The Navajo County Community College Governing Board convened for a regular meeting Tuesday, April 21, during which Northland Pioneer College (NPC) President Dr. Von Lawson spoke on the college’s new 2025-2030 strategic plan. Dr. Lawson reviewed the institutional priorities in the plan, citing specific attention on community engagement, student success, financial stability and long-term strategic planning. Dr. Lawson spoke on the cohesion of the plan, stating “Across all areas there is a consistent emphasis on aligning our working with the college’s mission and established state statute and policies, while maintaining the flexibility needed to respond to changing conditions.” According to the strategic plan, the college’s mission is to provide educational excellence that is affordable and accessible for the enrichment of communities across northeastern Arizona. Integrity, adaptability, inclusion, civility and access are listed as the college’s shared values. For community engagement, Dr. Lawson explained the district is reviewing its involvement with local chambers, external organizations and public interactions. “Moving forward, participation will be more intentional, ensuring that these partnerships directly support recruitment, strengthen relationships and align with our strategic goals.”
The strategic plan’s section on financial development emphasizes maintaining flexibility amid constrained state resources and projected declines in grant funding. The emphasis on flexibility, according to Dr. Lawson, is to ensure funds go where they are most needed. “So that we can make targeted strategic investments where they have the greatest impact.”
Dr. Lawson also cited low graduation rates as being a large problem for the college. “Contributing factors include underutilized scholarships, financial and social barriers and limited advising capacity.” Expanded advising services, comprehensive reviews of underutilized scholarships and targeted support for students who are near program completion are part of the new student success initiatives aimed to abate the issue.
Another determinant to student retention and recruitment is housing. Dr. Lawson discussed potential remedies, stating “A proposal to convert a local hotel in Show Low into student housing is under active evaluation along with potential partnerships to expand capacity in Winslow.”
All these efforts are aimed to support the college’s strategic directions of student success and institutional efficiency. The board approved NPC’s 2025-2030 strategic plan following Dr. Lawson’s presentation.
Northland Pioneer College Friends & Family (NPCFF) Executive Director Jesse Reeck reported significant fundraising success during Arizona Gives Day, which was held on April 7. “We brought in $43,918 for scholarships at NPC. We didn’t quite hit our $50,000 goal, we were second in our mid-sized nonprofit category, but that is still a huge win.” Reeck added that all the money donated goes directly toward scholarships for NPC students. Janice Lucero and Bill Jeffers were noted for their efforts in raising funds, which allowed NPCFF to provide three Golden Eagle scholarships in Frank Lucero’s honor, a previous long standing board member who passed recently. “We also had a fair number of folks who donated in Tamara Osborne’s honor, so we’ll be providing one Golden Eagle scholarship in her name as well.” NPFF also saw good numbers in students applying for scholarships. There were 127 completed applications received for the college’s fall semester, a substantial jump from the previous fall semester’s 88 applications. “We’re just very excited about that, but it is also indictive of the need we have in our community.” While symptomatic of rising needs for students, Reeck noted that more students advocating for their needs through applying for scholarships is a good sign. Reeck also discussed new scholarship opportunities for students, including the Kickstart scholarship for those who enroll for the fall semester after the general application deadline. “The Kickstart scholarship is a smaller $500 award that is available to those students who have been away from NPC or this is their first time coming to NPC and they missed the general application window.” Updates on construction projects from Director of Facilities and Transportation Justin White show progress at the college’s Kayenta site, with permits finishing up and a physical groundbreaking commencing soon. “We will start actual construction here in the next couple weeks,” stated White. Enterprise Resource Planning Project Manager Colleen Marsh provided an update on its implementation in the district. A 2026-27 introductory budget analysis shared by Vice President for Administrative Services Maderia Ellison focused the college’s general fund. She also reviewed general assumptions as well as revenue assumptions. The board then approved the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026-27 preliminary operating budget as well as the FY 2027-29 preliminary capital budget following Ellison’s budget summary. The final budget will go before the board during their special meeting May 19. Once approved, preliminary budget can be reduced but not increased. The board entered into an executive session to discuss topics regarding the employment, assignment, promotion, salary, demotion, dismissal, disciplining or resignation of public officer. Following the executive session, Board Chair Robinson and Vice President of Human Resources Nicole Ulibarri were authorized to make the necessary changes that were discussed in the session to the president’s contract. Board Members Kristine Laughter and Porter Black were not in attendance for the meeting. During the meeting, the board: * Approved the 2026 Northern Arizona Vocational Institute of Technology Career and Technical Education intergovernmental agreement addendum. * Approved a 2026-2031 memorandum of agreement between NPC and United Way of Northern Arizona to offer NPC tuition waivers to KinderCamp participants for up to 60 credit hours. * Approved revisions to board policies 1007, 1009, 1010, 1107, 1110, 1138, 1315, 1527, 1560 and 1562. * Approved new policy 1023, which defines the process for filling a vacancy in the college presidency. This policy and its supporting procedure, codify the process used in the most recent search. * Approved changes to board fiscal policies 1903, 1920, 1921 and 1930. Several fiscal policies required updates to reflect current references, provide language consistent with other policies and elimination of one policy to be combined with another policy. * Adopted the 2028-2029 academic calendar. * Accepted $25,000 in funding from Northern Arizona’s Energy Future planning grant. The grant is directed at researching and identifying what training programs may be needed to train our local workforce for future energy related jobs in the region. No match is required. * Approved job order contract with CORE Construction in the amount of $725,370 to replace the HVAC units in the Performing Arts Center at the Snowflake campus. Cost for the equipment is $486,329 and will be expensed to this year’s budget. The cost for installation is $239,041 and will be completed next year and will be coming out of the budget for FY 2026-27. * Approved an increase in the design fees to be paid to SPS+ Architects in the amount of $190,772 for the Winslow Cosmetology program, and $176,810 for the Winslow Blunk Addition, for a grand total of $367,582 related to additional Civil Engineering of these projects at NPC’s request. * Approved an economic adjustment of 3% for all employees. Staff also request an additional amount of $350,000 to address compression and bring-to-minimum adjustments for all staff positions within the attached salary ranges.
