Board of Directors July 2019 Meeting Minutes
July 25, 2019
Board Members Present:
- Ms. Charlene Harris, Chair
- Mr. Clay Parker Davis, Vice Chair
- Ms. Kelly Johnson, Secretary
- Mr. Jonathan Arnett
- Mr. Phillip Duncan
- Ms. Marsha Phelps
- Dr. Allison Cherry
- Mr. Tyler Stapp
- Mr. Marshall Todd
Board Members Absent:
- Mr. Gary Napier
Call to Order
Chair Harris called the meeting of the Somerset Community College Board of Directors to order at 1:00 p.m. in the Citizens National Bank Community Room in the Harold Rogers Student Commons. She introduced and welcomed Mr. Tyler Stapp, who will be the 2019-2020 Student Government Association president and the Board student member for the next year. Mr. Stapp is majoring in Healthcare Administration and plans to transfer to the University of the Cumberlands next year. Chair Harris also introduced and welcomed Ms. Marsha Phelps, who is the Staff Representative to the Board, filling a vacancy position until July 31, 2021. Ms. Phelps is a Senior Administrative Assistant for the Office of Student Affairs and she has been with SCC for 20 years.
Before continuing on with the meeting, Chair Harris reviewed Board terms. Her term and Vice Chair Davis’ term expires August 31, 2019. Also, Mr. Duncan’s term expired August 31, 2018. Both Chair Harris’ and Mr. Duncan’s names will be sent to the Governor seeking reappointment. Vice Chair Davis has decided not to pursue reappointment. He has served since 2002 and also served from 1979 until 1985. All members should continue to serve until the Governor makes the appointments.
Minutes
Chair Harris called upon Secretary Johnson to present the minutes from the last meeting.
MOTION: Mr. Davis moved that the Board approve the minutes of the May 9, 2019 meeting. Mr. Duncan seconded the motion.
VOTE: The motion passed unanimously.
Action Item
Dr. Castle presented the FY 2019–2020 Operating Budget. The budget did not change from the FY 2019-2020 Operating Budget Request presented at the May meeting. Dr. Castle requested the Board of Directors adopt the FY 2019-2020 budget of $57,714,500, as presented.
MOTION: Mr. Duncan moved that the Board adopt the Budget as presented. Dr. Cherry seconded the motion.
VOTE: The motion passed unanimously.
Action Item
Ms. Cindy Clouse, Vice President of Institutional Advancement, presented a revised Mission Statement, Vision and Values to the Board for consideration of approval. She assured the Board that the statements were thoroughly shared with all employees and input was gathered from everyone involved. The processed started with the Executive Council, which is the President and Vice Presidents. They wrote statements, compared them and then voted to narrow it down to two versions. Then the two versions were taken to the faculty meeting on May 3, 2019. An e-mail was sent to all employees on May 8, 2019. Then it was presented at the staff meeting on May 31, 2109. Suggestions and input was gathered on the two versions. Then a strategic plan committee was formed and met on June 5, 2019 to incorporate all the suggestions. After approximately a month of work, the Mission Statement, Vision and Values was finalized. The proposed statements was presented and approved by the Management Council on June 14 and the Leadership Council on June 28.
Ms. Clouse now requests the approval of the SCC Board of Directors for the revised SCC Mission Statement, Vision and Values. If approved, Dr. Castle will then present the statements to the KCTCS Board of Regents in September. Ms. Clouse pointed out that the SCC Board reviews the statements each year and approves the statements every three years. Dr. Castle informed the Board that the Board of Regents will only be approving the Mission Statement, and once that is done all three portions will be implemented.
MOTION: Dr. Cherry moved that the Board approve the SCC Mission Statement, Vision and Values as presented. Mr. Arnett seconded the motion.
VOTE: The motion passed unanimously.
Video Presentation
Before Dr. Castle’s report, Ms. Clouse introduced a 30-second commercial video that is being marketed for the “Real People. Real Success.” campaign. Vice Chair Davis asked what SCC is doing about scholarships. Ms. Clouse stated they are always fundraising for scholarships and it is something that she and Dr. Castle are going to hit hard this next year – for scholarships and for programs. Dr. Castle stated that they have had a good start with the Foundation Board on fundraising and there will be a couple of get together events in London and Somerset in the near future. He also mentioned that last academic year SCC gave out close to $1M in scholarships.
President's Remarks
Dr. Castle’s reported that it has been a busy summer with a lot of activities going on. Student success continues to be our mantra as we go forward. Some of the programs and events that have happened since the Board last met include the Governor’s Minority Student College Preparation Program, Kids Kollege, and Upward Bound. When we last met we had just completed Honors Night and Commencement was coming up the next week. We had a total of more than 780 students who graduated this year. The Master Musicians Festival was just this past weekend.
Announcements include the official completion of the SACS reaccreditation through 2019. Dr. Castle thanked all who were involved in the very successful reaccreditation. Dr. Castle also updated the Board on the University Center of Southern Kentucky. We now have formal approval from all the universities involved and the first MOU signing will be next week at Morehead University.
Dr. Clint Hayes, Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs, reported that the Academic Master Plan update is moving forward and a diverse group is developing the plan.
Ms. Tracy Casada, Vice President of Student Affairs, stated that the Strategic Enrollment Planning and Management has been meeting every other week through the summer and will continue to meet in the fall. The plan is for next year.
The SCC Physical Therapist Assistant program completed a very successful reaccreditation by CAPTE and are reaccredited for ten years, which is the maximum period or accreditation.
We had some adjustment for our summer hours. We stayed open until 5 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. We stayed open until 6 p.m. on Tuesdays and closed at 1 p.m. on Fridays. This was an experiment to provide more access to the College for students. Ms. Casada has been keeping the data and we’re not sure what we will be doing for the fall, but we will do what works best for students. We will finalize the fall hours sometime around August 16th.
The KCTCS Board approved a one-time $1,000 payment to all faculty and staff and who meet the criteria as a thank you for the system between the number two system in the country. KCTCS had the highest number of credentials per capita in the United States for 2018. The payments will be made in the fall.
We have transitioned to payroll shared services with the system office to economize and the cashiers office has been moved to the Student Commons Building to better serve students.
The Cumberland Slaves Memorial is now installed in the courtyard area of Meece Hall. It is an inspiring piece of art and Dr. Castle invited Board members to stop by and see it after the meeting.
Enrollment is of particular concern for the upcoming academic year. We are currently down more than 600 students, which is a 20% drop from this time last year. This is a big deal because our 2019-2020 budget is built on the number of students we projected to have, so have an enrollment decline will impact what we can recoup from tuition. We have a working group that has been meeting since last month on Fridays to plan the upcoming week and putting strategies in place to improve enrollment. Arts and sciences is down significantly, which we think is tied to online programming which is also down significantly. We are also focused on business, marketing and IT programs. Some things we are doing that we think will help in the long run is additional recruiting through back-logs of prospects in our Radius software. Student Ambassadors are being utilized in recruiting and the expansion of our centers will hopefully increase enrollment. Nationwide, community college numbers are down and a lot of times that has to do with the economy. But I don’t want us to settle on that as the only reason. We need to continue to look at what our right size would be and figure out how we can be that right size. Dr. Castle assured the Board that a lot of attention is being paid to enrollment and things we are doing to improve it.
Dr. Castle announced that there will be a presentation of the 2019-2020 work plan presented to all employees at our academic kickoff events on August 2. We will present the in-process approval of the Mission Statement, Vision and Values on where we are headed and from that the central focus on student success and the focus for the College for 2019-2020. SCC will be highly focused on student success and completion, known for our willingness to help, being a part of our community and developing ourselves to meet a high level of excellence. That focus will be on three areas: people, academics and student support.
Next, Dr. Castle introduced three Center Directors: Shawn Anderson, Director of the McCreary Center; Jill Lawson, Director of the Clinton Center; and JR Thompson, Director of the Casey and Russell Centers. Each Director updated the Board on the status and recent activities.
Chair Remarks
Chair Harris announced that the next scheduled Board meeting is October 24 and she appointed a nominating committee for officers to be elected at the October meeting. She asked Mr. Arnett to serve as Chair, and for Mr. Napier and Dr. Cherry to serve.
Adjournment
There being no further business, Mr. Duncan moved that the meeting adjourn. Mr. Todd seconded the motion. The meeting adjourned at 1:45 p.m.
Date Approved by Board of Directors
10-24-2019
Charlene Harris, Chair SCC Board of Directors
Signature on file
Kelly Johnson, Secretary SCC Board of Directors
Signature on file
