1 1 2 3 BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING 4 SUFFOLK COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE 5 6 Ammerman Campus 7 Selden, New York 11784 8 Brookhaven Gymnasium 9 10 December 10, 2009 11 12 8:30 a.m. 13 14 15 B E F O R E : Ernesto Mattace, Jr./Chairman 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 2 1 A P P E A R A N C E S: 2 3 PRESIDENT GEORGE GATTA 4 5 TRUSTEES: 6 Walter C. Hazlitt 7 Jerry Kane 8 Paul V. Pontieri, Jr. 9 Thomas J. Germano 10 Chigozie Onyinanya 11 Avette D. Ware 12 Saul R. Fenchel 13 David Ochoa 14 15 ALSO PRESENT: 16 June Ohrenberger, Faculty Association 17 Nancy Stier, V.P. Business & Financial Affairs 18 Joanne Mc Knight, East Financial Aid 19 Tracy Oak, Call Center East 20 Evon Walters, Dean East Campus 21 Robert Beodecker, East Campus 22 James Canniff, V.P. Academic & Student Affairs 23 Paul Cooper 24 25 3 1 2 ERNESTO MATTACE, JR.: Can we all 3 stand for the pledge? 4 [Pledge was said.] 5 ERNESTO MATTACE, JR.: Can I ask 6 everyone to stand to honor our brave men 7 and women who are protecting us and 8 their families? Thank you. 9 We will start off this morning with 10 recognition of a guest, presiding chair 11 of the academic assembly at grand 12 campus, June Orhenberger. 13 JUNE ORHENBERGER: Good morning. I 14 am June Orhenberger and I am the 15 presiding chair of the academic assembly 16 at grand campus. On Tuesday, December 17 8th, a resolution was presented to the 18 assembly, voted upon and passed and I 19 was asked to read that resolution to the 20 board in representation of the assembly. 21 "Whereas the Board of Trustees of 22 Suffolk County Community College has 23 engaged in the Presidential Search 24 process whose confidentiality has been 25 breached by the Board's announcement of 4 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 a refused job offer; and 2 Whereas, this announcement has 3 served to disparage both Interim 4 Executive Vice-President Dr. Shaun Mc 5 Kay and the Search Committee which 6 forwarded his name to the Board as a 7 finalist in the presidential search; and 8 Whereas, this violation of process 9 and disparagement of Dr. Mc Kay are 10 causes of deep concern and call into 11 question the competence and 12 professionalism of the current Board 13 with regard to the search process; 14 Therefore, be it resolved that: 15 The Grant Campus Academic Assembly 16 strongly disagrees with the Board's 17 action in revealing its deliberations 18 and decisions before a new president has 19 been chosen; and 20 Be it further resolved that the 21 Grant Campus Academic Assembly expresses 22 its confidence in the leadership of Dr. 23 Shaun Mc Kay, the current Interim 24 Executive Vice-President and the former 25 Dean of the campus, and calls on the 5 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 Board to consider Dr. Mc Kay for the 2 presidency of Suffolk County Community 3 College." 4 ERNESTO MATTACE, JR.: Thank you. 5 When you speak, please announce your 6 name. We have a new stenographer and we 7 want to make sure we get it correct. 8 MR. OCHOA: I don't have an agenda. 9 ERNESTO MATTACE, JR.: Again, I 10 have to apologize. I did have some eye 11 surgery and my eye surgeon said you 12 would be fine in three or four months. 13 I can drive so everybody is safe and 14 okay on the road. I have a problem 15 reading when I take my glasses off and I 16 go like this, excuse me, until things 17 get straightened out. 18 The approval of the minutes, the 19 August 20th Board of Directors meeting. 20 MR. OCHOA: So moved. 21 ERNESTO MATTACE, JR.: Second? 22 SAUL R. FENCHEL: Second. 23 ERNESTO MATTACE, JR.: All those in 24 favor? 25 Opposed? 6 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 Abstainsions? 2 So passed. 3 Approval of the association 4 resolutions. Resolution 2009.A15 5 through 2009.A16 now. 6 WALTER C. HAZLITT: So moved. 7 JERRY KANE: Second. 8 SAUL R. FENCHEL: Second. 9 ERNESTO MATTACE, JR.: All those in 10 favor? 11 BOARD OF TRUSTEES: Aye. 12 ERNESTO MATTACE, JR.: Opposed? 13 Abstainsions? 14 So passed. 15 Vice president Canniff? 16 JAMES CANNIFF: Good morning. I am 17 here to give you a brief report on the 18 association. The association ended the 19 2008, 2009 academic year with the 20 surplus of approximately $150,000 which 21 will go into a fund balance. The 22 association is presently undergoing its 23 annual audit and final numbers should be 24 available in January. 25 The next point is revenue received 7 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 as of November 30th is 49 percent of the 2 projections for the year. 3 Expenditures as of November 30th 4 are 30 percent of the projections of the 5 year. 6 The biggest workshop, the cafe, 7 culinary, catering sales are strong and 8 all accounts remain in the black. 9 The child care center at the moment 10 is good and the SUNY grants have not 11 been cut by New York State, at least as 12 of this moment. 13 The last point is the Long Island 14 Shakespeare Festival ended its program 15 this past year with a small surplus. 16 I will answer any questions. 17 MR. OCHOA: Who is the auditor; do 18 you know? 19 JAMES CANNIFF: I don't know. 20 MR. OCHOA: How long have they been 21 retained as the auditor? How often do 22 we change? 23 JAMES CANNIFF: Once a year we do 24 the audit. 25 MR. OCHOA: How often do you look 8 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 at the whole question of keeping the 2 same firm doing the audit? 3 JAMES CANNIFF: I would have to 4 check with Dr. Bright on that. I am not 5 sure. 6 MR. OCHOA: My interest is making 7 sure there is movement and re-examining 8 who we have so we don't have an auditing 9 firm doing the same job for twelve years 10 unless the decision is based on good 11 thinking. Does the SUNY cause a 12 shortfall? 13 JAMES CANNIFF: If there was a 14 cutback, it could, but right now, as of 15 the date of this report which is 16 November 30th, those child care centers 17 have not been cut back. 18 MR. OCHOA: The grants are invested 19 and in place? 20 JAMES CANNIFF: For this year, we 21 don't have, if there is a mid year, we 22 don't think there is. If there were, 23 that could cause a disruption. 24 MR. OCHOA: On the Shakespeare 25 festival, should we anticipate renewing 9 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 the support in terms of the budgetary 2 sort even though they have a balance 3 that is positive. 4 JAMES CANNIFF: That's partially 5 funded by a grant. I don't know whether 6 that grant will be renewed next year. 7 That would be subject to that. 8 MR. OCHOA: It would be important 9 to have that information because of the 10 economic shortfalls we have, it would be 11 important to have that information as 12 soon as possible as we form 13 conversations on the budget. 14 Okay? Thank you. 15 ERNESTO MATTACE, JR.: Next we move 16 to approval of the minutes of the 17 November 12th Board of Trustees meeting. 18 Motion? 19 SAUL R. FENCHEL: So moved. 20 ERNESTO MATTACE, JR.: Second? 21 PAUL PONTIERI, JR.: Second. 22 ERNESTO MATTACE, JR.: All those in 23 favor? 24 BOARD OF TRUSTEES: Aye. 25 ERNESTO MATTACE, JR.: Opposed? 10 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 Abstainsions? 2 So moved. 3 We will move to the Approval of 4 Resolutions and the pink sheet that you 5 find in there as well, resolutions one 6 through ten. Motion? 7 PAUL PONTIERI, JR.: So moved. 8 ERNESTO MATTACE, JR.: Second? 9 JERRY KANE: Second. 10 ERNESTO MATTACE, JR.: All those in 11 favor? 12 BOARD OF TRUSTEES: Aye. 13 ERNESTO MATTACE, JR.: Opposed? 14 Abstainsions? 15 So passed. 16 Vice president Stier? 17 MS. STIER: Good morning. As you 18 know, about a week ago, the legislature 19 approved reductions in state aid for 20 community colleges and President Gatta 21 will discuss that and provide the 22 update. So the information in your 23 package is prior to impact, what the 24 state did last week. The status 25 continues to be good as I have been 11 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 reporting the last couple of months. 2 The revenues will be 4.8 million dollars 3 above budget after covering the costs of 4 additional classes. That positive 5 result is offset, as you know, from the 6 1.7 million dollars carry forward funds 7 of last year. The current estimate, our 8 budget remains stable and we have a 9 surplus of 3.3 million dollars at year 10 end, if no other changes. 11 Unfortunately, with what has happened 12 with the state, that changed a little 13 bit and President Gatta will update you 14 on that. 15 PAUL PONTIERI, JR.: State 16 retirement, what do you project? I know 17 this will be a fifteen percent bump, if 18 that. 19 MS. STIER: I can look that up. 20 The bigger bump is next year. 21 PAUL PONTIERI, JR.: Is there a 22 reserve for that? 23 MS. STIER: What we have doing is 24 including that in the estimates of how 25 much funding we need next year to cover 12 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 the costs of salary increases and the 2 like. 3 PAUL PONTIERI, JR.: This year, but 4 the year after that? 5 MS. STIER: Is very big. 6 Anything else? 7 ERNESTO MATTACE, JR.: That is it. 8 In reference to the presidential 9 search update, at this point we will go 10 to executive session to discuss what the 11 procedure will be for this point 12 forward. Round table. David, anything? 13 MR. OCHOA: No, sir. 14 ERNESTO MATTACE, JR.: Saul? Paul? 15 The only thing I would like to talk 16 about is the legislative conference 17 that's coming up in February. It has 18 been beneficial to us in the past. I 19 have attended it now for the last three 20 years. What I normally do is make an 21 appointment with our local congress 22 people and even though we have the 23 opportunity and we do visit them here, 24 there is a little bit more of an impact 25 when you knock on the door in 13 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 Washington. Hopefully they will be able 2 to help us with what has been happening 3 with the cuts and budget and we will see 4 what happens with community colleges 5 across the country as far as the 6 president's position goes. He knows 7 where we stand and what we can do for 8 the students and all our constituents. 9 Hopefully, we will move forward with 10 that. 11 The estate conference in March, I 12 will make sure everybody gets a copy of 13 it. It's in Saratoga Springs. The 14 reason why I mention it this early, it's 15 becoming late already, because the 16 paperwork came out already. You have to 17 register in the hotel. The last time we 18 tried to register quickly when it was in 19 New York City, the only hotel we had was 20 three blocks away so I wound up driving 21 first thing in the morning and coming 22 back at night. I don't want that to 23 happen again. I want to be in the hotel 24 that the conference is being held. 25 Apparently, for whatever reason, 14 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 everybody wanted to come to New York 2 last year so it was mobbed. 3 Other than that, President Gatta? 4 GEORGE GATTA: Good morning. We 5 have two presentations. The first is 6 about the call center of the Eastern 7 campus. As we worked to handle the 8 tremendous increase in enrollment over 9 the past year, we have had a great 10 approach to improving our services to 11 students at the same time doing it as 12 efficiently and effectively as possible. 13 That has been implemented at the Eastern 14 campus. It's important for the board 15 and others to see the good work being 16 done in times such as these. I have, as 17 Executive Dean Walters here will give 18 you a presentation on, how the call 19 center was put together and implemented. 20 EVON WALTERS: I want to thank you 21 for this opportunity to summarize an 22 initiative on the campus that we believe 23 was a tremendous success. As you will 24 hear in the presentation today, this 25 initiative was able to respond to a 15 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 challenge that typically occurs at the 2 college, at the campus and really it's 3 not unique to Suffolk in terms of the 4 significant student enrollment that 5 occurs during the peak enrollment time 6 periods. For us, that is typically in 7 the mid to late August time. 8 At the Eastern campus, we 9 traditionally, based on the past three 10 years, enroll 25 percent of our total 11 student body, so the presentation that 12 you will see today essentially will give 13 you an overview of what we were able to 14 do and as I introduce the presenters, I 15 draw your attention to four principals 16 that guided the success of this 17 initiative. 18 Principal number one, it was a 19 planning and communication process that 20 was well researched, benchmarked and 21 intentional in its efforts to garner the 22 support and input of all the campus 23 holders. It was a team oriented 24 approach that reflected ongoing 25 commitment and involvement of five 16 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 enrollment offices; admissions, 2 financial aid, student success, 3 registrar, and the bursar's office. 4 And three, there was a 5 heavy emphasis on cross-training in the 6 context of further empowering our AME 7 staff or professional staff in order to 8 respond to the questions we were 9 expecting to come forward. 10 Most importantly four, maximizing 11 on the use of technology and data. We 12 were able to successfully utilize, 13 maximize on the existent capabilities of 14 telephone system while simultaneously 15 using data to help us and inform us what 16 we were doing at the end of the project. 17 With that, I will turn it over to 18 the architects, Dr. Robert Beodecker, 19 Associate Dean of student affairs, Miss 20 Tracy Oak who is a part-time 21 professional assistant who oversees the 22 cost center and Miss Joanne Mc Knight 23 who is a principal clerk in the 24 financial aid office. 25 JOANNE MC KNIGHT: Good morning. 17 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 We can walk you through how the project 2 came about and again as Dean Walters 3 said, the project came out of a lot of 4 conversations we were having with how we 5 deal with the staffing challenge during 6 peak enrollment, students needing 7 services at the same time that the 8 phones are ringing, non-staff, and the 9 staff coming in with fifty, sixty plus 10 voicemail messages. So how to handle 11 all of that. 12 We began having conversations about 13 that at the same time that we were 14 looking at planning for the proposed 15 one-stop center which is when the 16 library moves out and we go to the 17 upstairs of the Peconic building, 18 integrating the services into one space. 19 These brought about some of those 20 conversations. 21 As we began to think about a call 22 center, we began to take some site 23 visits. We took a team of staff down to 24 Montgomery Community College, spent a 25 day at saw what they did, and this is 18 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 how this came about it. It was a 2 genesis from those conversations. The 3 goals began to generate the cost. It's 4 a staff pattern and a physical location. 5 That is located right now in the 6 courtyard building, there is a physical 7 location. 8 Our goal was to have the call 9 center, the primary, handle 40 percent 10 of the incoming calls coming into the 11 offices that we talked about. We wanted 12 to improve phones so when students got 13 someone on the phone, they could get the 14 answers to the questions they needed and 15 be directed to getting the services they 16 needed as well as improving the in- 17 person staffing, to focus on the people 18 standing in front of us. Elimination of 19 getting the 50, 60 messages and trying 20 to use the data to get a handle on why 21 are people calling, when are the busiest 22 days and use that to drive how we can 23 improve our services to students. 24 We actually physically opened the 25 call center on August 3rd of this year. 19 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 The offices involved having phone calls 2 switched. I should make a note, two 3 people are not here, Charles Connolly 4 and Steve Clark from networking 5 telecommunications, and this project 6 would not have happened without their 7 help and support. They were behind the 8 scenes making this happen. 9 The offices involved in admissions, 10 financial aid, student success, bursar's 11 office and registrar. All the phone 12 calls coming into the office area were 13 directed to the call center. Every 14 single phone call coming into those 15 areas was redirected into a different 16 office. What we were hoping to engage 17 in terms of success was the call center 18 handling the phone calls. How long was 19 it taking per call? Our phone system is 20 able to tell us this kind of 21 information. We were able to track to 22 see how long people were on the phone, 23 how long was it, which function areas 24 were getting the phone calls. Are we 25 answering the phone call with a better 20 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 service? You can tell when you are on 2 the phone with somebody when they are 3 hesitant, whether they are stressed. 4 Was the information being delivered 5 consistently? Tracy will walk you 6 through a little more now what we did in 7 terms of prepping the staff and getting 8 to the physical point of having the call 9 center. 10 TRACY OAK: The whole process 11 began, as I said earlier, with sort of 12 informational meetings where we 13 transferred information about the 14 different functional areas, we did a lot 15 of cross-training. I'll get into the 16 graph about that in a second. The 17 cross-training was essentially because 18 it not only shared what goes on in each 19 of the departments with other 20 departments, it helps connect what a 21 student goes through when they start the 22 college process, where do they go after 23 admissions, after financial aid, how do 24 they remain informed? The customer 25 support and IT training was essential. 21 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 We were using a new technology in this 2 area. We wanted to make sure we used it 3 accurately to get the information we 4 wanted to get to reach the goals we set 5 forth. 6 One of the big keys that I found 7 when I was more involved was the 8 identification of the primary and 9 secondary agents. Primary are those in 10 the front line. They need to be in the 11 first -- they need to have a consistent 12 base of knowledge. What is important 13 for them is that they need to have an 14 innate curiosity. They need to want to 15 help people. They need to be able to 16 find a problem. We want the calls 17 coming and stopping at the call center. 18 If we can take and service the customers 19 at that point, meaning the students at 20 that point, the people that are working 21 in the individual offices can actually 22 focus on the students that are there. 23 We can actually give better support and 24 give a better perception of the college 25 when we are taking care of the students. 22 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 The secondary agents are those that 2 handle the overflow of the calls. We 3 are trying to maintain the consistent 4 point of knowledge, we want everybody 5 answering the questions as close to the 6 same way as possible. Me, as a 7 professional assistant, I am trying to, 8 as it says, handle day-to-day staffing 9 and operational functions. I want to 10 make sure we have full coverage, that we 11 also are a liaison to the administrative 12 staff. I want to make sure I can handle 13 the more difficult calls where say a 14 person, primary agent, can't answer a 15 question, I can direct them to the point 16 where they can get the information and 17 find out how to actually solve the 18 caller's problem. 19 As I mentioned before, the 20 cross-training was essential. We offer 21 45 clerical staff, all different types 22 of training in each of the departments. 23 We had the department where you would 24 say maybe the head of the department 25 give the training in each of these areas 23 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 and as you can see here, they were 2 pretty well attended; 36 for admissions, 3 business office had 35. Note that this 4 was given during the summer, there were 5 a lot of holiday vacations. 6 Accomplishments and lessons learned 7 for that first peak enrollment period, 8 we handled over 6,200 calls. That means 9 that 6,200 calls that did not go to 10 voicemail, that did not get busy signals 11 or were put on hold for hours and hours. 12 That is astronomical when you figure all 13 of these students were calling in. From 14 the 6,200 calls, we found that the 15 average is 156 per day. Tuesday is the 16 busiest and from 10 to 11 and 2 to 3 are 17 the busiest times. At the beginning of 18 the project, we thought 9:00 would be 19 the busy time. That is not the case. 20 From 2 to 3 and 3 to 4 is actually busy 21 as well. 22 Financial aid calls and questions 23 represented the majority of the calls 24 that came in and that I will show you a 25 little later changed as time went by. 24 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 Depending on where we are in the 2 semesters determines the calls coming 3 in. This is the data from the previous 4 slide and you can see calls presented in 5 over 7,000, what we answered and were 6 able to assist was over 6,200. We 7 surpassed the 40 percent goal of 8 answering calls by actually having an 88 9 percent success rate. It was 10 phenomenal. 11 For the primary agents, we answered 12 67 percent of those incoming calls, that 13 team of six people handled 76 percent of 14 those 6,200 calls. This is a 15 representation of that first week that 16 we went live of the call distribution 17 categories. 18 As the calls come in, we track what 19 type of call it is. So here you can see 20 financial aid was 41 percent for the 21 first week we went live. We had 1,200 22 calls come in. That was approximately 23 500 calls related to financial aid. 24 That is where the training that took 25 place over the summer comes in, a lot of 25 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 the cross-communication. 2 ROBERT BEODECKER: We did a lot of 3 training with the call center staff on 4 the student portal. We were able to 5 help them, help the student go on the 6 portal and help themselves. So much of 7 the information that is available that 8 students need is on the portal. 9 Sometimes the students just don't know 10 how to maneuver through that to get it. 11 The call center was trained and spends 12 time helping them get in the portal and 13 access the information. That reduces 14 the need of people to come in. Once 15 they find out, they don't mind. That is 16 an important piece in helping them go to 17 the portal and understand they have 18 access to information they already know. 19 TRACY OAK: That sets the standard 20 that you can do all of this on the 21 portal which will ultimately reduce 22 calls and visits to the college going 23 forward. 24 This is, it's three weeks later. 25 We were able to take a look at the calls 26 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 when they were coming in. We categorize 2 them and we saw calls were being -- in 3 the book store area, we were getting a 4 lot of calls. That is not something we 5 planned to track at the beginning. We 6 were able because of the calls, in 7 tracking, to identify a problem. We 8 were able to go into the book store, 9 determine what was going on and stop a 10 problem from becoming a full-fledged 11 problem. We were able to help students 12 before something actually did occur from 13 a negative standpoint. 14 MR. OCHOA: What was the problem? 15 TRACY OAK: I believe there was a 16 transition from one company to another 17 and there may have been some delays 18 along that line but by using the data, 19 we took -- we are able to communicate to 20 the students the time frames that some 21 of these problems would be resolved in. 22 MR. OCHOA: You are taking one of 23 the jobs we have as trustees. Normally, 24 the only calls that I get are late in 25 the summer, I want to get my son 27 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 admitted, I need help with financial aid 2 and I can't get through on the phone. 3 This past fall, no calls. 4 TRACY OAK: Fantastic. 5 This graph is actually a 6 representation of the calls for, I 7 believe it's a seven week period. The 8 calls we receive daily from this 9 information we were able to ascertain 10 Tuesday is the busiest day. It gives us 11 a chance to say we had a holiday on a 12 Monday, how does that affect the call 13 distribution? Do we take that out of 14 our analysis of the data? Here's the 15 interpretation, how we were able to 16 determine how many calls or the busiest 17 times during the day. 18 You can see 10 to 11, 2 to 3, 89 19 calls an hour and then 88 from 3 to 4. 20 We were able to make sure we have 21 staffing during those busy times which 22 is key to make sure we answer the phone 23 when the calls come in. 24 The retention initiatives we have 25 worked on because we are going beyond 28 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 the typical call center. We were 2 requested to make calls to students to 3 be proactive and assist students in 4 academic probation. We were able to 5 call and set up appointments with Dr. 6 Kanfor and the students with the list 7 they had given us. This gave us access 8 to Dr. Kanfor's calendar to schedule 9 appointments for her. We are reaching 10 out to students to show we are concerned 11 with their academic success and they do 12 succeed. We are taking steps in that 13 manner. 14 We made 600 outgoing calls to 15 assist with registration, to assist the 16 students on academic probation, to get 17 them in to schedule their appointment to 18 get the classes they need earlier so 19 there is not that mad rush at the end 20 right before the school session starts 21 and people can't get the classes because 22 they are already filled. I believe that 23 is it. 24 JOANNE MC KNIGHT: I am the 25 financial aid department and principle 29 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 clerk. 2 If you look at your chart, we set 3 up the three previous, the year, two 4 years prior to this year. In 2007, we 5 had the main frame and walk-in ratio was 6 1,800 walk-ins to the financial aid. 7 This is only walk-in trends. I will let 8 everybody know how the call center 9 serviced our area. 2008, 2,300 walk-in 10 students with an eight percent increase 11 in enrollment. 2009, 2,400 walk-ins 12 with a fifteen percent increase in 13 enrollment. In 2007 and 2008, voicemail 14 messages added up to like 50 to 60 a 15 day. In 2009, my voicemail messages 16 were six a week. 17 What is the call center's 18 representation with the financial aid 19 walk-in? For the student, it answers 20 questions in all areas of college 21 operations informing students of what 22 documents would be needed for financial 23 aid including down-loading financial aid 24 printable forms, therefore reducing 25 multiple trips to the financial aid 30 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 department. Educating the student to 2 use the student portals and to read 3 financial aid screens. 4 For the staff, the call center 5 helped us by giving us the ability to 6 handle the volume of students. It 7 invoked a more professional atmosphere. 8 It helped us to focus on the students' 9 needs making them feel like the valued 10 customer. Operations were conducted 11 with less interruption and more 12 accuracy. Better utilization of office 13 staff. It gave the professional, the 14 expert staff member the ability to 15 complete important tasks without 16 interruption by signing on and off with 17 the call system intern still ensuring 18 students the ability to have personal 19 contact. 20 In my 17-year history with Suffolk 21 County Community College in the 22 financial aid department, this was the 23 easiest summer I have ever been through. 24 In one week, my co-worker and I handled, 25 and this is walk-in payment week of 31 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 August 7th, handled 800 walk-in students 2 with efficiency and no interruptions 3 from the phones helped us greatly. 4 ROBERT BEODECKER: As I moving 5 through this, we are ongoing with the 6 cross-training on that and the student 7 portal with all of our staff, pooling 8 staff resources. This was done with no 9 additional resources. We redirected 10 college aids out of the primary offices, 11 used the staff in the offices and had no 12 new money come in to accomplish this. 13 The only analogy I can make, admissions 14 will have a full-time route for two 15 weeks. We need to provide coverage for 16 lunch break. What we are doing, our 17 college aids are less and less assigned 18 to a specific desk or office and more to 19 a floating pool where there maybe time 20 in the call center, time in registrar, 21 if we are backlogged in admissions, they 22 do that. They are floating between jobs 23 and responsibilities, not at a desk 24 doing one responsibility. It's a 25 floating clerical pool process; working 32 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 more in processing, they are going 2 through cross-training to sit at their 3 desk to enter the admissions at the 4 computer. We are working on getting 5 them trained for scanning documents. 6 All these things are part of the ongoing 7 process to provide a service center and 8 process center for paperwork. 9 EVON WALTERS: I thank you for this 10 opportunity. He charged us a year ago 11 to do this. With staff efficiency, no 12 extra funded items of staff, we 13 maximized on technology and to broaden 14 the context, this is done through only a 15 call center. It plays an integral role 16 with the intention and initiative as it 17 relates to prior to registrations, as it 18 relates us to reach out to students who 19 are academically struggling, and it 20 gives enrollment offices an opportunity 21 to enhance the quality as we deal 22 directly with students. Thank you for 23 this opportunity. 24 GEORGE GATTA: Would you -- it's 25 been a tremendous success. It works on 33 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 so many different levels. The staff is 2 passionate about what they are doing. 3 They are committed to the students. 4 Services have been improved. We 5 functioned in empowering employees and 6 making them feel much more a part, an 7 important part of what is happening at 8 the campus. We have enhanced their 9 skills and in the process, the campus 10 and the college is much better off. So 11 this is a model that is working, that 12 has been successful and I will be 13 discussing this with the executive deans 14 of the other two campuses as something 15 whose time has come and we need to make 16 these types of improvements in our 17 operations as we moved forward. 18 MR. OCHOA: If I may respond, I am 19 glad to hear this is a model of what 20 works and why it works. One of the 21 things that impresses me of this 22 presentation, it's a rare presentation 23 that the board receives where the folks 24 that are actually doing the work are 25 included in the presentation and you can 34 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 feel the difference of this kind of 2 report because the men and women doing 3 the work are part of the conversation 4 and I really appreciate that. 5 GEORGE GATTA: My thanks to Dr. 6 Walters and his staff and everybody on 7 campus. Job well done. 8 We have some presentation boards 9 here. Paul Cooper, I would ask you to 10 brief you on where we are with the 11 design for the new science building at 12 the Ammerman campus. 13 PAUL COOPER: We were in the 14 process of selecting an architectural 15 firm to design a new building for this 16 campus. The building will be between 17 here and the annex in the wooded area. 18 This is a small sample of what was 19 processed by six different architectural 20 firms that entered a design competition. 21 If you go in the Babylon student center 22 main cafeteria, there is a room called 23 the quiet test room and we have the 24 materials set up. There are fifty or 25 sixty of these boards, flat screen 35 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 T.V.'s with continue loop showing 2 different views of each building. The 3 committee has a difficult job coming to 4 make a recommendation for which firm we 5 should select. The boards are set up 6 with a sheet for anyone in the college 7 community to view them, submit comments, 8 state what they like and don't like. 9 The committee reviews videos before 10 coming to a decision. Next week, we 11 meet again and narrow down the list and 12 invite some of these firms or possibly 13 all of them to make a presentation. 14 Before the next meeting, the committee 15 will have a recommendation for the 16 Board. 17 This is one building, a lot of 18 glass, no red brick, another proposal. 19 Most of them have observatories on the 20 roof, greenhouse. Most of them have an 21 elevated pedestrian walkway from the 22 Riverhead building that hits this 23 building on the second level because the 24 site is deeply sloped. 25 This presentation this architect 36 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 designed did with two wings and outdoor 2 amphitheater between them because the 3 ground is sloped, it forms a natural 4 amphitheater. 5 This proposal is a little bit more 6 similar to the existing building. It 7 has some red brick. This building is 8 maybe a little more futuristic. I 9 invite you all to go to the student 10 center and look through the full 11 proposal from each of these firms. It 12 will probably take at least fifteen 13 minutes. There are so many to look at. 14 JERRY KANE: Do we adhere to the 15 local preference to the architectural 16 firms bidding? 17 PAUL COOPER: We adhere to that. 18 It doesn't restrict us to use a local 19 firm. There is some language, if it's 20 in the best interest of the college, it 21 can be a non-local firm. 22 ERNESTO MATTACE, JR.: Excuse me. 23 GEORGE GATTA: We will comply with 24 the local preference law. 25 SAUL R. FENCHEL: Are all of these 37 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 proposals generally within a projected 2 budget? 3 PAUL COOPER: That is a good 4 question. Each of the firms were told 5 the budget and told the programming 6 requirements, how many labs, how many 7 classrooms, lecture halls. Several of 8 them submitted a detailed budget 9 estimate to show they are within budget. 10 Several did not. We have asked them to 11 submit that and we have to evaluate that 12 before we make a determination. It 13 looks to me, some of them are overly 14 optimistic and have included more 15 features. This we may be able to 16 afford. 17 SAUL R. FENCHEL: Is there some 18 consideration for the maintenance of the 19 building? 20 ROBERT BEODECKER: The committee 21 consists of members of the faculty that 22 teach in the building, but the director 23 of plan operations from the campus that 24 has to clean it and maintain it and 25 people would be involved in the 38 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 construction of it. 2 SAUL R. FENCHEL: Each one has a 3 different potential of laboratories? 4 PAUL COOPER: No, we provided the 5 program to them, so many bio labs, so 6 many chem labs, that was fixed. How 7 they were arranged and various features 8 varies. Some have aquariums, some have 9 piped salt water to go through the 10 building, some have the observatories, 11 some don't. But most of the building 12 program is given to them and they had to 13 work with it. 14 ERNESTO MATTACE, JR.: Where are we 15 within the process with the County as 16 far as the actual building? 17 PAUL COOPER: The county is not 18 involved in the building. They approved 19 the funding. 20 ERNESTO MATTACE, JR.: They 21 approved the funding so we can move 22 forward from here? 23 PAUL COOPER: Correct. 24 ERNESTO MATTACE, JR.: Just like we 25 did with the learning center? 39 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 PAUL COOPER: Yes, construction 2 bids are due next week. 3 GEORGE GATTA: Just a few other 4 items. Enrollment for the spring 5 continues to be very strong. 6 Year-to-date versus last year same date, 7 as of Tuesday, we were up 25 percent, a 8 little over 25 percent in terms of both 9 head count and full-time equivalence. 10 We anticipate the number will back off a 11 bit and probably be similar to the fall 12 semester. We ended at 10 percent 13 increase in enrollment, full-time 14 equivalent enrollment. Students are 15 registering earlier to make sure they 16 can get the classes they need and we 17 anticipate less of a rush at the end for 18 registration. In addition, applications 19 for new students, transfer students are 20 up over 20 percent versus last spring. 21 That is another indication that 22 enrollment should be on par with what we 23 experienced in the fall and winter 24 session which begins right after 25 Christmas. Enrollment is up over eight 40 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 percent and we have added some 2 additional sessions because many were 3 full and we didn't want to turn away 4 students with more than three weeks 5 before it starts. 6 Paul touched on the library, the 7 bids for the construction of the Eastern 8 campus are due next Thursday and we are 9 hoping to have a recommendation and be 10 able to bring that to the Board to award 11 the contract in January. The new 12 science building is moving along. We 13 have to thank our state legislature. 14 This was appropriation that took years. 15 Both Senators LaValle and Flanagan were 16 significant in the funding. The County 17 was supportive in moving this along. So 18 that funding is in place and we will 19 begin the design as soon as we can 20 select an architect. We will be 21 requesting appropriate resolutions for 22 the new library at the grand campus. We 23 were successful in gaining the support 24 of the legislature to advance the design 25 funding to 2010. Early in January, we 41 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 will be requesting an appropriate 2 resolution for planning and design 3 funding for that library. We are 4 signing contracts for the implementation 5 of $675,000 worth of energy and water 6 conservation improvements college-wide 7 and that is with stimulus funds. And we 8 hope to let those contracts before the 9 end of December. 10 Vice President Stier touched on our 11 financial condition. We are in good 12 financial shape. However, the deficit 13 reduction plan adopted by the state 14 legislature last week will reduce 15 funding to this college during this 16 academic year by approximately two 17 million dollars so when we look at the 18 increase in revenue and we look at the 19 amount of funds we need to have a 20 balance carry forward going into next 21 year, we are still slightly ahead 22 despite the fact we had that two million 23 dollar reduction. What is particularly 24 troublesome about the action at the site 25 last week was that they used over four 42 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 hundred million dollars of federal 2 stimulus money that was ear-marked for 3 education in next year's state budget. 4 So we anticipate that the cuts for next 5 year will be at least at the same level 6 we have experienced but because we will 7 have a full year of cuts and not just a 8 mid year cut, that cut will be at least 9 three million dollars in next year's 10 budget. So we are working currently on 11 crafting a budget that works for next 12 year and communicating with the entire 13 college community about where we are and 14 we will be having discussions with the 15 Board beginning in January on how we 16 bridge the gap between increased 17 expenditures and reduced revenues and 18 especially how we deal with the state 19 budget cuts. 20 The actions we took last year also 21 have put us in much better financial 22 state. We were able to build reserves 23 and our reserves are up several million 24 dollars as to where we were a year and a 25 half ago. We are as in good financial 43 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 shape as we can be given the situation. 2 While also presenting the board 3 with a copy of the recently completed 4 SUNY building assessment forms, we 5 participated as part of a survey, 6 whether that involved professional 7 engineers that were retained by SUNY, 8 they worked with the staff locally to do 9 an assessment of all of our 10 infrastructure and facilities 11 college-wide to determine and quantify 12 the amount of deferred maintenance on 13 major systems within the college. So we 14 will present that. We have received it 15 in the past few days. We will distill 16 it and make a presentation to the Board. 17 We think that will be useful as we begin 18 to craft year next year's capitol budget 19 with you and hopefully the County. 20 Finally, we are moving along 21 towards implementation of a new payroll 22 system the first of the year. We have 23 had several conferences with the 24 leadership of the Association of 25 Municipal Employees. They still have 44 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 questions and concerns and we will be 2 meeting with them this afternoon to 3 hopefully iron out and explain the 4 system in detail and to answer their 5 questions. There will be no change in 6 pay dates, no change in pay, no negative 7 impact on any members of that bargaining 8 unit. We are hopeful we can have a 9 meeting of minds later today on that 10 issue. 11 That concludes my report and I 12 would be glad to respond to questions. 13 WALTER C. HAZLITT: Where do we 14 stand on middle states for January? 15 GEORGE GATTA: They are scheduled, 16 they will be here on the evening of the 17 6th. They will be meeting with the 18 Board. We have a board meeting that 19 day. They will be meeting with several 20 of our elective officials at the County; 21 the County Executive presiding officer, 22 the comptroller and Director of Civil 23 Service and County Personnel Officer. 24 Those meetings are scheduled, the 25 meeting with the board is scheduled -- 45 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 they will meet with some of the 2 constituents of the college. We will 3 receive the exit report the following 4 morning at about 11:00 on Friday the 5 8th. We are prepared. It's scheduled, 6 we know the members of the team that 7 will be coming and we will have an 8 opportunity to speak with them on that 9 date. I believe we are in good shape. 10 Our new agreement with the County 11 to date worked very well. I think when 12 they are able to meet and discuss the 13 situation both with the Board and with 14 the elected officials at the County, 15 they will see we are in pretty good 16 shape. We are anticipating a good 17 visit. 18 ERNESTO MATTACE, JR.: The last 19 factor were the exemptions. One of the 20 requirements in the last monitoring 21 visit was that the Board needed to 22 address and have approved, they had the 23 authority and autonomy to establish a 24 compensation plan for the seniorship at 25 the meeting. That meets one of their 46 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 requirements. 2 Do we have a projected date for the 3 learning center library at the east end 4 if you start after the first of the 5 year? 6 GEORGE GATTA: In construction, if 7 the winter is mild, they can begin 8 moving earth and pouring foundations 9 depending on the severity of the winter. 10 We would like to bring that to the Board 11 at the meeting after January 7th. Once 12 we award the contract, they can begin. 13 ERNESTO MATTACE, JR.: It's behind 14 the Peconic building. 15 GEORGE GATTA: If you look at the 16 campus, it's to the right of the Peconic 17 building. It would finish what would 18 now be a quadrangle. 19 ERNESTO MATTACE, JR.: Any other 20 questions? 21 GEORGE GATTA: Thank you. 22 ERNESTO MATTACE, JR.: With that, I 23 would move to go into executive session 24 for personnel and litigation. 25 MR. OCHOA: So moved. 47 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 JERRY KANE: Second. 2 ERNESTO MATTACE, JR.: All those in 3 favor? 4 BOARD OF TRUSTEES: Aye. 5 ERNESTO MATTACE, JR.: Opposed? 6 Abstansions? 7 So passed. 8 [At this time, Board of Trustees 9 went into Executive Session. Time 10 Noted: 9:30 a.m.] 11 [Resume time: 10:43 a.m.] 12 ERNESTO MATTACE, JR.: The Board 13 after deliberating in executive session 14 has decided that academic search on 15 Robert Prella will attend the January 16 7th board meeting and we will be 17 extending the search for the presidency 18 at Suffolk County Community College. 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 48 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 Motion for Adjournment. 2 JERRY KANE: Second. 3 ERNESTO MATTACE, JR.: All those in 4 favor? 5 BOARD OF TRUSTEES: Aye. 6 ERNESTO MATTACE, JR.: So moved. 7 8 [Time noted: 10:45 a.m.] 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 49 SCCC BOARD OF TRUSTEES 1 2 3 4 STATE OF NEW YORK ) 5 ) SS 6 COUNTY OF SUFFOLK ) 7 8 I, LISA GRAFFIA, a Shorthand 9 Reporter and Notary Public within and for 10 the State of New York, do hereby certify: 11 That the within is a true and 12 accurate transcription of the hearing had 13 before me. 14 I further certify that I am not 15 related to any of the parties to this 16 action by blood or marriage and that I am 17 in no way interested in the outcome of 18 this matter. 19 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have 20 hereunto set my hand this 5th day of 21 January, 2010. 22 23 -------------------- LISA GRAFFIA 24 25