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The
Wyoming
Association of Community College Trustees
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2017 WACCT Award Recipients
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Congratulations once again to the
2017 WACCT Award recipients
. LCCC hosted a truly beautiful function for the WACCT Awards in their new Clay Pathfinder Building and it was a hit with all who attended!
The WACCT annually recognizes nominees and awards one person for each of six categories. The categories include Student, Trustee Leadership, Foundation Volunteer, Faculty Member, Professional Employee and Classified Employee. The ACCT considers nominees in the Trustee Leadership, Faculty, and Professional Board Staff Member categories and the WACCT recipients in those categories will be sent along for the national awards. Last year EWC's own, John Patrick, was selected as the nominee for the national Trustee Leadership Award from the Western Region. Congratulations everyone!
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| Faculty, Marnee Crawford, NWC |
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| Foundation Board Member, Kathryn Kelly, EWC |
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| Professional Employee, Chuck Carr, CWC |
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| Classified Employee, Steve Armijo, CC |
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| Student, Amy Childester, CWC |
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| Trustee Leadership, Carolyn Danko, NWC |
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2017 Legislative Session Recap
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2017 General Session in the Books
The 2017 General Session of the Wyoming Legislature ended in early March. Many considered it to be one of the most "stressful sessions ever" with the House of Representatives and the Senate divided on both policy direction and approach to managing the budget. Given the rough nature of the session, the Community Colleges ended up with a fair shake.
Here are the highlights:
- $200,000 general fund for emergency boiler piping and fire suppression repairs or replacement at Western Wyoming Community College.
- Higher Education Excellence Endowment - As apporpiration of $1.25M if the accoutn balance is less than $2.5M. The original source of the fund is federal mineral royalties. Interest income and reserve funding, when available, is used to pay for faculty recruitment and retention, to establish endowed faculty positions and to support the work of endowed faculty at Wyoming's community colleges and the University of Wyoming
- UW, on behalf of the University, community colleges and commission, shall report progress on a unified plan for recruitment and retention to the Joint Education Committee and the Joint Appropriations Committee no later than September 30, 2017.
- Restoring $631,250 for the Veteran's Tuition Waiver program (which is housed under the budget of the Wyoming Community College Commission).
- Recall, both UW and the community college block grants were cut ($590,902 for community colleges and $1.04 million for UW) however, only half the amount of the cuts took hold in the final budget. This amount is reflective of the positions and/or program reductions as provided for in Section 320 "Position Freeze and Statewide Budget Reduction" to which other state agencies are subject. Incidentally, the colleges, UW and the Wyoming Community College Commission are not impacted by the additional positions cuts the Governor is directed to make to other agencies.
If you did not get a chance to read the WACCT final legislative summary,
click here
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What's In Store for the Interim?
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Legislators will be busy in the 2017 interim months, as the pressing education funding crisis has yet to be resolved and the state penitentiary still needs repairs. WACCT will carefully watch the goings on to make sure the colleges are represented and are able to participate when needed.
None of the legislative committees have issues related to the colleges on their agenda (
see the full list here), but there are a few areas where the Joint Appropriations Committee and Joint Education Committee may need to hear from us. One is the joint report with UW regarding a unified plan for recruitment and retention.
While K-12 education funding is the focus right now, WACCT will continue to make sure legislators are informed of the good work the colleges are doing right now!
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WACCT Welcomes New Board Members,
Wyoming Community College Commissioners,
and New Officers for 2017
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2017 marks the start of a new year and with that comes new trustees and new WACCT Board members. Please help us welcome the following new trustees to the WACCT Board:
Bob Baumgartner
Central Wyoming College
Deb Wendtland
Northern Wyoming
Community College District
Marilyn Fisher
Eastern Wyoming College
Ernie Over
Central Wyoming College
WACCT welcomes the new members of the Wyoming Community College Commission:
Craig Frederick
- R - Guernsey
Jackie Freeze
- D - Rock Springs
Julie Newman - R - Torrington
Finally, the WACCT Board also voted in the new officers for 2017 at the February board meeting:
Walter Wragge
President
Northern Wyoming
Community College District
George Eckman
Vice President
Western Wyoming
Community College
Don Erickson
Treasurer
Laramie County
Community College
Carolyn Danko
Secretary
Northwest College
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Complete College Wyoming Update
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Be sure to check out the
February Update
from Complete College Wyoming! Complete College Wyoming (CCW) is a statewide organization focused on access, success and completion.
Wyoming joined Complete College America late in 2011 and has provided active leadership in crafting the Wyoming student success agenda.
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Are you a new trustee?
Perhaps you are a wise trustee who has been around for a few years?
We all need resources and we could all learn something new now and then.
As trustees, and members of the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT), you have many resources available to you. Check out the
Trustee Education Resource Library at ACCT - they have numerous articles, publications and webinars. You will find information on:
- board member roles and responsibilities
- financial responsibilities
- ethical governance
- student success
- board's role in advocacy
- many more...
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The mission of the
Wyoming Association of Community College Trustees, a collaborative organization of Wyoming community college trustees with college presidents, is to promote the continued quality, strength, vitality and effectiveness of its members.
Thank you to everyone who works to support the Community Colleges in Wyoming! Happy Spring!
Erin Taylor
Executive Director
Wyoming Association of Community College Trustees
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