SCCC/ATS Board Of Trustees Meet, Accept Retirement Of Dale Reed

The Seward County Community College/Area Technical School Board of Trustees met Monday evening, April 2, and accepted an early retirement request from Mr. Dale Reed, dean of outreach. Dale has a long history with SCCC/ATS as he was a member of the first graduating class, played basketball for the Saints, returned as a coach and later served as business and industry coordinator and associate dean of educational services. The Board expressed appreciation to Dale for his nearly 30 years of service to SCCC/ATS and wished him well in his retirement.
The Board discussed a review of instructional programs, institutional goals and academic advising.
The administration removed Truck Driving from administrative review, while Agriculture, Automotive Business Management and Computer Information Systems will remain on administrative review for another year. Each of these areas was under review in order to identify strategies for program improvement including enrollment growth, transfer, and career placement.
Truck Driving has done a great job of moving forward with the suggestions to improve the program, said Cynthia Rapp, dean of instruction. Each of the other programs are making progress, but there are still some areas where we need to improve.
The addition of a second instructor in the agricultural program has allowed the college to offer more classes, especially in the area of agronomy and crop and plant science. The Livestock Judging Team has increased from four to nine.
The instructor in the Auto Business program is now offering both morning and afternoon sections and has increased its numbers of high school students enrolled in the program.
The Computer Information Systems program discontinued its programming focus and placed increased interest in game design, computer graphics and web design. The department is offering more hybrid and online courses.
Construction Technology will officially be removed from the Kansas Board of Regents program inventory. “Dodge City Community College recently began a construction trades program and is struggling to maximize the program”, Rapp said.
“We may need to look at collaborative programs with Garden City and Dodge City to focus on different fields in this area, such as electrical,” she said.
Dr. Duane Dunn, SCCC/ATS president, gave an overview of the 2011-12 institutional goals, which include strengthening alumni relations, accentuating positive perception of the college, maximizing presentation and use of the college website, improving student advising and recruitment, and strengthening industry partnerships.
Celeste Donovan, dean of student services, reported that 60 academic advisers recently took a survey to evaluate their advising skills. The survey revealed that the advisers needed additional training in such areas as financial aid, transfer of courses, changes in the institution, degree checklists and graduation requirements and academic progress and career planning of students.
Dunn also said the developing relationships with key industry partners has become a valuable part of many of our programs, including the newer ones.
Dunn also presented an overview of the residency of SCCC/ATS students. In spring 2012, 52 percent of SCCC/ATS students were from Seward County, 30 percent from other Kansas counties, 10 percent from border county communities, 5 percent out-of-state and 3 percent international. Statewide, 90.6 percent of community college students are Kansas residents.
SCCC/ATS receives state aid for students who are residents of Kansas, Dunn said.
In other action, the board
1. Approved the employment of Linda Frederiksen as the Adult Basic Education program coordinator; Pedro “Pete” Martinez as a truck driving instructor; Jolie Griffin as a STEM transfer coordinator; Curtis Near as Title V Corrosion Technology program specialist; and Sol “Andrea” Rangel as AO-K and Community Service Grant instructor;
2. Accepted the early retirement of Dale Reed, dean of outreach, effective June 30.
3. Retained the current fee schedule for use of facilities;
4. Approved an agreement with L&E Actuaries & Consultants to conduct a product study of the valuation of the College’s postretirement insurance program in the fixed fee amount of $5,750;
5. Authorized the administration to enter into an agreement with The Architect, Sole Proprietorship, Garden City to design a math lab not to exceed $3000 and greenhouse not to exceed $15,000 for architectural services and not to exceed $1,750 for mechanical and electrical;
6. Accepted the quote from ACT of Iowa City in the amount of $5,045 for CAAP Reading and Critical Thinking tests, Single Objective tests, Content Analysis reports and Student Roster reports;
7. Accepted the quote from Air Science of Fort Meyers, Fla., in the mount of $5,394 for two ductless fume hoods for the Corrosion/Process technology classroom;
8. Approved the purchase of Taylor C723 from Taylor of the Rockies of Englewood, Colo., in the amount of $12,912 for an ice cream machine in the cafeteria;
9. Approved the purchase of the Virtual Server Environment Expansion from IGS Technology of Wichita in the amount of $22,317 for virtual server hardware;
10. Accepted the sole bid from Laerdal Medical Corporation in the amount of $7,921.32 for an IV therapy simulation upgrade;
11. Approved the purchase of a Skytron 5001 remote control surgical table from World Medical in the amount of $9,997; and
12. Accepted the bid from King Enterprises of Liberal in the amount of $38,965 for excavation of pipelines, backfill, welding and other services for the Corrosion Technology program.
April is National Community College Month and a busy month for SCCC/ATS. April includes a Conceal Carry Class, All Saints Day (enrollment for fall), Saints Baseball, Saturday, April 14; Saints Baseball and Phi Theta Kappa Induction, Sunday, April 15; Gas Compressor Institute, April 23-25; Blood Drive and District FFA Judging, Wednesday, April 18; Industrial Technology Job Fair, Thursday, April 19; Athletic Banquet, Friday, April 20; Saints Challenge 5K and 1.5-mile prediction walk/run, Booster Club Golf Tournament and Extreme Couponing, Saturday, April 21; Spring Fiesta, Sunday, April 22; Poetry Reading/Coffee House, Thursday, April 26; Celebrity Livestock Judging Contest, Saturday, April 28; and Sunday Brunch, Sunday, April 29.
The next regular Board of Trustees meeting is Monday, May 7.