By Huntyr Schwegman
CHANUTE, Kan. — The Neosho County Community College (NCCC) Board of Trustees held its January 2025 Board of Trustees Meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, in the Student Union boardroom on the Chanute Campus. The meeting was called to order at 9 a.m. and adjourned at 10:30 a.m.
Institutional Effectiveness Dashboard Report
Steve Dowell, Dean for Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness, presented scores from the 2023-24
Institutional Effectiveness Dashboard (IED) to trustees Wednesday.
The IED is a scoring matrix that uses data points gathered from across the institution graded on a 1-5 scale to assess how effective NCCC is at achieving its four purposes: Student Learning, Student Success, Accountability to Stakeholders, and Meeting Community Needs.
Student Learning earned a score of 88.8%, up from 86% a year prior. Student Success and Meeting Community Needs also increased, from 89.4% to 90.9% and from 84.6% to 84.8%, respectively.
Accountability to Stakeholders decreased from 89% to 86.8%, though it remained above the prior four-year average.
Over 85% of individual scores were graded 4 or higher, and just a single sub-section scored below 80%. The highest-graded sub-sections were Student Learning – Advancing Critical Thinking and Open Exchange of Ideas (93.6%), Student Success – Embracing Diversity (93.3%), and Accountability to Stakeholders – Communicating Openly with All Constituencies (91.5%).
Visit neosho.edu/IED for a full breakdown of how the four purpose statements, 16 sub-sections, and 332 data points were graded.
President’s Report
Dr. Brian Inbody, NCCC President, reported an increase in 2024-25 enrollment of 1.81%.
The Wintersession 2024 semester is currently down 28.6%, a decrease from 50 to 43 students. Dr. Inbody reported the slight drop in enrollment is likely due to recent rule changes to student-athlete eligibility requirements for the NJCAA.
The Spring 2025 semester is currently boasting an increase of 2.06%. This number is expected to increase, as dual credit enrollment is lagging due to area high schools’ winter break and inclement weather closures.
Dr. Inbody has been preparing for the start of the Kansas Legislative Session this month, as multiple items on the agenda could affect NCCC in the coming months.
“The First 15” is an effort by the Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR) and the State School Superintendent to provide 15 general education credit hours tuition-free for all qualified high school students. Details on the initiative — including funding sources, eligibility requirements, included courses, service area implications, accreditation concerns, timeline, and required modality — are yet to be finalized. Dr. Sarah Robb, Vice President for Student Learning, currently serves as one of four community college representatives to KBOR for this issue.
Legislative leadership has expressed interest in providing property tax relief to Kansans, possibly through lowering the mill levy from 20 to 17-18. It is hoped this effort does not impact full funding the state’s budget, including higher education funding.
The legislative budget is expected to be finalized by February, so the Kansas Association of Community Colleges (KACC) is requesting to receive the same funding as last year, along with fully-funding the formulas and the Kansas Promise Act.
Dr. Inbody also provided updates on multiple facilities projects around the Chanute Campus; new drains and larger pipes have been installed at the north end of the Mitchell Career and Technology Center (MCTC) to solve drainage issues; most concrete and brick work has been completed at the Student Union
Plaza, with the fire pit and final grading yet to be completed; the fire code footprint for the Panther Power Lab has been submitted and is awaiting approval from the Fire Marshall; additional nets were installed to increase safety at Hudson Field and close a number of small gaps around poles; design services
contracts from DLR and Barlett & West for the Mih Family Fine Arts Center were approved by the Trustees.
There are also several upcoming projects Dr. Inbody hopes to complete in the coming months, including refinishing light poles in the parking lots, repairing a leaking pipe in the Panther Fountain, replacement of windows in the NeoKan coach’s offices, striping the parking lot at the MCTC, and repairing drainage issues at the Neosho Softball Complex.
Service Award
Jyl Unrein, Administrative Assistant to the Vice President for Operations, was selected as the December 2024 Service Award winner.
“Jyl is always willing to help me with my tasks or any general NCCC questions, even when it has absolutely nothing to do with her or the Operations Department,” the nomination read. “She is one of the nicest people at the college and makes all those who step into her office feel welcomed and taken care of.”
Unrein will be recognized with a framed certificate and a $500 prize.
Board Reorganization
With the start of the new year, trustees held their annual Reorganization Meeting.
Trustees swore an Affirmation of Service and nominated Dennis Peters as Board Chair and Lori Kiblinger as Board Co-Chair. David Peter was retained as the board representative to the KACC and Michael De La Torre was retained as the board representative to the NCCC Foundation.
David Bideau and Kenna Bideau-Kepley of Bideau Law Offices LLC were appointed Board Attorneys, Dr. Inbody was appointed Board Secretary, Sandi Solander, Chief Financial Officer, was appointed Board Treasurer, and Amy Ranabargar, Administrative Assistant to the President, was appointed Board Clerk.
Trustees will continue to meet on the second Wednesday of each month at 9 a.m. in the Student Union Board Room. Official notification of any changes to meeting time or location will be announced.
Bank of Commerce, Commercial Bank, Community National Bank & Trust, Emprise Bank, and Home Savings Bank in Chanute, along with Kansas State Bank and Bank Midwest in Ottawa, were designated official depositories.
In other business, trustees:
—Approved the minutes from the December 11, 2024 meeting.
—Heard a Treasurer’s report from Sandi Solander and approved claims for disbursement for the month of December.
—Heard a report from David Peters on the KACC quarterly meeting.
—Approved Course Inventory Revisions for the Diagnostic Medical Sonography (DMS) pathway and the DMS 250 course. Revisions to the DMS pathway included course order, program sequence, and the creation of new courses to expose students to additional knowledge prior to entering clinical rotations.
Revisions to the DMS 250 course included changes to semesters offered, credit hours and course content, and the streamlining of program outcomes.
—Approved updates to the Emergency Leave policy. Updates included procedure changes and language clarification.
—Approved the following resignations: Jodi Murrow as the Adult Basic Education Instructor at Fort Scott, Haley Dalton as Accounts Payable Clerk, and Elizabeth Donnelly as the Upward Bound Administrative Assistant.
—Approved the hiring of Elizabeth Donnelly as the Accounts Payable Clerk.
—Heard no public comment.
