will be replaced (cost $300,000 paid by the VCCS). Lewis stated there are 40 heat pumps in the ceiling of Campbell and 50 in Bedford that will be replaced as well (cost $20,000 paid also by the VCCS). He stated installation times and dates will depend on the contractor that receives the bid.

Lewis stated at the last Cabinet meeting, Tom had asked about being able to recycle on Campus. Lewis stated for now, Thurman Woodson and his crew will handle the aluminum cans. He reported there were not that many cans being recycled and often the bins contained plastic and trash as well. Lewis stated that paper is still collected by the Training Center.

Lewis stated another topic from the last meeting was about providing child care here on Campus. He reported he reached out to HumanKind (formerly Presbyterian Homes & Family Services) and stated while they do not provide childcare, they are aware of the options/resources available in the area. Lewis stated it may be a good idea to have HumanKind hold a session here on Campus for students who need childcare. Muriel stated she would be glad to help arrange this. John stated he felt this should be an ongoing activity to bring HumanKind in to work with students.

Discussions included why CVCC did not continue with the early childcare program. Muriel stated this began as a degree program but when there was a lack of students enrolling, the College could no longer afford a full-time faculty member, and the program was downgraded to a certificate program. Muriel stated the pay in childcare jobs is very low which makes the program hard to market. She stated this program was discontinued just prior to the last SACSCOC visit. Muriel agreed to revisit the viability of a childcare program.

John stated with the College’s enrollment steadily declining, new programs should be investigated, and the College be more entrepreneurial and aggressive. He stated Will is working on a new mechatronic program for CVCC, but CVCC is one of the last in the VCCS to offer this. 

Mike was absent

John discussed the budget and stated Virginia is reporting a $1.5 billion revenue shortfall over the course of the biennium. He stated earlier this year, the governor asked the executive branch agencies to build contingency plans of returning 5% of their general fund allocation. John stated at the VCCS 50^th Anniversary Gala (November 15), the governor said he was going to spare higher education from any budget cuts. John stated since that event, it has been announced that higher education will be cut a very modest .88%. He reported he will be participating tomorrow in the Chancellor’s conference call to discuss this in detail. However, he stated next year will probably result in higher education experiencing a bad budget year because that is when the more significant shortfall is supposed to hit. John reported more will be known when the governor releases his budget in mid-December.

John stated there is still no answer from the VCCS on the faculty salary increases. Randall reported the original plan was submitted in July and since then, has resubmitted it four additional times. He stated Thursday, he is participating in a conference call for further discussion.

The meeting adjourned at 2:30 p.m. The next President’s Staff meeting will be held on November 7, 2016.