*********************************************
DISCLAIMER: THIS CART FILE WAS PRODUCED FOR COMMUNICATION
ACCESS AS AN ADA ACCOMMODATION AND MAY NOT BE 100% VERBATIM. THIS IS
A DRAFT FILE AND HAS NOT BEEN PROOFREAD. IT IS SCAN-EDITED ONLY, AS
PER CART INDUSTRY STANDARDS, AND MAY CONTAIN SOME PHONETICALLY
REPRESENTED WORDS, INCORRECT SPELLINGS, TRANSMISSION ERRORS, AND
STENOTYPE SYMBOLS OR NONSENSICAL WORDS. THIS IS NOT A LEGAL DOCUMENT
AND MAY CONTAIN COPYRIGHTED, PRIVILEGED OR CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.
THIS FILE SHALL NOT BE DISCLOSED IN ANY FORM (WRITTEN OR
ELECTRONIC) AS A VERBATIM TRANSCRIPT OR POSTED TO ANY WEBSITE OR
PUBLIC FORUM OR SHARED WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE
HIRING PARTY AND/OR THE CART PROVIDER. THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL
TRANSCRIPT AND SHOULD NOT BE RELIED UPON FOR PURPOSES OF VERBATIM
CITATION.
*********************************************
March 10, 2021 Governing Board...
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Good evening, and welcome to the Pima
Community College District March 10, 2021 regular Governing Board
meeting via Zoom. I'm going to call the meeting to order. First
item is the roll call.
Mr. Silvyn?
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Catherine Ripley?
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Here.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Demion Clinco?
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Here.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Maria Garcia?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Here.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Meredith Hay?
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: Here.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Luis Gonzales?
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: Here.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: All board members are present, Mr. Chair.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: The next item is our public comment and
call to the audience. We have a number of requests to speak this
evening. I'm going to just remind everyone the Pima Community
College Governing Board welcomes public comment on issues within the
jurisdiction of the college. Generally the total time for public
comment will be limited to 45 minutes, and comments will be limited
to 3 minutes per individual. These time limits may be modified by
the board or board chair.
Individuals sharing comments are expected to communicate with
decorum and respect. Individuals who engage in disorderly conduct or
use divisive or insulting language may have their time reduced or
concluded by the board chair.
At the conclusion of public comment, individual board members may
respond to criticism made by those who addressed the board, may ask
staff to review a matter, or ask that a matter be put on a future
agenda. Members of the board, however, may not discuss or take legal
action on matters raised during the public comment unless matters are
properly noticed for discussion and legal action.
Finally, be advised that internal college processes are available
to students and employees for communication.
Our first member of the audience this evening is Mary Esther
Rosales. Ms. Rosales? Is Ms. Rosales here?
Okay. We can try to come back to Ms. Rosales a little later.
Next is Matej Boguszak. Matej?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Oh, wow. What's going on?
>> MATEJ BOGUSZAK: Good evening, everyone. Yes, I'm here.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Looks like we have a note from Mary
Esther.
>> I had to mute Mary because of the feedback there.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Matej, are you there? We will start with
you and move next to Ms. Rosales and Amy Feldman.
>> MATEJ BOGUSZAK: Hello, everybody. Is that better?
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Yes.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: What's going on?
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Matej, we are going to move on to the next
person. Maybe we can go on to Mary Esther Rosales and try to come
back to you at the end. Ms. Rosales?
>> I believe the feedback is coming from Mary Esther and not from
Matej.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Let's move on to Amy Feldman.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: I think you can go back to Matej
because Matej was not the problem.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Matej?
>> MATEJ BOGUSZAK: Thank you, everybody. Good evening, Chair
Clinco, Chancellor Lambert, board members, colleagues and guests.
I'm Matej Boguszak. I teach mathematics here at Pima, and I serve as
president of PCCEA.
I want to sincerely thank everybody for all the work and
important discussions at the board meetings over the last couple of
months, the regular and study sessions, in this highly volatile but
hopeful year.
Mr. Clinco, thank you for challenging us to be bold, in your
words, and work harder to reach those students we have lost and have
yet to reach or can better serve to turn this enrollment problem of
ours around.
Ms. Ripley, your steadfast focus on community needs has been
clear and unmistakable from the start. Thank you for emphasizing
it's not just about the marketing but the product itself and
investing in the employees who recruit and retain and support our
students.
Ms. Garcia, thank you for being so engaged and looking out for
our students and asking many, many important questions for issues
with the registration process, for example, to various college
contracts. That's what oversight is all about.
Dr. Hay, you always keep us (indiscernible) and look out for
threats and we really appreciate that.
Mr. Gonzalez, you have been a vocal advocate for your
constituents and our students and have suggested various ways that
Pima can reach out for them.
We are truly on the same team here, all of us, trying to pull our
college and students through this difficult team, building a
foundation for the future. So also thank you, Chancellor Lambert,
for being such a champion for Pima throughout our community and
beyond. To Dr. Richmond, Dr. Sovak, and the whole strategic plan
being team for the great presentation and thoughtful work on our
mission at the study session last month.
Thank you, Dr. Bea, the finance staff, and the committee advising
you on the use of federal funds, for all the careful planning in a
budget year like no other. There are too many people to name and
thank here, but allocating our resources in line with our mission and
values is one of the most important responsibilities we have.
So as the 2021/'22 budget takes shape over the next couple of
months, please remember the employees who have been asked to do more
and work harder than ever before, haven't really received a raise in
seven years, something that I believe has never happened in the
history of Pima, and whose base pay has not been keeping up with
inflation.
Our K-12 colleagues have made some significant progress, our city
workers are now paid at least $15 an hour, and I think it would
really do wonders for employee morale, productivity, retention, and
goodwill to acknowledge their long-term efforts with more than just
words.
The All Employee Representative Council continues its work to
revise the personnel policies and we are starting the annual
discussion of compensation this Friday. We would really appreciate,
as employee representatives groups, as well as the AERC, an
opportunity to report back to the board in April on this topic and
just the state of the Meet and Confer process overall.
So thank you again very much for your time, for your service to
the college, and don't hesitate to contact me if you have any
questions. Good evening.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Thank you very much, Matej.
Chancellor Lambert, I think that's a great idea to get an update
on the Meet and Confer in April if that's possible, or upcoming
meeting.
Next let's hear from Amy Feldman. While we are waiting for
Ms. Feldman, Ms. Rosales, if you turn off any other streaming of the
meeting on YouTube or any other open windows, that may be causing the
feedback loop. You should just have one window open.
Ms. Feldman? Is she here?
>> She is. Looks like she's muted.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Ms. Feldman, if you could unmute yourself.
Okay. We'll come back to Ms. Feldman.
Next is Benny Gomez followed by Adilas Felix.
Mr. Gomez? Is Mr. Gomez with us?
>> I do not see Mr. Gomez in the list of attendees.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Adilas Felix?
>> Or Mr. Felix.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: How about Brad Campbell?
>> He's listed and is now allowed to talk.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Mr. Campbell? You're on. Mr. Campbell?
>> Hello. This is Brad Campbell. I was actually just typing in
the chat. Sorry. The mute button just appears whenever you call on
us, so maybe that is possibly why others were not able to unmute at
that time. That's a good feature.
Anyway, I have communicated several times with the chancellor. I
actually just want to thank the board for coming to the conclusion
today that we'd be able to initiate and start indoor athletics.
I know this has been a very trying time and basically trying to
find all the data that's out there and assimilate that into one
specific document to be able to follow, so I really just want to
applaud the efforts and make sure that everyone is aware of that fact
that this is a very difficult process. I mean, I work in this on a
daily basis and deal with COVID from all directions as an ER
physician.
Again, I just want to applaud everyone on their efforts, and it
is difficult and quite frustrating even for us on the outside to, I
guess, for lack of better words -- I mean, I just get very frustrated
with the following-the-science statement that typically gets thrown
out there and is now the in-vogue verbiage for every conversation
that takes place.
Just happy you're able to move forward. Really, that's all I
have. Thank you.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Thank you very much. Next we have Stacia
Ely?
>> She is present. Muted at the moment.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Is she still with us?
>> She is still there. Just still muted.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Ms. Ely, you need to unmute your...
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: She just typed in a message saying she just
prefers to listen.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Okay. Makyla Hays?
>> Thank you so much for having me tonight. I'm Makyla Hays, I
am the PCCEA vice president and the new AERC co-chair. I saw that AP
1.01.03 is on the information agenda tonight, and it states that
stakeholder meetings were held and input solicited.
If the policy is headed for posting tonight, I'm asking that the
board ask the chancellor and legal office to take this back for
collaboration and discussion before the AP is finalized and posted.
This AP was presented to Faculty Senate in December, as part of a
21-day comment. At that time faculty raised questions and concerns
about the implications of this AP as written.
The ACC pulled the AP for further discussion with stakeholders,
and while one discussion with the sponsoring unit followed at an ACC
meeting, no further discussions involving faculty or the ACC occurred
throughout the subsequent minor revision process.
The multi-departmental collaborative editing process mentioned in
the information item tonight did not include the very people who
raised concerns and got the AP pulled in the first place.
Shared governance ensures that this policy will be something that
works well for the college. We do have examples of APs that have
gone through the review process and come out as stronger and better
policies for employees and students at the end because stakeholder
input and collaboration were valued. We hope that this policy can go
through this process to become the policy we hope it can be.
While typically by the time a policy comes to the board as an
information item, there is either limited concern or issues
remaining, or the remaining issues are philosophical difference in
how discrepancies should be resolved, this particular information
item is misrepresenting to the board what has happened so far during
the policy review process, and the item as stated implies input
gathering and collaboration had occurred when it truly had not up to
this point.
This is not the only time faculty have felt this way about their
"involvement" at the college, but as it has gone this far, as this
process has gone this far, this would make this one of the most
blatant examples of performative input gathering. Genuine
stakeholder input is essential for employee morale, and for our
colleges fighting to be premier, this lack of transparency and shared
collaboration related to this policy does not embody the expectations
of what I believe this board has for the college.
Thank you for listening, and I ask you to hold the administration
to a higher standard of stakeholder engagement prior to key decisions
being made that will affect employees and students.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Okay.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Mr. Chair, if I might, so while I would
disagree with the description of the process that's been provided, I
had an offline conversation with Josie Milliken, the Faculty Senate
president, and agreed that we are going to delay posting the final
version of this until I've had a chance to clarify some of these
issues with her.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Ms. Hay, could you repeat to me one more
time the AP number that you have a concern about?
>> 1.01.03.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Okay. Mr. Silvyn, would we need to take
action -- it's for information only, so it hasn't -- it's really just
for informing the board and the college that it's moving through the
process? So you're going to, Chancellor, you're going to take a look
at this to see what we can do to...
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding
and some miscommunication about what the facts are related to the
process that was followed, so we're going to clarify that before we
post what will be the final version. If we need to make revisions,
we can figure out a process for that.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: I think it would be good to have as an
information item maybe at the next meeting an explanation of how this
process works and where the opportunities for input is and what broke
down with this particular one. Okay. If that's possible at the next
meeting.
Okay. Thank you very much, Ms. Hays, for bringing that forward.
I want to give Amy Feldman, was here to speak and wasn't on the line.
>> Hello. Okay. Hello to the Pima County College Board and
Chancellor. I'm calling today to bring up the issue of Joseph Morgan
and his employment at the college with the Downtown Campus Upward
Bound program.
Joseph Morgan is a far-right zealot who supported, attended, and
championed the January 6 insurrection riot at our U.S. Capitol in
Washington, D.C. Since then he has posted public pictures on
Facebook about his attendance at the Capitol riot.
He has gone on local talk shows to discuss his attendance at the
Capitol riot. He continues to champion his attendance and that of
others, and he also continues to spread the big lie that Joe Biden
lost the election and that Donald Trump is still president.
Morgan also proudly lists Pima Community College as his employer
on his Facebook profile.
Is this a person that the college really wants representing them?
He has advocated for violence online and on talk shows and continues
to call for more events like the Capitol riot.
This is not a man who should be working in the public education,
let alone with the young and impressionable students at Amphi,
Flowing Wells, and Rincon High Schools that the Downtown Upward Bound
program serves. With Upward Bound being funded by a grant from the
U.S. Department of Education, it makes more of a problem that Joseph
Morgan is being directly paid by the federal government that he
plotted and attended a riot to overthrow.
This is unacceptable. No one that plots to overthrow the
government should be making a living off that government. This is
the epitome of White privilege.
I was part of a group of people that e-mailed and called the
college to notify them of the danger posed by Mr. Morgan. Our
concerns were met with the tone-deaf or obtuse e-mail from Dr. Irene
Robles-Lopez that downplayed our concerns and stated that Joseph
Morgan was merely engaging in free speech protected by the 1st
Amendment. The 1st Amendment is not an absolute. It does not
protect all speech and all instances. It protects one from going to
jail for their speech. It does not protect them from public ridicule
or from being fired from a public employment position.
Attending a riot that intended to overthrow the federal
government is not free speech. It's anarchy. Whether Morgan entered
the building or not is irrelevant. He was on the public grounds of
the Capitol as his pictures online show, and I believe he would have
entered the building had he been at the front of the mob.
All this, and he continues to list Pima Community College as his
employer on his Facebook page. Our only community college in Tucson
deserves better. Our school children at Amphi, Flowing Wells, and
Rincon deserve better.
Thus I'm asking again is this the type of person Pima Community
College wants representing them? I kindly and respectfully ask that
you do something before Mr. Morgan acts out violently again, and I
thank you for your time.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Thank you for your comment.
We will try to reengage Mary Esther Rosales one more time.
Ms. Rosales? You just need to unmute and make sure there are no
other windows with the YouTube Channel on.
>> Okay. Can you hear me now?
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Please go ahead. You have three minutes.
Thank you.
>> Hello? My name is Mary Esther Rosales. I'm calling today to
bring up the issue of Joseph Morgan. His actions on January 6 at the
Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., were not professional and did
not display a good example of the leadership that is required and
expected from a support technician at Pima Community College. He
supports violence online and on a talk radio and continues to call
for more events like the Capitol riot.
I understand he has the right under the 1st Amendment. However,
his actions do not fall under the 1st Amendment. Attending a planned
riot that intended to overthrow the federal government is not free
speech. His actions should be investigated by the FBI and also by
this Pima College board and appropriate action should be taken. This
is surely not a man that should be working in public education.
Thank you.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Thank you very much for your comment.
Finally, last person, we will try Benny Gomez again.
>> He's not listed currently.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Okay. So that concludes the public
comment. Thank you very much for taking the time to share with us
your concerns.
The next item on our agenda is item 1.4, remarks by the Governing
Board members. I have nothing to report at this time.
Dr. Hay?
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: I have nothing at this time.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Ms. Garcia?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Well, I want to thank everybody for
attending and hope everybody stays safe, gets their vaccinations, and
hopefully we'll come back to the college and everything will open up
again. Looking forward to the day.
Thank you.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Thank you very much.
Mr. Gonzales?
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: Nothing to report today. Thank you.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Thank you very much. Finally, Ms. Ripley?
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Hi. Yes, thank you so much everyone
for attending. I just want to report it's my second month on the
job, and I had a wonderful tour of the facilities, the newest center
of excellence for automotive production and was really impressed.
It was great to see the Downtown Campus still under construction
but looking really good, and I'm really excited for the day when the
students can all return.
I do miss teaching, but I'm glad to be here. A lot going on. I
think that I really want to give strong kudos to the champions of the
school, faculty and staff and the students, for plowing through this
last year. It's been exactly a year since we went to remote/online
teaching, and it's been tough, everybody has been a trooper, everyone
from, people that have had to stay home with their kids and take
classes and teach classes.
I'm really proud of Pima Community College for doing it well.
From what I have been researching, doing it a lot better than a lot
of community colleges, not that it's a competition, but I really
wanted to thank everybody and I'm really proud to be here. Thanks.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Thank you very much, Ms. Ripley.
Next we have our item 2.1 for reports, our administrative
reports. 35 minutes set aside, and just to let everybody know that
about a minute before the presentation time is over I'll just give
you a heads-up that the time is coming to a close.
Looks like the first item is our Office of Dispute Resolution,
ODR, update with Ross and Marty, investigators for ODR.
Chancellor Lambert, do you want to give a little introduction?
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Yes. So we're so pleased to report to the
board an update on the operation of our ODR. Just for background for
some of the board members who were not part of the board at the time,
this was a new system we put in place in response to the numerous
complaints that the college had received many, many years ago, as
well as part of our HLC resolution as it relates to complaints.
So you're going to hear tonight some of the complaints that we
receive and how they are resolved. So I will turn it over to Ross.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: And you have 10 minutes.
>> Hello, everyone. I will be starting. I'm Martina Macias. I
go by Marty. I started my career as a Civil Rights investigator in
1997. I have been with Pima College's office of dispute resolution
for two years.
Our offices are located on the second floor at the District
Office, which we have not been in for a year, which is okay because
the students, the employees, and any member of our community are
still able to contact us to file complaints, make inquiries, lodge
concerns or even make suggestions by all but one of the methods we
had in place for many years now, and that is that they can call us
directly to a main line that we have in our office, 206-4686, for
which we have made sure we have a voice over Internet protocol set in
place so if anyone does call that empty office, we will get a message
if they leave it.
They can also e-mail, submit complaints or inquiries through our
dedicated resolution at Pima.edu e-mail. They can also file reports
using the hotline, by going online to the compliance and ethics
hotline, or even by calling a toll-free number, both of which offer
the individual an option to remain anonymous if they so choose.
I think I might have already said it but I will repeat it. We
serve employees, students, and any member of the community. We take
and assess complaints either about equal employment opportunity
discrimination from current or prospective employees. We take
student complaints that range from grade issues to also to
allegations of discrimination.
We forward Title IX issues regarding sex discrimination to the
Title IX coordinators, but we are also available to conduct the
investigation of those complaints if we are asked to do so. We
assess and process employee grievances, as well.
Anything that doesn't fall into those categories, anything-else
category, is also something that comes through our office.
All of those processes, all of those functions are managed or
tracked in our EthicsPoint database, which we also use to prepare our
quarterly reports showing the statistics regarding types of
complaints, looking for any patterns that may exist and looking at
solutions for those.
All of those things that I have mentioned are managed by me and
the other individual in the office. Actually, I forgot to say that
I'm an advantaged analyst, I'm the investigator there, and the other
individual is my co-worker, Ross.
>> Thank you, Marty. I'm going to be providing some historical
context for everybody today. We only have a short time, so I will be
sharing some historical context and then I will be showing a couple
of slides with statistics, and I will try to get through this
material quickly so I can answer any questions.
ODR is a product or a ODR has come as a result rather of an HLC
recommendation in part to provide an entity that could provide clear
information regarding and receiving complaints and grievances from
all constituents of the college.
Two committees were formed for that task, and subsequently the
committees proposed a plan to create an independent complaints and
grievance entity for all complaints for the college.
This entity was to serve as a center repository for these
complaints, a place that could be triaged and have the investigative
component to it, the reporting and then the records retention all in
one central location.
On February 7 of 2014, Chancellor Lambert approved that plan and
then by July of 2014 the office of dispute resolution was instituted
at Pima Community College.
Here are some of our numbers. This is from 2015, fiscal year
2015 to fiscal year 2020, and you'll see that our total number of
complaints for 2015 was about 115 complaints. We average about 100
complaints per fiscal year.
In fiscal year 2020, we got real close to hitting that 115
complaint mark, but the difference was is that the student and
employee complaint ratios flipped. If you'll look at the chart down
below, it shows the different constituents and the number of
complaints that came in per year. What I was talking about the
number of complaints from fiscal year 2015 and fiscal year 2020 are
really very close. However, if you notice in fiscal year 2015, we
had 73 employee complaints, whereas in fiscal year 2020 we had 79
student complaints. That's reflective of what was happening at that
time at Pima Community College.
ODR in fiscal year 2015 was dealing with all the employee issues
that stemmed from the whole reason of erecting ODR. In 2020 we have
the pandemic. So those numbers changed.
One of the things that Marty and I do is we look for trends.
Although we had a large spike in student complaints, there are no
real trends. In the beginning with the pandemic we did notice that
there were some problems with the transition of going from in-person
courses to an online modality. But those things quickly smoothed
out.
This slide shows our outcomes and our findings. There are 10
different outcomes for any given complaint. I think what's really
important to focus on this slide though is our substantiated or
partially substantiated category or outcomes and findings.
You'll see that it's a relatively low number in comparison to the
total complaints that we have per fiscal year. I think the highest
that we have had was about 22% of complaints that come in that are
substantiated or partially substantiated. The rest of it is around
10% or below, the rest of the year.
That's really our presentation. We wanted to leave some room for
questions. Do we have any questions?
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Are there questions? Ms. Garcia?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Okay. So this was, the ODR was what
replaced Meet and Confer? Is that correct?
>> No, ma'am. No, ma'am, we didn't replace Meet and Confer. We
are a separate entity that was stood up as a result of the HLC, in
part as a result of the HLC recommendation to have a centralized
repository for complaints.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Okay. So it's just the complaint process?
>> Correct.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Sorry, if I might just add to that?
So the Pima College still has Meet and Confer. It's now through
an organization or a group called the All Employee Representative
Council --
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Oh, that's right.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: -- that has membership from different
aspects of different segments of the workforce at Pima, and that
group deals with workplace and personnel policies and procedures.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: My mistake.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Could you tell us a little bit just about
your sense of people's comfort with the current complaint process, or
have you heard concerns about the existing complaint process and
people's willingness to come forward if they have concerns that they
feel they need addressed?
>> Absolutely. One of the things that ODR has, we use a
complaint management system called EthicsPoint, and we have a true
anonymous source to be able to take anonymous complaints through an
online form or by telephone. So anybody who is uncomfortable coming
forward has that resource.
Now, we haven't got any feedback that people are uncomfortable.
Marty and I have about a 50/50 chance of somebody being unhappy with
the process, just because it's going to go one way or the other, and
somebody's not going to be completely happy with the end result.
It's rare that we have both parties happy with the end result of
an investigation. The feedback that we get most of the time, more
often than not, is positive feedback. Positive feedback in that,
hey, you really helped us accomplish what we're looking to get done
here through this complaint.
It's rare that we get negative feedback. However, there has been
some negative feedback, and that is usually filtered through Jeff
Silvyn who then, you know, sits down with folks and says, okay, what
is it exactly that you don't like about the ODR process? Lots of
times it's more of we don't like the end result than the process
itself.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Can you tell us, so if someone is making
an anonymous complaint, they can make a call or go through your
portal, and then what information do they need to provide, what level
of information needs to be provided that you can then take the
complaint seriously and actually conduct an investigation so it
doesn't just get put aside as not enough information?
>> So the main thing we look for obviously is going to depend on
the group that that complaint or inquiry is coming from, right? So,
for example, if it's a student and they are complaining about a
specific course, we want to make sure that we are verifying that we
are actually speaking with that student so we ask that they
communicate with us through their Pima College e-mail. We ask for
their identification number, and then specifically want to know the
details of the complaint, what class is it, who is the instructor,
have you -- we try to determine whether that person is aware, first
of all, that there is an informal process that begins that complaint
and whether that's been followed.
There are so many different variables that it's difficult to say,
but we do need to know who's complaining, specifically what they are
complaining, and then we determine what they are complaining about,
if substantiated, would constitute a violation of a college policy.
We rarely just say, hey, we don't have enough information,
good-bye. We spend a lot of time trying to educate the person,
here's the policy, please refer to it, this is what we need.
We are patient. We wait and see if we get a response. If we
don't, we follow up again, hey, did it get resolved, or do you no
longer need our assistance? It's not very common that we just close
a complaint due to insufficient information.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Mr. Chair, if I might just add one other
thing. If an individual really wanted to remain completely
anonymous, they can. The system allows members of ODR to post
questions through that portal, and for the person on the other side
to communicate without an e-mail address exchange.
So if someone wanted to provide detailed information, this is
when it happened, where it happened, the witnesses, et cetera, but
didn't want to give their own identifying information, there is a way
for that to happen through the system that would allow ODR to have
enough information to do some level of follow-up inquiry without
having to know the specific identity of the complaining party. So
that is possible.
>> Mr. Chair, I think it's also important to note that anonymity
comes with limitations on due process, and we recognize that up
front. So we tell these people that, you know, if it's an anonymous
complaint that there will be limitations, because the person who is
being accused has the right to know who is accusing and what's being
said. So that's an important component of anonymous complaints, as
well, that I think are important.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Have any of the complaints -- so if
somebody brings a complaint, is there a process where, you know, it
doesn't come out in their direction, and then there is sort of a
concern about retaliation, is there a process, a follow-up process on
that that your office deals with? Or what is our internal process
for that? Does it get managed through your department?
>> I'm sorry, I'm not sure I understand your question.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Somebody comes forward with a concern, it
gets resolved, and then they feel there has been some retaliation
against them because they brought the complaint forward, is there a
process in your office to deal with that?
>> Right. Actually, we start with advising a person that they
are protected against retaliation if, for example, they have brought
an allegation of discrimination. So it's part of that comfort that
we were talking about earlier. We like to reassure people, hey, it's
okay. If you do believe that you're experiencing something that is
happening because you filed a complaint, you do have protection
against retaliation. If something occurs, you would be able to file
a separate complaint specifically just about retaliation, which would
then initiate a second investigation.
So we talk to people about that at the beginning, sometimes
during, and definitely at the end, especially if the outcome is that
the allegations are not, are unsubstantiated, we do remind them, you
still have protection. If anything does happen, you have any
concerns, call and let us know right away.
>> Mr. Chair, there is also a form that we use called a rules,
rights, and responsibilities form. All of that is outlined in that
form that each participant gets, and they sign that form with that
information on there.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Thank you very much. Thank you, both of
you, for your work and your diligence in these investigations.
Looks like Ms. Ripley has a question.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Yeah, just really quick, sorry.
Could you describe what your relationship is and if there is
crossover at all with human resources? In most institutions this
would fall under human resources. Can you just briefly describe the
relationship or if there is one or if there is a crossover or is it
siloed?
>> That's a great question. And, yes, we work hand in hand with
HR. Typically it's a handoff to the first-line supervisor who is
going to get our report in conjunction with employee relations, HR,
to take the next steps per policy.
So we work collaboratively with HR; however independent of HR.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Thank you.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Any other questions? I would just
reiterate if anyone feels they are ending up in a situation that they
feel uncomfortable or they are being treated unfairly or there's a
violation of college policy, please come forward through our process.
Notify the office through the portal.
This board doesn't tolerate bad behavior from anyone in this
institution, and I think we have made that very clear year after
year.
Again, thank you for your work helping to resolve these issues,
and we will move on to our next item.
Next is our mission update with Dr. Nic Richmond. Dr. Richmond,
you have five minutes.
>> DR. RICHMOND: Thank you. Chair Clinco, members of the board,
Chancellor Lambert, colleagues and guests.
It's my pleasure to be here this evening to provide a very brief
update on the status of the mission fulfillment review. I will share
my screen for just one moment.
Shared on screen and available in the board packet are the
current draft statements as they stand after the Futures Conference.
As things currently look, we have good alignment around two of the
statements, though there is one we are still looking to make slight
revisions to. The purpose is generally fairly well accepted. We
received some input through the Futures Conference but nothing that
really tipped us towards making changes in a particular direction.
When we asked the attendees whether they liked the statement, 74%
said they did, 18% were neutral, and 7% disliked, which is relatively
good level of agreement because we have to know going into this not
everyone will like all of the statements.
The vision statement has been collapsed into one statement as
opposed to the three that we had. Now, based on the input we
received there was some somewhat polarizing language in some of the
drafts about Pima being the first choice for education and the
language about premier community college. Some people liked that.
Some people felt strongly against it.
So at the moment we have this, but we know this is an area we
need to work on, because this isn't as aspirational as we might like
it to be. I very much welcome the board's input on how we might
revise the statement and if you like the language of premier
community college or first choice for education. We have that input
as we move forward.
The mission statement is an area where we need to do a little
more work. Let me scroll through here and get the responses.
Based on the Futures Conference attendees, about 56% of people
liked this statement. 29% were neutral. 15% disliked it. That's
not quite where we might want this to be so we are not really
comfortable that this is a good quality final draft yet.
We did make a couple of minor revisions in here primarily
switching language from student to learner, which was supported
through the conference input. But we are at the point now where we
are taking a long, hard look at the subsections where we have every
learner, every day, every goal.
We're not sure, based on the input, whether these need to stay or
whether we need to collapse some of this into the summary statement,
and at the end I will summarize what we are going to do next to
gather more input as we work on a decision on that front.
The final section is about behaviors. These were really well
liked based on Futures Conference input, so let me see what the
numbers look like. 80% liked the behaviors. Considered them
important. 19% were neutral. Only one person, 1% at that point in
time for the event, disliked this statement.
We did make some minor revisions based on input from a community
member to specify employee here instead of the more general language
that we had. We also recently received input about innovate and
changing the language so it's positive. At the moment we have do not
be afraid to take risks but reframing that in the positive, because
these should be about positive behaviors and positive routes forward
for the institution. We will rework that section, as well.
As it currently stands, these are the draft statements that we
have. Now, one thing that we were struck by after the Futures
Conference is we had very, very limited student input on these
statements.
So in particular, for the mission statement, our plan is the next
step is we will take this to student groups to gather input from our
students as we work to refine these statements.
We will likely also roll updated statements into one of the
Futures Conference events so the community and attendees have another
opportunity to comment on the drafts.
The intention at this point is that in April Dr. Sovak and I will
bring another summary report to the Governing Board and then we will
bring the final statements for approval in May. That will give us
enough time to ensure we can get good student input before we submit
statements for the board's final consideration.
With that, that's the update. I would request input on the
timeline that I suggested for this and also invite your comments on
these draft statements.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Are there comments from the board? I
don't see anyone.
I would say I think, you know, I really like the premier
community college and the aspirational quality of that. I think it's
something that the board and we have heard stated over and over
again, and I think it's important to retain it in the vision. So I
would strongly support that.
I think the timeline sounds good, but I want to make sure that
the board really has opportunity at the next meeting, maybe we
schedule a little bit more discussion like we have sort of a last
opportunity to dialogue in. I would ask that any board members who
have any concerns about the language be in touch with Chancellor
Lambert's office to get that to Dr. Richmond as soon as possible so
they can weave that in.
Does that sound reasonable to everybody? Okay. Thank you,
Dr. Richmond.
Our next item is our reskilling and recovery, Dr. Ian Roark, vice
president for workforce development and strategic partnerships.
>> DR. IAN ROARK: Thank you, Board Chair Clinco, Governing
Board, Chancellor, colleagues and guests. I'm very excited to give a
brief update about what has been the reskilling and recovery network
update or broadly reskilling and recovery update.
When we talk about reskilling and recovery, we are in fact
talking about a point in time with respect to the economic downturn
that was caused as a result of the pandemic and that we are still
feeling the effects of.
I will not go into great detail on the data points today but will
point some out and also where you can find greater levels of detail
with respect to what is now turning out for the community that we
serve and the nation to be a K-shaped recovery.
Reskilling and recovery for us at Pima Community College occurs
at a national level, at the state level with Arizona, as well as the
regional and local level.
We are very proud to report that at each of these levels, Pima
Community College is not only involved but is a thought and action
leader with respect to various entities inviting Pima leadership to
be a part of and in many instances lead the design of reskilling and
recovery plans that impact both policy and new initiatives.
We have talked many times before with respect to upskilling and
reskilling presentations about the pandemic and then how do we
prioritize the problems caused by it.
In many instances, we already had a real unemployment level that
was not as good as what we call headline unemployment. So right now
trending 6 to 7% disengaged workforce is actually still upwards of
13% across the state of Arizona.
Equally with the skills gap we have too many individuals with
high school diploma or less while under the auspices of Achieve60
which guides our strategic plan, economic development and growth in
the state of Arizona and our community requires 60% or more of our
eligible workforce having postsecondary attainment up to and
including an Associate's degree, industry-recognized certificate,
credential, or apprenticeship.
We have not enough workers in Pima County and in Arizona in that
what we call skills level or middle skills band that is the domain of
our community colleges and for Pima Community College.
52% of the workforce is required to be at any of the levels that
we offer and provide, whereas we are at 46% of the workforce having
the credentials that we offer.
Finally, we also know that in our community automation was going
to be displacing and/or significantly altering 40% of the jobs in our
own economy here in Pima County by 2028. And the negative impacts of
the pandemic accelerated both the pressure that we had on wages and
low-wage jobs. I forgot to mention that in Pima County 50% of our
workforce is at the median wage of $10 an hour, and that impacts
175,400 workers according to the Brookings Institute in our own
community, our friends and neighbors, that fall into the low wage
categories. The pandemic impacted people of color, single female
head households, and those in the low-wage jobs the most.
So the reskilling, recovery efforts focus on economic development
priorities, (indiscernible) gap analysis, short-term interventions
leading to a systems alignment, strategic initiatives at the
programmatic level and policy level to address these negative impacts
of the pandemic.
For this presentation, jumping right to the recommendations of
the state level reskilling and recovery network report. The
initiatives focus on systems alignment between the two state-level
systems that really have the breadth and depth to meet the needs of
our working learners in this challenging time. That is our public
workforce system, ARIZONA@WORK, and Arizona's community colleges,
including Pima Community College. Focuses on reskilling and
upskilling at scale, expansion of early college models.
In our state of Arizona there are only two high schools that are
full-fledged early college high schools where high school students
can earn an entire Associate's degree. Both of those are currently
in Maricopa County, and there are policy reasons as to why that's the
case, as an example.
Expansion of the great work that Pima Community College is
leading with the expansion of our IBEST programs and partnering with
career and technical education, so that individuals can earn that
high school equivalency and a college credential at the same time.
There are a number of policy things that the initiatives are not
fully dependent on but can certainly help. For example, House Bill
2021 currently moving forward in the legislature is responsive to
removing the arbitrary cap on freshmen and sophomores in high school,
and that is a key policy piece to allowing us to expand that early
college high school model and CTE as an example.
With the next steps, the state-level report was released last
week with a press release. In this PowerPoint I do believe you can
still hit these hot links on the website. You can hit the press
release as well as the full report and the executive summary of the
report through these links. We will also e-mail those to Andrea to
make sure you have those following tonight's meeting.
The implementation plan now takes the recommendations and the
policy recommendations and focuses for Arizona's community colleges
on a two- to three-year strategic effort sort of paralleling the
University's new economy initiative that all 10 community college
districts are focused on.
There is already work underway, including some of the policies
that I mentioned tonight and more, and Pima continues to be invited
on to state and national level work groups that will continue to
shape policy as well as practice with respect to unifying our public
workforce system and the power of education and training that our
community college brings to our community and the community colleges
bring to our state.
In addition, we will be having regional tours with each workforce
board in partnership with the colleges and the ARIZONA@WORK
localities. And there is going to be through Sun Corridor Inc. a
local report that in many ways was informed directly by the state and
national level work on reskilling and recovery.
That is it for this brief version of the update. If there are
any questions, we are ready.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Are there any questions for Dr. Roark?
Okay. I don't see any. Dr. Roark, thank you for all your
incredible work. If you could please let us know when the tour is on
the college campuses, I think the board would love to be in
attendance and greet and welcome those workforce leaders. Thank you
so much for your work in this area and the update.
Next we have our robotics with Greg Wilson, dean of applied
technology. Mr. Wilson.
>> GREG WILSON: Good evening, Chairman Clinco, members of the
board, Chancellor Lambert, colleagues, students, guests. Thank you
for this opportunity to present a quick update on our AIT robotics
and Industry 4.0 components of our AIT program.
I know we throw Industry 4.0 around quite a bit, so to provide
some context in terms of the funding that we receive from the board
and how we have used it, I just want to give you a quick definition
before we show how that impacts our employer partners and obviously
our students, and then I will share a couple of pieces of equipment
that the funding the board provided allowed us to purchase, how we
are putting that all together, and then I will end with what's coming
next.
Industry 4.0 basically, the easy definition is that it is the
digitization of manufacturing. So you have equipment that shares
information usually wirelessly. And the point of it is to produce or
manufacture a product more efficiently and with less waste.
So, you know, when we talk to employer partners tied to our AIT
industry, they really focus on four things. First of course would be
safety, cost, speed, and quality.
So our AIT program, the very first step that all of our students
go through is AIT 100, which is a safety class. Our students earn an
OSHA 10 industry credential before they then move on to the next
steps.
Currently with our equipment in the AIT program, if you look at
these different blocks of what it means to cover different aspects of
Industry 4.0, we cover all of these blocks, but the last two,
augmented virtual reality and 3D printing, while we do have that
equipment at Downtown Campus --
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Sorry to interrupt. If you're sharing a
presentation, we are not seeing it.
>> GREG WILSON: Oh. Thank you for letting me know.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: No problem.
>> GREG WILSON: It looked like it came through. Thank you,
Demion. How about now?
>> Yes.
>> GREG WILSON: All right. Skipping through, these are the
things we are going to cover quickly in five minutes. Again, 4.0,
connecting wirelessly, sharing information between equipment.
When I mentioned the blocks, we have all of these covered in our
current equipment. We just have not yet integrated the augmented and
virtual reality or the 3D printing, so we are still working on
putting that together.
But the $500,000 in special funding that the board provided did
give us quite a bit of some pretty cool stuff. So we have nine what
are called Universal Robots, and these are collaborative robots, so
it means an employee working with this equipment can touch it, move
it, and safely do so. The equipment will stop if the robot gets too
close or something like that.
We also have a KUKA robot in the lab, and then we also have an
industrial robot, FANUC robot. If you've been into the lab you know
that's behind class because it is not a collaborative robot. If it
swings toward you, it's going to hit you.
So getting to these collaborative robots, you can see the
different pieces that came with this purchase. The important pieces
are the grippers, the suction, and then the one that's actually on
the light blue piece to the right, you have also got vision.
So when you have cameras that are, you know, taking in all the
information of the production line, it provides our faculty and
students a lot of information to analyze and then make wise decisions
when it comes to improving a process.
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: What's the sense of scale in this picture?
>> GREG WILSON: These come in three to five feet tall. So with
the nine that we have, you know, they are going to be stationed on
tables throughout the lab.
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: Cool. Thank you.
>> GREG WILSON: Uh-huh. As a matter of fact, our faculty and
staff were in training today. That was another aspect of the funding
that we were able to cover.
The cool piece, this is what's called a Robotino, a wireless
robot that will go between stations of the production process. You
know, we have benchmarked quite a few programs. Just to give you an
idea of what our students will be working with, the lab in Reno,
Nevada, at Truckee Meadows Community College that we visited, when
they set up their system, they had two Robotinos, and they were
getting in each other's way. They would pick up a piece of equipment
off a conveyor, and both robots would show up at the same spot.
Again, it's all about wirelessly communicating. One robot
decided, you know what? I'm in the way, I'm going to stand over here
by the wall, and the other one continue the process. The second
robot figured out -- mind you, this is not faculty intervening, the
robots figured this out themselves, realized it could be more
productive doing another step in the production process.
So we have one of these coming. Part of what I wanted to share
was numbers in terms of increasing our FTSE. Unfortunately, when our
equipment was delivered, our Robotino and one of the stations were
damaged in transit. So the company of course didn't -- we didn't
have to say anything. They are fixing it, and it's on its way back
to us. We are still in the process of putting everything together.
This is the station where the conveyor belts are included. So if
you think about a company like Amazon or, you know, any one of those
large manufacturers, our students are really getting the pieces and
parts, not just the technical know-how. But again, programming
robots, analyzing the data that is coming through. This carries
across to so many different programs.
You know, we were speaking with workforce and logistics today,
because you think about, you know, how that whole process goes
together. Certainly same thing with business and IT or obviously the
autonomous operator certificate.
So what's next for us is obviously getting the equipment in, but
we are also going to continue to expand what we do with sensors and
data acquisition. If I jump back one, you kind of see how that's a
modular system. We expect to buy a couple more stations, and that is
specifically for AIT, but you also get things where you can put a
robot next to one of the CNC machines in machining. And there are
tieovers with CAD.
Just skipping ahead again, we have been in touch with JTED, have
shared information about how our programs align. We met with them
last week and we will be continuing this especially as we start to
return to campuses.
There is certainly a lot of crossover within PCC, as I mentioned
with workforce, business and IT, and we are also doing a specific
data analytic certification with another manufacturer that can affect
healthcare and other areas, and of course Ian mentioned IBEST, we
have an IBEST cohort that has come through AIT and we are hoping to
do that again. Cybersecurity comes into play.
So we have been in contacts with UA faculty and they want to
participate once we are back to doing things normally. Then of
course as far as the network goes, we do all of this in partnership
with the Maricopa system and Central Arizona College.
Even before the pandemic, when you look at internships and
apprenticeships, we were attracting employers from across the country
who were sending their technicians to us to learn these processes.
The funding has been great. It's allowing us to expand and go in
new directions, and we are just going to keep pushing. Again,
sensors and data will be very important across a lot of different
areas.
Any questions?
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: Greg, if I may, can you just remind the
board employment opportunities of your graduates in Pima County?
>> GREG WILSON: Yeah. So faculty, we were talking about this
earlier, and they checked within the last 30 days, there were, you
know, instrumentation, automation, postings for construction,
healthcare, manufacturing. You know, our students are working at
companies like Raytheon, GW Plastics, Precision Engineering. It's
all over the place.
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: Thank you.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Any members of the board?
Thank you very much, Mr. Wilson. We appreciate the update and
keep up the great work.
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Can I just ask Greg one quick question?
Greg, when you go into the new building, what difference is it
going to really make to have more of that space, given what these new
additions of equipment and processes?
>> GREG WILSON: I would say a couple of things. If you've been
in our space, you know how crowded and cramped it can be. When we
talk about adding extra modules to a CP line or a factory --
currently we just don't have the space to do it. We have nine UR
robots on tables that are cramped next to each other. The space will
be one big thing.
The other thing, you know, when we describe the center of
excellence and the advanced manufacturing building specifically, it's
a three-story, 100,000-square-foot makerspace. And so faculty will
be working together to criss-cross across the floors, across
departments.
I mentioned AIT. You think about computer-aided design and
designing processes and adding the 3D printing, that's all going to
be spread across three floors. I mentioned U of A as a partner. We
partner with them on Design Day, which is a process that their senior
engineering students take and Pima students now participate in that
process. So we will have pods where those engineering teams can come
together and actually build products that solve industry problems.
So, I mean, the building's just going to make a huge difference.
Obviously we are not waiting for that. We have already started these
processes. But it's going to be a really big draw.
We hope to do a lot more locally obviously, pulling companies in
from national areas and then hopefully bringing them to Tucson to
just improve our economy.
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: Greg, with the new space, are you able to
teach for cohorts, as well? Is your number of students coming
through your program going to increase?
>> GREG WILSON: For sure. We have talked about doubling the
number, our enrollment and maybe tripling once we get to that point.
You are all probably familiar with the Caterpillar or what we do with
Raytheon.
When it comes to the Applied Technology Academy, we could only
run those classes on Friday mornings when there was space in the
existing labs. But having the 12,000-square-foot flexible industry
training lab in partnership with workforce and just drawing everybody
in, we will be able to schedule that type of training whenever we
want to, you know, in partnership with the industry.
So, yeah, it's going to make a huge difference. And I talked
about the high schools, we know that that number of students coming
is limited, but we certainly want to make sure we do everything to
capture them and set them on the pipeline to us, U of A, NAU, our
90/30 partnership, but really we want to make sure we are bringing
industry folks in and giving them, whether it's credit or short--term
micropathways, that's what it's all about for us.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Ms. Garcia?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Meredith already asked the questions I was
thinking about. So, yeah, increasing enrollment and who are the
industry partners. That's it. Thank you.
>> GREG WILSON: And we are bringing some stuff back, like
optics, which we haven't run in a while. We look forward to
partnering with Optics Valley. That's another link between JTED and
us. Yeah, enrollment is going to go up.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Thank you very much, Mr. Wilson.
Next we have our enrollment update with David Arellano, dean of
enrollment management.
>> DAVID ARELLANO: I will preface I do not have any robots in my
presentation. That's definitely great work by Dean Wilson.
Good evening, Chairperson of the Board, board members, Chancellor
Lambert, colleagues and guests. I'm going to provide a brief update
from enrollment management.
With that, I'm going to start off with our spring '21 enrollment.
Exiting the 45th day census period, we still have our declines, but
what I'm really excited to share with the board is that when we hone
in and specifically look at our second eight-week sessions, we are
seeing an increase. So the data is showing an increase compared to
last spring.
When we look at this increase, there is a variety of reasons and
probabilities why. But one of the things we are looking at is we did
modify some of the ways we were scheduling classes for the spring in
anticipation of possible reopenings.
And it also could be attributed to changes in student behaviors.
Maybe they were trying our first eight-week sessions to get a feel
for the modalities that we were offering, and then once they got that
feel they are continuing on to the second eight weeks.
So some of these increases are really being shown in programs
around business, so bookkeeping, enrolled agent, some of our
healthcare or health adjacent such as clinical research coordinator,
veterinary technology. We are also looking at our computer and cyber
areas, computer programmer, systems administrator, digital arts. And
some of our transfer programs like liberal arts and Associate's of
science. Definitely some promising information there as we progress
into summer and fall enrollment.
I also wanted to kind of just touch base on some of the events
student affairs has been putting on. We are really gearing up for
summer and fall enrollment, and we have started to produce and host
events that are specific to high school student populations, our
current students, and then just community members at large.
So looking just a few quick kind of highlights, our Access and
Disability Resources just hosted an event for high schools and
community members and organizations where we had over 120 attendees
attend this virtual information session to talk about how we can
support students as they transition to college and in that virtual or
in-person environments.
We have also began our series with the Sunnyside Unified School
District, our Path to Pima sessions, so it's a series of six sessions
where we break down the enrollment funnel and work with that school
district to specifically work with students to get them into Pima.
We also have our first-year engagement series continuing to run
with Connect U and Popcorn With a Program, but also specifically they
have partnered with our financial aid office to promote, to conduct
an event related to financial literacy, and that's going to be very
important for our students, especially in these times when there is
really some financial hardships out there and making the most of
their Pell Grant and Earn to Learn options that the financial aid
office has provided.
With that, before I pass it on to my colleague, James Palacios
from dual enrollment, I will open it up to any questions or comments.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Any questions from the board? Ms. Garcia?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: What other schools will you be visiting
besides Sunnyside?
>> DAVID ARELLANO: So these are virtual sessions.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Oh, okay.
>> DAVID ARELLANO: Keep in mind we are doing sessions with all
high school students. Some of those sessions are more on the
individual basis, and so as we do look to scale this out, we have
essentially created this session for the Sunnyside Unified School
District.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Well, it would be nice to try to get, you
know, Tucson High and Amphi and the Marana School District, something
to take into consideration.
>> DAVID ARELLANO: Yes, definitely. Like I said, the recruiters
are working those events and they do have those connections and
events going on with all school districts right now.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Thank you.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Okay. Are there any other questions for
David? No? Okay. Then we are going to move on to the next half of
the presentation which is the dual enrollment with James Palacios.
>> Good evening, Chairman Clinco, members of the board,
Chancellor Lambert, colleagues, students, guests, community members.
Thank you for allowing me to present a snapshot of our growing dual
enrollment program.
I first want to start out with how we broke it up in our
districts. This is what it looks like for our head count enrollment
for each of the districts. I'm going to show a slide here in a
little bit on our five-year growth since 2017 and our one-year growth
in one of our slides, or two-year growth that will show since the
time that you approved the budget for us to expand dual enrollment
and the opportunities to what we have now, and we are very happy to
see the progress that we are making.
Also, we are also excited that we started looking, started
expanding our partnerships with other high schools and we are
expanding into charter schools now and we are really trying to target
a lot of the schools that we really didn't, didn't really participate
in the past.
Those are what I called two years ago our jump-start schools,
those are the ones that were really having some good results with, as
well. So this is what it looks like. When you look at the
enrollment, we should be hitting about 8,000 enrollment by the time
it's all said and done by the end of this year.
The reason why I say that, is because right now we are still
fixing some site codes. We have to enroll a lot of our students
manually. The department does. We don't have the online
capabilities like the college, because we have so many students that
we have to enroll, and there is only five employees that we really
can process a lot of this. But it's good, because it's personalized
for us.
So this is what it looks like. We have grown, in two years that
we have started this department, and I started at the college, we
have grown over 120% of our enrollment. We have grown our FTSE over
120%, as well. So when you look at our actual enrollment, this was a
snapshot that was done on March 7, and we have 7,747 enrollment that
we have already processed.
We got some STU 100 courses that are starting here shortly, and
so those numbers at the end of this year will be added to that, so
that's why I'm saying we are projecting to get closer to 8,000 or
past 8,000 enrollment.
When you look at just our one-year enrollment from last year, we
grew just in one year 61% of our enrollment and 65% of our FTSE just
in that one year that we have been in existence as far as like a
department for the college.
We are very excited for this, and our schools are very excited as
well because they have somebody that they can contact on a regular
basis, whether it's calling me on my cellphone or texting me or
e-mailing one of the dual enrollment members, we are available to
them immediately and we are very responsive to them.
Our goal at the college is that we contact each school that we
partner with at least once in two weeks. I know in the past the goal
was to meet with them once a semester, but that's not enough when it
becomes dual enrollment because there are so many things that are
happening. So we are really proud of the work that we are doing.
So this is what I wanted to show you. Our five-year trend, from
the 2017 from the start of the strategic plan to ending it now is we
have grown 365% of the enrollment. That's very impressive to us, and
my team didn't even realize that we even grew this much just in the
two years that we have been together, because they have been so busy
trying to process all the students and testing and virtual
assessments, which takes a lot of time. But I'm very proud of the
work that they have done and the team that we have put together to
really accomplish this. It's been great for us.
Our dual enrollment, just the head count portion of it, we have
grown 330% in the five years of the strategic plan. So just some
great numbers that we are really proud of, but we are not done. We
still have some schools that we have to work with. We still have
some outside partnerships that we have to make sure that we solidify.
We are really trying to work up the language and agreements to make
sure that we have reached all of our schools in this county.
There is over 100 schools we have to tap into. We have over 70
partnerships that we have already have established at this point.
Are there any questions from the board at this point?
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Any questions?
Ms. Garcia?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: I was going to say thank you. Great job.
I'm very impressed with it. And your team.
>> Thank you. I will. I hope they are watching tonight. I did
invite them, because I wanted to give them kudos. They have done an
excellent job. Thank you.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: I want to echo that. Could you tell us
-- I have two questions. One, do you have any idea of how much
larger the program really can get, the dual enrollment program?
>> So the way that we are looking at in the next two years
-- actually, the next year, we are projecting hitting the 10,000
enrollment mark, just because of the new course selection or course
requests that are coming in, it looks like we can possibly hit the
10,000 mark.
Now, keep in mind with the early college and the concurrent
enrollment students that we have right now participating, that's
including early college, we are already over 10,000 students
collectively.
But just dual enrollment by itself, we should be able to get at
the 10,000 mark next year, at the end of next year if not for sure we
should be in the, surpassing that by fall of the next, 2023.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: That's just outstanding news to hear.
My other question is are there data points in how many of these
students who are doing dual enrollment are then enrolling as Pima
students after they graduate from high school?
>> That's one of the biggest tasks we are really trying to focus
on. That's why David Arellano had mentioned us here, because we are
trying to create some partnerships to really target those kids. I'm
working on some pathways, not only the pathways that we have for the
college but pathways that start with freshmen or sophomores in high
school, because we are very confident that HB 2021 is going to pass,
and that's really going to help us jump-start our goal to achieving
the AZ60 goal that is established.
So right now, the number is -- well, the incoming freshmen is not
as high as I expected, but we knew that when I was coming in that
that has to be a strategy. That's what we are strongly working on at
this point.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: So 10,000 in two years, that's incredible.
How large do you think, especially with the new legislation, how
large do you think the total pool eventually will sort of, you know,
arrive at?
>> Well, we have approximately 40,000 high schoolers in the Pima
County area, so we are projecting somewhere between the 20 to 25% of
that that we can work on. We are also having conversations with high
schools that typically are AP schools but we are looking at how do we
include dual enrollment with our AP and our AP programs.
So for example in a pathway, say, freshmen can take an AP course
maybe the freshman/sophomore year, but they will be blending in some
dual enrollment courses at the same time, so with that philosophy and
that idea, we are actually looking at probably getting to about the
20 to 25% of that 40,000 high school students in this area.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: That's terrific. Do you have all the
resources you need to be able to grow this?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: No?
>> Is that a trick question?
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: No, it's just...
>> You know what? I guess that could be another conversation
another time, but I just have to say we're growing. We are growing
and we are growing fast. We are growing faster than what my proposal
was two years ago, so I would just leave it at that (smiling).
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: I think it's good for the board to know so
that as, in our conversations, that we are making sure that enough
resources are incrementally growing with you so that your team isn't
overwhelmed and you can really manage and succeed so these students
who have this touchpoint have a really extraordinary experience with
Pima. Again, thank you.
>> I appreciate that question. Thank you very much for asking
that.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: We really appreciate it. Okay. Moving
on...
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: I'd just like to add one thing. Yeah,
I'm kind of echoing it, but it is just to push that point, press that
point, it's really important what you're doing, and I think having a
concerted effort towards recruitment and follow-through on the dual
enrollment students to naturally progress as full-time students at
Pima Community College, I think that's something that will really
help with our enrollment and some day, you know, tuition issues.
Anything that you need you have to voice to us. I mean, I hear
you say five staff people and 8,000 students, and you're taking their
calls? That seems like a lot to me. So don't be shy about asking
for things
>> Thank you for that. I appreciate that.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: You're very humble. (Smiling.)
>> You have to remember we started with just myself, and now we
have five. No, I understand. Thank you so much for caring and
understanding the potential of even expanding it further. So I
appreciate that.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Thank you very much for your hard work.
Okay. Next we are on to our reports from representatives of the
board. The first report is our student report with Sage Fukae
McCollough.
>> Great. I'm Sage Fukae McCollough. I will be giving the
student Governing Board report.
For the Virtual Adult Education, ABECC will continue virtual
programming in the April through June session. The student
engagement team is offering a How the Government Works in Your Life
series. Students will learn about the level of government as an
important part of their lives through group discussions, reading
materials, and other group activities.
At the end of this series, students will get registered for the
Request to Speak System at the state legislature and be trained on
how to use in order to voice our opinions on legislative bills.
For Virtual Student Life, we have the Rise Up Women's Empowerment
Conference. This is taking place on Friday, March 26, from 1:30 p.m.
to 5:00 p.m., virtually via Zoom. Student Life is co-hosting with
the Center for International Education and Global Engagement and the
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Office. The Sixth Annual Women's
Empowerment Conference around the theme of Rise Up. There will be a
number of guest speakers and sessions offered by Pima Community
College staff, faculty, and student leaders around our theme of Rise
Up, resilience, intersectionality, support, equity, unify and
purpose.
They will also be hosting an Aztec Gold advanced leadership
program March 10 through March 28. The Aztec Gold Program is an
advanced leadership program for the Pima Community College students
who want to develop a deeper understanding of leadership theory and
practice.
The program will include workshops focused on understanding
leadership theory and a group civic engagement project to put
leadership theory into practice. Students who complete the program
will receive a completion certificate and a gold cord to wear at the
PCC commencement.
For Virtual First Year Experience, they have these upcoming
events. There is Career Cafe on March 9 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00
p.m., and PWAP March 3, 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., Workforce and
continuing education. Faces of FYE March 19 at 1:30 and Early Book
Purchases Program. And then the Money Matters March 11, noon to 1:30
p.m. which is Tax Tips.
For the Virtual Student Senate, Pima Aztec Student Senate has
finalized their yearly project. We are going to be working on a
community safety project and have a day dedicated for domestic
violence awareness and another day for sexual assault awareness. We
are hoping to invite the Pima Community Police to help with that and
tribute as a community member.
The Student Senate will also participate in live Q&A session to
answer any questions to potential senate candidates for the 2021/2022
school year. We also assisted in a club fair in February.
Thank you.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Thank you very much for your report.
Next is adjunct faculty report with Sean Mendoza. Is Mr. Mendoza
with us?
>> Chair Clinco, Chancellor Lambert, members of the board,
honored guests. This last fall the adjunct faculty met with college
administration on topics important to our employee group. With
support from the provost and a team led by Kate Schmidt, we are
working collaboratively to address three important issues. They are
compensation for current and future training, communication for clear
deadlines for canceled classes, and greater transparency in the
selection process for teaching classes.
This team anticipates completing its work by the end of the
spring semester, and I look forward to delivering the efforts of the
team at that time.
Lastly, with 10% of Arizonans receiving two vaccine doses and a
downward trend of COVID infections and deaths, many of us are
starting to see the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel. But we
aren't there yet. Given this, I would ask that the college and
community continue its COVID mitigation strategies, college-wide
e-mail updates, and opportunities for online meetings with
administration provided by the chancellor and provost.
Thank you for your time, please wear a mask, and continue to
social distance. This ends my report for the board.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Thank you very much, Mr. Mendoza. Thank
you for that reminder about best practices for mitigating the
pandemic.
The next report is our staff report from Michael Lopez.
Mr. Lopez? You have five minutes.
>> Hello. Let me get to where I need to get.
Chairman Clinco, Chancellor Lambert, Governing Board members,
colleagues and guests. I am the Governing Board representative, Mike
Lopez. Our current staff council officers are Gloria Coronado,
chairperson. John Wesley, vice-chair. Diane Miller, past chair.
Manny Carillo, communications officer. Fatima Wilson, treasurer.
And Susana Armenta, roll keeper.
Our last staff council meeting was on February 5 through Google
Meets on a Friday at 8:30. We had 32 Pima personnel attend,
including 19 voting members. Mr. Jonathan Brownly presented to the
staff council on the Google Drive file stream. Phase 3 of testing
for Google Drive file stream is complete.
Questions were asked and answered on how to create a file drive.
Staff council members feel that the Google Drive file stream will be
beneficial in many ways and in many circumstances.
The provost's report was presented by Kate Schmidt. Discussed
various activities, recognitions, and acknowledgements. Black
History Month events. Diversity, equity, and inclusion, DEI events.
The Week of Racial Healing, February 15 through the 18th. Many staff
have worked on planning and the presentation of the Week of Racial
Healing events, along with supporting and promoting Black History
Month events.
A question was asked by staff regarding vaccines, insurance for
students, and staff expressed some COVID concerns regarding
re-entering normal campus settings.
Human resources and finance update was presented by David Bea.
Focused mostly on class compensation and the CARES and CRRSA Acts.
Staff council bylaws subcommittee submitted changes of the bylaws
to general counsel for review and recommendations. Bylaws changes
focus on elections and appropriate representation to the staff
council from various district staff, departments and areas, ensuring
proper representation.
This committee is headed by John Wesley, Gloria Coronado and
Fatima Wilson. The bylaw changes were decided with consideration
from other staff council, officers, and members prior to submission
to the general counsel. Staff council election dates to be
considered and announced after general counsel review of staff
council bylaws.
That concludes my report.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Thank you very much, Mr. Lopez. We
appreciate it.
Next we have faculty report with Brooke Anderson.
>> BROOKE ANDERSON: Good evening, everybody. Hello. Chairman
Clinco, board members, fellow colleagues and guests.
I want to just highlight a couple of information items. The
deans and department heads continue to work hard on creating a
flexible fall schedule that includes in-person, online, and virtual
options for students. While faculty still have concerns about
returning to in-person teaching, many of us are excited to return to
our campuses and our students.
Senators have been providing input on re-entry plans in various
meetings across the college, and senate president, Josie Milliken,
has scheduled a second Faculty Senate student panel for senate's
April 2 meeting. We would love for the board members to attend and
hear what the students have to say.
Regarding AP 1.01.03, thank you, Jeff, for delaying its posting
and planning to talk with concerned faculty, and thank you, Chairman
Clinco, for requesting an update on the situation in the next
meeting. Like Makyla said, faculty see the comment on the
information item that states "a multi-departmental collaborative
drafting and editing process was employed to produce the proposed AP"
as misrepresenting what took place. Faculty think this AP needs more
revision before it's ready to move on to the next steps in the
process.
As for faculty notable accomplishments, as you can see on the
report, there are too many to share in five minutes. So I'm
highlighting just a few.
In sciences, you can see there are a number of impressive grants.
Jennifer Katcher, biology faculty and PI, has an NSF HIS grant for
course undergraduate research experiences. Students collect and
analyze DNA from bees.
In the fall, eight students in two virtual synchronous classes
interpreted DNA bar coding results for their assigned bees. Data for
all bees including DNA bar codes were published in the Bar Code of
Life Database and each student's name is published along with their
bee's record.
Yvonne Sandoval, math faculty, Jorge Pellos Chavez, physics
faculty, Jennifer Katcher, biology faculty, and Jim Washburn,
part-time geography faculty, are mentors for NSF STEM PCCU Arizona
Bridge Grant this academic year. Faculty mentors are supporting 26
Pima students who have received scholarships and will be transferring
to U Arizona in the fall.
Dennis Just, astronomy, physics department head and co-PI with U
Arizona is overseeing a NASA STEM asteroid grant. This currently
involves six PCC students who registered for Dr. Just's physics 196
independent study. These students are all interested in doing
aerospace robotics and planetary science research with U Arizona
faculty and have attended a virtual sci-tech conference that featured
a number of talks focused on space.
In communication, the Aztec Press has become the Digital
Publication Pima Post. The Post will feature a revamped website and
maintain its focus on Pima and local events that impact the PCC
community. This change allows deadlines to be more fluid and editors
to post news as it happens.
To increase new ESL student enrollment, ESL faculty have created
a comprehensive, innovative, and streamlined experience for newly
enrolled ESL students and have improved the visibility of PCC's ESL
courses to nonnative English speakers in the Tucson community.
They have added a question on PCC's application that identifies
ESL students more strategically, created an ESL advising support team
and dedicated e-mail address for all ESL inquiries, and new presence
on Pima's website features programs, information, helpful contacts,
and student testimonials by our ESL ambassadors.
They have recorded a new student orientation video tailored
specifically to the needs of ESL students. Created a virtual welcome
session to help new ESL students develop a sense of belief,
belonging, and support as they pursue their studies at Pima. And
this year they are developing a certificate of language proficiency
and working to increase visibility for ESL through targeted marketing
and community outreach.
Last semester, under the leadership of English faculty member and
first-year writing coordinator Elliott C, 17 Pima faculty and staff
across the college joined forces toward the development of a
liberatory writing across the curriculum program. This program is
housed in the English department and seeks to support and empower
student writers in all disciplines through liberatory write to learn
curriculum to promote and encourage multi-disciplinary queer, Black,
indigenous, Asian, and borderland writing in research methodologies
to increase social justice-oriented collaboration between Pima's
disciplines and programs.
Initial work on a multi-year proposal is underway, beginning with
student and college employee outreach, data collection and
representation at the International Writing Across the Curriculum
Conference and Summer Institute. A proposal and budget request for
this program was submitted to the provost in January, and the IWAC
committee is hoping to receive a response soon so this work can start
in the fall.
Finally, to highlight a couple of things in applied technology,
the automotive department has run all 16 auto classes in person for
24 weeks without a single case of COVID-19 exposure. They retained
93% of their enrollment numbers this spring, as well.
Automated industrial technology faculty are completing training
so they can offer student certification in collaborative robotics.
This team is incorporating Industry 4.0 equipment into the lab and
added close to 100 students through dual enrollment.
And finally, BCT faculty and students are working with Habitat
For Humanity to build a home for a Tucson family.
Thank you.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Thank you, Ms. Anderson, for that
outstanding presentation. I also just want to thank and recognize
all of the incredible work that the faculty and staff are doing.
Thank you for always bringing the work of the faculty to our
attention.
Again, a huge shoutout to Jennifer Katcher for her work bringing
in another NSF HIS grant. I think she got the first one in our
college's history, and it's very inspiring to hear about the work
she's doing.
If you could please send invitations, if you'd like the board to
attend events, please send them to the chancellor's office for
distribution.
Finally our administrative report with Jeff Thies. Jeff, you
have five minutes.
>> Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Chairperson Clinco,
members of the board, Chancellor Lambert, colleagues, students,
guests. I'm Jeff Thies, dean of college readiness and student
success and your administrative board representative.
There are four topics I want to hit on quickly in our report.
Workforce development, which we heard a lot from earlier, from Ian.
I will make sure we focus on those highlights from workforce that
were not already covered.
A quick view in equitable outcomes data table and graph.
Cross-functional project that multiple administrators have been
working on. And then lastly, provide kudos to a colleague and the
dean of mathematics at the college.
First, with workforce development, in the apprenticeship area,
Pima Community College was the first community college to become a
registered apprenticeship sponsor and currently has five approved
occupations on its sponsorship list. With our successful work with
the American Association of Community Colleges EECA grant, Denise
Kingman and Adrian Joan have been asked to present to peer
institutions. Denise has been asked to join the Arizona
Apprenticeship Advisory Committee as the community college
representative for the work. Great work, Denise.
We have also worked with the Pascua Yaqui tribe and NACTEP to
register a tribal member and their employer for a registered
apprenticeship program.
Next from workforce, the paramedics program is rolling out VR,
virtual reality, patients for virtual reality paramedics training.
The system allows students to practice patient scenarios designed and
assessed by Pima instructional staff in a fully immersive virtual
reality environment.
Last from workforce, the Pascua Yaqui partnership, Brian Stewart,
campus VP at Northwest is liaison to the Pascua Yaqui tribe and has
led a series of inclusive, collaborative IGA planning and strategy
meetings with both college and tribal partners, actively engaging in
the planning.
The Pima team includes the workforce development dean, Amanda
Abens, contracts and additional stakeholders as needed. The college
continues to expand the important partnership with the Pascua Yaqui
tribe with a focus on using data to increase student access,
progression, and success.
The partnership is broad and includes dual enrollment, language
and cultural courses, student support extension services, and a
variety of workforce and CTE offerings.
Moving on to a quick snapshot with some data, evidence-based,
decision-making institution, we always want to look at how we are
doing with equitable student outcomes. This graph aggregates the
academic year, so includes fall, spring, summer, and the 09 terms
along with the 40 terms, 41, 42, 43, and 44.
In this particular graph you can see the American Indian, Alaskan
Native, and Black African American populations, those are defined by
IPEDS, earned passing grades at a lower percentage than the aggregate
over the last three full academic years. Similar to what is
presented in the red for 2019/'20. Both have an equity gap
consistently below the standard error of three percentage points.
Latinx students' core success rates fluctuate between being
within that standard error and just outside, but the consistency of
underperforming compared to the aggregate is true across all three
years.
Of the 136,000 grade records in 1920 [sic], we did see a spike in
incompletes up to about just over 5,000. That was due primarily to
the incomplete audit that we provided as part of the pandemic shift
last spring.
Once these grades are resolved, the overall success rate should
shift. That's been the third piece here, cross-functional project.
Incomplete audits has been something that a group of administrators
have been working on under the leadership of Bruce Moses, starting
last December. Incomplete audits were provided in spring 2020 as a
response to the transition of in-person to online courses.
The incomplete policy has two primary components that are
considered for a one-time adjustment. One of those considerations is
the deadline of an automatic grade change to an F and the other is
the one-year deadline when incompletes have to be completed.
A decision to adjust the remaining I's to a W based on the
temporary redefinition once the one-year term expires was made in
January, so that means we have worked feverishly with deans and
department heads and faculty to make sure that any audits that
students have taken since last spring are being converted over to
grades before the registrar takes over with that final step at the
end.
So that's an ongoing project to clean up the incomplete audit
options that were provided last spring before the term of that
incomplete disappears.
And lastly, Nina Corson, dean of mathematics, gave a keynote at
the statewide ArizMATYC Conference last Friday. I was fortunate to
attend. Nina did an incredible job presenting to the faculty that
are in that association on the future of mathematics and how math
faculty can be engaged with student success initiatives on their
campus.
She was actively engaged, the group that was attending, so it was
a great event all together and just wanted to give Nina some kudos
for that.
That ends my report.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Thank you very much, Mr. These. Moving on
to the next item, chancellor's report. Chancellor Lambert?
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Yes, good evening, everybody. First I'd
like to say thank you to the faculty and the staff and
administration. As you can hear tonight, just so many great things
happening at the college. It's happening because of all of you and
all of us working together, focused on the vision that we have set
forth to be one of the premier community colleges in the country.
That cannot happen without all of us coming together and focusing
on that grand vision. So thank you.
Also, I'm just so excited that we can start to see that light at
the end of the tunnel. As you know, here in the State of Arizona,
over 2,300,000, nearly, vaccinations have been administered and so at
this pace, things should pretty much look very, very different when
we get into the summer and going into the fall.
Now, as we, and you'll hear more at the All College meeting on
Friday, but I'm very hopeful that we can come back to the fall into a
new normal environment that will not look like the environment we
were in before we went into the pandemic. It's going to be more
enhanced, more improved, also with attention always to safety.
I'm just so excited that we are getting there. But we've got to
still be patient. We've got to be vigilant. We need to continue to
follow protocols and we will stick to that. We will not do something
that's inconsistent with the CDC and with the Pima Health
Department's direction and guidance.
I just want to acknowledge Bill and his team, because they have
been ever-vigilant around these safety protocols, working with David
Dori and the campus folks just to make sure everything runs smoothly.
We are just so pleased.
Thank you, Brooke, for highlighting the auto department, because
we have a lot of auto departments. So many of our departments that
have been going here on the ground have done very, very well to keep
the environment safe for everybody.
Also, Bill informed me tonight that we have taken ownership of
the auto building, so we are so excited that we can now begin the
process, transitioning from the current facility into that beautiful
new facility and have things ready hopefully by the fall for
instruction and that great, great new facility.
Also, a number of us participated in the 21-Day Racial Equity
Challenge, and just some key highlights from that. If you haven't
had a chance to participate, I would highly encourage anyone to do
that. If board members are interested in it, just let Andrea know,
and we'll get you connected with the 21-Day Racial Equity Challenge.
Tone policing, intersectionality, defunding the police,
microaggressions and so many other themes were covered as part of
that process. Interestingly enough, we ended the 21-day challenge
with Dr. Eddie Moore speaking to all of us who participated in this
first round, and it turns out Dr. Moore and I have a connection back
to the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. In fact, one
of the key individuals at the college, he credits him for saving his
life. That's a powerful statement to be made by anybody. So thank
you to Dr. Moore.
I want to thank Hilda Ladner and Dr. Daisy Pitel Rodriguez who
helped really pull that together for us.
Also, we have received our CRRSA funds. I just want to thank the
board for your insight and input and thank Norma and her team for
putting together a different framework for how we would decide which
level and dollar amounts and how many students we would disburse
funds to.
It's important to recognize that this set of funds came with an
expanded definition of who could be covered, so that was a positive
thing. Unfortunately, the federal government is still not
recognizing DACA students or international students for eligibility,
but we will do our best to reach as many of our students who are
eligible.
We are hoping that we can start disbursing the funds as early as
Monday of next week. Again, just very excited for the great work
that everyone has done in this area.
I want to thank the board for participating in the ACCT
legislative summit. It was a lot different this year, and, Cat, we
brought you into a different environment, but thank you for
participating.
Next year when we go, you'll get to really feel just the
significance of the event when you're there with thousands of
trustees from across the country really making a difference on
Capitol Hill.
I also want to thank the students. Our students that we had,
like each year, just amazing ambassadors for the college. We should
all be proud of the difference we are making in their lives, and
their ability to articulate their experiences is just phenomenal.
Also, I'll just touch on a few things we addressed in that
legislative summit. We talked about the Dream Act and supporting the
Dream Act. We thanked the lawmakers and their staff for the support
of the CARES Act and CRRSA.
We really advocated for the reauthorization of the Higher
Education Act and the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment
Opportunity Act. All of these things are major pieces of legislation
that are important to us.
This most recent stimulus will be signed by the president, 1.9
trillion, and, yes, we will be receiving some additional resources as
part of that 1.9. We are also very excited about some new
developments around infrastructure. That should be probably the next
wave of investment coming from the federal government, with that
investment into job training, et cetera.
Also, I just want to say kudos to Brian Stewart and to Serena P
for leading the teams from the Pascua Yaqui tribe and from the
college to come to a next-level agreement. We are so excited about
that. Thank you both and your teams for the great work that you did.
I just want to again thank Hilda and Daisy for their work around
diversity, equity, inclusion for the college, and for really putting
together tonight's Antihate, Asian Hate Proclamation, thank you for
doing that and working with Jeff to make sure that it's all cleaned
up and ready to go.
I would invite the board, if you like, please let Andrea know, if
you would like to take a 3D virtual reality tour of that amazing
100,000 square foot advanced manufacturing center. I had the
opportunity to take that tour, and it is phenomenal. You also get to
experience the power of virtual reality, augmented reality, and
you're going to see more and more of that being integrated into the
work we do here at the college both from an instructional standpoint
but also from an employee day-to-day work standpoint.
In this model you're going to see how taking what we are doing on
the facilities side to build new facilities and be able to see it
before you actually get to go in it. It's an amazing experience.
We'd love for you to come take advantage of that opportunity.
Special thanks to my team. We could not do what we do at the
college without having a strong administration and to provide the
overall leadership and guidance for the direction we are going in.
As you hear, the great work happening on the instructional side. So
thank you to our provost and thank you on the student services side
to our president of campuses. Again, we are just seeing so many
tremendous, positive things. Let's keep focused on the positive
because we are going to make a major difference for this community.
Thank you, all. I'm done.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Thank you very much, and thank you,
Chancellor Lambert, for all of the work you're doing, you know, in
your continual vision and leadership for this institution. We really
value it. Thank you.
Next are our information items, item 3.1 through 3.11.
Mr. Silvyn, if you could read the information items, please.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Thank you, Mr. Chair.
The information items that were included with the board materials
for this meeting are the December 2020 financial statements.
Employment information listing one new hire and a few retirements and
separations. Faculty hiring, that's the hiring of one new regular
faculty member for the nursing program. A list of several
individuals who have been qualified to teach as adjunct faculty at
Pima Community College.
The list of administrators who will be receiving contracts for
the '21/'22 fiscal year -- that's a typo in the agenda item. It's
actually for the '21/'22 fiscal year. Faculty appointments, also for
the regular faculty appointments, that's also for the fiscal year
'21/'22 time frame.
Two administrative procedure changes, AP 1.01.03 which relates to
the development of standard operating procedures. As you heard, we
will delay posting the financial version until we have some further
conversation.
Then there is also AP 3.25.03 relating to the college curriculum
council, existing AP that's been revised.
Next we have the 2021 through '22 academic calendar. Then we
have the information regarding the employee dental insurance coverage
that would be available during the fiscal year '21 to '22 cycle.
A description of the employee life insurance benefit that will be
available during the fiscal year '21/'22 cycle. And finally
highlighting, doing a highlighting of different grant programs around
the college. This particular one relates to a grant that the college
received for English language training during the fiscal year 2021
cycle and that amount is in excess of $347,000.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Okay. Thank you very much. Next we have
the consent agenda items. Mr. Silvyn, if you could read the consent
items.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Items on the consent
agenda for this evening are the minutes for the February 3, 2021
executive session meeting. The February 3, 2021 regular meeting.
The February 15 study session.
Next we have a list of proposed sabbatical approvals for fall
2021 and '22. Next we have a proposed contract, amendment to a
contract with Allusion (phonetic) Company for e-invoicing and
e-procurement services. The proposed total cost if we went through
the entire five-year extensions would not exceed $565,465.
Next we have a proposed up to two-year extension for the current
contract with Bracy Tucker Brown for federal lobbying services for an
amount not expected to exceed $168,000.
We have a proposed amendment to the contract for services we have
with the SmithGroup for the review of the facilities and educational
master plans of a slight adjustment in the scope of work which would
result in an increased cost of $15,125.
Next we have requested approval for the employee medical benefits
and pharmaceutical benefits for fiscal year '21-2022. The total
costs for that will be in the budget to be presented to the board.
Next we have a proposal to adopt a public safety personnel
retirement system pension funding policy at an annual cost of $1.3
million for the next five years which would improve the funding ratio
for that pension plan.
Next we have a request for approval of the long-term disability
plan which would increase the amount of benefits available to
employees by decreasing the waiting period before which they are able
to receive disability benefits.
Next we have a request for approval of a new assistant vice
chancellor for curriculum and academic quality improvement position
which represents the consolidation of two existing administrator
positions.
Finally we have the proposed intergovernmental agreement with the
Pascua Yaqui tribe for the provision of a variety of educational
programs.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Is there a motion to approve the consent
agenda?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: I'd like to table one of the items.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Well, we'd have to pull the item and
discuss it separately. So which item?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: The one for the new position that's going
to replace the two.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: So we can discuss that item separately.
So that item, just to be clear, that's item 4.11.
Okay. So do I have a motion to adopt the consent agenda minus
4.11?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Yes.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Is there a second?
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Second.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Could you to a roll call vote, please?
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Sure. Hold on one second.
Catherine Ripley?
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Yes.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Demion Clinco?
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Yes.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Maria Garcia?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Yes.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Meredith Hay?
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: Yes.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Luis Gonzales?
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: Yes.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: The motion carries unanimously.
Next we will take item 5.1. Mr. Silvyn, if you could read the
item?
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Excuse me, do you want to cover 4.11, the
one consent agenda item that got pulled first?
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: I figured we could just do that at the
end, but...
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Very well. I wanted to make sure we didn't
forget that.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: I have it on my list.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: All right.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Read the item, please.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Item 5.1, proposed amendment to the bylaws.
The recommendation is the chancellor recommends that the Governing
Board consider a proposal to amend board bylaw article 4. The
proposed language is attached to the board materials.
So if a board member would like to make the motion, we can have
discussion and see whether there are amendments or other changes
requested.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Mr. Silvyn, I would make the motion that
we table this item and address it as part of our annual three-year
review which is scheduled to start May/April of this year. So that's
the motion.
Is there a second?
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: Second.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Any discussion?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Yes. So is there a way to appeal your
comment? I don't know.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: There is a motion on the floor.
Mr. Silvyn?
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: So there has been a motion to table. So now
there is a time for discussion. So if there are questions or
individual board members have different views, there is certainly
opportunity to express them.
Then the question is -- then the board would vote. If the motion
to table passes, then that would end discussion of this proposal for
the time being until it's put on a future meeting. If the motion
fails, then there is no motion on the table and a board member is
free to make a different motion regarding the proposal.
Does that answer your question sufficiently?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: No. I don't understand it. So you're
saying you're going to table, he wants to table the motion, so is
there a discussion or is there not a discussion?
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: There is a discussion.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Yes, I'm sorry if that wasn't clear. There
can be a discussion, and then the board would vote on the motion to
table, and then depending on whatever happens with that, then we
would take the next steps.
One other thing I should mention is if someone wants to offer a
different time frame for tabling the motion, that would be also an
appropriate request at this time.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: We have a discussion.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: I just have one question for
discussion, and that is are we voting either to vote now or to table
specifically to change the bylaw to have the terms, one-year terms,
and are we voting on separately to make that effective now or
effective at the next January meeting? So is it all combined?
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: This was just a combined motion.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Right. So the motion on the table right now
is only the question of is the board going to consider the proposal
tonight or are you tabling it to the future meeting after the review
process as Mr. Clinco has proposed? So that's the question now.
If the board decision is not to table and to consider the issue
tonight, then you have, yes, two questions in front of you, really.
One is to amend the board bylaw as proposed and the second is when to
make it effective.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Okay. So --
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Part of the discussion, if I may, Jeff,
could you tell us a little bit about the proposed structure of what
the three-year review will look like or the full bylaw review?
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Sure. Assuming we do something similar to
what happened three years ago, we staff, with assistance of outside
counsel, would go through the entire bylaws with the board. It would
probably take a series of study sessions to do that.
The outcome of that would likely be that the board might propose
multiple changes to different sections of the bylaws, and at the
conclusion of that process, depending on the will of the board, we
could vote on the entire package of changes or we could do them
article by article.
But the point of that process is to go through the entire bylaws
in a completely comprehensive way from the very beginning to the very
end and see what changes, if any, the board thinks need to be made to
improve them.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Okay. My concern is that the way that the
bylaw is stated right now is that it goes against state statute,
okay? Now, so what Demion is proposing is that we table it until we
go through the bylaw reviews; is that correct?
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Yes.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Okay. That's what you're proposing right
now? And I'm saying that we need to have a discussion to come into
compliance with the state statute.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Mr. Silvyn, do you believe that we are out
of compliance with state statute regarding this?
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: No. I don't believe that the current bylaws
providing for a two-year term for an officer chair, I believe that is
consistent with state law, is not a violation of state law.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Well, according to Maricopa, they voted to
change this for that very reason because they wanted to come to
compliance.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: So with all due respect, there were some
individuals who, like yourself, have that opinion. That was not a
universal decision. They voted to change the bylaws essentially to
just resolve the argument and no longer have it be an issue.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Okay. So then if we're going to table, if
the vote is to table this amendment or this change in bylaw, then I'm
going to request a special hearing, a special meeting to discuss
this.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: I would like to also -- I mean, this is
still discussion, so the question at hand needs to be addressed and
needs to be answered satisfactorily by all board members, and that is
is it up for opinion or is it up to interpretation on what the
statute actually reads?
I think we all need to be comfortable that it's cut and dried and
that's exactly how the statute reads. I think that discussion needs
to happen. It could be at the next board meeting, could be during
the bylaws review, but I don't think we can make a decision today
until we get a definitive answer on the interpretation of the
statute.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Mr. Silvyn?
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Well, I guess my question is do you have a
specific proposal to how to do that? I'm happy to write up my
analysis and explain why I think the current bylaws are consistent
with the state law. That might certainly be a start.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: We could also, for consideration, we could
ask for an opinion from the attorney general.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: And I'm okay with that.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: So the way to do that probably is to combine
what I just suggested with what has just been suggested, what I can
do is write up an analysis and submit it to the office of the
attorney general and ask them to review the opinion and opine whether
they agree with it or whether they believe it should be modified.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Fine.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: That would be a condition of the
tabling --
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Yes.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: -- is what I'm hearing as a potential
amendment. I would offer an amendment to the motion to that effect
that we would table the item. Mr. Silvyn will prepare -- looks like
Mr. Gonzales has a question, as well, but let me just sort of clarify
what the amendment would be, and then we have to check to make sure
the seconder is comfortable with that.
We would table the item, Mr. Silvyn will prepare an opinion,
he'll send it to the attorney general for comment. Then we will get
that back. Then by that time this will probably be in the review of
the three-cycle, three-year review which will start really in May.
It seems like it's sort of coalescing at the same time.
Dr. Hay, is that suitable as the seconder?
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: Yes.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Additional discussion. Mr. Gonzales?
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: Clarification, Mr. Silvyn. In order to
table this, what we table is basically the chair terms, which is two
year right now currently, and we want to change it to one year.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: So let's see if I can try and provide some
clarity. So the bylaws currently provide that the chair and the
vice-chair serve two-year terms. There has been a request that that
be changed so that it be a one-year term instead of a two-year term.
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: Exactly.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Yes. Okay, good. So we're clear about
that.
The motion before the board for consideration and vote is whether
to essentially delay consideration of that change until May, and in
the meantime that I would be directed to prepare an analysis of
whether the two-year term complies with state law and submit that to
the Arizona Attorney General for its opinion so that that information
would be available to the board as part of the process of reviewing
the bylaws to further inform your discussion and decision about
whether to change the term for the officers.
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: Okay. My understanding at this real time
right now, I thought we were still in discussion. I know that
Mr. Demion mentioned a motion but hasn't been seconded yet, so
discussion, I still feel that it should be voted on reference to the
initial, which is the changes of the terms from two year to one year,
correct?
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Mr. Gonzales, we actually do have a
second. Dr. Hay seconded the motion to table. So we have a motion
on the table. We have amended the motion to include the review, and
that we would -- actually, Jeff, I would think once we get the
review, comment back from the attorney general, we would then add
this back onto the regular agenda. We wouldn't just wait arbitrarily
until May?
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Right. We can certainly adjust the schedule
depending upon when we get feedback from the Arizona Attorney
General. I just can't predict exactly how long that's going to take.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: That is the motion that we have on the
table.
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: Okay.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Is there any additional discussion? Okay.
Hearing none, Mr. Silvyn, could you read the roll?
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Yes. I would be glad to, Mr. Chair.
Ms. Ripley?
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Yes.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Mr. Clinco?
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Yes.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Ms. Garcia?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: No.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Dr. Hay?
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: Yes.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Mr. Gonzales?
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: No. Because I know the last time it was
changed we had set precedence of one year, and I say no.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Okay. So the motion passes 3-2 with Board
Member Garcia and Board Member Gonzales dissenting.
Okay. The next item on the agenda is the Proclamation to
Denounce Anti-Asian Violence. Mr. Silvyn, could you please read the
recommendation and the proclamation?
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Yes, Mr. Chair, be glad to.
The chancellor recommends that the Governing Board issue a
proclamation regarding the rise in anti-Asian violence. The specific
language of the resolution is as follows. Whereas the United States
of America has lost more than 500,000 individuals due to COVID-19,
and since the beginning of the pandemic there have been over 3,000
incidents of violence against Asian Pacific Islander Desi American.
Whereas anti-Asian sentiment in the United States has continued
since the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, including racially motivated
attacks on people of Asian Pacific Islander Desi American dissent.
Whereas February 19 is the day of remembrance for Executive Order
9066 which called for the internment of Japanese Americans in 1942
further disarming 120,000 U.S. citizens of their 1st through 6th
Amendment rights.
Whereas Arizona was one of the states where such internment camps
were located, including the nearby Gordon Hirbayashi location at the
base of Mount Lemmon.
Whereas a Tucson church largely attended by people of Asian
heritage was vandalized, and whereas many Asian Pacific Islander and
Desi Americans continue to face fear of verbal abuse, female
fetishization, injury or death while attending school, going to the
grocery store, getting a COVID-19 vaccine, or simply taking a walk.
Whereas President Biden issued an executive order on January 26,
2021, to combat xenophobia against Asian Americans, especially in
light of the pandemic, and urge all leaders to actively commit to an
act D Order.
Whereas the Governing Board supports Pima Community College's
unwavering commitment to social justice through policies and
practices that further diversity, equity, inclusion in our
classrooms, offices, and throughout the campus community, for these
policies and practices move the college forward and compel us to
demand better.
Whereas the Governing Board applauds and endorses college efforts
to proactively create curriculum and extracurricular activities that
give our students the opportunity to hear a multitude of voices,
discuss and debate critical issues of social justice.
Whereas the Governing Board recognizes the long-standing Asian
American sentiment that exists in our nation and is committed to
acting deliberately to create a safe and inclusive learning
environment while also offering more programs, initiatives, and
efforts to expand the understanding of Asian Pacific Islander Desi
Americans in the United States.
Be it resolved the college values and embraces broadening its
curriculum to include Asian Pacific American study courses
acknowledging the necessity of creating academic opportunities to
learn about a population that has inhabited the United States since
the 1800s.
Further, the Governing Board recommits itself to support faculty,
staff, and administration in their stalwart pursuit of quality higher
education for all who seek it in our community knowing that education
empowers a citizenry that can respond effectively to the challenges
that confront them and is the most powerful tool for changing the
world.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Do I have a motion to adopt the
proclamation?
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: So moved.
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: I move we adopt.
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: Sorry, Cat. I second.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: I hear Board Member Ripley made the
motion, seconded by Dr. Hay.
Mr. Silvyn, if you could do the roll call vote?
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Yes. Ms. Ripley?
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Yes.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Mr. Clinco?
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Yes.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Ms. Garcia?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Yes.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Dr. Hay?
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: Yes.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Mr. Gonzales?
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: Yes.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Okay.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: The motion passes unanimously.
Next is board policy changes final reading 5.3. Mr. Silvyn, if
you could read the recommendation?
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: The chancellor recommends that the Governing
Board approve the recommended changes to board policy 4.01, financial
controls and institutional budget, and board policy 4.07, cash
reserves.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Is there a motion to adopt the
recommendation?
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: So moved.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Is there a second?
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Second.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Seconded by Ms. Ripley. Discussion? Is
there any discussion on the item or do we want to hear a presentation
and details about...
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: Presentation.
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: So I have Dr. Dave Bea on, and he will be
glad to take us through both of these BPs. Dave?
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Okay.
>> DR. DAVID BEA: Good evening, Chairperson Clinco, members of
the board, Chancellor Lambert, colleagues and guests.
As was just mentioned, there are two board policy changes up for
recommendation for the board tonight. Board policy 4.01 is really
just a moderate change to that policy, financial controls and
institutional budget policy. What it does is clarify a little bit of
the language, adds the word "procedures" to one of the sections,
procedures, and some other minor changes.
Then there is a section that adds in that to be financially
prudent and responsible to also financially plan for financial
obligations and commitments including long-term liabilities, bond
covenants, and these are formal obligations that we have.
So what it's just stipulating is that just as part of the
standard practice with our financial procedures that we take those
into consideration when we are going into the budget.
Just as an example of that, the board passed the Public Safety
Retirement System change to address some of the unfunded liability in
that program. That's the kind of thing and in fact that's where the
liability language came from was folding in the concept from that.
So that's the first one.
The second one is revision of the cash reserves policy, and what
it really is intended to do is create a target threshold for our
reserves so we have sort of a line in the sand, if you will, for how
much we should have on hand to maintain healthy practices from a
financial standpoint so that we don't overobligate ourselves
financially, that we have good reserves. Think of the reserves like
that would be the money that we have in the bank for a rainy day or
for a problem.
And we are held accountable to that in a couple of different
ways. One is the HLC has financial metrics that we have to provide
to them on an annual basis that show that we are being managed
financially responsibly, and then the second one is credit rating
agency, look at what our reserves that we have on hand.
If the institution ever had a reserve that dropped below a
healthy level, that would result in negative credit ratings, we would
have problems borrowing money at the rates that we presently have.
What this policy change does is set a target threshold which is
essentially to ensure that there are reserves on hand when we are
developing the budget and setting a course for the year that is 75%
of the prior year's designated and general fund budget. Essentially
what that means is we would be able to fund nine months of operations
if revenues just ceased, and it further gets into the detail of
within those 75% or the nine months' worth of reserves that we have
on hand that they will be invested -- 10% of that will be set aside
in cash and cash equivalents, so if there is a real clear emergency
that we have highly liquid funds available. Again, that's just a
moderate change from where our current practice is, I would say,
insignificant change from what our current practice is.
And then the rest is put into short-term and long-term
investments and the finance audit committee routinely gets reports on
how those funds are invested, and there are clear guidelines set out
in terms of what the particular investments we're able to put the
money into.
And then it gets into the target threshold. What it does is that
if those reserves fall below that 75% threshold, what it would
trigger is that in our annual budget process, we would be coming to
the board and we would be providing a plan for how to get back up if
it falls below what -- we will come up with a plan for how to get
back up to that 75% threshold.
Just for context right now, we are closer to the 98 and 95%
level, so this isn't something that's going to trigger anything
immediately. But what it does that's going to be I think really
helpful for the board is when we think about reinvesting in our
long-term, in our capital needs, things like adding the Allied Health
building which we have talked about and the board has given direction
on moving forward with that building, is that there will be sort of a
marker that we can look at and say, okay, we have obligated this
much, we are still in a good healthy place in terms of that 75%
threshold.
So it's really to give the board a marker and will provide
assurance that we are in a very, a financially healthy place in
running things with very responsible reserves.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Are there questions for Dr. Bea?
Ms. Garcia?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: So what is our present threshold? Is it
95%?
>> DR. DAVID BEA: We currently don't have a threshold.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: We don't.
>> DR. DAVID BEA: We don't have that threshold that's equivalent
to the 75%. It is creating that threshold now.
In the past, what I would say is it's been, in the last ten
years, it's ranged from about 55% to where we are at now, which is
closer to 90%.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Okay. So one of the things that you
mentioned was that we are looking at nine months to be able to pay
off bills, correct? A nine-month time period?
>> DR. DAVID BEA: Right. Of our operating expenses.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Of our operating expenses.
>> DR. DAVID BEA: The money that would be invested, we would
have sufficient reserves that if no additional revenues come in we
could run operations for nine months. That's not exactly what would
happen in reality, but that's essentially what the target threshold
would be.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Just to clarify, that's in like a
catastrophic event, Pandemic 2, where we could have no classes and no
Internet, we could still keep everyone employed and college running
for nine months with the reserves?
>> DR. DAVID BEA: Correct.
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: If I'm not mistaken, Mr. Clinco, that's way
beyond standard practice, that's fine, but it's usually 90 days,
which is great, nine months, that's a long runway.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Are there any additional questions or
concerns for Dr. Bea?
Okay. Are we ready...
>> DR. DAVID BEA: I will also point out that this did go through
finance audit committee, so they have endorsed the concepts and the
thresholds that we are presenting.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: We have a motion to adopt.
Mr. Silvyn, will you read the roll?
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ms. Ripley?
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Yes.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Mr. Clinco?
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Yes.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Ms. Garcia?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Yes.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Dr. Hay?
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: Yes.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Mr. Gonzales?
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: Yes.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Okay. The motion passes unanimously. Our
next item is 4.5, fiscal year 2022 tuition and fees budget
components.
Mr. Silvyn, if you could read the recommendation, please.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: The chancellor recommends the Governing
Board set tuition and service fees for fiscal year 2022 maintaining
current in-state resident and nonresident including summer and online
tuition and service fee rates.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Do I have a motion to adopt the
recommendation?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: So moved.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Is there a second? I will second it.
Discussion? Chancellor Lambert? Do we have a overview of this?
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Sure. I'd be happy to just make a comment
and then ask Dr. Dave Bea to weigh in.
So we are, in short, we are not asking for tuition increase this
year. I don't know, Dave, if you want to elaborate on that?
>> DR. DAVID BEA: I'm not sure I could say it any more clearly
or concisely as that. And this is consistent with what we have been
talking with the board about during study sessions and budget
preparation, that in light of the passage of Proposition 481, with
the additional revenues coming in from Prop 207, and particularly
with the assistance coming from CRRSA and the impacts that we know on
our community and what has happened in terms of the pandemic is that
the recommendation is to keep tuition at the same level it's at this
current year.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Any discussion?
So I would just thank the administration for coming forward with
this plan. You know, I think the board has stated over and over our
total and complete concern for the students of this college and our
community. We appreciate you coming forward with this
recommendation. At least I do.
If there are no further comments, Mr. Silvyn, could you do a roll
call vote?
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Yes, Mr. Chair, glad to. Ms. Ripley?
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Yes.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Mr. Clinco?
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Yes.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Ms. Garcia?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Yes.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Dr. Hay?
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: Yes.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Mr. Gonzales?
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: Yes.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Okay. Motion passes unanimously.
Our next item is 5.5, academic year 2021/2022 success support
courses at no cost. Mr. Silvyn, could you please read the
recommendation?
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: The chancellor recommends the Governing
Board authorize the chancellor or designee to approve the following
success support courses for academic year 2021 through 2022 at no
cost for tuition or service fees.
STU 100, STU 106, STU 107, STU 109, HRP 100, HON 101, Math 92LB,
Math 92RQ and Math 97RQ.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Do I have a motion to adopt this
recommendation?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: So moved.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Moved by Ms. Garcia. Was there a second?
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Second.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Seconded by Ms. Ripley.
Do we need to have a discussion, or is it fairly clear what we
are doing? Okay.
Looks like everyone is shaking their head. We will move to the
vote. Mr. Silvyn? If you could read the roll, please?
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Ms. Ripley?
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Yes.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Mr. Clinco?
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Yes.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Ms. Garcia?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Yes.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Dr. Hay?
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: Yes.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Mr. Gonzales?
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: Yes.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: The motion passes unanimously.
Next is item 4.11, the new position of vice chancellor for
curriculum and academic quality improvement.
Do you want to start by reading the recommendation?
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Certainly, I'd be glad to, Mr. Chair.
The chancellor recommends the Governing Board approve the new
assistant vice chancellor for curriculum and academic quality
improvement position which represents a consolidation of two
administrator positions.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Is there a motion to approve the
recommendation? Then we will --
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: Yes.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Didn't I get that one tabled?
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: No. So currently we pulled it from the
consent agenda, and now we're going to have a discussion about it.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Okay.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: In order to have the discussion we need to
make some sort of motion. We have a motion that Dr. Hay has made but
there hasn't been a second yet. Is there a second?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: I'll second it.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: It's been seconded. Now a discussion.
Chancellor Lambert, do you want to talk us through this?
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Yes. So I'll share some background on this
and then I'll probably have Jeff fill in some of the gaps.
Unfortunately, our provost could not be here tonight, so this is
being brought on behalf of our provost.
So I'll take us back in time. So when the college was going
through all of the HLC challenges, we had to quickly put together
some new positions to handle some key areas of the college where we
had tremendous gaps, one having to do with academic quality and
improvement. We didn't have strong leadership overseeing our
criterion for compliance with HLC. We had multiple positions in
curriculum.
Over time we have reorganized the institution. A lot of work has
been done in those areas I just noted. As a result, we don't need as
many positions any longer.
So this is a consolidation of a couple of positions, rolling it
up into that higher level position. So you're effectively taking an
associate vice chancellor position and combining it with a director
position to create just a single position that will oversee both the
academic quality pieces and assessment. I'm sorry, curriculum.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Okay. So you're saying that these two
administrative vice chancellors will no longer have positions,
correct? And you're going to create a new position? Are one of
those people going to move forward or is somebody else being
considered?
Then my next question is with enrollment being so low, why do we
need that many people, you know, that many directors and
administrators? Because this particular area has a lot.
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Well, so to your question, that's why we are
doing this, to reduce the number.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: (Indiscernible) right?
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Two to one, from two positions down to one.
So that's part of the net effect of this.
In terms of recruitment, we're going to do an internal interim
placement, and then we're going to go out and do a national search.
So what I like to do in most instances when someone receives their
first administrator position that they go through a national
recruitment for that.
There is some rare exceptions to that. But all administrative
level positions since I have been here with rare exceptions have gone
through a national search. We want to make sure we're attracting the
best capable quality candidates we can get to oversee key parts of
the college.
I will say this. We have about 40-ish administrator positions.
For the size of the college we are, that's a little low.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: But, sorry, considering the amount of
-- considering the amount of enrollment that we have...
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Ms. Garcia --
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Okay, sorry.
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: So I recognize that. That's why we have
kept the positions at a fairly low number. But what that does do, it
places a disproportionate amount of work on individuals in the
administration.
Remember, in the administration, it has a large set of
responsibilities for compliance, which is in many cases very
significant. That is very true in this particular area. So to have
only one person shouldering that load is asking a lot.
And then they have planning responsibilities. They have
supervision and management responsibilities. They have planning
responsibilities. So you just start to add all of those things up,
and it is asking a lot of a single individual.
But we recognize that enrollment is low, and as a result of that,
we have had to make decisions to adjust the size of the college
consistent with that through all ranks of the college.
So everyone is carrying a heavier burden. So I recognize that,
too. But also keep in mind, we have stabilized our financial
position, thanks to the passage of 481, as well as with the marijuana
proposition passing. The college is going to see for the first time
new revenue that it hasn't seen in a long, long time. Then we also
have bridge resources thanks to the COVID stimulus packages.
So we are in a great position to start making some of these
transitions and positioning for future growth of the institution.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Go ahead, Ms. Garcia. I'm sorry to cut
you off earlier. We had a conversation going.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: No, no, I'm fine.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Could you tell us a little bit more about
what your concern is?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Well, I just don't see the point. With the
amount of directors and administrators we have at the present time,
even though we're getting rid of two, I think that this particular
area of the college needs to be re-evaluated as to what people are
really doing.
You know, what contributions are they giving? I mean, are they
being utilized effectively? Do they have the right skill sets? I
don't know that. But I just don't think that making another position
at a higher level takes care of it.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Chancellor Lambert?
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: So, Ms. Garcia, when the college moved from
probation to notice, one of the big issues that the HLC pointed out
to the college was that it was not effectively assessing student
learning. So we had to put greater attention to meet our HLC
obligation.
So I think this is a well-worth-it investment to keep the college
out of hot water for something that it hadn't been able to do. If
you'd like to go see the past reports, we'd gladly supply to you,
decades, the HLC kept telling the college, you don't have an
integrated systematic approach to assessing student learning
outcomes.
We now have that system in place, but we don't need multiple
people. We just need one capable person, and now we're at that point
that we can do that. And so I think it would be ill-advised not to
have somebody overseeing this work.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Okay. I'm going to make one more comment.
Sorry. I just hope this person is not going to be an out-of-state
person that's going to run this, that's going to be on this program,
that lives outside.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: If I might, just to the point Ms. Garcia
made or was raising earlier, so there was a retirement in this area
of one of the people in the area, and the priorities and needs have
shifted because we moved from not having a sufficiently robust
student assessment system to implementing a new much-more-robust
system. We have also made significant changes in curriculum.
So the allocation of responsibilities among different positions,
all that's been looked at, and this is an effort to try and realign
the skill sets and the resources. One piece of that was creating
this new position out of two other positions. This aspect came to
the board because its creating a new position requires board
approval. But some of the steps you're talking about were part of --
there is a bigger reorganization going on, not just this piece.
And then to the last issue you raised, my understanding the plan
is that this opportunity is going to be open to Pima College staff
first to see if there is someone in the college currently who could
step into the role so that we do keep it within the college community
and local.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Chancellor Lambert?
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Just to clarify, Jeff, that's on an interim
basis. Then we would open it up for a national search.
Now remember, I think in a healthy organization, you're always
balancing between promoting people from within the college and
bringing new people in from the outside. You have to balance and
weigh that so you're always bringing in new ideas, but at the same
time allowing opportunities for existing people to grow.
So we're always balancing those, that tension. If we're really
committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion, we have to be willing
to open our positions up for recruitment.
So that's another important part of the equation of why I just
don't want to promote someone who is not already an existing
administrator into an administrator position without going through a
national search. So it allows for the balance and our commitment to
DEI as part of our larger focus of our mission.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: I understand that, Chancellor Lambert. I
guess what I'm going to ask, though, is that whoever you do -- I
mean, I'm going to go ahead and vote for this, but what I'm going to
ask is that you not hire somebody who is going to be working from
out-of-state. I already know that that already exists. Not for this
position, but for your new HR person.
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: Well, let me clarify something on that
piece. So I think there is a little misunderstanding on that. We
hired our new HR person. She will be moving to Tucson.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Okay.
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: She's in transition right now. So I'm sorry
that you have been misled about that. We expect our administrators,
and just about all of our employees to live here in Pima County.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Okay, good.
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: And because of COVID, it has created just
this, you know, mismatched, misbalance around this.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Okay.
>> DR. LEE LAMBERT: I'm sorry you have been misled on the HR
position. I'm very sensitive to that, because these positions are
funded by our local taxpayers. So these individuals should live in
commutable distance to the college.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Okay. Thank you.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Ms. Ripley?
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Yes, just to kind of add and summarize,
I think that it would be good for the board to have a study session
or some other offline discussion of the administrative positions if
there are 40-some and look at their job descriptions and have that,
be part of at least a little part of the reorg process so that we
have an understanding just to address your concerns, Ms. Garcia, and
all of us, to exactly where are we going with enrollment coming down
and, you know, possible problems with tuition.
I think it's just healthy to look at -- so that the board
understands fully what exactly, what precisely are the administrators
doing, because they are very, they are higher-level positions than
staff. It's where a lot of our budget goes towards, and I think it's
incumbent upon us as board members to fully understand that.
So I think it would be a good study session.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Thank you, Catherine.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Okay. Mr. Gonzales? Then we will have a
vote. Go ahead.
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: I just want to make a comment in reference
to this position is that, one, whoever is going to be hired should
be, as mentioned a while ago, the best capable and more qualified,
which is good, but also somebody that knows the community and
reflective of the community of the students, as well, too. Thank
you.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Thank you very much.
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: That's good.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Is there any last comments? Okay.
Hearing none, Mr. Silvyn, if you could read the roll call vote,
please.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Ms. Ripley?
>> MS. CATHERINE RIPLEY: Yes.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Mr. Clinco?
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: Yes.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Ms. Garcia?
>> MS. MARIA GARCIA: Yes.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Dr. Hay?
>> DR. MEREDITH HAY: Yes.
>> MR. JEFF SILVYN: Mr. Gonzales?
>> MR. LUIS GONZALES: Yes.
>> MR. DEMION CLINCO: The motion passes unanimously. Next is
request for future agenda items.
Okay. Hearing none, our meeting is adjourned. I will just say
we are going to try to create some sort of hybrid and look at options
for coming back partially in person either at our next meeting or the
meeting thereafter. Okay. Thank you very much.
(Adjournment.)
*********************************************
DISCLAIMER: THIS CART FILE WAS PRODUCED FOR COMMUNICATION
ACCESS AS AN ADA ACCOMMODATION AND MAY NOT BE 100% VERBATIM. THIS IS
A DRAFT FILE AND HAS NOT BEEN PROOFREAD. IT IS SCAN-EDITED ONLY, AS
PER CART INDUSTRY STANDARDS, AND MAY CONTAIN SOME PHONETICALLY
REPRESENTED WORDS, INCORRECT SPELLINGS, TRANSMISSION ERRORS, AND
STENOTYPE SYMBOLS OR NONSENSICAL WORDS. THIS IS NOT A LEGAL DOCUMENT
AND MAY CONTAIN COPYRIGHTED, PRIVILEGED OR CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.
THIS FILE SHALL NOT BE DISCLOSED IN ANY FORM (WRITTEN OR
ELECTRONIC) AS A VERBATIM TRANSCRIPT OR POSTED TO ANY WEBSITE OR
PUBLIC FORUM OR SHARED WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE
HIRING PARTY AND/OR THE CART PROVIDER. THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL
TRANSCRIPT AND SHOULD NOT BE RELIED UPON FOR PURPOSES OF VERBATIM
CITATION.
*********************************************
Sun-City-media@dzhfyw.com
菲亚特官方网站
无锡教育网
New-Portuguese-gambling-marketing@zxunweb.com
武汉吉屋网
网络赌博平台
Sabah-Sports-website-feedback@yamada-dc-recruit.com
广西八桂职教网
澳门太阳城
博彩平台
Crown-app-Download-contactus@huangguan-lgd.com
Grand-Lisboa-contact@xmhtjflaw.com
Online-gambling-platform-marketing@877961.com
Crown-betting-info@091206.com
葡京娱乐场
Gaming-platform-support@denofthievesla.com
皇冠博彩
Crown-app-Download-sales@serimutiara.com
New-Portuguese-casino-app-marketing@xmhtjflaw.com
新葡京
绵阳搜房网-新房
电路图频道
绍兴文理学院教务管理系统
58空调网
POCO摄影社区
吉林违章查询网
财经网 生活频道
苏州天气预报
天津搜房网-新房
4399游戏吧充值中心
站点地图
穿越小说吧网
格林检测
运城百姓网