By Jamil Oakford/ editor-in-chief
TCC’s board of trustees will interview Gold Hill Associates at 2 p.m. Feb. 25 as a possibility to determine in their search for a firm to find candidates for the permanent chancellor position.
Gold Hill, one of 12 search firms who applied for the contract, specializes in the search process for community college administration and executives nationwide. The company, based in Asheville, N.C., is currently conducting presidential searches for Umpqua Community College in Oregon and State Technical College of Missouri.
Board president Louise Appleman is confident a search firm is a step in the right direction, but she reminded everyone that patience is key during the Feb. 18 board meeting.
“As I told you early on, this will be a confidential process until the end, at which time we will include you all in this,” she said to attendees at the board meeting.
Appleman said she hopes the firm will have a clear candidate to choose from by the 2016-2017 academic year.
Also, student success and academic affairs vice chancellor Joy Gates Black talked about a new push to help make completion easier for students at TCC.
With the help of software company Ellucian, the department demonstrated an online advising tool that students and academic advisors could use to help students register into the right classes and keep them on track for graduation.
Gates Black said this online program is already in motion. Eighty counselors and advisors received training, and the Chancellor’s Emerging Leaders students were used as a pilot program in the fall. This spring, first-time college students received access to the program, and Gates Black is confident the program will be open districtwide by fall.
The board also approved a brand new sticky space for SE Campus. Sticky spaces are locations dedicated for students to rest or study between classes.
This added space will be located between the ESCT building and the west wing of the main building, acting as a sheltered bridge.
SE president Bill Coppola expressed the need for more room as the hallways are cramped from students who stay on campus during the day.
The next step for SE will be to consult with a designer and find something that suits their needs and the budget the district will give them.
TCC’s real estate department received some friction from board members O.K. Carter and Conrad Heede.
The department proposed to continue a partnership with the Texas A&M University Engineering Experiment Station to help find ways for each campus to run at optimal energy efficiency. After showing success in reduction of energy usage and saving over $825,000 over the course of a year on TR, the department was looking at SE next.
But Carter wasn’t sold on the idea of paying $435,000 to Texas A&M each and every time.
Heede argued TCC had a great staff and asked why the department couldn’t take care of it without the help of the university. Operational infrastructure director Walter Williams explained that the equipment and specialization that Texas A&M brings to this subject exceeds that of TCC staff.
“I was under the impression that we hired special people here at TCC,” Heede said.
“We do,” Williams said. “Just not that specialized.”
