India

Yesterday was a special day for us as we met with high level officials of the Indian government.  Most prominent were Prabhat Chaturvedi (Secretary-- Ministry of Labor and Employment), Siddharth Dev Verman (Joint Secretary-- Ministry of Labor and Employment), and R. K. Chugh (Deputy Director General-- Training).  They were in the U.S. on a fact-finding mission. 

 

Many of their problems are not much different from what we encounter in this country.  These include not enough qualified teachers, too few getting the education that will benefit their nation, and financial pressures.  During the ninety minutes we were together we swapped stories, successes and challenges, and learned more about each other's cultures.  A good friend of the college, Dr. Sudha Haley of the U.S. Department of Labor, set up this meeting at the Prince Frederick Campus.  Who knows, maybe CSM's  fourth campus could be in "Southern" India.

 

Brad

 

 

 

Sudha K. Haley, Ph.D.

Senior Policy Advisor

for Africa and South & Central Asia

U.S. Department of Labor

Bureau of International Labor Affairs

Code Green

June has begun, and for the next two months, we try Code Green again.  For those of you not familiar with the college, during Code Green weeks, we close most of the college offices at 1:30 p.m. on Friday afternoons.  Employees who take off for Code Green must make up the time and they do so by taking shorter lunches and coming in earlier or leaving later during the week.  Certain areas of the college are not affected by Code Green, including our Children's Learning Center, our Kids College, and Public Safety.  This year, we allowed employees to opt out of Code Green.  The six employees are assigned to work in open buildings during Friday afternoons.  This year we are making a greater effort to close entire buildings.  My goal is to realize at least a $10,000 savings in energy costs this year.

 

Brad

Budgets

It is always a relief when the Board of Trustees approve an annual operating budget.  It takes months to craft it, and during these tough economic times, we never know if the state or counties will tell us that we will not receive our full allocation.  Because of this uncertainty, we added an additional $1 to the tuition increase, raising it by a total of $5 per credit.  This is more than I wanted to do, but it cushions us in the future. 

 

The biggest disappointment was not being able to give employees a pay increase in July or to return to the merit system.  I am going to do my best to make sure that all regular employees get an increase to their base pay in January (2% market adjustment).  Most county employees are receiving either no increase or a 0.5% increase.  Therefore, we would be making up some lost ground.  We did make progress in our adjunct faculty rates.  Our starting rates, which are too low and are beginning to impact the number of qualified individuals wishing to teach for us, will go up by $30 per credit hour on July 1 and the other two categories will see smaller increases.  These faculty have not received an increase in five years-- much too long! 

 

Stay tuned!

Commencement 2010

Commencements are always very special and this one did not disappoint.  Sitting on stage is definitely the best way to observe the event as you can see the excitement and joy of everyone in the audience.  This one started out well, with a wonderful rendition of the National Anthem.  Then it was my turn.  For some reason, I was nervous, but composed myself as I walked to the podium-- a long walk, even though it probably measured three steps.  I had struggled with an idea for my remarks.  Should I mention the ten students who had died during this happy/joyful event?  Would it taint the rest of the evening?  Yet, something in me felt strongly that I had to do it, especially if I could make it a teachable moment.  I wanted to make sure that our students understood how precious a gift we all have.  I had rehearsed my remarks several times without a hitch, so I was surprised when a flood of sadness washed over me as I told the audience about these departed students.  It was all that I could do not to show it (but I think I did). 

 

The high point of the event is obviously the awarding of the diplomas.  That went without a hitch until a half dozen covers slid off the table and at the feet of a nursing student.  As I bent down to pick them up, I heard her exclaim, with a high degree of frustration, "Sure, this would happen when I am up on stage!"  I was thinking, "Hey, I am the one who looks stupid here," but grimly picked up the rest of the covers. 

 

After the ceremony, I stopped in at the reception and was so pleased when a mother thanked me for my remarks.  It seems that her daughter had been in a serious car accident and "through the grace of God" she was present to collect her degree. 

 

Summer is now officially here!

 

 

On Being Neutral

Well, the political campaigns will soon kick into high gear.  This is a time when most presidents get a bit nervous.  It's not only about which candidate will be most supportive, it is also trying one's best not to be seen as supporting one candidate over another.  This can be a slippery slope.

 

Case in point was today, when Gov. Ehrlich asked to visit our Center for Trades and Energy Training.  He wanted to tour the facility and host a round-table of workforce development instructors.  We were able to comply and it was a very productive meeting. 

 

Does this mean that we support Gov. Ehrlich?  No, we would extend this opportunity to any gubernatorial candidate.  So, if Gov. O'Malley wishes to visit a campus, we would follow our rules and allow him to do it. 

 

Just like with legislative sessions, I am so happy when elections are over!

 

Brad

State funding

Well, the legislative session is now history and we have our FY '11 allocation-- well sort of...see below.

 

The $5.4 million cut to all of the community colleges was left intact.  What changed was how the distribution of the cuts would be made.  The community colleges have had a "Cade Formula" for several years now that was actually put in place by the legislature.  It pegs community college allocations to what the University of Maryland system receives for its students.  When I arrived in 2006, it was about 25% of the University's allocation.  That means that if the university system received $10,000 for each full-time equivalent student, then we would receive $2,500 for each of ours.  That percentage was to slowly move from 25% to 30%.  With the state's downturn it is now closer to 22%.

 

Anyway, the budget proposed to the legislature did not use the Cade formula (which is enrollment driven) to allocate the cuts and as a result, we were slated to lose $282,000.  The legislature approved a budget with the $5.4 million in cuts, but agreed to use the Cade formula.  That meant that we will be flat funded, while others like Montgomery, PG, and Ann Arundel will lose hundreds of thousands of dollars more.  I think you can imagine my take on this...if there is a formula approved by the legislature then use it.

 

Before anybody gets excited that we won't lose almost $300,000 from our allocation and will be essentially flat, just look at what happened during the current year.  We were allocated an ADDITIONAL $350,000, but within the first few months of the fiscal years, that was rescinded and an additional $200,000 was cut from the budget for a total cut of $550,000.  The same thing could happen this summer.

 

Stay tuned...

 

Brad

Comments

It is always great to get responses to my posts!  I received two about my last one...

 

To Michael, no the money is starting to flow from the Federal government to community college programs and we will be applying for most of them.  I was mainly talking about the state's inability to fund community colleges as much as they would like.

 

To Amy, I am sorry to hear about your situation. Because it is a personnel matter, I cannot comment on it.  I hope that things work out for you in the future.

 

Brad Gottfried