The new budget and accreditation progress reports were the main focus of the college’s board of trustee’s agenda Monday, which also featured former board member and Glendale Mayor Ari Najarian who had recently visited Gosong, South Korea.
During Najarian’s trip to Glendale’s sister city, he met with Gosong’s Mayor Chang Lee with whom he discussed Korea’s plan to send high school graduates to study at colleges in the U.S.
Najarian said that Lee spoke encouragingly of sending cohorts of 20 to 50 students to study for up to a year at GCC. The students would be particularly interested in studying English, law and sociology. Lee plans to visit the college at a time yet to be determined.
Also at the board meeting, the Character and Ethics Project presented GCC with two banners in recognition of the outstanding character of the school’s student athletes. The banners symbolize that GCC supports producing good character. They shall serve as a reminder to the generations of future students who attend GCC that character does count. The location of the banners has yet to be determined but they will most likely be hung side by side in the gymnasium.
The second special presentation was the Achievement of Academic Rank. Applications for advancement in rank are reviewed annually by the Academic Senate’s Academic Rank committee and submitted to the Senate for approval. The following candidates were approved at the May 20, 2010 meeting: Peter Green (Music), Patricia Hironymous (ESL), John Leland (Geology), Robert Conover (Biology), Michael Reed (Geography), Jayne Campbell (Music), Jeanette Farr (Theatre Arts), Sarah McLemore (ESL), Deborah Robiglio (ESL), Nick Sahakyan (Armenian), Kirk Vaughn (ESL), Jan Young (Developmental Skills), Diane Adamson (English), Gary Covitt (Biology), Diana Diekman (Dance), Edwin Fallahi (ESL), Cheryl Johnson (ESL), Eileen Elizabeth Roth (Psychology) and Carmelinda Vescelus (Home Arts).
The Measure G Funds balances and schedule update determined that the Garfield campus expansion update is expecting occupancy in the fall of 2011. The site grading and steel columns are complete with the floor framing in process. A structural redesign of the building is being made to accommodate a new shoring wall project. This approach is designed to reduce overall building costs. Reducing building costs has become a point of emphasis.
The District opener for year two of the collective bargaining agreement with the California School Employees Association was also discussed. After the adoption of the California state budget, the district agrees to negotiate any necessary compensation adjustments. It was recommended that the board of trustees approve forwarding the district openers for year two of the collective bargaining agreement with the CEA, through the negotiation process.
The City of Glendale proposes to install and maintain ice storage units which will assist and improve some of the GCC’s HVAC units. The system is designed to absorb off-peak load and distribute it during on-peak episodes while consuming equal or less energy. The installation and maintenance will be at no cost to the college. In order to maintain this system, the city of Glendale must have regular access to the units. This grant will allow the Glendale Department of Water and Power access to the ice storage units for continued maintenance and operation of the system. A copy of the easement is on file in the purchasing office and will be carried out and recorded by the City after Board approval.
The college solicited its bid for the auditorium power upgrade project. The deadline for response was Aug. 24 and one bid was received from A-1 Electric. The company has completed several other projects for the college. This project will include the installation of two electrical panel boards and new lighting controls which will update the existing outdated electrical system in the college auditorium. This project is a state-funded scheduled maintenance project.
The board approved a final plan proposal for the Aviation/Art building modernization project in which the building will be converted to accommodate the music department. This project will expand the restroom facilities, create music department offices, music practice rooms, a large recital hall, an instrumental recital hall and two music labs. The remodeled area will consist of the existing hangar, test cell, and classroom laboratory rooms.
Information regarding the meeting can be found at www.glendale.edu under the Board of Trustees button.