Accreditation:

The draft copy of the Progress Report that addressed recommendation # 2 of the Accreditation Commission that placed the College of Micronesia-FSM on "warning status" was e-mailed to Dr. Barbara Beno, Executive Director for Accrediting Commission for Community & Junior Colleges (ACCJC) on Friday, October 15, 2004. The Executive Director and her staff will review the draft and send their comments to the Interim President for inclusion in the final report that will be submitted to Dr. Beno's office sometime during the week of October 18-24, 2004.

Dr. Barbara Beno has been asked by the Pacific Postsecondary Education Council (PPEC) Presidents to develop a white paper on accreditation issues that will be used in meetings that the Presidents and Dr. Beno will be having with the boards and the leaders of the entities that have PPEC U.S accredited institutions.

Board of Regents:

The College of Micronesia-FSM Board of Regents will be meeting in Pohnpei on December 6-9, 2004. The preparation timeline for the next Board meeting is given below:

Chuuk Star Hotel:

The Board of Regents and the Administration of the College have been meeting with the leaders of the FSM National and Chuuk State Governments regarding securing funds for the acquisition of Chuuk Star Hotel as the future permanent site for the COM-FSM Campus/Chuuk. Earlier this week, a letter was received from the Honorable Detor Santos, President of the Senate for the Seventh Chuuk State Legislature, informing the Chairman of the Board that Chuuk Legislature has appropriated $854,000 for the establishment of the Small Business Development Center at the Chuuk Campus. This letter also informed the Chairman that Chuuk Legislature also appropriated $500,000 under the Infrastructure Development Bill for the COM-FSM Campus/Chuuk.

This is good news for the College because in due course, the product of our efforts and hard work will come to fruition.

The Administration of the College also learned last week that it can secure Chuuk Star Hotel using the Compact II funds.

Budget Hearings:

The guidelines for the development of the system-wide FY 2006 budget directed all sectors of the College to submit their budgets to Comptroller's Office on October 5, 2004, for consolidation. The Comptroller consolidated all submitted budgets for FY 2006. The Comptroller has indicated the FY 2006 expenditures budget submitted by all sectors of the College is about $819,000 over the projected revenue.

The Finance Committee is meeting department and activity heads from all campuses this week (October 18-22) to cut from the budget so the Administration can submit a balance budget to the Board for review and action at its December 2004 meeting.

Highlights from the Campuses:

The College of Micronesia-FSM is collaborating with the University of Hawaii at Manoa and other Pacific Postsecondary Education Council (PPEC) Institutions on a National Science Foundation Project called "Partnership for Advanced Marine and Environmental Science Training for Pacific Islanders." The objective of the project is to select one or two students from PPEC institutions to attend summer institute at the University of Hawaii during summer for the purpose of conducting a research project with a mentor faculty. Students who attend the summer institute at UH and do exceptional research will be given a $15,000 scholarship. This project will also train faculty members during summer sessions at the University of Hawaii. The project is a three years project, and the College of Micronesia-FSM will be getting $74,000 per year from the project. The contact person at the College for this project is Mr. Spensin James.

The College of Micronesia-FSM is entering into an agreement with the FSM Department of Economic Affairs for the Biodiversity Clearinghouse Mechanism for the Federated States of Micronesia. The College will be receiving $20,000 a year from this agreement.

Financial Aid Officer at Chuuk Campus, Ms. Elina Mori, and three (3) students from the Chuuk Campus were among a group of seven (7) people who are missing after attempting to reach the upper Mortlock Islands a week and half ago. We would like to ask everyone to remember these seven missing people in our prayers and thoughts.

The Interim President and Mr. Francisco Mendiola, Director of Maintenance, traveled to the State of Kosrae during the week of September 29, 2004, to meet with the leadership there and lobby for their supports on co-funding construction of facilities at the COM-FSM Campus/Kosrae. The results of the meetings with the Kosrae State leadership were very positive. Similar meetings were held in Pohnpei with the leadership of Pohnpei State on October 6-7, 2004, and the results were also very encouraging.

The Ad Hoc Committee on Chuuk Star Hotel had a series of meetings with Mr. Peter Christian, Speaker of the FSM Congress and Mrs. Anna Mendiola, President and General Manager of the FSM Development Bank. The Committee learned from President Mendiola that a potential buyer for the Chuuk Star Hotel has submitted a proposal to the Bank for review and action. The College must work quickly on securing the funds to purchase the hotel or else lose out on the deal.

Personnel:

Xavier Yarofmal was hired as the vocational instructor for Carpentry/Cabinetmaking at Pohnpei Campus, and Mr. Kun Floyd joined the MITC team to fill the position of Media Technician.

Thank you.