Athens Technical College
Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
Athens, GA
April 19, 2011
10:30 A.M.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Ms. Patricia Barron
Mr. Bill Cabaniss
Mr. Vince Dooley
Mr. Don Fortson, Chair
Mr. Ed Geddings
Mr. Scott Hardigree
Dr. Mixon Robinson
Ms. Carol Williams
Ms. Pet Williams
MEMBERS ABSENT
Mr. Fred Boatwright
Mr. Terry Chandler
Mr. Stephen Felker
GUESTS
Mr. Leo Barron, 2011 Skills USA College and State Winner
Ms. Beth Crowley, 2011 Athens Technical College GOAL Winner
Mr. Glenn Henry, 2011 Athens Technical College Rick Perkins Award Winner
CALL TO ORDER/WELCOME
Chair Don Fortson called the meeting to order at 10:30 a.m. welcoming everyone
to the April Board Meeting. Chair Fortson welcomed Mr. Frank Christa, Local
Board Member Emeritus, to the meeting.
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
Yancey Gulley introduced the first guest for the April meeting, Mr. Leo Barron, who
is the 2011 Skills USA winner for the college and the state. Mr. Barron is in the
Architectural Drafting Program and is the current President of our Skills USA
Chapter. He will represent the college and state at the national competition. Skills
USA is a national organization that works with vocational students in competitions
in different fields of study.
Mr. Gulley introduced the second guest for the April meeting, Topic: “2011 GOAL
Winner, Beth Crowley, Physical Therapist Assistant Program.” Ms. Crowley is the
2011 college GOAL winner. She represented us at the regional competition and
will be going to Atlanta in May for the state competition. While at the GOAL
conference in Atlanta she will have leadership training and development work.
Ms. Crowley presented her GOAL speech. She was previously a high school
teacher and decided she wanted a career in the medical field. She is currently
enrolled in the Physical Therapist Assistant Program.
Dr. Joyce Sansing introduced the third guest for the April meeting, Topic: “2011
Rick Perkins Award Winner, Glenn Henry, Program Chair, EMT and Paramedic
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Technology Programs.” Mr. Henry is the 2011 college winner of the Rick Perkins
Award and will represent us in May at the state competition in Atlanta. He became
the Program Chair for the EMT and Paramedic Technology Programs four years
ago and has been working in the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) for
thirty-two years. Previously he worked as a paramedic, EMS lieutenant and
transport manager for Children’s Healthcare in Atlanta.
Mr. Henry presented his Rick Perkins speech. He is certified as an EMT and
Paramedic. Before becoming a full time employee, he worked part time for the
college in the EMT Program for nineteen years.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Chair Fortson called for approval of the March minutes for the Local Board. After
reviewing, there were no changes. Scott Hardigree made a motion to approve the
minutes and Ed Geddings seconded the motion with the remainder of the board in
agreement. The minutes were approved.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT SERVICES
Mr. Jerry Barrow updated the board on Economic Development Services. Orchard
Brands, a call center in Athens, has closed its location here and is relocating to
another state. Baldor, formerly Reliance, is hiring part time employees. The
company makes electric motors.
Mr. Barrow invited the board members to attend the Manufacturing Appreciation
Luncheon in Atlanta on Thursday. State cars are available for anyone who wants
to carpool. He also has maps available for anyone who wants to attend but cannot
carpool.
FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION
Ms. Thomas presented the Budget Amendments. There are two amendments this
month from TCSG. One amendment is an adjustment by the state for the state
health care plan. The second amendment is matching grant funds. Ms. Thomas
asked the board for approval of the Budget Amendments. Patricia Barron made a
motion to approve the Budget Amendments and Vince Dooley seconded the
motion with the remainder of the board in agreement. The Budget Amendments
were approved.
Ms. Thomas presented the Financial Report as of March 31, 2011. Local revenue
generated to date is $11,015,730 which is 111% of our anticipated revenue. Once
she makes the adjustment to the budget the 80% expended state and local funds
will drop to around 75% where it should be.
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There are remaining funds left from the 300 Building renovations and will be used
for renovations on the automotive building. Pre-bid meetings are taking place for
work on the automotive building.
OFF-CAMPUS OPERATIONS
Dr. Larry Siefferman updated the board on the Athens Tech Foundation. The
platinum donor wall in the Life Sciences Building, which expresses appreciate for
donors who gave $10,000 or more to the college, had nineteen names on it when
the building opened last year. Since that time an additional nine names have been
added. Those donors include: Grainger, Wells Fargo, Jerry Barrow, Reliance
(Baldor Electric), Dollar General Literacy Foundation, Noramco, Oglethorpe Power
Co., Walton EMC, and Johnson & Johnson.
The Office of Institutional Advancement is continuing to research donors with
cumulative lifetime donations. As research is completed, additional names will be
added to the platinum donor wall. The Foundation will also recognize donors at
the gold and silver levels on the new donor recognition kiosk the Foundation will
be purchasing. The last portion of research is focused on the cumulative lifetime
giving of local board members. Dr. Siefferman presented a handout to the board
members showing past and present board members and their years of service.
The Foundation Board of Trustees met last week and received an audit report.
The Foundation has approximately $2 million in net assets. The auditor
commented on how the Athens Tech Foundation is one of the strongest
Foundations in TCSG.
STUDENT AFFAIRS
Ms. Andrea Daniel updated the board on the Student Affairs Division. She invited
the board members to attend Spring Fling and Earth Day on Thursday.
Ms. Daniel invited the board members to attend graduation on June 9 th at the
Classic Center. The GED graduation will begin at 2:00 p.m. with guest speaker
Beverly Smith, TCSG Assistant Commissioner for Adult Education. The academic
graduation will begin at 7:00 p.m. with guest speaker Secretary of State Brian
Kemp.
Ms. Daniel thanked everyone who worked on Degree Works which is an advising
module that will help with the quarter to semester conversion. We are one of two
technical colleges already live with Degree Works. Ms. Daniel thanked Dr. Joyce
Sansing who met with every program chair to get input for Degree Works.
Ms. Daniel reported on our enrollment which is steady at around 4,060 students.
Enrollment includes 4,232 students at the main campus; 424 students at the Elbert
County campus; 357 students at the Walton County campus; 84 students at the
Greene County campus; and 959 online students.
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Ms. Daniel asked Lenzy Reid, Director of Admissions, to present on the selection
process for health care programs. Mr. Reid gave a brief overview of the selection
process and how competitive the health care programs are.
PRESIDENT'S REPORT
Dr. Tydings presented the President’s Report. Dr. Tydings passed out a handout
on the new HOPE changes for Fall Quarter. Tuition will go up July 1 st from $45
per credit hour to $50 per credit hour. We are working with students on the
changes and the impact they will have.
TCSG held a meeting in March to discuss offering federal loans to students. She
has decided not to offer federal loans at this time. We would be required to loan
students the total amount they are eligible for and most of our students are eligible
for $10,000 per year. The college would be responsible for the default rate if
students did not pay back their loans. If the default percentage rate goes over
30% the college is in jeopardy of losing its accreditation. We are going through
the application process so we will be eligible to issue federal loans in the future if
we choose to.
The 600 building renovations are complete and she is planning to have a small
reception. The 300 building renovations are underway and will add additional
classroom space, office areas, upgraded labs, and restrooms. Renovations are
being completed with money that was left over from the Life Sciences Building.
Pre-bid meetings are taking place this week for the Elberton dam repairs. The
repairs will fix a small leak that has been occurring for a period of time. The Core
of Engineers has looked at it and no one is in danger from the leak.
We have extra money from the Elbert Industrial and Technology Building which
will be used to build a new facilities and storage building on the Elbert County
Campus. Facilities will move to the new building and the Cosmetology Program
will move to the facilities old location. A Barbering program will be added. There
is a huge waiting list in Elberton for these two programs. The library will be
relocated to the Williford Building. We have a $60,000 commitment from the
Foundation.
Dr. Tydings thanked everyone for their work on the quarter to semester
conversion.
Dr. Tydings asked Dr. Dan Smith to comment on the Department of Labor grant he
has been working on. Dr. Smith informed board members that the grant is $20
million for the state and $8 million for us. The grant serves Trade Adjustment
Assistant (TAA) impacted workers and/or companies that have shut down and
sent jobs off shore. We are creating pathways to get these workers in and out as
quickly as possible so they can go back into the workforce. The grant will provide
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us with full time instructors, and achievement coaches. Athens Technical College
and one other college were the only ones recommended for the grant.
We received a stimulus grant to install sensors in classrooms and replace old
lightening fixtures to help lower electric cost. There is also money available
through the recommissioning project for repairs.
We have two board members, Don Fortson and Fred Boatwright, who roll off the
board in June. Larry Conn, who is head of NIBCO, will be our new board member
from Greene County and Rusty Adams, who is president of Star Granite, will be
our new board member from Elbert County.
She wants to have a small reception for past and current local board members to
see the changes and growth at the college.
She, along with four other faculty/staff members, will be traveling to Seattle
Washington in June to be indoctrinated into Achieving the Dream and participate
in training.
Dr. Tydings invited the board members to attend the Campus Wide Advisory
Committee Meeting on May 19th at 5:30 p.m. Hank Huckaby will be the guest
speaker.
Athens Technical College has been named in an Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) lawsuit involving the Sikes Oil explosion in Jackson County several years
ago. Anyone who used Sikes Oil for reclamation of their oil was named in the
lawsuit. The college used them to take away automotive oil. There is an EPA law
that states when there is a disaster of that magnitude the EPA has the right to
reclaim restitution for cleanup from anyone using the oil company’s services. We
received a letter last week that we could send a check for $750 to be held in
escrow for our part of the lawsuit. We will find out in the near future if the EPA will
accept this amount as settlement.
OTHER BUSINESS
Chair Fortson asked the board to vote on new officers for the upcoming year.
There have been two names placed in nomination, Patricia Barron for Chair and
Ed Geddings for Vice Chair. Chair Fortson asked the board for approval of the
new officers. Pet Williams made a motion to approve the officers and Carol
Williams seconded the motion with the remainder of the board in agreement.
Patricia Barron was approved as Chair and Ed Geddings was approved as Vice
Chair.
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ADJOURNMENT
Being no further business, Chair Fortson adjourned the meeting with appropriate
motion and second at 11:50 a.m.
_______________________________________
Flora W. Tydings, President
Rebecca Allen
Administrative Assistant
4/19/11
Next scheduled Board Meeting: May 17, 2011.
* Denotes action items that require a vote for approval by the local board.