January 09, 2012
Cabinet Members:
President Mike Richards
John Bearce, Director of Institutional Research
K.C. Brekken, Director, Communication & Events
Constance Brooks, Director, Government Affairs & Diversity Initiatives
Thomas Brown, Senior Advisor to the President
Patty Charlton, Senior Vice President for Finance & Facilities
Chemene Crawford, Interim Vice President for Student Affairs
Darren Divine, Vice President, Academic Affairs
Richard Hinckley, General Counsel
Shellie Keller, Chair, Administrative Faculty Assembly
Rob Telles, President, Classified Council
Jacque Matthews, Executive Director, Foundation
Joan McGee, Chief Campus Administrator, Charleston Campus
Charles Milne, Faculty Senate Chair-Elect
Dan Morris, Executive Director, Business Operations
Aimee Riley, President, Student Government
Josh Ruter, Interim Campus Manager, Henderson Campus – absent
Tracy Sherman, Faculty Senate Chair
Mugunth Vaithylingam, Chief Information Officer
The meeting was called to order by Dr. Richards at 9 a.m.
The notes of the December cabinet meeting were approved.
Dr. Richards began the meeting by welcoming back Jacque Matthews. He then highlighted some upcoming dates, including Tech Connection on January 18th, CAPE training classes during spring convocation, the special Board of Regents meeting on January 20th and the beginning of the spring semester on January 23rd.
At the special Board of Regents meeting, CSN will present the final plan describing how the 8% student fee increase will be utilized. K.C. told the group about a discussion on Twitter (#csnbudget) that garnered a lot of input from students and staff on the fee increases as well.
Mugunth Vaithylingam encouraged everyone to register for Tech Connect, which will take place on the Cheyenne campus all day on January 18. Last year the event raised $30,000 for CSN and the goal is to surpass that amount this year. There are more vendors, lots of free software training, two excellent keynote speakers and prize drawings. Many community members have been invited, including Chancellor Klaich, Regents, people from CCSD and UNLV. Mugunth is also trying to secure an appearance of a state of the art disaster recovery truck, NERV, of which only two in the world exist.
Joan McGee presented the revised Strategic Plan that she, Hyla Winters and Laura Yavitz modified. Once Hyla and Joan streamlined the plan in accordance with NWCCU recommendations, Joan and Laura retrieved and clarified College data. Pages 9-20 of the revised plan list the action items for each goal, the responsible division, department or committee, the achievement indicators and the timeline for completion. Joan stressed the importance of reading the Plan and knowing what it contains. Each cabinet member belongs to one of the groups of responsible parties for the action items and each cabinet member should know what it is for which he or she is responsible. Some of the completion dates in the timeline are approaching quickly and immediate action may be required. Joan will post to the website the new Plan along with the Strategic Plan progress summary she compiled and presented last month at the cabinet meeting.
K.C. Brekken told everyone that 325 employees attended the Holiday Party, and 850 pounds of food were collected for the Three Square food bank. She reminded everyone of the Round Table discussions on all three main campuses, and said there were still some seats available. There was some positive news coverage for CSN when the CSN Cheer Squad earned 1st place in the American Grand Nationals Tournament of the American Cheer and Dance Championships for co-ed level six. K.C. also told the group to look for details of the Town Hall with Regent Geddes on February 23. The event will be held in D-101 at 4:00 pm that day. March 1 & 2, CSN will host the NSHE Board of Regents meeting. May 18, an end of the year recognition and celebration event will happen at the Texas Station. A contest to name this event will begin in February, and a committee is currently being assembled to plan the event.
Constance Brooks, Director of Government Affairs and Diversity Initiatives, gave her first report as a cabinet member. She announced that Jennifer Denson would be joining her at the Cheyenne campus as her assistant, and a part time staff member, J.T. Creedon, will assist her in the Government Affairs aspects of the office. Constance shared her goal to make the Office of Diversity a better resource to the college and will focus on student success and community outreach this year. She will be forming an advisory committee, which will include representatives from each of the Heritage Month groups, to assist in relevant event planning. Currently there are separate advisory committees for each group. For Black History Month, she is focusing on 3-4 quality events during the month rather than numerous events that tend to garner poor attendance. She is working with Thomas Brown on Affirmative Action initiatives. Constance also told the group about EDICT, Eliminating Disparities in Clinical Trials, an organization of which all the NSHE presidents are members. The first EDICT meeting of the year will be on January 10.
Darren Divine said that Academic Affairs and Student Affairs will be working closely on the Complete College America initiatives. The main focus of the initiative is student attainment of a certificate or degree. One obstacle to completion seems to be successful completion of mathematics courses. Darren is working to establish dedicated math labs on each campus, staffed and open all day. The timeframe to get them up and running is tentatively fall semester, but it partly depends on fee increases and how much will be allotted to fund the math labs. Both Dr. Richards and Aimee Riley mentioned a free tutorial web site for math refreshers (and other subjects such as History and Science) at Khan Academy: http://www.khanacademy.org It is a great resource for all who want to refresh their skills in subjects they may not use in everyday life.
Darren also reported that in the attempt to remove the 40th anniversary sign work from Building E on the Charleston campus, a big mess resulted. The large sign was made of a new material that adheres to surfaces without glue. Unfortunately, it adhered too well, and pieces of the sign are stuck to everything. The sign company will have the area power washed this week.
Joan McGee highlighted what is happening at the Charleston campus and the Learning Centers.
Charleston:
• Building A – fire alarm system is currently being upgraded, a new cooling tower will be installed next month and an interior remodel is scheduled for this summer
• Building B – common areas were painted and new carpet was installed last year
• Building C – currently being painted (exterior) and the grass area on the north and east side will be replaced with desert landscaping this year
• Building G – a new fume hood in the science area on the 3rd floor will be installed in February
• Ralph & Betty Engelstad Health Sciences Building – new seat walls were installed on the south side of the building in the landscaped area and a new security roll-up door in being installed in Room 124
• O&M Building – remodeled the interior of the warehouse and currently adding an office
• Child Care Building – new landscaping and irrigation completed last year, 2 new canopies will be installed in spring
• Campus in General – Valley Crest Landscaping will now be maintaining and repairing all of Charleston campus grounds. There are no grounds personnel on Charleston campus.
Learning Centers
• Mesquite – temporary employee is covering for another who is on FMLA leave
• Nellis – temporary employee is covering for another who is on FMLA leave
• Western – just transferred an AAII from Joan’s area to Western to replace AA who accepted a position outside of NSHE.
Dr. McGee represented CSN at numerous events and fundraisers since her last report in October, including Higher Education night at Opportunity Village, Part-Time Recruitment Fair, Frederick Douglass luncheon at Russell’s, several Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce Education Committee meetings, and many other events.
Mugunth Vaithylingam said OTS Recognition Day was very well-received by the college community. The VOIP phone changeover will be complete by the end of March. A self-service help desk will be available at the beginning of the semester. Employees will be able to submit requests online and be able to track the progress of each ticket created. He again encouraged everyone to register for Tech Connection to take place on January 18th.
Rob Telles reported that the employee recognition luncheon will take place this year between spring and summer semesters. The next Classified Council meeting will be on February 16.
Patty Charlton reported that HR and Finance are involved in the iNtegrate 2 project; with John Scarborough representing Human Resources and Mary Kaye Bailey representing Finance. They will be going to other states to visit institutions that have already implemented similar systems.
The Facilities Department is working on E-access for all classrooms with estimated completion scheduled for late June or July. The Cheyenne campus restrooms should be refurbished by the end of summer. CSN has selected a vendor for the call boxes required to be in compliance with the Emergency Management Grant. Facilities Management may be contracting supplemental custodial help until we have hired and trained enough custodians to fill the open positions.
John Bearce distributed an enrollment comparison which indicates a decline of about nine percent for Spring 2012 as compared to Spring 2011. Online classes are up in enrollment about two percent.
Chemene Crawford reported that as of 9:00 am today, January 9, the MyCSN Call Center began taking calls to assist students with navigating the MyCSN system. Patricia Marshall is the coordinator for the new area. If anyone receives a call requesting help with the MyCSN system, the calls can be directed to 651-5555, where students can receive live help from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm. The hours may change as call volume is assessed. In Student Financial Services, a new director has been hired, Matthew Sanchez, who started on January 3.
Meeting adjourned at 10:00 a.m.
Next meeting scheduled February13, 2012.
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