Once a month Parkland’s Board of Trustees meets to discuss and act on issues concerning the college. This public forum is a chance for the community to view the innerworkings of the college and take part developing its plans for the future. This month’s meeting, that took place on Nov. 17, highlighted a successful holiday event, a new partnership, Parkland’s IT department and policies, scholarships and more.
The meeting began on-time at 7:00 pm Wednesday night with all of the trustees were in attendance either in-person or remotely. The first order of business was to say the pledge of allegiance before quickly moving into monthly decision making. Immediately following the pledge, Trustee Timothy Johnson moved to vote on reoccurring topics, this was done to remove these topics from discussion. Some of the topics included approving dates and invoices, as well as accepting and applying funding from external sources. These motions were unanimously approved by the board.
Following the multiple approved motions, Parkland’s President Dr. Tom Ramage gave a report to the board. In speaking, he covered several topics starting with a call for recognition. Having just passed Veterans Day, Dr. Ramage thanked board members who served in the military and discussed Parkland’s Presentation of Veterans 2021. He especially thanked Tim Wendt, Parkland Admissions and Records Director, for putting together the virtual program to thank our veterans.
Dr. Ramage went on to cover multiple topics, especially highlighting a new partnership between Parkland and the agricultural technology company AGCO. This partnership will allow AGCO to bring equipment into Parkland’s old collision repair center. It will give faculty and students access to AGCO technology. Dr. Ramage suggested that this may be a growing partnership and believes a new degree and/or certificate program could be developed. In reaction to this news Trustee Dana Trimble said, “That’s pretty exciting news and there’s real potential there.” This partnership is for the upcoming spring semester, more will be released about this partnership in the coming days.
After Dr. Ramage finished his report, Amin Kassem, Parkland’s Chief Information Officer, gave a presentation pertaining to the IT department. This presentation reviewed Parkland’s cybersecurity policy, highlighted areas of achievement, and laid out the need for improvements. Kassem described efforts of the IT department over the last 5 years to modernize and improve our digital infrastructure. Since 2016 Parkland has undertaken, and completed, 60 large IT projects. These projects are defined as requiring more than 160 hours of work or $20,000 to complete. Of these, some accomplishments have been the implementation of Microsoft Office 365 and revamping our public website.
Following Kassem’s presentation, Tracy Wahlfeldt, Executive Director of the Parkland Foundation, gave a report on the activities of the foundation. The foundation distributed 287 scholarships in the fall semester adding up to nearly $300,000 in awards. So far this year, 359 students have applied for spring semester foundation scholarships. Also, the foundation has endowed three new scholarships. Shedding light into the fundraising process, Wahlfeldt disclosed that one event, the Creating Impact Celebration, brought in over $66,000.
Wahlfeldt also discussed Parkland’s Athletic Hall of Fame. An induction ceremony was rescheduled after previously being planned for January of 2022. As of now, induction ceremonies are now planned for October of 2022 and January of 2023. In October, the ceremony will induct an entire volleyball team to
reward their performance. In January, two classes of athletes will be inducted to the hall of fame. Of these athletes, former parkland baseball players who have now earned major league accreditation will be honored.
The meeting would continue for another hour following Wahlfeldt’s report. In this time, legislative and financial activities were discussed and/or voted on. Every measure to be presented to the board was passed with unanimous consent. For more information about the board and the minutes from past meetings, check out the Parkland Board of Trustee’s website.
