Cabinet Members:
President Mike Richards
John Bearce, Director of Institutional Research
K.C. Brekken, Director, Communication & Events
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 – absent
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 – absent
Dan Morris, Executive Director, Business Operations
Aimee Riley, President, Student Government
Josh Ruter, Interim Campus Manager, Henderson Campus
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 September cabinet meeting were approved.
Joan McGee is working with Deans Weiner and Castro to get the last few Strategic Plan updates to complete the first annual report. She reminded the group that the plan will be to get these updates in August from now on to facilitate a timely October 1 report for cabinet next year. Joan also shared a draft template for input on revising the required tasks currently listed on the Strategic Plan, so as to more closely align the task with the desired outcome.
K.C. Brekken shared results of a survey about Convocation. The results showed that employees like to attend for various reasons, networking and hearing important information topping the list. They like it to be brief and to hear the President’s updates. Some recommendations for future convocations included possibly having a motivational speaker and hearing more about the budget. Aimee Riley suggested having a student voice at convocation as well. K.C. reminded the group about the Regent’s awards and the October 21 deadline for nominations. She encouraged everyone to nominate an outstanding person in one of the categories:
- Regents’ Scholar Award
- Regents’ Award for Creative Activities
- Regents’ Teaching Award
- Regents’ Academic Advisor Award
Patty Charlton highlighted two areas, iNtegrate 2 and the Formula Funding Study. A steering committee consisting of the NSHE Business Officers met a week or so ago to discuss and confirm the project org structure, roles and responsibilities of the committee and members, develop a communication plan, establish a timeline and confirm necessary resources. Gerry Bomotti from UNLV will be the lead in identifying and engaging an outside consultant to work with the Finance Subcommittee on defining a common Chart of Accounts. Steve Zink from System Computing Services will take the lead on identifying and engaging an outside consultant to assist in a review of existing policies and procedures in the following major areas:
- Accounts payable/travel
- Accounts receivable/cashiering
- Purchasing and contracting
- Budget
- Sponsored projects
- Payroll/position control
- Compensation/classification
- Employment/salary administration/performance
- Benefits
- Time and effort reporting
- Overall campus data extraction and reporting (including Data Warehouse activities)
The consultants’ roles are important so as to ensure best practices are implemented, and former ineffective practices are not reintroduced in the new system. CSN’s point people will be Mary Kaye Bailey for Finance and John Scarborough for Human Resources. It will be important also to visit institutions that have undergone similar implementations. Some possible choices are CSU San Luis Obispo, University of Northern Arizona and Lone Star College.
The Formula Funding Study will also involve looking at institutions in other states and their cost studies. An ongoing concern for community colleges is performance-based funding and the limiting language contained therein. The funding equity problem has been acknowledged. There will be a meeting on October 13, and the full group will meet again in November.
Patty reminded everyone that direct deposit is available for mileage and hosting reimbursements. She also reminded everyone that phone use in the car must be hands-free.
Joan McGee reported on the campuses and learning centers. She is working with HR to form committees to get permanent Site Coordinators at Nellis and Western and a Campus Administrator at the Henderson Campus. Announcements will go out soon to internal CSN only. Joan is working on several issues at the Charleston Campus, including facility use concerns, elevator maintenance, inventory, security, parking infractions, space requests and more. Josh Ruter was welcomed with a nice party given by the Henderson Campus. Joan has been busy with activities since her last report to cabinet. She was the keynote speaker for CSN High School graduation ceremony, attended meetings, hearings, conferences and other events for the benefit of the college, the students and executive leadership.
Josh Ruter gave a report on the Henderson Campus. The A Building’s roof leaks and is being given top priority for repair. The B Building is getting data drops for VOIP phones and the campus will be getting blue light emergency phones as part of the Emergency Management Grant. The Facilities Department moved ash trays 100 ft from entrances to encourage compliance with smoking regulations. The Boulder City Center will close soon—Spring 2012 will be the last semester of instruction there. An ADA elevator will be installed at the baseball field press box, the Henderson site planning committee will be re-assembled soon, and the campus bake sale raised $470.
Mugunth Vaithylingam gave an update on the Office of Technology Services. The department has been busy with the Exchange 2010 migration. There have been 3,626 migrations and only 2 PC issues. Mac users will be manually migrated. The VOIP upgrade is going smoothly. The Henderson campus will be done on a weekend because the PBX system there necessitates all phones being upgraded simultaneously. The PC Refresh project is moving along and about 88% complete. Mugunth encouraged everyone to keep sensitive data on the server and he is working with the department to develop a policy for PC and Laptop security. Weekly announcements are being sent to all with instructions for changing passwords. The new passwords should be in place by November 1. OTS Recognition Day is December 9 at the Cheyenne Campus June Whitley Center and Tech Connection 2012 will be on January 18 from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm at Cheyenne as well. At Tech Connection last year, $30,000 was raised for CSN and OTS is trying to improve on it this year. CAPE will be working with OTS to offer about 40 workshops at the event which will be during Spring Convocation. The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce honored Robert Spivey and Mugunth with Awards for Excellence in Customer Service. Mugunth again reminded everyone to clear their mailboxes – including their sent folder, deleted items folder and inbox. The ideal total mail folder size is less than ½ GB. Instructions are available at this link: http://www.csn.edu/pages/3428.asp?item=14841
Dr. Richards concluded the meeting with several announcements. The first draft of the Faculty and Staff handbook will be posted to the web site within the next month. The work climate committee’s charge has been expanded and the membership will rotate in staggered terms for members. Ruben Kieuhen resigned his post at CSN to give his attention to campaigning. There will be a transition in the Diversity office to possibly include government relations. Candidates are being interviewed.
Jacque Matthews congratulated Chemene Crawford on the many improvements she has noticed in the past few months in Student Affairs.
Three Square will provide a list of items needed for the food bank and employees will be encouraged to bring a donation to the Holiday Party December 8 at the Texas. Our goal is to surpass last year’s donations. Details to follow soon.
Rob Telles reminded everyone to purchase Boo-Grams from Classified Council.
Meeting adjourned at 10:00 a.m.
Next meeting scheduled November 14, 2011.
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