The NCK Tech Board of Trustees met on Monday evening, July 31 on campus in Beloit. Jim Johnson was re-elected as the board president with Carolyn Finney as the vice-president. The board then approved a lengthy consent agenda including minutes of the previous meeting, the board’s meeting calendar, other officers, room rental rates, the nursing lease for the Hays campus and two resignations.
Those were from Patricia Drees, Nursing Instructor at Hays and Sharon Allphin, Admissions Counselor at Beloit.
Dean of Instructional Services Corey Isbell discussed upcoming welcome back activities scheduled for next week. He also discussed a Student Observation System (SOS) which is an early alert system for student issues. Isbell explained the program’s purpose to identify student issues in several areas and work to assist them in order to to help improve student retention rates.
Isbell also said their Perkins grant received full approval, and they are free to start spending the funds. Several instructors have traveled to professional development events this summer to help enrich their classroom instruction.
Dean of Student Services Angel Prescott presented an enrollment report showing 493 accepted students for the 2017-18 school year which is down from 507 last year. They also have 28 high school students enrolled in college credit courses as well.
Prescott also covered upcoming student events and activities corresponding with the start of the new school year including orientations. She also discussed sweeping marketing efforts to promote the school and encourage enrollment both by way of travel to key recruiting events and online solicitation. She also said they are promoting and interviewing candidates for the open admissions counselor position in Beloit.
Dean of Administrative Services Brandi Zimmer expressed her appreciation for all the efforts to help with fiscal year changeover. She also reported on their annual financial audit which took place July 18-20. A computer lab update has been completed on both campuses. She also said maintenance projects such as new siding on Dorm 4 and internal dorm repairs, painting and also remodeling of the old Bricklaying classroom and several door replacements have been completed.
NCK Tech President Eric Burks said that money available from last year intended for the installing of additional security cameras was carried forward into the current year budget as it was not realistic time-wise to complete such a project before the new fiscal year. A student security fee which was charged last year and will be again this year will finance the project. Burks also said he and Kelly Roberts spent a great deal of time reviewing NCK Tech policies for students and staff.
He also said the faculty association voted to accept the board’s offer of a $500 raise and a $1000 one-time bonus for full-time employees. The board approved that measure later in the meeting.
Burks also talked about the group Bike Beyond group who is biking from New York to San Francisco to raise awareness of Type 1 Diabetes. There were 19 in the group, all who have Type 1 diabetes themselves. They slept on mattresses in the Wellness Center gym the night of July 10th. As of Tuesday this week the group was just starting into the state of Nevada.
Burks also reported that John Cyr and himself met with Wally Meyer of the KU School of Business. Meyer operates the Red-Tire program which is a succession planning program for professional areas such as law, pharmacy, and others.
“Ultimately it is a match making service between business owners looking to sell their business and up-and-comers who want to open their own business. The program has received national recognition and awards for being the only one of its kind. They are wanting to expand the program to include technical areas that we teach,” Burks said.
Dean Zimmer then presented and reviewed the financial report which was approved by the board. The group then approved the policy, student and faculty handbook changes as well as the academic catalogue of available courses.
The next meeting of the NCK Tech Board of Regents is scheduled for Monday, August 28 at 6:30 p.m. on the NCK Tech Hays Campus.
