Staff Assembly Minutes
October 11, 2012
3:00 pm, Workforce
Training Center
Call to Order
Approval of
Minutes
A motion was made to approve the minutes of the September 2012 meeting; motion
was seconded and passed unanimously.
Accreditation
Update—Karen Ruppel
Karen Ruppel gave Staff Assembly an update of the pending accreditation
visit. Accreditation is a review of the
quality of higher education institutions and programs. Accreditation is vital—it reflects on the
quality of our education, as well as being a requirement for students to
receive federal financial aid. NIC is
accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU).
The accreditation evaluation team will be visiting North Idaho College in
March 2013. All staff should be familiar
with NIC’s Accreditation Core Themes:
Core Theme 1—Student Success
Core Theme 2—Educational Excellence
Core Theme 3—Community Engagement
Please help get word out to other staff on campus about the importance of
becoming familiar with our accreditation process. Karen will continue communications via the
Weeksworth. More information can be
found on the web at http://www.nic.edu/planning/accreditation/.
Old
Business:
Reduction in
Force (RIF) Policy/Procedure —Garry Stark
The Reduction in Force policy and procedure were first brought up last
spring; it has undergone revision per the recommendations of both faculty and
staff assemblies, and has been reviewed by the college’s attorney. The RIF policy and procedure are now ready to
go to a first reading in Senate, and at this time, if you are in agreement, we
would like to request Staff Assembly’s endorsement.
Pam Claflin moved that Staff Assembly endorse the RIF policy and
procedure; the motion was seconded by Bill McElver and passed unanimously.
New Business:
Guest Mark Browning: Economic Impact
Study
Mark Browning presented the findings of NIC’s recent Economic Impact
Study to Staff Assembly. The study was
done over the summer by EMSI in Moscow.
Looking at all financial factors, NIC has an overall annual impact on
North Idaho of $164.6 million dollars. For every dollar of support, taxpayers see a
return of $1.50 (in the form of higher tax receipts and avoided cost). Higher student earnings and associated increases
in property income generate approximately $2.4 million in added tax revenue
each year. Other key points of the
study are that a student’s average rate of return on their investment in
attending NIC is 16.1%. Mark closed by
stating “NIC is a good investment”. For
more information on NIC’s economic impact study, go to http://www.nic.edu/economicimpact/.
Reports:
·
Board
Meeting—Nancy Edwards
Nancy reviewed the key points of the
September Board of Trustees meeting:
Marc Lyons presented information on a proposal for a right-of-way double
easement on the Prairie property. NIC is
also considering annexation of the beach from Kootenai County to the City of
Coeur d’Alene. One of the benefits of
annexing the beach to the city would be a better response time for emergencies
because the city police are much closer than the county sheriff’s office. Another consideration is that Rosenberry
Drive (the dike road) is in the city and thus under city police patrol, so it
would seem to be consistent to have the beach under the city’s oversight, as
well.
Information/Updates:
·
Trustee
Forum on October 23rd at 6:30 pm
ASNIC is hosting a forum for trustee candidates in
the upcoming election. The forum will be
in the SUB.
·
Sandpoint
Open House November 1st
The new Sandpoint Center will host an open house on
November 1st from 3:00 to 6:00 pm.
In addition, the NIC choir and Sandpoint High School choir will host a
joint concert presentation at 7:00 pm.
Please contact Mindy Patterson at x3316 if you would like to reserve a
spot on the NIC van going up to Sandpoint.
·
Roundabout
Art—Garry Stark
There will be a dedication for the public art in the
roundabouts on Wednesday, October 24th at 4:00 pm. The dedication will start at the River &
Hubbard roundabout. Coffee and
refreshments will be provided immediately after the dedication at the Fort
Ground Grill.
·
Staff
Sabbatical Committee Update—Nancy and
Garry
Dr. Dunlap has appointed Alex Harris as chair of the
Staff Sabbatical Committee. The
committee members consist of Katie Elwell, Tom Wuest, Josh Gittel, Linda
Michal, and Nancy Edwards. Applications
will be available by mid-November.
·
Single
Stream Recycling—Bill McElver
Before turning the floor over to Bill McElver, Garry
Stark wanted to recognize Bill for going above and beyond by bringing this
program on board at NIC. Many thanks to Bill
McElver and Matt Sebby for their dedication to this project! Single stream means that everything can go
into one container—newspaper, cardboard, aluminum cans. This will be a team effort , with everyone
doing their part—if you choose to recycle, you will empty your recycling from
your office into a central bin in your building; custodial will then empty
those containers in the outside recycling bin.
This is NIC’s first step to promoting sustainability, so please help us
make this recycling program a success.
Shout-Outs:
·
To
Adam Mortensen from Garry Stark for taking ownership of the outreach center move from
Ponderay to Sandpoint. Many thanks,
Adam—great job!
·
To
Kelly Hopkins from Suzie Dean and Teresa Henderson in HR; you make our day brighter by
stopping by to say hello when making your security rounds and being so
conscientious about your job. Thank you,
Kelly.
Good of the Order:
Employee Day Survey:
Erin Norvell would like everyone to spread the word about the Employee
Day Survey, available October 12-17th on the web.
Congratulations to our Door Prize
Winners:
·
Peggy
Schnell is the winner of a facial and hand treatment from the Workforce
Training Esthetician program.
·
Melissa
Mewhinney is the winner of a Ft. Ground gift certificate. Thank you to Ft. Ground for their donation.
·
Karen Ruppel
is the winner of Garry’s golf cart for a day (on-campus business use only such
as going to accreditation meetings).
Meeting Adjourned: 4:00 pm