Vol. XXXVII, No. 21, June 16, 2008

This Week at Valencia

Monday, June 16

Instructional Affairs Committee mtg., 8:30 a.m., West Campus, 6-202

Tuesday, June 17

District Board of Trustees mtg., 8:30 a.m., East Campus, 5-112

Wednesday, June 18

Learning Evidence Team mtg., 2:30 p.m., Osceola Campus, 2-219B

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 as indicated on the Part-Time Payroll Schedule. Please note that if you do not meet these deadlines, and late time sheets are received after July 9, payroll expense 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, purchase orders 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, mail code 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.

Office of Information Technology News

Banner Workflow, a business process automation solution, made its debut on June 1 and the Electronic Personnel Action Form (EPAF) approval process, developed under Banner Workflow, went into production. This is a major milestone that ushers a new era in process automation. Banner Workflow improves the flow of information within and across organizations. With Banner Workflow, administrators, staff, and faculty can now interact and complete assignments on the Web resulting in efficient operations, timely communications, college-wide consistency, and better tracking and control of business activities and results.

Banner Workflow's automated processes allow business events to immediately trigger user notifications, emails, or electronic documents to be passed to process participants for their action according to a set of business rules. This powerful feature is illustrated through the EPAF approval process. The process provides the capability of routing personnel action forms for approval along a predetermined hierarchal structure. The process also serves as an audit trail of all approval/disapproval history. Implementing the process under Banner Workflow helped in automating, organizing and expediting the communications among the EPAF participants and in improving the audit controls. Every time a new EPAF form is initiated, or its status is changed, a workflow event is triggered that sends an email to the next person(s) on the approval hierarchy asking for their immediate action.

There are plans for more Banner Workflow based projects in the near future. This will truly improve and energize all approval-oriented, event-driven, and cross-departmental business processes.

                - Submitted by Steve Sheikh and Rosa Disla

Service Learning Is Here

What is it? Service Learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection. Many instructors at Valencia are already using a Service Learning component in their classes. It’s a great way to link the curriculum to the real world. To find out how you and your students can get involved, contact one of the Service Learning representatives. Review some of the organizations to partner with at http://www.valenciacc.edu/ipo/documents/AgencySitessls.pdf

• East, Linda Anthon, ext. 2250, LAnthon@valenciacc.edu
• West, Ann Farrell, ext. 1436, afarrell4@valenciacc.edu
• Osceola/Winter Park, Christie Pickeral, ext. 4092, cpickeral@valenciacc.edu

Procurement News

New Promotional and Marketing Suppliers - Our current contract with American Ads Specialty expired in April. A new search was completed to find the best vendor(s) to meet the colleges growing needs. This year’s award will allow five qualified suppliers to serve the college. The following departments were represented on the committee that agreed to the new contract: Student Development, Marketing & Media Relations, College & Community Relations, College Bookstore, Valencia Enterprises, Workforce Development, Office of the Provost, and Tech Prep. A contract has been signed by the below suppliers to provide promotional and marketing items. In order for the college to honor our contractual obligations to the below suppliers, we need to give them first right on any and all promotional items that the college requires. These suppliers will help you with all of your promotional needs. In alphabetical order they are:

American Ads Specialties, contact: Tammy Lamm, phone: 407-649-7784, fax: 407-649-4772, e-mail: tammy@americanadspec.com

Carpe Diem Sales & Marketing, contact: Ben Johnson. phone: 407-682-1400, fax: 407-682-4707, e-mail: bjohnson@carpedieminc.com

Mad Max Promotions, contact: Sam Gotlib, phone: 407-359-1333, fax: 407-386-3223, e-mail: sam@madmaxpromo.com

Metropolis Graphics, phone: 407-740-5455, fax: 407-740-5537, e-mail: info@metrogreek.com

Promotional Products Solutions, contact: Jocelyn Azada, phone: 800-218-4350, fax: 414-258-4617, e-mail: jazada@ppsolutionsllc.com

The new contract requires that departments get written quotes for all purchases greater than $3,500 from each of the five suppliers listed above. The evaluation committee decided to structure the agreement in this fashion to ensure that all of the suppliers receive an equal opportunity to participate. This method ensures that the college receives the most competitive pricing available at any given point in time. Other advantages include the ability to make awards based on delivery requirements, quality and creativity as well as pricing. Contact procurement if you have any questions on how to utilize the new Promotional Items Contract.

Banner Vendors - A list of Banner Vendors as of June 3, 2008 is now available on the Atlas webpage under the Finance tab. This is an easy tool to locate your vendor and obtain the VID number. DBA’s are listed in the Address 1 field. Vendors are entered according to how their company completes the W-9 form and report their earnings to the IRS.

VCC Employees vs Consultants - If a person is an active VCC employee, they cannot be hired as a consultant for the college. If the person is doing a special job outside their normal duties, they would still get paid through the pay roll process. 

Accounts Payable Updates and Challenge Quiz

Accounts Payable has posted an Excel spreadsheet on their website to assist anyone preparing in-district travel reports with the calculation of the excess miles for allowable reimbursement. The spreadsheet is located at http://www.valenciacc.edu/accounts payable/forms.cfm and is titled “Excess Mileage Worksheet”.

College policy only allows reimbursement for excess mileage. Excess mileage is any extra miles over your normal daily commute. As an example, a normal daily commute to work is 10 miles round trip. 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.

In the new Banner system, the in-district travel invoices are entered as your initials and the last day of travel on the in-district form. If your initials are NB and the last day of travel is 03/30/08 the invoice number will be NB 03/30/08. Please be certain to capture all dates within a range. If your first date of travel is 03/01/08 and the last is 03/30/08 and AP processes the check for that date range, it can become an audit issue if AP enters a date for travel reimbursement of 3/29/08 that you forgot to include in the original 03/1/08-03/30/08.  AP assumes that when you completed the in-district travel on 03/30/08 you claim all your miles up to that date.

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. 

To assist in making the in-district travel policy more understandable, AP is running weekly quizzes in The Bulletin. The first correct response sent to nbrandolini@valenciacc.edu will receive a gift. Congratulations to Angela Lawrence for being the only person to submit the correct answers for the last two quizzes. The correct answers were:

Quiz # 5 – the correct answer was # 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.)

Quiz # 6 – the correct answer was # 3 (West to East to Home)

Now for this week’s challenges:

Quiz #7 - If you received a travel advance, what is the time frame in which you need to submit your Per Diem Voucher to Accounts Payable?

• within 30 days
• within 45 days
• within 60 days

Quiz # 8 - In order for an invoice to be paid out of the current year’s budget, what is the last day by which the goods could be received or services performed?

• June 1
• June 30
• July 9

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

A Summary of the ‘Circle of Peace’ Held Recently on East Campus

We called it “Circle of Peace” in hopes that it would be so, and it was.  There was Professor Subhas Tiwary who told us about the Hindu belief in unity and yoga balance; there was Imam Bilal Malik who, despite his father’s violent death in Pakistan, described the virtues of compassion and humility and professed one God and one humanity. Father Louis Vitale, a Franciscan priest, called them both brother and it was a lesson in tolerance and understanding.

These three men spoke to an audience of fifty people: students and faculty, administration and community from all faith traditions. Our colleague Richard Gair spoke for the Jewish tradition. He reminded us of the cruelty of the Holocaust. His dedication to teaching how easily it happened was a lesson to us all. He quoted Eli Weisel who, when asked where God was when the camps grew and the ovens smoked, replied. “You ask the wrong question. Ask rather, where was man.” 

We heard also from Father Louie and his work with Pace e Bene. This organization was co-founded by Father Louie and its name comes from St. Francis of Assisi who greeted the world with these words: Pace e Bene: All peace and good [be with you]. What a coincidence that the Hindu salutation is Om Shanti: peace [be with you], the Jewish: Shalom and the Muslim A Salaam aleichem: which both mean, of course,  peace be with you.  Smiles, nods of agreement, laughter grew as we recognized that we all speak the same language.

Lunch was delivered and as the tables filled with bright dishes, the conversations grew.  Our guests joined the students and faculty and more connections were made.  East Campus Professor Troy Gifford provided a beautiful segue into the afternoon session with his classical guitar.  We were all impressed and touched by the range of his music, from a lullaby he wrote for his niece to a foot tapping Brazilian dance.  Those melodies provided a quiet time for us to ponder what we had heard in the morning.

The afternoon session found us sitting in a circle while Father Louie told about his life, from his childhood in a big Italian family, to the Air Force, to university, to a realization that he wanted to be a priest.  He has followed St. Francis for close to fifty years, and Dr. Martin Luther King for the past ten years as he does acts of civil disobedience and goes to prison.  He marched with Cesar Chavez and now he turns his energy to protesting torture. Father Vitale is one of thousands who protest at the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia and also at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. These are DOD schools for training in interrogations and guerilla warfare. Graduates include Roberto D'Aubuisson, who led Salvadoran death-squads and who was responsible for the assassination of Archbishop Romero among others. Manuel Noriega, ex-dictator of Panama, famous for his cruelty, is another of hundreds of graduates of these training schools. Many go to prison to protest torture and American involvement in it. 

Father told us that although he was forbidden any of his priestly duties in prison, he collected grape jelly packets to mix with water for communion wine. He kept Ramadan with his Muslim brothers; he made himself a friend to all in prison, and at East Campus too, as he told stories from his life of peace, of tolerance. We sat in a circle, a human circle, around this seventy-seven year old man in a brown Franciscan robe, and we smiled and nodded listening to him. It was peaceful, peaceful.

                                Submitted by Penny Villegas

A Warm Welcome to New Full-Time Employees:

Peggy Gunnell, librarian, Osceola Campus, mail code 6-2, ext. 4166

Vanessa Vazquez, financial aid clerk, West Campus, mail code 4-17, ext. 5570

Fernando Amadis, groundskeeper, East Campus, mail code 3-3, ext. 2680

Rachael Gibson, financial aid clerk, West Campus, mail code 4-17, ext. 1158

Charmaine Holcy, custodian, West Campus, mail code 4-9, ext. 1217

Kathleen Raphael, technical document specialist, East Campus, mail code 3-13, ext. 2319

James Hanson, air conditioning technician, East Campus, mail code 3-3, ext. 2241

Larry Rogers, maintenance technician, East Campus, mail code 3-3, ext. 2241

A Fond Farewell and Best Wishes to Retiring Full-Time Employees:

Patrick O’Conner, Records, West Campus, 6/30/08

Sondra Denny, Registrar’s Office, West Campus, 6/30/08

Mary Beth Elkins, Human Resources and Diversity, 6/30/08

Linda Marcia, Human Resources, 1/30/09

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, phone conversations and more. 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.

Banner-Faculty Schedule, Course Schedule, Reassign Time Entry Training - This training is for all Administrative Assistants to the Dean and Academic Department Staff Assistants for entering courses, faculty schedule, faculty load and reassign time. June 19, 10 a.m.-12 p.m., Osceola Campus, Room 2-144, Registration Code: TBAN-1.

Session III of IV: Picking Your Investment - After you determine 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

Estate Planning: What Everyone Needs to Know - Estate planning and procrastination often go hand-in-hand. This session will provide tools to help you understand the benefits of estate planning; including maintaining estate control, how this helps your heirs, ways to avoid or minimize probate, and methods that save on estate taxes. We will briefly discuss special needs trust and spendthrift trusts for those special family members. You will be introduced to the four basic estate-planning documents: will, health care surrogate, durable power of attorney and living will. In discussion, attendees will weigh the costs and benefits of a will versus revocable trust and explore the multitude of charitable planned giving strategies that establish you an income stream today and benefit your favorite charity tomorrow. Sponsored by the Valencia Chapter of American Association for Women in Community Colleges. A box lunch and beverage will be provided. June 26, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., Osceola Campus, Room 3-229, Registration Code: GEP-O

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 provides 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, Room 3-113, 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 take you 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 - Complete an analysis based on your personal income and expense information that has been 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 you thought. Sponsored by the Valencia Chapter of American Association for Women in Community College. A box lunch and beverage will be provided. July 23, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., East Campus, Room 5-112, Registration Code: GWUI

Student Affairs Summer Institute Schedule

Monday, July 14

Tuesday, July 15

Wednesday, July 16

Thursday, July 17

Friday, July 18

To register for any of these workshops or any other Leadership Valencia workshop and additional information go to http://www.valenciacc.edu/leadership

VALENCIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT BOARD OF TRUSTEES AGENDA

Regular Meeting  
June 17, 2008
8:30a.m.                                                                                                                                                    Room 5-112, East Campus
701 North Econlockhatchee Trail, Orlando
Orlando, Florida

THIS MEETING IS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Call to Order -- Board Chairman

Invocation – Dr. Stanley H. Stone, Vice President of Human Resources and Diversity

Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag

Recognition:

• Approval of Minutes – May 20, 2008, Regular Meeting

II.        Reports

A. East Campus (Dr. Ruth Prather, Provost, East and Winter Park Campuses)
     Film Production (Mr. Ralph Clemente, Professor, Film Production Technology)
B. East Campus Student Government Association Report (East SGA President)
C. Strategic Indicators (Dr. Kaye Walter, Executive Vice President, Chief Learning Officer, and Mr. Jeff Cornett, Director, Institutional Research)
D. Construction Report (Mr. Keith Houck, Vice President, Administrative Services)
E. New Campus Update (Mr. Houck)
F. Internal Auditor Report (Ms. Undria Stalling, Internal Auditor)
G. Faculty Council Report (Mr. Michael Shugg, President, Collegewide Faculty Council)
H. Valencia Foundation Report (Mr. Raymer Maguire, Trustee)
I. President’s Report (Dr. Sanford Shugart)

III.      New Business

A. Strategic Plan 2008-2013 Approval
B. Annual Operating Budget, Salary Plan, and Unexpended Plant Budget – FY 2008-2009
C. Educational Plant Survey
D. Delinquent Account Write-Off
E. Lab Fees
F. Florida Equity Act Report
G. Osceola Campus Land Lease
H. Resolution Certifying the Valencia Community College Foundation as a Direct Support Organization
I. 2007-2008 Annual Fire Safety, Casualty Safety, and Sanitation Inspection
J. Additions, Deletions or Modifications of Courses and Programs
K. CJI Courses and Fees
L. Valencia Enterprise Courses and Fees
M. Human Resources Agenda
N. Submission of Grant Proposals
O. Property Deletion

IV.           Other Business

Client Service Center at Valencia Enterprises - Valencia Enterprises has a department dedicated solely to assisting students called the Client Service Center (CSC). The CSC, with a bilingual staff of four, handles student inquiries, walk-ins, registrations, advising, and payment for all Valencia Enterprises students. If you have a student interested in continuing education courses, such as English as a Second Language, Spanish, leadership, management, technology certificates, and more, please refer them to Alexandra Cordero-Miles, CSC Supervisor, at 407-582-6607. Or, they can call the main CSC telephone number at 407-582-6688.