This section describes C. S. Mott Community College’s (MCC) governance and administration structure, in relation to the criteria set forth by the North Central Association (NCA). Also, the relationship of the College to the Board of Trustees is described along with MCC organizational, administrative and governance structure. In addition, this section will describe processes and systems used to allow for administration, faculty and staff input into institutional effectiveness, institutional goals and purpose as they relate to the mission of the College.

STATE GOVERNANCE

Public community Colleges in Michigan operate under the authority of the Michigan Community College Act of 1966, with general powers listed in Michigan (Statute 389.121). While state law affords Boards with the power to "make plans for, to promote or acquire, construct, own, develop, maintain and operate a community college and an area vocational-technical education program (section 121)," the MCC Board has the following attributes:

The College is governed by a publicly elected, seven-member Board of Trustees who must reside in one of the 21 school districts in the Genesee Intermediate School District. Elections are held biennially on the date of the annual school elections and six-year terms of office are staggered to ensure continuity. Currently, the seven-member Board is composed of a wide range of professionals including: a full-time K-12 administrator, retired K-12 administrator, business executive, business owner, priest, attorney and a veterinarian. The Michigan stature gives the Board of Trustees powers to "make plans for, to promote or acquire, construct, own, develop, maintain and operate a community college and an area vocational-technical education program (section 121).

BOARD MEETINGS

The Board meets monthly, generally on the fourth Monday of each month and all meetings are open to the public. The order of business is conducted according to Section 1.13 of the Board of Trustees Bylaws and includes provisions for comments from the public. Citizens may address the Board on matters within its jurisdiction, being limited to five minutes unless the time is increased or decreased by consent of the Board. Members of the press are present at most Board meetings, and topics are regularly covered in the local newspaper(s).

The working relationship among the members of the Board is extremely strong. They do not always agree, however, once consensus is reached, Board members who are in the minority will generally support the consensus decision. A majority of the votes over the past few years have been unanimous. If consensus is not reached in discussion, issues are generally tabled until more information becomes available to support a unanimous decision. Thus even if there was in reality a 5-2 split on an issue, the formal result would be a unanimous vote. Almost all decisions over the past two years have been passed unanimously. This process works well for moving issues forward; however, occasionally there is not significant debate over issues. Without appropriate debate, the potential to accept recommendations which are not thoroughly researched could exist.

BOARD/PRESIDENT RELATIONSHIP

A strong relationship with the President has provided a foundation for getting work done. According to a majority of Board members their second most important responsibility is to hire and support a good President. Interviews indicate the Board supports the President and has empowered him to manage the administration of the College. The Board clearly believes it should not get involved in the day to day operation of the College, and it doesn’t. The Board of Trustees relies on the President and Administration to operate the College based on the policies the Board has established. They expect issues to be routed through established channels and discourage individuals and groups from raising issues directly to the Board.

BOARD WORKSHOPS

Workshop sessions are being held before each meeting that focus on a new initiative or a future opportunity. Presentations from administration, faculty, local business leaders, community leaders and others are a part of these sessions. In a survey taken in December 1998 of Board members, the Board rates these workshops less effective than other Board meetings. Some of the reasons include "too much information to absorb" and "sometimes we don’t prepare for the meetings as well as we should."

Over the past several years the Board membership has been fairly consistent, but there is no formal training process for new Board members. The Board is currently working very effectively together. However, if there are changes in Board membership and no formal Board training process is developed, there could be difficulty as new Board members are introduced.

BOARD STRATEGIC PLANNING

Board workshops provide opportunity for "scanning." Scanning is a process the Board uses to identify and become aware of regional, national and international trends that will impact our community and community college.

Over the past several years, the Board has worked effectively to obtain community input for the College. In 1993, the Board pulled together administration, faculty, staff and community leaders to revise the College mission statement. Over 300 community members were invited to participate in the two-day charette and more than 150 people actually attended. This team assembled the current College mission statement and ten primary objectives for the College to achieve.

Obtaining input from faculty, staff and the community is important to each member of the Board of Trustees. In 1997, the Board instituted project Mott 2005. The goal of this project was "to provide an opportunity for each employee and community member to have input in our strategic planning sessions about the future direction of the College." This project allowed participants to provide input into: Mott’s image, challenges, needs, new directions, laddering (a workforce development process), flexible curriculum, methods of awarding credit, "tools for the job," opportunities as community leaders, resources needed, training needed, structures and functions, communications, computers, administrative, marketing/retention and other areas. Focus groups were created and each group made a formal presentation to the Board about 60 days after the groups were formed. A second phase allowed the groups to reform and provides additional feedback to the Board. The focus group reports were reviewed and analyzed by the Board during a retreat in July 1998.

BOARD/LOCAL AND STATE GOVERNMENT RELATIONSHIP

The Board has built a strong relationship with local and state government agencies. Projects and initiatives, both internal and external, have been commonplace over the past five years. This relationship was necessary to achieve the State’s $17 Million capital outlay funding and support for the new $34 Million Regional Technology Center (RTC). Over the next few years the RTC at Mott Community College will be built on property currently adjoining the College. A majority of Board members believe the RTC is a key ingredient to the economic future of Genesee County. They also believe the RTC will be a focus for the College over the next decade.

The MCC Board has been meeting with local elected officials and community agencies to implement some of the problem solving strategies that have been formulated over the past several months. Board meetings have been scheduled with the Genesee County Board of Commissioners; the Mayor of Flint and the Flint City Council; and the Flushing, Flint, and Grand Blanc School Boards. Also the Trustees are pursuing meetings with other area boards and agencies.

BOARD/COMMUNITY RELATIONSHIP

The Board is committed to the community. They put personal agendas aside and work together to provide leadership in the community and at Mott Community College. The Board believes that Mott Community College should have a positive impact on the community it serves. In their presentation to the 1998 Association of Community College Trustees Annual Convention (ACCT), the Board stated, "In order to make the change from focusing on internal issues to focusing on external needs, the College must reach out and involve the community in creating a vision that specifically defines what the College should be so the community can also achieve a specific goal." They also state that the College must function as a "community change agent." These statements, the Mission Statement and actions of the Board reflect their goal of the College being a leader for change in the community.

ADMINISTRATION

The overall purpose of the collective College Administration is to assure that the various educational and student or academic support systems are in place and function effectively to provide superior higher education for students of all ages and economic backgrounds from the surrounding community. This reflects the stated initial portion of the mission statement that "the mission of MCC is to provide quality higher education for the people of Genesee and surrounding counties … by providing learning opportunities for all who want to identify and develop their abilities and interests."

The President reports directly to the Board of Trustees. Reporting to the President are the Vice President of Academic Affairs, and the Vice President of Student Development & Instructional Support, the Vice President of Administration, the Chief Financial Officer and the Executive Dean of Human Resources. These five Administrators make up the President’s Executive Cabinet. Each Executive Cabinet member has a variety of department heads, directors, associate deans, supervisors, or other managerial staff reporting to him/her, providing topics or issues for influential discussion, decision making and priority of action. Each of these managerial staff members has daily interaction with faculty, and/or staff, and/or students, depending on whether the administrator provides service within an academic, student support, or support department of the College. Through the chain of command, these formal or informal interactions and discussions with the first-line administrators allow for faculty, staff, and students to directly and indirectly have input and potential impact upon decisions made and priorities established by the Executive Cabinet.

The Administrators of the College possess well-documented qualifications. All of the President’s Executive Cabinet members are master’s-prepared, and two are doctoral-prepared. Each possesses many years of employment experience within an academic setting, either as faculty and/or academic administrator. Two exceptions are the Vice President of Administration who comes to MCC with 17 years in business environment and the Executive Dean of Human Resources whose experience was obtained in the private and cooperative business sector. Upper and mid-level administrators have employment experience that includes many years in education and/or administration, with most possessing 15-20 years of experience in their respective fields of occupational or liberal arts specialty. The diverse background among these administrators allows for a complementary and fairly stable working group.

The Executive Cabinet, reporting lines and organizational structure is best depicted as follows:

WORKFORCE COMPOSITION BY CLASSIFICATION

Mott Community College consists of the following workforce composition:

The language of the contract, division policies, Board policy, and the law guides faculty governance within the divisions. Faculty governance is found in the areas of course assignments, travel policy, appointment of new faculty, student evaluation of faculty (SIEF), textbooks, course revisions, and new courses.

Master Contracts outline grievance procedures for faculty and staff for each of the five unions, highlighting time limits and various levels of advancement of unresolved grievances. They rely on departmental policies, assignments and Board policy. In addition, written interdepartmental policies and procedures for each area in the College have been established to outline the departmental function within the College unit.

There are five bargaining units within the College structure. Each unit bargains a master contract (available in the team room).

The overall level of communication within the division is strong between faculty, staff, and associate deans. Communication is good both laterally and vertically within the divisions with informal/personal contacts the strongest method of information sharing.

Mott Community College's introduction to the Internet and Lotus Notes made dispersing and collecting information, setting meetings and requesting information easy and effective for faculty, staff and students. The 1998-99 North Central Self-Study Employee Questionnaire showed:

Emanation of information is found in division meetings, coordinator meetings, memos, voice mail, committee meetings, e-mail, internet, and interdepartmental publications.

Vertical dispatch of information to the divisions including locations at Southern Lakes Branch Campus and Lapeer Campus are done by voice mail, e-mail, memos, telephone, College publications, and administrative meetings.

COMMUNICATION WITHIN DEPARTMENTS

Informal/personal communication within the departments is the principal method for conveyance of information (Faculty survey, 12-14-98). Sixty-one percent of the faculty surveyed reported to using this mode of communication on a daily basis. The various methods of communication surveyed ranked as follows:

1. Informal/personal

2. Telephone

3. Voice mail

4. E-mail

5. Written memo

6. Publications

PRESIDENT’S ASSEMBLY

The President’s Assembly consists of exempt managers and Supervisory and Managerial (S&M) first-line supervisors who meet to review and discuss the Board agenda the Friday before the monthly MCC Board of Trustees meeting. Another purpose of this Assembly is to disseminate new policies and procedures and/or pertinent information through the "ranks" of the College.

CITIZEN/LAY ADVISORY COMMITTEES

The College currently has 29 citizen/lay advisory committees totaling approximately 290 members. Members include former students, business and professional leaders, and both union and non-union members. All members are appointed by the Board of Trustees based on recommendations from the deans, vice presidents and the President. The primary purpose of each committee is to provide advice to faculty and administrators on developing or improving College curriculum related to a program of study.

The committee names and number of members are as follows:

GENERAL COMMITTEES

The College currently has four General Standing Committees totaling 124 members. These committees provide program oversight, quality control processes for teaching and learning, and innovative research and program development though sabbaticals.

C.P.S.C. process is responsible for evaluating various requests involving placement test changes, general education requirements, and excused student absences. Its most important charge, however, involves curricular changes and academic affairs. If a class is to be accepted as a part of the College curriculum -- or if there is a proposal to change the status of a particular class -- it is the duty of C.P.S.C. to evaluate the merits of the proposed change and decide the policy.

The procedure that accompanies this process is both efficient and expedient. After a proposal has been submitted to C.P.S.C., it is acted upon by the fourth Friday of every month. If only minor changes are requested, C.P.S.C. deals directly with such requests, avoiding protracted analysis or discussion. In the case that further study is warranted, C.P.S.C. will refer a Form-1 and any attachments to the Academic Affairs Subcommittee, which meets on the third Friday of every month. Documents are sent to the Curriculum Subcommittee as well, which meets on the second Friday of the month. Occasionally, ad hoc committees must be formed for specific work. The Distance Learning Advisory Sub Committee (14 members) and the Academic Computing Advisory Committee (15 members) are also under the purview of C.P.S.C.

INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

The College Administration has articulated a goal of preparing a highly trained workforce capable of meeting the various needs of area employers and the technological challenges of the 21st Century. Part of the mission statement addresses preparation of a "workforce that can successfully compete in the global community." How well the College is effectively meeting this goal is measured in part through statistical data.

The Office of Institutional Research compiles data from a variety of external sources. These sources include surveys of graduates, employers, community members, business and industry. Feedback from these community constituents provides direction to and validation of the educational focus of the College. Faculty and administrators utilize this input for the purposes of curriculum or program planning, revision, and new program development. This process promotes the College’s responsiveness to the community’s needs.

Additionally, the Office of Institutional Research gathers data for internal assessment and evaluation. Most of these statistical reports are available to all faculty and staff through the shared database on the Lotus Notes network. Student enrollment data including retention and attrition rates, course grades, tuition rates, and tracking of area high school students who attend Mott provide useful information for faculty and administrators. Much of this data is used in the Program Review process to evaluate course or program effectiveness and to identify areas of deficiency that require correction/revision.

An example that demonstrates the process of program revision is the creation of the pediatric and neurological anatomy courses for the Physical Assistant Therapist program. From survey data obtained through internal student feedback and external input from graduates, clinical preceptors and employers, these areas of study required their own specialty courses to provide the needed competencies for the students entering the workplace.

One of the strengths of the evaluation process is the responsiveness of the faculty to initiate course revision when specific needs are identified, especially in the occupational programs.

An identified area of weakness is the struggle to ensure the accuracy of the internal data the Office of Institutional Research complies. After the conversion in January 1998 of the core student and course information from the former Prime System to the Colleague System, some inaccuracies in student enrollment data were identified. Efforts continue into 1999 to correct and/or maintain the integrity of the data utilized for internal analysis.

An opportunity exists in the proposed creation of a Dean of Curriculum position in the 1998-99 academic year. This individual will serve as the college-wide curriculum analyst, taking a more global, planned and curriculum-currency approach with the academic divisions of the College. This Dean will work closely with the Office of Institutional Research, gathering needed course and program data to guide curriculum development and evaluation of curriculum effectiveness. This person will coordinate and facilitate efforts of the faculty and associate deans to create or explore new program or course offerings. A focal point will be provided for the academic priority-setting and decision-making processes, utilizing these compiled data resources from the Office of Institutional Research (OIR). For ease of communication and ready data access, the OIR is located in the administrative office complex and reports directly to the Vice President of Student Development & Institutional Support. This Dean will be the curriculum advisor to the Vice President of Academic Affairs.

A potential threat exists in the perpetuation of the use of erroneous data due to the information systems conversion. The small staff within the Office of Institutional Research is limited in its ability to discover all errors and make appropriate corrections. As individual program coordinators, faculty, and administrators participate in the program review process, they may identify specific course data errors that require correction. The staff in the Office of Institutional Research is notified of these particular inaccuracies.

INFORMATION SYSTEMS

The purpose of the Information Systems Department is to provide technical, computerized support to the faculty and staff of the College. The goal is to provide this support effectively, promptly, and in keeping with industry standards. This purpose and goal are necessary to fulfill the stated portion of the mission of the College to "maintain … state-of-the-art equipment, and other physical resources that support quality higher education." Faculty and staff require access to and the support of a highly functional, technologically-current, network-ready computer system to perform their various job duties. Over the past five years it was becoming increasingly evident that the existing computer system was not meeting the stated needs of faculty and staff. To meet these needs and articulated goals, the following changes have been implemented.

The hiring of a new Executive Director for the Information Systems Department in July 1996 brought several positive improvements. The establishment of Information Systems (IS) HELP desk in 1997 has much improved the responsiveness of the department in handling the requests of system users for assistance. This is especially important when individual users need immediate "repair" of software or hardware malfunctions. The technicians are generally courteous and prompt in their response to requests for help. One of the strengths of the IS Department is the qualified personnel who staff it.

As more users are added to the College community (each full-time faculty has his/her own desktop personal computer beginning in 1999), the department will need to evaluate its staff’s ability to respond promptly to this increase in system users. Additional technicians may be needed to respond to the concerns of an increased number of daily system users. This concern is both an opportunity and a potential threat for the IS Department.

Less urgent service requests are channeled through managerial personnel who complete a service request and assign it a ranked priority. The appropriate supervisory staff is kept informed of the progress of the request. Supervisors are free to inquire on the status of the request as well. Service requests in this area are also addressed fairly and promptly.

Another positive change has been the move from a terminal-based system to personal computers for individual users, utilizing Microsoft products. This has increased the efficiency of staff. In addition, Lotus Notes has been added to our networked computing. This application allows individuals and departments across campus to communicate with each other electronically. Various on-line job requests, information postings, and directories have eliminated the need for written or printed requests or information. Some College processes, such as faculty contract generation, printing of Board meeting minutes and Human Resource communications are performed electronically.

In 1997 Datatel, Inc. (Colleague System) was introduced as the computing system to drive the student records system, registration, accounting, purchasing, and payroll processes. This system allows for greater integration among the various College processes, avoiding duplication of effort in some instances. Millions of dollars have been spent to make this transition possible. Customized programming also has occurred to enhance the Colleague System with Mott-specific processes that were not inherent to the existing Colleague System package.

Some of the challenges encountered by moving to these alternative, yet more effective systems have been in the volume of time necessary to train various users and to customize aspects of the systems to serve the unique needs of the College. Another challenge has been in the accurate transfer of student, course schedule, and other essential academic information from the old Prime system to Colleague. These efforts are ongoing and some manual processes have had to be instituted to facilitate the transition. The accounting of employer-paid tuition and divisional purchasing processes are examples of areas where manual systems have been utilized along with the computerized method. Some reports of user frustration and inaccuracy in process reporting have occurred. This is an area of weakness that requires additional attention and improvement. Overall, the many improvements have been positive and have lead to informal, subjective user reporting of increased satisfaction and efficiency with the computerized systems. Most users report very positive satisfaction with the electronic mailing features of the computerized network. Elimination of multiple paper copies having to be sent to various department or division offices vastly improves efficiency of document distribution.

HUMAN RESOURCES

The Human Resources (HR) Department is responsible for the development of appropriate recruitment and hiring practices of the institution, establishment of fair and timely personnel policies, assurance of cultural diversity within the employee population, and provision of mechanisms for staff development.

Organization of Human Resources

The organizational chart for the Human Resource office can be found in appendix _____. An Executive Dean oversees the entire office with the assistance of an Administrative Assistant as described earlier in this document.

The location of the Human Resource office within the administrative organization has been changed since the previous North Central Accreditation Study. The office is no longer under the jurisdiction of the office of the Vice President for Administration. The Human Resource Office reports directly to the President. In addition, Faculty Development has been moved to the office of the Vice President of Academic Affairs and is no longer associated with Human Resources.

Therefore, the scope of the responsibilities of the HR office has changed in a reasonable manner. However, the current staffing is not adequate to handle the responsibility of training non-faculty employees.

Job Descriptions, Hiring and Evaluation Process

The Human Resource Office maintains notebooks of all job descriptions. A weakness of the office has been the incompleteness of these notebooks. However, the office is in the process of making these notebooks up-to-date. New job evaluation committees are being implemented, which are comprised of representatives from all four non-faculty unions (supervisors and managers, professional and technical, and secretarial and clerical). These committees will update job descriptions. An employee survey done at the end of 1998 indicates that 58% of employees report neutral or satisfied comments that their job description on file with Human Resources is up-to-date and reflects their job duties.

A weakness of the Human Resources Office has existed in the hiring and evaluation procedures. The hiring process has been slow, not well developed, and based heavily on the interview. In addition, individual staff evaluations are not uniformly carried out. At present, the office is taking the opportunity to build and execute hiring and evaluation procedures. Various procedures have been accumulated during the last three years. The office now maintains a notebook of policies received from the College, and adds new procedures to the notebook as they are developed.

At the present time, vacant positions are being filled in a timely fashion within the collegial constraints that are already in place. Many vacancies exist due to the offering of the Employee Severance Plan. This plan allows for additional retirement incentives for those employees meeting established retirement criteria. Human Resources has ranked the existing vacancies in terms of priority in order to accomplish the task of filling these vacancies. The Human Resources Office is currently establishing new procedures for the hiring process. This effort is 40% complete as of December 1998. However, this project has been given a deadline of March 31, 1999, by the Executive Dean and will be the responsibility of the Assistant Director. The Human Resources Office now distributes a Table of Authorization on a monthly basis to supervisors throughout the College (appendix ___). This document records all vacant positions, interview committee members, and dates regarding the status of new hires. A goal of this document is to help ensure that positions are being filled in a timely fashion. Examples of recent improvements in the hiring process include a revised, daylong orientation procedure for new full-time hires and a well-developed exit process.

The percentage of minorities of full-time faculty has continued to increase during the last decade. The percentage of minorities was 9.8% in 1989. This number increased to16% in 1991 and is currently at 17.65% at the close of 1998. The actual number of Americans Indians and Asians has remained the same between 1991 and 1998, while the number of African American faculty has decreased by four, and the number of Hispanic faculty has increased by three. The percentage of minorities of staff employees is 31.09%, and the overall percentage of minorities in all positions on campus is 25.83%.

At present, some supervisors carry out individual staff evaluation procedures, but this is not done uniformly across campus. Forty percent of employees responding to a survey disagree that the current employee evaluation process is clear and effective. The Human Resources Office does not police this process. The office now has a committee to study the evaluation procedure. This committee is called "360" and includes representatives from all bargaining units. The objectives of the committee are to: (1) define performance expectations of employees; and (2) provide feedback to employees from supervisors and from co-workers as well, regarding job performance. The committee is now ready to do a pilot study on campus utilizing these innovative and supportive evaluation techniques, which prevent employees from neglecting duties.

Staff Development

Human Resources has implemented several employee programs including a new employee orientation program. New employees participate in a daylong orientation program that includes discussion of College policies and procedures, review of organizational charts, and a tour of the campus is offered. Information distributed at orientation includes a copy of the pertinent employee labor agreement. At the present time, staff development initiatives for faculty include faculty meetings; leadership training; computer training; teaching strategy; publications and inservices from the Committee for the Excellence in Teaching and Learning; a subscription to the Teaching Professor and Innovative Abstracts; tuition waiver for credit and Continuing Education non-credit courses; and professional development grants. Development initiatives for non-faculty staff include: collaborative problem solving techniques, "brown bag" lunch seminars, computer training and tuition waivers for credit and continuing education non-credit courses. In addition, several new initiatives are being developed

Employee Satisfaction with Human Resources Office

As of the close of 1998, approximately 70% of surveyed employees report neutral or satisfied with the operations and services carried out by the Human Resources Office. Seventy percent also report neutral or satisfied comments regarding the availability of documents, forms, and timely benefit information from the Human Resource Office. In a survey taken early in 1989 prior to the NCA study, the Human Resources office received a lower rating than other College services by faculty, staff, and administrators. Currently, the Human Resource Office is taking every opportunity to address the weaknesses that have existed.

Goals and Objectives

The goals of the Human Resource Office are as follows:

College publications are divided into three basic categories: Primary, Program and Special:

SUMMARY

In summary, Governance has addressed seven areas:

STRENGTHS

Created by Dolores Sharpe/Mott on 04/01/99 Last updated on: 05/07/99