Vol. XXXV, No. 36

September 18, 2006

This Week at Valencia.

Monday, September 18

Instructional Affairs Committee, 8:30 a.m., East Campus, 3-113

Atlas Application Advisory Group, 3 p.m., West Campus, 9-218

Wednesday, September 20

College Operations Council, 9:15 a.m., West Campus, 6-202

Thursday, September 21

Collegewide Staff Council, 8:30 a.m., East Campus, 3-108E

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

Friday, September 22

Student Affairs Leadership Team, 10 a.m., Osceola Campus, 3-319H

District Board of Trustees Meeting Summary

Reports

Florida State Community College Strategic Plan

Valencia President Sanford Shugart introduced David Armstrong Jr., chancellor of the Division of Community Colleges and Workforce Education, to present to Valencia’s board an overview of the division’s plans for the year ahead. Dr. Shugart prefaced the presentation by saying that Mr. Armstrong “has been a remarkable leader for our system,” helping community colleges build consensus and a future agenda, and “raising the political capital of our system.” The chancellor said that Florida’s community college system had four major goals: 1. Ensuring open-door access and student success including statewide adoption of Achieving the Dream “best practices;” 2. Promoting college readiness including working with the K-12 system to align the FCAT and the CPT; 3. Outreach to underrepresented populations through extending the Bright Futures Medallion Scholarship to cover 100 percent of community college tuition and supporting increases in funding for CROP and need-based financial aid; and 4. Articulation, including two-plus-two baccalaureate partnership incentives and expanding A.S. to B.A.S./B.S. articulation agreements. Aside from the four major issues, other priorities for the state’s community colleges were addressing the K-12 teacher shortage through programs like the Educator Preparation Institute (EPI), promoting career and technical education, advocating for funding that keeps pace with enrollment growth, and maintaining affordability for students. Mr. Armstrong ended his presentation with the FCCS 2007-08 legislative budget request which totaled $1.18 billion, a 9.27 percent increase over 2006-07 appropriations.

Criminal Justice Institute

C. David Smith, director of the Criminal Justice Institute where the board meeting was held, gave a presentation on the type and quality of training provided at CJI to law enforcement and correctional officers. CJI is one of 41 college-based training centers in the state, and one of the few with full-time police and correctional officers assigned to work as instructors at CJI by their agencies. Mr. Smith said that half of CJI’s staff are agency professionals.

Annual Financial Report

A summary of the college’s end-of-year financial report was given by Keith Houck, vice president, Administrative Services. Mr. Houck said that the operating fund ended the year better than expected, with revenues on target and payroll expenses greatly reduced as a result of efforts to control overtime and part-time expenditures and an abnormally high number of position vacancies. Valencia’s operating revenues were $109.3 million. Seventy-three percent of the colleges $109.3 million in expenditures were attributed to personnel costs. The college currently has $174.3 million in total assets. Mr. Houck also reported that the Valencia Foundation has continued to do very well, with $50.5 million in total net assets, and $540,000 going toward student scholarships.

Fall Registration Technical Issues

Bill White, chief information officer, Information Technology, and Mr. Houck advised the board on actions undertaken as a result of the technical issues in the Banner registration system during fall registration. As a result of “heroic” efforts on the part of the college’s IT employees and partners, including specialists flown in from around the country, Valencia was able to recover ALL data and lost no transactions during the seven days that the system was down. To prevent future occurrences, Mr. White said the following steps had been taken: the hardware environment for Banner has been inspected twice by IBM to insure there are no further issues, new processes and procedures have been implemented to run diagnostic reports on the system to insure it maintains stability, SunGard is conducting an architectural review of our hardware and backup system to recommend changes, the taped backup system—now four to five years old—will be replaced, and the college will be moving to a newer technology for disk storage. Dr. Shugart said that enrollment problems were minimized during this time by an extended registration cycle that permitted 75 percent of students to register prior to the outtage. He added that due to the coordinated efforts of IT, Student Affairs and Marketing staff, he believed that all students affected by the downtime were retained as reflected in 4 percent FTE growth to date.

Summer Term Enrollment

Joyce Romano, vice president, Student Affairs, reviewed final enrollment data for the 2006 summer term with the board. While overall enrollment was flat, she noted a trend in more students enrolling in the shorter terms (A and B) than the full term.

Internal Auditor Report

Undria Stalling, internal auditor, Compliance and Auditing Department, gave a brief summary of the results of a student travel audit conducted during the previous fiscal year. Ms. Stalling reported that any audit issues that emerged had already been resolved thanks to the cooperative efforts of Student Affairs leadership. Ms. Stalling said that an audit of the Upward Bound grant-funded program was already underway.

Construction Report

Keith Houck, vice president, Administrative Services, and Helene Loiselle, assistant vice president, Facilities, provided information to the board on the short list of firms that responded to the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for Construction Management at Risk for Building 10 on West Campus. Ms. Loiselle said that the college hopes to design Building 10 to qualify for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Faculty Association Report

Tom Byrnes, president of the Collegewide Faculty Council, indicated there was nothing new to report at this time.

Valencia Foundation Report

Valencia Trustee Raymer Maguire informed the board that the foundation’s capital campaign is going well, with a $1 million pledge coming from a prominent local business leader, due to be publicly announced soon. He encouraged the board to make plans to attend the Taste of Learning event on Oct. 14 at the Royal Pacific Resort. Dr. Shugart added that Valencia Foundation’s endowment was named the largest community college endowment (among those reporting) in the annual endowment study conducted by the National Association of College and University Business Officers. In fact, our current endowment value is about $48 million, which has almost tripled in five years.

President’s Report

Dr. Shugart kept his comments brief, bringing to the board’s attention three recent articles in the Orlando Sentinel that either cited Valencia or items of interest. He also congratulated Stan Stone, vice president, Human Resources and Diversity, for leading a local task force on crime reduction, and Larry Slocum, trustee, for accepting a position on the executive committee for the Association of Community Colleges Trustees. Dr. Shugart invited Susan Kelley, vice president, Institutional Advancement, to share details on three SUCCEED Florida Grants that the college won last month for EPI, digital media and nursing. Ms. Kelley also introduced trustees to Valencia’s new assistant vice president for Marketing and Media Relations, Christian Campagnuolo. Lastly, the president introduced the board to Karen Borglum, former communications dean on West Campus, who accepted a leadership role with Kaye Walter, chief learning officer, as assistant vice president for curriculum and articulation.

New Business

Architectural Service for Building 4, Osceola Campus

Dr. Shugart informed the board that our contract with Schenkel Shultz, Inc., the architectural firm used for Osceola’s Building 3, provides for continuing services for the campus. Although Building 4 is not yet funded, the president said that the college would like their involvement in writing the educational specifications for the new building, which would include a library, café, bookstore and UCF presence. Based on the president’s recommendation, the board approved the selection of Schenkel Shultz for the design of Building 4.

Consent Agenda

Approved under a consent agenda were the following items: construction management RFQ for Building 10, budget amendment for fiscal year 2005-06, additions, deletions or modifications of courses and programs, Valencia Enterprises courses and fees, Human Resources agenda, submission of grant proposals and property deletion.

Reminder for Full-time Career Service Evaluations

Many full-time career service evaluations have already been received in HR. Thanks to supervisors and employees who have taken the time to complete this state-mandated task.

If you have not sat down with your supervisor yet, suggest some accomplishments to include in your evaluation and your goals for the '06-'07 fiscal year.

Supervisors, if you haven't put your thoughts on paper yet concerning the employees you supervise, helpful suggestions are in the evaluation packet sent by e-mail on July 5. The evaluations must be in HR no later than September 29.

Contact Sue Bouchard at extension 8080 with questions.

Hiring Freeze

A hiring freeze for new full-time employees will soon be in effect. To hire an employee before the freeze becomes effective, the employee must begin work on or before November 13, 2006. After that date, recruitment activities may be conducted through Human Resources department and offers of employment may be extended, however, the employee may not begin work until January 8, 2007.

News from Procurement

Ethics in Procurement - Purchasing Services believes that all persons in the procurement process at the college should have a highly developed sense of professional ethics to protect their own and Valencia's reputation for fair dealing. To strengthen ethical awareness, and to provide high standards of ethical practices, Valencia subscribes to the National Association of Educational Procurement (NAEP)
Code of Ethics:

• Give first consideration to the objectives and policies of my institution.
• Strive to obtain the maximum value for each dollar of expenditure.
• Decline personal gifts or gratuities.
• Grant all competitive suppliers equal consideration insofar as state or federal statute and institutional policy permit.
• Conduct business with potential and current suppliers in an atmosphere of good faith, devoid of intentional misrepresentation.
• Demand honesty in sales representation whether offered through the medium of a verbal or written statement, an advertisement, or a sample of the product.
• Receive consent of originator of proprietary ideas and designs before using them for competitive purchasing purposes.
• Make every reasonable effort to negotiate an equitable and mutually agreeable settlement of any controversy with a supplier; and/or be willing to submit any major controversies to arbitration or other third party review, insofar as the established policies of my institution permit.
• Accord a prompt and courteous reception insofar as conditions permit to all that call on legitimate business.
• Cooperate with trade, industrial and professional associations and with government and private agencies for the purpose of promoting and developing sound business practices.
• Foster fair, ethical and legal trade practices.
• Counsel and cooperate with NAEP members and promote a spirit of unity and a keen interest in professional growth among them.

Attention Procurement cardholders - if a transaction appears in PaymentNet under your account and you have not received the items and/or an invoice, please contact the responsible vendor immediately to rectify the problem. In good practice, a vendor should not charge your account until the items have been shipped. If this is a continued problem for you despite attempts to remedy the situation, you may want to consider obtaining your items from another vendor.

Leadership Valencia

Formation is For Everyone - Join us for ongoing, relaxed lunch conversations around Parker Palmer's essay, "13 Ways of Looking at Community." Our first meeting will be to introduce Parker Palmer and Formation; thereafter, alternating lunch on East and West campuses throughout the year, each time talking with others about one of the 13 ways. This is a time for faculty, staff, and administrators to practice ways of speaking and being heard that allow a group to become a deeply respectful and caring community-in-learning where each person has a voice. Tuesday, September 19, 1-2 p.m., West Campus, Room 9-140B, registration code: LFORM4 or Tuesday, September 26, 1-2 p.m., East Campus, Room 4-212B, registration code: LFORM2.

What's New in WebCT 6? - This orientation will cover the key features of WebCT Campus Edition 6. The latest version of WebCT retains much of what you love about working with WebCT, but also delivers unprecedented advancements in ease of use and cutting-edge teaching and learning functionality. The enhancements in WebCT 6 make course preparation, delivery and management easier and more efficient when you apply the many new tools available. Friday, September 22, 1–3 p.m., West Campus, room 5-214, registration code: TWCT922 or Friday, September 29, 1–3 p.m. Osceola Campus, Room 3-300, registration code: TWCT929.

Next Level Thinking - Are you considering making an internal career move? Learn how Valencia employees have made transitions to new opportunities. Tuesday, September 26, 2-4 p.m., West Campus, Room HSB-211, registration code: PNLT.

Phone and E-mail Etiquette - This session will focus on utilizing phone and e-mail for great service. Learn tips on phone and e-mail etiquette with ideas on how phone and GroupWise features can assist you! Wednesday, September 27, 2:30–4:30 p.m., Winter Park Campus, Room 225. Note: This session is sponsored by the Career Staff Council, registration code: PPEE.

Fall Formation Retreat: The Threads We Follow - There are many threads to follow throughout our lives and sometimes it seems the thread is following us rather than the other way around. This overnight retreat is for each of us to find, redeem, or begin new threads for ourselves. We all can use a time to weave these threads of our lives while renewing our spirits. If the semester is wearing you down, take a break and join us for some R & R in the woods with colleagues and friends, good food and a safe space. Sunday, October 1, 2 p.m. to Tuesday, October 3, 1 p.m. Canterbury Retreat & Conference Center, Oviedo, Florida, Note: This retreat has an all inclusive fee of $300 which may be covered by SPD for eligible full-time employees. Enrollment is limited, registration code: LTWF.

To register for any Leadership Valencia classes and for more information go to http://valencia.cc.fl.us/leadership.

Kudos

The National Council of State Boards of Nursing has chosen Dr. Tami Rogers, professor of nursing, as a member of the panel of expert nurses meeting in Chicago, IL, who will write items for the NCLEX-RN Examination.