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 www.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.
Greenfield — Greenfield Community College has been awarded a $372,000 grant for a Sustainable Practices in Construction (SPC) project that will help local business leaders send employees to the college for training in renewable energy technology.
The college applied for the grant from the Workforce Competitiveness Trust Fund (WFCT) after it decided to launch a series of courses teaching students and people in the community practical ways to become more environmentally friendly. The courses offered this summer and fall include "introduction to photovoltaic technology” (panels that convert solar energy into electricity), "photovoltaic installation”, "solar domestic hot water”, "passive solar technology” and "energy conservation and efficiency,” and more classes are being planned for spring. Resources from the SPC project grant will support the development of a comprehensive sustainable energy program, called Renewable Energy Workforce Education (RENEWED) at GCC. It will eventually include a certificate program and then, in the next three years or so, a two-year associate degree program focusing on this technology, said Nancy Bair, of GCC's workforce development office, who is the program manager on this project.
Bair said that she is particularly excited about the Sustainable Practices in Construction grant for several reasons. She thinks that Franklin County and western Massachusetts in general will be leaders in the sustainable energy industry because of its history of the area and the concentration of talent already here. In addition, she said, "GCC is a key academic, economic and cultural contributor in our region, setting high national and state standards for graduating competent employees into our workforce and transferring well prepared students into other colleges and universities.”
"The SPC grant will help expand the college's new program in the timely manner required by the new energy demands in our country and the world," Bair said. "We will be providing employers with highly qualified employees that will strengthen our local economy, and we will be taking leadership in helping to solve a serious world-wide problem."
The SPC project is being funded by the Commonwealth Corporation of Massachusetts, a quasi-public agency of the state responsible for workforce development and training, through its WFCT.
The courses are meant to provide community members and students with the skills to install and maintain the new green technology that can help cut back on our carbon emissions. There is a growing demand for this technology, but the supply of people who know how it works has not caught up to that demand. They are being offered either for credit, for students seeking a degree, or as noncredit courses for people already in the workforce who want to expand their skills.
Teresa Jones, who is an adjunct instructor and the program coordinator for the renewable energy education courses, came up with the idea for the classes along with Brian Adams, professor of environmental studies and natural resources and chair of the Science Department.
The college is partnering with area business owners and individual contractors on the project. The SPC grant, which was announced on June 7, will pay for employees to attend the classes for free, under the condition that the partner businesses will give their employees paid leave to attend the classes.
"The partners are paying for their employees to go to school," Bair said. "We have, and this is unprecedented in our experience, 30 partners working with us on this project."
This project continues GCC's commitment to provide access to educational excellence for everyone in the community who seeks it.
"The Renewable Energy Workforce Education program is a great fit for our college and a great fit for our community. This collaborative is focusing on the right issue and creating the right process and these are the right partner," said GCC President Robert Pura "This is just smart economic development for our community and GCC is pleased to be an active partner in this effort. It is clear that the WFCT agrees and we welcome them as an active and engaged partner."
GCC's partners in the grant are: Franklin Hampshire Regional Employment Board/Career Center , Center for New Americans, The Literacy Project, International Language Institute, Cowls Building Supplies, Stiebel Eltron, Inc., Rugg Building Solutions, Deerfield Valley Heating and Cooling, E.W. Martin Electric, Northeast Sustainable Energy Association, Craig Builders, Palmeri Electric, Sandri Oil, Coldham & Hartman Architects, Rice Oil Company, Inc., Berkshire Photovoltaic Services, HAP, Inc., Rural Development, Inc., Center for Educational Technology, Coop Power, Northeast Biodiesel Co, LLC, Pioneer Valley PhotoVoltaics, Smith Vocational Agricultural High School, Franklin County Technical School, Greenfield Public School District, Mohawk Trail Regional Schools, Kosmo Solar, Inc., Thayer Street Associates, Pioneer Valley Regional Planning Commission, F.W. Webb Corporation, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, Carpenters Local 108.
GCC plans to train 240 people through this program: 150 workers, many of whom will take more than one course; 30 members of "special populations” including young people, older workers and those needing English language training; and 60 college students who are transitioning into energy programs.
Patricia Crosby, executive director of the Franklin Hampshire Regional Employment Board, said it is exciting that GCC is partnering with the Employment Board as well as the vocational school and adult basic education programs.
"GCC isn't just creating a sequence of courses; they're committed to building a pipeline of new workers for this field, and they recognize they need help from the rest of the public education and training system to do so," Crosby said.
She said that according to the most recent state job vacancy report , which came out in the second quarter of 2006, hiring in the construction sector surged in the Pioneer Valley, along with hiring in education services and health. Job vacancies in these three areas rose by 35 percent. The construction industry posted a vacancy rate of 5.7 percent, higher even than healthcare.
"We feel it's going to give us the opportunity to be in on the ground floor, so to speak, in terms of responding to workforce needs in the rapidly emerging industry area of green building and energy efficiency," Crosby said.
Bair said this deal helps employees by giving them opportunities for raises and promotions and it helps business owners have more highly-skilled workers and it helps them reduce employee turnover.
In addition to Bair, Crosby, Jones and Adams, the project management team working on implementing the project includes Lindy Gougeon, associate dean of the Math, Science, Business & Information Technology division; Bob Barba, associate dean of Community Education; and Dale Macleod, of GCC's Development Department, who wrote the proposal for the grant.
For a complete listing of these and other GCC courses, please pick up a free copy of the summer course guide at the GCC main campus or downtown campus or go online to www.gcc.mass.edu. For more information about this program please contact Jones at jones@gcc.mass.edu.
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