WVU Parkersburg Board of Advisors

November 13, 2006

8:30 a.m.

The meeting was called to order by Board of Advisors Chairperson, Linda Dickirson. Those present were: Linda Dickirson, Jackson County Representative, Joe Campbell, Senior Vice President Wes Banco; Tony Playtis, Environmental Health Coordinator E.I. Dupont; Robert D’Avria, Consultant YMCA of the USA; William Niday, Superintendent Wood County Schools; Ed Crisp, Faculty Representative; Joyce Okes, Program Coordinator Workforce Investment; Jim Mylott, Executive Director Mid Ohio Valley Regional Council; George Kellenberger, Chamber of Commerce President; Gregory Smith, President Blue Cross/Blue Shield; Violet Mosser, Staff Representative; David Cumberledge, Student Representative; Marie Foster Gnage, President WVU Parkersburg, and Patsy Bee Executive Secretary to the President. 

Absent were: James Hayhurst, Jr. Executive Vice President United National Bank; Trudy Seita, Consultant/Trainer, Motivation & Volunteerism; and Curtis Miller, President Curtis Miller Insurance Agency, Inc.

Call to Order

Mrs. Dickirson called the meeting to order and presented the agenda.

Approval of Minutes

The minutes of the Board meeting held on August 14, 2006 was approved upon a motion by Mr. Mylott and second by Mr. Campbell.

Chairman’s Report

Mrs. Dickirson noted how nice all the events were for WVUP’s 45^th Anniversary celebration, and she thanked all the faculty and staff who participated in organizing all the activities.

President’s Report

President Gnage summarized progress with the following report on the Strategic Plan and the plan for this academic year:

President’s Report to the Board of Advisors

November 13, 2006

The celebration of the 45^th year of West Virginia University at Parkersburg in all of its iterations--Parkersburg Branch of WVU, West Virginia University—Parkersburg Center, Parkersburg Community College, was a successful and memorable one.  My thanks to the Anniversary celebration committee for their work in bringing Mountain Stage to WVUP, for bringing community representatives to the campus for a “tradition setting” bell ringing each morning of the celebration week, for the luncheons, the ribbon cutting officially opening the Center for Teaching Excellence, and the fundraiser President’s Gala.  Connie Dziagwa, Executive Director for Institutional Advancement, was the committee’s leader and members of the committee:  Linda Dickirson, Christina Clancy, Dr. Cindy Kelley, Jenny Keup, Rodney Parker, Patsy Bee, Judy Shremshock, and Luanne Wiseman.  The celebration reminded us of our wonderful history and our need to record it.  It was great practice for the 50^th year celebration.

In addition, WVUP has been host to a few conferences and meetings—including the Partners in Education Luncheon where Governor Manchin was speaker.  The Social Justice Committee planned and executed great programs for Diversity Week.

Members of the Board of Advisors have joined us in meetings with the legislators for our service area.  Discussions have focused on understanding West Virginia University at Parkersburg—governance, funding, legislative restrictions.  A topic of great interest is the selection of peer institutions for peer equity funding, a process that is underway for all state institutions.  The Community and Technical College System has also determined its legislative agenda, which I will share with you.  We support the legislative agenda but we know that there are issues that are unique to WVU Parkersburg for which we must seek legislative support such as increase in appropriations, funding for capital projects, and support for WVUP as a regional campus/college.

Students, faculty and staff are to be applauded for a very productive semester and we still have a few weeks to do more.  The Strategic Plan goals will help to organize notes and updates.

Recruitment and Retention of Faculty and Staff

• As funds allow, we continue to update and upgrade faculty and staff work areas.  The new/renovated office spaces on second and third floors near the stair tower will house some faculty and staff.
• The Faculty Staff Lounge will be moved to the staff dining room and that space will be renovated.
• Administrators are in the process of identifying adjunct faculty office space and developing a more deliberate professional development program for adjuncts.  We will be requesting professional development funds from the WVUP Foundation.
• The WVUP Foundation increased the amount of Staff Development funds.
• National searches will begin for faculty and staff positions:  Education (2), Business--Accounting (1), Social Sciences--Psychology (1),  Humanities—Art, Developmental Writing and Foreign Languages (3),  Nursing (1), Mathematics (1), Computer Information Technology (1).  Five positions are advertised “pending funding.”
• We will welcome our new Human Resources Director, Peggy Jameson, on November 20^th.  Her most recent assignment was with Ohio University, Athens.  Sandy Swisher will become the Director for Career Services.
• Sandi Smith was recognized as an outstanding contributor to the WVUP at the West Virginia Community College Association conference.
• We have offered workshops for faculty and staff on topics including customer service.
• Administrators, faculty and staff are encouraged to attend/participate in state, regional and national seminars, institutes, workshops and conferences for purposes of benchmarking and sharing.

Enrollment Management

• The college committee is working to complete the enrollment management plan that should offer how we will continue to meet enrollment projections as indicated in the Strategic Plan—both recruitment and retention.
• Engagement time—two hours each week—was implemented for the first time this semester.  This allows time for student, staff and faculty interaction outside of the classroom and encourages student involvement in college/student life. 
• New programs are being developed to provide more options for students and more support for workforce/economic development in the Mid-Ohio Valley.   Requests have been made to the Community and Technical College System office for support for a MRI program and a Computer Graphics/Animation program.  Approval from the Higher Learning Commission for the Bachelors of Applied Science in Business will encourage additional enrollments.
• Note the enrollment profile for Fall 2006 (attachment).
• Corporate and Community Education continues to grow the number of courses and programs they offer, and have brought in national speakers in the process.  The development of entry level health sciences programs has helped to complete the Nursing program continuum—CNA, LPN (Wood County Program/partnership), ADN, and BSN. 
• The relationships developed with the career and technical centers via the Mid-Ohio Valley Consortium have helped in program expansion and encouragement of postsecondary attendance.  High school students have the opportunity to participate in early college enrollment opportunities through the program Earn a Degree Graduate Early (EDGE) as well as dual enrollment courses.

Technology

• Email is now available to our students through WVU.  While there are still hiccups, we can now communicate to our students using one email platform.
• Wireless capabilities and areas are continually expanded.
• We continue to explore ways to expand online student support services.
• Demand for online courses exceeds what we are able to offer:  other community colleges would like to share our offerings.
• We continue to look at ways that technology can support efficiency and effectiveness.

Environment

·        Ribbon cutting for the stabilization project is November 29^th.  Shortly afterwards, faculty and staff will be able to move into the new spaces.

·        During my tenure, we have renovated upgraded spaces for faculty, staff and students including the Learning Center, the Advising Center, the Journalism Lab/classroom and offices area (a section of the old cafeteria space), Student Lounge, gallery area, the “Banana” wing faculty offices, Disability Services Office, the President’s Conference Room, Education offices, some classrooms, and the Library. The Facilities team has been very busy! The President’s Office is presently under construction.  Renovations for a Dean of Students’ office, a Nursing Lab, an adjunct faculty office are scheduled for next month. 

·        Attention is also being given to outside areas.  A recently hired staff person has made great progress with landscaping.  Also, landscaping for the areas adjacent to the stabilization project area was done as an add-on to the project.

·        The Safety Plan will be finalized in the next few months.  The college is already implementing parts of the plan—fire drills, installation of a paging system for emergency communication, and general safety procedures.

·        We will be asking for your review of the Campus Master Plan in preparation for the next Board of Advisors meeting. 

Resource Development

• Partnerships for leverage of resources continue. 
• The Executive Director for the Foundation continues to encourage the campus community as well as the community to give to college to benefit students and operations.  The President’s Gala was the annual fundraiser.  There have been a number of friend raising activities.
• WVUP participated in grant applications with other colleges and with community based organizations.  To date, we have not been successful in federal grant seeking but we plan to continue our efforts.  We await notification regarding our Department of Labor grant applications.
• WVUP has received grant funding from the state for a Patient Care Technician program and a MRI program. 
• Facilities rentals provides some income but most often we offer facilities as our contribution as co-sponsor of events.

WVUP is a resource to the community beyond the educational opportunities provided.   At some point I will detail for you the activities and events that our students, faculty and staff engage in that impact both the college and the community—from blood drives, to Relay for Life, to blood pressure checks, to raising money and food for community based organizations, to Brownies for books.  A group of faculty are working on the Bulgaria Project a continuing faculty exchange that began with a Fulbright grant.

Presentations to Supplement Report

President Gnage asked Dr. Sy Sarkarat to give you a brief sketch of his research on the economic impact of WVU Parkersburg, and Professor Doug Weaver to give you a synopsis of student work at the Chad Embassy.  (See additional information attached.)

President Gnage also provided the following information regarding Legislative issues and requests: 

West Virginia University at Parkersburg:  Legislative Issues and Requests

November 2006

West Virginia University at Parkersburg is West Virginia’s sixth largest educational institution.  Enrollment has grown by two percent (2%) or more five of the past six years.  The college is experiencing a steady upward trend towards 4,000 students (expected Fall 2007) while stressing excellence in teaching and learning, quality programs, and commitment to access and to meeting the workforce development needs of the region.

·        Change in targeted percentage of tenured faculty

o       135-37-6.1—The goal for each community college in the appointment of faculty is to limit the number of tenured and tenure-track faculty to no more than twenty percent of full-time faculty employed at the institution.  We would like to see an increase in the limit for the sake of flexibility in hiring for growing colleges.

·        WVU Parkersburg as regional campus

o       (Hopefully, this will not be an issue this legislative session, but if it is, we believe that WVUP-- with its two-year, four-year, credit and noncredit programs and its status as a campus of WVU--is the higher education institution needed for the area served.)

·        Tuition Caps

o       WV Code 18B-10-1—caps tuition and fee increases for community and technical colleges at 4.75%; caps state colleges and universities at 9.5%.  While we do not wish to overburden our students with large increases in tuition and fees, we would like greater flexibility.  We are third lowest in tuition and fee charges among the CTCs.   We are also second only to WVSCTC in state appropriation per FTE.  State appropriation and tuition and fees are our major sources of income to support education, support services, operations and capital projects—the college.  

·        Support for Peer Equity Funding

o       See Proposed Legislative Rule and the list of peer institutions proposed.  We support peer equity funding because it is the standard means by which the level of appropriations is increased.  WVUP has always benefited from the implementation of peer equity funding.

·        Capital Projects

o       The college continues to expand both in programs and in enrollment.  General classroom space is not an issue at this time but could become so with the increase in need for specialized spaces for courses/programs.  Updates/renovations of science laboratories are very necessary and would cost more than the yearly allocation for capital projects.  While the need for a new library is becoming more and more apparent, two class/laboratory buildings are being requested because of the immediate impact that they would have for educational programming and workforce development/economic development in the region:  an Applied Science and Technology Building and a Child Development Center.  Both buildings would support partnerships with the community and with business and industry.

·        Program Expansion

o       It would be quite safe to say that presently the Mid-Ohio Valley—on the West Virginia side is dependent on Ohio for health sciences programs.  Presently, WVUP offers only two health sciences programs:  Nursing and Surgical Technology.  Funding is needed to support the offering of a minimum of two additional health science programs.  Funding is also needed for expansion of the Applied Technology programs, most of which are high cost programs.

·        Faculty and Staff Salary increases

o       Faculty and staff salaries will be given the “band-aid” support unless there are special allocations to address salaries.  Increases in appropriation and tuition have been used in large part to provide percentage increases rather than to adjust salaries according to staff schedule or market.

West Virginia University at Parkersburg supports the legislative requests of the Community and Technical System of West Virginia.  (See additional information attached.)

Committee Reports

Legislative Relations Committee.  Mrs. Dickirson reported that members of the Legislative Committee will be traveling to Charleston today to meet with Delegate Harold Michaels, Chair of the Finance Committee to discuss our Legislative Requests.

Other Business and General Discussion

The Higher Learning Commission Approval.  Dr. Badgley reported that the Higher Learning Commission has approved the Bachelor of Applied Science Degree. 

New Learning Initiatives.  Dr. Badgley reported on several new program initiatives including grant proposals to support the expansion of our nursing program, surg-tech program and business technology.  There is also a request before the Legislative Session to support $600,000 for renovation of our science lab and it is currently under consideration.  Grant proposal submitted to the WV Council for Community and Technical Colleges include $120,000 to develop a MRI Technology program.  This grant has been approved and it will be the only program of its kind in West Virginia.  The college has also requested funding for a pharmacy technology program and a computer animation and gaming program.  There is currently no such program in West Virginia and the Community College Chancellor will go to the Legislature with a request of $460,000 for this program.   With the increase in online courses, there will be a Saturday orientation in the fall for students to learn to use WEB CT and this will be the only class they will need to take on campus.  A request has been submitted to the WVU Board of Governors for a change in admissions policy for our nursing program.  We currently take 80 students into the program in the fall, but because of the high attrition rate in the program it is being requested to change this to 40 students to be admitted in the fall and 40 students to be admitted in the spring.

WVU Presidential Search Update.  Mr. Campbell was appointed to the Presidential Search Committee by the WVU Board of Governors and he reported that the committee has met twice and they have hired a search firm.  The entire process will take about six months.  They hope to have candidates on campus before students leave for the summer.

Next Meeting

The next meeting of the WVU at Parkersburg Board of Advisors will be held on Monday, February 12, 2007.

Adjournment

With no further business to be discussed, Mr. D’Avria made a motion to adjourn, Mr. Mylott seconded the motion.  The motion passed.

                                                                        Respectfully submitted,

                                                                        Patsy J. Bee

                                                                        Executive Secretary to the President

________________________________

Linda Dickirson, Chair