By Erik Hopkins, Staff Reporter
Delta’s Board of Trustees gathered together on Tuesday, June 14 for their monthly board meeting. The dinner meeting kicked off at 6 p.m. in the Red Brix Cafe as the Saginaw Room, where the board meetings usually take place, continues to be under construction.
Andrea Ursuy, secretary, took to the podium first to talk about the strategic plan that was confirmed last year for 2016 through 2019. Delta’s strategic plan focuses on efforts in increasing student enrollment, as well as the retention of current students attending Delta.
After Ursuy’s introduction Pam Clark, Executive Director of Institutional Advancement, joined in on the conversation focusing heavily on the fact that Delta’s staff wanted to increase Delta’s competitive advantage. “This is built on our mission, vision, and values,” says Clark, “We strive to be our community’s first choice to learn, work, and grow.”
She delved in with more details on how they plan to narrow down on areas needing a bit more attention. “Our four strategic work areas really establish the foundation for our initiatives and action projects. These are student success, community focus, sustainability, and people focus,” says Clark.
She plans to build leadership for the staff, and demonstrate to the region their importance of diversity and inclusion to the region. Clark also talked about plans to build alliances to increase enrollment and financial contributions to the college.
To take things into a broader perspective President Dr. Jean Goodnow inquired, “Sometimes it’s the question, ‘how can we serve you?’”
Debra Lutz, treasurer, tackled the issue of Delta’s budget which has been shrinking over the last fiscal year. Currently, Delta’s total budget sits at $100,645,553. Lutz informed members that tuition and fees create the majority of Delta’s revenue, making up about 41 percent. She also mentioned that one issue is that Delta is spending more than its income.
Lutz also talked about the issue of enrollment looming over Delta. Enrollment has been steadily decreasing since 2009. The numbers hit an all-time low in 2000 but had slowly been making their way up until 2009, when enrollment began decreasing again, dropping 4.1 percent overall.
Concluding her overview, Lutz opened the floor to questions and comments. Goodnow added, “We would like to join with the community to make people more aware of what we have to offer here.”
The regular meeting began at 7 p.m. with the call to order and approval of the agenda, followed by a public budget hearing. With no comments from the public, Lutz moved on to the treasurer’s report. According to Lutz, increasing student fees for dual enrollment and courses (which are increasing by $3.00/credit hour) will offset the budget and allow Delta not to lose any revenue.
Goodnow requested the correct compensation for Deltas workers, speaking on behalf of corporate services who could not attend the meeting. According to Goodnow, There will be a 2.27 percent increase in pay for corporate services workers who have not received a pay increase in three to four years and a 1.5 percent increase for regular Delta staff.
Ginny Przygocki, dean of career education, proposed a new Associate Degree in Applied Science for Heavy Duty Diesel Service Technology. Goodnow approved the proposal, saying, “We are very excited about this opportunity.” With her own proposals in hand, Barb Webb, Director of Business Services, proposed an HDMI Technology upgrade for classes, costing $148, 519 in total. Goodnow approved Webb’s proposal with all board members agreeing that it will improve the state of classrooms, as well as the ease of education for Delta’s students.
Michael Rowley, board chair, and Rev. Dr. Robert Emrich, trustee, moved on to discuss revisions to Senate Policy 1.025 – the Policy Statement on Governance at Delta. A single proposal soon turned into discussion over revisions for Policy 2.040 as well. Focusing heavily on grammatical errors and word choice, the board ended up editing four amendments in total for the Senate Policy.
Goodnow followed the revisions by welcoming and introducing Jonathon Miller, the new Dean of Students who recently hailed from his position as Dean in Massachusetts. “Being the second of two very long nights, I’m extremely happy to be here,” says Miller. “I’m excited for the work we’ll do.”
Rowley closed the meeting with comments and a few reminders for the rest of the board. The next board meeting takes place on Tuesday, July 12 on the main campus.
