Vol. XXXV, No. 28
July 24, 2006

This week at Valencia…

Monday, July 24

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

Thursday, July 27

College Planning Council, 2:30 p.m. West Campus, 6-202

District Board of Trustees Meeting Summary

At the start of the July 18 District Board of Trustees meeting, Valencia President Sanford Shugart recognized Dr. Karen Borglum as the newly appointed assistant vice president of curriculum and articulation. Dr. Borglum formerly held the position of West Campus dean of communications.

Reports

East Campus

Dr. Ruth Prather, provost of the Winter Park and East campuses, introduced graphics professor Kristy Pennino, for a presentation on the East Campus Graphics Technology program. Ms. Pennino said that Valencia’s Graphics Technology students have collectively won more than 30 Addy Awards at the local, district and national levels of the American Advertising Federation’s annual award competition, competing against prestigious universities and art schools across the country. Kenny Roy, a graphics student and two-time Addy winner, demonstrated the Graphics Technology Web site for the board which features the winning graphics and multimedia entries from the 2006 Juried Student Art Exhibition. Following his presentation, Dr. Prather introduced the board to the new East Campus SGA president Brianna Shehan, a Valencia chemistry major, who outlined upcoming programs planned for the East Campus including a political debate.

Strategic Indicators Report

Dr. Kaye Walter, executive vice president and chief learning officer, reviewed the college’s Strategic Indicators Report, which presents an annual overview of Valencia’s progress toward achieving learning results as identified in the Strategic Learning Plan. After five years of active collaboration and dedicated effort, the 2005/2006 year brought completion to the developmental phase of all but four of the fifty plus action items described in the SLP. The remaining four action items are poised for development in the fall of 2006. Dr. Walter highlighted one of the key findings in the report regarding planned enrollment growth. She said that while Valencia had mirrored other Florida community colleges over the last few years in experiencing enrollment declines, in 2005/2006 Valencia made an upward turn (0.3%) in its enrollment despite the fact that most of the other community colleges continue to decline. According to the report, this increase was due to the successful efforts of college faculty, staff and administration to stabilize FTE in the previous year through enrollment planning measures.

Strategic Planning Process

Susan Kelley, vice president for Institutional Advancement, gave a report on behalf of the College Planning Council on the groundwork underway to design a new strategic learning plan to guide the college through the next several years. Ms. Kelley co-chairs the College Planning Council with Fitzroy Farquharson, West Campus mathematics professor, who was also in attendance. Ms. Kelley’s report outlined the timeline for producing a new strategic learning plan, from the current pre-planning phase to identifying strategic issues and setting goals at the collegewide “Big Meeting” to be held in spring 2007 to the completion of the plan in November of that year.

Construction Report

Keith Houck, vice president, Administrative Services, reported that 11 architectural firms had made it to the short list in response to the RFQ for architectural services for Module 10 on West Campus. Later in the meeting under new business, the college made a recommendation to the board to select the proposal submitted by Baker Barrios, Architects, which the board approved.

Faculty Council Report

Board Chair Jerry Buchanan introduced Tom Byrnes, president, Collegewide Faculty Council, to give the Faculty Council Report. Mr. Byrnes gave an update on the Student Assessment of Instruction instrument which had been finalized and would be given to all students enrolled in online classes this summer. Mr. Byrnes said they hope to have the software in place by the middle of the fall term to begin full-scale implementation of the online student evaluation tool which will be used in all courses.

Valencia Foundation Report

Bertica Cabrera-Morris, board trustee, reported that the foundation has met 25% of their $20 million goal in private gifts for the capital campaign, which ends June 30, 2008. Recently, she said that they received several $1 million pledges including a $5 million gift that will put them even closer to their goal. Raymer Maguire, Jr., who has been closely involved in securing financial commitments from community leaders and foundation volunteers, was named foundation board member of the year, along with Helen Von Dolteren-Fournier. Ms. Cabrera-Morris reminded the board that the second Taste of Learning event would be held October 14. The goal for this year is to net $150,000 in contributions, which with state matching dollars would provide for $300,000 in scholarships for 2007/2008.

President’s Report

Dr. Shugart shared the details of a letter circulated by Governor Jeb Bush to the members of community college and university boards of trustees about the practice of funding new programs and projects through an institution’s operating budget without oversight by the State Board of Education or the Board of Governors. The governor’s letter said that some of the $39.2 million in projects are not within the mission of postsecondary education and others should not be funded within operating budgets. None of the projects cited in the letter were Valencia projects, Dr. Shugart said.

The president informed the board that a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Criminal Justice Institute would take place on August 22 at 8:30 a.m. All are invited to attend.

The sale of the former Professional Development Center located adjacent to the East Campus is in progress. The center incurred significant damage in the last hurricanes, prompting the college to consider selling the property and lot and redirecting money from the sale toward other kinds of facility uses.

The national Association of Community College Trustees will hold their annual meeting in Orlando from October 11 to 14. Dr. Shugart encouraged the board to attend.

Dr. Shugart informed the board that he met with the Osceola interim county manager to discuss plans for a county library to be housed within the proposed Building 4 on Valencia’s Osceola Campus, along with a bookstore and cafeteria. Funding for the 75,000-square-foot, $24.5 million building would come from the county, state matching dollars, PECO dollars and other sources, the president said.

The president discussed two major priorities for the college that would be shared at Academic Assembly this August. He gave a summary of the work taking place within the Achieving the Dream (ATD) grant project which has just concluded its first year. The early work of the project has focused on improving retention and completion rates in mathematics. Strategies for improving success rates have included supplemental learning, Learning in Community (LinC) courses and Student Success, with the latter now required of all students taking three or more prep courses. Comp I and U.S. Government will become the next academic areas of focus this spring. The second major priority for the college will be meeting the growth challenge of Florida’s growing population and improved high school graduation rates, both of which will produce an 87% increase in demand for higher education in ten years time. Dr. Shugart said demand will be concentrated in the southern, southeastern and central Florida regions, and that much of it will come from so-called non-traditional students. Dr. Shugart plans to hold a policy session on the topic for members of our legislative delegation this fall. He stated that a Valencia/UCF joint-use facility planned for West Campus is now the number one priority at both institutions in light of the anticipated demand.

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Trustees is September 12, however Dr. Shugart announced that he would be in residence at Oxford University during that time and that Dr. Walter would take his place.

New Business

Change Order No. 5, Criminal Justice Building, East Campus

Helene Loiselle, assistant vice president of Facilities, responded to an inquiry from the board regarding the final change order following the completion of punch list items for the new CJI facility. Ms. Loiselle said that most of the costs incurred were due to the fact that the second floor of the building was reconfigured after construction work had begun to provide a headquarters for Valencia’s Human Resources department instead of Valencia Enterprises, as was originally planned. Furthermore, she shared that 80% or more of the cost of errors and omissions incurred would be paid for by the engineering design team who accepted responsibility for them. Even with the change order, the final overall cost of the building will still be less than the original contract called for, Ms. Loiselle said. The board approved the change order as submitted.

Capital Improvement Program FY 2007/2008

Dr. Shugart provided the board with a summary of the college’s Capital Improvement Plan and Legislative Budget Request for the upcoming session, which the board approved. Projects included on the list were: southwest campus purchase, southeast campus purchase, Mod 10 on West Campus, Hospitality and Culinary Arts lab addition, UCF joint-use facility (Mod 11, West Campus), library classroom Building 4 on Osceola Campus, digital and entertainment technology building, and other projects slated for later development.

President’s Evaluation and Contract

The board unanimously approved the president’s contract and evaluation as submitted. Board trustee Lew Oliver commended Dr. Shugart for his work to increase funding for the community college system as a whole which has enabled Valencia to adjust faculty compensation in this year’s budget.

Consent Agenda

Approved under a consent agenda were the additions, deletions or modifications of courses and programs, Valencia Institute courses and fees, Human Resources agenda, submission of grant proposals and property deletion.

The board adjourned its regular meeting.

Organizational Meeting

Election of Chairman and Vice Chairman

Dr. Shugart called the meeting to order, with Dr. Bill Mullowney, college counsel, presiding. Nominations were heard for Larry Slocum to serve as chairman and Lew Oliver to serve as vice chairman. These nominations were confirmed in a unanimous vote.

Schedule of Regular Meetings

The board accepted the following schedule of regular meetings for the 2006/2007 academic year: September 12, October 17, December 19, February 20, April 17, May 5 (Commencement), May 15, June 19 and July 17.

Election of Representative to the Foundation Board of Directors

The board nominated and unanimously approved Raymer Maguire, Jr. as the board’s representative to the Valencia Foundation Board of Directors. Having no other business, the organizational meeting was adjourned.

News From Procurement

Help us help ourselves! We need your input to help us become a more efficient department. Let us know what process or procedure could be improved to make your life easier! E-mail us at valenciaprocurement @valenciacc.edu

All empty printer toner cartridges for recycling should be directed to the West Campus shipping and receiving area, mail code 4-9. By returning the cartridges to our two remanufactured toner companies, we are able to keep our costs down and pass the savings onto you. We currently have three minority-owned local companies who provide us excellent service and prices that are unbeatable!

Great news, P-Cards are now being accepted at the college bookstores!!

P-Card holders and coordinators, as you know, all P-Card transactions need to be reviewed and approved before the weekly download to Oracle. Be sure arrangements are made, in the event of an absence from the college, to have your P-Card transactions reviewed and/or approved in PaymentNet by an alternate within your department. Please contact Kacy Weekes at ext. 1974 to address any questions.

When sending inter-office mail, do not use building numbers or room numbers. Valencia mail codes should always be used for proper delivery. If you are not sure about the mail code, visit our Web site at http://valenciacc.edu/procurement/mailServices.asp

Who is who and what goes where?

Questions regarding invoices or anything that has to do with a payment, should be directed towards the Accounts Payable department, located at DTC-3.

Questions regarding your budget or account should be directed towards the Budget Department, also located at DTC-3.

Paper requisitions need approval from the Procurement office before they are sent to either the Accounts Payable department or Budget department. The Procurement Office is located at 4-42.

Planning Council Activity Report for 2005-2006

Valencia’s Planning Council focuses on the strategic priorities of the college. The Council coordinates activities related to developing, updating, and monitoring the College’s Strategic Plan, and strives to integrate that process into its work with multi-year budget and staffing, as well as the institutional effectiveness needs of the college. The goal is to foster a planning process that functions effectively as both a guide and an assessment framework for internal and external evaluations. The Council serves as the steering committee for institutional accreditation and oversees the college’s Diversity Plan.

This year, the Planning Council instituted topical learning activities into its meetings. Specific activities included an introduction to fund accounting by Professor Jane Wiese, analysis of the strategic plans of several colleges and universities, and focused reading reviews on Building Trust by Solomon and Flores and Good to Great and the Social Sectors by Jim Collins.

Substantive issues guided by Planning Council leadership during the 2005-2006 fiscal year include the following:

• A Learning Agenda Task Force was formed to identify learning opportunities for the Council. The goal of the task force is to develop a topic agenda, learning activities, and supporting documents that enhance Council expertise in the areas of strategic planning and budgeting.

• The Budget and Financial Advisory Group and the Strategic Budget Initiatives Review Group were restructured based on recommendations from a task force of previous members of the BFA Group. The group offered training sessions for faculty and staff on preparing proposals for Strategic Budget Initiative funding, prepared documentation for Strategic Budget Initiative processes, and composed Budget Principles and Priorities based on input from March Budget Forums.

• The Diversity Committee, which reports to the Council, adjusted its membership, a reflection of the move of the Diversity Hiring Committee to the auspices of the Office of Human Resources. As recommended by Committee, the responsibility for training and selecting Diversity Representatives for all college hiring committees has been integrated into HR processes. This addresses several action items in Goal 6, Diversity Works, of the College’s Strategic Plan.

• The Council recommended five Strategic Budget Initiative proposals to the president for funding during the 2006-2007 fiscal year. The five were those supported by the Strategic Budget Initiative Review Group based on their evaluation of all submitted proposals.

• The Council recommended a Plan for Strategic Planning document to the president. The document details principles, products, and cycles for long-range planning at Valencia. It also coordinates future strategic planning with expected accreditation reviews through the year 2023. The plan recommends the formation of a Planning Committee and five task forces to oversee development of the next iteration of Valencia’s Strategic Plan.

Submissions to the Bulletin are encouraged, so please e-mail your achievements, awards, recognitions, and relevant information for the college community to Mary Jane Jones in the Marketing and Media Relations office. Deadline for submission is 5 p.m. on the Tuesday preceding each Friday’s distribution. Mary Jane can be reached at ext.1017, mc 4-34 or mjjones@valenciacc.edu.