Minutes of the
College Council Meeting
September 9, 2011
College Council met at 12:45 PM on Friday, September 9, 2011, at the Webb City Campus.
Present were: Alan Marble, Cyndi Adamson, Peter Broglio, Cindy Brown, D’Ann Dennis, Ron
Granger, Mickie Mahan, Gale Marsh, Martha Nimmo, Amy Rand, Ken Rhuems, Jim Riggs,
Herb Schade, Angela Seymour, Tiffany Slinkard, Nicole Striegel, and Donna Thomas.
Public Information/Announcements
Cindy Brown reported there will be a reception for guest artist, Tobias Flores, whose sculptures
are on display in the Longwell Museum. The reception will be held Thursday, Sept. 15th at 5:00
PM in the EPCC Auditorium. Toby will be making “hot glue” sculptures during the reception and
giving them to attendees. She also reminded members of the free 9/11 Memorial event sponsored
by Dr. Bible and the Choirs for this Sunday, September 11, 2011, at 7:00 AM at the Tatum Bell
Tower. The event is expected to last about an hour and will be moved to the Wight Conference
Center in case of rain.
Outstanding Service Award Nomination
Congratulations to Brett Smithson, History Instructor, who was awarded the Outstanding Service
Award this month for serving as a volunteer instructor for the past few years for Computer and
Computer Apps at the Senior Center in Neosho. We appreciate that he has continued this service
during his own free time in a quiet manner without publicity or compensation. His volunteering
spirit within the community serves as a true example of servant leadership in action and is
exactly what we want to accomplish as part of our mission.
Suggestion Box Item
One suggestion was received from an employee regarding the restroom situation at the Webb
City campus. She said “they are too small with not enough stool space for the number of students
needing to use them between classes” and specifically requested replacing the toilet seat lids in
the women’s restrooms to allow flushing without putting the lids down first. Members fully
agreed with her complaint. Dr. Marble said this further confirms the need for a new Crowder
facility in Webb City. Ron Granger said we have hesitated to put a lot of money into this facility
because of plans to move in the future, but some things have to be done such as roof repairs that
recently took $78,000. He agreed to have the toilet lids replaced as requested whenever
maintenance has a chance to do that. Gale Marsh will notify the employee of the decision.
Amnesty and Good Samaritan
Dr. Nicole Striegel provided a handout showing drafts of a ‘Medical Amnesty Policy’ and a
‘Good Samaritan Policy’ saying in her meetings with other CSAO’s many schools have begun
adopting these policies due to the number of alcohol and/or drug-related incidents on their
campuses. She said there have been incidents in which students have overdosed on alcohol at
parties and died, and even suicide ‘pacts’ where several students agree to take their own lives at
the same time. She said we have not had any of these incidents here, thankfully, but she
recommends adopting these policies in case something should happen. Dr. Striegel announced
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we have hired a full-time counselor who starts September 30th who will typically meet with a
student up to three times before referring them to an outside service. Dr. Marble asked if the
counselor would travel to the branch campuses. Dr. Striegel said not on a regular basis, but as
needed when requested by the campus directors. She said the Medical Amnesty Policy allows a
student who needs medical assistance for an alcohol or other drug-related emergency to not face
disciplinary action from the College for the possession of alcohol or drugs “if they contact the
police, College security or the Campus Life Coordinator for help.” The student is required to
receive counseling assistance within five days of the isolated incident. Dr. Striegel said the Good
Samaritan Policy encourages students or student organizations to seek medical attention and
amnesty for another student in danger without facing disciplinary action themselves for the
possession or use of drugs or alcohol if these individuals or representatives “contact the police,
College security or the Campus Life Coordinator.” Dr. Striegel emphasized that we are required
by law to notify the police of any such incidents involving alcohol or illegal drugs and this would
not affect the criminal/police action that may still occur separately from the College. Dr. Marble
asked if these policies would be in effect for incidents that take place off campus property. Dr.
Striegel said they would not; they are only for on-campus incidents. It was noted that we should
consider how far around the campus perimeter we are responsible for, especially at the branch
campuses. Dr. Marble asked if the policies could possibly be used in a bad way by students
wanting to get other students in trouble. Dr. Striegel said they are generally considered
preventive since they encourage students to ‘rat-out’ students in bad situations. Dr. Marble asked
members to think about all the possibilities and to consider this as a ‘first reading’ to bring back
again next month. He said we should make sure these do not go against Board policy before fully
ratifying and make sure legal counsel has approved the wording. Dr. Striegel said this wording
was taken from other colleges who already have the policies in place. She agreed to check on
how often the policies have actually been used by other colleges, at least those on her committee
before next month.
Enrollment Update
Jim Riggs reported our enrollment numbers seem to be leveling off somewhat although our FTE
and headcount are still up from last year and looking good. He said dual credit students are still
not completely enrolled so the numbers will be rising a little more as well. Jim thanked the
branch campus directors for their leadership saying the branch campus numbers are doing great!
Dr. Striegel said we need to focus on retention between now and Count Day to keep the students
here as much as possible. Dr. Marble asked members to focus more on FTE than headcount
when referring to increases. Jim said he will continue to improve the number of dual credit
students being assisted in our service area.
College Name on Memorabilia
Gale Marsh reported there were some complaints about associating the Crowder College name
with 9/11 on the Memorial event t-shirts and some felt it was inappropriate due to the fact that it
refers to a terrorist act that led the country to war. She said there is currently not any approval
process for when it is appropriate to use the Crowder College name and when not. Dr. Marble
said he did not feel this instance was inappropriate, but the Crowder name is not currently
trademarked, so some mechanism is needed to avoid it being placed on items that may be
objectionable. Tif Slinkard said Campus Life currently approves any flyers put up around
campus and she thought the Public Relations office took care of approving these types of things
in the past. Dr. Marble said that may have been the case in the past, but not currently. Cyndi
Adamson asked if the college’s legal counsel could draft a document outlining what types of
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things would be allowed. Dr. Marble said the patent attorney, Peggy Millikin, is working on
having the Crowder College name trademarked in the future, but it will take time. In the
meantime, he asked if it would be ok for Cindy Brown in Public Relations to approve all uses of
the name. Members agreed that would be adequate for now on the condition that she would
speak to administration regarding anything controversial. One member asked if this would
include t-shirts ordered by the Bookstore and if we would be developing a unified logo for the
whole college including the name as well as other ‘roughrider’ images. Dr. Marble agreed that
Bookstore items should be reviewed before ordering; however, we will mainly focus on the
name for now.
Credit by Exam
Ken Rhuems reported he has been working with a committee that met twice to develop a plan for
CCTEC students to earn college credit to take the place of Tech Prep that is no longer allowed.
He provided a handout with instructions on the front and the application form on the back for
‘Career and Technical Education Credit by Exam’ courses. Ken said the committee felt credit
should only be allowed for technical classes in which a Technical Skills Assessment (TSA) test
is available from the state. A student could earn up to 12 credit hours of 100 level courses at a
cost of $50 per course while they are in high school through the CTE Credit by Exam process
(similar to alternative learning). Then student(s) must earn at least 12 hours from Crowder in
order for the Credit by Exam course(s) to be placed on their transcript, and the Credit by Exam
course(s) may be used as requisites before the 12 Crowder credits are earned. Ken said students
will have up to two years after high school graduation to apply the credits. Ken reported other
criteria include a 90% or better attendance record in high school and a ‘B’ or better in any career
and technical education classes. Discussion took place regarding the proposal. Amy Rand said
this would only be for programs that have Technical Skills Assessment tests already available for
them. Members felt the ‘B’ requirement should specify ‘B- or better’ to be more specific for high
schools that allow that distinction and a list of courses should be included with the application
form so students can easily see what courses could be earned with the CTE Credit by Exam
process. Ken agreed to make those changes and members generally agreed to allow this new
procedure for TEC students. Ken thanked the group saying some other TEC directors in the area
have approved this process as well to provide an alternative to Tech Prep for their students.
Proofreading Team
Dr. Marble said it is really difficult to proofread your own work and most people cannot do it
well. He said it has come to his attention from various individuals that Crowder publications
have been widely disseminated with typos and grammatical errors, and a few with many of them!
He passed around some items with marked typos so members could see the problem. Dr. Marble
said he would like it mandatory for publications to be proofread by a campus-wide group that
have not developed the items themselves. Dr. Marble noted it is not the Print Shop’s job to proof
items that come to them for printing. He said this is simply an effort to make fewer mistakes
(knowing we will be unable to catch everything), but to strive for excellence, because ultimately,
we are judged by what goes out from the college including publications and sometimes even
emails to students and parents. Dr. Marble asked for discussion and approval to start a
proofreading committee. Members agreed this could be a huge job that could take considerable
time away from regular duties. Dr. Schade said he has spoken with the Communications division
chair about the possibility and their faculty are already very busy. Dr. Marble said some overload
pay may be needed for those most involved, and other staff may need to be on the committee as
well. He emphasized that for this to work well those developing the publications must plan ahead
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and allow time for the committee to do their job as well as time for printing. It was noted some
definition should be made of what would have to go to the committee, i.e. how many items
printed or who they are being sent to, etc. Angela said they should not be proofed until after a
final copy is printed to make sure the printing process takes place correctly. Dr. Marble asked for
volunteers to contact him if interested in serving on the proofreading committee and he will
bring this item back for an update at the next meeting.
BSN (Bachelors of Science in Nursing)
Dr. Marble said although this was not on the agenda, he wanted to report on a recent CBHE
meeting where it became apparent the BSN degree is likely to be required of nurses in the near
future. He said one study shows that BSN graduates have a lower patient mortality rate and ADN
nurses have more ‘failure to rescue’ than their BSN counterparts. Because of this, CBHE is
considering requiring 80% of nurses to have their BSN by 2020. D’Ann Dennis strongly opposed
this saying the one study is inaccurate and more evidence should be gathered. Dr. Marble said
there are not enough nursing schools to graduate the number of BSN’s that would be required so
community colleges should consider providing this degree. D’Ann said the main difficulty would
be that by national nursing requirements, BSN program directors must have a Ph.D. and those
teaching the classes must have masters’ degrees. Dr. Marble said the larger St. Louis and Kansas
City area hospitals are also supportive of this change so we should be proactive and consider
how Crowder College might be able to meet this challenge in the future.
Performance Funding
Dr. Marble provided the same handout from last month with the suggested key performance
indicators (KPIs) saying the Governor’s office has indicated that any funding increase will likely
be tied to Performance Funding. He said there still needs to be work done to make sure there is a
common meaning of the KPIs among community colleges and with the Governor’s office. He
said whether the completion rate should include transfers to only four-year schools and what
courses are considered ‘developmental’ need universal definitions. Dr. Marble reviewed how
Crowder’s data compares to the other community colleges in various areas of the KPIs. He said
there is still discord among the CAOs about whether 100 level math courses should be
considered developmental or college level while the English courses are more easily defined. Dr.
Marble provided some new Crowder data from Mickie Mahan and said there are definitely areas
where Crowder needs to improve including our completion rate. He said the numbers show a
great many students are not being retained from one year to the next or from one semester to the
next. Tif agreed saying it would be good to find out why we lose so many early in the semester
within their first year. Dr. Marble said we should work on improving our numbers, not just for
Performance Funding but because it is the right thing to do for our students. Dr. Schade asked if
there is discussion of new funds being available or if Performance Funding will only affect the
amount of budget cuts, as initially believed. Dr. Marble said the state is looking to the future with
optimism about some new funding, but we should be ready for whatever comes from the State.
He said we should continue to define our own performance standards because it is what is best
for our students.
Round-the-Horn
Amy Rand announced we will be offering a couple of courses in Mt. Vernon this spring thanks
to the good work of Heidi Gilligan who is serving as Service Region Coordinator for that area.
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Dr. Marble noted he has shifted the branch campuses to be under the VP for Academic Affairs
instead of under the VP for Finance in an effort to lighten the work load for that position. He said
the VP for Finance position will be opened and seeking applicants very soon.
Tif Slinkard provided a report on the GED (AEL) program. She said a five-year audit of the
program will be done in Spring 2012, but the state requires data which is very good thanks to the
work of Chris McRoberts. She provided the AEL Performance Report for members to review.
Tif also provided performance data on EOC which is a TRIO program that provides basic
services to adults who want to get a degree. She announced they advised 578 college-ready
adults last year and 500 of those came to Crowder as a result (or 87%)!
D’Ann Dennis said she recently met with grants personnel to discuss ways to better market the
various new grant-supported health programs we offer now such as Allied Health and OTA.
Mickie Mahan reported she has been working to complete the EMSI economic impact study that
we are doing in conjunction with Missouri community colleges through MCCA. She thanked
everyone who has helped to provide data for the EMSI study. She also reported that she hopes to
work with division chairs to develop a way for the TSA’s (Technical Skills Assessment) results
to be stored in JZ in the future so they can be easily pulled out each year for Perkins reporting.
Dr. Herb Schade thanked Mickie for her help in getting all the data in order to meet the Gainful
Employment deadline of October 1st.
Dr. Peter Broglio announced the PTK Induction Ceremony will be on October 2nd at 2:00 PM in
the Wright Conference Center.
Angela Seymour reported classes will take place this fall in Monett at the AEL classroom and lab
site as well as at the SWACC site. She said enrollment and staffing appear to be good. She asked
about the possibility of some type of short-course for over the holidays.
Dr. Marble reported he is having physical therapy (PT) on his neck in an effort to delay surgery
for a pinched nerve. He has also been called to jury duty, and he could be called to serve anytime
within the next three months!
A working lunch was held during the meeting and, with no further business, the meeting
adjourned at about 3:15 PM.