Vice President and Chief Business Officer Maderia Ellison addressed the Navajo County Community College Governing Board last week reminding the board of a $3 increase per credit hour for fiscal year 2023. “The tuition rate has already been set for the year as we approve it on a three-year cycle. This is the last year of one of our cycles. Fiscal year 2024 will be the first opportunity for the board to make any changes. That said, we know enrollment revenues will see a decrease of at least $100,000 in 2023.”
The introductory budget analysis she gave then focused on the general fund. She said, “State appropriations make up about 30% of our overall revenue streams. We expect we are going to be about $258,000 higher than we were in the current fiscal year of 2022. That is largely related to equalization, which is the amounts provided by the government to community college districts with property tax bases that are less than the minimum assessed value for their rural district.”
A highlight of the meeting was a presentation by Art Faculty member Magda Gluszek. She spoke on the recently held juried art exhibition at the Talon Gallery, located on the White Mountain Campus in Show Low.
“This show is juried by an outside artist,” she said, “and this year we were able to have Shasta Krueger, a ceramic artist as our juror and presenter.”
Krueger named Jodie Moses as the first place winner for her quilt titled ‘Two Grey Hills.’ The second place artist was Tammy Keen for a ceramic sculpture titled, ‘Goliath,’ and Jarom Lewis placed third for a watercolor piece titled, ‘Far From Home.’
Gluszek also invited community members to participate in a ceramic pit fire event to be held at the Holbrook campus on March 25.
The event, led by Navajo artist Adrian Herder will focus on the traditional process of pit firing wherein a hole is dug and the ceramics are placed in it, then covered in slow burning materials. Traditionally, according to Gluszek, some of those materials include juniper wood and cow dung.
Participants can pick up clay from any NPC campus or center, form their art work and then return to Holbrook for the event on March 25.
NPC President Dr. Chato Hazlebaker also gave a report. In it, he updated the governing board on strategic initiatives outlined in the January board meeting.
He explained, “One of our first initiatives was to improve intake and onboarding for students. We need to lower the barriers to students starting or returning to college. To where if someone in the community wants to engage with the college, that’s as easy as possible. We want them to be able to sign up easily for classes, pay for classes easily and have a student-centric experience.”
He added the need to document roles and processes for onboarding as well and to develop location based financial aid models.
All, according to Hazelbaker, are to ensure a more streamlined process with fewer points of contact. “We know what it’s like when you walk in to a business and they take you from person to person. We can get lost, and in many cases, we give up. You will have a go-to person who is being proactive and is contacting you to follow up.”
The location-based financial aid model will be helpful, as Hazelbaker said, in that, “if you walk into the center or campus Kayenta or Whiteriver or wherever, you have access to a financial aid employee. Right now, you have to drive to the Holbrook campus to meet with the financial aid department. This is going to be really positive for our students.”
Also prioritized in the plan is reconstruction of the advising department. Hazlebaker said, “When you went to college, you probably had a piece of paper that told you what classes you needed to graduate with that particular degree. To a point, that is what we plan to do again. Part of it is making sure that every one of our programs has a map and making sure that not only do you know what degree that you can get out of those classes, but you will also know what potential jobs may come out of that degree. We will also let students know where they can take their class and how long the degree is going to take to complete.”
This will also include a potential expansion of the advisory department with more advisors available at each location.
In the same vein, the college is poised to complete a redesign administration office of the Little Colorado Campus in Winslow. This will allow students to get information quickly and efficiently to accomplish the “one stop shop” strategic initiative.
Another point addressed during the President’s report was the filling of cabinet positions. Currently, openings for the Associate Vice President of Human Relations and Chief Information Officer are open. Hazlebaker will be performing interviews for those positions this week.
In other business, the governing board:
* Received the financial report for July 1 to Dec. 31, 2021. In it, Ellison reported $4.7 million in the cash budget and a sound property tax levy, in line with the previous five years.
* Approved modifications to the computer information systems programs by replacing lower-level courses with updated and more comprehensive courses. Technology and computer information is a rapidly changing field that needs instructional updates regularly.
* Adopted the fiscal year 2020-21 expenditure limitation report.
* Approved an adjustment to the fiscal year 2021 adopted budget. The adjustment is a routine accounting procedure to reflect line items in the budget. The budget remains balanced.
The next meeting of the Navajo County Community College Governing Board will be held at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, March 15, both virtually and at the NPC Painted Desert Campus Tiponi Community Center, located at 2251 E. Navajo Blvd.
