Meeting Minutes September 2017

Northern Essex Community College Board Of Trustees
Minutes Of Meeting (Official) – September 6, 2017

A meeting of the Northern Essex Community College Board of Trustees was held in room TC103A of the Hartleb Technology Center at the Haverhill Campus at 5:00 p.m.

PRESENT

Ms. Benning
Ms. Borislow
Mr. Forman
Mr. Guillmette
Mr. Cox
Mr. D’Orazio
Mr. Linehan
Ms. Paley Nadel
Ms. Worden

ABSENT: Ms. Cerasuolo-O’Rorke

ALSO PRESENT: President Glenn

CALL TO ORDER

Chairman Linehan called the meeting to order at 5:04 p.m.

Introduction of New Trustees

President Glenn introduced three new Trustees. Ms. Jennifer Borislow is a resident of Methuen and is founding principal of Borislow Insurance. Ms. Borislow is also an author, speaker, and thought leader on employee benefits and business strategies. Ms., Anita Worden is a resident of North Andover and is the co-founder of Yaskawa Solectria Solar, formerly Solectria Renewables, LLC of Lawrence. Ms. Worden is an experienced entrepreneur and senior executive in clean technology space. And lastly, Ms. Hannah Benning was elected as the new Student Trustee. Ms. Benning is a resident of Tewksbury and is enrolled as a General Studies Art Major. She hopes to transfer to a four year college upon graduation. Chairman Linehan welcomed the three new Trustees to the Board.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

On a Motion by Trustee Cox, seconded by Trustee D’Orazio, it was voted unanimously to approve the June 7, 2017 minutes as presented.

CORRESPONDENCE

President Glenn noted that the Trustees were provided at their seat with a copy of the letter from all 15 community college presidents related to the recent DACA decision. The community college presidents joined with the state and university presidents, the attorney general, and Commissioner Santiago on their support for DACA students. President Glenn noted that trustees may be asked to respond to the recent decision, and wanted to provide the letter for their reference. The college will continue to do whatever it possibly can to assist immigrant students.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Introduction of Newly Hired Employees

President Glenn introduced Karla Bulmer, Instructor for Nursing, Kimberly Foisy, Assistant Professor of Nursing, Douglas Leaffer, Assistant Professor of Engineering, Eileen Pappalardo, Assistant Professor in Nursing and Hilmar Von Strunck, Assistant Professor of Psychology in the Behavioral Sciences department. The Board welcomed all new employees.

President Glenn then requested that agenda item 8a under New Business be taken out of order. Dr. Diane Troyer, NECC’s Achieving the Dream Coach had a presentation for the board on her recent visit to campus. Chairman Linehan agreed to the change in order. President Glenn noted that the college has been involved with Achieving the Dream for many years now, and it has made a tremendous difference in student success. At the college’s recent Fall Convocation, faculty and staff participated in a “World Cafe” where the results of the college’s Institutional Capacity Assessment Tool (ICAT) were reviewed in detail with an eye towards establishing future best practices across many areas of the college. Dr. Glenn then welcomed Dr. Troyer to provide her report.

Dr. Troyer thanked the Board for their time. She noted that Achieving the Dream (AtD) is a framework for change and has organized data around that change. It’s important to note that NECC is part of an AtD network of colleges across 39 states – all of which are trying to improve their student outcomes. NECC is to be commended at their Leader College status. The vision of AtD is to assure student success especially for low income students and students of color. She noted that there are three pillars of work: 1) Innovation to successfully implement and align cutting edge reforms; 2) Coaching to build institutional capacity and sustain continuous improvement, and 3) Connecting to build a network of leaders who foster innovation and peer learning.

As part of that process. Dr. Troyer noted that the college participated in the ICAT survey and conducted the World Café exercise around this data to continue the process of engaging in systemic change through this capacity framework. The research behind this institutional capacity framework centers around seven (7) items: teaching and learning, engagement and communication, strategy and planning, policies and practices, leadership and vision, data and technology, and equity. Embedded across all of these areas is the culture of evidence where members of the community ask – How do we know how we are doing? The results of the ICAT are provided by levels (1-4) within each framework. It was important to note that NECC’s results all sustained ratings of level 3 indicating that a strong level of capacity was in place. The college’s results were overall commendable with some work to be done within the Data and Technology capacity. It will be important, she noted, that the college “dig into this data and how to seek out improvement.”

In closing, Dr. Troyer noted that the recommended process going forward for further institutional improvement will be the responsibility of many of the college’s faculty and staff. The college will now organize itself to act on the concrete steps outlined to build future capacity in each area and develop targeted strategic efforts to achieve those goals.

President Glenn thanked Dr. Troyer for her report and her encouragement. He noted, “This really has meant a world of difference to us as a college. We’ve always taken on a lot of initiatives, but Achieving the Dream has given us a framework of language and helped us to prioritize items and a set of tools to drive those items. Our coaches Diane and Terri Manning are really helpful to us in this way, and I thank them for their guidance.”

In closing, President Glenn noted that the ICAT results will provide insight into ways the college can improve. The information will be processed by teams across the college who will develop action steps for improvement.

EDUCATION REPORT

NECC Campus Civic Action Plan (ADM-3412-090617)

President Glenn noted that the college works with Campus Compact which is a national organization which guides colleges in their civic organizational efforts. He then introduced Janel D’Agata-Lynch, NECC’s Coordinator of Civic Engagement, Service Learning and Community Resources who provided the education report on the college’s Civic Action Plan.

Ms. D’Agata-Lynch noted that back in the spring of 2013, colleges were asked to reaffirm their commitment to the Campus Compact. As the college embarked on that work, it was supported by the Department of Higher Education’s Vision Project. The plan was created and aligned with the college’s strategic plan resulting in the following three statements:

1. We empower our students, faculty, staff and community partners to co-create mutually respectful partnerships in pursuit of a just, equitable, and sustainable future for communities beyond the campus – nearby and around the world.
2. We prepare our students for lives of engaged citizenship, with the motivation and capacity of deliberate, act, and lead in pursuit of the public good.
3. We embrace our responsibilities as place based intuitions, contributing to the health and strength of our communities – economically, socially, environmentally, educationally, and politically.

The college then developed outcomes with a task and timeline and submitted its plan in May of 2017 to the Campus Compact. Ms. D’Agata-Lynch noted that the plan is a living document and faculty and staff are supported in its implementation. Future growth areas for the plan include a faculty mentor component of the service learning programming, the creation of a system to recognize faculty work in civic engagement, and to explore systematic ways to assure students graduate with experiences and knowledge to be active, informed citizens. In addition, the college will work to improve data collection for civic engagement activity, implement a comprehensive assessment of service-learning programming, pursue grants/additional resources to expand programming, and establish a college-wide honors recognition for programming.

Trustee Paley Nadel asked how trustees can be helpful in developing community partnerships for the college. Ms. D’Agata-Lynch noted that community partners are listed on the college website, and the college is also open to new partnerships, given they are deemed as “the right fit.” Any new partnerships should be referred to Ms. D’Agata-Lynch.

With no other questions, President Glenn thanked Ms. D’Agata-Lynch for her report to the Board.

REPORT OF BOARD COMMITTEES

There was none.

REPORT OF ADMINISTRATION

• NECC 2020 Strategic Planning Update (Verbal)

  President Glenn provided an update on the Integrated Student Experience goal of the plan which included 2 key efforts. First, the various academic support services will now be offered collectively at one location (instead of spread across several buildings) to make them more convenient for students. Services like tutoring, advising and career services will be located centrally in one consolidated space on each campus so students don’t have to find those services independently. Second, the college is experimenting with and developing Meta Major Centers which immerses students into structured programming based on their major and educational pathway. The pilot center will focus on Business majors and will integrate faculty, career services, advising and other student success elements for all business-related majors. The college hopes to expand the number of centers in the future.

• FY18 Budget Update (Verbal)

  President Glenn noted that the Board approved the FY18 college budget at the June 2017 meeting. The Audit and Finance Committee will meet in October and present a revised budget with adjustments based on enrollments and revenues. President Glenn noted a couple of additional items relative to that budget. Specifically, NECC’s state allocation experienced a 1% increase which does not include increases for the MCCC contract going forward. It’s important to note that the state is the bargaining agent for MCCC and AFSCME, yet the funding to fund those contracts has typically only been mandated for 1 year. The colleges then need to fund the remaining years of approved contracts. AFSCME negotiations are beginning now and will ultimately impact our FY18 budget. The lack of performance funding has also impacted the finalized FY18 budget. As noted in June, enrollment declines were factored into the FY18 budget. In October, after the enrollment freeze date, the college will present an amended FY18 budget for Board approval.

• Haverhill Campus Update (Verbal)

  President Glenn noted that the Spurk building is reopened and looks magnificent. He reminded trustees to RSVP to the Spurk Ribbon Cutting/Rededication and Legislative luncheon on September 19th. He also noted that the college welcomed its fifth police academy on campus, and mentioned that the Hospitality/Culinary Arts RFPs are being reviewed. A decision on where that location will be will be made soon.

• Lawrence Campus Update (Verbal)

  President Glenn reminded trustees about the September 7th Ribbon Cutting ceremony at 420 Common Street. This ceremony will officially denote the the communiversity efforts between NECC, Regis College, and Lyndon State College offering bachelor level degrees locally to Lawrence residents.President Glenn also noted that the Lawrence Partnership will be hosting their September meeting on Friday, September 8th with guest speaker Eric Rosengren President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston who will talk about ways in which the city of Lawrence can use municipal indicators to improve economic development.

• Invitation to Merrimack Valley Chamber of Commerce Annual Dinner on October 4th at DiBurro’s, 5:30PM (Verbal)

  President Glenn noted that the college has purchased tickets to the MVCC Annual Dinner and all trustees are invited to attend. Please let Cheryl Goodwin know if you can attend. Trustee Cox also extended congratulations to President Glenn on being awarded the Ralph B. Wilkinson Good Citizenship Award from the chamber.

• Revised AY2017-18 BOT Schedule (Verbal)

  President Glenn noted that a revised BOT schedule is enclosed in the packet for Trustee calendars. This reflects a change for the time start time of the October BOT meeting to 4PM.

In closing, President Glenn also noted that trustees now have their new Parking Decal. Please affix the decal to the lower left front corner of your windshield. Also, Trustee Guilmette has released a new book on the history of the Massachusetts State Police, and President Glenn encouraged everyone to review a copy when they could. And lastly, President Glenn noted that he received a call from former Trustee Wendy Estrella who noted that she had received a call from the Secretary of Education letting her know that her term as an NECC trustee has officially ended. The college thanks Trustee Estrella for her 10 years of service. President Glenn noted that the end of her term marks a challenge for the college as it does not yet have a Hispanic representative on its board, though he is in contact with the Governor’s office about the next trustee appointment.

NEW BUSINESS

1. Introduction of Achieving the Dream Coach Diane Troyer and a Brief Report of 2-day Site Visit (Verbal)

   This item was taken out of order. See the report above under Unfinished Business.

2. Personnel Actions

   1. New Appointments (ADM-3414-090617)

      President Glenn noted that over the summer months, the trustees had given the President authority to hire employees and that trustees affirm those appointments at the September meeting. With that said, the college is seeking affirmation of 18 new appointments.On a Motion by Trustee Borislow, seconded by Trustee D’Orazio, it was voted unanimously to affirm the personnel actions as listed in Addendum A.

   2. Sabbatical Leave Recommendations (ADM-3415-090617)

      President Glenn noted that from time to time, the college entertains a request for sabbatical leave. The requirements for sabbaticals are clearly delineated within the union contracts, and a sabbatical committee reviews each request carefully before recommending approval to the vice president of academic and student affairs. The attached request is for a full year, half time sabbatical for professor of political science, Stephen Slaner who will develop a guide to 100 feature and documentary films that illustrate concepts and themes in Humanities and Social Science courses.On a Motion by Trustee Forman, seconded by Trustee D’Orazio, it was voted unanimously approve the sabbatical leave action as listed in Addendum B.

3. Grants

   President Glenn requested the following grants be considered for approval.

   1. Gallaudet Regional Center Grant (ADM-3416-090617)
   2. Massachusetts Department of Higher Education STEM Starter Academy Grant (ADM-3417-090617)
   3. United States Department of Education: Title III Strengthening Institutions Program (ADM-3418-090617)

   On a Motion by Trustee Paley Nadel, seconded by Trustee Forman, it was voted unanimously to approve all grant motions.

OTHER BUSINESS

Vice President of Institutional Advancement Jean Poth reminded Trustees of the annual fundraising event Live and Let Die: Tribute to Paul McCartney on Saturday, September 9th at the Collins Center in Andover.

ADJOURNMENT

Being no other business, Chairman Linehan adjourned the meeting at 5:55PM.