MINUTES
Board of
Trustees Retreat
In
accordance with the terms and provisions of the Texas Open Meetings Act,
Chapter 551 of Texas Government Code, the Board of Trustees of the Austin
Community College District convened in public session on
It is
further found and determined that in accordance with the policies and orders of
this Board, the notice of this meeting has been posted and return thereof made
pursuant to the terms and provisions of the Texas Open Meetings Act, Chapter
551 of the Texas Government Code, and there has been full compliance with the
terms and provisions of said act, including the timely posting of the subjects
of this meeting.
ITEMS FOR
DISCUSSION/POSSIBLE ACTION
Agenda Item
8103
Strengths and
Goals: Trustees
Dr. Barbara P.
Mink, Board Chair, presented an overview for the Retreat and called attention
to several activities to enhance openness and teamwork among Trustees and the
President. Trustees and Dr. Kinslow provided information regarding results of their
Myers-Briggs Assessment. Dr. Mink
presented the Myers-Briggs Type Indicators and led a discussion regarding the
indicators:
·
Energy: Extraversion or Introversion (how each was energized; effects of each preference in
work situations; and the checklist for extraverts and introverts).
·
Information:
Sensing or iNtuition (how
each person takes in information; the effects of each preference in work
situations; and the checklist for sensing types and intuitive types).
·
Decisions:
Thinking/Feeling (how decisions were made; the checklist for thinking types
and feeling types).
·
Lifestyle:
Judging/Perceiving (approach to life--how each approached life; and the
checklist for judging types and perceiving types).
Dr. Mink
divided the group into three sub-groups and asked each Trustee to share
information regarding the completed survey regarding exploration of individual
preferences which best described themselves.
Each sub-group then reported back to the entire group on what they had
learned about the individuals within their sub-group.
[Dinner was
served at
The Trustees
and President divided into 3 different sub-groups to discuss the questionnaires
they had completed regarding Working Together as a Board/President Team. Dr. Mink asked that the sub-groups provide
summarized responses to items 1, 3, 4, and 5, and individual responses to 2 and
6:
1.
Some things I would really like us to accomplish
this year (goals) are …
2.
I think some of the strengths that I bring to my
role are …
3.
Some things I see as strengths of our President
are …
4.
Some things I see as strengths of our Board (as
a whole) are …
5.
Some things I would like us to do differently
this year are …
6.
If I were to consider what I would like my
“legacy” to be in my role, it would be …
Group A:
1. Annexations
and a strategic facilities plan.
Additionally, the group identified a legislative plan as a consistent
practice of relating decisions to Closing
the Gap.
3. Experience at ACC at all levels; good
reputation; work ethic; willingness to make difficult
decisions.
4. This Board has never been more diverse and
has never had more respect for each other—just pervasively throughout, a very
diverse set of opinions and very extensive respect for each other.
5. Talked about adding Committees. The compromise would be Committees of the
Whole where everyone could come if they were held; did not want subcommittees
where three or four people would be focusing on facilities and then they would
have to come back and start over with the rest—didn’t want that; a stipulation
would be to have a very hard and fast sunset rule, if it’s not working, if it
is not good; if it is taking staff time, and it is not producing anything, stop
it; don’t just have them going on because we have one; would want to set up one
for audit and one for facilities; want to get out more as we did with
All-of-Austin when all were out speaking in meetings then, should not let that
die, we are a better Board when we spend a considerable part of our time out,
rather than inwardly focused. When we
start looking inwardly too much, we may lose our effectiveness.
Group B:
1. Would like a
clear vision; a strategic plan for the service area; want a positive face for being part of the economic development
that goes on in this community—something the group did not think they had been
a part of and should be; want to be the first choice for students considering
higher education—meaning for ACC to be respected in the areas of instruction
and programs, so want ACC to be a first choice; for annexations, group would
like to move those issues forward in terms of Round Rock and San Marcos; a
fund-raising development program, to look at the issue of single-member
districts, and look at the whole ACC personnel system.
3. President is
a very deliberate thinker and planner; carries through on commitments; takes
time to get all of the facts; enjoys humor; funny; thorough knowledge of ACC;
willingness to go the extra mile to meet with numerous groups and individuals
and to be an active participant in the community—which the group thought was
very important; has a lot of experience and diverse background
4. Trustees are deeply passionate about the
College; have a good knowledge about the community; members have varying
skills, interests, and backgrounds; members are open to considering
alternatives; and members are very active in the community—which is important.
5. Group agreed they would like to streamline
the meeting process; several ways this could be done—get questions answered
beforehand; could be the President making a call to Trustees beforehand as some
of the other Presidents have done—and that would be very helpful; or, Trustees have
questions after reviewing the materials, could call the President and let him
work that through with the Trustee beforehand; if the President gets several
calls about the same question, then he should provide information at the
meeting. What the group did not want to
happen was for one Trustee to get information that the rest of the Trustees did
not have or that all might need; that is not what the group meant by
streamlining the process, but it is the consensus that Trustees need
information and somehow this needs to be done; perhaps Trustees need to look
outside their area of expertise—if a Trustee is interested in one area, maybe
it would behoove the Trustee and the College to look at some other area and
become knowledgeable about another area; had some discussion as to whether it
was really realistic for Trustees to expect to do that—and to push out of their
area. The group discussed tuition and
perhaps Trustees could consider tuition increases a semester ahead of time to
give some more lead time.
Group C:
1. Facilities
master plan, deferred maintenance, general placement of future campuses,
conducting a capital campaign, setting up scholarships, establishing teamwork
between the administration/Board/staff
3. Institutional history in different roles,
establishing relationships and nurturing of those relationships, commitment to
4. Diversity and expertise of the Board,
culturally diverse and very well balanced not just with ethnicity but also with
age, women, men, and other; Board puts ACC first with a district-wide
perspective; there is more trust among the Board members; they are committed
and well networked.
5. Have real work sessions instead of more work
sessions, or have less work sessions and more community dialog; follow-up on
items that have been postponed—track them better; have an updated time
table—which is what happened this year—to adopt a budget by July; to have more
of a “benefit of the doubt” by Trustees of the administration’s
recommendations.
Trustees
responded individually to (2) and cited strengths brought to the Board :
·
Strength comes from being on the Board so long,
knowing the College, knowing the people, knowing the functions, understanding
the mission of the Board, College and Foundation; second term on Foundation
Board; connections in the community, especially the business community;
credibility among the people who have supported me and accessibility to them.
·
Knowledge of the higher education system;
knowledge of what ACC’s mission is and what it is about and its place in the
community; macro perspective.
·
Knowledge of economics and financial accounting,
and relationships with corporate people; K-12 expertise;
·
Ability to analyze an issue and providing a
compromise when coming up with a solution;
·
Openness, flexibility and clarity of ideas and
opinions; sense of humor, like the big picture as well as I don’t miss the
details, believe that I am prepared for meetings and on the issues; have a deep
dedication to the mission of community colleges in general, but especially ACC;
have a depth of understanding for higher education and a working knowledge of
quite a range of businesses; understand education for an educational point of
view but also a business point of view;
·
Having established and maintained deep
relationships within ACC and across all levels of employees; being able to
establish relationships within the service area that matter for ACC; good
planner and organizer over the years at ACC as we have grown and coped with
things and really limited resources at times; willingness to tackle tough
issues; not afraid of conflict or difficult things.
·
Cut through lots of information and get to the
principal issues.
·
Administrative experience, political
connections, knowledge of the community, and a philosophy of caring.
·
Devotes time and energy to ACC.
Trustees responded
individually to (6) and cited what they would like their legacy to be in their
role:
·
To see the big picture on the Board and not be
an advocacy for any one constituency but to see the whole budget and the whole
College in trying to balance resources especially when they are scarce.
·
Assisted in growing the scholarship fund.
·
A regional college, financially strong, with a
reputation for student success that is able to meet what is a spiraling and
increasing demand for higher education.
·
We would have a significantly higher percentage
of African American and Hispanic students in the College; that we have a higher
percentage, as well as number, of students who complete, that we will have
increased the taxing jurisdiction; an environment in which battles of the
administration, faculty and staff become so rare that people will want to run
for the Board, and it is not an after thought and so that it increases in pride
and performance.
·
Facilitated the Board focusing their attention
on the future of ACC and how the College can address the needs of our entire
service area while also contributing to the College’s stability and to our
processes being responsive and orderly; so I look out and I look in and that
the meetings were professionally and fairly run and that open dialog was really
fostered on all issues.
·
As a President who helped expand ACC’s
resources—especially bringing Round Rock into the district; helping expand the
role of the ACC Foundation; helping to improve the internal culture of ACC
specifically in trying to have a shift to a more proactive orientation to
issues and the life of the College instead of reactive.
·
Leave the institution financially viable and
that provides an affordable education for all of
·
College to increase its enrollment significantly
and retain more students.
·
Diligently worked to leverage existing capital
in order to keep education affordable for students with limited resources.
Agenda Item
8104
President’s Goals
Dr. Kinslow called attention to the goals approved earlier for the College President:
College Priorities for President
(as approved by the Board of
Trustees on
1. Create a Clear Vision----A Strategic Master Plan
2. Encourage Annexation
3. Diversify the College Work Force
4. Complete Bond-Funded Facilities
5. Increase Enrollment
6. Be Influential with the State Legislature
7. Involve Community More---Re-Format Board Work Sessions
8.
Conduct a
Successful Referendum to Bring in All of City of
9.
Contain Cost of
Education at ACC
10. Have a Robust Scholarship Program
Dr. Kinslow cited the need for more specificity and expansion of the goals. Trustees and President Kinslow discussed the goals and suggested additional items to be included in the goals for the President.
Dr.
Mink suggested that it would be appropriate for the Board to cluster and
discuss the goals in greater detail at an upcoming Board meeting.
[Trustee
Quintanilla left the meeting at
Dr.
Mink highlighted discussions held at the Retreat and provided an overview of
the activities for
RECESS
The
Retreat of the Austin Community College Board of Trustees was recessed on
RECONVENE
The Board of Trustees of
Austin Community College reconvened in public session at
Dr.
Mink and Trustees recapped information discussed at the Retreat on Friday,
August 12.
Agenda Item 8105
Regional Overview
Dr.
Mink introduced Ms. Sally Campbell, Executive Director of Envision Central
Texas. Ms. Campbell distributed
information and commented regarding area development between 1990 and 2000 and
called attention to anticipated growth within the next 10 years. She reported on the regions fastest growing
cities, 2000-2004; county growth projections; Central Texas growth trends;
employment and population; industry sectors; wages and salaries, Central Texas
workforce; solid job growth prediction; what Envision Central Texas is and why
it was created; today’s suburban sprawl; consequences of sprawl; Envision
Central Texas’ purpose; creating the vision; information from workshops;
concept plans, various scenarios; integration of ACC campuses; sharing the
vision; key elements for the vision; implementing the vision; and making the
vision real.
Trustees
expressed the need to ensure that all segments of the area were included in
regional planning activities; requested representation from
Mr. Jim Walker, ACC Coordinator, Office of Institutional Effectiveness, and member of the Envision Central Texas Board stated Envision Central Texas is about attitude and how individuals treat each other when discussing the future.
Trustees
expressed appreciation to Ms. Campbell for the information provided.
RECESS
Dr.
Mink recessed the Austin Community College Board of Trustees meeting at
RECONVENE
The
Board of Trustees of Austin Community College reconvened in public session at
Agenda Item 8106
ACC Service Area Planning
Dr.
Kinslow provided information regarding the College’s
work with
Trustees
discussed the need for additional information regarding the location of area
growth, ACC Centers, school district areas, and the College’s current
facilities master plan.
Trustees
discussed naming possibilities for the Austin Community College District,
naming rights for
There was no Executive
Session.
Announcements
Dr.
Mink noted:
·
The first Public Hearing on the 2005 Tax Rate for
·
·
The second Public Hearing on the 2005 Tax Rate for Austin Community
College would be held during the September 6, 2005, Regular Board meeting.
Dr. Mink also encouraged Trustees to participate in the “Welcome Back Bashes” scheduled by the ACC Student Life Office.
Adjournment
Having
no motion before the Board, the
Approved By
Jeffrey
Richard, Secretary