Greenfield — A national survey has shown that Greenfield Community College is a top school when it comes to engaging its students. At its June 25 Monday morning meeting, the GCC Board of Trustees was presented with a report on the College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE), a national survey that question students on a wide range of measures regarding their engagement at the college.

This is the second year GCC has participated in the survey, and the results showed that GCC is doing even better than what had been shown the first year of the survey, though no real changes had been implemented at the college by the time the students took the second survey in spring of 2006.

The survey asks questions in five general categories: "active and collaborative learning," "support for learners," "student effort," "academic challenge," and "student-faculty interaction."

The results from the 2005 survey showed GCC was above average in all the categories, except "student effort." The school ranked lower than average in this category, specifically in the amount of time students used the computer lab. This year the school ranked above average in all categories, with all categories in the 80th decile, except "student effort," which was in the 70 decile. Pamela Matheson, a research specialist for GCC, said that the difference doesn't reflect a change at GCC, but a change in the comparison group. In 2005, a large group of technical community colleges took the survey, skewing the computer usage results. The surveys are now compared to all schools who took the survey over a three-year period. The survey has been taken by 447 community colleges across 46 states.

Matheson said this year' results are a truer picture of the GCC's quality than last year's survey was, proving that GCC is even better than they thought.

"Last year I said (GCC) was a hidden gem in the mountains of Franklin County — it's the Hope Diamond," she said.

More information about the survey can be read online at www.ccsse.org, or at GCC's Web site at gcc.mass.edu.

The Board also voted to accept GCC President Robert Pura's recommendation to keep leasing the downtown campus building from the GCC Foundation.

Students from the nursing and health occupation programs use the building now, but will return to the main campus when renovations are complete. That left the college to decide what to do with the building once the classes are moved back to the main campus. The Community Education courses will be expanded at the site, as some of the classes are already taught there. Later the building may be used to expand the workforce development program or use for other GCC needs, including offices or classrooms.

The Community Education courses that will likely be expanded, based on the recommendation, include the Senior Symposium program, which has grown from 135 annual enrollment to 469 students in just four year and is now responsible for 15 percent of the total Community Education enrollment; the arts and crafts program, including building a new studio and classroom space; and the dance and movement program.

The Board gave its annual review of President Pura, which was once again exceptional.

Patricia Crosson, chair of the Board, called President Pura a superb college president and commended him on his courage to look hard at the school to find its flaws and figure out ways to fix them. She said that participating in the CCSSE survey is an example of that.

Pura said the review was humbling.

"This evaluation is a reflection of a truly exceptional college and a truly exceptional faculty and staff," Pura said. "I'm most appreciative of all of you in this room, the Board and the faculty and staff of GCC. It is their work that is honored by this evaluation"

In financial news, the Board accepted an increase of $5 for nursing school fees, bringing them to $25 per credit, and an increase of $3 for general college service fees, which brings those fees to $119.50 per credit. The fee increase will help to partially offset the reduction in state assistance, but an increase in financial aid will help students offset their fee increases. The total increase in revenues from the fee increase is expedited to be $13,600 per year.

The budget has not been finalized this year because figures from the state are not solid yet. The Board accepted Pura's recommendation to proceed with a temporary operational budget to get through the first financial quarter until the final budget can be approved.

For now it looks like the college will get a 6 percent increase in its funding from the state, but 5.5 percent of that will have to be set aside for collective bargaining with the unions, leaving the school with only about a $70,000 increase. Pura said the school is holding out hope for a Capital Bill, more financial aide, dual enrollment support and an endowment match to be passed, which would increase funding to the college. But, he said, regardless of whether the bills pass, the college will continue to strive to provide excellent, accessible education for the community.

The Board welcomed a new member, student representative Jamie Chew, 25, who is a Liberal Arts major. Chew said she attended the University of Washington in Seattle, Wash., before moving here and felt that she got lost in the large school. She has been happy at GCC and said she wanted to join the Board to become more involved with the school and the community.