During the Navajo County Community College Governing Board meeting held on Dec. 19 it was announced that the search for the new Northland Pioneer College president is in its final stages. The applicant pool grew to 33 by the time the application period was closed but the field has been narrowed to seven. Those seven semi-finalists will be interviewed on Jan. 11 and 12 with the final interview process occurring the week of Jan. 29. The names of those semi-finalists will not be made public.
Chief Business Officer Maderia Ellison reported that revenues are still down due to delays by the county in processing property taxes this year. Overall cash flow is at $1.2 million but last year at this point cash flow was at $2.5 million.
President of the Faculty Association Pat Lopez, reported that the Instructional Council Committee has been working on an academic probation policy that applies to all students. The current policy applies only to financial aid students. Another issue they have addressed is the move from placing students in classes based upon placement test scores to using the student’s high school GPA as the tool to decide class placement. This applies to students who have been in high school within the last five years. That system was implemented a year ago and has proven to be quite successful.
The board was also provided an update by President of the Student Government Association (SGA) Cuitlahuac Aguilar. Aguilar announced that the SGA collected 700 items in their recent food drive. The Silver Creek campus collected the most with 515 items collected there.
The SGA is also working on implementing a Professor of the Semester Award to recognize outstanding faculty. Aguilar reported that SGA Vice President Amanda Hatch proposed a scholarship that would apply to students who are 18-24 years old with a minimum 3.0 GPA and who are unable to apply for FAFSA (Federal Application for Student Aid) due to parental refusal to provide information. Those students would also need to live independently of their parents and/or be homeless.
The NPC Director of Marketing and Public Relations Ann Hess presented the board with the results of the recent student marketing survey. The survey showed that 687 students from all campuses and centers combined completed the survey. Some of the information discovered was that only 53 percent of those surveyed listen to the radio, 92 percent own a smart phone and 91 percent have unlimited texting plans. It was discovered that 50 percent own a tablet and students access the Internet most often at home or on their cell phone. This information will help the college improve its programs, technology, and communication with students.
NPC Vice President of Student Services Mark Vest reported that the college has been notified that an accreditation review team is set to visit in November of 2019. The last several months the Strategic Planning and Accreditation Steering Committee have been working on rough drafts of all five-criterion assurance argument responses. Those will be presented one at a time to the board over the coming months to work towards a polished draft. This will allow plenty of time to address any areas of weakness prior to the visit.
Accreditation is a process that recognizes the college meets or exceeds the standards and expectations established by the accreditation agency. The Higher Learning Commission in Chicago approves accreditation for NPC.
The meeting included a few announcements from the Executive Director of NPC Friends and Family Betsyann Wilson. The auction for the Navajo rug made by renowned artist Charlene Laughing ended on Dec.16 and raised $6,000 for the Pres Winslow Scholarship Fund. Wilson also announced that after submitting an application to the Smart Family Foundation nine months ago the college heard last week that they would be getting a significant donation from the foundation for the Pres Winslow Scholarship Fund. Wilson was excited to announce that $50,000 is slated to arrive before the end of the year.
