HOLYOKE COMMUNITY COLLEGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES SUMMARY
The June 2014 minutes, the personnel actions and the motion to allow the President to approve all
personnel actions were approved. The Work Area/Department Chair document was approved as
submitted. In addition the board Chair introduced Lucien Dalton as the new student trustee.
In a report by the Presidential Evaluation Committee this year the evaluation will be more
comprehensive than past years and would include faculty, staff and student input. Over 100 e-mails
have been sent out to campus. The final report will be sent to the Board of Higher Education after the
September Board of Trustees meeting.
The Presidents report included:
1. Enrollment Update – We currently are seeing a 5% decline in enrollment. New student
enrollment is about even with last year. In May our graduate numbers were up about 15%. This
reflects the big increase in enrollment we saw a few years ago. Final enrollment numbers will
be available for the October meeting.
2. Online Enrollment: On line enrollment is up about 15%.
3. New Marketing Campaign: We are working with a new marketing firm to get a better sense of
our marketplace. We are developing a new ad campaign using the marketing firms ideas and
our own graphic design people. We are moving from print to a wider range of advertising media
to including several social media platforms.
4. Culinary & Hospitality: The President informed the board that the college is currently exploring
the possibility of moving the culinary/hospitality program to downtown Holyoke. Discussions
have been held with the owners of a series of buildings on Race Street regarding the possibility
of housing both the credit and non-credit culinary/hospitality programs in buildings they are
currently renovating. A proposal has been submitted to the state to support this undertaking.
More information regarding the feasibility of this effort should be coming in the near future.
5. Charter School Update – Paulo Friere Social Justice Charter School is a new charter High school
that has been operating for the past year in Holyoke. It is in need of a permanent home, and
has approached the college concerning the possibility of having a facility built for it on college
Foundation land contagious to the campus. The charter school has partnered with an area
developer who has expressed an interest in building such a facility. The matter is currently in
the hands of the charter school board to make a decision how they would like to proceed. If the
charter school board determine they would like to formally proceed with this matter, both the
HCC Board of Trustees and the college Foundation will need to make a determination in regard
to this initiative.
6. Access Road Update: The new campus access road to Route 202 is largely complete. Hopefully,
the final touches on the road which need approval by the MA Department of Transportation and
the Holyoke Planning Board will be complete within the next month.
7. TWO update: Our partnership with TWO is growing through several training initiatives. With
funding from the MA Competitive Partnership, Mass Mutual and Smith and Wesson a new
machinist training program is being offered at STCC and will soon begin at Dean Tech. TWO
hosted three training sessions and will be offering a fourth concering customer service call
center training
8. Financial Success Center – this effort will be ready to go on October 15. This effort will initially
target STRIVE and ABE students. The focus is to simplify the process for accessing state benefits
that will allow students at risk to stay in school.
9. Sustainability: Kate Maliotesi presented info on the Sustainability Studies program at HCC Our
program received a second grant of $800,000 from the National Science Foundation to aid in
funding this effort. This grant money will be used to support faculty and program development
as well as equipment purchases. We are collaborating with UMass-Amherst and Hampshire
College. This will create a pathway for our students to advance to other colleges.
08/27/2014