Vol. XXXVII, No. 20, June 9, 2008

This Week at Valencia

Wednesday, June 11

College Operations Council, 9:15 a.m., Osceola Campus, 2-219B

DOT Deans mtg., 1 p.m., East Campus, 3-108E

College Curriculum Committee, 2 p.m., East Campus, 3-113

At the start of the May 20, 2008, District Board of Trustees meeting, Valencia President Sanford Shugart recognized Rose Watson, English professor and outgoing Collegewide Faculty Association president, for her contributions to the college. He also introduced the board to Michael Shugg, Theater and Entertainment Technology professor and incoming Faculty Association president, and Jean Marie Fuhrman, reading professor and Faculty Association president-elect.

Reports

Osceola Campus Update - Provost Silvia Zapico introduced a report by Ellen Pastorino, psychology professor, on her endowed chair project as the recipient of the Freeda Louise Foreman Chair in Family Resource Development. Dr. Pastorino described the service learning project she developed for her students involving Second Harvest Food Bank.

Next, Dr. Zapico introduced Louise Pitts, dean of Health Sciences, to present a report on the EMS/EMT program at the Osceola Campus. Dr. Pitts said that the EMS/EMT program, with its ready-to-work focus for the graduates, wouldn’t be possible without the support and involvement of the local fire departments. At Valencia, students can pursue EMT certification, a paramedic certificate program or an Associate in Science degree program. Dr. Pitts introduced Andrea Brody, director of the Emergency Medical Services program. Ms. Brody said that the program has grown tremendously since it began at the Osceola Campus six years ago. She said that with Osceola County continuing to add fire departments, the need for EMTs is increasing. Last year the Osceola program graduated 150 EMTs and 40 paramedics; the college as a whole graduated 450 EMTs and 125 paramedics. Present at the board’s meeting were fire chiefs from throughout Osceola County. Chief Jeffrey Garringer, Osceola County Fire Rescue, stated that there is a shortage of quality EMT and paramedics and the agencies often compete for candidates.

Osceola Student Government Association Report - Dr. Zapico introduced Osceola Student Government Association President Amanda Raver and Vice President Katherine Stamper, to give an update of SGA activities. The two reviewed student involvement in plans for Building 4, a Habitat for Humanity service project, and collaboration with Cabin Creek to get a dollar menu established for students collegewide. The SGA also participated in the Rally in Tally to help pass legislation on textbook affordability. Upcoming plans include election week events to get students involved in voting, an adopt-a-road project, an Earth Day event, welcome events for staff, and another community service project with Habitat for Humanity.

Strategic Planning Presentation - Dr. Shugart shared an overview of the process that produced the college’s new strategic plan. He introduced Susan Kelley, vice president for Institutional Advancement, and Suzette Dohany, speech professor and outgoing co-chair of the College Planning Council, to present a summary of the plan’s content, focusing on the goals and objectives. Ms. Kelley said that the final draft of the strategic plan was the result of two years of work on the part of the college. Susan reviewed the goals for the plan which are: Build Pathways, Learning Assured, Invest in Each Other and Partner with the Community. Ms. Kelley explained that collegewide goals teams were established for the purposes of developing objectives based on each goal. Ms. Kelley and Ms. Dohany were joined at the board meeting by representatives of the four goal teams: Michele McArdle – Goal 1; Amy Bosley – Goal 2; Jean Marie Fuhrman – Goal 3, and Michael Bosley – Goal 4.

The draft strategic plan was very well received by the Board of Trustees. Several trustees commented on how pleased they were with the quality of the plan and the collaborative process that produced it. One noted that she serves on many organizational boards, and she thought we should bottle our process so that it could be replicated elsewhere for the community’s benefit. The trustees voiced their strong interest in receiving the targets that the college will establish in the year ahead for each objective. The trustees also asked about how we will link the work of various departments and campuses to the strategic plan. In response, Ms. Kelley noted the new online tool developed by Kurt Ewen, director of Institutional Advancement, and the Evaluation Task Force, for use by every budget unit of the college as they create plans for the year ahead. And she explained that the annual budget process requires that we take into account how the budget supports the strategic plan. The trustees will take final action on the plan at their June 17 meeting.

Valencia Enterprises - Joe Battista, chief operating officer, Valencia Enterprises, introduced Jennifer Robertson, director of the Center for Global Languages, and Carolyn

McMorran, program manager, for a joint presentation on Valencia Enterprises. They told the board that Valencia Enterprises concentrates on corporate training consulting, continuing professional education, corporate meeting services, and language and culture programs. In 2007-08, Valencia Enterprises served 12,684 students (duplicated headcount) and 300 companies. Overall revenues for Valencia Enterprises in 2007-08 are approaching $3 million, including a $1.8 million subsidy from the Valencia college budget. While revenues overall are on the rise, VE’s testing division has experienced a decline due to a weakened real estate market, with fewer registrations for mortgage broker testing and the Realtor exam. Ms. Robertson reported that the Center for Global Languages has had 1,500 registrations from over 30 countries since it began, with over half a million dollars in sales from English immersion programs alone. The Center for Global Languages will soon launch Chinese courses and the Orlando Language Camp for Kids at Hunter’s Creek Elementary. VE’s top 25 accounts include Aircraft Service International Group, Darden Restaurants, Orange County, Schenck, Siemen’s and Gatorland. Recent agreements include one with Walt Disney World to teach their employees Spanish for the workplace and another with Gatorland to develop Gatorland University. It was reported that Valencia Enterprises is now the country’s number 16 SHRM-course provider, the only community college to place in the Society for Human Resources Management’s top 20 list. As part of VE’s meeting services efforts, both the University of Miami and the University of Florida have brought their MBA programs to the Orlando area by hosting classes at Valencia Enterprises’ Sand Lake Center. The group also reported that Valencia Enterprises is the official IBM training center for Central Florida.

Quarterly Financial Indicators - Keith Houck, vice president, Administrative Services, summarized the financial indicators report, saying that at all levels of the college,

Valencia’s staff has demonstrated remarkable stewardship of their budgets and as a result, there will be some surplus revenue to apply to the new fiscal year to help offset state reductions.

Construction Report - Mr. Houck summarized the written construction report, citing Building 8 on West Campus which is slated to open January 9, Building 10 on West where the exterior and interior of the building is coming along well for an August opening, the joint-use building with UCF (Bldg. 11), new compressors that should be running chilled water throughout West Campus next month, and the construction of 1,000 to 1,700 new parking spaces on East Campus which is on schedule for the summer. Valencia’s trustees asked to hear about the status of proposed southwest and southeast campuses at a subsequent meeting.

Internal Auditors Report - Undria Stalling, board internal auditor, reviewed the costs of lab fees to make sure the costs were kept reasonable. Her report concluded that overall lab fees appeared reasonable based upon cost information provided by the college, but that several courses had recommended lab fees that should be adjusted to be in line with actual costs.

Faculty Association Report - Michael Shugg, incoming president of the Collegewide Faculty Association, told the trustees that he looked forward to working with them on the challenges in the year ahead. He discussed the work of two Faculty Association task forces. One is addressing student engagement hours (office hours) to make it possible for faculty to better engage with students in a way that students will take advantage of. The other involves an evaluation of faculty by deans to promote better conversations between faculty and deans and to improve professional practice.

Valencia Foundation Report - Raymer Maguire III, trustee, kept his comments brief by stating that he wants to look at the Foundation’s capital campaign in a future meeting.

President’s Report - Dr. Shugart said that the legislative report would be discussed at the board’s June meeting. At that time, he hopes to address how the board wants to be engaged in next six months in the legislative agenda. He also will set the stage for conversations in the fall to deal with the changing environment in Florida as a result of the state college bill. The president thanked members of the board for coming to the college’s recent commencement ceremony, which he called one of the best ever. He congratulated Joyce Romano, Fiona Baxter, and Susan Kelly as being hugely important to the experience our students have.

Dr. Shugart called on Joyce Romano, vice president of Student Affairs, to give the summer enrollment report. Dr. Romano said that, at that time, FTE enrollment for the summer was up by 14 percent, well above the 10 percent predicted for summer. She said that the college expected the Summer B term starting June 20 would add another hundred FTE, for an overall 14 percent FTE increase.

New Business

2008-2009 Student Fees - Dr. Shugart said that the college’s fee recommendations to the board were to accept the increase that the Florida Legislature proposed. The net impact to in-state students would be a 5.4 percent increase in tuition and fees, Dr. Shugart said. Leu Oliver, trustee, said that he attended a feedback session with student leaders two weeks prior to gauge student reaction. Mr. Oliver said that a large majority of students supported the full increase in the tuition and admission fee, but strongly recommended significant reductions or not taking the full amount for the safety and security fee. He said that some also contested the student financial aid fee. Mr. Oliver concluded by saying that all the students he met with felt that they were getting a good value for their education dollar and almost unanimously supported the increase in tuition. Dr. Shugart said Valencia ended the year with a $600,000-$800,000 surplus in security, which would justify reducing the safety and security fee for next year as students had requested. This surplus, Dr. Shugart explained, would be spent next year on safety and security measures including improved lighting as requested by students and adding more OPD officers and Osceola county sheriffs on campus. Valencia’s board approved the student fee schedule associated with matriculation that increases both resident and non-resident fees. The board also approved increasing the application fee from $25 to $35, which is the first time the fee has been increased in 20 years. 

Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) for Joint-Use Building, West Campus - The trustees were informed that the Valencia/UCF Joint-Use Building (Bldg. 11 on West Campus) was fully funded by the Legislature this year. The board-approved contractor is PPI Construction Management, Inc. The board approved allowing the college to enter into a Guaranteed Maximum Price contract for Construction Manager at Risk with PPI Construction Management, Inc. The total guaranteed maximum price is $23,051,000.

Consent Agenda - The following items were considered and approved under consent agenda: Budget Amendment Request; 2008-2009 College Catalog Changes; Granting of a Conservation Easement to St. Johns River Water Management District, East Campus; Additions, Deletions or Modifications of Courses and Programs; Valencia Enterprise Courses and Fees; Human Resources Agenda; Submission of Grant Proposals; and Property Deletion

Fiscal Year-End Information

As we approach the end of the 2007-08 fiscal year, Financial Services would like to assist you to best utilize your remaining budget funds. Although financial processes cannot stop because of fiscal year-end, the required cut-off dates are especially critical this year to be able to accurately project our carryover fund balance to the new 2008-09 fiscal year, while adhering to Florida Department of Education requirements and audit guidelines. In order to have a smooth transition closing our first fiscal year in Banner, it is important that we strictly adhere to the following timeline.

Budget Amendments - After June 30, budget amendments for the 2007-08 fiscal year must be processed by submitting a completed paper budget amendment form to the Budget Office, mc DTC-3, for processing. You may begin entering budget amendments for fiscal year 2008-09 on Tuesday, July 1. Please address related questions to Pedro Rivera, ext. 3350 or Sherri Dixon, ext. 3306.

Cash Receipts - All money received that should be credited to the 2007-08 fiscal year must be turned into any Business Office location by 5 p.m. on Monday, June 30.

Personnel Pay Forms - Time sheets for part-time hourly and student employees for hours worked the weeks of June 15, June 22, and June 29 are due in Payroll Services no later than Friday, July 9. Time sheets received after this date will be charged to the 2008-09 fiscal year budgets.

Petty Cash - The last day to request reimbursement from the Business Office is Monday, June 30. Please do not accumulate numerous petty cash receipts, since reimbursements are limited to $75. Petty cash processing for fiscal year 2008-09 will resume on Tuesday, July 1.

Procurement Cards - The procurement card transactions download on July 2 (posted to PaymentNet between June 21 and June 27) and July 9 (posted to PaymentNet between June 28 and July 4), with a June transaction date, will be charged to your 2007-08 fiscal year budget.  Procurement card transactions included in the July 2 and July 9 download with a July transaction date will be posted to the 2008-2009 budget year. Transactions posted to PaymentNet after the July 9 download will be charged to the 2008-09 fiscal year budgets regardless of the transaction date.

Purchase Orders - Procurement recommends that you run the Banner report FGROPNE (Open Encumbrance Encumbrances Report) for your organization(s) to determine the status of all encumbrances (requisitions, purchase orders, and travel encumbrances) showing an encumbered amount. If you need additional help, please contact Brian Bastin, ext. 3303 or bbastin@valenciacc.edu. Contact Procurement, ext. 5532 or Valenciaprocurement@ valenciacc.edu, should you need an encumbrance canceled or have any general questions in reference to General Operating (Fund 1) encumbrances. For Grant-related (Fund 2) encumbrances please contact Judy Jackson, ext. 3311 or jjackson90@valenciacc.edu.

In order to ensure that goods and services are received by June 30, 2008, purchaseorders for General Operations (Fund 1) will not be issued after June 15. Please note that you may use your procurement card until the last day of the fiscal year (June 30), but transactions will be posted to the budget year in accordance with the procedures described above in the Procurement Cards section.  Purchase orders will be issued on an exception basis after June 15 (contact the Procurement Office for additional details).

Requisitions - You may begin entering requisitions for fiscal year 2008-09 on Tuesday, July 1.

Travel Reimbursement - Requests for travel reimbursement must be received in Accounts Payable (mail code DTC-3) by Friday, June 20. Travel occurring June 21 through June 30 will be handled on an exception only basis.Vendor Invoices - Goods and services must be received by June 30 and invoices given to the Accounts Payable department by July 9 for the expenditure to be charged to your 2007-08 budget. Please forward all invoices immediately to Accounts Payable, mc DTC-3, for processing. When ordering goods or services, please allow sufficient time for goods and services to be received and invoiced by June 30.  This is especially critical for grants with a June 30 closing date.

Instructions for running open encumbrance reports and a sample report for your reference are available on Atlas, under the Finance tab in the Finance User Resources section.

Financial Services would like to thank everyone for their patience and cooperation during the transition to Banner Financials in the 2007-08 fiscal year.

An automatic email alert will now be sent when you have an Electronic Personnel Action Form (EPAF) to approve or take other action on. The automatic email alert will go to your Atlas email account. If you do not normally use Atlas email, you can easily take steps to have that mail forwarded to your Groupwise email account. If you have not already done so, please go to http://valenciacc.edu/oit/web/faqsAtlas.cfm#04 to learn how to forward Atlas emails to your Groupwise email account. This new feature will be in effect June 1.  

NOTE:  If you have not set up your Atlas email to be forwarded to your Groupwise email account, you will not receive these alerts unless you check your email in Atlas. 

We are very excited to announce the winners of the 2nd round of the Body-for-LIFE Challenge. The Grand Champion Winner is Becky Hopkins who made amazing strides to achieve her goals. Becky lost a total of 17 lbs, 8.2% body fat, and 10.75 inches. The two runners up were Kristen Abel and Melissa Tchen.

Congratulations to all 53 participants for taking the challenge. It was not an easy 12 weeks especially through Spring Break. Eighteen completed the challenge with great results. They were Becky Hopkins, Melissa Tchen, Kristen Abel, Mary Allen, Angelique Smith, Shelby Ballenger, Landon Shephard, Allison Langevin, Beverly Pugh, Berneice Ferber, Karen Blondeau, Mary Ellen Davies, Heather Parrish, Judy Jackson, JenniferTaylor, Aida Diaz, Kim Creasman and Carl Creasman

If you are attending a Wellness class or would like to work out in one of the Fitness and Wellness Centers and have not yet filled out a medical health history questionnaire, please go to http://www.valenciacc.edu/wellness/hours.asp to download the form, fill it out and bring it with you to the class or center.For more information about Wellness offerings, please visit http://www.valenciacc.edu/wellness/

Procurement News

General Operating Fund 1 Expenditures - These funds are considered ‘State’ funds and expenses should be limited to educational or administrative expenses. We are required by Statute and Rule to apply a fiduciary responsibility over the expenditure of tax payer funds. With the exception of limited promotion and public relations accounts, these funds CANNOT be used for: food or beverages, coffee or coffee supplies, entertainment, departmental social functions, holiday decorations for the office, office decorations for the office, employee awards, gifts or recognitions, party supplies, personal items, and cleaning supplies.

Year-End Help - The following are helpful reports in Banner to get you through year-end:

FGIENCD:  Detail encumbrance Activity (you will need PO number)

FPIOPOF: Open Purchase Order by FOAP (you will need Organization number)

FPIOPOV: Open Purchase Order by Vendor (you will need Vendor VID and Organization number)

If you have a Purchase Order that needs to be closed, please send an e-mail to ValenciaProcurement and include the Purchase Order number and vendor. All remaining funds will be returned to the account that was charged.

PCard Transactions and Year-End - You may use your PCard throughout the year-end process. The transaction date is what will decide what budget the charge will go against. Transactions included in the July 2 and July 9 download with a June transaction date will be charged to the 2007-2008 budget year. Transactions with a July date will be charged to the 2008-2009 budget year. Transactions posted to PaymentNet after the July 9 download will be charged to the 2008-09 fiscal year budgets regardless of the transaction date.

Copy Center and Copier Overage Charges - Any charge to your account can be viewed in Banner. This includes Copy Center charges and copier overage charges. Use the form FGIBDST, and type in the pooled account 6200 for your Index/Orgn. Under the YTD column for 620040, go to Options-Transaction Detail Information. Your charges will be clearly marked. Should you have any questions or concerns regarding either charge, please call the Copy Center or Mary Ellen Davies.

Going on Vacation? If you are a PCard holder or approver, you will want to delegate your reviewing/approving authority in your absence. An unapproved PCard transaction is an audit criticism, even if it is a good excuse! Please contact Ed Ames, ext. 5528 or Mary Ellen Davies, ext.5527 to see how we can start your vacation stress free!

While talking about vacations, did you know that you can utilize the Enterprise Car Rental contract for your own personal use?  Please go to Procurement’s Web page for further information: http://www.valenciacc.edu/procurement/

facultystaff.asp. This pricing is for Florida usage only. You will receive a discount at other locations if you use our contract number:  KC 1258

Accounts Payable Updates and Challenge Quiz

Due to the increased number of calls regarding in-district travel reimbursement recently, the Accounts Payable Department prepared an excel spreadsheet to assist with the calculation of the excess miles for allowable reimbursement. The spreadsheet is located on our Web site at http://www.valenciacc.edu/accountspayable/forms.cfm and is titled “Excess Mileage Worksheet”.  Please be aware that College Policy only allows reimbursement for excess mileage. Excess mileage is any extra miles over your normal daily commute. For example, your normal daily commute to work is 10 miles round trip so the college will reimburse anything over 10 miles for that day. However, if you travel less than your normal daily commute, no reimbursement is owed, even if your travel is between campuses during the business day.

We strongly recommend submitting your in-district travel reimbursement on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly basis. This helps ensure accuracy, increases chances of available funding and helps with budget allocation. A reimbursement request for a period longer than those outlined becomes cumbersome and will not be on AP’s priority list to process. All requests for in-district travel reimbursement must be for the current fiscal year. 

In order to make the in-district travel policy more understandable, AP is putting weekly quizzes in the Bulletin. The first correct response sent to nbrandolini@valenciacc.edu will receive a gift. Congratulations to Becky Gallup for being the first to submit the correct answers on the last quiz. The correct responses were: Quiz #3-answer #3 and Quiz # 4-answer #3.

Quiz # 5 - When starting at a hospital, how would you claim your mileage for the day?

1. You will calculate your mileage for the day including home to the first and last location and deduct your normal commute, as if you would have driven to your home campus.

2. You will only claim the miles between the different locations

3. You will only claim the miles from home to the hospital

Quiz # 6 - My home campus is West which is where I started the day. However, at the end of the day I was at East. On my way home from East Campus I stopped by Grandma’s house for milk and cookies. What do I put for locations on my In-District Travel Report?

1. West to East and returned

2. West to East

3. West to East to home

4. West to East to grandma’s house

Please submit your answers to nbrandolini@valenciacc.edu and look for the correct answers in the next Bulletin.

Leadership Valencia

How to Say it: Practical Conversations - Part 2 - Join us as we take a look at various forms of communication, e-mails, invitations, memos, thank you notes, reports, proposals, and phone conversations, etc.You will learn about the 5 W's of writing an E-mail and how to put together a presentation. June 19, 2:30-4:30 p.m., East Campus, Room 5-112, Registration Code: LHTSI-2

Session III of IV: Picking Your Investment- After determining your risk tolerance and asset allocation, we will utilize Morningstar to determine which mutual funds fit into your allocation perfectly.We will discuss when you should consider cutting loose your mutual funds due to poor performance, etc.Additionally, you will have an opportunity to view the Morningstar report on your current mutual fund holdings.Sponsored by the Valencia Chapter of American Association for Women in Community Colleges.A box lunch and beverage will be provided.June 25, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., Winter Park Campus, Room 108, Registration Code: GPYI

Student Affairs Summer Institute- July 14-18. Please see the last page of the Bulletin for the week-long schedule and registration codes to register for each session.

Institutional Review board (IRB) Training - Part I - Planning to conduct a study involving Valencia students or employees? Not sure if your study needs to comply with Valencia's new mandatory Institutional Review Board (IRB) process for research projects? The Valencia IRB process is designed to encourage faculty, staff and student research while protecting the participants, the college, and even the researcher. Part I will provide an overview of human search protection, and how our IRB works with an aim to be as unintrusive as possible while complying with Federal regulations. (Note: Completion of this workshop satisfies the IRB training requirement for investigators of Valencia projects that have been approved through expedited or full review.) July 17, 9-11 a.m., East Campus, Room3-113, Registration Code:PIRB1-1         

Institutional Review board (IRB) Training - Part II - Planning to conduct a research project that will require completing the application for Valencia's new Institutional Review Board (IRB) process?Part II will walk through the Valencia IRB application process through interactive discussions, including questions and discussion of examples. (Recommended pre-requisite: IRB Training - Part I) July 17, 11 a.m.-12 p.m., East Campus, Room 3-113, Registration Code:PIRB2-1

Session IV of IV - Wrapping Up - Completing an analysis based on your personal income and expense information that we have compiled throughout this series of workshops.You will know if you need to save a little more to reach your perfect retirement or if you can actually retire earlier than thought.Sponsored by the Valencia Chapter of American Association for Women in Community Colleges. A box lunch andbeveragewill be provided. July 23, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., East Campus, Room 5-112, Registration Code: GWUI

To register for all classes and additional information go to http://www.valenciacc.edu/leadership/

Kudos

Meagan Dickson, Peer Educator coordinator, West Campus, received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science, Pre-Law track, on May 2 at UCF.

Debi Jakubcin was recently recognized by the Florida Community College Risk Management Consortium in conjunction with the Better You from Blue Wellness Program for her outstanding Worksite Wellness Program at Valencia. This is an exceptional compliment to both Debi and the college as a whole.

Donna Dudash, Valencia Foundation manager of Donor Stewardship and Valencia Alum, graduated May 31 with a Master of Business Administration degree from Belhaven College. 

Becky Gallup, assistant director, College Relations, graduated April 26 from Rollins College Roy E. Crummer graduate school of Business with a Master of Business Administration degree.

Thank You

On Mother's Day, my mother went to be with the LORD.  But today, with a thankful heart I could say "Thank You" for the love, prayers and support I received during these challenging hours. I am truly blessed to be with a family who cares- The Valencia Family.

                                         -Maybelle Appoo

Monday, July 14

Tuesday, July 15

Wednesday, July 16

Thursday, July 17

Friday, July 18