July 2017

Executive Director’s Report By Dr. Andrea Mayfield

Mississippi Community College Board

While the future of the world seems uncertain based upon what we see in the news, radio, web and social media, I am hopeful. Despite organized chaos at times in cities in the United States, I am hopeful. I am hopeful because there is strong leadership in place working to exact change in an effort to make things better for the future of our Country, our State, and our local communities. I have said it before, and will say it again…change is difficult …but necessary to survive and prosper. In a time of scarce resources, and growing competition to obtain them, Mississippi is leading the way in collaborative efforts for a better Mississippi. Partnerships between state agencies, state government, education, business and industry, and local groups are positioning Mississippi to lead other States to success. Through integrated and coordinated efforts associated with Mississippi’s WIOA plan, apprenticeship initiatives, specialized training academies, expanding CTE, and rapid response, the role of the community college is critical to success. By expanding access to education and training opportunities in demand, colleges are the catalysts for increasing the labor pool, reducing unemployment, and driving economic development. Community colleges are a solid return on investment, affordable career pathways to employment, and improve the quality of lives and communities they touch. With strong college leadership in place who have a willingness to respond to change and have a passion for improving the lives of people, I remain hopeful of what the future brings.

The MIBEST Navigators are primarily known as the glue that clench the MIBEST program together. Each community and junior college has at least one MIBEST Navigator who provides student support services, assists with eliminating student barriers, and serves as a mentor to each MIBEST student. Implementing this process, allows a derivation of great results and a shift to greater outreach. The Office of Resource and Development hosted a two day MIBEST Navigators Retreat on May 18-19 in Greenwood to provide Navigators with professional development training

to help enhance their implementation in their roles. Navigators shared best practices as well as challenges among their colleges. Subject matter experts presented information on resources that navigators could use to support their students. The presenters and topics included: Dr. Roger Cleveland of Millennium Learning Concepts, "Connecting with Culturally Diverse Populations" Terri Clark from Pearl River Community College," When Your Crayons Come with A

Suitcase: We Call that Advisement" Dr. Carmen Walters, Paula Rainey, and Sheri Standford from Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, "Overcoming Barriers to Increase Retention & Enhancing Student Success" Drew Lefmann from The University of Mississippi, "What’s My Role Again? Exploring Boundaries and The Helping Relationship" Julia Kuklinski from Moore Community House-Women in Construction, “Supporting Workforce Development for

Women in Nontraditional Occupations” Ingrid Cloy from Jim Casey Youth Opportunities, “ Foster Care Partnership” The navigators and presenters rated the Retreat as very useful and well organized. The MIBEST program has ended Spring 2017 semester with 519 students earning a High School Equivalency (HSE), 200 students earned a certificate or degree, and 87 students are employed in their field of study. An updated Student Data Report will be available in August 2017.

MIBEST By Nikitna Barnes

Human Resources By Cynthia Jiles

In accordance with the Executive Order 1392 from January 10, 2017 regarding the Sexual Harassment Awareness and Prevention training for all public employees of Mississippi, all employees of MCCB have completed the mandatory training by the June 30, 2017 deadline. The training was offered as a course through Canvas and has been logged for the employees’ personnel records. Dr. Mayfield has informed the Governor of our training compliance. Thanks to everyone for your cooperation on this project!

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Finance and Administration By Deborah Gilbert

Mr. Charley Rome, LBO Budget Analyst, has been assigned to the Community and Junior College Support and MCCB Budgets. He replaces Howard Brown as our analyst. Before coming to the Legislative Budget Office about a year ago, Mr. Rome was a Budget Analyst for the Louisiana Legislature and was assigned to universities and technical colleges. On June 2, Charley visited the MCCB office and met for a couple of hours with Jason Carter and me. He also attended the MCCB Meeting on June 16 and we have been working with him on a daily basis recently with the launching of the Online Budget Request System (OBRS) for the FY 2019 Budget Request. We look forward to working with and getting to know Charley better in the near future. Several MCCB staff and Board Chair Lee Bush attended the recent MACJC legislative workshop held in Ridgeland. At the meeting, the three funding priorities for FY 2019 that were agreed upon by the MACJC at the meeting include: Priority One: Fair and

Equitable Funding, which includes Restoration of Funding to FY 2016 appropriated levels in the

amount of $37,170,752 and Salary Improvements in the amount of $25,000,000 for a total of $62,170,752.

Priority Two: Workforce and Economic Development, which includes a request of funding for New Career/Technical Programs in the amount of $5,250,000 and MI-BEST Career Pathways funding in the amount of $10,681,146 for a total of $15,931,146.

Priority Three: 2-year Bond commitment for Capital Improvements - $150,000,000.

The total of Priorities One and Two is $78,101,898 and this will be the amount of Appropriated funds requested for FY 2019. Priority Three is our Bond Request in the total amount of $150 million or $75 million in both FY 2019 and FY 2020. The MCCB held the annual Summer Data Conference via teleconference on June 8 in Jackson, and I provided an “MCCB Finance Update” related to appropriations, funding, budget cuts, etc. for community and junior colleges. Finance Division members, particularly Jason Carter, Jacob Goodwin and I, have been heavily

involved over the past two months negotiating funding, establishing a business plan, and developing MOAs for the colleges to participate in the Early Childhood Academies. Several meeting dates and multiple hours at each meeting were held with officials from the Mississippi Department of Human Services, the Governor’s Office, and nSPARC. Most of the colleges participating have already signed their MOAs. The period of performance of the Early Childhood Academies begins on July 1, 2017 and ends on June 30, 2018. On June 7, 2017, Dr. Mayfield received a letter from the Joint Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review (PEER) requesting from five community colleges related to funding, tuition, enrollment, local generated funding, and service reductions as a result of the funding reductions. Our responses to their request were submitted on the June 21 deadline. On June 26, Dr. Jim Haffey, Holmes CC President; Mr. Stan Patrick, Co-Lin VP for Finance; and I were co-presenters for the ninth class of the Mississippi Community College Leadership Academy (MCCLA) in Raymond.

Dr. Haffey discussed CJC finances from a president’s perspective. Mr. Patrick spoke about CJC finances and budgets from a local CFO’s perspective, and I presented from a statewide funding perspective. There were approximately 30 future leaders who participated in the MCCLA this year with Krystal Berry and Mark Jenkins representing the MCCB. MCCB held its annual “MBR” meeting with the MACJC Business Managers on June 27 to discuss the upcoming FY 2019 Legislative Budget Request. This all-day meeting provided information related to closing out FY 2017, the appropriations for FY 2018, and the decision units and instructions for completing the FY 2019 budget request. Several MCCB staff (Kell Smith, Ray Smith, and Angela Bryan) were on the agenda in addition to MCCB Finance staff. On July 7, I will make a presentation entitled “Mississippi Community Colleges – A Fiscal Review” to the MACJC Trustees at their annual meeting. The meeting will be held at the Muse Center of Hinds Community College in Pearl.

Athletics By Jim Southward

Congratulations to the following teams for earning the highest grade point average among all teams in the MACJC. We also recognize the record setting number of individual student athletes who earned Academic All-State with a 3.25 or higher grade point average and those that earned Distinguished All-State for carrying a 3.8 grade point average or higher. The MACJC had 786 student athletes to earn these honors. Men’s Academic All-Sate Teams: Soccer– Northwest, 3.39 Football– Northwest, 2.95 Golf– Co-Lin, 3.52 Baseball– East Central and Pearl River, 3.21

Women’s Academic All-State Teams Soccer– Pearl River, 3.47 Basketball– East Mississippi, 3.19 Softball– East Mississippi, 3.64 Overall Winners Men– Northwest Tennis and Southwest Basketball, 3.57 Women– East Central Tennis, 3.71

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The Division of eLearning and Instructional Technology welcomes new team member, Mrs. Shalon Farris, who assumed the role of Program Specialist for eLearning on July 5, 2017. In her new role, Shalon will focus her efforts on instructional design and course quality assisting the MCCB and the faculty at the community colleges through experiential techniques, innovative learning activities, and the deployment of a research-based design model, Quality Matters. Shalon is a graduate of Mississippi State University where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Education Psychology and a Master of Science in Information Systems. After graduating with her MSIS, she worked as a Programmer Analyst in the Information Systems Division at the Mississippi Department of Transportation. Most recently, she served at Holmes Community College as the LMS Administrator, Retention Specialist, and Proctor. She has been an asset to HCC and we look forward to her bringing that same work ethic and passion to the MCCB. Shalon resides in Madison with her husband Cole. Ensuring quality courses regardless of modality is at the forefront of the Mississippi Virtual Community College’s (MSVCC) Strategic Plan. As such, the

MSVCC consortium voted to adopt the research-based, nationally recognized design model Quality Matters (QM). QM is a collegial quality assurance organization, to assist in providing feedback on course design, national standards and research-based best practices, and promotion of continuous quality improvement. In addition, Quality Matters provides robust and intensive courses in which several from the consortium have successfully completed and received certification: Coahoma Community

College- Joseph McKee East Central Community

College- Dr. Christa Wilhite and Joan Grimes

Hinds Community College- Christine Davis, Greg Howard, and Katherine Puckett

Itawamba Community College- Brandi McCraw and Stacey Hughes

Jones County Junior College- Ashley Beard

Mississippi Community College Board- Brooke Doggett, Chris Ryals, and Dr. Krista LeBrun

Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College- Buffy Matthews and Jennifer Leimer

Northwest Mississippi Community College- Trent Booker, Beth Dickerson, Angel Nickens, Marcus Perkins, Beth Adams, John Randall, Stacey Smith, Carla Townsend, Kristen Watson, Stephan McDavid, and Phyllis Johnson

Northeast Mississippi Community College- William Bowlin, Crystal Coats White, Beth Dawson, Tina Gambill, Amanda Garvin, Paige Green Sasser, Dr. Kim Harris, Ray Harris, Dawn Hilliard, Andrea Honeycutt Matthis, Nick Jackson, Anne Lampkin, Amy Langley, Natasha Lewis, Amanda Mattox, Carlena McCombs Benjamin, Stephanie Anne Moore, Amber Nelms, Emily Pollard, Morgan Ricks, Shawna Smith, Danielle Willcoxon, Wendy Williams Scott, and Sabine Zabarovska

Pearl River Community College- Kimberly Ellis

Also, with the adoption of the MSVCC Academy Professional Development Catalog as well as weekly promotional emails, the MSVCC Academy participation increased from 844 participants to 1,146 participants. The Academy has seen an increase in the number of attendees from outside the MSVCC consortium

participating in professional development offerings and we look forward to continuing to see growth in participation. In order to provide a more streamlined and accurate reflection of student attendance in the MSVCC, a collaborative effort between the Divisions of Information Services, Research & Effectiveness, and eLearning & Instructional Technology, has resulted in the development of an attendance feature within the MSVCC Enrollment Tool portal. This new feature will allow instructors to maintain accurate student attendance records for both hosted and provided enrollments. A small scale pilot is currently being conducted for the Summer 2017 semester and a consortium-wide pilot will be conducted during the Fall 2017 semester. With student success at the forefront of our mission along with the aforementioned topics, the Division of eLearning and Instructional Technology will be exploring several initiatives that we anticipate will decrease the workload on instructors, utilize new and effective technologies, and provide students access to quality education regardless of location.

eLearning and Instructional Technology By Dr. Krista LeBrun, Chris Ryals, and Brooke Doggett

Agency Happenings

On May 17, Holly Savorgnan, Senior Accountant at the MCCB, and her husband, Joey, welcomed daughter Josie Nell, who weighed 7 pounds and 2 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long. Holly is exhausted after her hospital stay, but enjoying time with her new daughter. She thanks everyone for all the food, gifts, and congratulations/well wishes. On June 29, Tina Bradley was recognized as MCCB Employee of the Quarter. Tina has been with the agency for 23 years and currently serves as Information Systems Security Specialist. Among her many duties, Tina helps to plan the annual Creating Futures Through Technology conference, which has grown to an annual attendance of nearly 500 people from the community colleges and universities; multiple breakout sessions; and many sponsors. She is also quick to offer IT solutions to MCCB staff whenever equipment is not working properly. And she always does this with a smile on her face. Congratulations to Tina and thanks for everything you do for our agency and system!

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Agency Pictures

MIBEST Navigators at their recent retreat.

Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College MIBEST students receive their High School Equivalency diplomas during the recent Adult Education graduation.

Jones County Junior College MIBEST student Alonso Hernandez received a technical degree in Welding at the college’s recent graduation.

Itawamba Community College MIBEST students received MIBEST Trail Blazer awards for their commitment to the program.

Coahoma Community College MIBEST students received their career certificate in Industrial Maintenance.

Pearl River Community College MIBEST student Tasha received a career certificate in Welding and is now employed at Ingalls Shipbuilding.

East Mississippi Community College MIBEST students received their High School Equivalency diplomas along with 13 Smart Start Credentials, 12 National Career Certificates, 4 Basic Manufacturing Skills Certificates, and 2 Certified Nursing Assistant Certificates.

Congratulations to Holly and Joey Savorgnan on the birth of their daughter, Josie Nell Savorgnan.