At its September 3 meeting, trustees welcomed Kelsey Terry, the college’s new student trustee. A resident of Amesbury, Terry is majoring in biology, psychology, and philosophy and her long term career goal is to be a veterinary clinical pathologist. Read more.

The Multi-State Collaborative to Advance Learning Outcomes Assessment:

NECC participates in the fall 2014 Pilot Study

 Measuring what students are actually learning is important for many reasons, and for the past five years, Northern Essex has been involved in a state-wide initiative to support the use ofcommon assessment tools for use by public institutions in the state to evaluate authentic student work.

The college participated in a statewide pilot in the spring of 2013 using these tools to assess students’ skills in the area of critical thinking, quantitative literacy, and written communication.

This fall, the college is participating as a member of a consortium, involving Middlesex and North Shore community colleges, in a nine-state collaborative pilot designed to assess and compare students’ learning outcomes results across states.

As Dr. Ellen Wentland, associate dean, academic and institutional effectiveness explained to trustees “A grade doesn’t tell you anything about a student’s strength and weaknesses,” she said.  “We decided that collecting authentic work and evaluating it would be a very effective way of measuring learning.

To learn more visit the MA Department of Higher Education’s website.

Enrollment Likely to Be Down this Semester

President Lane Glenn reported that enrollments are likely to be down this semester by approximately 6.5 percent.

He attributed the decrease to a number of factors including the improving economy—community colleges traditionally lose students when people go back to work; changes in the college’s ESL program, which now has one less level; and smaller high school graduating classes.

He also noted that enrollment is still higher than it was before the recession which drove enrollments to the peak.

He said NECC is being cautious about revenues and expenditures while being wise about recruitment efforts.

Appointments of New Full-Time Personnel are Affirmed

Trustees affirmed appointments that were approved by President Lane Glenn over the summer, based on authority delegated by the Board of Trustees.

State appropriated professional appointments include: Sandra Guy, associate professor, Health Information Technology; Aaron Monero, assistant professor, Developmental Writing; Sarah Courchesne, assistant professor, Natural Sciences; Donna Tanner, assistant professor, Elementary Education; Jamie McLennan, instructor, Nursing; Jennifer Fielding, coordinator of library services; Alicia Blain, financial aid counselor; Jeffrey Williams*, career/veterans affairs counselor; Sharon McManus, staff assistant, Professional Development; Michael Hearn, director of libraries; Richard Sommers, manager of facilities systems & project administration; Richard Haskell, director of fiscal services; Elizabeth Donovan, procurement analyst, and Jaime Haddad, enrollment/academic counselor.

State appropriated classified positions include: Timothy Godzik, storekeeper II; Analcis Minaya, EDP entry operator IV, Enrollment Services; Maureen Lundergan, administrative assistant II, Foundational Studies & Liberal Arts & Sciences; and Anne Eshbaugh, Clerk IV, Marketing & Communications.

Non-state appropriate professional positions include: Maureen McGonagle, events coordinator, Administration & Finance.

*from part-time to full-time status.