Adopted Meeting Minutes
Special Meeting
May 16, 2003

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 8:14 a.m.

Roll Call

Present: Heywood, Holden, Jeffries, Rasmusson
Absent: Canady, Mason, Pelleran

Limited Public Comment Regarding Agenda Items

There were no comments from the public.

Strategic Plan Renewal Session

Chairperson Jeffries apologized for not having the entire Board present. He said that this is one of the most important processes, other than selecting the president, which the Board has been involved in. Chairperson Jeffries stated that notice was received from Trustee Pelleran indicating that she would not be attending the meeting today because she felt there was an Open Meetings Act violation occurring in that the meeting was not posted in the appropriate amount of time. He asked Ms. Norma Mendez to review everything and it was confirmed that everything was posted in a timely fashion. He asked Ms. Mendez to gather all of the communications that were sent regarding this meeting, including time spent in scheduling the meeting.

As requested by Chairperson Jeffries at the June 16, 2003 regular Board of Trustees meeting, a legal opinion provided by Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone dated May 27, 2003 is added as an addendum to these minutes. The legal opinion reflected that the May 16, 2003 special meeting did not violate the Open Meetings Act. It is on file with the official Board minutes. Click here to view legal opinion.

President Cunningham thanked the Board members that were present for attending the meeting. She said that the staff views the strategic plan as marching orders for the direction for the College. The direction that the Board outlined for the institution three years ago has served the College extremely well. It has culminated in the Annual Results Inventory reports and the President's evaluation. The strategic plan is very important to the institution and that is why many of the executive leadership staff and others are here to help present and share with the Board what the College has accomplished related to the plan.

President Cunningham outlined the context of the meeting. She said that first the plan will be reviewed, and what decisions were made, what has worked, what things still need improvement and where the College is going. The outcome expected is to get reaffirmation from the Board.

Trustee Rasmusson asked where ISO 9000 fits in the plan.

President Cunningham responded that one of the strategic drivers is continuous improvement. She said that ISO 9001 was not something the Administration proposed, but rather it developed from the Purchasing Department and the Business and Community Institute in their desire to become ISO 9000 certified.

President Cunningham and the following staff members participated in the presentation to the Board (the PowerPoint presentation is on file with the official Board materials): Ms. Ruth Borger , Ms. Nancy Lombardi, Mr. Lucian Leone , Dr. Gary VanKempen , Dr. Bill Brown, Ms. Linda Birchmeier, Mr. Glenn Cerny , Mr. David Davidson , and Mr. Richard Howard .

President Cunningham provided an overview of the Lansing Community College strategic planning process.

Chairperson Jeffries asked what is the trend regarding allocating more resources towards developmental education.

President Cunningham responded that the need is still great. If Lansing Community College doesn?t meet that need, we don't know who will. She said that it is a business we?d like to grow out of in the years to come, but we don't see that happening right now.

Chairperson Jeffries asked how many MSU students are coming to Lansing Community College to prepare themselves.

Dr. Dale Herder , Interim Dean of the Student and Academic Support Division, responded that MSU students are attending the College to prepare themselves. He stated that MSU is currently downsizing in developmental education and the social safety net in terms of the intellectual infrastructure and economic infrastructure for this community is naturally migrating to the College. Dr. Herder stated that there has been a 51% increase in the last year in enrollment in the developmental Reading , Writing, and English As A Second Language programs and a similar increase in developmental Mathematics. He said that a particularly large number of students from MSU attend LCC for Mathematics.

Trustee Rasmusson asked what the costs were of running developmental education courses.

President Cunningham responded the costs are surprisingly low compared to the other community colleges. She stated that the College does it very efficiently, but she did not have the exact costs.

Dr. VanKempen responded that he thinks the ROI is above $1 and maybe it is $1.05

Mr. Cerny continued with the overview of the strategic planning process.

President Cunningham announced that Mr. Cerny is presenting because Mr. Ray Turner was unable to be present due to illness. Mr. Turner is the Director of Planning at the College.

Trustee Holden asked if there are programs that will be presented today that have gone through the program review process.

President Cunningham responded that there are suggested changes to the STAR Institute, but no other programs will be a part of today?s presentation.

Chairperson Jeffries asked Mr. Cerny to elaborate on the financial factors and long term revenue/cost model.

Mr. Cerny stated that the College's revenue streams are continuously being reviewed and the millage component really drove the College's revenue streams for the future. He said that we would have been in a financial crisis if the millage had not passed due to the reductions in State appropriations. The administration is reviewing tuition, course fee adjustments, and pursuing alternative revenue sources.

Chairperson Jeffries asked if the alternative revenue sources included contact hours.

Mr. Cerny responded that currently Dr. Bill Brown is conducting a study regarding contact hours versus credit hours. He stated that this summer staff will visit each college that has implemented contact hours and find out what went well and what didn?t go well. This information will be analyzed and verify if the College should also implement contact hours. A recommendation will be ready in September.

Chairperson Jeffries asked if five years is being projected in the revenue model.

Mr. Cerny responded that the long range revenue model is a projection of where we believe property taxes, state appropriations, and tuition will go in the next five years.

Mr. Leone covered the results of the focus groups. The first focus was completed in May 2000 and repeated in March 2003. The participants included the following groups: former LCC students, community members, and business leaders.

Trustee Heywood stated that three years ago he was concerned that the arts community was not involved. He asked if the arts community was involved in the most recent focus groups.

Mr. Leone responded that when we looked at community members it was a random selection.

Trustee Heywood asked if anything had been done to address that shortfall in the original planning process.

Mr. Leone responded that he is only doing a very small part of the overall initiative and cannot speak to it more broadly.

President Cunningham remembered that Trustee Heywood was concerned with that aspect three years ago and it was addressed. She does not recall a direction to revisit the entire plan as a result of the arts community not being specifically involved. President Cunningham stated that would change the entire focus group process that was used previously.

Trustee Heywood stated that basically nothing has been done to bring them into the stakeholder process.

President Cunningham responded that bringing them into the stakeholder process was not his initial question. In terms of the stakeholder process, President Cunningham stated that she is on the Boarshead Theatre Advisory Board. There are people committed to working with the theatres in the area and they?ve involved the schools. She said that Dr. Michael Nealon is working this summer with Riverwalk Theatre. A lot has been done to bring them in.

Trustee Holden asked how many community members were involved in the focus groups.

Mr. Leone stated that each focus group had 6 to 10 people. He reminded the Board that this was qualitative input. The purpose of a focus group is to give a sense of what people are thinking. It is not to provide quantitative data.

President Cunningham stated that in the original strategic planning process there were 400 people involved. The purpose of the second round of focus groups was to verify if we were still on target.

Mr. Leone continued with the overview of the results of focus groups.

President Cunningham reviewed the new strategic planning Board involvement process. The first step is to provide a plan update, which is the purpose of today?s meeting. The second step will be to provide a review of the plan again in September for any new board members. A briefing book will be provided to the entire Board in September which will contain strategic context, industry challenges, and college issues. New briefing sections will be given once a month. She said that if the Board desires they may have a discussion on the book once or twice a year. President Cunningham stated that they will be requesting the Trustees? feedback on the briefing book.

Mr. Cerny reviewed the Board briefing book strategic context sections, which will include service area demographics, student demographics, community surveys, focus groups, legislative and legal issues.

President Cunningham stated that we will look at renewing, revising, and institutionalizing the strategic plan. She said the original strategic plan was a working plan and it was intended to have results that could be measured, which has been accomplished. She explained the planning terms that are mentioned throughout the presentation and the strategic plan. ?Vision, Mission , and Guiding Principles? means institutional purpose and central values. ?Strategic Driver? means broad thrust, long-term. ?Strategic Challenge? means a focus area which is mid- to long-term and furthers a strategic driver. President Cunningham stated that there are no recommendations to change the vision, mission, or motto of the College. She also stated that there are no changes to the guiding principles.

President Cunningham outlined the strategic drivers that will be discussed at today?s meeting. They are as follows:

LCC Strategic Drivers

1. Continuous Improvement

2. Comprehensive community college, with a careers emphasis and user-level IT skills

3. Local emphasis

4. Equity and Competitive Compensation

5. Financial Balance

President Cunningham reviewed strategic driver number one, Continuous Improvement.

Dr. VanKempen reviewed the strategic challenge related to Continuous Improvement, which is as follows: ?Implement organization-wide continuous process, driven by measurable results.? He reviewed the approaches that have been implemented to meet this challenge.

Ms. Lombardi reviewed the Service Review results, which is the second part of meeting the continuous improvement strategic driver.

Dr. Brown reviewed the Annual Results Inventory reports, which replaced the former Board monitoring reports.

Mr. Cerny reviewed the Academic Quality Improvement Project (AQIP) accreditation and reviewed its history.

President Cunningham stated that the strategic challenge of implementing an organization-wide continuous improvement process driven by measurable outcomes was met. Systems have been established and managed forward at the operational level and continue to drive the institution.

President Cunningham reviewed strategic driver number two, ?Comprehensive? Approach with a careers emphasis and User-level IT skills.

Dr. VanKempen reviewed the strategic challenge that is operationalizing strategic driver number two, which is as follows: Meet Lansing-area priority career and workforce development needs, coordinating general education and careers division, BCI, and M-TEC.

Ms. Birchmeier reviewed distributive learning, which is another factor in achieving the strategic challenge. She presented highlights of the learning centers, training and technology, on-line registration, percentage of virtual/hybrid college credits, online degrees, eArmy U, and the number of credits per campus.

Trustee Holden asked how much money is being saved from on-line registration.

Mr. Cerny responded that an analysis has not been done, but he said that the College is saving money. Due to more registration occurring on-line, money has been saved by not hiring as many registration workers.

Trustee Heywood asked what is the comparison of effectiveness of hybrid classes versus students who take only traditional courses.

Dr. Brown responded that the numbers have been too small in order to do a study; however, there is some data available for 2002-2003 which will be helpful in conducting a study next year.

Chairperson Jeffries asked how success is determined.

Mr. Cerny responded that currently success is determined by passing rates and grade point; however, in the fall, when the academic accountability begins, there will be measures to determine success.

President Cunningham stated that she has asked for a list of all of the students who enrolled in hybrid, traditional, and virtual courses, the completion rate of those students, the grade point average in those courses, and the pass rate if there are any certifications involved. She said that is the report staff is pulling together.

Ms. Birchmeier continued her presentation.

Mr. Cerny reviewed the Facilities Master Plan and the facilities upgrades that include the following: Delta Campus & M-TEC, Human Health Public Services, Administration Building , GVT Renovations, Arts & Sciences Renovations, and Property Sale. He also reviewed the technology master plan, technological infrastructure, ISCD mission, and ISCD/Oasis Goals. Mr. Cerny also demonstrated the Hummingbird program that is used by staff to run reports on the College's courses and programs.

The Board took a short recess.

The Board reconvened.

President Cunningham summarized where the College is with strategic driver number two. She stated that the following challenges have been institutionalized:

• Career-oriented articulation to 4-year schools
• Distributive Learning Master Plan

The ?Areas of Excellence? will now be called ?Areas of Priority Need?. President Cunningham reviewed the strategic challenges that have been revised, which are the following:

• Implement Facilities and Technology-infrastructure master plans: Construct Delta Campus & M-TEC, HHS, Administration, and renovate GVT; implement comprehensive web-based ERP (Enterprise Resource Plan) system
• Develop ?Areas of Priority Need? in Automotive Related, Health Care, Developmental Education, Financial Assistance, Math and Science, and have measurable improvements
• Secure corporate sponsorship for Star Institute, and explore Star2 with a developmental education emphasis; develop a ?sunset? plan in the event this cannot be achieved

President Cunningham reviewed the new strategic challenges that the College is proposing, which are the following:

• Implement a comprehensive program that serves the community?s leadership-development needs in the non-profit sector
• Establish LCC as an alternative energy center, with alternative energy technology integrated into curriculum

Dr. Brown reviewed where the College is with strategic driver number three, Local Emphasis. Foundation focus was one of the major thrusts of the 2000 strategic plan. He showed the Board how well the College represents the local tax base.

Mr. Cerny reviewed the recommendations to this strategic driver. He said that currently there is a bias on the program review return on investment (ROI) formula for local, in-district enrollment. For every dollar that we deploy State appropriations or the property tax for the in-district students that programs attract, they get that dollar back. For the out-of-district students, programs received only 50 cents. Since we've shown that the in-district is being represented well, we are recommending that the bias in the formula be eliminated for out-of-district students. He believes that would not have an impact on programs in serving the in-district students.

Chairperson Jeffries asked that if the bias was eliminated from the formula, would it significantly change anything.

Mr. Cerny responded that it would change some of the program review dollars in terms of where we spread them.

Chairperson Jeffries asked how the money would be distributed.

Mr. Cerny responded an analysis has not been completed, but essentially this will be done for the new fiscal year.

Chairperson Jeffries stated that he was concerned with this recommendation. A couple years ago the College asked for a millage increase and the taxpayers in the district are paying for that, which was the reason for the bias. He asked if there was an estimate of what the impact would be, and if dollars would be shifted from in-district to serve out-of-district students.

Mr. Cerny responded that the only impact this will have from an ROI standpoint is the dollars will be distributed in different ways. From the overall standpoint, he does not believe this would have a major impact. He said that we would still have the appropriation that any program that is outside of the district will not receive property tax revenue. we're talking about where the students are coming from.

Chairperson Jeffries asked if this recommendation would change anything in terms of our view towards any of the learning centers or any of the other programs that we provide outside of the district.

Mr. Cerny responded that yes, it would change the ROI?s outside of St. Johns, as an example, because they're not in the tax district. He said it will get better because they will be getting the full dollar as opposed to 50 cents. Mr. Cerny explained that anything that is outside of the district will still not receive the property tax allocation. However, when the student comes in their state appropriations essentially will be distributed whether they are in-district or out-of-district.

President Cunningham stated that the intent behind doing this was to grow the outlying areas because of the worker shortage. She said that staff could go back and revisit the exact formula.

Mr. Cerny responded that a mock analysis could be completed. He said that because of the skill shortage inside the district, we need to ensure that we get skills set in to the district.

President Cunningham said the challenge is that as we look at annexing St. Johns or Livingston County , if we make it too convenient for folks to take classes and there is no penalty attached, there would be no incentive for them to ever become part of the College's tax district. What we're seeing is that there's been a saturation of those in our tax district and there is growth in the outlying areas. we're trying to adjust the formula and how we do that can be debated. She said that if there are any suggestions, staff would be happy to review them.

President Cunningham summarized strategic driver number three, which is being recommended to be revised as follows: Local priority, followed respectively by contiguous counties outside the local tax district, state and national. The initial recommendation was to eliminate the ROI bias against out-of-taxed district students. However, President Cunningham stated that the recommendation would be review to see what the impact would be if the ROI bias was eliminated.

Chairperson Jeffries had concern regarding eliminating the ROI bias against out-of-tax-district students. He felt that the in-district taxpayers are going to be responsible for paying for it.

Mr. Cerny responded that they are ensuring that anything out-of-district doesn?t receive any property tax dollars.

Chairperson Jeffries stated that he understands that, but if you lose state revenue sharing dollars it will need to be picked up somewhere else.

President Cunningham said that the concern is not the expansion, but the way funds are distributed for that expansion so that tax dollars are not given to the programs outside of the tax district.

Chairperson Jeffries said that he is not against it, but the College may receive the argument that tax monies should stay in the district.

Trustee Heywood stated that international student enrollment has increased over the last six years. He asked why is international not a part of the strategic driver.

President Cunningham asked him if he is asking that the word ?international? be added.

Trustee Heywood responded, yes, unless there is a logical reason as to why it was not included.

President Cunningham said that this driver deals with local, state and federal taxes only. She said that no international taxes are received. There is an increase in enrollment, but it is a byproduct of the work that is done, which is the intent.

Trustee Heywood asked if the majority of the international students also work within the district.

Mr. Rich Howard responded that a majority of the international students are on a F1 Visa, which requires them to be full-time students and they are only allowed to work at the College for a small amount of hours.

Trustee Heywood asked if they are then paying into the tax base.

Mr. Howard responded that a student employee does not contribute to FICA; therefore, it is greatly reduced.

Trustee Holden preferred to leave the language as it is. She said that international is a byproduct of some of the programs.

President Cunningham stated that there is not an ROI formula in place for international students.

Ms. Lombardi responded that the return on investment is done related to programs which have courses and credits. She said that data can be compiled on how many international students are enrolled, where they come from, and how much tuition they generate. Ms. Lombardi stated that is not the same as a return on investment

Chairperson Jeffries asked if the ROI formula includes the issue of local millage.

Mr. Cerny responded that the programs that have in-district students receive 100% and programs that have out-of-district students receive 50%.

Chairperson Jeffries suggested rewording the recommendation because the way it reads now it gives the impression that the in-district and out-of-district students will be equated.

President Cunningham requested that staff continue to run the formula as it is and do a mock report.

Staff will also be looking at rewording the recommendation in order for the intent to be clear.

The Board agreed to not add the word ?international? as Trustee Heywood suggested.

President Cunningham presented strategic driver number four, Equity and Competitive Compensation. She said that the College was in an unfavorable position compared to other community colleges in Michigan three years ago. Lansing Community College was in the bottom quartile, compared to other community colleges. The College did not have a step system, so people were being compensated for seniority instead of being compensated for skill sets and experience.

Mr. David Davidson reviewed the strategic challenge to meet this strategic driver, which is ?Equity Among Faculty and Staff, and Competitive Compensation, within the Context of Financial Balance.? He reviewed the study, the plan, and the action taken to meet this strategic challenge.

President Cunningham stated that the College has met this strategic challenge and is looking at institutionalizing it, which means that the Board automatically sets the parameters for all future contracts. We will continue to review it and make improvements, and it will become institutionalized.

The Board asked that the COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment) be reflected in the data.

Trustee Heywood stated that he is not sure if this should be listed as institutionalized.

President Cunningham responded that if it is kept as a challenge then an approach would need to be defined in order to meet it. Currently, there is not an approach to meet it because the institution has achieved competitive compensation which was something the college was lacking before. This will not go away, but it will continue to be reviewed and it will be operationalized.

Ms. Lombardi responded that we will continue to have the strategic driver, which is the long-term thrust. That will be renewed and continued. However, what is being institutionalized is the challenge, which is the mid to short-term approach to achieve the driver.

President Cunningham reviewed strategic driver number five, Financial Balance. She discussed what the College's situation was in the year 2000.

Mr. Cerny reviewed the strategic challenge to meet the strategic driver, which is ?Implement a long-term plan to achieve ?financial balance,? bringing revenue streams nearer to equal contributions and more in line with state norms.? One of the charges was to develop a cost recover plan for BCI. He provided an overview regarding the financial situation in 1999-2000 and 2001-2002.

Chairperson Jeffries asked if the tuition is increased by $3 will it improve the financial situation balance.

Mr. Cerny responded essentially we will have a fairly well balanced model.

Chairperson Jeffries asked if the Board wanted to create a strategic challenge that would expand the boundaries, where would it be included in the strategic plan.

Mr. Cerny responded that it would go under Financial Balance.

Chairperson Jeffries said that if the College is distributing funds outside the district, we should review the possibility of expanding the tax district.

Trustee Heywood stated that he was in favor of expansion.

President Cunningham responded that the Clinton Center has helped the College's visibility significantly. She said that if the College were to expand to Clinton County there would be an approximate $1.1 million in increased revenue. Livingston County would bring approximately $3 million and the College has a presence there that will continue.

Trustee Holden stated that she works closely with one of the Intermediate School District board members and they are having these types of discussions.

President Cunningham stated that language would be added to the strategic plan to review the possibility of expanding the College's boundaries.

President Cunningham continued her review of strategic driver number five, Financial Balance. She recommended that the strategic challenge of bringing revenue streams nearer to equal contributions and more in line with state norms and develop a cost-recovery plan for BCI be institutionalized. President Cunningham recommended that the following challenge be added to the strategic plan:

Develop additional sources of revenue to offset declining state revenue. She discussed the specific approaches to meet this new challenge, which were the following:

? Leverage new technological infrastructure (ERP) to absorb overhead through partnerships with nonprofit organizations and small businesses

? Develop LCC foundation revenues to match the percentages of total revenue achieved by leading community foundations

There was discussion regarding the difference between a community foundation and community college foundations. Staff agreed to revisit the language due to confusion regarding revenue.

Trustee Heywood expressed a concern regarding voter participation in the College's district. He said that there is a disconnect and we have not done what we said we were going to do with that. Trustee Heywood recommended that a strategic challenge be added dealing with increasing participation in citizenship.

President Cunningham responded that depending on what success indicators are used in terms of measuring how civic minded the students are, voting is one indicator. She has seen data that shows the more students know about government the less apt they are to vote. President Cunningham said that was not focused on as a success indicator because it would be duplicative of what the K-12 system is doing. However, civic duty is focused on in some courses in terms of community service. She said that voting itself is not a indicator that can be measured.

Trustee Heywood stated that is a concern to him. Regardless of what the study states the fact is that voting is the ultimate responsibility of being a responsible citizen.

President Cunningham said that she doesn?t know how to actually get students to the voting booths; however, some of the things that have been done are voter registration on campus and increasing awareness.

Chairperson Jeffries asked if students have the opportunity to register to vote when enrolling for classes.

Mr. Howard responded, yes. The College by law must offer that opportunity to students.

Trustee Heywood felt that the College should do more to encourage voter participation. He said that a voter institute could be created and be more involved in working with local municipalities in getting absentee voter activities on campus. Trustee Heywood reiterated his desire to see this become a strategic challenge.

President Cunningham responded that previously Trustee Heywood had provided a list of suggestions to increase voter participation. She said just about everything on the list was reviewed and implemented if the College wasn't doing it at that time. President Cunningham stated that we would be more than willing to review how to get students more involved and participating in that process and she asked Trustee Heywood to forward any additional ideas. In terms of having it as a challenge, she expressed an uncertainty on how to measure the success other than voting and the College does not ask students when they enroll if they voted in the last election. However, the College strives to create an awareness of this civic duty.

Trustee Rasmusson stated that other strategic planners he is familiar with recommend dividing the world into what I control and what other people control and you forget what other people can control. He said that we can control registering students or giving them cards, but we can't make them vote. So, we just forget that as a strategic plan. We work with things we can deal with such as money and allocations.

Trustee Holden said that the College's mission statement covers that component.

Trustee Heywood responded that it should be more than a nebulous mission statement.

Trustee Rasmusson stated that the College could invest a billion dollars in this activity and still not increase voter participation.

Trustee Heywood agreed with Trustee Rasmusson, but a statement could be created that expresses that everything will be done to make the responsibility of voting a true part of being a citizen. He said maybe it is a statement that should be made by the Board through a resolution or some other format. Trustee Heywood expressed that this has always been a concern of his since he has served on the Board. In his opinion, it should be strategic thrust that would enable our students to leave the College and not only understand the responsibility, but also to participate in the process.

President Cunningham stated that one of the challenges that she has personally is that the College is measured on this. She repeated that this is not a measurement that she knows how to effectuate and if it is low, how she could do anything about increasing it.

Trustee Heywood responded that he also does not know how to measure it; however, there has to be someway to measure the College's ability to impact this significant issue. He said that studies have shown people who vote are also more involved in community service projects and non-profit organizations.

Mr. Howard stated that 49% of the College's courses have some service learning component. He said that last year LCC students provided over 90,000 hours of community service learning activities.

The other Board members did not agree to add this as a strategic plan.

President Cunningham summarized the plan and what the administration is asking the Board to approve. She summarized what challenges have been institutionalized, which ones are being renewed, and revised. President Cunningham reviewed again the recommendation for two new strategic challenges and the Board has agreed to include expanding the College's boundaries as a strategic challenge.

President Cunningham thanked all the staff in attendance for their time, research, and effort in putting the presentation together. She submitted the strategic plan, with the revisions, for the Board's approval.

IT WAS MOVED by Trustee Holden and supported by Trustee Rasmusson to renew the strategic plan.

Trustee Heywood stated that he is uncomfortable voting yes until the changes have been made.

For the record, Chairperson Jeffries reviewed the changes that were made during the meeting, which are as follows:

Strategic Driver #1 - No changes were made.

Strategic Driver #2 ? There was a change made to the third section, which was to construct the administration building, not renovate it as it listed in the document.

Strategic Driver #3 ? The language dealing with ROI bias will be revised to make it more understandable. First a mock study will be made before this will be implemented.

Strategic Driver #4 - No changes were made.

Strategic Driver #5 ? Expanding the College's boundaries was added as a strategic challenge. The other change was made to the second bullet and it would read as follows (change is in bold):

?Develop LCC foundation revenues to match the percentages of total foundation revenue achieved by leading community foundations?.

Chairperson Jeffries thanked everyone for their hard work. He said that is interesting to compare what was done today to what was done three years ago and the incredible amount of buy-in that this institution has had. Some call it a culture change that has occurred here and it's been very traumatic on campus and off campus and unfortunately will be part of the campaign that is on-going with certain Trustees. Chairperson Jeffries said that some of the comments that have been shared during the endorsement interviews about what this Board and President have done to this college, which have been extremely negative comments. He said that the cause of the negative comments may be due to the change and it certainly has been distorted. Chairperson Jeffries wished the Lansing State Journal could have been present today to see the strategic plan because it puts everything into perspective of all the good things and the challenges the College has met.

Trustee Rasmusson addressed the staff. In his opinion the College is a very well run institution. He said that it is run better than Wall Street and it's because of the staff.

Trustee Holden agreed with Trustee Rasmusson?s statements. She said that many of them have been involved in planning processes in the past; however, there's never been one that has been institutionalized and implemented as this plan.

President Cunningham thanked the Board of Trustees. She said that when the strategic planning process began the Board said they did not want an academic plan, they wanted a business plan and wanted things to be different. It took a lot of courage for the Board to desire a business model because we are an educational institution, and education is known for not being as aggressive or as accountable as some businesses, for example, using an ROI. The only way the staff could move forward was knowing the College had the Board's support.

Roll call vote:
Ayes: Heywood, Holden, Jeffries, Rasmusson
Nays: None
Absent: Canady, Mason, Pelleran

Motion carried.

Public Comment

There were no public comments.

President Cunningham announced the Groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday, May 20 and invited the Board to attend and to attend the breakfast prior to the ceremony. She said that an economic impact study would be shared by Dr. James Jacobs, a successful economic development expert.

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 11:45 a.m.