Dr. Blackman views student artwork
during one of her walks around the college
Rain, rain, go away, come again another day! The weather has flooded everyone’s mind this summer. Here we are half way through the summer and only now beginning to see the sun for an extended period of time. Although the drought status has been removed, we all know that it does not take much for us to get there again. We are thankful for the rain, as well as for the wonderful summer days that lie ahead. Summer will be over before we know it and it is my hope that we will be able to remember it for being much more than the soggy summer of ’07.
We certainly do have good news to remember about the summer of 2007 for Brookhaven College: we had a great enrollment, the best in the last couple of years! Our Summer Term II headcount enrollment is up by 1.63 percent - 46 students - and our contact enrollment is up to 9,296 hours, an increase of 4.41 percent to from last year, which puts us on par with our combined Summer Terms I and II enrollment of 2005. Once again, thank you to each of you for your work in helping us to have a very successful summer enrollment.
As we move forward with registration for the fall semester, some of you who live in our service area have commented about receiving a class schedule in your mail from North Lake College. Brookhaven shares zip codes with both North Lake and Richland colleges. Only zip code 75244 is exclusively ours. So, if you live in 75006, 75234, 75229, or 75220, you might have received one of North Lake’s schedules. We mail information to those zip codes as well, although we do not direct mail our schedules; we do hit these zip codes more frequently with our mailers. If you receive a request from a community member who would like to have a schedule mailed, please contact our Marketing and Public Information Office and they will handle the request.
During the past few weeks, you may have seen news reports about the governor’s veto of community colleges’ health benefit funds. You have received copies of the letters the chancellor has sent to the governor and other information. This past weekend I shared with you the first response that we received from the Governor’s Office in an op-ed piece that was submitted to state newspapers. As you know, this veto resulted in a $15 million dollar reduction in funds for the DCCCD. The question is how does this affect our upcoming budget? Since the veto came after our colleges had prepared their budgets, Dr. Lassiter thought that it was only fair that the colleges’ allocations remain fixed to what had been already developed. This means that we will not see a reduction in our allocation this academic year, 07-08. Although this reduction is being split over the next two years, the cut for this year will be in the overall district budget, such as the funding that had been set aside for enrollment growth for colleges in the middle of the biennium. For example, the vice chancellor of business affairs had set aside $1 million for this fund; it has been reduced now to $600,000. The chancellor mentioned that he will be working with the DCCCD Board of Trustees and that we may ask for a small tax increase to offset the lost funds. So, work continues on how we will address the reduction. It is too early to predict what will happen with the 2008-09 budget. I will keep you posted.
Last year the Staff and Organizational Development office was moved under the District Human Resources Office. The new name for this division is Human and Organizational Development, HOD. During the last year, Vice Chancellor Denys Blell has been working with his staff and members from all colleges to develop the HOD Strategic Plan. The plan includes four major areas: Professional Academies, The Career Institute, Faculty Development Program and Leadership Development Program. You will receive more information about these programs in the upcoming year; the first program to be released is under the Professional Academies. These academies have been developed to provide professional development for all employee groups throughout the district. This week you may have received an e-mail about the first Career Academy Professional Development Program for administrators. If you want to participate, but did not get in, please do not worry, other opportunities will be offered throughout the year.
This edition has been a little long and, I hope, informative too. May you continue to enjoy your summer! Remember to enjoy and relax!
