Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 2:06 p.m. by Chair Sheila Marcum. Stu Taylor introduced Deputy Sheriff William Rudie from the Boyd County Sheriff’s Office who will be available 24/7 for all three campuses. Deputy Rudie informed us that he is available to help in any way and that he will be focusing on increasing security on all three campuses. He also indicated that, as a member of the Sheriff’s office, if he catches someone committing a crime on campus he has the authority to arrest and incarcerate them on the spot.
Approval of Minutes There were no corrections to the minutes. Stu Taylor made a motion, seconded by Frank Salisbury, to approve the minutes. The minutes were approved.
Old Business
Staff Excellence Award – Sheila Marcum indicated that Martha Persinger hopes to have this award in place by August 1st. More information will be presented at the next staff meeting in April.
New Business
A. Community Service Project – Ballots were distributed for everyone to vote on the community service project for this year. There were four nominations:
1. Two Hearts Pregnancy Center – nominated by Kathy Riley
2. Ashland Alliance Backpack Program – nominated by Tracy Gibson
*Chair Marcum introduced Tracy Gibson as a new staff member.
3. The Neighbor Building Program – nominated by Carolyn Gross
4. The Hospitality House – nominated by Carolyn Gross
Ballots were collected at the door after the staff meeting.
B. Staff Learning Conference – Chair Marcum reminded Staff that the Staff Learning Conference will be held June 2 at Technology Drive. The keynote speaker has not been selected at this time. If anyone has an idea for the keynote speaker please forward that information to Chair Marcum.
C. Staff Elections – Chair Marcum indicated that staff elections will be held in April (tentatively April 27th). The elections will be handled electronically this year and Chair Marcum thanked Kathy Riley for being instrumental in this process. Nominations can be given to Carol Roe. Chair Marcum indicated that the positions that will be vacant this year are:
1. Chair – *Sheila Marcum cannot serve as Chair and will have to be replaced.
2. Vice Chair
3. Secretary
4. All Area Representatives
5. Foundation Board of Directions (presently Vickie Stidham)
KCTCS Staff Council and Representative to College Board of Directors are not vacant for this election. Chair Marcum indicated that nominees must have been employed for two years and the new term will begin on 8/6/2006.
President's Report
A. Dr. Adkins thanked Chair Marcum for her service and leadership for the past two years.
Dr. Adkins stated that he enjoyed hearing about the community service projects that were nominated and spoke about the value of community service.
Dr. Adkins spoke about Deputy William Rudie and the need for us to have this type of security on the campuses. He spoke of some of the issues we have had in the past with automobiles being broken into and other incidents and indicated that things were going to change. He said that there would be no tolerance for crime on any of our three campuses. He said that Deputy Rudie’s schedule is unstructured (on purpose) so that the students never know when he will show up. One of the changes he envisions is a hospitality escort service for those who would like to be escorted to their car after evening classes.
He also mentioned the fact that Dr. Cargill will be leaving ACTC in about a month and in his absence, Janie Kitchen will be the acting Dean. He feels confident in her ability to handle this position. Dr. Adkins also stated that he felt confident that Jennifer Carroll would do a great job over the nursing program in Janie’s absence.
Dr. Adkins announced that Carol Roe was our New Horizons Nominee.
He also talked about the vacancies we have in Faculty. We have vacancies in English, Human Anatomy & Physiology, Art and two vacancies in Math. We also have vacancies in housekeeping.
He announced that he approved $72,000 to be spent to completely replace the LAC computer lab with new computers. He felt confident that the financial paperwork would be expedited in time to make that happen. He stated that he knew we were a little outdated on some of our computers and technology and with the help of the technology committee we hope to see some changes in that area. This new lab is a step in that direction.
He said that new enrollment is up this semester.
He said that Technology Drive Phase I was dedicated and that hopefully next month the architect will provide sketches for Phase II. He sent a letter to the Legislative Delegation for Phase III and received a back from Rocky Adkins. He read the letter which basically said he would do what he could. Dr. Adkins indicated that he made them aware that we would need $18 million of ’06 money.
B. Resolution – Dr. Adkins informed us of the reason for the resolution that was drafted for this meeting. He said that during our consolidation, SACS reviewed all of our faculty and their credentials and had no problems except for one person that needed to finish his Associates Degree which was completed. At that time, Dr. Crump was our Liaison. Since then, we were assigned another liaison, Dr. Gerald Lord. He said that Dr. Lord is the person who was the liaison at JCC when they had all those recommendations and it wasn’t long after that Dr. Lord was no longer their liaison. At the Atlanta conference Dr. Lord asked to meet with Dr. Adkins at the end of the day at which time he informed Dr. Adkins that ACTC was put on probation and gave no explanation. He said Dr. Lord told him that details would be sent in the mail. ACTC is the only KY institution that Dr. Lord acts as liaison for in Kentucky. Dr. Crump will be visiting our campus in two weeks. He said that he feels this is one of the worst cases of accreditation discretion he’s seen. He also stated that there is nothing wrong with our Faculty’s credentials. In fact, he said that there has not been much change in the Faculty since SACS approved them the last time. He has not made this a public announcement and will not do so unless he feels it’s necessary at which time he will make that decision. He thanked everyone for being a great team and supporting the Faculty.
Kellie Rice made a motion, seconded by Kim Boggs to approve the Resolution that commends the Ashland Community & Technical College Faculty for their continued commitment and performance. There was no discussion. Resolution was approved.
Announcements
1. Karen Vanway introduced Robin Kearns the new Financial Aid Specialist.
2. Kim Boggs said the Ekers family was very appreciative of all the donations they received from ACTC and the community as a whole.
3. Chair Marcum asked if there were any other announcements to be made. There were none so she thanked Dr. Adkins for his kind words to her and reminded everyone to start thinking about a new Chair. She said that it has been very rewarding and has given her great leadership skills.
The meeting was adjourned at 2:50 p.m Submitted by: Robin Harris
