THE OFFICIAL MINUTES
The Big Bend Community College Board of Trustees held a Regular Board meeting Thursday, October 12, 2023, at 1:30 p.m. in person.
| Present: | Anna Franz |
| Bethany Martinez | |
| Amy Parris | |
| Juanita Richards |
Motion 23-30 Trustee Juanita Richards moved to approve Trustee Anna Franz serving as temporary
chair in Board Chair Gary Chandler’s absence. Trustee Bethany Martinez seconded and
the motion passed.
- Mission Moments
Athletic Director John Meeks and Volleyball Coach Alexa Moser escorted the volleyball team to the meeting for introductions. Interim Director of Student Activities Sidney Dickerson introduced herself. ASB Officers introduced themselves President Ty Tait, Vice President Emily Pugh, Secretary/Treasurer Daissy Quevedo, and Public Relations Officer Cooper Cox. Director of Residence Halls and Life Ammon Milligan introduced himself and the Residence Hall Advisors introduced themselves.
Faculty Association President Tyler Wallace introduced newly-hired Instructional Lab Support Technician Michelle Rettkowski. - Public comment
There was no public comment. - Consent Agenda
Motion 23-31 Trustee Juanita Richards moved to approve the consent agenda. Trustee Amy Parris seconded and the motion passed. - Tenure Presentations (2:00 pm)
Pierce College Chancellor Julie White, Pierce College Fort Steilacoom President Matthew Campbell, and Trustee Therese Ngo Pasquier presented information about their tenure revision process. Pierce Colleges have over 13,000 students. Revisions to their faculty recruitment, hiring and tenure processes have led to outcomes doubling the number of fulltime faculty of color. Trustee Pasquier discussed the importance of working toward their mission of which Tenure is an important piece. Strong board goals help employees operationalize efforts toward meeting the mission. Administration worked with the union to create goals including anti-racist curricula, diversity, advancing equitable and equity centered professional development, and ensuring accountability toward equitable teaching with specific outcomes. There was a focus on hiring faculty who are committed to Black and Brown student excellence. The process included a first-year faculty cohort that met monthly and discussed how faculty can further the goal of centering Black and Brown learners. There were several presentations to the board and training regarding the new tenure guide and biases awareness. Trustee Pasquier shared that the trustees were sometimes uncomfortable and knew it was critical to move forward in the effort. Trustees appreciated different formats that probationers used to share their information including audio, video, Powerpoints, written, etc.
Training was available for tenured faculty, committee members, and others who were involved in the tenure review process which was owned by the board and implemented by the college with an emphasis on collaboration. Cluster hiring groups of faculty successfully created an environment for faculty to help Black and Brown students. Faculty are at the center of student success. Radical changes were made to the tenure manual to promote Black and Brown student excellence; discipline/field excellence applying inclusive pedagogy; student experience, mentoring and advising; racial equity learning journey/ and college and community engagement. The board also changed the expectations of first year probationers to allow time for growth and they agreed to flexibility of report style for probationers’ updates. Chancellor White asked the board if they are ready for authentic communication from faculty.
Pierce’s decision to focus on Black and Brown students was based on student outcome inequities. They saw from the data which students needed the most support and instituted practices to generate more candidates of color to impact students of color. Faculty are expected to understand black and brown excellence in the classroom and address race.
President Tweedy stated the tenure process should be full of learning, reflection, and joy rather than angst. It is great for faculty to present their authentic selves through the process. Trustee Pasquier stated candidates share videos that are fun and they provide a more holistic representation of themselves. Lifting the most marginalized groups helps all groups. The revised process provides a lot more student responses. Student evaluations were also changed to completely qualitative rather than check marks. At Pierce, all first year faculty used the new process and 2nd and 3rd year faculty had the option to change or not, and most chose to change to the new process.
Big Bend Trustees thanked Chancellor White, Trustee Pasquier and President Campbell for sharing their information. - Faculty Updates
Faculty Association President Tyler Wallace shared news from faculty. As a result of connections made during the Autodesk Fusion 360 Educational Summit Justin Henley, IST instructor attended this summer, Big Bend Community College has joined the American Society of Mechanical Engineers – Community College Engineering Pathways program. This provides our students free membership to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) for the next two years, giving them access to additional resources such as scholarships, workshops, and networking opportunities.
In Communication Studies, led by Dr. Barbara Bush, they have added three new classes in the last year. One class, Organizational Communication, is part of the BAS-AM program, and the other two, Intercultural Communication and Introduction to Communication, are part of our regular departmental offerings. Introduction to Communication is being offered for the first time this Fall and it has students who are learning about Communication Studies as a field. For the first time we have students learning that Communication Studies is more than public speaking and interpersonal communication. They are learning that it comes with various methodologies, an intellectual set of histories, and a wide range of job possibilities. Intercultural Communication is full of students, and many of these are BAS-AM students. They are learning why culture matters to how we communicate, and why it matters to be culturally competent, and self-aware. They learn about cognitive flexibility in that class, intercultural awareness as an intellectual pursuit, de-centering our own perspectives, and valuing what we learn from differences. Some of our students don't even know they have a culture because they come from experiencing culture as it is reflected back to them!
Rhonda Kitchen, Librarian and Library Science Instructor will be hosting a new Big Bend Passion Project featuring Lindsay Groce in “An Afternoon Tea with a Talk about the History of Science” where she will be sharing her findings and Adventures from her sabbatical in Europe November 9th at 5pm in the Masto Conference Center.
Scott Woodham, English Associate Faculty had a poem published in the October 2023 edition of About Place Journal. Poets Nickole Brown and Erin Coughlin Hollowell, editors of this issue, chose his poem about the courtship of horses from over 900 other submissions for the theme "The More-Than-Human World.”
Michele Reeves, Early Childhood Education gave the students in the new HUM 220 Diversity in Education course have a project creating “Persona Dolls” The Dolls are meant to become members of their hypothetical classrooms and represent a student with a background that may be different than the majority of their classroom. The idea is that the doll is used in teachable moments to build empathy and understanding in the students as they begin to accept the doll as a “member” of their classroom and become inclusive and maybe even protective of the doll. Some of the dolls submitted have ADHD, glasses, are wheelchair bound, are from another country and don’t speak English, have same sex parents and even a few who are adopted. Also, she made this low stakes for our students and encouraged them to use paper created dolls to avoid adding undue burden on their personal budgets.
Several faculty volunteered to help with the WAV event to welcome students (new and old) to campus. There were around 200 students who attended. Jenn Brathovde, Director of Advising and Retention did a great job organizing this well attended event to welcome our students back to campus!
World Languages Instructor Jen McCarthy shared that the biggest change in German this year is that rather than meet 4 days/week for an hour each day, we meet only Tues/Thurs for 2 hours each. It has been working quite well, with nearly the whole class present each day so far! She also has a real German student from Germany in class this quarter - Miss Wiebke Erban, who is in Moses Lake staying at the home of a woman who had been the exchange partner of her uncle's back in 1979! Wiebke is a sweet young woman - very bright and enthusiastic to speak German with Americans who are learning her beautiful language.
Dr. Dennis Knepp, Philosophy instructor, was invited to give the 10-minute response to a talk by CWU Professor of Philosophy Dr. Gary Bartlett on Chat GPT and the future of take-home essay assignments October 4, on the CWU campus.
Dr. Wallace introduced Probation Candidate and Math Instructor Eric Fleming and he presented information from his Math & Society Class. - ASB Updates
ASB President Ty Tait provided a report about ASB activities. The student athletes will connect with other student leaders during a Trunk or Treat Halloween activity. Big Bend Alumni Marisol Losano will present to the student body about Latino leadership, activism, and mental health. ASB officers are earning their food handler’s permits to help prepare food for events. President Sara Tweedy announced that the Viking Grill in the DeVries Activity Center (Gym) is open for people on campus from 11:30-1:00 Monday through Thursday. Also, funding from the Village Account is available for students who do not have money for lunch. - President’s Update
Dr. Tweedy highlighted new employees and employees who have been promoted. She shared spring final headcounts and FTEs. Student enrollment continues to increase. Fall enrollment shows a large increase with the largest increases in the BEdA program, which builds a pipeline to college credit classes. Director of Outreach and Recruitment Vanessa Pruneda and staff are doing great job recruiting students. Dr. Tweedy reported that 41.2% of our annual budget of $3,500,000 has been collected.
Operating budget end-run policy was discussed by the WACTC presidents group to ensure our 34 community and technical colleges maintain a strong unified position. The presidents advocate collectively for the system. Sometimes the presidents agree to a specific project such as a building with asbestos moving to the top of the list. If a single college advocates and is awarded funding based on an end-run, the SBCTC is authorized to remove the end-run amount if the policy is violated.
Accreditation visitors from the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities are coming to campus. Dr. Tweedy reported that the college has worked hard to resolve the former recommendation with the new measurable strategic plan and mission fulfillment alignment.
Cellarbration for Education is set for March 16, 2024. Sponsorships are already received for over $34,000. - Sabbatical/Exceptional Faculty Award Report
Chemistry Lindsay Groce provided her EFA/Sabbatical report. She also invited all to the Passion Project Showcase November 9 where she will share her discoveries for the history of science course she is developing. Her travels and explorations in UK and France provided great information for the course. She visited the Science Museum, Natural History Science Museum, and many more.
Trustee Anna Franz announced a 5-minute break at 3:17 p.m. The meeting reconvened at 3:22 p.m. - 2023-24 Proprietary Budget
President Tweedy reported information about the proprietary budget. She explained that the goal of the auxiliary programs, such as the bookstore, ASB, athletics, and housing is to break even. The programs have spent the revenue they earned during the current year. There is no longer a physical bookstore; students do have day-one access and an online bookstore with Barnes & Noble. The 2022-23 bookstore information shows a loss due to art, nursing, and lab kits through the library and text book checkouts. Dr. Tweedy reviewed the ASB revenues and expenses and explained that S&A fees are related to enrollment.
Trustees asked about the lack of a projected budget for the bookstore. Dr. Tweedy will discuss this with VP Linda Schoonmaker and provide the answer at the next board meeting.
Motion 23-32 Trustee Bethany Martinez moved to approve the 2023-24 Proprietary Budget. Trustee Juanita Richards seconded and the motion passed.
At 3:29 p.m. Board Chair Anna Franz announced that the Board would adjourn to executive session for approximately 10 minutes to discuss items provided for in RCW 42.30.110 (1): (g) to evaluate the qualifications of an applicant for public employment or to review the performance of a public employee. The executive session ended at 3:39 p.m. No actions were taken during the executive session. - President’s Evaluation
Trustee Anna Franz read the president’s evaluation into the record.
“The Board of Trustees extends great appreciation to our President, Dr. Sara Thompson Tweedy, for her continued leadership at Big Bend Community College. In considering the performance of the President as it relates to the college’s ends statements, the Board finds that the institution has met its stated ends during the previous year.
During the last evaluation, the Board encouraged President Tweedy to focus on enrollment and outreach strategies to increase access to all communities within our service district. The efforts made by the College under President Tweedy’s leadership in these areas over the last year is evident. Fall enrollments for 2023 are over 15% higher for total headcount than 2022 and exceed pre-pandemic levels. Dual enrollment offerings were expanded within the service district with the use of Educational Opportunity Center grant funds to hire outreach specialists. Outreach to Mattawa and Othello areas resulted in expansion of Basic Education for Adults (BEdA) to include English Language Acquisition and GED classes resulting in increased BEdA enrollment. High School Equivalency Program grant funds were also used to connect migrant workers to these programs.
The College has also made many achievements in honoring our role as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) by implementing bilingual wayfinding signage and holding its first bilingual commencement to ensure inclusion of our Hispanic community members who represent over 43% of our Grant County population and over 65% of our Adams County population. Our commencement also celebrated the graduation of our first cohort of Bachelor of Applied Science in Applied Management students. In addition to these actions, the College has also supported diversity, equity, and inclusion by completing its first DEI Strategic Plan, creating the position of Director of Recruitment, Retention and Equity, and encouraging faculty and staff to participate in ESCALA professional development activities.
The Board additionally appreciates President Tweedy’s continued representation of the College both within and beyond our service District. President Tweedy’s role as the chair of the Educational Services Committee for the Washington Community and Technical Colleges and member of the WACTC Executive Committee ensures that our College has a voice as state policies are developed. President Tweedy has maintained a strong presence with our community partners in her roles as the secretary of the Grant County Economic Development Council, member of the North Central Workforce Development Board, member of the Moses Lake School District Dual Language Advisory Board, President of Grant County Animal Outreach, and member of Rotary.
In establishing and strengthening the partnerships with our local school districts, industry, and university partners, the Board applauds President Tweedy’s efforts that resulted in the Battery and Allied Technology Transformation (BATT) Tech Hub Designation Proposal to the Economic Development Administration. The College was also a successful educational partner in supporting the award of $100 million in federal funds under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act to industry partners.
In the coming year the Board encourages President Tweedy to continue to rise to the challenges presented by competing economic forces that continue to impact enrollments and hiring. We also look forward to the planned work in strengthening and deepening the College’s commitment to honoring its role as a Hispanic Serving Institute to meet the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion End Statement.”
Motion 23-33 Trustee Amy Parris moved to approve Dr. Sara Thompson Tweedy’s 2022-23 evaluation Trustee Bethany Martinez seconded and the motion passed. - President’s Contract
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Motion 23-34 Trustee Bethany Martinez moved to approve contract extension Dr. Sara Thompson Tweedy’s contract. Trustee Amy Parris seconded and the motion passed. - President’s Evaluation Form Revisions
Motion 23-35 Trustee Juanita Richards moved to approve revisions to the president’s evaluation form as presented. Trustee Amy Parris seconded and the motion passed.
Realigning evaluation to ends statements. - Board Self-Evaluation & 2023-24
Annually, the BBCC Board of Trustees conducts a self-evaluation during its retreat. The effort was completed on Thursday, August 31, 2023. The process includes determining whether or not the Board has met its goals, maintained trustee activity aligned with the Ends, and followed and fulfilled board policies.
For the 2022-2023 academic year, the BBCC Board of Trustees adopted three goals.
1. Revise the Big Bend Community College’s Ends Statements and develop and implement a set of indicators which measure the progress of the institution relative to the revised Ends.
2. Advance equity, diversity, and inclusion by establishing policies and institutional goals supporting operational equity, diversity, and inclusion programs.
3. Ensure effective onboarding and support for trustees as measured by updates to the board onboarding tool and development of a cyclical board calendar of study session topics and campus engagement opportunities.
During the August 31 retreat, the Board agreed that it had succeeded in fulfilling one of the goals and making significant progress on the remaining two goals. The summary of that assessment follows:
Goal #1: Revise End Statements and Develop & Implement a Set of Indicators
The Board agreed that significant progress had been made on this goal by adopting revised End Statements; however, this goal will be retained to identify a clearer method of monitoring those End Statements.
Goal #2: Advancing Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
The Board agreed that progress has been made on this goal through the retreat training and discussion regarding Dr. Garcia’s Becoming Hispanic Serving Institutions book and DEI efforts at Big Bend. The Board agreed that this goal would be retained.
Goal #3: Trustee Onboarding
The newest members of the Board reported that they received all the information and guidance necessary to understand their role as Trustees. The Board agreed the goal had been met.
2023-2024 Board Goals
The Board goals for the 2023-2024 academic year are as follows:
1. Develop a clear method of monitoring Big Bend Community College’s Ends Statements including the identification of indicators which measure the performance of the institution relative to the Ends.
2. Advance equity, diversity, and inclusion by reviewing policies to ensure support of operational equity, diversity, and inclusion programs.
3. Establish an annual calendar of board study session topics to ensure professional development of Board members.
Motion 23-36 Trustee Juanita Richards moved to approve the 2023-24 board goals. Trustee Bethany Martinez seconded and the motion passed. - Board Policy 1000 Revisions
Trustees review the revisions and will take action in December. - Assessment of Board Activity
Submitted in writing. - Next Meeting
The next meeting was confirmed for Thursday, December 7, 2023. - 2024 Board Meeting Schedule
Motion 23-37 Trustee Bethany moved to approve the 2024 board meeting schedule as presented. Trustee Juanita Richards seconded and the motion passed. - Miscellaneous
Adjournment 4:15 p.m.
Anna Franz, Trustee
ATTEST:
Sara Thompson Tweedy, Secretary