CCCC board approves hiring of Douglas

By Tonya Merrill
Blade Contributor
The Cloud County Community College board of trustees met on Tuesday for its January meeting that was originally scheduled for January 22, but was postponed because of snow.
The board voted to approve the appointment of Dr. Bruce Douglas to the position of coordinator of student engagement on a part-time professional services contract with an annual salary of $28,000.
Dr. Douglas, husband of current college president Dr. Adrian Douglas, will take over the newly developed position that was created when Shane Britt resigned as director of residential life and student engagement in October 2018, effective January 30.
The decision was made to split the duties and create the position of coordinator of student engagement.
“When the position was combined with residential life and student activities together, most of Shane's time, probably 80 percent of his time ,was spent on residential life issues,” Dr. Adrian Douglas said in an interview prior to the board meeting, “We wanted to see the idea of engagement be expanded because we believe that engagement leads to retention and retention leads to completion.”
Six applicants for the position were interviewed by a search committee, and also by Dr. Adrian Douglas and Pedro Leite, interim vice president of student affairs.
Dr. Adrian Douglas recommended Bruce Douglas for the job.
“Honestly, Bruce was the most qualified applicant for the position," Dr. Adrian Douglas said, "What I said, and what I will continue to say, is that if he was not the most qualified applicant then he would have not been recommended for the position."
After more than an hour of executive session, the board voted 4-2 to the hire Bruce Douglas to this position.
Board members Jesse Pounds, Patricia MacFarland, Tom Tuggle and Ellen Anderson voted for the hiring of Bruce Douglas. Greg Askren and Larry Henry voted against it.
The board also voted to accept the appointment of Diane Leif to clerk of the board, taking over the position from Marilyn Martin.
Martin will retire on May 1, 2019, but the appointment of clerk change will take effect on March 1.
In reports, the board was informed oft the awarding of a grant from the Sunderland Foundation.  The grant of $100,000 will be used to support the goal of constructing an agriculture facility on the Concordia campus.  
The board was also informed of the awarding of a grant from the Kansas Department of Commerce.  The college's renewable energy technology program received a grant of $110,000 for development of a wind and solar satellite training program in southeast Kansas at LaHarpe, KS.
The Board also heard a report on the results of the college's Quiz Bowl team.  
Cloud County hosted the Quiz Bowl sectional tournament last weekend.
The Cloud County team finished second behind Redlands Community College of El Reno, Oklahoma.
Coach Jeremy Bohrer introduced the board to two quiz bowl members, Hannah Owens and James Allen.
Allen a concurrent high student from Belleville, Ks was the top scorer of the tournament scoring approximately 60  points per round.  
Owens, a freshman from Winchester, Ks, is a music major and hopes to continue with quiz bowl.
Cloud County has qualified for the national tournament to be hosted in Orlando, Fla. later this year.
The board heard from Marc Malone on the results of the first year’s usage of the Cloud NOW app. The app has been in use for almost a year and is designed to help with student engagement.  
As of Nov 2018, it had 1000 registered users.
The app allows students to make posts, similar to Facebook, ask questions and receive answers. They can even use a QR code to register for help in the Student Success Center or rate the tutors who help them there.
Also approved during last night’s board meeting, was the 2017-2018 audit presented by Neil Phillips with Jarred, Gilmore and Phillips, P.A during the December meeting. The board voted unanimously to accept this audit.
They also voted to approve a request to approach the Community Foundation about funds from the student enrichment fund totaling approximately $11,000 to be used to purchase furniture for the Concordia and Geary County campus student unions.
Leite reported on spring semester enrollment numbers. Late enrollment has been extended to January 30 due to the cancellation of class on the first day. Final spring numbers are therefore not yet in but they do reflect a loss in students and student credit hours.
Internet classes do show a small increase in enrollment and currently the dorms are more than 80% full.
Leite detailed a marketing timeline and plan to reach out to underserved areas locally to boost enrollment this year.