On Wednesday May 20, BC had one of its regularly scheduled Board of Trustees meetings. The board’s duties include setting the college’s strategic direction, establishing policy for the college, and approving budgets. The meeting took place in boardroom B201 and consisted of two set meetings.
The business session was open to the public and was a much larger conference. It included presentations from trustees and board members such as Lucinda Taylor (Executive Assistant to the College’s President Jean Floten), Rachel Solemsaas (Vice President of Administrative Services), Thomas Nielsen (Executive Dean), Rosemary Richardson (a faculty member), Melissa Sitzenstock (Information Technician), and Amanda Alva (President of the Associated Student Government.)
The first meeting, held at 11:00 a.m., was an executive session that was not open to the general public. This earlier conference was set up in order to review collective bargaining sessions with an employee organization. These sessions strive to initiate cooperation, agreement, and maintain healthy relationships between the the trustees and organizations.
The second meeting, which continued immediately after the executive session, started promptly at 12:00 p.m.
After reading previous financial reports from past quarters, sharing the College’s enrollment reports, and stating the College’s constituent reports (student and faculty), the meeting began to switch gears so that it might cover some other relevant issues.
One of the issues dealt with sabbatical leave authorization and addressed the process by which faculty members of the College prepare to go through the process correctly.
Another item on the agenda was a proposal to get the College to offer a 4 year Bachelor of Arts degree in Interior Design. As the college already has a very reputable design program, many feel that the college should take one step further and offer it as an official degree.
The meeting also addressed a growing concern that has been on the minds of many students and board members alike: the increase of tuition and fees. Despite the scare of rising costs, the agenda also included presentations advocating financial assistance and tuition fee waivers for Running Start students.
The meeting also included a report from American Council on Education Fellow, Adenuga Atewologun, who is now working the final year with the college as he prepares to go back to his home institution, the College of DuPage in Illinois.
To finish, there was a presentation dedicated to all of the College’s current ‘All Washington Academic Team’ members (Paula Kosasih and Claire Runtung). These members were given medals and certificates from the Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society and the American Association of Community Colleges.
Afterwards, many of the College’s board members attended the Margin of Excellence Award Ceremony.
The award nominees were: Kristen Connely, Patrick Beardsley, Larry Boykin, Ryan Collier, Jan Ng, Julie Soto, Hristio Stoynov, and Anthony Wiggins. The event was held at the Carlson Theatre.