January 2007 Board Meeting Report

Wednesday night, the Illinois Valley Community College Board of Trustees heard a presentation from Fran Brolley, director of development on the IVCC Foundation. “Over the past 30 years our Foundation has grown through the generous support of individual philanthropists and donors," said Brolley, "but there are still dozens of hard-working students who are denied scholarship aid because of our limited resources. With the loyal backing of our community, we will increase fundraising and address the shortfall."

The Foundation awarded scholarships to a record 206 students this year. Awards ranged from $350 to $1,200 as a total of $112,050 was distributed. Over the past four years alone, the Foundation awarded more than $410,000 to 723 students.

“If you think about it,” Brolley said, “Our donors have eased the financial burden on 700 families and allowed students to focus on getting good grades instead of worrying about picking up a second job to meet their tuition obligations.”

Since its initial $100,000 contribution in 1975 from the estate of Helen Taylor of Peru, Foundation assets have grown to $3.4 million and the number of scholarships awarded to 105.

In light of the cost of the athletic program, three recommendations were made to the board of trustees by President Larry Huffman regarding intercollegiate athletics. The board approved the development of a plan to reduce athletic expenditures and enhance other sources of revenue, the exploration of the viability of establishing an athletic booster organization and the implementation of reductions in the number of tuition waivers for men’s baseball, basketball and tennis and women’s basketball, softball and tennis while women’s volleyball and men’s golf would maintain their current number of tuition waivers.

The board authorized the conferring of 262 degrees and certificates for the fall semester. In 2005, the college had a total of 258 graduates.

In other business, the board authorized the business office to seek bids for welding instructional supplies at an estimated cost of $14,000 and accepted bids from Action Printing for the summer/fall 2007 class schedule for an amount not to exceed $10,479 and from Snook Sales and Service in the amount of $13,493 for a Bobcat 2200 utility vehicle with snow plow.

The board approved:

  • The transfers of $10,700 from the education fund to the auxiliary enterprise fund to support day care, $87,700 from the education fund to auxiliary enterprise fund to support athletics and $18,000 from the Illinois Community College Board Business and Industry Grant to the Small Business Development Center.
  • The purchase of equipment to establish a mobile computer lab/assessment center.
  • An intergovernmental agreement with the village of North Utica and the revised intergovernmental agreement with the city of Ottawa.
  • Participation in the Community College Educational Agreement.
  • Stipends for pay periods ending Dec. 30.
  • Sabbatical leave for Amanda Bigelow for the academic year 2007-2008 and the appointment of Mary J. Neps as the Horticulture/Landscaping/Grounds Maintenance Instructor at Sheridan Correctional Center.
  • Changing the board meeting dates from Aug. 22 to Aug. 29 and Dec. 26 to Dec. 19.