MHCC board plans to ‘unleash’ potential

As Mt. Hood Vice President Richard Doughty said, the theme of Wednesdays board meeting was, “unleashing the potential.”

Before we get to the dirty details, it is pertinent to mention that the board room got a completely new look since November. The large, pink chairs have been tossed and replaced with sleek, black office chairs. Even the tables around the board meeting were replaced with newer tables.

Gresham Toyota contributed to the new look in the boardroom, according to Al Sigala, director of the MHCC Foundations and Alumni Relations.

The evening started off with President Debbie Derr introducing MHCC’s new director of marketing, Bruce Battle, to the board members.

After presenting his qualifications, Battle said he is already “out there looking at meeting with vendors and other marketing/advertising opportunities.” This will get MHCC’s name and mission out to the community as well as potentially increasing enrollment, he said.

Next came a presentation from AVID, a program on campus that allows for students to seek help with their classes, whether it be tutoring or extra college success courses – “(e)specially for those students traditionally underrepresented in higher education,” according to the group’s website.

AVID has been doing really well recently, so they advocated for broadening their program to include more students without hiring more resources (teachers). Three students from the program shared their personal stories about the program.

The Strategic Planning Task Force followed, with its own presentation. The Strategic Planning Council presented three narratives from the perspectives of students, the community, and MHCC partners (the Foundation, business representatives, business leaders, faculty and staff, and government organizations). These hypothetical narratives were each group’s predictions of their expectations for the college five years from now.

After the narratives were read, Derr said, “I know the input we got (the narratives) was honest in relation to where we are while honest and hopeful with where we are going.”

Doughty discussed what was being done within the MHCC budget to offer more fiscal opportunities for the college. Between now and Feb. 1, he and other key budget officials will meet with the budget managers of each college department to help them develop their budget proposals.

“I think we accomplished some good things last fall in getting the process out in front of people, getting them to think about what they’re doing, and being more ready in January to engage,” said. Doughty.

The MHCC Head Start and Oregon School Employees Association bargaining agreement of 2014-2016 was approved and signed, after a little deliberation. Board Member Bob Coen was worried about the specification and wording of some sections in the document, before his concerns were put to rest by Head Start presenters Susan Brady, director of children’s development and family studies, and Director Jean Wagner.

The night concluded with brief discussion of President Barack Obama’s proposal for two free years of community college for qualified students. Derr suggested further talks on the issue in upcoming board meetings.