The 2017 Clery Report, updates on the coding academy and the truck driving program, and possible additions to seating at the track and field facilities were among the topics discussed during the October meeting of the South Plains College Board of Regents.
Dr. Lynn Cleavinger, dean of students at SPC, presented the Annual Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Report, which the college is required to issue every year because of the Jeanne Clery act.
“This went out to the whole community on September 28 that afternoon,” Dr. Cleavinger explained. “It is electronically available on the South Plains College website. It is a compilation of all of the crime statistics from all of our campuses for the year and information about everything we do.”
Dr. Cleavinger also presented The Safety and Security Audit, which SPC is required to conduct every three years.
“Basically, what we found is that about 90 percent of the items on the audit we were already doing,” Dr. Cleavinger explained. “Such as the Emergency Operations plan, which you will be hearing about soon, and the camera security implementation. We’ve really been doing a lot of things safety-wise as we’ve been going along, and that showed up as we were doing the school safety audit.”
Dr. Ryan Gibbs, vice president of academic affairs, provided updates on both the Lubbock Coding Academy and the CDL truck driving program.
“We have two Workforce programs that are in progress, and you’ve been hearing about these for quite a while,” Dr. Gibbs said. “The Lubbock Coding Academy is one that we have been talking about for over a year. We are very close. We’re in the process of getting the contract finalized, but we have purchasing and lawyers looking at it to make sure that we don’t have any surprises. My anticipated start date for that program would be mid-January.”
Dr. Gibbs explained that the CDL program is in the request for proposal (RFP) quote process, which will close Oct. 16.
“We will review those and hopefully select our vendor,” Dr. Gibbs explained. “I also anticipate that program to kick off in mid-January as well. We anticipate having 200 to 300 a year for licensing CDL drivers.”
Dr. Gibbs also discussed the need to find a new Dean of Health Occupations.
“Ms. Lopez is retiring, and we’re going to need to replace her,” Dr. Gibbs said. “We will try to find somebody that is able to do her job. This is probably going to be one of the biggest challenges. Because of the complexity of the position, we have already posted the position and we’re looking forward to getting qualified applicants.”
Sue Ann Lopez, the current dean of health occupations, has agreed to stay on in a consulting role to help the nursing program through their accreditation process, which is coming up after the spring semester begins.
Dr. Gibbs briefly discussed that the Diesel Technology Program received Associated Equipment Dealers Foundation (AED) accreditation.
“What that basically means is that this group that has been around for 100 years, based out of Chicago, has determined that our educational facilities in our educational programs meet their rigorous standards for equipment dealers,” explained Dr. Gibbs. “There’s 50 of them across the nation, and South Plains College is the first one in the state of Texas to achieve that accreditation. We are very excited about that, and extremely proud of the work that Whitney and his staff has done to achieve. Also the work of dean Rob Blair and the department chair. There’s been a lot of time and effort.”
Dr. Robin Satterwhite, SPC president, discussed the possibility of adding seating to the track and field facilities.
“Currently, every year we hold the Region 1-1A track meet,” Dr. Satterwhite explained. “The UIL has contacted us, and we have begun discussing holding 2A track and field. There’s a lot of people that come on campus. This is a great opportunity to bring people out and show them what South Plains College has to offer. If we’re going to have 1A and 2A track, that requires some more seating.”
Dr. Satterwhite is looking at adding more seating on the southeast side of the track, which will add about 500 more seats. Dr. Satterwhite presented a quote of $84,000 for the projected seating.
“Let me tell you how we’re going to pay for this,” Dr. Satterwhite said. “Our interest fee for UIL 1A is about $16,000, and that’s what we get from entrance fees from all the different schools. With 2A, it will be bring in about $32,000 a year, just in entrance fees. If we can keep this for three years, we will easily be able to pay for this. Our national track meet in 2021 will be in here in Levelland also. So this is just part of a plan to upgrade our track facilities. I think it’s in order to accommodate the 2A.”
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