September 2018 Board Report

Illinois Valley Community College will welcome more Chinese students this spring as part of an agreement approved Thursday night by the board.

Trustees endorsed a dual credit and English as Second Language program with Foreign Service (China) Group of Hong Kong beginning with the start of spring classes on Jan. 9.

Although the college expects only a handful of students to participate in the program the first year, Yang Hong, Foreign Service CEO, anticipates more to follow with the potential of 20 per year moving forward.

Ideally, an IVCC teaching center will be established at Streator’s Sherman School, now owned by Foreign Service, to serve both international and local American students. Foreign Service purchased Sherman School for a teacher training facility.

IVCC President Jerry Corcoran said the agreement would provide “scholarly interaction, cultural interchange and other forms of academic collaboration.

“The timing for this partnership is perfect,” he said, adding, “We are excited to see what develops.”

Corcoran said there is potential for a “1+2+2” model that would involve Chinese students learning English their first year, taking high school and college dual credit courses the next two years and attending a four-year college the final two years.

Prior to enrollment, IVCC will require each participant take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) to determine their ability to listen to, speak, read and write English.  Students will be charged in-district tuition and will receive the 25 percent discount for dual credit courses.

In other news, the board learned IVCC is awaiting confirmation by next week that it will receive nearly $165,000 in state capital funding for demolition of the barn south of campus and construction of a dual storage/ag lab facility.

The project, which would require at least $60,000 from the college, will replace the 1940’s-era dairy barn with a building to house agriculture program equipment and a lab for the new agronomy program. The college architect will design the structure in consultation with the board’s facilities committee.

“In the meantime, we’re very appreciative of the work done by the Illinois Community College Board and legislature, especially Sen. Sue Rezin who voted in favor of this year’s budget which supported higher education,” Corcoran said.

In other business, trustees approved deactivation of the criminal justice program’s forensics AAS degree and certificate.

Vice President for Academic Affairs Deborah Anderson said in a memo, “Continued decline in enrollment, low completion numbers and few job opportunities indicate the program is unsustainable.”

Students already in the Forensics Specialist AAS will be allowed to complete it this year through a “teach-out.”

The board also approved:

• Purchase of National Electrical Code training classes from NTT Training of Centennial, Colo., for $20,000. Cost of the course is recovered through fees charged to clients by the Continuing Education Center.
• Purchase of furniture for common areas in buildings A, C, E and the library from KI of Green Bay, Wis., for $18,500. The furniture will be similar to the tables and chairs in the Student Life Center.
• Academic calendars for fall 2019 through summer 2021.
• An intergovernmental agreement with Peru for a new downtown TIF.
• Nominating petitions for the April 2 trustee election will be accepted in the President’s office between 8 and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, Dec. 10-14 and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Dec. 17. Seats held by board chair Jane Goetz and trustee Amy Boyles will be up for election.

The board learned:

• The administration, working with the Student Government Association, is planning to open a micro food pantry for students unable to afford sufficient nutrition. “We believe this will be a good fit for us because of the great relationship we have with the Illinois Valley Food Pantry and the tremendous response we’ve had from donors to our Foundation’s Student Emergency Living Needs fund,” said Corcoran.
• Ralph Scriba, a 1951 IVCC alumnus now living in Southern California, has donated another $50,000 to IVCC, this time to provide training equipment for the nursing program. The gift, which marks $350,000 in Scriba donations since 2013, will upgrade nursing’s clinical patient simulation manikins.
• A total of 158 summer graduates earned 183 degrees and certificates compared to 175 graduates earning 200 degrees and certificates in 2017.
• The Foundation’s 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 27 Scholarship Recognition Reception in the gym is expected to draw about 400 scholarship recipients, donors and family members.
• Wednesday’s annual Spirit Day celebration in the courtyard, a recruiting event for the more than 40 student clubs, attracted hundreds.
• In an Aug. 14 email memo included in the board packet, 50-year English and foreign language instructor Jim Michael said only, “I am retiring.”

September board report addendum

Following closed session Thursday night, the Illinois Valley Community College board ratified new contracts with full-time faculty and service employees and pay increases for employees not affected by a labor agreement.

The three-year contract with the American Federation of Teachers Local 1810 calls for average pay increases of 2.65 percent this year, 2.66 percent for fiscal 2020 and 2.72 percent for 2021.

The salary schedule will remain the same, however, Step 1 will be eliminated resulting in starting wage increases each year.

The contract provides administrators greater flexibility in the scheduling of classes, thus minimizing overload, IVCC President Jerry Corcoran said.

Summer pay/overload will increase 7.8 percent over the term of the contract and compensation for lab and clinical instruction will increase 5 percent.

Custodial and maintenance staff represented by Service Employees International Union Local 138 will receive salary increases of 2.5 percent annually over their four-year contract.

Employees not affected by labor agreements, including support staff and administration,  at levels 5, 6 and 7 will receive a 2.65 percent increase and all others will receive 2.5 percent. A total of seven employees were given “special salary adjustments” this year after being “identified as warranting such an increase.”