The Kaskaskia College Board of Trustees met Monday, January 28, 2019 for its regular monthly meeting. Board members include Bill Hawley (Odin), Linda Stover (Centralia), Jack Mays (Centralia), Jim Beasley (Centralia), Bryan Holthaus (Carlyle), Laura Wedekemper (Shattuc) and Student Trustee Alisse Koisher (Highland).
During the meeting KC Board Chairman Bill Hawley, President George Evans and Dr. Meera Komarraju, Interim Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale formally signed four new articulation agreements between the two institutions that will aid graduates receiving an Associate in Fine Arts in Music Education, Associate in Arts for Speech Communication, and Associates in Applied Science in Welding and in Industrial Technology. The agreements ensure that KC graduates in these four programs will smoothly transition into the baccalaureate programs at SIUC with all KC credits accepted.
Kaskaskia College now has over 40 of these agreements with more than 13 colleges and universities as it continues to establish partnerships with institutions of higher education to provide seamless transition pathways for KC graduates to continue their education. KC anticipates more agreements expected to be signed in 2019.
A request to change the college’s Web-enhanced fee of five dollars per credit hour to a ten dollar course fee was approved. The fee is in effect for all non-online, online proctored or hybrid courses. The change potentially saves students five dollars per course. With the change the college will utilize its Blackboard online system by setting up shells for each course allowing faculty to develop, customize and retain their course material, as well as enabling students to access that material 24/7. This ensures students have access to all their courses. Student learning will be uninterrupted should a situation or emergency arise and the college is forced to close for a short time.
Trustees on Monday evening approved bids on a number of campus renovation projects. Mideastern Plumbing & Heating of Carlyle was awarded the bid to upgrade the heating and cooling system on the main campus. Kohrmann Electric of Bartelso received the bid to replace classroom light fixtures with new LED light fixtures that are more energy efficient and provide better lighting. The project also calls for replacing light fixtures in the college’s Fitness Center. Clinton Electric, Inc. of Ina received the bid to replace 14 automatic handicap door openers throughout the main campus. Each of these projects is funded through the college’s Public Health and Safety Funds. In other action, the board also approved the purchase a five-passenger sedan from Jansen Chevrolet of Germantown to be used by college staff for travel purposes, replacing vans which have been deemed unsafe.
In personnel, the board accepted the resignations of Nashville Education Center Director Ruth Barczewski and Vandalia Campus Director Mary Schulze effective at the end of the spring semester. Barczewski will complete 45 years at KC, while Schulze has been with the college for 15 years. Trustees also approved hiring Wadella Nagai of Centralia as the Commercial Custodial Instructor for the college’s Centralia Correctional Center program. The board approved a request to increase TRiO Learning Support Specialist Patrick Miller from part time to full time to meet the program’s needs in advising, planning and tutoring students. Miller’s position is fully funded through the college’s federally funded TRiO grant.
The Kaskaskia College Choir will present its winter concert, “Songs of Life, Laughter and Love” on Thursday, February 14 at 7:30 p.m. in the Jane Knight Auditorium. Admission is free.
