August 2003 Board Meeting Report

Newly appointed board member Paula Endress of Earlville was seated at Wednesday night’s Illinois Valley Community College Board of Trustees meeting.

Endress, co-owner of the Sun-Prairie Press in Serena, said she was honored to be appointed to the board to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of Harry Debo of Peru.

"IVCC is a true gem of the Illinois Valley," said Endress, an IVCC alumnus. "I look forward to going to work on the many important issues before this board."

Wednesday the board heard a presentation on the college’s involvement in the new accreditation option through the North Central Association, the Academic Quality Improvement Program (AQIP). AQIP coordinators Harriet Custer, Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Jamie Gahm, director of the Business Training Center, said the program will focus on continuously improving processes and services.

AQIP requires the college to address nine criteria, the first of which is "helping students learn;" other key criteria include identification of needs and perceptions of students and other stakeholders and measuring performance.

"Traditional accreditation is inspection based. A team of our peers visits the college and reviews our comprehensive self study. But that captures just a moment in time every 10 years. AQIP has us working toward continuous quality improvement every year," said Custer.

IVCC is one of the first community colleges in Illinois to be accepted as an AQIP institution.

In other business, the board passed a tentative $29.3 million budget, a 4.5 percent decrease from the $30.6 million 2003 budget. The budget includes all federal and state grants, life safety projects and other funds.

The operating budget, which includes only the Education and Operations and Maintenance funds, is up 6.1 percent to $15.5 million. Jerry Corcoran, Vice President for Business Services and Finance, said total state operating grants to the college will decrease by $750,000, a 19 percent decline from fiscal 2003.

"As the state cuts back on paying its fair share of the cost for public higher education, the burden is passed on to local government (property taxes) and student tuition and fees," said Corcoran.

Despite that setback, the college was able to submit a balanced budget for the 8th straight year, said President Jean Goodnow.

"We asked our deans and department heads to cut their budgets back to 2001 levels. I am so proud of the way everyone has responded during these trying economic times. We’ve come together as a team and have not had to substantially curtail services to the community," said Goodnow.

The proposed budget will be available for public inspection in the college library and the business office for 30 days, and a public hearing on it will be at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 24, prior to the board’s next regular meeting. The board will discuss the budget at a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 16.

The board also:

  • Approved a $1.17 million life safety project that will connect the third floors of buildings A, B, D and E, a project identified years earlier in IVCC’s Master Plan. The current buildings do not have access to one another on the third floor. The project will be submitted to the Illinois Community College Board for funding.
  • Approved the appointments of Tracy Morris as director of Admissions and Records, Yelena Kajevic as developmental writing and composition instructor, Jane Battles and Linda Hanley as nursing instructors and Dominic Sarsah as physics instructor. All the new hires are filling vacancies.
  • Accepted with regret the resignation of Mary Lou Meader, director of Continuing Education and External Learning. Meader, who worked at the college for six years, has accepted a position as director of Skagit/Island PrepWork Consortium at Skagit Valley College in Mount Vernon, Wash.
  • Approved revisions in the IVCC Foundation bylaws.
  • Approved bids totalling $54,233 for ADA improvements to the bookstore and cashier areas. In addition, the board approved the purchase of instructional supplies for the new forensics program totalling $13,601.
  • Learned IVCC’s men’s basketball team will play defending national champion Southeast Iowa Community College Jan. 3 in the first community college game ever at Chicago’s United Center. The game, billed as "The Juco Slam Jam," will be followed by the Bulls vs. the Boston Celtics. A limited number of tickets are available for both games for just $25 each from the IVCC Athletic office.
  • Learned fall enrollment is up 8 percent in headcount and 11 percent in credit hours. Classes began Monday.