President's Council Meeting Summary

December 3, 2003

 

 

Present:  Dene Thomas, Kathy Martin, Rob Lohrmeyer, Richard Moore, Tony Fernàndez, Jerry Hindberg, Bert Sahlberg, Deacon Meier, Dave Taylor, Dawn Byers, Kathie Wilcox, Chet Herbst, Janis VanHook

 

Absent: Whitney Pugh

 

Guests:  Ken Clark, Randy Harper

 

Calendar Review

Calendars for December and January were distributed noting President’s travel and major campus events.   Although Legislative Services can not confirm the dates of Higher Education JFAC presentations as of today, they hope to have the schedule confirmed by Friday.  From all indications, it appears that Higher Education Week will be January 26 through 30.

 

 

President’s Report

 

On November 19, President Thomas attended the Idaho Taxpayers’ Association annual meeting in Boise.  While the economy is improving, there is concern about the expiration date of the tax increase.  There was no apparent support for continuing the tax increase.

 

President Thomas is the Idaho state representative to the American Association of State College and Universities.   She attended the AASCU annual meeting November 24-26 in Carlsbad, CA.   

 

The presidents met with Governor Kempthorne on December 2.  There is much concern regarding charter school and other K-12 issues.

 

Winter Revels celebration is scheduled for Friday, December 12.  See the web site for more information.

 

 

Provost and Vice Presidents’ Reports

 

Provost:

 

·        Due to the poor weather conditions, NIC Instructional Dean Jerry Gee was unable to visit LCSC.  Business was conducted via conference call on the topic of cross listing courses.  There appears to be a problem with cross-listing the courses and transcript reporting.  Both intuitions wish to use the headcount, and there is concern how other institutions may interpret the credits if the same course was listed on transcripts of both institutions (six credits versus three).  The registrars will continue to work through problems.   Dene Thomas suggested a joint faculty affiliation be considered and procedures for academic approval be established.

 

·        Under the Higher Education Act of 1998, an institution may not offer more than 50 percent of its courses by telecommunications or correspondence, nor allow more than 50 percent of its students to take courses by telecommunications, without losing eligibility for its students to participate in federal financial aid programs.  The 50 percent rule was instituted to reduce the potential for fraud or abuse of the student financial aid program; however, some believe it has become an impediment to the delivery of quality distance education courses.   Those believers have urged western governor to lobby congress to explicitly support the development of competency based degree programs in higher education.  They also urge congress to direct the Secretary of Education to develop rules and regulations, including waivers to current regulations where necessary, to provide full financial aid for accredited degrees based on demonstrating competency rather than on seat time, credit hours and grades, and to support the expanded use of distance education.   At the present time, the rule has no impact on LCSC students.

 

·        Provost Fernandez distributed the proposed special course fees for 2004-2005.   The President’s Council will review the proposed fees at the December 17th President’s Council meeting.

 

 

Administrative Services:

 

Ken Clark reported on his November 4 meetings with Senators Crapo and Craig and staff about the Skid Pad Proposal and other Federal Appropriations.  Ken’s reported is recorded below:  

 

Regarding the Skid Pad, Damon Tobias said to find out if the new money we’ll be requesting can be put on the same account as the $695K we received previously.  He gave me many more helpful hints about procuring Federal Appropriation money such as “get to know the various departments and agencies by contacting their agency officers and talking with them about our project.  It helps the Senators’ staffs if we can direct them to the correct federal agency for funding.  We are advised to “play to our strengths” by making sure that all projects are within the role and mission of LCSC.  Chelsey Penrod, with Senator Craig’s office, is beginning to set up aids and resources for grant writers in Idaho.  Ken will continue to work closely with her.  We are advised to do our homework and make it easy for the Senator and staff to represent the interests of LCSC and Idaho.

 

Ken met with Senator Crapo’s staffers: Emily McClure and Peter Fischer to discuss the Skid Pad proposal.  They were impressed as were the others with the amount of work we are doing to try to find a parcel of land.  Peter Fischer suggested that I contact Bob Ford in Boise about a software program called “Money Retriever” to assist in getting acquainted with Federal Agencies and what they fund.  Emily asked if we had a stipulation on the first Skid Pad request that there would be future funding needed.  She said to contact Ken Flanz who is the Federal Appropriations Specialist in Senator Crapo’s office and learn as much as I can from him.  She said that whenever they see projects that involve extensive collaboration with other entities it really improves our chances of approval for funding at least from the congressional group.  She emphasized that it would help the staffers if we prioritize our requests before sending taking them to DC.

 

Ken met with Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Agency Officer Jerry Robin and learned that we can put the new money we’re requesting on the same account as the $695K.  We were congratulated on our extensive efforts to get everything we can from other training facilities.  We need to get curriculum materials, tests, instructional booklets, business plan, online registration material, etc.  He wondered if we should check into European facilities for more ideas.  He suggested contacting Porsche or Mercedes to offer our facility to their new drivers for hazardous road condition training.  He also suggested getting hold of Skip Barber, a high performance instructor.  He cautioned against using the skid pad for parking; suggested marketing the pad i.e., truck rodeos, concerts; and recommended we ask for money for annual conferences for those who operate training facilities.

 

Ken also encourages more faculty and staff to write grants using indirect costs as incentive as well as project teams.  It’s less intimidating and gives more people the experience, creating a larger cadre of grant writers on campus within faculty and staff.

 

 

Student Affairs:

 

·        One week into spring 2004 registration, the head count is 2178 (10.6%) and FTE is 1805 (6%).

 

·        Peter Kim representing the Korean-American Business Institute located in Seoul, Korea, visited LCSC on December 1.  Mr. Kim and President Thomas discussed a three-year agent agreement.  The agent will market the college and its programs; provide information to potential students living in Korea about the college and the state of Idaho; provide applicants with assistance completing the college application packet; and provide orientation services to students who will attend the college.  The college will provide the agent with the available information on the college and application packets.

 

·        Randy Harper, Director for Learning Services, provided the following report:

 

Collaborating with the Idaho Department of Correction to serve the North Idaho Correctional Institution at Cottonwood (NICI) and the Idaho Correctional Institution at Orofino (ICIO)

 

The following is a summary of the educational projects currently being implemented by the Department of Learning Services at Lewis-Clark State College in collaboration with the Idaho Department of Correction (http://www.corr.state.id.us/).

 

Contracts

 

1.      Adult Basic Education ($36,254) – Employs a full-time instructor (Linda Knight) at ICIO to teach basic academic skills to inmates and prepare those who need it to take the GED.

2.      Literacy Support ($102,966) – Employs a full-time Program Coordinator (Rose Forsmann) and three part-time instructors (Sue Paradiso, Melinda Sonnen, and Renee Warnacutt) to deliver basic academic and pre-release education to inmates at NICI.  Most inmates at NICI are there on 120 day “riders” as compared to those at ICIO who are incarcerated on a long term basis.  Therefore, pre-release education and the GED are more pressing and more relevant to NICI inmates.

3.      Special Education ($79,638) – Employs a full-time Special Education instructor (Russ Kirsch) and a full-time teacher assistant (Mickey Emmert).  The instructor serves inmates at both NICI and ICIO.  The Robert Janss School is an accredited secondary school that operates within the prisons in Idaho.  In order to be accredited, services such as Special Education must be made available to inmates who need those services.

4.      Title I ($8,988) – Contributes .25 FTE towards an instructor (Melinda Sonnen) at NICI.  This, along with a .75 FTE piece under Literacy Support, above, makes the instructor full-time.  Title I services focus on providing reading instruction and support to inmates who need special assistance.  This program is also part of accreditation requirements for the Robert Janss School.

 

Contracts Summary:  Presently, LCSC contracts with the Idaho Department of Correction total $227,846 and employ five full-time and two part-time educators.  These educators are employees of Lewis-Clark State College under the Department of Learning Services who work daily with inmates at NICI and ICIO.

 

Services

 

1.      GED Testing – The LCSC Adult Basic Education (ABE) program provides GED Testing to inmates at both NICI and ICIO.  NICI inmates are tested once or twice each month depending on how many are ready to be tested.  Testing is provided to inmates at ICIO around nine times each year.  ABE charges $15 for every test that is administered and our current contract with DOC allows for 2,160 tests per year (180 per month) between both institutions combined.  Around half of all the GEDs that are awarded each year through our ABE program are earned by inmates.  GED testing is also done at the Juvenile Correctional Center and at the Juvenile Detention Center in Lewiston, although on a less frequent and less regular basis.  Finally, the ABE program at LCSC serves many students who are under Probation and Parole or are otherwise court-ordered to earn a GED.

2.      Family Education – The LCSC Family Education Program has worked closely with DOC in Region II to provide parenting and family-based education to inmates at NICI and ICIO for about six years.  For several of those years, the FEP contributed funding toward an instructor’s salary at ICIO.  Current involvement now includes curriculum assistance, reading book distributions to inmates and their children, and professional development support.  In FY2003, the FEP distributed 255 books to inmates and their families and 100 books to the lending libraries at NICI and ICIO.

3.      The Center for New Directions – The CND offers an evening Anger Management course which is available to the community, presented on a monthly basis.  It originally evolved to meet the need for Probation and Parole to have a place to send their clients who were dealing with anger control problems.  Most referrals to this sequence of classes still come from Idaho State Probation and Parole.  Participants pay a $10 registration fee which covers all three class sessions.

 

Other Projects

 

1.      Offender Workforce Development Training – Jim McCracken, a vocational counselor in the LCSC Center for New Directions is part of a regional team that Idaho recently sent for training in the field of offender workforce development.  Other team members were from Probation and Parole and Job Service.  The team made three, week-long trips to Kansas City for training.  All travel and training costs were paid for by the National Institute of Corrections.  An article about this project from the recent Idaho Career Guidance Newsletter is attached.

2.      Workshops and Training – Whenever classes or other professional development opportunities are made available to LCSC Learning Services staff, not only are the LCSC employees who work within the Department of Correction invited, but so are their colleagues who are employed by DOC.  In the past, this has included training in the delivery of basic education to adults in such areas as math and reading, sponsored by LCSC’s Adult Basic Education program.  In 2001, the Family Education Program worked with ICIO and NICI to provide training at LCSC for implementing the Parenting With Dignity curriculum in correctional facilities around the state.  Approximately 80 people from around the Northwest were in attendance.  Later this month, First Aid/CPR training is being provided for all Learning Services staff.  I anticipate having several staff members from NICI and ICIO in attendance.

 

 

Meeting Adjourned

The next President's Council will be on Wednesday, December 17, at 9:00 a.m., in the Alumni Board Room.