Interim President’s Report BOT Meeting – January 28, 2021 Standing Items • Enrollment Report • COVID-19 Update 1. The County, although the supply was limited, continues to utilize North and South campuses as a point of dispensing 6,216 vaccines; 2nd most of all the community colleges in the state. 2. Pooled Test site closed as South Campus this week; consolidating. 3. Drive-through testing site has closed. 4. Classes started 1/19/21 • Open Forum 1/21/21 – Interim President Reuter started off followed by Mark Pacholec and Amy Yoder. • Pooled Testing – SUNY will be monitoring 100% testing. • Spring Re-opening Plans – approved. • 5,182 Campus Clear Users. • 1,102 tested since 1/13 – 0.27% positivity rate. • Check points at all campuses. • Pooled testing at all 3 campuses. College Updates • January 13, 2021 - Opening Day – Successful event, Thank you to Chairwoman Wilson for her participation. The event was viewed by 517 staff; 583 for Fall semester. After some introductory remarks, there were 12 breakout sessions and the largest attended was “Promoting Equal Access and Effective Interaction in the Remote Classroom”. • January 13, 2021 - D’Youville Testimony, started off with D’Youville President, then Interim President Reuter and Presidents Deeb and Murabito, followed by six speakers, all with affiliation to D’Youville, some of which not disclosed, false statements, non-credit and remedial illegal in the state of Tennessee as well as the hours spent to take public transportation to NCCC while ignoring ECC’s City Campus. A response was drafted to the Vice Chancellor, State Ed who conducted the public hearing and copied Regent Dr. Catherine Fisher Collins. • Diversity - January 19, 2021 was the National Day of Racial Healing and I taped a video message that was sent to all faculty, students and staff. The Chairwoman, myself and Tracy Archie have been invited to attend the Community Enrichment Committee meeting on 2/18 to discuss the College’s Diversity and Equity Plan and policies and ways we assist students of color. • BOT Onboarding – Efforts continue, meeting is scheduled for 2/8. • Spring 2021 Semester began Tuesday, January 19th – limited number of in-person students. • Fall 2021 – Northland, SUNY approval of Construction Management Technology Certificate. • Retirees – Formalized plan/Host breakfast at North for all retirees, and personalized note of thanks to each. I recognized 23 retirees on Opening Day, 1 employee with 42 years of service; a total of 621 years of institutional knowledge. 1 Interim President’s Report – January 28, 2021 • Commencement Update (Virtual) – details to be provided at February BOT Meeting – the direction from SUNY is that all must be virtual. • Participate in weekly Enrollment Team Leaders meeting – need to do better coordinating on efforts with Buffalo Public Schools, recently announced significant increases in graduation rates did not translate into an increase in enrollment. A task force will begin looking at Buffalo Public Schools. • Buffalo State Initiative – during weekly call with Doug, brought up seeing if we could recruit Buffalo State dropouts noting their retention rates. • Athletics Update – 125 student athletes set to practice 2/1 – baseball, softball, women’s lacrosse, ice hockey, volleyball, swimming, diving and bowling. Weekly testing, masks worn at all times, and temperature taken at every practice and campus, and required to use Campus Clear. • Previously I have updated the Board on our partnership with West Herr Ford and the very successful co-op program that is being run out of the VTTC. There are now additional partners that want to explore a similar co-op model (school/dealership). Higher persistence, higher retention, higher graduation rates. In order to accommodate, the Foundation funded an architect to do some drawings for a potential expansion and now will provide some cost estimates. I met with Doug Scheidt, Adiam Tsegai and Chair Joe Uhrich, VTTC, to look at opportunities to expand with other partners the successful West Herr program. • College Senate – the Executive Committee Meeting is Tuesday. • ASC – Some interest in South Campus daycare, plan to open 2/2, Tuesday/Thursday; North, Monday – Thursday; City, Monday – Friday. All centers still have funding and Block Funds available. North cafeteria is open, very low sales; hoping to pick up after 2/1 – will evaluate. City Food Service is preparing both City and South daycare meals. Bookstore sales are down 50% from last January. Foundation • Meeting with new Executive Director Christopher Musialowski (started effective 1/4/21) as well as Board Chair Mark Gaulin on 1/29/21. • Tom Baker – Former Foundation Board Member, Dad passed. $5,000 donation in his honor, beautiful obituary, donated to the ECC Foundation. • Check presentation by Lenora Foote and Chairwoman Wilson scheduled for mid-February. County Updates • Attended Legislative Economic Development Committee meeting two weeks ago and they approved ADA Project, City Campus for $800,000. • County Executive – Regular Monthly Meetings, next meeting 1/28. • Capital Projects Updates; State Division of Budget approved ECC’s priority #1 and #2 for funding. • Received a $2,000 Legislative appropriation from Legislator Vinal to help fund creation of a 2-year Associates Degree in Insurance and Risk Management. Executive Vice President Scheidt is looking at this program. Federal/State/SUNY Updates • Federal Stimulus/Emergency Relief Package. • State Budget Update/Chancellor’s State of the University Address. • Chancellor’s Meetings/Sr. Vice Chancellor’s Meetings. 2 Interim President’s Report – January 28, 2021 • WNY Regional Presidents’ Meetings/NCCC announced deactivating associate degrees in winery and brewery management that were added four years ago. NCCC programs “weren’t tenable” compared to the brewery programs at ECC. • University of Buffalo – Fall Plan Announcement – “Plans to resume a regular in-person instruction beginning with the Fall 2021 semester”. Forwarded to Johanna as well as Valeria Dent, Deputy Chief Operating Officer for the Chancellor. They were not aware; they shared my concern and said they would investigate. Meetings/Partnerships • Eunice Lewin – Regular Meetings (also Danise on 1/19/21). • Clay Moden, 106.5 Radio Interview – 1/11 – spoke about Spring re-opening plans; ability for students to still register and attend Spring semester, and high the pandemic has changed higher education. • Mike Desmond, WBFO – He called last Thursday regarding the legislative action on the ADA project at City Campus. • Middle College National Consortium – Was interviewed for the January Newsletter. Thank you to Petrina; First one started at LaGuardia Community College in 1974, ECC 2003. • Sam Hoyt Contact – explore working with company Renewables Worldwide. • Say Yes Operating Committee Meeting – most time spent on BPS grad rates; Follow-up meeting on 2/2; continuation of Gates Foundation funding as well as a partnership with BPS. BPS 4-year graduation rates went from 64.7% to 76.2%. • Participated, along with 10 ECC Staff Members, in the Professional Development & Team Building Session with Northland Workforce Development Center and their staff. Thank you to Stephen Tucker for asking me to provide some introductory remarks as well as Associate Vice President Tsegai for continuing efforts in leveraging this opportunity. • Oishei – future physical alignment. • Ken Kruly – Shared Spring enrollment. PROVOST UPDATE: Admissions • The Student Support Center has scheduled many virtual events for the spring semester to help the students with tips, tricks, and strategies to be their best. Topics include: - New student questions - Study skills for Health Science majors - Tips and tools for online study - Transferring to a 4-year college - Creating a vison board - Student study hours - Study smarter, not harder workshops - Mindfulness and self-care - Should I withdraw - What’s an Incomplete - How to register for Summer and Fall classes Orientation • Orientation launched live Q&A sessions the week of 1/11. Students receive a short overview of critical to- do steps, as well as ask questions if needed. Topics covered include: 3 Interim President’s Report – January 28, 2021 - FA Completion and self-service - Advisement & registration - Book Ordering - Blackboard & MyECC - Synchronous vs. Asynchronous learning - How to read your student schedule - Laptop Loan Program - Introduction to Workday • Members from Orientation, Career Services, Financial Aid, and Counseling are involved to answer questions. Sessions will continue to run twice a week through the end of the month. Registrar • Summer 2021 is posted, and registration will begin January 27th • Fall 2021 course schedule preparation has begun in Workday • Developing Workday training aids OPPORTUNITY PROGRAMS AND SERVICES: Independence Bound/ Youth Engagement Services (IB/YES) • Currently has 28 foster care youth on the 2021 program roster. • 13 are enrolled in a postsecondary program; 8 ECC, 1 NCCC, 2 BSC, 1 GCC, and 1 BOCES. • 5 of 8 ECC students enrolled in the spring are continuing from FA20 semester. Men of Merit • Men of Merit retention data for the fall 2020 semester is as follows: - Total students enrolled for fall 2020 – 56 - December graduates – 8 - Transferred – 2 - Total registered for Spring 2021 – 33 - Persistence of students eligible to return – 71.7% • Ten students from the Men of Merit Program achieved Dean’s List status for fall 2020 Semester. Middle Early College High School (MECHS) • Five students from the Middle Early College High School program achieved Dean’s List status for fall 2020 Semester. Say Yes • In the fall 20 semester there were 61 Say Yes students who made the Dean’s list. • Say Yes received $5,000 grants from the GEAR UP Program and UB. Gear UP is helping SUNY Erie to address the digital divide by providing over 80 laptops to Gear UP students. These are students who graduated from any of the 9 GearUp high schools and are attending SUNY Erie. Student Transportation • SUNY Erie is the first area college to participate in a NFTA pilot to use a contactless” card system for metro busses. The pilot combined the student ID and Bus pass card into one comprehensive "The pilot Enhanced Student ID".