ACCT Trustee Quarterly Spring 2013 by Moire Marketing Partners

The State of Public Pensions | Aspen Prize Winners | Student Trusteeship

Spring 2013

Unfinished Agenda

Community college leaders return to Washington to ensure their institutions remain â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;first in the world.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Martha J. Kanter, U.S. Under Secretary of Education

Board of Directors

2012-2013 Chair Jean Torgeson North Iowa Area Community College, IA

Chair-Elect John W. Sanders John A. Logan College, IL

Vice Chair LeRoy W. Mitchell Westchester Community College, NY

Secretary-Treasurer Robin M. Smith Lansing Community College, MI

Immediate Past Chair Roberto Uranga Long Beach City College, CA

Central Regional Chair Jeffrey A. May Joliet Junior College, IL

Northeast Regional Chair Bakari Lee Hudson County Community College, NJ

Pacific Regional Chair Jim Harper Portland Community College, OR

Southern Regional Chair Randall “Mack” Jackson Midlands Technical College, SC

Western Regional Chair Roberto Zárate Alamo Colleges, TX William E. Coleman, Jr. Mercer County Community College, NJ Colton J. Crane Central Wyoming College, WY Kristin Diederich North Dakota University System, ND Stanley Edwards Halifax Community College, NC Robert “Bob” Feit Southeast Community College, NE Mary Figueroa Riverside Community College District, CA Vernon Jung Moraine Park Technical College, WI Clare Ollayos Elgin Community College, IL George Regan Robeson Community College, NC Dorothy “Dottie” Smith State Center Community College District, CA David H. Talley Palm Beach State College, FL

From the Chair All in a Day’s Work This spring, I had the opportunity to attend the Aspen Institute’s Washington, D.C., event announcing the 2013 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. I am proud that this year’s prize was awarded to two ACCT member colleges, Santa Barbara City College in California and Walla Walla Community College in Washington state (see p. 24). The recognition given to the winning colleges, as well as the two finalists with distinction and the six other finalists, was a reminder of the important work that community colleges are doing throughout the country. As a nurse and a member of the National Organization of Associate Degree Nursing (N-OADN) board of directors, I naturally believe that nursing is among the most important work being done by our colleges. Most recently, I joined the N-OADN on Capitol Hill to promote the Associate of Science in Nursing (ASN) platform and to inform legislators and policymakers about the need for nurses at all levels as we move through health care reform. This sort of advocacy effort is not just important, but crucial, to securing support for programs that really make a difference in our communities. And that is why I was so pleased to see so many dedicated community college trustees, presidents, and other leaders show up in Washington this February for the 2013 Community College National Legislative Summit (NLS). As I hope you know, making sure that we are heard is one of the most important responsibilities that we as community college trustees have. It is our job to communicate to our elected officials, to those who make the decisions and sign legislation to support or not support our colleges, the vital roles that our institutions play in the communities they represent. Being a trustee, in fact, is very much like being a nurse. The Nightingale Pledge, an oath that has been taken by many nurses since 1893, reads in part: “I will do all in my power to maintain and elevate the standard of my profession.... With loyalty will I endeavor to aid the physician, in his work, and devote myself to the welfare of those committed to my care.” Sounds a lot like trusteeship, doesn’t it? Except that we aid the college in its work, and its students are the ones for whose care we are responsible. It is not easy. It takes work; it takes time and effort and dedication. But to see the results, we need look no further than colleges such as Santa Barbara and Walla Walla, and yours, and mine. I am proud to serve on the boards of ACCT and N-OADN and, perhaps most of all, North Iowa Area Community College. As in nursing, the work isn’t always easy, but in the end the rewards always make it worthwhile.

Rafael C. Turner Mott Community College, MI Nancy Watkins Hillsborough Community College, FL Cid Wilson, Diversity Committee Chair Bergen Community College, NJ

Jean Torgeson North Iowa Area Community College

Emily Yim Edmonds Community College, WA

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Trustee

QUA R T ERLY

The Voice of Community College Leaders

From the President & CEO

SPRING 2013

Editorial Team EDITOR-IN-CHIEF J. Noah Brown

Partnerships and Participation

President & CEO

Managing Editor David Conner Communications & Publications Manager

Editor Mark Toner CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Colleen Allen Board Program Specialist

Yobel Gaski Board Services Associate

Jee Hang Lee Vice President of Public Policy and External Relations

Narcisa A. Polonio Executive Vice President for Education, Research, and Board Leadership Services

Ira Michael Shepard ACCT Legal Counsel

EDITORIAL ASSOCIATES Karen Lomax Jennifer Stiddard PROOFREADER Kit Gray Wolverton Design & Production www.moiremarketing.com – Washington, D.C. Your Opinion Matters contact: David Conner (866) 895-ACCT (2228) dconner@acct.org

TRUSTEE QUARTERLY (ISSN 0271-9746) is published three or four times per year as a membership service of the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT). ACCT is a not-for-profit educational organization of governing boards of public and private community, technical, and junior colleges. Membership is also open to state coordinating boards, advisory boards, and state associations. The mission of ACCT is to foster greater understanding of and appreciation for community college boards; support boards in their efforts to develop public policies focusing on meeting community needs; help build board governance leadership and advocacy capacity through in-service education and training programs; and support boards through specialized services and programs. Opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and values of the Association of Community College Trustees. Non-members may subscribe to TRUSTEE QUARTERLY for $60.00 per year (plus postage for international subscriptions). Third-class postage paid at Washington, D.C.

ACCT represents a vast and diverse array of colleges throughout the United States and beyond. Turn to page 26 to find out what ACCT member institutions are doing around their regions and throughout the country. We want to know what your college is doing, so be sure to keep ACCT informed of major developments at your campus or in your district. Partnerships and participation — in other words, working together — are the only means by which we can get important work done on such a large scale. This issue of Trustee Quarterly draws material from a broad array of our relationships, from the recent 2013 Community College National Legislative Summit (p. 12) and Capitol Forum (p.10), which brought together more than 1,000 ACCT member trustees, presidents, government-relations executives, and others with our nation’s leaders — members of U.S. Congress, national press including Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough, and federal officials, including U.S. Under Secretary of Education Martha J. Kanter and National Governors Association Deputy Director Barry Anderson. We are also proud to include valuable contributions from other leading organizations in this issue. Sue Menditto, deputy director of accounting policy at the National Association of College and University Business Officers, discusses new accounting policies for defined-benefit pension plans that trustees would be wise to learn (p. 18), and the Aspen Institute is excited to share with Trustee Quarterly readers why it selected this year’s two Aspen Prize-winning community colleges — both of which are ACCT member institutions (p. 24). And as always, this issue of Trustee Quarterly includes important information from the ACCT team, including an up-to-the-minute advocacy update from Vice President for Public Policy and External Relations Jee Hang Lee (p. 8), an overview of community college student trustee composition throughout the country from Executive Vice President for Education, Research, and Board Leadership Services Narcisa A. Polonio (p. 20), and highlights of recent employment-related legal actions from ACCT General Counsel Ira Michael Shepard (p. 28). The summer issue of Trustee Quarterly will preview the 2013 ACCT Leadership Congress in Seattle, where more than a thousand trustees will come together to move the needle on student success. Your participation is crucial to making the event a successful one. I look forward to seeing you there.

J. Noah Brown ACCT President and CEO 1233 20th Street, NW, Suite 301 Washington DC 20036 (202) 775-4667 FAX: (202) 775-4455 E-mail: acctinfo@acct.org www.acct.org

1-866-895-ACCT (2228) FAX: 1-866-904-ACCT (2228) 2

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Contents

TRUSTEE QUARTERLY | SPRING 2013

Departments 8

Advocacy Pell Proposals Provide Insight Into HEA Reauthorization Jee Hang Lee

28 Legal

Record Increases in Employment Discrimination-Related Enforcement, Collections in 2012 Ira Michael Shepard

in every issue

10 Features 10 A Capitol Conversation — By Mark Toner At the Community College Congressional Forum, a bipartisan group of lawmakers shared candid perspectives on the future of higher education.

12 An Unfinished Agenda — By Mark Toner Community college leaders return to Washington to ensure their institutions remain ‘first in the world.’

From the Chair

From the President & CEO

News

26 Around the Regions 32 ACCT Lifetime Members 34 Searches 37 Interface 40 Advisor

18 The State of Public Pensions — By Sue Menditto Community colleges must pay heed to new accounting standards for defined-benefit pension plans.

20 Avenues to Student Engagement — By Narcisa A. Polonio More than half of U.S. states allow students to play a direct role in community college governance.

COVER PHOTO BY Keith Weller

24 Two ACCT Member Colleges Take the Top Aspen Prize Santa Barbara City College and Walla Walla Community College exemplify efforts to ensure that students from all backgrounds succeed.

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Policy Action Agenda Distributed to Member Colleges ACCT recently released its Policy Action Agenda, a guide for governing boards to support student success and completion. The Policy Action Agenda: • Encourages governing boards to develop student success policies; • Reaffirms a commitment to access and equity; and • Calls upon governing boards to take action. The agenda was mailed to every ACCT member college president in March. ACCT encourages all member boards to adopt the Policy Action Agenda, which is also available online at www.governanceinstitute.org/images/paa.pdf. We also would love to hear what policy actions your college has taken to further student success. Contact Board Program Specialist Colleen Allen at callen@acct.org or by phone at 202.775.6490 to share your story and find out how you can become involved in ACCT’s student success initiative. More than 150 community college trustees, presidents, and experts from national organizations contributed to drafting the Policy Action Agenda at ACCT’s 2011 Invitational Symposium on Student Success in Dallas, Texas, including representatives from the American Association of Community Colleges, the Association of American Colleges and Universities, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Center for American Progress, the Center for Community College Student Engagement at the University of Texas at Austin, the Community College Leadership Program at the University of Texas at Austin, Completion by Design, EDUCAUSE, Excelencia in Education!, the John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education, the Kresge Foundation, MDRC, the National School Boards Association, Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, and the State Higher Education Executive Officers.

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News

Community College Futures Assembly Director Dale F. Campbell (left) with ACCT President and CEO J. Noah Brown and ACCT Chair Jean Torgeson

ACCT President Wins Bellwether Award for First in the World The Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) is proud to announce that ACCT President and CEO J. Noah Brown was recognized with the prestigious Bellwether Book Award during the 2013 Community College Futures Assembly on January 29 in Orlando, Florida. “The ACCT Board of Directors couldn’t be more pleased about President Brown’s well-earned honor,” said ACCT Chair Jean Torgeson, a trustee at North Iowa Area Community College. “This is the first time we’ve honored someone from within the higher education world with the Bellwether Book Award,” said Dale F. Campbell, professor and director of the Community College Futures Assembly and Institute of Higher Education at the University of Florida. “We selected First in the World: Community Colleges and America’s Future for this distinctive honor because it is a landmark publication — not only as a history of community colleges, but also because it capably puts forth a vision for the future of important work for our community colleges and the students they serve.” The Bellwether Book Award recognizes trend-setting publications determined to be of importance to community colleges. It is a complement to the Bellwether Awards program, which showcases competitively selected leading-edge programs in community college practice worthy of replicating. “In more than 1,200 community colleges, this is one of the highest honors an institute can receive. The awards are similar to being selected by your peers, comparable to the

Oscar or Emmy Awards,” said Campbell. “Leaders of past winning programs have obtained ‘free agency’ status through the demonstrated results their programs have made. Leaders from the winning institution are often hired or recruited by other colleges to replicate the award-winning program. They also receive thousands of phone calls and hundreds of visits to help others replicate the success of their program in other community colleges and institutions.” The Community College Futures Assembly also announced three winning colleges: Elgin Community College in Elgin, Illinois, in the Instructional Programming and Services category, Piedmont Technical College in Greenwood, South Carolina, in the Planning, Governance, and Finance category, and Chattanooga State Community College in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in the Workforce Development category. Brown was surprised with the award during his keynote presentation at the Assembly. Leslie Crutchfield, senior advisor at the Foundation Strategy Group and co-author of the critically acclaimed book Forces for Good: The Six Practices of HighImpact Non-Profits, was another featured speaker. Campbell said that Crutchfield’s presentation highlighting the qualities of effective non-profits helped him realize that “every one of the nonprofit principles in Forces for Good are represented by what ACCT has done under J. Noah Brown’s leadership.” “As someone who has long been involved with the Community College Futures Assembly, I know how much this award means,” said Brown. “I am honored and humbled to be on the receiving end of the Bellwether Book Award.” Brown has dedicated all royalties from the book, published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, to trustee-education programs at ACCT. First in the World is available at all major online book retailers or directly from the publisher at www.rowman.com. (Note: ACCT members should use the code RLACCT25 at Rowman.com to receive 25 percent off First in the World and all titles in its upcoming community college book series (see sidebar, at right).

ACCT Presents $5,000 Check to Phi Theta Kappa On Friday, April 5, ACCT Chair Jean Torgeson and President and CEO J. Noah Brown presented a $5,000 check to Phi Theta Kappa’s Oberndorf Lifetime to Completion Scholarship Fund during the 95th Annual Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) Annual Convention in San Jose, California. The new completion scholarship, established by Lou and Rosemary Oberndorf, will help students facing unanticipated financial barriers to stay in college and complete their degrees. The Oberndorf application was opened to students last fall, offering $20,000 in scholarships to community college students at risk of dropping out. “We want to help those students who are so close to completing a credential or degree to finish what they start and not stop out. Students who stop out rarely complete,” said Phi Theta Kappa’s Executive Director, Dr. Rod A. Risley. “With the help of supporters like ACCT, we hope to make it possible for 40 students to receive up to $500 each for books, gas, daycare, tuition — whatever the proven need — to complete their degrees in the 2012-2013 academic year.”

First in the World Success Leads to New Publishing Partnership Thanks in part to the success of First in the World, Rowman & Littlefield invited ACCT to partner on a new community college book series. An agreement was signed by ACCT President & CEO J. Noah Brown and Rowman & Littlefield’s acquisitions editor Nancy Evans at the February 2013 ACCT Board of Directors meeting in Washington, D.C. “We chose to partner with ACCT after working with Brown on his book,” said Evans. “We recognize that community colleges are the fastest growing segment of higher education, both in the number of institutions and enrollment,” said Executive Series Editor Richard Alfred, professor emeritus at the University of Michigan. “The new series will focus on current and emerging trends in community colleges, and will be authored by true leaders and visionaries, both within and outside the community college world.” “It was immediately clear that Brown and the association have unique insight into the subject matter and will be able to inform the series from conception and through development,” Evans added. Rowman & Littlefield is one of the largest and fastest-growing independent publishers and distributors in North America. The company publishes under more than a dozen imprints in virtually all fields in the humanities and social sciences and enjoys co-publishing partnerships with some of the most influential organizations in the Washington, D.C., area, including the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Association of Teacher Educators, the National Association for Music Education, the Heritage Foundation, and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, along with ACCT. While celebrating its 35th anniversary in 2010, it published more than 1,500 new academic, reference, and general interest books and 13 journals. R&L also owns the National Book Network (NBN), one of North America’s largest distributors of independent trade book publishers and NBN International, a leading distributor of independent publishers in the United Kingdom. For a full catalog of the company’s titles, go to www.rowman.com. T R U S T E E Q U A RT E R LY S P R I N G 2 0 1 3

Let the LAW work for you Timing is everything when it comes to advocacy, but not everyone has time to pay attention to pending legislation day in and day out. ACCT’s Latest Action in Washington (LAW) Alerts do the work for you. Since 2008, nearly 1,600 new people have signed up to receive ACCT’s LAW Alert e-mails — brief summaries of legislative actions e-mailed to subscribers as legislation happens, giving community college trustees, presidents, and other leaders and advocates time to contact their representatives and exert influence before it’s too late. Please encourage your fellow trustees, presidents, and colleagues to stay up to date about legislation that affects their community colleges by joining the LAW E-Alert network. To join, simply e-mail publicpolicy@acct.org with “LAW Alert” in the subject of the e-mail. For more information about ACCT’s advocacy services, visit www.acct.org/advocacy.

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News Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) Wins 2013 National Education Service Award On Wednesday, February 13, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) was recognized with the 2013 National Education Service Award for her outstanding and longstanding support of community and technical colleges. Patty Murray is the senior U.S. Senator from Washington state, currently serving her fourth term. Senator Murray serves on the Appropriations Committee, Budget Committee, and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP). On the HELP Committee, she served as chair of the Subcommittee on Education and Workplace Safety during the 112th Congress. For the 113th Congress, she now serves as chair of the Budget Subcommittee. ACCT and AACC selected Senator Murray to receive the Education Service Award because of her tireless work on behalf of community colleges and their students. A Pell Grant recipient herself, Senator Murray credits the program for her success in higher education. She played a leading role in the expansion of the Pell Grant program and has worked to ensure that Congress addresses the Pell Grant shortfall. Senator Murray has also been extremely dedicated to restoring Pell Grant eligibility for Ability-to-Benefit students. Senator Murray has been an ardent supporter of funding for programs impacting higher education, workforce training, and community colleges. She has fought for veteran and military students, and was the lead sponsor of the 2011 Vow to Hire Heroes Act. The bill, which passed in the fall of 2011, included additional training and tax benefits for hiring veterans. Throughout her career, Senator Murray has been an advocate for students and community colleges. She has been a strong supporter of ACCT’s and AACC’s legislative priorities and spoke during the first Community College Congressional Forum in February 2012.

ACCT Board Member Profiled for New Book Late this April, the Reverend William Coleman, a member of the ACCT Board of Directors and a trustee at Mercer County Community College in New Jersey, was featured in two publications in his home state for his powerful life story, which culminated in his new self-published book. Coleman took the opportunity to discuss his involvement with Mercer County Community College. “Coleman said he sends many students to the community college where he serves on the board, as a person with a degree is more likely to find employment and stay out of trouble,” said NJ.com. “The community college is a springboard for rejuvenation, a springboard for change,” Coleman told the publication. “A person with a job and a little place to live and a few pennies in his pocket and a little car is not out there lying and cheating. He’s not.” The full interview can be read at www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2013/04/former_nyc_ police_detective_se.html. Coleman’s book, Community Renewal Thru Rejuvenation of the Soul, is available for sale at amazon.com.

Higher Education Compliance Alliance Celebrates First Anniversary With 29 Partner Organizations On February 28, the Higher Education Compliance Alliance (www.higheredcompliance.org) marked its one-year anniversary of “helping college and university administrators meet their compliance obligations.” Spearheaded by the National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA) with the initial support of 20 other higher-education associations, the Higher Education Compliance Alliance was created to provide the higher-education community with an online centralized repository of information and resources for compliance with federal laws and regulations. Now comprised of 29 partner associations from across the spectrum of higher education including ACCT, the Higher Education Compliance Alliance boasts more than 500 resources spanning 30-plus topical compliance areas as part of its

commitment to helping those in the higher education community meet their compliance obligations. Since its launch, tens of thousands of visitors have accessed the website for compliance resources and news, highlighting the need for quality compliance resources within the higher education community and confirming that compliance remains a top priority on college and university campuses. As NACUA’s CEO Kathleen Santora reflected: “The Higher Education Compliance Alliance underlines the critical importance of collaboration among a wide range of higher education associations in serving the needs of our member colleges and universities as they seek resources to meet their compliance obligations. The success of our effort is a tribute to the generosity of my wonderful colleagues in the 28 associations who have joined with NACUA in this important partnership.”

HIGHER EDUCATION COMPLIANCE ALLIANCE PARTNERS INCLUDE: • AACC American Association of Community Colleges • AACRAO American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers

• CUPA-HR College and University Professional Association for Human Resources • EDUCAUSE

• AAMC Association of American Medical Colleges

• FEA Forum on Education Abroad

• AASCU American Association of State Colleges and Universities

• HACU Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities

• AAU Association of American Universities

• NACAC National Association for College Admission Counseling

• ACPA American College Personnel Association

• NAICU National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities

• ACE American Council on Education • ACCT Association of Community College Trustees • ACUA Association of College and University Auditors • ACUTA The Association for Information Communications Technology Professionals in Higher Education • AGB Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges • APLU Association of Public and Land Grant Universities • CASE Council for Advancement and Support of Education • COGR Council on Governmental Relations • CHEA Council for Higher Education Accreditation • CSHEMA Campus Safety, Health, and Environmental Management Association

• NAFEO National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education • NACUA National Association of College and University Attorneys • NACUBO National Association of College and University Business Officers • NASFAA National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators • NASPA Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education • UPCEA University Professional and Continuing Education Association • URMIA University Risk Management and Insurance Association

2013 ACCT Leadership Congress: Moving the Needle Join over 1,400 trustees, college presidents, philanthropic leaders, and federal officials as we move the needle on student success at the 2013 ACCT Leadership Congress, to be held October 2-5 in Seattle, Washington. Registration for the 2013 Congress is now open! Register before the August 2 early registration deadline to ensure that you lock in the best available rate. All hotel reservations must be made by September 9. For more information, go to www.acct.org.

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advocacy

Pell Proposals Provide Insight Into HEA Reauthorization

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Pell as an Entitlement Program? The constant funding pressures and budget shortfalls within the Pell Grant program directed many of the reports to examine the program’s funding structure. The Pell Grant program is a unique federal program in that it receives its funding from both the discretionary and the mandatory sides of the federal government. Furthermore, the program guarantees students access to aid no matter how many students apply. The only limitation is that the student must be eligible for Pell. This open access to financial aid is the main reason why the Pell Grant program has seen significant funding shortfalls.

While the Pell Grant program is on stronger financial footing, the long-term funding shortfall has prompted higher education organizations to examine a more permanent fix to the program. A couple of organizations that issued RADD reports called for moving Pell Grants entirely to mandatory funding. In doing so, this would eliminate the need to rely continually on appropriators to fund the program each fiscal year. In fact, this is not a new idea. The Obama Administration proposed moving the Pell Grant program fully to the mandatory side of the budget in its FY2011 budget request. One of the chief obstacles for moving Pell is the need to

Zack Blanton

With the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA) on the horizon, a number of policy reports were recently released that examined the various components of federal financial aid. The 16 reports were part of a project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation known as Reimagining Aid Design and Delivery (RADD). The RADD reports examined a myriad of issues, including the Pell Grant program, campus-based aid, higher education tax credits, the federal student loan programs, and consumer information. While a full and thorough review of each of the RADD reports will be lengthier than what we can provide here, an examination of some of the suggested changes to the Pell Grant program is warranted. Many of these reports sought to address the previously projected Pell Grant shortfall in FY2013, but in February of this year, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) announced a drastic revision of that projection. In fact, analysis now shows that in fiscal year 2012, there will be a Pell surplus of $6.652 billion. In FY 2013, assuming Pell is funded at the current level, there will be a cumulative surplus of $9.374 billion. That surplus would be carried over to also help fully fund FY 2014. However, the Pell Grant program is slated for a shortfall in FY 2015 and beyond. The shortfall starts at $1.366 billion in FY 2015 and totals $51.4 billion between FY 2015 and FY 2023. But as we saw earlier this year, projections for the Pell Grant program can change significantly. Therefore, many of the Pell Grant proposals made in the RADD reports address a short-term fix for a shortfall that no longer exists.

by Jee Hang Lee

support the program financially on the mandatory side of the ledger. The Institute for College Access & Success and the New America Foundation reports both called for the elimination of all higher education tax credits to fund moving Pell to the mandatory side. The elimination of all higher education tax credits is probably not a viable proposition, but it is part of an important conversation to address the long-term funding future of the Pell Grant program.

Hope for Year-Round Pell When first authorized in the Higher Education Act of 2008, year-round Pell Grant awards were a major victory for non-traditional students, many whom attend community colleges. The ability of students to receive a second Pell Grant award in order to accelerate completion garnered bipartisan support. Unfortunately, year-round Pell was eliminated in 2011 because of a significant funding shortfall. Additionally, questions arose regarding year-round Pell’s effectiveness towards completion. With only two years of data, the doubts about year-round Pell’s effectiveness seem a little dubious given the complete lack of broader data. But the growing consensus is that loss of yearround Pell has had a significant impact on non-traditional students, and many of the RADD reports called for its reinstatement. Reinstating year-round Pell remains a top community college priority for the upcoming HEA reauthorization.

Changing Return to Title IV Funds As the Pell Grant program has grown, there has been building pressure for the Administration and Congress to ensure the financial integrity of the program and to limit potential abuse. A number of eligibility changes have been enacted, including lowering semester limits to 12 full-time semesters and eliminating access to Ability-To-Benefit students. These changes were intended to save money, but were also recommended to address possible fraud. One troubling proposal of note is Ed Trust’s Return to Title IV

While the Pell Grant program is on stronger financial footing, the long-term funding shortfall has prompted higher education organizations to examine a more permanent fix to the program. Reform recommendations, which would alter federal policy to (1) require funds be returned in proportion to time not enrolled rather than allow institutions to retain 100 percent funding for enrollment once a student completes just 60 percent of a term; (2) establish two weeks of attendance — the typical drop/add period — as the default withdrawal date for students who do so without formal notification or institution documentation of attendance, rather than assume 50 percent of term attendance as current policy does; (3) no longer allow former students — typically those at community colleges — who use Pell Grant aid to cover costs beyond tuition and fees to keep half of awarded aid, regardless of when they withdraw; and (4) provide for return of funds to the federal programs from which they were derived rather than have all funds dedicated to loan programs. While the proposal was made in part to provide savings for the Pell Grant program, changing Return to Title IV policies as outlined in the proposal would likely increase student loan default rates because funds are no longer first dedicated to loan programs. The proposal may also force institutions to limit access to non-traditional and at-risk students because of the negative financial impact for institutions if students drop out. Lastly, this possible policy change

may limit the ability of students to return or get into college.

Community College Bonus for Pell? The New America Foundation proposes doubling the amount of Pell Grant funds provided to community colleges that have a combined graduation and transfer rate of at least 50 percent. Eligible schools could either use the additional money to reduce the net price they charge the neediest students or to create support programs to help low-income students earn their degrees or certificates and potentially transfer to four-year colleges. However, participating schools would lose eligibility for the bonus if they significantly reduce the percentage of Pell Grant recipients they serve, increase the net price they charge the lowest income students, or see their combined graduation and transfer rates drop substantially. New America also proposes a program targeted at four-year institutions that have more than 1,000 students with a substantial number of students receiving Pell (25 percent) and graduate at least 50 percent of their students. This targeted funding effort would be welcome, but a larger policy question would be whether this effort creates a funding mechanism that fundamentally alters the structure of Pell. As Congress and the Administration reauthorize the Pell Grant program, we look for your support and advocacy to ensure that community college students are able to continue to receive funding. We encourage you to utilize ACCT’s online policy center to communicate with your members of Congress, and follow federal legislative updates through the Latest Action in Washington (LAW) email alerts and the Capitol Connection e-newsletter.

ACCT Vice President for Public Policy and External Relations Jee Hang Lee can be reached by e-mail at jhlee@acct.org, or by phone at 202-775-4667. T R U S T E E Q U A RT E R LY S P R I N G 2 0 1 3

A Capitol

B Y

M A R K

T O N E R

Conversation

At the Community College Congressional Forum, a bipartisan group of lawmakers shared candid perspectives on the future of higher education.

As Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) took the stage at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center auditorium, she looked out at the capacity crowd of community college leaders and smiled. “I love the badges — ‘Stand up for Pell’,” DeLauro said, pointing to the buttons that many of the community college trustees and presidents in the audience were wearing on their lapels. “Yes! We’re going to do it!” For the second year, ACCT sponsored the standalone Community College Congressional Forum during February’s 2013 Community College National Legislative Summit (NLS). The bipartisan group of lawmakers who offered their take on the state of higher education policy revealed broad consensus on a few key points — the importance of controlling higher education costs, the need for more effective and targeted workforce development programs, and the vital role community colleges play in both areas. Beyond that important patch of common ground, however, the rifts visible everywhere in Washington quickly surfaced. “Not that we have different goals, but there are certainly some 10

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differences in how we get to the same point,” explained Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nev.), who called the Education and Workforce Committee on which he sits “one of the most partisan” in Congress. Pointing to the oft-voiced Republican goal of consolidating the 40-plus programs supported by the Workforce Investment Act as the bill faces reauthorization, Heck said, “It comes as no surprise to anybody that we’re working in a resource-constrained environment. We have to do it.” At the same time, Heck said it was critical that community colleges have a seat at the table when future workforce programs are shaped. “Community colleges by their very nature are of all the postsecondary training institutions the most capable of adapting most rapidly to changing requirements,” he said. “When someone says I’m going to have a need for 2,000 of x, we need someone who can say ‘I can come up with a program,’ and community colleges are uniquely positioned to do that.” With the Higher Education Act also facing reauthorization, Heck said community colleges will fare well under efforts to prompt

Clockwise from left: U.S. House of Representatives Assistant Democratic Leader James Clyburn (D-S.C.), Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nev.)

Pointing to lawmakers “who have benefitted from programs institutions to demonstrate the value of the education they provide. like Pell and voted against them,” Clyburn said that “we have “I think community colleges are well-positioned,” he said. “Their to get them to understand if it was good enough for you, it’s value is unparalleled.” At the same time, “we can’t keep putting good enough for others.” more money into financial aid,” Heck added. “It does nothing to Clyburn also offered community college leaders a bit of control costs of higher education.” advice. “I will implore all of you not to get so caught up in DeLauro and other Democrats pointed out that costs have the topline numbers of your programs and your institutions,” spiraled, in part, because of cuts in state and federal support for he said. “Drill down and look at the policies and procedures.” higher education. Over the last five years, state funding for higher Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) told Forum attendees that he education has dropped by almost $9 billion, DeLauro said, and learned just last year that his father only made it to the sixth federal investments “have just not kept pace,” with more than 44 grade — a revelation that, he says, reaffirmed his belief in the federal higher education programs completely eliminated and importance of education. others such as TRIO and Gear-Up facing significant cuts — cuts “My bedrock belief is that a primary role of government which will be compounded by sequestration. is to provide a ladder of opportunity… It’s nice to have a “Education is the key to social mobility and the engine of ladder, but it has to have rungs — maternal child healthcare, economic growth in our nation, and at our peril do we hold early intervention, and the whole panoply of education so back resources,” said DeLauro, the ranking member of the Labor, everyone has a fair shot,” Harkin said. “Community colleges Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies are a critical rung on that ladder, with so many people Appropriations Subcommittee, calling recent support for the Pell seeking an affordable way to gain the skills they need Grant program “the only silver lining in recent years.” to succeed.” With Pell now projected to remain in the black through 2014, The recipient of the 2012 National Education Service Award “we have to keep people from raiding the Pell surplus fund for during last year’s NLS, Harkin called the HEA reauthorization the next year to pay for other things,” she said, noting that in her “a historic opportunity to get a handle on increasing costs and district, community college students have told her “how even get our system back on track.” He also pointed to the kinds losing $100 from a grant could force them out of college.” of employer-community college partnerships created through Assistant House Democratic Leader James Clyburn (D-S.C.) the $2 billion Community College and Career Training Grant talked about growing up in the cradle of the Civil Rights program, including a college-based job corps center in Iowa movement in South Carolina and teaching in public schools on that has incorporated adult basic education programs to Charleston’s east side. “We have persistent poverty existing in too speed time to certificate or degree. many places,” he said. With the support of programs such as Pell “That’s what community colleges are built for,” Harkin said. Grants, community colleges play a key role in helping educate “If people fall off that ladder, they can get back on.” underserved students who are “smart and can learn,” he said. T R U S T E E Q U A RT E R LY

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An B Y

Unfinished Agenda

M A R K

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Community college leaders return to Washington to ensure their institutions remain ‘first in the world.’

isiting Rep. Bruce Braley’s office in the Longworth Office Building during the 2013 Community College National Legislative Summit, ACCT Chair Jean Torgeson had a story to tell about how North Iowa Area Community College is helping meet Iowa’s workforce needs. But she knew that Terry Barber could tell the story better. A few years ago, the 45-year-old construction worker and former Marine from Iowa found himself unemployed when the housing boom went bust. He went to North Dakota looking for work, but found nothing but dead ends there. Returning home, Barber began working as a plumber, but soon came to a key realization. “The only way to move up and get in a better place was school,” he said outside the office of the Iowa Congressman. Returning to school meant sacrifices — Barber and his wife moved into her parents’ home while he attended NIACC, where Torgeson is a trustee. Barber had previously attended a four-year college, but was impressed by the mindset of his peers at NIACC, the vast majority of whom were holding jobs and taking classes at the same time. “Small companies don’t have the resources to train people,” Barber said. But as a result of his classes and an internship with Seimens, Barber and his classmates in NIACC’s heating and cooling program all have jobs lined up when they graduate this spring.

ACCT Chair Jean Torgeson (top) and ACCT President and CEO J. Noah Brown (center). At bottom, more than 1,000 NLS attendees attended workshops and sessions.

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Amy Walter, national editor of The Cook Political Report

Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, co-hosts of MSNBC’s Morning Joe

The message Barber traveled to Capitol Hill to send? “If it wasn’t for the Pell Grant, I’d be toast,” he said. It’s a message that bears repeating, even as community colleges continue to bask in unprecedented recognition of their critical role as the nation’s economy regains its footing. “Where I come from in Wisconsin, community colleges are the life force of the skills gap being closed,” Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), told a standing-room crowd at the Community College Caucus Reception on Capitol Hill. “We’ve seen examples of plant closings, economic dislocation, people losing hope. Where they get their lives back are community colleges. Each of us in Congress has living examples of friends and neighbors whose lives have been bettered by community colleges.” Not long ago, “a whole lot of people in D.C. didn’t know who we are,” Torgeson told NLS attendees. “They know who we are now — the job we do, and the role we play. We can be very proud we are no longer the best-kept secret, but this is the time we’re going to be measured by this opportunity.” That opportunity comes at a time of continued economic uncertainty and budgetary impasses in the halls of Capitol Hill. As a result, the role of trustees as advocates for their colleges has never been greater, even as their institutions continue to meet the call to ensure America will remain a global leader in economic growth and opportunity. “We have an unfinished agenda, and part of that agenda must begin here in the nation’s capital,” ACCT President & CEO J. Noah Brown told NLS attendees.

The State of the Union The NLS typically falls at a key moment in the legislative cycle, and with President Obama’s State of the Union address coinciding with the first full day of the summit, this year was no exception. “Most people think of today as Mardi Gras, but not us,” joked Amy Walter, national editor of The Cook Political Report. “We’re all about the State of the Union.” Beyond the pomp and circumstance of the annual

Barry Anderson, deputy director, National Governors Association

presidential address, though, the state of the union is undeniably changing — and changing quickly. Walter pointed to the demographic shifts evident in last year’s presidential election, which she told NLS attendees “still color the way Washington works and how policy is being debated.” With women, Latino, and Asian populations growing at unprecedented rates, failure to recognize how our country’s needs are changing “could be a problem for both parties unless they understand what’s happening in this country demographically,” she said. Washington, Walter said, is “a city governed by crisis,” a perfect example of which was the looming threat of sequestration, which would begin to go into effect just weeks after the NLS ended. The one bright side of sequestration, according to Walter, is that it has brought scrutiny and cuts to both defense and non-defense spending — meaning that for once, “it’s not all guns, and butter does matter,” she said. Regardless of the ultimate outcome of sequestration, the economy will continue to be the primary focus of the President and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle for the foreseeable future, according to Walter. Within that frame, community colleges “have a very good story to tell, and one that connects with what both sides are trying to put forward,” Walter added. “Middle-class kids in this country are having a really hard time, in part because of the rising costs of education, and we’re a solution for that — but we need help. That’s a message both sides would embrace.” Beyond the immediate specter of sequestration, NLS speakers and lawmakers kept returning to the long-term fiscal picture — a picture they say is increasingly troubling in the face of the status quo. Barry Anderson, deputy director of the National Governors Association, cautioned that neither robust economic growth nor discretionary spending cuts would be enough to ward off unsustainable deficits, particularly around healthcare entitlements. “The issue isn’t borrowing money at the current time, but we have a longT R U S T E E Q U A RT E R LY

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NLS participants had an opportunity to meet Scarborough and Brzezinski at a book signing following the opening session.

From left: ACCT Immediate Past Chair Roberto Uranga, Vice Chair LeRoy W. Mitchell, Brzezinski, Scarborough, ACCT Chair Jean Torgeson, ACCT Secretary-Treasurer Robin Smith, ACCT President and CEO J. Noah Brown, and Andra Armstrong Brown.

term sustainability problem,” Anderson said. “We can spend more now, but we shouldn’t be spending more now without a concrete plan.” Whatever the solution, speakers said it will involve difficult decisions — and compromise. Former Congressman Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, co-hosts of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, recalled the 1990s as a time of equal partisan rancor, but an era in which budgets were still balanced and critical legislation passed. “It’s time that they learned how to do it again,” Scarborough said, pointing to the ballooning deficit. “This is not about ideology, this is about math.”

Legislative Priorities Given those needs, NLS speakers shared optimism for at least short-term compromise on the most critical fiscal issues. “All of these pieces of the puzzle will hopefully lead to some kind of agreement here in Washington,” said Jee Hang Lee, ACCT vice president for public policy and external relations. A key player in ensuring that community colleges are represented in the broader political calculus, the Community College Caucus is now 140 House and 23 Senate members strong. Rep. Joseph Courtney (D-Conn.) has also become the caucus’ fourth House co-chair. Nothing better typifies the current unpredictability in Washington than the Pell Grant program, which received a rare — and significant — bit of good news the week before NLS, when the expected $6 billion shortfall expected in 2014 was revised to a projected $9.374 billion surplus. Largely the result of lower enrollments, especially at for-profit institutions, and the earlier elimination of year-round Pell and abilityto-benefit students, the revised projections push back and narrow shortfalls to well under $2 billion in 2015. But “the Pell Grant program today is different from the Pell Grant program we had in 2009,” Lee cautioned, nothing that the eligibility changes have led to “significant erosion in community college student eligibility.” 14

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Given Pell’s changing fortunes, a key priority of the community college agenda is reinstating ability-to-benefit students, including those without high school diplomas or GEDs. “With the surplus, it becomes more feasible that this might be included in a bill going forward,” said Jennifer Stiddard, ACCT senior public policy associate, noting that Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) is leading the push to reinstate the benefit. Another critical change, the elimination of living or transportation expenses for students completely enrolled in distance-education programs, impacts only community college students because of the low cost of their programs, according to David Baime, the American Association of Community Colleges’ senior vice president for government relations. “We’re the only sector impacted by this,” he said. The message for lawmakers? “We want to make sure more students can enroll in our colleges and be successful,” says Laurie Quarles, AACC legislative associate. “In addition to emphasizing Pell as an access issue, it’s a success issue as well — if students don’t have sufficient funds, we’re not going to be able to retain them.” Maintaining the Pell Grant program and restoring eligibility for ability-to-benefit students remains at the top of community college legislative priorities. But community colleges also need to ensure that the $2 billion Community College and Career Training Grant program, now halfway through its four-year life, is preserved, along with other career training programs such as those funded by the Perkins Act. (The impact of the CCCTG program was made clear by an impromptu show of hands during one of the NLS general sessions; when asked how many colleges have already taken advantage of the program, nearly one-third of the leaders in the room raised their hands.) Looking ahead, Congress will also likely revisit reauthorizing three expired pieces of legislation, the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), Perkins, and the Higher Education Act (HEA). The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), best known in its past incarnation as No Child Left Behind, also may be considered for reauthorization, and the K-12 legislation has an

Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) meets with Florida community college leaders.

Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) discusses legislative priorities with Pennsylvania delegates.

impact on postsecondary remediation and other areas. Although no timetable for reauthorization of any of these laws is clear, “there’s a great deal at stake for us,” said Lee. A challenge for community college leaders is that rising higher education costs, while not generated by community colleges, are placing the entire sector under scrutiny. “The legislature and the public are not totally enamored of higher education,” said Baime. “At a time when they have never been understood to be more important, people are wondering whether colleges are a good value.” For community colleges, key levers to focus on in HEA reauthorization include the importance of Pell in preserving access for students, reducing regulatory burdens on institutions, and refining graduation metrics to better reflect their unique mission and multiple constituencies, speakers said. When WIA comes up for reauthorization, the consolidation of programs is anticipated to be the major issue lawmakers will focus on. Regardless of the outcome, community colleges need to advocate for provisions that allow them to contract more frequently with workforce investment boards, according to Jim Hermes, AACC associate vice president of government relations. “Right now, WIA is agnostic in terms of training providers,” he said. “We don’t think it should be.” The need to serve growing numbers of veteran students is also critical, said Hermes. Congress must ensure that veterans receive comprehensive counseling and other services and fund the Centers for Excellence for Veterans Success in the HEA.

Meeting the Need Regardless of the vagaries of policy and politics, the nation’s needs for effective workforce training continue to grow, NLS speakers said. “Do we have a skills gap?” asked Domenic Giandomenico, director of education and workforce programs for the Institute for a Competitive Workforce. “I’m baffled as to why we keep getting this question.” With 3.5 million middle- to upper-skill jobs remaining unfilled

Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) meets with the Oregon community college delegation in his Capitol Hill office.

in spite of the ongoing recession, employers have increased the amount they have spent on training by 50 percent on a per-worker basis, Giandomenico said. Yet 47 percent of adult Americans don’t meet standards for college and career readiness, Martha J. Kanter, Under Secretary of the Department of Education and former chancellor of the Foothills-DeAnza Community College District, told attendees. “We have many people who need to come to a community college and reboot,” Kanter said. Despite the daunting needs, there are promising signs, Kanter said, calling the 50 percent jump in students from families making less than $10,000 a year taking advantage of Pell Grants in the past four years “my proudest moment” in her role in the Department of Education. More than half of those low-income students, she said, are attending community colleges — and changing the trajectory of their lives. “It means that their children and grandchildren are going to be more educated,” Kanter said. Looking ahead, the Obama Administration plans to continue its focus on addressing rising costs at colleges and universities through an emphasis on metrics and working more closely with states. Its proposed First in the World innovation fund would be similar to the competitive Race to the Top grants used to spark changes in K-12 systems nationwide. Even the Administration’s focus on universal preschool has a direct impact on community colleges, Kanter said. “Guess where preschool workers are trained?” she asked. “Community colleges.” All of these initiatives, Kanter said, tie into President Obama’s call four years ago to dramatically increase the number of Americans with postsecondary degrees and certificates. “Being first in the world is where we need to go,” she said, a reference to both the Administration’s proposed innovation fund and the book recently published by ACCT’s Brown, First in the World: Community Colleges and America’s Future. “We have got to tell the story,” Brown told NLS attendees. “If America wants to be first in the world, we start with community colleges.” T R U S T E E Q U A RT E R LY

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Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) speaks at the Community College Caucus Reception.

Representative Bobby Rush (D-Ill.)

U.S. Under Secretary for Education Martha Kanter gives the closing keynote address at the 2013 NLS.

On the Hill, Collegiality and Connections It’s safe to say that Portland Community College Chair Denise Frisbee has connections in Washington. Walking into Rep. Earl Blumenauer’s office in the Longworth Office Building on Capitol Hill, Frisbee was greeted warmly by her daughter, Stephanie, who works for the Oregon Congressman. Few of the other Hill visits were quite as personal, but the consistent level of collegiality from lawmakers from both sides of the aisle spoke to the continuing bipartisan recognition of the importance of community colleges in districts across the country. “I’m so proud of the fact that the whole community college system was created in Illinois,” Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) said. “Your mission is my mission.” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) warmly greeted a delegation of Florida community college trustees and presidents. “Part of our agenda is getting people to pay more attention to nontraditional students,” he said. “The best place to do that is in these colleges.” Pell weighed heavily in many discussions with lawmakers. Visiting the office of Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), college leaders spoke to the importance of the grants — at Milwaukee Area Technical College, 71 percent of students rely on them. “We sit in the epicenter of African-American male unemployment in Milwaukee,” said President Michael L. Burke, pointing to higher-cost, 16

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for-profit colleges taking advantage of the waiting list for MATC programs. Describing one student who racked up $57,000 in debt at one for-profit college and is ineligible for aid because he had defaulted, Burke said, “He was born in poverty, and he will die in poverty.” Karen Stout, president of Montgomery County Community College, told Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) that MCCC lost 200 students as a result of the elimination of Summer Pell, which has also impacted its accelerated 18-month associates degree program because of its use of summer programs. Likewise, the elimination of benefits for 100 percent online students are hurting institutions like PCC, where 10 percent of students are only taking online courses. “We’ve worked so hard to develop quality online programs, then to deter students is a shame,” Columbia Gorge Community College Board Chair Ernie Keller told Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) told community college leaders from his state that their institutions will play an increasing role in workforce programs. “I think community colleges are going to play a key role ensuring that federal tax dollars coming from Washington to Ohio are going to be spent effectively,” he said. “We’ve got the community colleges in place, and I think we can use the existing structure to do a much better job on worker retraining.”

NLS: The Evolution of Advocacy By William H. Meardy It was a cold, snowy and windy February day in Washington, D.C. The offices of ACCT were located at L’Enfant Plaza in an office building not far from Capitol Hill. Suddenly and without warning, seven strange men walked into the office. They introduced themselves as trustees from various North Carolina community college boards. From left: ACCT President and CEO J. Noah Brown, Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.), AACC Chair Marie Foster Gnage, ACCT Chair Jean Torgeson, AACC President and CEO Walter Bumphus

“I think community colleges are going to play a key role ensuring that federal tax dollars coming from Washington to Ohio are going to be spent effectively.” — Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio)

Trustees visiting Rep. Jamie Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) discussed how the state’s community colleges conduct “community scans” to identify workplace needs and shared the state Trustees Association of Community & Technical Colleges report, Transforming Lives: Building America, which details the ways in which colleges have provided life-changing opportunities for students. “I cried when I read these stories,” Trustee Joanne Schwartz said. Community college leaders also provided concrete evidence of how they are working to meet growing calls for accountability. Pennsylvania trustees and presidents discussed with Toomey with the Voluntary Framework of Accountability, which has now been adopted by all 14 of the state’s community colleges. “We don’t shy away from accountability,” Community College of Alleghany County President Alex Johnson told the senator. “We now have a platform to get that done.” As for Frisbee, once the impromptu family reunion was out of the way, she and other Oregon community college leaders discussed the critical needs they face with Blumenauer. “The demand for middle-skill workers is beyond our capacity,” PCC President Preston Pulliams told Blumenauer. “People are still trying to get back to work.”

After introductions were completed, I naturally asked what brought them into the city on such a blustery day. They said that they had come to town to meet with their respective senators and congressmen. They explained that this was the best time to meet with their representatives, early in the Congressional session, and they invited me to accompany them. I didn’t realize it at the time, but the future history of ACCT was about to change dramatically. We left for Capitol Hill. I was surprised that these trustees knew their respective representatives on a first-name basis, but I quickly realized that these trustees were not unlike their congressmen and women; they both represented their constituents back at home. And the trustees had enough local clout that they just might affect the political future of their representatives, and so they were welcomed into the Congressional offices with open arms. I was impressed: the trustees politely but forcefully presented the case for their community colleges. It struck me how politically important the role of trustees from North Carolina played in arguing for the needs of the institutions they represented. Obviously, if that was the case in North Carolina, then it must also be the same in every other state throughout the country. After profusely thanking these North Carolina trustees for their thoughtful invitation, I went back to my office and immediately began planning for the first ACCT Federal Relations seminar. Little did I realize at that time what a success the venture would become — that it would evolve into an annual National Legislative Summit that brings the voices of more than a thousand trustees and presidents into the city and onto the Hill. So, to those North Carolina trustees, a belated thank you. And thank you to everyone else who has carried on their legacy through participation in the Federal Relations Seminar and the National Legislative Summit. The trustees who recognize the value of making their voices heard in Washington, D.C., are the ones who change the future. William H. Meardy was the first executive director of ACCT.

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The

State of Public Pensions

Community colleges must pay heed to new accounting standards for defined-benefit pension plans. By Sue Menditto In fiscal year 2015 (FY15), pension liabilities will begin appearing on the balance sheets of U.S. state and local governments that provide defined-benefit pensions to employees and retirees, and community colleges with such plans must be aware of new federal standards requiring monumental changes in accounting and reporting. In defined-benefit pension plans, the benefit is defined and known in advance based upon years of service, earnings history, and retirement age. Measuring and recognizing the value of such benefits is required as a result of an accounting standard issued in June 2012 by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB). The GASB sets accounting rules and regulations that establish generally accepted accounting principles for U.S. state and local governments; public higher education institutions — including community colleges — must follow accounting standards set by GASB for external financial reporting. Compliance with the standards is necessary in order to receive a clean bill of financial health in the annual audit. Under GASB’s pension accounting statement number 68 (GASB 68), “Accounting and Financial Reporting for Pensions,” a governmental employer’s promise of pension benefits to an employee is a compensation exchange for current work performed. Just like salaries (or wages) and health insurance benefits, defined-pension benefits are considered to be currently earned. The pension standard’s objectives are to quantify the promise of these benefits and enhance the public’s understanding about the resources required to honor pension-benefit payments. GASB’s previous pension standards viewed the obligation to provide benefits as belonging to the plan, rather than to the employer. Therefore, governmental employers only had to recognize an expense for funding amounts paid to the pensionplan trust. Because employers have never recognized the full pension obligation, the new measurement rules in GASB 68 will require governments to “catch up” the recognition of pension expense. The measurement process involves: 18

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1. Calculating the future value of the benefit promise to current and former employees; 2. Discounting the future value to a present value; 3. Allocating the present value to past and present workexchange periods; 4. Allocating the present value to future payment periods; and 5. Comparing the aggregated values to pension-plan funding levels (current plus actuarially projected) to determine the net pension liability.

Unfunded Liabilities The net pension liability is the difference between the total pension liability and the value of assets set aside in a pension plan to pay benefits. The rules for measuring the promise of benefits will take into consideration cost of living increases, future salary increases, and future service credits. One actuarial method — known as “entry age normal” — will be used as a basis for the allocation of the present value to past and future years during which employees are expected to work. Employers will need to evaluate and choose a single (rate of return) discount rate that produces an adequate total of actuarially determined projected benefit payments for all eligible employees and retirees. The discount rate chosen can be based upon expected return rates; however, a lower municipal borrowing rate will need to be used if the selected discount rate does not produce ample funding. The point at which the lower discount rate kicks in is known as the crossover period — the period when projected funding is determined to be insufficient. Catch-up funding and current expenses for these earned benefits will likely accelerate the recognition of pension expenses by governmental employers from FY15 forward.

Plan Structures Government pension plans fall into one of three categories: 1. Cost-sharing employers provide their employees with defined-benefit pensions through cost-sharing, multipleemployer pension plans — plans in which the plan assets can be used to pay the pensions of any participating employer’s employees. 2. Single employers provide their employees with definedbenefit pensions through single-employer pension plans — plans in which pensions are provided to the employees of only one employer. 3. Agent employers provide their employees with definedbenefit pensions through agent multiple employer plans, in which plan assets are pooled for investment purposes but are legally segregated to pay the pension of each employer’s employees.

in the standard: if the pension plan has an unfunded liability, all participating employers in a multiple-employer cost-sharing plan collectively share a portion of the liability. Accordingly, the multiple employers will report a liability equivalent to their proportionate share of the collective net-pension liability of the plan. Each cost-sharing employer will also be required to recognize its estimated allocated share of the plan’s collective pension expense.

Special Funding Situations Multiple cost-sharing employers should pay attention to special funding situations that arise when non-employers are legally responsible for making payments directly to the pension plan on behalf of an employer. For some community colleges, county government payments are examples of special funding situations. In such cases, the community college is the employer and the county is the non-employer government that is legally responsible for making payments directly to the pension plan for the college. If the county government makes 100 percent of the required funding payments, the community college would not have to recognize an expense or liability. If the county government makes less than 100 percent of funding payments, the pension expense and liability of the community college are reduced to the extent of the on-behalf funding percentage. When special funding conditions exist, all funding contributions from non-employer entities must be based upon a compensation formula and not some other type of funding arrangement that has no relationship to compensation. GASB 68 involves monumental accounting and reporting changes with which community colleges with defined-benefit pension plans should become familiar. Community college pension-plan structures and legal funding requirements must be researched and retirement plan administrators contacted to clarify details. Community colleges that are part of multipleemployer cost-sharing plans may want to reach out to their auditors to discuss expectations for auditing employee census data (because public employees can move around among employers). Auditors may also have information about whether new audit guidance is published or forthcoming to address the issues. (State and local audit experts and audit firms are currently sorting through protocols with the American Institution of Certified Public Accountants.) Multiple cost-sharing employers will also need to determine if special funding situations exist and find out if funding requirements are administratively or statutorily determined. It is important for senior management and governing boards to have significant information about these pension plans; pending financial consequences should never be a surprise and implementation strategies will need to be developed.

Collective Liabilities Most public institutions’ defined-benefit pension plans are structured as either agent multiple employer plans or multipleemployer cost-sharing plans; the latter is more prevalent. Of great concern for public four-year institutions and community colleges is the construct of a collective liability that is introduced

Sue Menditto (smenditto@nacubo.org) is director of accounting policy at the National Association of College and University Business Officers.

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Student Engagement

Avenues to

More than half of U.S. states allow students to play a direct role in community college governance.

By Narcisa A. Polonio

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Student trustees have to balance many responsibilities, from undertaking their own programs of study to meeting the expectations of the students they represent and those of the governing board. Good community college boards always ask, “how will students benefit from the policy decisions we are making?” In addition to this question, board members should also be gauging the level of student engagement in all areas of the institution. There is great diversity from campus to campus in the level of student involvement, which may include advocating for important campus or social causes as well as participation in student and institutional governance. The extent to which students may become engaged in these efforts can be influenced by many factors, making it important for boards to understand and ensure that students are benefiting from opportunities to engage across the institution (see sidebar, p. 22). In turn, the board benefits from hearing the student voice. It is also important for boards to support student participation in the shared governance structures of the college. Most governing boards encourage and provide opportunities to hear directly from student associations or student governments as part of their regular board meetings and before making any major decision or new policy that would affect the student body. Some states take student involvement one step further by requiring the appointment of a student trustee to represent the voice of students on the community college board, a statewide governing board, or both. In the recently published report 2012 Public Community College Governing Boards: Structure and Composition, ACCT provides the most up-to-date profile on student trustees serving on governing boards at the state and local levels. According to the report, 26 states have student representation on the state boards which have responsibilities for governance or coordination of higher education. Only 11 of the 50 states include student trustees as part of the governance structure at the local level; of those,

Student Governance By the Numbers • 26 of the 50 states in the U.S. have some student representation at the state board level. • 11 states have student representation at the local board level. • Of those 11 states, eight have student representation or student trustees on both the state board and local community college governing boards (California, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Utah). • Of those 11 states, only three have student trustees solely on the local community college governing board level (New Jersey, New Mexico, West Virginia). Source: 2012 Public Community College Governing Boards: Structure and Composition, ACCT.

eight also have student representation at the state level. Among the ACCT report’s findings were several key variances in student trustee representation at both the state and local community college board levels across the U.S. (See box, bottom left.) According to the report, of the 26 states with student representation at the state level, only 16 provide student trustees with state-level voting privileges. In the remaining 10 states, student representatives serve on an advisory capacity and don’t have a vote. At the local level, out of the 11 states with student trustees at community colleges, only seven provide student trustees with full voting privileges; the other four states have varying levels of voting privileges. For example, in some cases student trustees do not participate in confidential executive sessions or votes pertaining to contracts, personnel, or real estate purchases. State-level and community college governing boards vary in the roles and responsibilities they entrust to student trustees. In 2009, ACCT conducted a national survey to gain insight into the backgrounds, experiences, and contributions of community college trustees. Colleges from 39 states participated in the study, which revealed important information about the terms of service and the selection process for student trustees. All colleges that have a student trustee position on their board indicated that they limit student trustees to a one-year term of service. By combining the 2009 survey findings with data gathered in 2012 Public Community College Governing Boards, we have a better overview of how student trustees in community colleges are selected. The majority of student trustees serving on local board of trustees are selected by the president or vice president for student affairs and appointed by the board, or appointed because of their position as head of the student government. The remaining student trustees on local boards are elected directly, by either the student body or by members of the student government. All student trustees serving on state boards are appointed. There are over 7,000 individuals who serve as members of local and state boards with authority over the community colleges in the country. Of this number, 281 serve as student trustees for community colleges. Table 1. Breakdown of the 11 States with Student Trustees Serving on Elected or Appointed Local Community College Boards Number of student trustees

Percent (%)

Appointed Boards

170

Elected Boards

111

TOTAL

281

100

Source: 2012 Public Community College Governing Boards, ACCT.

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Table 2. Breakdown of the 26 States with Student Trustees Serving on Governing, Advisory, or Coordinating State Boards Voting student trustees Governing

Percent (%)

Non-Voting student trustees

Percent (%)

Advisory

Coordinating

21*

100

13*

100

TOTAL

Source: 2012 Public Community College Governing Boards, ACCT. *Data unavailable from the states of Alaska, Indiana, and North Dakota at time of publication. Note that 17 states have voting student trustees on their state board, 10 states have non-voting student trustees, and four states have both voting and non-voting student trustees. In addition, of the 26 states with student trustee representation on their state boards, eight states have two student trustees on their state board and two states have three student trustees on their state board.

ACCT’s 2009 survey indicated that appointed student trustees were selected by the governor in states whose colleges are governed by a state board, or by the college president in the case of colleges with dedicated boards. Experience with governing boards indicates that in some cases the vice president of students is involved in the selection. Table 3. Percentage of Student Trustees with Full Voting Rights on State Boards Number of student trustees

Percent (%)

Full Voting Rights

61.1

No Voting Rights

30.6

Undetermined*

8.3

100

TOTAL

Source: 2012 Public Community College Governing Boards, ACCT. *Data unavailable from the states of Alaska, Indiana, and North Dakota.

Table 4. Percentage of Student Trustees with Full Voting Rights on Local Community College Boards Number of student trustees

Percent (%)

Full Voting Rights

No Voting Rights

Undetermined*

281

100

TOTAL

Source: 2012 Public Community College Governing Boards, ACCT. *Data unavailable from the states of California and New Jersey.

The data outlined in this article show that the experiences of student trustees vary from state to state, while at the same time confirming that many student trustees fully participate in all of their college board’s deliberations. In addition to the information revealed by 2012 Public Community College Governing Boards and the 2009 national survey of ACCT member trustees, observations and experiences 22

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Gauging Student Engagement To assess the level of overall student engagement on their campuses, boards need a clear sense of the vast range of opportunities for student involvement and engagement in community colleges and to understand whether these opportunities are available and supported in their institutions. It is also important to understand that the level of involvement reflects the profile of the student body. For example, the level of involvement at institutions with greater numbers of traditional and younger students more closely reflects what is found in traditional residential colleges — numerous social clubs, an active student government, and students who are involved in causes. Nontraditional students and commuter students, on the other hand, often have to balance work, family, and other responsibilities. This makes it more difficult to get involved in campus-sponsored activities or student governance. According to the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), the typical community college student works to earn an income while simultaneously attending classes. When one adds the number of hours spent working at a job to class hours and study time, it quickly becomes apparent that most community college students have very little time to become involved in extracurricular activities, including student governance. For these reasons, it is a good practice for governing boards to take extra measures to encourage and hear student voices and perspectives as they relate to their studies and the overall campus climate. from conducting board retreats throughout the country for many years support the suggestion that most student trustees are involved in all board discussions and other business matters. The majorities of boards not only involve their student trustees, but also respect their voices, placing a great value on their opinions. Student trustees have to balance many responsibilities, from undertaking their own programs of study to meeting the expectations of the students they represent and those of the governing board. We need to learn more about what assumptions and expectations are being made regarding the role of the student trustee, as the profile of student trustees varies greatly according to the diversity of the community college student population. As ACCT continues to survey community college trustees and presidents in future years, we will endeavor to monitor student trustees’ demographics, roles and responsibilities, and anecdotal experiences. If you would like to lend your experiences to this ongoing study, we would greatly value your participation. Simply e-mail npolonio@acct.org with “student trustee” in the subject line and we will get in touch with you for more information.

Narcisa A. Polonio, Ed.D. is executive vice president for education, research, and board leadership services at the Association of Community College Trustees.

2013 Governance Leadership Institute Held in San Antonio, Texas

Trustees and their presidents come together in San Antonio to collaborate with ACCT experts and peers on community college governance and leadership.

March 21-23, 2013

Leading and Learning

San Antonio played host to the 2013 Governance Leadership Institute This March 21-23, 80 community college trustees, presidents, and administrators gathered in San Antonio, Texas, for the 2013 Governance Leadership Institute hosted by the Alamo Colleges. On Thursday, March 21, GLI participants were treated to a beautiful welcome reception at the historic Koehler House at San Antonio College. On Friday, March 22, St. Philip’s College hosted the participants in its Heritage Room, and students from the culinary arts program provided a gourmet lunch. The attendees came from 14 states including Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, and Texas, as well as the British Virgin Islands and Guam. Please visit www.acct.org/events/2013-governance-leadership-institute to view additional photos of the 2013 Governance Leadership Institute.

ON THE AGENDA • Key Indicators of an Effective Board

• The Role of the Chair and the Leadership Team of the Board

• What Trustees Need to Know About Developing a Campus

• Image Building and Crisis Management

• What Trustees Need to Know About Running Effective Meetings

• Board Self-Assessment as a Leadership Tool

• What Trustees Need to Know About Outcomes, Quality, and Student Success

• From Good to Great: The Journey to Becoming an Exemplary Board

“This was one of the best training sessions I have ever attended.”

Participants exchange T-shirts from their colleges. T R U S T E E Q U A RT E R LY

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Top Aspen Prize Two ACCT Member Colleges Take the

Santa Barbara City College and Walla Walla Community College exemplify efforts to ensure that students from all backgrounds succeed.

On March 19, 2013, the Aspen Institute announced the co-winners of its prestigious 2013 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, Santa Barbara City College in California and Walla Walla Community College in Washington state. Each college was awarded $400,000 for its efforts to achieve exceptional levels of success for all students, both while they are in college and after they graduate. We asked the Aspen Institute why SBCC and WWCC — both ACCT member colleges — were selected for recognition in 2013.

Santa Barbara City College Although its coastal surroundings are affluent, Santa Barbara City College excels in one of the most vital missions of a community college: to boost the chances of the neediest students. The college’s leaders and staff work very intentionally to improve access and success for traditionally underserved populations. Through their efforts, the area’s large and growing population of Hispanics has achieved remarkable success at the college: 48 percent of full-time Hispanic students at SBCC graduate or transfer within three years, compared to 35 percent nationally. Nobody is given up on at SBCC — even, and especially, students who have faltered elsewhere in their schooling. The college devotes extensive resources and services to vulnerable students, including a special program designed to interest and educate minorities interested in science and math, an initiative to recruit and mentor students freshly out of the criminal justice system, and a partnership with the local K-12 system to motivate and orient high school students for college. 24

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Walk across campus, peek into buildings, and you’ll see tutoring happening everywhere. A writing center staffed by trained professionals has been proven to improve course completion. Peer tutors embedded in hundreds of class sections hold study sessions outside of class. Professors seek, and receive, resources to hold weekly study sessions for students who need them. SBCC achieves exceptional outcomes in student transfer to fouryear colleges, and they go on to high levels of success in obtaining bachelors’ degrees.’ Fifty-seven percent of full-time students at SBCC transfer to four-year colleges, and well over half of them go on to get a bachelor’s. The college’s Transfer Center takes students on college tours and helps them plan course schedules keyed to transfer. Articulation agreements with 76 colleges both inside and outside of California ensure that their credits will be accepted; several of those schools guarantee admission if students meet academic requirements. Part of the reason for SBCC’s success in transfer outcomes is that professors align their courses to the standards of the fouryear colleges they hope students will one day attend. “Our faculty puts a tremendous emphasis on making sure students do a lot of writing and critical thinking,” says executive vice president

Our students come back and tell us they were really well-prepared, that our courses were as challenging or more challenging than those at their transfer institutions — even Berkeley and UCLA. Jack Friedlander. “Our students come back and tell us they were really well-prepared, that our courses were as challenging or more challenging than those at their transfer institutions — even Berkeley and UCLA.” One of SBCC’s most promising reforms is the recently created Express to Success program in reading and math, which is targeted mostly to underserved populations. The program places students in small learning communities and blends two remedial courses typically taught over two semesters into one semester-long class. Students benefit from the intensity and connections created when they sit in class with the same classmates, and the same subject, for several hours four days a week. Of equal importance, professors can eliminate material often repeated in sequential classes and reclaim that time to engage students in more critical thinking. The project is working: Remedial course completion rates of Express to Success students exceed those of their peers by 30 percentage points. At other institutions, says President Lori Gaskin, “change has been looked at with a huge amount of trepidation. Here, there is a pervasive feeling of being open to taking risks and experimenting.”

Walla Walla Community College Like many strong community colleges, Walla Walla Community College has always responded to existing and emerging workforce demands, especially when agriculture waned in southeast Washington in the 1990s. But the college did far more: It created programs based on the resources available in the region and, in the process, helped revitalize the local economy. In 2000, the college, led by longtime president Steven VanAusdle, created an enology and viticulture degree program. Since then, the number of local wineries has grown from 16 to over 170, many staffed by WWCC graduates. The success of the wine program isn’t defined merely by the relatively small number of students who graduate from it. Rather, it has contributed to the region’s growing into a center for wine distribution and tourism, which in turn fostered the growth of a hospitality sector that has left the region relatively unwounded by the recession. New WWCC graduates outearn other new hires in the region by 80 percent. State development officials attribute much of that to the vision of VanAusdle and his senior team, who work with

laser-sharp focus on training students for high-paying jobs that the community needs. To do so, college officials analyze job and wage projections and conduct feasibility studies to weigh the value of prospective programs. When analysis showed that the region could absorb at least twice as many nurses as WWCC was producing, for instance, it doubled the nursing program. Irrigation instruction shifted from farms toward lawns and sport fields, because that was where the work had moved. A new energy program provides technicians for the area’s growing stock of wind turbines. It’s not enough, of course, to create new courses and programs — a successful college must ensure that students complete them. And at a school where four in five students are the first in their family to attend college, WWCC has created a structure that makes it difficult for students to stray off path. Every WWCC student must see an advisor every quarter until they have proven themselves academically. All professors advise; they receive regular training, follow an advising syllabus, and have a day cleared from their schedule each term to meet students. Anyone educating or advising a student can easily access an informative online portal that allows them to see each step remaining to degree completion and every possible roadblock. The result: 54 percent of full-time students graduate or transfer within three years, compared to 40 percent of community college students nationally. These and other completion efforts flow from a uniquely strong relationship between information technology and retention services at Walla Walla. Often meeting weekly, representatives from both departments identify students least likely to succeed, and then act. In fall of the current academic year, for example, the college discovered that students who failed to register within three days of being eligible for the spring semester were very likely to drop out. So the college identified the hundreds of at-risk students on the third day of the enrollment period, and immediately started calling each of them. Half of these at-risk students returned. When Sandra Cruz Camora, a 37-year-old pre-nursing student, got to WWCC, she spent more than an hour with her adviser mapping out every potential path and how long it would take, and those meetings with her adviser and professors continue to guide her. “No matter who you are, how old you are,” Camora said, “they make you feel confident that you can accomplish what you want to accomplish.” For more information about the Aspen Prize, go to www.aspeninstitute.org/policy-work/aspen-prize/about. T R U S T E E Q U A RT E R LY

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Around Regions the

central Region Wisconsin trustees convened a summit on student success in late April. Joined by ACCT President and CEO J. Noah Brown, the summit agenda included adopting a state definition and metrics of success, as well as a showcase of college best practices. The summit culminated a yearlong effort by student services and instructional leaders in partnership with the state trustee association. Prior to the summit, each member board discussed and adopted ACCT’s Policy Action Agenda for Student Success. The Right to Work Act took effect on March 28, making Michigan a right-to-work state. After Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder approved $3 million in funding for the new Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency, a newly created Consortium of Michigan Veteran Educators, with representation from all the state’s public community colleges, was established to assist veteran transitions and success. The Missouri Community College Association’s Presidents/Chancellors

Council adopted the state’s first statewide standard for awarding credit for prior learning. The impetus for the policy was two major training programs funded through a U.S. Department of Labor grant and administered by the Missouri Community College Association, MoHealthWINs and MoManufacturingWINs. The national Council for Adult Experiential Learning (CAEL) trained Missouri two-year institution administrators and faculty in developing and implementing a credit for prior learning policy, while the work group benchmarked national best practices. Now approved, the next steps for the policy will be dissemination throughout the state’s public two-year institutions and integration with college degree administration and graduation policies. Illinois community college enrollment dropped this spring for the third straight year. The nearly 206,000 fulltime enrollments in Illinois community colleges for the spring 2013 semester are down by 5,000 students from the previous year and 18,000 below the record enrollment set in spring 2010. The Illinois Community College Trustees Association will honor the state’s outstanding trustees, alumni, student leaders, business partners, and faculty members at its June 7-8 convention in Chicago. The convention will also offer a new trustee orientation, election of ICCTA officers, and a panel discussion featuring

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doctoral candidates who have conducted research related to Illinois trusteeship and community college boards. Joliet Junior College student trustee Keith Bryant attended the 2013 State of the Union address as the guest of Illinois Congressman Bill Foster. Bryant also represented JJC at the Community College National Legislative Summit while in Washington, D.C. Twenty-three Ohio community colleges are participating in the Credit When It’s Due national grant initiative, which awards associate degrees to qualified students who transferred to four-year institutions.

NORTHEAST Region The New Jersey Council of County Colleges recently established the Center for Student Success, a statewide initiative that will work with the state’s 19 community colleges to improve student outcomes. The Center has already held six statewide Student Success Summits, which brought together hundreds of faculty and staff members to examine common learning outcomes and best practices in redesigning English and math

developmental education, as well as improving English as a Second Language programs. The New York Community College Trustees held two trustee forums on a SUNY/ CUNY report on operating chargebacks. In 2012, the state legislature requested that SUNY and CUNY prepare a report on the history of chargeback revenue, the expense charged back to home counties for New York students attending community college in another county, a significant component of community college operating budgets, as well as state aid and tuition. During the Maryland 2013 legislative session, the governor proposed a 7 percent increase in the operating budget, with overwhelming support in the legislature. The Maryland Association of Community Colleges board, chaired by a trustee, played a key role in advocacy with the state’s executive and legislative branches. Carroll Community College in Maryland celebrated its 20th anniversary. The youngest community college in the state system, Carroll has seen enrollment increase from 1,000 to more than 14,000 students annually over its twodecade history. Westmoreland County Community College in Pennsylvania has entered the public phase of its $28.5 million “Investing in Our Community” campaign, which supports

the creation of an advanced technology center, construction of a new education center in Latrobe, expansion and renovation of nursing and biology labs, and increasing the student scholarship endowment fund. To date, the campaign has raised more than $21 million in public and private funds towards the goal, with major support coming from the state, county, and the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

with its prestigious Certificate of Achievement in Financial Reporting for the college’s comprehensive annual financial report. The honor recognizes the highest standards for the preparation of governmental financial reports. The West Virginia legislature voted to approve the consolidation of two community colleges, Kanawha Valley Community Technical College and Bridgemont Community and Technical College. The campuses will remain separate but be governed by one president and one board of governors. .

Southern Region Ten North Carolina community colleges that are part of the N.C. Advanced Manufacturing Alliance purchased specialized equipment for advanced manufacturing training through an $18 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration. For the sixteenth consecutive year, the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada honored Midlands Technical College in South Carolina

Pacific Region California’s economy continues a significant rebound, with state revenues billions of dollars above the current year budget estimate. Community college leaders anticipate that this could lead to a larger increase than the $179 million proposed in the governor’s January budget for the 2013-14 fiscal year. Meanwhile, the system

continues aggressive implementation of student success reforms adopted by the state governing board last year. California’s community college system unveiled its Student Success Scorecard in April. The scorecard contains information including student retention and completion rates for each of the system’s 112 campuses and is available on the community college chancellor’s website as well as individual community college websites. Gov. Jerry Brown announced the creation of a new international program to send California community college students to study in China beginning in 2014. Funded by a grant supporting the 100,000 Strong Foundation, an initiative launched by Hillary Clinton to diversify and expand the number of students learning in China, the program will be piloted at San Mateo County Community College District before expanding statewide. The Oregon state legislature passed HB 2787, which grants undocumented students instate tuition rates for Oregon university system schools. Starting next school year, illegal immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children and graduated from an Oregon high school would pay the subsidized college tuition

charged to Oregon residents, savings of about $20,000 a year. The Oregon Community College Association has supported this legislation each time it has been introduced over the last ten years. While the bill has cleared the Senate in past sessions, this is the first year it was able to clear the House. The bill will now go to Gov. John Kitzhaber for his signature.

western Region The Nebraska legislature advanced a bill that would provide $750,000 in funding for education institutions that provide adult education services, an effort strongly advocated by Metropolitan Community College in Omaha. The Remedial Adult Education Innovation Act would increase the capacity of Nebraska’s community colleges to deliver high-quality adult education programs and GED testing services. About 72,000 Nebraska adults between 25 and 64 lack a high school diploma, according to U.S. Census data.

Around the Regions provides an opportunity to share what’s happening in the states and around the regions. This section focuses on state legislative and budgetary issues, economic development, and finance. Please e-mail items from press releases or newsletters to ACCT at dconner@acct.org. Fax submissions to 202-223-1297. T R U S T E E Q U A RT E R LY S P R I N G 2 0 1 3

legal

Record Increases in Employment DiscriminationRelated Enforcement, Collections in 2012

Both the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) have reported substantial increases in enforcement actions in 2012. The EEOC also reports record amounts of money recovered for claimants in enforcement actions, having collected a record $365.4 million for discrimination claimants through its administrative enforcement program during fiscal 2012. The EEOC also announced that it reduced its case backlog by 10 percent for the second straight year. Regarding the EEOC’s activity in systemic discrimination cases, an area targeted by the agency as a “priority for increased enforcement,” the EEOC reported that of the record $365.4 million in claimant collections, 10 percent was attributable to investigations and conciliations of alleged

systemic discrimination charges. The EEOC defines “systemic” cases as those involving employer-wide or industry-wide practices that potentially affect a large number of employees. The EEOC reported that it filed 122 lawsuits alleging discrimination violations in fiscal 2012, of which 20 percent involved alleged systemic violations. Separately, the U.S. Department of Education’s OCR, which enforces six antidiscrimination statutes including Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), is monitoring more cases than ever before. The OCR reports that for the three-year period from 2009-2012, it received 24 percent more complaints than in any previous comparable period and conducted more than 100 compliance reviews. The OCR reported that more than half of the compliance reviews dealt with disability issues and about a

“Counselor, please advise your client that, issues of personal safety aside gravity is the law.” 28

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quarter dealt with Title IX. The remainder involved general allegations of sex and age discrimination. The OCR reported that the states with the most compliance reviews were Ohio (nine), California (eight), and New York (seven). The following cases are of broad importance to higher education institutions and their leaders. College instructor’s “shooting gun” classroom remark not protected under First Amendment free speech. In Quint v. University of Oregon (D.Or., No. 11-CV-6371, 1/30/13), a federal District Court judge dismissed the First Amendment challenge to the discharge of a college sign-language instructor who was suspended and ultimately terminated by the college after a classroom remark, “Do you want me to take out a gun and shoot you in the head?” which was directed at students who were violating his classroom rule of no talking. Prior to the incident that lead to the suspension and termination, the instructor described to the students a trip he head taken to Pakistan, during which he was confronted by an armed tribesman who did not harm him. He told the students that he avoided a dangerous situation by treating the people of Pakistan with respect. He later testified that students should respect his “voices off” policy as he respected the armed tribesman he encountered. In response to the instructor’s claim that his classroom remarks had First Amendment protection, the court concluded that the instructor had the burden of establishing that he was speaking as a private citizen rather than a public employee, and that he was addressing a matter of public concern. The court rejected the plaintiff’s claim on both grounds, concluding that, “Here is it

By Ira Michael Shepard ACCT General Counsel

clear that the plaintiff’s speech was made in the course of performing his duties as an instructor in the ASL class, i.e., in his capacity of a public employee.” Further, the court concluded that nothing in the remark was a matter of public concern and that his remarks were, in fact, threatening in nature and evoked apprehension among students, at least one parent, and campus security. The court further concluded that even if his comment was not intended to be perceived as a threat, “It easily falls short of the mark of speech that enjoys protection because it involves a matter of public concern.” The court also dismissed the instructor’s claim of disability harassment, which alleged that students subjected him to a hostile environment because he is deaf and the students were violating his “voices off” rule and disrupting his classroom as part of an attempt to harass him because of his disability. The court concluded that there was no evidence that the students were violating the rule in an attempt to harass the instructor because of his disability. College professor allowed to sue university for alleged failure to disclose a separation incentive plan under consideration when he negotiated retirement benefits. In Soland v. George Washington University (D.D.C. , No. 1:10CV-02034, 1/7/13), the court ruled that a former GWU professor can proceed with his Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) claim in federal court. The claim argues that the university breached its fiduciary duty to him in failing to disclose that it was considering a voluntary separation incentive program when he was considering and negotiating his decision to retire. The plaintiff taught at GWU’s Engineering School for more than 30 years. In January 2008, he told the head of his department that he planned to retire within the next two years and inquired about any voluntary-separation packages that might be available to him. After some discussion and negotiation, the University offered him a separation package in April 2008 that set a date for his retirement and provided that he would be granted administrative leave for 2009 and confirmed the amount of money he would receive. In 2009, while the plaintiff was on administrative leave, the university announced a voluntary-separation incentive

program (VSIP) for all full-time regular active faculty in the plaintiff’s department. When the plaintiff learned of the VSIP, he inquired and applied but was told he was ineligible because he was not working full-time. He filed an internal appeal, which was denied, and then filed his federal lawsuit under ERISA. The university argued that it could not be liable for failing to disclose something that at the time of his decision to retire “did not exist.” The Court rejected the university’s argument, concluding that the central inquiry is not whether the program existed when the plaintiff was in his 2008 negotiations over his retirement, but rather whether the university was “seriously considering” the program when it was negotiating with him. The Court concluded that the plaintiff has plead sufficient facts to make that case and is entitled to a trial over his claim that the university breached its fiduciary obligation to him. College human resources vice president’s First Amendment retaliation claim dismissed. A college vice president of human resources who was fired shortly after writing a newspaper editorial critical of comparisons between the gay rights movement and the civil rights movement has failed in her First Amendment retaliation discharge claim. In Dixon v. University of Toledo (6th Cir., No. 12-3218, 12/17/12), the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed the Federal District Court judge’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the university, holding that the individual did not engage in protected speech under the First Amendment and therefore could not sustain a retaliatory discharge claim. The plaintiff in this case had served in various HR positions with the university for approximately 10 years and otherwise had an unblemished record at the institution. There had been some history to gay rights issues on campus, including a prior official editorial by the university president describing the university’s commitment to diversity and an editorial by the university vice provost, who with her same-sex partner became the first couple to file for a domestic partnership in Toledo. The vice provost was quoted in the local newspaper as saying that opposition to the domestic partnership registry stemmed from

“religious beliefs” and that “bigotry in the name of religion is still bigotry.” Later, the Toledo Free Press published an editorial titled “Gay Rights and Wrongs,” which criticized the fact that the Medical College of Ohio (part of the University of Toledo) did not have employee domesticpartnership benefits despite the fact that the University of Toledo employees did. The Court found that the editor implicitly compared the gay-rights movement to the civil-rights movement. In response to that editorial, the plaintiff wrote an editorial, “Gay Rights and Wrongs: Another Perspective,” which criticized the comparison between the civil- and gay-rights movements because of her belief that the “homosexual lifestyle” is a choice, whereas race is genetic and biological. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals specifically found that the plaintiff held a policy-making position at the University and was discharged based on speech related to political or policy issues that directly contradicted several university policies. As such, the Court concluded that the government’s — in this case, the state university’s — “interest in efficiency” outweighed the plaintiff’s free-speech rights and dismissed her retaliatory discharge claim. Under the Sixth Circuit rule, a public employee’s speech will be unprotected by the First Amendment in cases where the employee is a policy maker and speaks on a matter related to policy of the governmental entity. The court also rejected the plaintiff’s claim that she was similarly situated and treated differently than the university president and university vice provost, who both spoke publicly on this issue and were not discharged. The Court recognized that the university president spoke officially in ways consistent with the policy, not critical of it. The Court also concluded that the plaintiff did not present sufficient evidence that the university vice provost was actually similarly situated to her.

Ira Michael Shepard is a partner with the law firm of Saul Ewing, LLP, in Washington, D.C., and ACCT’s general counsel. T R U S T E E Q U A RT E R LY

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2013 New Trustees Academy Held in Washington, D.C.

New trustees with their presidents come together in Washington, D.C., for a unique experience to accelerate the learning process and orient new trustees with the basics of boardsmanship.

February 11, 2013

Trustees and Their Presidents

New

Gather in Washington, D.C., for the 2013 New Trustees Academy More than 50 community college trustees and their presidents converged in Washington, D.C., on February 11, the day before the 2013 Community College National Legislative Summit, for a one-day primer on the basics of board governance. Community college leaders in attendance came from 20 states including Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. ACCT will host an expanded two-and-a-half day Governance Leadership Institute for New and Experienced Trustees this August 6-8 at the National Center for Higher Education in Washington D.C.

“So much information, and so valuable.” ON THE AGENDA • Boardmanship 101– What Every Trustee Wish They Knew from the Beginning! • Advocacy at the Federal Level: What Can Congress Do For You • What Every Trustee Should Know About Their President: A Relationship Based on Trust, Respect, and Accountability • He/She Who Knows the Rules Has the Power: Robert’s Rules of Order and Operational Procedures • From the Boardroom to the Front Pages: Collaboration and Respect of the Media • Roles and Responsibilities • Moving the Needle: Outcomes, Quality and Student Success • Follow the Money: The Budget, Financial Management, and Capital Projects

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Community college leaders from 20 states attended the academy.

“I wish I had this before I became a trustee.”

February 11, 2013

Trustees gather in Washington, D.C., to learn from experts in federal issues and policy how to effectively advocate for their institutions.

2013 Advocacy Academy Washington, D.C.

On February 11, community college trustees took part in the second annual National Legislative Summit Advocacy Academy. Held at the Marriott Wardman Park in Washington, D.C., the Advocacy Academy provided participants with the skills and information to become knowledgeable advocates in the halls of Congress. Participants came from Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Washington.

AGENDA

“Great presentations by the ACCT staff.” “Valuable information!”

• Overview of the federal budget and legislative process

“The program offers a big picture view.”

• How to communicate with Congressional offices and staff • Federal legislative and regulatory outlook for community colleges • Current trends in federal higher education policy • Tailoring legislative priorities to make them your own

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SPRING 2013

Edward “Sandy” Sanders, AR Dick Trammel, AR Donald Campbell, AZ Jan Guy, AZ Gloria Guzman, AZ Fred Harcleroad, AZ Debra Pearson, AZ Linda B. Rosenthal, AZ Esther D. Tang, AZ Jane Gregory, BC Chuck Ayala, CA Lewis S. Braxton, CA Lois Carson, CA Brian E. Conley, CA Carole Currey, CA Denise Ducheny, CA Isobel Dvorsky, CA Dorothy Ehrhart-Morrison, CA H. Ronald Feaver Paul Fong, CA Rebecca Garcia, CA Paul J. Gomez, CA Walter Howald, CA Worth Keene, CA Bruce Ketron, CA Brenda Knight, CA Marie Y. Martin, CA William H. Meardy, CA Carl Robinson, CA Herbert Roney, CA Armando Ruiz, CA Evonne Seron Schulze, CA William J. Smith, CA Pete Tafoya, CA Leslie Thonesen, CA Roberto Uranga, CA David Viar, CA John Dent, CO John Giardino, CO George Boggs, DC Ken Burke, FL Jody T. Hendry, FL Nancy Watkins, FL Kenneth R. Allbaugh, IA Harold Brock, IA* 32

SPRING 2013

Robert Davidson, IA* Joyce Hanes, IA B. A. Jensen, IA* Kirby Kleffmann, IA Moudy Nabulsi, IA Wayne Newton, IA Wanda Rosenbaugh, IA Linda Upmeyer, IA James L. Ayers, IL Steven J. Ballard, IL Mark Fazzini, IL Phyllis Folarin, IL Raymond Hartstein, IL Patricia Jones, IL James Lumber, IL Judith Madonia, IL Robert G. McBride, IL Robert McCray, IL Michael Monteleone, IL David Murphy, IL Rich Nay, IL Therese G. Pauly, IL Franklin Walker, IL Jerry Wright, IL Robert Burch, KS James D. Hittle, KS Jo Ann Huerter, KS Dick Klassen, KS Ed Nicklaus, KS Jo Ann Sharp, KS Darrell Shumway, KS Lauren A. Welch, KS Mary Beth Williams, KS M. W. “Bill” Wyckoff, KS Joan Athen, MD Daniel Hall, MD Nancy M. Hubers, MD Robert Lawrence, MD Brad W. Young, MD William C. Warren, ME Frank S. Gallagher, MI Robert E. Garrison, MI* David W. Hackett, MI Fred Mathews, MI Shirley Okerstrom, MI

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George Potter, MI David Rutledge, MI Anne V. Scott, MI Celia M. Turner, MI* Denise Wellons-Glover, MI James B. Tatum, MO Joann L. Ordinachev, MO Troy Holliday, MS James Stribling, MS John Forte, NC Hugh Lee, NC George Little, NC Helen Newsome, NC* Kathleen Orringer, NC Raymond Reddrick, NC C. Louis Shields, NC Lillie J. Solomon, NC Lynda Stanley, NC Alwin Arce, NJ Angelo Cortinas, NJ Clara Dasher, NJ Nino Falcone, NJ William T. Hiering, NJ Donald Loff, NJ William McDaniel, NJ* James R. Perry, NJ Virginia Scott, NJ Charles Tice, NJ Barbara Wallace, NJ Ronald Winthers, NJ Beatrice Doser, NM Gloria Lopez, NM Robert Matteucci, NM Nancy R. Rosasco, NV Arthur C. Anthonisen, NY David Mathis, NY Donald M. Mawhinney, NY Jean M. McPheeters, NY Richard N. Adams, OH Maureen Grady, OH Rebecca L. Redman, OH Victor F. Stewart, Jr., OH Ken Bartlett, OK Norma Jean Germond, OR Doreen Margolin, OR*

Jim Voss, OR Gene P. Ciafre, PA Morrison Lewis, PA Gene E. McDonald, PA Betty K. Steege, PA John Wright, PA E. Stewart Blume, SC Sheila Korhammer, SC Montez C. Martin, Jr., SC William O. Rowell, SC* Peter E. Sercer, Sr., SC James Smith, SC Elmer Beckendorf, TX Manuel Benavidez, Jr., TX* Kitty Boyle, TX Don Coffey, TX Diane Olmos Guzman, TX Bennie Matthews, TX Carla McGee, TX Della-May Moore, TX Pattie Powell, TX Steve Salazar, TX Lydia Santibanez, TX W. L. “Levi” Smallwood, TX J. Pete Zepeda, TX M. Dale Ensign, UT Frank Mensel, UT Marilyn Blocker, VA Robert W. Harrell, Jr., VA Melanie L. Jackson, VA Elizabeth Rocklin, VA Ruthann Kurose, WA Naomi Pursel, WA Vaughn A. Sherman, WA Joan Jenstead, WI* Dennis Christensen, WY

* Deceased

They deserve more than just a gold watch. ACCT LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP Do you have board members getting ready to retire? Are you looking for ways to recognize them for their hard work and dedication? Don’t let them go without an ACCT Lifetime Membership!

7 REASONS TO BESTOW A LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP

1 Giving outstanding and retiring board members a Lifetime Membership to ACCT is a way to thank them for their service, recognize them among their peers, and ensure their ongoing interest in your college.

2 3

Lifetime Members receive complimentary registration to all ACCT meetings, including the Annual Leadership Congress and the National Legislative Summit, after retiring from their local boards. Lifetime Members receive all of ACCT’s award-winning publications, including Trustee Quarterly magazine, and the Advisor and From the Desk of ACCT newsletters.

4 Lifetime Members are recognized publicly in Trustee Quarterly, on the ACCT Web site, and elsewhere. 5 The Lifetime Membership program supports and promotes ACCT’s continuing trustee education and professional development.

6 Colleges that purchase Lifetime Memberships can deduct the expense from taxes to the fullest extent allowed by law. 7 It’s just a nice thing to do — and haven’t your most exceptional trustees earned it? For applications or assistance, go to www.acct.org/membership/lifetime/honor-trustee.php, contact the ACCT Membership Department by phone at (202) 775-4667, or e-mail acctinfo@acct.org.

Presidential Searches The Board Leadership Services staff and consultants of the Association of Community College Trustees are pleased to have assisted in the search for the following community college chief executive officers.

New River Community and Technical College, W.Va.

Navarro College, Texas Dr. Barbara Kavalier District President

Dr. L. Marshall Washington President

Former President

Former Vice President for Lancaster Campus

San Jose City College, Calif.

Harrisburg Area Community College, Pa.

“We are excited about the arrival of Dr. Barbara Kavalier. We think she will bring a new vision and direction to the college and continue the fine work of “New River’s circumstances were such that we needed a new president quickly. ACCT was very efficient and focused on attracting Dr. Richard Sanchez, our retiring CEO. She brings a breadth of experience in college administration, including a firm a broad, diverse, and qualified applicant pool. With ACCT’s assistance and expertise, New River has found a president who has understanding of the importance of dual credit instruction and the need to provide responsive service to the communities the perfect qualities and leadership skills to fit our unique needs.” we serve.” — Leslie Baker, Board Chair, New River Community and — Lloyd Huffman, Board Chair, Navarro College Technical College

Looking for a

New President, Vice President, Provost, or Vice Chancellor? OUR SUCCESS ACCT Board Leadership Services brings over 30 years of experience to every executive search. We have assisted more than 300 colleges and governing boards in successfully identifying the best candidates for new presidents and chancellors. ACCT’s services have been expanded to work with chancellors and presidents to identify the most outstanding candidates for vice presidential positions at your college. ACCT Board Leadership Services will guide you through every step of the process.

OUR STRENGTHS • We understand the needs of community colleges. • We find and cultivate high-caliber talent. • We build a unique pool of candidates for each search to “fit” the college. • We have extensive contacts with women and minorities poised to advance. • We have the advantage of the ACCT membership as a source of contacts. ACCT Board Leadership Services will hold your hand during every step of the selection process.

For more information on ACCT’s expanded services to assist with the placement of vice presidents, provosts, and vice chancellors, please contact Narcisa Polonio at npolonio@acct.org or 202-276-1983.

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Vice Presidential Searches ACCT’s Board Leadership Services is now providing assistance to chancellors and presidents looking to identify a new member of the executive leadership team for the college or district. We are pleased to announce the completion of the following searches for provosts and vice presidents.

Dr. Tod Treat Executive Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs

Dr. Joanne Russell Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs

Tacoma Community College, Wash.

Westchester Community College (SUNY), N.Y.

Former Vice President for Student and Academic Services Richland Community College, Ill.

“Tod Treat impressed all of us at Tacoma Community College with his passion for our community college mission and his record of achievement in promoting student success. His experience in the classroom and in a variety of leadership roles is something we also value. We think he will be a great asset for our leadership team at TCC.” — Dr. Pamela Transue, President

Dr. José Adames Vice President for Academic Affairs Dutchess Community College (SUNY), N.Y.

Former Vice President of Academic Affairs Bergen Community College, N.J.

“We are very pleased Dr. José Adames has joined our executive team as Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs. He brings to this position excellent credentials, impressive community college leadership experience, and a management style that facilitates thoughtful deliberation and collaboration. Shortly after he assumed the position on an interim basis, it became apparent that José shares our campus community’s strong commitment to student success and possesses the skills necessary to identify the opportunities and meet the challenges associated with higher education delivery in the 21st century.” — Dr. D. David Conklin, President

Former Dean of Academic Affairs/ Chief Academic Officer Manchester Community College, Conn.

“We anticipate that Dr. Russell will provide a major leadership role in the development and implementation of college goals, strategic planning, and resource allocation. With Dr. Russell’s openness to hear the opinions of others and her obvious ‘team-player’ approach to issues, Westchester Community College expects to enjoy a long academic relationship with her at the helm.” — Dr. Joe Hankin, President

NEW ACCT EXECUTIVE SEARCHES WEBSITE Selecting a president or chancellor is one of the most momentous decisions made by a board of trustees. The decision has far-reaching implications for the board, the college, and the community. ACCT is committed to providing membership services that meet the highest professional standards, and are reliable and of the highest quality available. Our commitment goes well beyond providing CEO search assistance. We are your membership organization, and as such, accountable to every member board. Our mission, values, and goals focus entirely on service to our membership. ACCT’s fundamental purpose is to enhance the capacity of boards through education, advocacy, and by helping boards identify and select the best CEOs to lead their colleges on behalf of their communities. If your college is considering using ACCT's Search Services, we would be happy to submit a formal proposal customized to the needs of your institution. Visit ACCT Executive Searches online at www.acctsearches.org

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acct’s Public Policy Resources for Community College Trustees

community college

national Legislative Summit

Held each February in Washington, D.C., the Community College National Legislative Summit (NLS) is an important opportunity for community college leaders to become informed on cuttingedge policy issues and advocate to key Members of Congress and the Administration on behalf of community and technical colleges. www.acct.org/events/legislativesummit

LAW

Latest Action in washington

ACCT’s highly successful Latest Action in Washington (LAW) e-mail alerts offer immediate, concise updates on legislative activity important to community colleges. Sign up to receive LAW E-Alerts by sending an e-mail with “LAW E-Alerts” in the subject line to: publicpolicy@acct.org

visit acct advocacy online www.acct.org/advocacy

ACCT’s website contains resources for trustees on advocacy and public policy. Information includes: legislative priorities and federal funding; ACCT letters to Congress; tips on becoming a federal advocate for your college; and an action center to write your representatives.

www.twitter.com/cctrustees

www.facebook.com/cctrustees

NET WORK NEWS SPRING 2013

INTERFACE

A publication of the Community College Professional Board Staff Network in cooperation with the Association of Community College Trustees

Professional Board Staff Member 2012-2013 Executive Committee OFFICERS Wendy Dodson, President Assistant to the President Sandhills Community College, N.C. dodsonw@sandhills.edu Debbie Novak, Vice President Assistant to the College President Colorado Mountain College, Colo. dnovak@coloradomtn.edu Mechell Downey, Secretary Administrative Assistant to the President Seminole State College, Okla. m.downey@sscok.edu Sherri Weddle Bowen, Immediate Past President Executive Assistant to the President Forsyth Technical Community College, N.C. sbowen@forsythtech.edu

MEMBERS-AT-LARGE CENTRAL REGION Heather Lanham Executive Assistant to the President Edison Community College, Ohio hlanham@edisonohio.edu

Reaching Out Through Better Communication I find it interesting to view the Professional Board Staff Network’s work as we transition from the 2012 ACCT Leadership Congress theme of “Partnerships through Innovation” to the upcoming 2013 Congress theme of “Moving the Needle.” We have certainly “innovated” through the launch of our Facebook page a few years ago to our more recent introduction of our Wiggio communication website. As PBSN moves forward, we look to really “move the needle” toward being more involved with one another by expanding our contact throughout the year using our communication website. The ability to network, share best practices, and communicate regularly with one other is a true resource for the board staff member. By sharing information about our different organizational structures, board practices, relationships among the community, college, president and trustees, new technology, and how our positions function, we help to support each other in our board staff roles. We have already seen a range of online posts from PBSN members on everything from electronic board meeting packets to helping prospective

NORTHEAST REGION Sean Fischer Executive Assistant to the President and Director of Board of Trustees Services Atlantic Cape Community College, N.J. sfischer@atlantic.edu

first-time attendees navigate the process of registering their trustees and themselves for the

PACIFIC REGION Tria Bullard Executive Assistant to the President Columbia Gorge Community College, Ore. tbullard@cgcc.cc.or.us

immediate feedback to all of our members and support to the many professional board

SOUTHERN REGION Tina Heskett Executive Assistant to the President Hillsborough Community College, Fla. cheskett@hccfl.edu WESTERN REGION Carla Patee Executive Assistant to the President and Clerk for the Board Dodge City Community College, Kan. cpatee@dc3.edu

2013 Congress. What a wonderful asset to be able to share with one another. Debbie Novak, vice-president of PBSN, writes this month about embracing transition. Changing the way we communicate is certainly a transition that I hope will provide more staffers who cannot make the trip to the annual ACCT Leadership Congress, but would like to be involved members of PBSN. The executive committee met in Washington, D.C., in February at the 2013 Community College National Legislative Summit and is in the process of putting together our workshop agenda for the upcoming 2013 ACCT Leadership Congress in Seattle, Washington. I welcome any input or suggestions for this workshop and invite any board staff member to contact me about being added to our Wiggio communication site. Please email me at dodsonw@sandhills.edu. I look forward to working with the executive committee and hearing from all of you in the upcoming year. Wendy Dodson Sandhills Community College, N.C.

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NETWORK NEWS SPRING 2013

INTERFACE

A publication of the Community College Professional Board Staff Network in cooperation with the Association of Community College Trustees

How Transition Defines Us By Debbie Novak, Colorado Mountain College tran·si·tion (noun) 1. Movement, passage, or change from one position, state, stage, subject, concept, etc., to another; change. (dictionary.reference.com) Why do we as humans fear and dislike change so much? Is it because it is so much easier to do the same things over and over again, or is it fear of the unknown? How do we not only survive change, but thrive in the midst of it? Professional board staff must adapt to changes every day. Some are small (changes in the president’s schedule), some are large (an election that replaces almost every member of the board), and some are huge and unexpected (being told, “By the way, the President of the United States will be on campus next week and the Secret Service will be here

tomorrow morning for a security sweep.”) In our position, adaptability is imperative in order to be successful — and if we are not successful, it is difficult for our presidents or boards to be successful. I feel in some ways it may be easier for me to adapt to change than others because change has been one of the few constants in my life; I grew up where there were four seasons, owned and closed more than one business, and moved halfway across the country from my hometown. I think I would get bored if everything stayed the same, yet in my experience, most people like the status quo, feeling safer knowing what is coming next. The problem is that life has a way of doing its own thing no matter how well we plan. My advice — unsolicited though it may be — is to find a way to not only adapt to change, but also to embrace it. I have found with every transition I have learned more than

Professional Board Staff Network Executive Committee (l to r): Debbie Novak, Sherri Bowen, Wendy Dodson, Sean Fischer, Mechell Downey, Tina Heskett, Carla Patee, Heather Lanham, and Tria Bullard.

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NET WORK NEWS SPRING 2013

INTERFACE

A publication of the Community College Professional Board Staff Network in cooperation with the Association of Community College Trustees

I ever could imagine. If the transition is with the people with whom we work, we must really get to know them, along with their needs, visions, and coping mechanisms. If the changes have to do with circumstances in life, we need to look to see what we can learn about life and ourselves while going through this period of time. Maybe we can even look forward to the new opportunities that change may bring to us. Because they lack experience, most children look at life with wonder and excitement about the unexpected, rather than through the lens of trepidation and fear that we as adults learn to use. Change can give us a new outlook on life, if we allow ourselves to move from that place of fear to an exciting place of wonder. Some of the things I’ve learned through the many transitions in my life are:

1. There is much more in life I cannot control than what I can. This point alone has given me a freedom I don’t think I can completely convey. 2. Most issues I fret about are not about me; actually, most things in life are not about me (another freeing thought). 3. The only life I can change is mine; this includes my attitude and behavior. I think this is one of the biggest lessons in life and there have been too many times in my life to count when remembering this lesson changed my life for the better. Life and work come with struggles — but the more we fight change, the more we struggle. Adapting to the changes and new people in our lives will make not only our own lives easier, but the lives of those we serve…because the only constant in life is change.

PBSN Gets Virtual with Communication PBSN recently launched ITS virtual communication site on Wiggio. It allows members to communicate on a daily basis, network and share best practices, and access documents, agendas, surveys, and our yearly calendar of events. We look forward to being able to reach out to one another on a more consistent basis. If you are interested in being included, please contact Wendy Dodson at dodsonw@sandhills.edu for an invitation to the site.

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advisor 2013 CANDIDATES FOR THE ACCT BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Nominations for Director-at-Large

Regional Director

DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE

Deadline for receipt is July 1, 2013

(1) Three-Year Term in Each Region The following is the slate of nominees:

(1) Three-Year Term

You are encouraged to submit your nomination via e-mail to nominations@acct.org.

Central Region Robin Smith* Lansing Community College, MI Northeast Region LeRoy W. Mitchell* Westchester Community College, NY Pacific Region Jane Strain* Cochise College, AZ Southern Region David H. Talley* Palm Beach State College, FL Western Region Kent O. Miller* Mid-Plains Community College, NE

There are currently no nominees received to date. Nominations need to be received before July 1, 2013, in order to appear in the fall issue of Advisor. Candidates with an asterisk received the support of their respective Regional Nominating Committees. Note: Nominations will be accepted from the floor on all elections.

ACCT Board Director Clemon Prevost has resigned from his position on his local board of trustees, leaving a one-year partial-term Director-atLarge position vacancy.

Nominations for Director-at-Large positions will be accepted at the ACCT office until July 1, 2013. Each member of the Board of Directors at the time of election must be a member of a Voting Member. Voting Members are defined as governing and advisory boards of accredited community-based postsecondary educational institutions that primarily offer programs other than baccalaureate, graduate, and professional degrees, including boards of state systems that include such institutions. According to the ACCT Bylaws, no more than one (1) member from any member board may serve as an elected member on the ACCT Board of Directors at the same time. If you wish to run for a Director-at-Large seat in Seattle during the 2013 Annual Community College Leadership Congress, you are required to notify the ACCT President at the Washington, D.C., office in writing of your intention to run. Your notification must be received with a postmark date of July 1, 2013, or by electronic mail (preferred method) by close of business on July 1, 2013. The President will send candidate information received within the prescribed postmarked deadline to the ACCT membership in September. Official notification from candidates shall consist of: • A letter of declaration to run for office; • A letter of support from the individual’s board;

2013 CANDIDATES FOR THE ACCT DIVERSITY COMMITTEE (1) Two-Year Term in Each Region The following is the slate of nominees:

Pacific Region VACANT

Central Region Frances Huntley-Cooper* Madison Area Technical College, WI

Southern Region VACANT

Northeast Region Hector Ortiz* Harrisburg Area Community College, PA

Western Region Jimmy Sandoval* Mesalands Community College, NM

Candidates with an asterisk received the support of their respective Regional Nominating Committees.

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• A one-page resume that should focus on community college-related service and other civic activities, and may include brief information on education and occupation; • A narrative statement, not to exceed 150 words, on qualifications (electronically preferred, for inclusion in voting materials to be printed); • A 5”x7” head-and-shoulders photo, preferably color (photos will not be returned), or an electronic image (preferred) – 300 dpi or higher resolution; • An optional single letter of support from an ACCT member board. This letter of support must be limited to one page. You are encouraged to submit your nomination online. Please e-mail to: nominations@acct.org. ACCT will respond to your submission via return e-mail within three working days. Please contact J. Noah Brown, President and CEO, at nbrown@acct.org if you do NOT receive a response within three working days. Nominations will also be accepted via standard mail (return receipt requested). Mail nominations to: ACCT President, 1233 20th Street, NW, Suite 301, Washington, DC 20036.

ACCT Publications To order any ACCT publication, please fill out the form below and give it to any ACCT staff member or (preferred) fax, e-mail, or mail your order to ACCT Publications (contact information below). Please include both a billing and shipping address and a purchase order, if necessary. As a membership benefit, book orders from ACCT members are fulfilled immediately in good faith of payment. An invoice will be sent within 2-3 weeks of your order. ACCT requires pre-payment from non-member colleges.

Title

Price

Quantity

History of the Association of Community College Trustees: 1972 – 2012 NEW

$40 $45

member* non-member*

2012 Public Community College Governing Boards: Structure and Composition NEW

$10 $12

member* non-member*

First in the World: Community Colleges and America’s Future (2012) NEW

SOLD OUT. Order at www.rowman.com at an exclusive 25% discount for ACCT members. Use promo code RLACCT25.

Making Good on the Promise of the Open Door: Effective Governance and Leadership to Improve Student Equity, Success, and Completion (2011)

$30 $42

member* non-member*

Essentials of Good Board/CEO Relations (2009)

$16 $20

member* non-member*

The Trustee’s Role in Effective Advocacy: Engaging in Citizen Action to Advance Educational Opportunities in Your Community — What Trustees Need to Know About Exercising Their Voices and Influence on Behalf of Community Colleges (2009)

$24 $28

member* non-member*

The Trustee’s Role in Fundraising: From Arm’s Length to Knee Deep — What Trustees Need to Know About Institutional Advancement (2008)

$16 $20

member* non-member*

The Board Chair: A Guide for Leading Community College Boards

$15 $20

member* non-member*

Trusteeship in Community Colleges: A Guide to Effective Governance

$30 $40

member* non-member*

Community College Trustees: Leading on Behalf of Their Communities

$30 $40

member* non-member*

Total

*Please check whether you are a member or non-member

Please include $3 postage and handling fee for each publication (maximum $15)

POSTAGE $ TOTAL $ ACCT MEMBERS Use any of these methods to order: E-mail: acctinfo@acct.org Call: 202.775.4454 Fax: 202.223.1297 Or mail order form to the address below. (Note: ACCT members are not required to send payment at the time of order.) ACCT NON-MEMBERS Send order form and check or money order to: Attn: Publications, Association of Community College Trustees, Dept. 6061, Washington, DC 20042-6061

Total enclosed $

Mail to (if different):

or bill:

www.acct.org 1233 20th Street, NW Suite 301 Washington, D.C. 20036 202.775.4667 866.895.2228