SCCC/ATS Trustees Meet, Enrollment Up

The Seward County Community College/Board of Trustees met Monday to hear program reports and approve purchases.

John Engel reported that the Foundation Auction raised over $50,000 this year, the best year yet in its 18-year history.

Marvin Chance Jr. reported that the KACCT has new lobbyists this year that will represent the 19 Kansas Community Colleges during the 2013 Legislative session. He said the lobbyists may be contacting college personnel and board members to discuss issues with area legislators.

The board approved the annual review of the English/Developmental Writing program that is a part of the Humanities, Social Sciences and Education Division, and also approved the annual review of the Math and Science programs that are a part of the Natural Science, Mathematics and Physical Education Division.

Three goals for the English/Development Writing program including revising the course placement process, bringing adjunct and outreach instructors into the English program assessment process and developing a common process for assessing the English program.

Changes to the Math program include determining the effectiveness of the placement test, improving success in all math programs, redesigning math courses that would be tailored to individual learning styles and using the new math lab to help improve the success of each student who takes a math class.

In the science area, the division is looking at changing the content of the biology classes to remain consistent with other regent universities and community colleges, adding classes specifically for science majors, combining science classes and adding new courses specifically for the engineering area.

The board approved full program reviews for both the Journalism and Physical Education programs.

Individually, students on the “Crusader” staff, the campus newspaper, have done exceptionally well through the Kansas Associate College Press contests, said Anita Reed, instructor/advisor. This past year, SCCC/ATS students surpassed Johnson County Community College students in the number of awards they received to take the top spot. JCCC is the largest community college in the state. In the past five years, the staff or individuals have received 45 national awards.

The Journalism program is offering a fall seminar for high school journalism students. She said they also plan to introduce a digital journalism course, perform satisfaction surveys for advertisers and former students and encouraging students to make personal contacts to advertisers to find out their needs.

The college performed a program review for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance classes, Sports Medicine and the Wellness Center for the first time.

These departments have transfer students, offer continuing education courses and community services and provide personal improvement courses and workforce training and employee wellness opportunities.

The department is introducing Microfit software and heart rate monitors to assist with fitness assessment, lifestyle behavior assessment, dietary analysis and exercise programming, said Ally Lyon, assistant Wellness director/instructor. This will help assess each student individually. One of the new action projects is to determine and measure student learning and make it consistent throughout each class. This is a difficult challenge since most of the instructors are part-time.

Another ongoing goal is to continue to create a culture of wellness on campus and this starts with SCCC/ATS employees.

Oscar DonJuan, Student Government Association president, told the board that the campus SGA organization has increased participation this year. He is trying to instill in the members, who represent the different clubs and organizations across campus, that “we need to get excited about serving in our school and our community. We need to get a lot more involved and make sure we are serving every single student.”

He said he is excited about how things are going on this year and proud of SGA members taking ownership in what they have. The campus now has two new clubs, including the drama, and one to represent the Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration program.

Following the recent visit by the national accreditation team, the college received a very positive report from the two reviewers, said Cynthia Rapp, dean of academic affairs. “We know we are doing things well, but it’s nice to know to be told that we are doing the right things we need for accreditation.”

Celeste Donovan, dean of student services, report that both headcount and credit hour enrollment is up 3 percent. The increase shows a 14 percent increase in part-time students. Students in the age group 30-39 showed a 27 percent increase.

In other action, the board

1. Hired Gail Harris, Student Support Services, Academic and Career Advisor; and John Haley, assistant Tennis coach/instructor;

2. Accepted the resignation of Star Triscornia, counselor;

3. Retained the name of the circle drive as Jo Ann Sharp Drive, following the high bid at the Foundation Auction by Jo Ann Sharp;

4. Selected John Engel as the delegate to the Association of Community College Trustees Annual Community College Leadership Congress in October;

5. Accepted the low bid in the amount of $9,288 from Sports Authority in Littleton, Colo., for baseball gear, including cleats, jackets, pants, shorts and t-shirts that will be funded through a donation through the SCCC/ATS Foundation;

6. Accepted the quote from AVA Direct Custom Computers, Twinsburg, Ohio, in the amount of $7,500 for 10 computers for the Process Technology program funded through the Title V grant;

7. Accepted the quote from World Medical Equipment of Marysville, Wash., in the amount of $4,950 to upgrade the current endoscopic tower system that allows for realistic simulation of laparoscopic surgical procedures funded through Carl Perkins grant;

8. Approved the quote from Cytek Media Systems of Topeka in the amount of $8,999.16 for the SMART board and multimedia teaching stations and installation for the Medical Assistant program funded through the Carl Perkins grant; and

9. Approved the purchase of a comprehensive GuestVision software to improve guest services, marketing, inventory and scheduling for the Cosmetology program in the amount of $12,528 from Your New School of Lynnwood, Washington, also funded through the Carl Perkins grant.

October events include, Volleyball vs. Hutchinson, 6:30 p.m., Oct. 10; Volleyball vs. Dodge City, 6:30 p.m., Oct. 18; NACE Rectifier School, Oct. 23; D

Auditions for “A Christmas Carol” Theater, 6-10 p.m., Oct. 23; Basketball Preview

Night, 6:30 p.m./Green Wednesdays Recognition, Oct. 23; and Trick or Treat

Street, Student Union, 6:30 p.m., Oct. 31.

The next board of trustee meeting will be at 7:30 p.m., Monday, Nov. 5.