SIC Board of Trustees Hears Reports on Enrollment and Additional Grant Funding

The Southeastern Illinois College Board of Trustees met Tuesday night, Jan. 20, at 6 p.m. and learned about a number of items including; enrollment, additional grant funding and plans for the Carmi expansion project.

As of day nine of the spring semester, enrollment at SIC was relatively the same as spring 2014 in headcount, only showing a one percent decrease. However, enrollment is expected to increase once the dual credit and late start classes are calculated.

“This is good news considering the drop in enrollment nationally,” said SIC Dean for Student Services and Enrollment, Chad Flannery. “Our team has been working hard on enrollment management. With our custom training and ongoing open-enrollment initiatives, we expect those numbers to continue to change over the next few months.”

College officials said that the 10-day state enrollment report is for a university model and does not work well for a nimble, adaptive and responsive community college.

As for community colleges as a whole, the Board heard reports that most colleges around the state are declining in enrollment due to a stronger economy.

The Board learned what would be done with an additional $160,000 in grant funds though the Coal Competitiveness Grant received for the mine simulation.

“This additional funding will be added to our other grant to construct a simulated coal mine for life-saving workforce training,” said SIC President, Dr. Jonah Rice.

The new facility will allow SIC to enhance safety training that is currently provided to local and regional mines by broadening the scope of safety-related simulated scenarios in a more realistic environment.

“We expect construction to be completed so that the training can start in the fall,” said SIC Dean of Career and Technical Education, Karen Weiss.

The Board also learned about three additional grants being pursued including one for workforce training, underserved populations, and healthcare.

“Grant acquisition is a major theme of our advancement initiative at Southeastern,” said Rice. “SIC has secured millions in grants in the recent past and those are new dollars coming into the district to support our service to students.”

SIC is currently working with the capital development board on architectural firm selection for the Carmi expansion project.

Construction on the Carmi expansion project is set to begin in the summer of this year.

The board also learned of a student from India that has enrolled for the biofuels program.

“Our biofuels project is a national program that is entirely grant-funded,” said Rice. “We’ve had students from places such as Oklahoma, the Northeast, Texas, Alaska, and now half-way around the world. It’s a very novel and worthwhile program and part of our domestic energy education initiative.”

In personnel matters, the Board accepted the resignation of Sarah Aitken, Registrar/Director of Enrollment Services, effective Jan. 16; accepted the resignation of Katlyn Griffin, Assistant Toddler Teacher, effective Jan. 23; approved the transfer of Kyla Burford from High School Recruiter/Dual Credit Coordinator to Registrar/Director of Enrollment Services effective Jan. 21; approved the employment of Jozlyn Rogers as the Assistant Toddler Teacher effective Jan. 21; approved the employment of Ashley Schultz as the High School Recruiter/Dual Credit Coordinator effective Feb. 2; approved position description revisions for Practical Nursing, Associate Degree Nursing, Part-time Director of Service Outreach (Carmi Center), and High School Recruiter/Dual Credit Coordinator; and approved a number of adjunct faculty.

The next SIC board meeting is Feb. 17 at 6 p.m. in the Rodney J Brenner Board Room.

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