March 31, 2015 Planning Committee Meeting

The Planning Committee of the Board of Trustees of Illinois Valley Community College District No. 513 met at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 31, 2015 in the Board Room-C307 at Illinois Valley Community College.

Committee Members Physically Present

Michael C. Driscoll, Committee Chair
Jane E. Goetz

Committee Members Absent

David O. Mallery

Others Physically Present

Jerry Corcoran, President
Cheryl Roelfsema, Vice President for Business Services and Finance
Deborah Anderson, Vice President for Academic Affairs
Mark Grzybowski, Associate Vice President for Student Services
Matt Suerth, Director of Institutional Research
Emily Vescogni, Director of Learning Technologies
Renee Prine, Counselor
Stephen Alvin, Instructor

The meeting was called to order at 6:05 p.m. by Dr. Driscoll.

BOARD POLICIES

Animals/Pets on Campus

This is a new policy and was developed to be in compliance with the revisions made by the Department of Justice to the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) in recognizing the use of service animals as required under Titles II and III of the ADA. 

Parking and Traffic Control

This policy has been existence but needed revisions due to the new ADA parking lot and low-emission parking spaces.  It was requested that a map of the parking lots be attached to the policy.

Concealed Carry and Weapons

This is a new policy pursuant to the 2013 Illinois Firearm Concealed Carry Act.  The policy follows the statue.  The policy could change if the new 911 Dispatch Center is located on the campus. 

Medical Cannabis

This is a new policy and does not allow for use or possession of medical cannabis while on College property or while participating in any College-sponsored programs or events, whether on or off campus.

Return to Work of SURS Annuitant

This policy provides for a full-time employee who retires from IVCC as a SURS annuitant to return to work as long as the annuitant does not receive more than 40 percent of the SURS annuitant’s highest annual earnings prior to retirement.  It is not unusual for a retiree to return as a part-time individual, but there could be implications if they earn more than 40 percent, in which the College becomes liable to pay the retiree’s full pension. 

Smoking/Tobacco Use

This policy has been in existence but needed to be revised to be in compliance with the Illinois Smoke-free Campus Act.  Mark Grzybowski has led a campus-wide effort to involve faculty, students, and staff over the past six months to have a smoke-free campus by July 1, 2015.

STUDENT CODE OF CONDUCT

It was recommended to make a change to the Student Code of Conduct.  This is not a policy.  It has been past practice not to bring changes in procedures to the Board if there were just cosmetic changes, but if a procedures has substantial changes, it appears in the “Items for Information” section of the Board Book.  This will appear in the Board Book under “Items for Information.”

INTEGRATED POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION DATA SYSTEM (IPEDS) (FALL 2014)

Matt Suerth, Director of Institutional Research, gave a summary of the 2014 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) Feedback Report for 2014.  This survey is mandated by the Department of Education and administered by the National Center for Education Statistics.  IPEDS collects institutional-level data on student enrollment, graduation rates, student charges, program completions, faculty, staff, and finances.  At the institutional level the data is used for benchmarking and peer analysis.  The peer group consists of Highland Community College, John A. Logan, Kankakee, Kishwaukee, Lake Land, Lewis and Clark, McHenry County Olney Central, Richland, Sauk Valley, and Wabash Valley College.  IVCC is one of the smaller colleges in the peer group and falls somewhere in the middle.  This peer group reflects who you are and you want to be in the middle.  This peer group is good for IVCC and reflects well on the College.  In regard to enrollment, IVCC is clearly down but not alone as most of its peers have experienced similar declines for the past few years.  IVCC’s tuition and fees have been slowly increasing over the years as evidenced by its increase in rank; four years ago IVCC was ranked 12th, now IVCC ranks 5th.  IVCC students garner a fair share of federal, Pell and state and local grants.  However, the students lag behind when it comes to both the percent received and size of institutional grants.  The College does a fine job of graduating students.  However, when compared to its peers, transfer-out and full-time retention rates don’t measure up as well.  The size of IVCC’s staff compares well with peer averages and faculty are paid reasonably well.  The percent distribution of IVCC’s Core Revenues lag behind its peers, particularly in tuition and fees and government grants and contracts.  State and local appropriations rank somewhere in the middle.  Core expenses per FTE reveal a mixed bag; in Instruction, Academic Support and Student Services, IVCC ranks low while in Institutional Support and Other Core expenses IVCC ranks relatively high.   Dr. Driscoll would like Key Performance Indicators to help address the statistics that need improvement.

UPDATES

Strategic Plan

A Strategic Planning meeting was held with Dr. Driscoll present and three different areas were discussed – online learning, students over the age of 25, and developmental education.  The formal aspect of the Strategic Plan that has been worked on is the revision of the Key Performance Indicators (KPI).  The College is close to having a final draft of the revised KPIs.  KPIs have been reviewed, revised, and finalized.  The College is planning on having a drill-down dashboard model for its KPIs.  This will be going to the Strategic Leadership Planning Council in the near future and then to the Board. 

Higher Learning Commission – AQIP Compliance

The Institutional Update is due Friday and Deborah Anderson is working on two areas.  The College is manually collecting data of all six categories for the Systems Portfolio. This is due on June 1 and Deb Anderson assured the Board it will be submitted on time.  A comprehensive quality visit will take place after the Portfolio is submitted in the academic year of 2016-2017.  To be in compliance with Title 4 numerous data must be collected and the College will start working on that next year.  Deb Anderson attended the Higher Learning Commission Annual Conference and received training as the Accreditation Liaison Officer (ALO).  She is also a Peer Reviewer and received training on the new accreditation requirements that institutions are responsible for.  She also attended a session on institutional governments to better understand the role of the Board. 

BOARD MEMBERS’ IVCC.EDU EMAIL

The College received a notice that a recent law requires every public entity that maintains a traditional website to post on that website a mechanism for members of the public to electronically communicate with its elected officials by April 1, 2015.  Years ago it was a priority for all board members to have an ivcc.edu email account for all college business.  Some board members have numerous email addresses (work, home, etc.) and find it difficult to check their IVCC email addresses in a timely manner.  A few options were presented – 1) have a link at the board website and all correspondence would be forwarded to Jeanne Hayden and she would in turn forward to the board member(s); 2) every board member would have an ivcc.edu account on the website and each would have the option of receiving correspondence from that address or have it forwarded to an email of their choice.  The second option will be presented to the full Board at the April board meeting.

ADJOURNMENT

Dr. Driscoll declared the meeting adjourned at 6:52 p.m.