May 31, 2017 Minutes of Special Meeting

ACADEMIC AFFAIRS

Institutional Strategic Planning Update

Dr. Anderson will be bringing everyone together to discuss a new mission and vision statement and then looking at goals and objectives.  The faculty began the process of developing an academic plan in fall 2016 and a draft of the Academic Affairs Plan was reviewed by the Board.  This draft will be presented to the faculty in fall 2017 and then to the Teaching and Learning Committee for approval.  The final academic plan will then be presented to the Strategic Leadership and Planning Council (SLPC) and included in the institutional strategic plan.  Anticipated completion of the institutional strategic plan is May 2018. 

Accreditation Reaffirmation and Pathway Update

On May 5, 2017 IVCC was notified by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) that its Institutional Actions Council had reaffirmed its accreditation through 2026-2027.  The Council also accepted the visiting team’s recommendation that IVCC submit a monitoring report concerning the areas of accreditation that had been “met with concerns.”  The monitoring report is due to HLC no later than November 1, 2018.  IVCC was eligible to select its pathway to accreditation.  There are three ways to be accredited – Standard, Open, and AQIP pathways.  IVCC is very familiar with the AQIP pathway; it has been an AQIP institution since 2002.  AQIP institutions are often interested in competing for Baldrige Awards and its principles are outlined with these standards in mind.  A lot of resources are needed to do the AQIP Pathway well.  Three action projects are on-going at all times.  It is an eight-year cycle with two required written Systems Portfolios.  In year eight, a site visit is conducted.  The Standard Pathway is for institutions that require more oversight from the HLC.  The Open Pathway has what is good about AQIP – Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI).  It is a ten-year cycle. It appeals to high-performing institutions.  It emphasizes the five criteria for accreditation and requires institutions to engage in improvement activities over the course of the cycle.  IVCC would document the evidence that it is worthy of accreditation in years four and nine.  There is one project that is required and is worked on for three or four years to improve the institution.  The Open Pathway has been selected as the accreditation pathway best suited to IVCC’s current resources.  Dr. Anderson is closing out the three AQIP action projects.  One action project was completed.  The second project was developing students for prior learning assessment.  The College will continue to work on this as a priority.  The third project is the standard of operations and the way the administration uses data in making decisions.  These projects will still come up, but will not have to go through the project process.  Mr. Mallery noted that with AQIP there is a third party validating the work and he wanted to know who would be doing that now.  Dr. Anderson said because IVCC has been with AQIP so long the site-to-check process is in place.  This is the role of the SLPC.  Mr. Mallery explained he was talking about another peer institution.  Mr. McCracken noted that even though the State dropped programs in K-12, schools continued with the program.  The reporting piece becomes a greater threat and takes time away from the project.  Mr. McCracken suggested contacting other colleges that use the Open Pathway.  It is now a trend with other community colleges to change to the Open Pathway.  Ms. Goetz noted that sometimes personal evaluations are more critical.  SLPC makes the decision on what projects the College will pursue. 

Department Reorganization Discussions

Academic Affairs currently has five academic divisions.  With the retirement of Dr. Brian Holloway, this is an opportunity to reorganize and increase efficiency and productivity.  Under consideration is decreasing five divisions to four and replacing the Humanities, Fine Arts, and Social Sciences dean with a Career and Technical Programs or Workforce Development dean.  This position will alleviate the dean responsibilities from the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, creating opportunity for additional productivity in the areas of curriculum, assessment, and program review.  This will also require a redistribution of the academic content areas among the other divisions.  Dr. Anderson provided a list of 11 proposed items for Academic Affairs to work on during the next year.

Melissa Olivero left the meeting telephonically at 6:34 p.m.

Quick Facts

The sheet of quick facts was very helpful when Fran Brolley and Jerry Corcoran were visiting different organizations in raising funds for the Community Technology Center.  The quick fact sheet has not been a top priority, but this was an opportune time to update it for new board members.  It is also on the College’s website.  Suggestions:  Credit students broken out by county instead of towns would be helpful.  Why 10^th day when so many adult students register after the 10^th day?   Revenue by Sources – should that be FY2015 and FY2016?  Ms. Stevenson noted that she hears concerns that the College should offer more night classes.  Bonnie replied that a lot of the career and technical classes are in the evening because most of the students work during the day.  Since the College has provided online courses, there has been a drop in evening classes.  The College does offer evening classes, but some are dropped due to low enrollment.  Mr. Mallery asked if the same rules for dropping day classes apply for evening classes.  Maybe the minimum number of enrollees needed for a class to make could decrease for the evening classes.  Dr. Anderson will look into this.  Online appears to be an area where the College can grow. 

Graduation Requirements

The State suggests an AA or AS degree should be no more than 60 credit hours.  Any new programs over 60 hours submitted for approval by the State require justification for the extra hours.  Dr. Anderson would like to change the programs that are currently 64 hours down to 60.  Faculty own the curriculum so this process would need to be done with faculty involvement.  Dr. Anderson would like to be proactive instead of it being a state mandate a few years down the road.  A bachelor degree requires 120 hours. 

Melissa Olivero returned to the meeting telephonically at 6:45 p.m.

Perkins Grant

The Carl Perkins Grant is federally funded through the Illinois Community College Board.  The funds are divided 60/40 between secondary and postsecondary education.  Last year IVCC received $214,395 and Bonnie Campbell is planning on this amount again this year.  Use of the Perkins Funds includes working with career and technical education, strengthening the programs and partnerships with education and employers, professional development for the faculty, and equipment needs.  There are six guiding principles associated with Perkins and every principle has activities and expected outcomes that IVCC has to meet. Quarterly reports are then submitted so that ICCB can keep track of what IVCC is doing.  There are also accountability measures.  This is based on data sent to ICCB and scored.  IVCC has scored very well except for the nontraditional participation and nontraditional completers.  Non-traditional for the Perkins Grant is gender-based.  IVCC has been trying to promote young women interested in male-dominated careers. Mr. Mallery asked when the College is evaluating the cost of a program, are the expenses paid by grants used in the decision to keep a program?  Would it be fair to back those expenses out of the comparison?   It was noted that money from grants is separated from expenses that come out of the operating funds. 

STUDENT SERVICES

Strategic Enrollment Goals

Five subgroups were formed from the Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) Committee and have been tasked with designing strategic enrollment objectives for the following subpopulations:

• Dual Credit Students
• At-risk Students
• General Population (Communication & Admission Focus)
• General Population (Marketing & Retention Focus)
• Non-traditional Students

This will provide a long term look at what the college’s enrollments will look like and what the students will look like.  The committee is working on strategic goals for each category.  If students apply to college, they tend to enroll.  General Population – instructors look at their rosters and counselors contact them if they have missed classes.  Last year over 70 percent of the students earned an A, B, or C with no intervention, but 79 percent earned an A, B, or C with intervention.  This subgroup is also working on improving the market penetration at high schools.   These groups are meeting monthly.  The Enrollment Task Force meets every two weeks.  Non-traditional is both 26 years of age or over and gender.  Mr. Mallery suggested giving a weighted score for dual credit.  Encourage the high schools to do this and help them understand how it does impact the counselors.  Dr. Sipovic believes weighting the courses is more of an incentive to take the course. Mr. McCracken would like to see IVCC market the Putnam County College Start and the Running Start programs to all the high schools.  Mr. McCracken suggested comparing the university costs with IVCC costs.  He also suggested working with the high school foundations to help pay for the dual credit courses.  There were 124 Free and Reduced Lunch students that paid $5 to register for the dual credit courses.  Dr. Corcoran noted that he is working with the IVCC Foundation to cover these costs. 

Tuition Waivers

Board members reviewed a spreadsheet on tuition waivers awarded to students at IVCC.  Athletics is separated from Academic/Student Life to give a clearer picture of where the hours and dollars are allocated.  Another column was added to show in-district and out-of-district student athletes who received waivers – 82 percent were in-district students.  Since FY2015, the College changed from calculating waivers by credit hours as opposed to full- or half-waivers.  This provides flexibility when awarding waivers by maximizing waiver funds and assisting as many students as possible.  Ms. Goetz noted the many academic achievements by the student athletes.