March 2014 Board Report

Illinois Valley Community College will use a portion of its surplus operations and maintenance funds to complete plans for a student center and cyber café, board members decided Thursday.

Within two years, the café will open in the main lobby and the student center will open in the former counseling area. IVCC will apply for $259,400 in capital renewal funds to upgrade lighting, electrical and data wiring in the lobby to accommodate students’ technological needs.

In addition, an accessible elevator will be installed in the student center for $370,642 and prior to Phase 3 construction, asbestos abatement of $134,250 will take place in the area’s to be renovated. Excess Protection, Health and Safety (PHS) funds will cover the cost.

IVCC will use $270,000 in surplus O & M funds to complete projects totaling more than $1.5 million. The board’s action addresses a decades-long need for a large gathering area for students to interact and work on projects.

Other “phase 3” plans – recommended by the board’s facilities committee Feb. 21 – include moving Emergency Medical Services (EMS) into the former home of electronics in lower level D and expanding Jacobs Library into the vacant cashier’s office off the main lobby.

In other business, the board approved personnel moves including the appointments of:

  • English instructor Adam Oldaker as Interim Dean of English, Mathematics and Education. Oldaker replaces the retiring Marianne Dzik.
  • Director of admissions Mark Grzybowski as Interim Associate Vice President for Student Services. He replaces Tracy Morris who is resigning to become Vice President for Student Services at Illinois Central College in East Peoria.
  • Danielle Stoddard as grant coordinator, Steve Alvin as curriculum process leader and Rose Marie Lynch as AQIP accreditation process leader. The temporary special assignments were necessitated by the appointment of Sue Isermann as Interim Vice President for Learning and Student Development.

In other business, the board approved:

  • The sabbatical leave request of early childhood education program coordinator Diane Christianson for the fall semester.
  • The $23,377 bid of Midland Paper of Wheeling for copier, fax and printer paper.
  • Spending up to $53,000 on fuel for the truck driver training program; Sapp Bros. in Peru and Flying J in La Salle will be the vendors.
  • A tuition increase for dual credit high school students to 60 percent of the standard tuition rate, an increase of $15.36 that brings the hourly total to $62.16. Dual credit students do not pay the $7.40 per hour universal fee.
  • An inter-district cooperative agreement with Heartland Community College to serve students on the edges of the Fieldcrest and Woodland high school districts.
  • Ottawa’s request for a 13-year extension of the I-80 North TIF.
  • The nomination of English instructor Nora Villarreal of Ottawa for the 2014 Illinois Community College Trustees Association (ICCTA) Outstanding Faculty Award. Selected by her peers for the 2014 Stephen Charry Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence, Villarreal is also coordinator of IVCC’s Writing Center. Other nominees were Charles Kwiatkowski, Jim Moskalewicz, Oldaker, Sue Caley-Opsal, Michael Pecherek, Kim Radek and Delores Robinson.
  • Ottawa Center counselor Valery Calvetti as the 2014 ICCTA Outstanding Part-time Faculty Award nominee. An employee since 1997, Calvetti has counseled students at the Ottawa campus since it opened in 2010 and previously served as director of community relations and marketing.

The board also learned:

  • 2013 Charry award winner Abhijeet Bhattacharya, an economics instructor, has earned his doctorate of Business Administration in Global Business and Leadership from California Intercontinental University.
  • Ottawa Center coordinator Jeannette Frahm won the 2014 Distinguished Service Award for support staff. Other nominees were Tracie Klieber, Marlene Merkel, Kelly Obermiller and Frances Whaley. All will be honored April 25 at the annual employee recognition reception at Grand Bear Lodge.
  • In his monthly construction update, President Jerry Corcoran said phase 2 is at substantial completion except for demolition, re-grading, and seeding. The heater exchanger in the gym has been replaced and the Cultural Centre sound system project is at the 95 percent design-review stage and ready to go to bid this month.
  • IVCC’s Mu Alpha chapter of Sigma Kappa Delta recently earned the chapter activity award at the Sigma Kappa DeltaInternational Convention in Savannah, Ga.
  • Mathematics instructor Dawn Wiggins, faculty sponsor for Indefinite Limit, announced upcoming events for the student math club. T-shirts are being sold to raise funds for a charity and later this month the group, along with the Student Government Association, will celebrate Einstein's Birthday and Pi Day.  The event will include a “digits-of –Pi” contest and a “Pi’e-a–professor” fundraiser.
  • Hundreds of high school students are expected to attend the Building Trades Expo 9:30 a.m. to noon Friday, March 28 at IVCC. The event is organized in partnership with Starved Rock Associates for Vocational and Technical Education, Illinois Valley Labor Management Committee and Illinois Valley Building Trades Council.
  • IVCC Foundation’s March 1 Irish Night celebration at Senica’s Oak Ridge raised $15,000 to support scholarships.
  • More than 40 students and staff were guests at a Feb. 26 etiquette dinner hosted by career service’s Cathy Buck and Cristina Sarabia. Oglesby native Lee Ann Piano was the presenter.
  • British-born singer and actor Alex Boyé will perform in IVCC’s Cultural Centre Saturday, March 29 as part of IVCC’s partnership with Starved Rock Country. Bagshot Row will open for Boyé at 6 p.m.