Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
GCC PRESIDENT Chris Patritto and board of trustees chairman Susan Beals listen to someone speak at Tuesday's board meeting.
By MEGAN HUGHES
Ironwood - The Gogebic Community College Board of Trustees on Monday approved its administrative restructuring plan for the upcoming year and addressed the potential future of its Building Trades program, which has seen declining numbers in recent years.
The interim academic restructuring plan comes at the leaving of David Darrow, Vice President of Academic Services, and involves the reassignment of many duties across the administration.
"We have quite a few people here with backgrounds, skills, and knowledge to assist us in this process, and we feel it is worth trying this new structure," said GCC President Chris Patritto.
Under the restructuring plan, Jennifer Sabourin would oversee academics in addition to Student Services and Athletics.
"With this change, she will oversee all the departments and staff," said Patritto. "To assist in that area, we recommend Karen Ball, current Registrar, be assigned as an interim Dean of Occupational Programs/Registrar. With these duties, she would be taking over oversight of the Perkins grant, scheduling, and looking into our occupational programs and working to build structures for micro-credentialing."
He added, "Mariah Partanen, assistant to the Vice President of Academics, will assist with transcript evaluations. DeeAnn Eller, instructional designer, would assist with faculty evaluations, co-curricular assessment (Higher Learning Commission requirement), and onboarding and working with our adjuncts."
The recommendation is to also add an Assistant Athletic Director position. The Assistant AD position would be responsible for all game management duties, would help with fund-raising with athletic teams, and would expand the game experience for fans. Anthony Schwass, Director of the Copper Country Center, will serve as the main point of contact in the Copper Country area for the K-12s and the Copper Country Intermediate School District.
"Schwass will also take on a larger role in community relations in that area," said Patritto. "This restructure, of course, will be a savings for the college for this coming year."
The trustees approved the plan as presented.
Instructor Dennis Beaudette spoke during public comment on behalf of the building trades program, explaining that many of the jobs in trade fields are in need of workers. He said that, with an aging population of workers, demand will only continue to rise.
Patritto offered the board two options, the first being that - should a minimum number of students not apply for the program by July 1 - that the administration would take action to suspend the program for the time being. This would allow any students who have previously signed up for courses to find alternatives for their schedule. The second option was to wait until the July board meeting to make this decision.
After much deliberation, the board decided to meet in the middle of the two options, voting to wait until July 15 to take any action on the suspension of the program. This would allow for Beaudette to try to reach out to several students who have expressed interest in the curriculum, but who had not officially signed up as of the board meeting. If that minimum number of participants were not met, it would still allow for six weeks for the four who had signed up in advance to find alternate courses to fill their schedule.
Additionally, the board approved a bid from Quality Roofing of Marshfield, Wisconsin, to repair the roof of the Erickson Academic Building in accordance with recommendations from its engineers.
Trustees also:
-Approved the resignation of Peter McKenna as English Instructor, effective Aug. 15.
-Appointed Thomas Brown and William Malloy as the designated representative and alternate to the Michigan Community College Association Board of Directors for a 2-year term.
-Approved the preliminary operations budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year.
-Approved the second reading of a number of board policies.
-Voted to change board meetings to 5 p.m., beginning on July 23, for the remainder of 2024.
-Heard the administrative reports for the month of June.
