GRAYS HARBOR COLLEGE
Aberdeen, Washington
Board of Trustees’ Retreat
April 14, 2015
Members Present:
Mr. Art Blauvelt, Dr. Harry Carthum, Ms. Rebecca Chaffee,
Ms. Denise Portmann, Ms. Fawn Sharp
Members Absent:
None
Others Present:
Ms. Kristy Anderson, Dr. Ed Brewster, Mr. Matt Edwards,
Mr. Jason Hoseney, Mr. Darin Jones, Ms. Sandy Lloyd,
Ms. Barbara McCullough, Mr. Keith Penner, Ms. Sandy Zelasko
Ms. Chaffee called the meeting to order. Ms. Sharp participated by phone.
Dr. Brewster stated the purpose of the meeting was to present the state of the college. He said that the
Board would be provided Student Success information and data as well as an update on the college’s
planning efforts. He further explained that this retreat was an opportunity for Board Members to
have discussion, ask questions, and provide input. He introduced Ms. Kristy Anderson and Mr. Matt
Edwards who provided and presented the information.
1. The Student Achievement Initiative
Ms. Anderson presented an overview of SAI. She explained how colleges earn SAI points, how
the State Board uses that data to incentivize colleges and how it impacts our funding. The State
Board keeps a database that measures how many points each student and each college in the
system earns each year. Based on our 2013-14 points, we received $108,514.00. Dr. Brewster
said that total points and completion points favor larger colleges. Points per student favor smaller
colleges. In the future it is anticipated funding resulting from SAI points will increase and become
a larger portion of our budget. The College’s strengths related to Student Achievement include
first year success milestones such as 15 college-level credits, pre-college math and English, and
Basic Education. Additionally, the percentage of GHC Students earning the quantitative reasoning
point each year is above the system average. Opportunities include second year retention and
completion as well as increasing enrollment. There was discussion regarding retention and
completion and efforts to increase enrollment. Dr. Carthum asked how the demographics in our
community match our student population. Dr. Brewster responded we match our Hispanic
population but other ethnicities are so small it is difficult to assess. A large percentage of our
Hispanic students are enrolled in ESL and basic education. Gender wise we are 58 – 60% female
and 40 – 42% male.
2. Institutional Planning and Assessment
Ms. Anderson said institutional planning and assessment sets the direction for the college, is
required by accreditation, and focuses all efforts on student success. Ms. Sharp asked to what
extent does accomplishing our goals weigh into accreditation? Ms. Anderson responded that
accreditation is interested in knowing that an institution has clear goals leading to mission
achievement and that it continues to assess and evaluate progress toward stated goals. It is
important to show that we are continuously measuring and making improvements that lead to
student success and institutional effectiveness.
Ms. Anderson next reviewed the college’s mission and core themes. We have four core themes:
transfer, workforce, basic skills and service to community. She noted that the college establishes
objectives for each of the core themes and identifies indicators of achievement that are the basis
for evaluating accomplishment of the objectives of each theme. There are objectives for each
core theme and each objective has several indicators. Data for each core theme was reviewed.
From the data the following strengths and opportunities have been identified:
Strengths:
• Developmental Education Students are completing pre-college math and
English at rates higher than the system average
• Transfer & Workforce Students are completing pre-college and college level
math in the same year.
• Overall, students are completing college-level math at rates higher than the
system average
Opportunities:
• Increase transitions from pre-college to college-level English for all students
• Help Workforce Students achieve 45 College-Level Credits
• Increase Basic Skills Students retention and achievement beyond Basic Skills.
3. Optimization Plan
Ms. Anderson explained the Optimization Plan is a specific set of objectives that the college is
focused on whose goal is to enhance the student experience and our institutional effectiveness.
For the current planning cycle, the five focus areas are instruction, entry services, technology,
institutional effectiveness and communications. Dr. Brewster stated developing the Optimization
Plan was a result of efforts to increase enrollment, noting that one of the recommendations from
the accreditation team a year ago was to develop a robust set of measures and use those for
decision-making. Dr. Brewster stated our Optimization Plan serves as our Strategic Plan. Dr.
Brewster credited Ms. Anderson for her leadership in putting the plan together, holding people
accountable, and providing data support to each focus area.
4. Discussion
• Board members thanked Ms. Anderson for the informative presentation. Ms. Chaffee asked
if Board members believed they were making the best use of their time at Board meetings,
adding that she would like more time for in-depth meaningful discussions.
•
Dr. Carthum stated he would like more Board discussion about the recent focus on poverty.
Dr. Brewster responded we have two employees who have agreed to facilitate the next
discussion with the goal of mapping out some strategies.
•
Mr. Blauvelt asked how do we increase the numbers of local area students? He suggested
sending articles to the Daily World that feature student success. Dr. Brewster responded that
the college’s Public Relations Director, Ms. Goldberg, sends stories that feature our students
and programs on a regular basis, but the newspaper decides what they do and don’t print.
•
Ms. Chaffee asked about our goals for community education classes. Dr. Brewster stated we
are in the process of developing more community service classes and customized training for
industry. Ms. Chaffee suggested inviting the person who directs our community service
offerings to a future Board meeting.
_________________________
Edward J. Brewster, Secretary
________________________
Rebecca Chaffee, Chair