CSN March Chronicle

CSN biology students

Greetings and welcome to The CSN Chronicle for March 2014.  For a year when the Legislature is not in session, this spring semester is unusually busy with studies, events and policy changes that I want to share with you.     

Salary Equity Progress
Staff in Human Resources are engaged in implementing the necessary payroll/contract transactions for full-time administrative and academic faculty members to process the salary adjustments necessary to implement recommendations for the new/revised salary structures and salary compression. These were recommended by the consultant and Transition Management Teams and ultimately adopted by the Steering Committee.  Each individual full-time administrative/academic employee will receive a letter from HR detailing how he/she was affected by the salary study.  Those receiving salary adjustments will have revised contracts issued.  HR will send out information notifying affected employees when their revised contracts will be ready for review and signature.

Board of Regents Meeting
The Board of Regents held their March meeting at the Charleston campus. I would like to thank all of our staff that helped to make this meeting happen, including Daniel Gonzalez and his colleagues in facilities, CSN Police and security staff and Suzan Workman in the Office of Communications, OTS, Greg Hampton, Dave Morgan, Eric Garner, and campus administration.  CSN hosts the Board of Regents every two years, and preparations for the meeting are extensive.  Many thanks to all who made the meeting successful.   

Tuition & Fees
At the meeting, the Board discussed tuition and fee increases for the 2015-2019 academic years.  For community colleges, the proposal includes a 4 percent increase each year for the next four years for resident students, beginning in fall 2015. Normally, the Board reviews proposals for tuition and fees changes for the current biennium, but this extended time period is being proposed to help students better plan their academic careers.

CSN’s proposal, developed in coordination with student government and endorsed by student leaders, will directly impact student services. The highlights are summarized below and more detail is available here.

Current Fee: $84.50 per credit.
Proposed Fall 2015: $88 per credit
Proposed Fall 2016: $91.50 per credit
Proposed Fall 2017: $95 per credit
Proposed Fall 2018: $98.75

Students taking 15 credit hours would pay a reduced rate at $52.50 more per semester in fall 2015.

For 2015-16:
·         CSN would take 15 percent of the increase and put it toward access scholarships
·         CSN would hire 18 additional full-time-equivalent staff, including eight academic counselors, two disability resource center and counseling and psychology services positions, four staff for the Office of the Registrar and four financial aid staffers to support student needs
·         An additional $155,000 would go toward capital improvements to improve student services spaces, including providing privacy spaces for students to meet with staff. 

For 2016-17:
·         CSN would take 15 percent of the increase and put it toward access scholarships
·         CSN would hire 25 additional full-time-equivalent staff, including eight academic faculty for high-demand programs, two academic counselors, five academic success coach advisors, three staff for the CSN Call Center, three staff for the Office of the Registrar and four financial aid staff for financial literacy education to help students navigate financial aid better and borrow responsibly
·         An additional $177,000 will go to capital improvements to enhance student support spaces

The Board will vote on this proposal in the coming months.

Regents Awards

CSN Business Professor Kevin Raiford selected for 2013-14 Regents award.

Congratulations to Business Professor Kevin Raiford, who received the Regent’s Teaching Award for community colleges. Professor Raiford’s work in the classroom and with young entrepreneurs is making a significant impact in our community and economy. He’s an inspiration to us all.

In addition, congratulations to CSN student Carlos Holguin, who received the Regents’ Scholar Award. Carlos is graduating this spring with associate degrees in music and psychology. Carlos is a remarkable young man who aspires to give the gift of music to others. We will honor him and other students at the annual Outstanding Student Awards on May 9 at the Telecommunications Auditorium at 5 p.m.

Thank you to the Internal Recognition Committee for your work in soliciting nominations for these awards and thank you to all who nominated wonderful faculty, staff and students!

Legislative Committee to Conduct an Interim Study on Community Colleges
The Legislature’s SB 391 subcommittees met this month. The subcommittee on governance and funding heard testimony from the legislative counsel bureau, regarding what governmental entity has jurisdiction over community colleges. There were several media articles regarding the question of governance authority that describe the issues. This topic will be discussed more in future meetings and may inform what actions lawmakers decide to take. The subcommittee on governance and funding will explore alternative structures, federal grants, Hispanic Serving Institution status, articulation and shared services at its next meeting on April 23.

In addition, CSN Division of Workforce & Economic Development Executive Director Dan Gouker did an excellent job testifying about CSN’s workforce development initiatives before the subcommittee on workforce and academics. Each of the community colleges had an opportunity to present information on this topic. He was joined by Robert Buntjer, assistant director of the Electrical JATC of Southern Nevada, who testified about our work in apprenticeship and the 15 trades we work with to help deliver postsecondary education throughout the valley.

There were a number of questions, regarding community college curricula and how we stay abreast of the changing needs of business and industry and how we might improve this connectivity. The next meeting for this committee is April 24.

Two changes CSN is advocating in this and other venues are: 1) a need-based financial aid program for students who do not qualify for federal financial aid, and 2) legislative support for a workforce development fund.

NSHE Budget
NSHE’s budget request for 2015 is underdevelopment with a request to fully fund, and thereby eliminate, employee furloughs as a key priority. Elimination of furloughs continues to be CSN’s top priority.  Additionally, CSN is joining other institutions to advocate for an increase in the dollar value per weighted student credit hour (WSCH)—currently at $137 per WSCH.  This is the core value in the new funding formula, and is the state funding support per WSCH for CSN.    

Faculty Evaluation Policy
At its meeting earlier this month, Faculty Senate passed an evaluation policy. I should receive the final copy next week. The policy is available at http://sites.csn.edu/jmatovina/evaluation/. The page contains the latest version of the Faculty Evaluation Draft Proposal, FAQS and other useful information.  This policy has been long in development, and I’d like to thank the leaders and members of the Faculty Senate who have contributed to developing the policy.

Construction at Charleston
Construction on the A building (and, eventually, part of the B building) on the West Charleston campus is underway and proceeding on schedule.  Work will be completed in about a year, and we all look forward to recovering the parking spaces that are now a construction staging area.

This is a renovation of the western half of the building and a small addition that will create more spacious classrooms that can be used more effectively. We expect to move back in this December.

Integrate 2
NSHE’s second phase of a new administrative computing system, SCS has issued a request for proposals for a financial and human resources system.  Nevada is one of the last states in the nation to have an integrated administrative computing system for higher education.  CSN is also advocating for a review of the major modules within iNtegrate 1 in order to address existing functionality with the hope of making the Student Information System more effective.

Snap Shot Survey
Your colleagues on the CSN Workplace Climate Committee request that you respond to the following 10-minute survey. The deadline is 5 p.m., Friday, March 28. Your responses will be confidential. A report of the summary results will be released by the committee to all college faculty and staff.

To access the survey please click here. If the survey does not open automatically, please copy and paste the following link to your Internet browser’s address bar:
http://studentvoice.com/p/?uuid=1b46feb85d5044688e5b86509da224c1

Your responses matter and lead to committee recommendations that help make CSN a better place to work, a better place to learn for students and a more inclusive and welcoming community for all. 

If you have questions about this survey, please contact Cameron Basquiat, Chair of the Workplace Climate Committee, at Cameron.Basquiat@csn.edu  or 702-651-5998. If you have trouble accessing or completing the online survey, please contact Laura Yavitz, Institutional Research, at Laura.Yavitz@csn.edu or 702-651-5874.

 Questions from Faculty and Staff Members:

“What is the enrollment picture for spring semester?”

As of the March 15^th census date, headcount for spring semester was 35, 278 (down 0.7% from the same period last year) and FTES was 18,233.6 (down 2.6%).  

“What is the NVision program from PEBP?”

 NVision is the Health and Wellness program of PEBP and is intended to engage a preventative health program for employees.  However, I’m getting reports that our people are having a mixed experience with NVision, that the web site is not working properly, that the program is intrusive, and not worth the cost.  I’d like to know about your experience so that information can be shared with PEBP to make the program better.  If, you have had experience with NVision, good or bad, and would like to share it with PEBP, please send it to me and we will forward it.

Best,

–Mike Richards