The board of trustees reorganized the board positions, discussed plans for college improvements through federal funding and spoke about the college’s future at the regular board meeting on April 18 in the J. Walter Smith Student Center. The 8 a.m. time change reflected the observance of Passover at sundown.

Anthony Tartaglia and Vahé Peroomian were re-elected to four-year terms on the Glendale Community College Board of Trustees in the Glendale municipal elections on April 5.

The board also rotated its positions in their yearly April elections. Anita Gabrielian, who administered the oath of office to Peroomian and Tartaglia, will be president of the board. Armine Hacopian will be vice president and Ann Ransford will be the clerk for the coming year.

Tartaglia said he thoroughly enjoyed his presidency and thanked Glendale College President Dawn Lindsay, all the vice presidents on the management team and his colleagues.

“We no longer have a one-year resolution on our 5 percent reserve,” Tartaglia said. “This committee has worked hard. We have a 5 percent reserve and that reserve is to be utilized for emergencies and is not to be budgeted down, in this trustee’s opinion.”

Both Tartaglia and Peroomian thanked the public of Glendale, La Crescenta and part of La Cañada for giving them the vote of confidence on April 5.

When the board members returned from a brief recess to reorganize the board, Gabrielian called the meeting to order. Scott Wilk, a partner with Anchor Consulting, LLC, gave the first special presentation about GCC’s federal relations agenda for future GCC projects.

One project is the intercampus shuttle program which plans to bridge the Garfield Campus with GCC. Discretionary grants would fund this project.

Another project is the multimodal transportation facility, which will improve parking, pedestrian access and a bus stop for the Garfield Campus. GCC is seeking a $2.3 million through the Highway Surface Transportation Act, which California Sen. Barbara Boxer hopes to move this year.

Hrach Gregorian, another professional facilitator, joined Wilk in the second half of the presentation.

Hacopian asked what types of programs other colleges are getting funding for.
“There is no question that the physical sciences and technology tend to attract more funding than the arts and humanities,” Gregorian said.

Jewel Price, dean of student services, spoke about the educational initiatives with Glendale sister cities Gimpo and Goseong in South Korea. During her March trip, Price signed agreements with the mayors of the two cities. Gimpo and Goseong plan to send 10 to 15 students each to GCC every year with the first group arriving in spring 2012.

“That is extremely meaningful to us not only in terms of how it will help internationalize our curriculum and bring the culture and perspectives here but it will also bring income to the college,” Price said. “We are very much looking forward to seeing the students.”

The board discussed the acceptance of a grant from the California Department of Education Nutrition Services Division. GCC was given a leadership role to develop a program that will train the culinary instructors who will teach their students to create healthy meals for children.

Lindsay said this was a continuation of a grant from 2007 and will last until June 2012. It will generate an income of $202,114.

The board also discussed the change order for the Child Development Center Instructional Garden, a project that started in October 2010 and is still in progress. The center has requested a change order for installing a new valve and timer, storage units and an irrigation controller and will cost about $5,034.

Lindsay said college funds were not required because the Los Angeles Universal Preschool grant provided the funds for the project. Whether the garden will be open to the public will be discussed at the next meeting.

During the PeopleSoft implementation project budget augmentation, Michael Scott, academic senate president and representative to the board, said that more money would be needed in the coming months.

“We need a commitment from the board that we will be allowed to spend the money that it takes to make it work,” Scott said. “There are a lot of functions that we do on this campus that are not working yet.”

Scott also updated the board about the site visit from the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges about the accreditation. The first recommendation was planning, and they were amazed at the amount of work that GCC did so far.

Faculty Guild President Ramona Barrio-Sotillo said the guild would come to a decision about summer school soon. [An argreement was reached between the Guild and the administration on Friday for a limited summer session.]

Mary Mirch, vice president of instructional services, said the study abroad program to Japan was cancelled on April 1 because of issues associated with the radiation. The director of the study abroad program, Kim Foong Chong, asked if the students would be willing to donate $100 of their deposit to the earthquake and tsunami victims. He collected $3,100.

Gabrielian spoke about Hands Across California, which was an event to raise awareness about how little funding community colleges are getting. She encouraged everyone, if they could, to text 27722 to HANDS for a donation of $10 to raise money for community colleges.

“I think we are entering the most challenging budget year in many decades,” Gabrielian said. “We have to pull together and make sure that we keep students first and that we work with each other and keep an eye on the prize, which is student success.”

Lisa Brooks, executive director of the Glendale College Foundation, announced during the audience comments that GCC will have a campus beautification effort. Although it was spearheaded by Tartaglia, Ransford also encouraged the Glendale Noon Rotary Club’s commitment to GCC.

The event is scheduled for Saturday at Glendale Community College from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Students interested in participating should contact student trustee Janet Shamilian, while faculty or staff should contact Brooks. Volunteers should bring gardening gloves.