March 2018 Board Report

Kevin Hermes, a policeman for nearly 30 years, was introduced Thursday night as the new leader of Illinois Valley Community College’s criminal justice program.

Hermes has worked the past 17 years as a policeman in Bensenville, a village located near O’Hare International Airport. He has also worked for the Northern Illinois University Police Department and taught online classes for Southern New Hampshire University.

In addition, he is nearing completion of his Ph.D. in criminal justice from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale.

Hermes attended the IVCC board meeting Thursday night with his wife Sherianne. His appointment begins Aug. 13 and fills a vacancy left by the retirement of Rebecca Donna.

In other business, the board accepted the $352,985 bid of Total Automation Concepts of Alsip for campus-wide security upgrades and the $554,700 bid of Vanguard Contractors of Pekin for accessibility upgrades in the Dr. Mary Margaret Weeg Cultural Centre.

The board also approved:

  • Seeking proposals for an information security audit.
  • An intergovernmental agreement with Marseilles over its new downtown TIF.
  • Purchase of Palo Alto Firewall maintenance and support from Burwood Group for three years for $36,640. The firewall protects campus systems from cyber-attacks, intrusion and viruses.
  • Tenure for faculty members Dan Serafini, mathematics, and Heather Seghi, dental assisting. The tenure process requires faculty demonstrate exemplary teaching, contributions to the college and community and involvement with professional organizations.

Board members learned:

  • In his yearly student demographics report, Associate Vice President for Student Services Mark Grzybowski said the number of students receiving any type of financial aid climbed from 35 percent in fall 2016 to 48 percent in fall 2017. Grzybowski also said, “Despite credit hours tracking slightly behind 10th day fall 2016, headcount increased by 35 students from 3,209 to 3,241.”
  • The theatre department continued a tradition this semester by partnering with Horizon House to provide disability-awareness programs at area schools such as Dimmick where students engaged in creative story-building. “In (theatre director) David Kuester’s eyes, the best part is watching students and staff work together to better understand the importance of quality of life for all,” said IVCC President Jerry Corcoran.
  • The Feb. 28 Edible Car Contest attracted 61 students, including 34 from five area high schools, and a record 36 cars.
  • Of the March 2 Agriculture open house, Corcoran said, “Feedback from attendees was very positive and we remain optimistic ag will become one of our premier programs.”
  • Planning is underway to launch cybersecurity and Certified Medical Assistant (CMA) programs in fall 2019, Corcoran said.
  • Illinois Valley Labor Management hosted a business after-hours at IVCC today in conjunction with Friday’s Career Expo. Approximately 1,100 students are expected to attend the expo. “We’re lucky to have such a great relationship with the Building and Construction Trades as well as the Contractors Association,” Corcoran said.
  • The academic awards ceremony is April 4 in the gym and the employee recognition event is April 13 at Grand Bear Resort in Utica.
  • Non-tenured faculty being renewed for 2018-19 are Maddalena Alfano, Tracey Antle, Heather Knoblauch, Amber Knowlton and Taylor Myers, nursing; Tammy L. Ebner-Landgraf, early childhood education; Jean Forst, English and reading; Willard Mott, ag; and Andrew Seeger, world languages.
  • Jamie Pratt has been hired as adult education grant assistant and Ryan Schenck as network/computer systems specialist.
  • Neil Jagodzinski, financial aid advisor, will retire May 1; Laura Hooper, institutional research programmer analyst, will retire March 30; and Kim Schultz, part-time CNA instructor, will retire May 10.