Creston— The Southwestern Community College (SWCC) board of directors met on Tuesday, May 14, 2013, at 5:30 p.m. in the SWCC Administration Center for their regular monthly board meeting.
During the meeting, the board accepted a contingent offer of $186,000 from Cathy Maynes for the purchase of the student-constructed carpentry house at 1307 N. Mulberry Street in Creston. The house will continue to be listed for sale until June 20, 2013, or the day the contingency is satisfied.
Dr. Barb Crittenden, SWCC president, informed the board that the redrawn community college director districts have not yet been received by the college. A special board meeting will need to be held prior to June 1, 2013, to approve the redrawn districts.
Uncollectible account write-offs were approved as presented by Teresa Krejci, SWCC chief financial officer. Krejci said the accounts presented to the board, most of them from fiscal year 2010-11, had been at collections with little or no activity for 18 months or more. Krejci explained although the account balances are written-off, students’ transcripts are held and students cannot register for additional classes until the balances are paid.
Bill Taylor, SWCC vice president of instruction, told the board that college administration would like to continue partnering with the Union County Development Association (UCDA) for construction of a home to be built by the 2013-14 college carpentry and building trades program. Taylor said the property, located at 507 S. Elm Street in Creston, is owned by UCDA. The house will not exceed a budget of $85,000-$95,000. Taylor said within 60 days of completion, the home would be purchased by UCDA if it is not already sold. This would be the second year the college has partnered with UCDA for new home construction. This year’s house, located at 505 S. Elm Street in Creston, is nearing completion. Following Taylor’s presentation, the board authorized the SWCC administration to enter into a Building Partnership Contract with UCDA for the construction of the home.
In personnel, the board approved the resignations of Ryan Howe, SWCC music instructor, and Rebecca McCann, SWCC nursing instructor, at the end of their current contracts.
During the president’s report, Dr. Matt Thompson, SWCC dean of student services, presented to the board regarding results from the Survey of Entering Student Engagement (SENSE) Survey. The survey was administered to 189 SWCC students during the fourth and fifth weeks of the fall 2012 semester. Thompson said an ad hoc committee consisting of Marilyn Werner, Assessment Center coordinator; Deb Pantini, director of student development; Keith Olsen, program/transfer specialist; Rumy Kabir, administrative software programmer; and Tim Leonard, psychology instructor has been assembled to review the survey results. In the survey data, Southwestern is compared to colleges of similar size, as well as to all colleges participating in the survey. Thompson said, in general, the data strongly suggests that Southwestern provides students with a quality experience at the time of enrollment and during the early weeks of the semester. The review team has looked at areas the college can improve upon as well. Thompson said another survey, the Community College Survey of Student Engagement, was administered during the last two weeks in April and will give the college additional valuable student information. That survey data will be available in August.
The board was given copies of the college’s Affirmative Action Plan and Crittenden explained to the board that approval of the plan will be on the June board agenda.
Jerry Smith, SWCC board member and Iowa Association for Community College Trustees (IACCT) representative, reported the annual IACCT Retreat will be held in Burlington from July 24-26.
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