April 2016 Board Report

The Illinois Valley Community College board Thursday bid farewell to a longtime English instructor and welcomed a new program coordinator.

Trustees accepted with regret the retirement request of 25-year instructor Kaushalaya “Koshu” Jagasia who started with the college part-time in the Humanities and Fine Arts division.

Jagasia moved to full-time in 1998 and earned the college’s faculty excellence award in 2005. A native of India, she earned U.S. citizenship in 2010. Her retirement is effective Aug. 1.

The board also approved the appointment of Tammy Landgraf of Mendota as Early Childhood Education instructor/program coordinator to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Diane Christianson.

Landgraf has taught part-time at IVCC for 10 years and in 2012 earned the college’s outstanding part-time faculty award. She earned an associate degree from IVCC, a bachelor’s in education from Illinois State and a master’s in early childhood education from Concordia University, Chicago.

In other personnel business, the board approved sabbatical leave requests from anatomy/physiology instructor Sue Caley Opsal for the 2016-17 academic year and from history instructor Jeffrey Spanbauer for the fall semester.

Opsal, a 20-year IVCC instructor, will pursue her Ph.D. in education with a specialization in community college leadership from Walden University. Spanbauer, a 7-year instructor at IVCC, will pursue a second master’s in anthropology with a sub-specialty in archaeology.

The board also approved:

  • Audio visual equipment for lecture hall D225 for $14,230 from Perlmutter Purchasing Power of San Diego and an Exmark Lazer X Mower from Smith’s Sales & Service, Peru, for $6,749 – with a $4,529 trade-in.
  • Transfer of $18,866 from the auxiliary enterprise fund to the education fund for classroom technology.
  • Changes to 18 board policies and the addition of a new policy entitled “Credit Hour.”
  • Reaffirming an engagement letter with attorney Stephen E. Balogh of Rockford to defend the college in a lawsuit filed by Federal Appraisal Consulting of New Jersey.

The board learned:

  • The Modern Language Association’s Executive Council has appointed Dr. Robyn Schiffman, Dean for English, Mathematics and Education, to a three-year term on its committee on community colleges. The MLA is the largest and most influential professional association for English and language teachers in higher education.
  • Music instructor Michael Pecherek received a Music Award of Excellence at the April 2 Omni Honors Awards Gala. “Our students and employees – including myself – have acquired a stronger appreciation for music because of Mike’s influence,” said IVCC President Jerry Corcoran. “Mike often references “STEAM” – adding the letter “A” to the STEM acronym so that it reflects the importance of science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math when describing a well-rounded education.”
  • The April 5 annual student academic awards banquet in the gym attracted nearly 100 honorees, parents and staff.
  • Sophomore Kaitlin Raineri of Peru was honored this week in Chicago for being named to the 2016 All-USA Community College Academic Team and Coca-Cola New Century Scholars. She was the top-scoring student from Illinois; 1,900 nominations were received nationwide. Student trustee Austin Burnette of Mendota will be honored in Springfield along with Raineri April 19 as members of the All-Illinois Academic Team.
  • Board chair Melissa Olivero recognized Burnette at the beginning of the meeting for his year of service and welcomed Sarah Tipton, student trustee for the 2016-17 academic year.
  • In the recent SGA elections, Ellen Herrmann was elected student body president, Lexi Scarpaci vice president, Tipton student trustee, Christian Mendez SGA secretary, Abbey Azarskis treasurer, Gabe Braboy and Mike Milaski sophomore representatives, and Dexter Baker and Hugo Perez sophomore programming board.
  • IVCC’s annual employee recognition event is April 29 at Grand Bear Lodge; Community College Lobby Day is May 4 in Springfield.
  • Part-time biology instructor Kris Renn will retire effective May 21 and English Language Acquisition (ELA) instructor Brittany Muller will resign effective May 6.