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M E M O R A N D U M


January 26, 2005

To: All Concerned

From: Interim President

Subject: Update from the President's Office - No. 245

 

Accreditation

The College of Micronesia-FSM community is anticipating the results of the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges decision regarding the College's Progress Report which was submitted on October 15, 2004. The decision of the commission will be communicated to Interim President during the first week of February 2005.

The Accreditation Working group is working on the second progress report that will be submitted to the Accrediting Commission by March 15, 2005. An outline and draft of the report will be sent out to faculty, staff, and students for their comments and inputs during the first week of February 2005. The Accreditation Working group has less than six (6) weeks to complete the report for the COM-FSM Board of Regents to review and act on it at their March 7-9, 2005, meeting in Yap.

The Accreditation Working Group has been informed by Mrs. Sue Moses, PPEC Representative to the Accrediting Commission, that it is a must that the College continues to work on the following: program review, outstanding recommendations, and new recommendations.

One of the outstanding recommendations from the Commission is the development and distribution of the Manuals of Administrative Policies and Procedures. The College has developed some of these manuals; however, these must be distributed to all campuses and key staff for their reference and use. The Interim President will be printing about 50 copies of each manual and distributing them to all Campuses by the end of February 2005.

Articulation

The articulation of the Third Year Courses in Accounting and Business Administration has begun since the early part of January 2005 with the University of Hawaii at Hilo. Mr. Jim Mellon, the lead person on articulation of courses and program at the University informed the Interim President Office that review of courses from the COM-FSM Third Year Program in Accounting/Business Administration is underway and that they need a copy of the course outline for BU 355 Business Management for their review to finalize the articulation process. This is the second regional university that has attempted to articulate the Third Year Program courses with their courses. We reported in the last update that the University of Guam has started articulating the Third Year Program courses in Accounting/Business Administration with their courses.

Board of Regent

The next COM-FSM Board of Regents meeting is tentatively scheduled to take place in Yap State during the week of March 7-10, 2005. The Directors of the Campuses and key staff at the College are busy providing responses to the BOR Directives from the past meetings.

A training workshop for the Board of Regents and the presidents of the Pacific Post Secondary Education Council (PPEC) has been tentatively scheduled during the week of March 16-20, 2005 in Guam. The PPEC will cover all expenses for at least two BOR members and the colleges will cover the expenses for the rest of their BOR members.

Chuuk Star Hotel Project

The Chuuk Star Hotel working group met on Wednesday, 11/19/05, at 3 p.m. in the President's Conference Room. Since Compact II funds under Fiscal Years 2004 and 2005 cannot be used in securing the Chuuk Star Hotel as the future permanent site for Chuuk Campus, the working group explored the following options: $840,000 SEG carry over funds, other land options, and Nantaku site. The group recommended that Interim President contact the President of the FSM Development Bank and get more information on potential buyers. The working group also recommended that a meeting should be arranged with the FSM President so more information can be obtained on the SEG funding. The working group will meet after the meeting with FSM President to determine what recommendation it should send to the BOR regarding the Chuuk Star Hotel.

Fundraising Steering Committee

The Fundraising Steering Committee will meet on Thursday, 1/27/05, to review the investment policies and goals and its action plans for this semester.


Fiscal Year 2005 First Quarter Performance Based Budget Report

The College of Micronesia-FSM submitted its Fiscal Year 2005 First Quarter Performance Based Budget Report to the FSM Finance/Budget Office on January 20, 2005.

The College also submitted its Fiscal Year 2006 Performance Based Budget for the two Supplemental Education Grant (SEG) Programs to the FSM Division of Education for inclusion in the FSM overall SEG PBB for FY 2006. The College also learned that a
substantial amount of left-over SEG funds had been set aside by the FSM President for the College to use in supplementing its operational budget. Interim President is trying to
arrange for a meeting with the FSM President to get more information on the subject funds.

Spring Semester 2005 Registration

The enrollment at the National Campus for Spring Semester 2005 is 801. The projected enrollment for National Campus for Spring Semester 2005 is 800. Enrollment at other campuses will be included in the next update as we have not received the information from the other campuses yet.

Facilities Construction at COM-FSM Campuses

The bids for the following infrastructure projects at the campuses have been awarded to the following construction companies in the FSM:

Project Company Campus
Concrete Parking Lot EMC National
Library, Computer Lab, Toilets, and generator house Vincent & Brothers Chuuk

Workshops/Sessions

The Interim President attended the opening session of the FSM Congress Session on January 17, 2005.

The Interim President also opened and welcomed the participants of the Financial Management Training Workshop for the COM-FSM Land Grant Extension Agents on January 18, 2005, at the National Campus. The focus of the workshop was on skills and information the Extension Agents needed in securing loans from banks that can be taught to the farmers in the FSM.

MIP-NPS Accounting Workshop has been scheduled during the week of January 25-28, 2005, at the National Campus. The workshop is for the fiscal officers in preparation for decentralization of account receivables at the state campuses. We are expecting 18 participants from all campuses except Yap Campus to attend this important workshop that will be conducted by a consultant from MIP Office in Texas.

Mr. Serphin Ilesiuyalo, Fiscal Officer, FSM-FMI and Interim President represented the College at the Ways and Means Committee of the FSM Congress hearings on January 24, 2005, regarding the $275,000 supplemental appropriation request for the FSM-FMI. The supplemental appropriation request has two components: $200,000 for the operation of the FSM-FMI and $75,000 for the overdue lease payment for the FSM-FMI site.

Personnel

The following are the hiring activities and resignations for the last quarter (October 2004 to January 2005):

National Campus:

New hires:
Mike Ioanis - Student Services Specialist I for the Peer Counseling Center
Cavanagh Eperiam - Maintenance Worker II

Resignations:
Peri Poland - Language and Literature Instructor
Eric Mecklenburg - Language and Literature Instructor
Norleen Oliver - Information System Specialist I

Transfers:
Gregg Longenaecker transferred from Math/Science to Business Division
Herman Semes is splitting his time between teaching business courses at National Campus and working on the start up of the preliminary Small Business Development Center work at Pohnpei Campus.

Pohnpei Campus:

New Hires:
Joycelyn Roby - Vocational HRM Teaching Assistant
Stanley Etse - Student Services Specialist II (Counselor)
Christine Tamalavage - English Instructor
Dr. John Fink - English Instructor

Resignations:
Divine Grace Gasapo - TSP Student Services Specialist I

Yap Campus:

New Hires:
Constance Rulyag - UB Program

Resignations:
Gertrude Mangarwen - Student Specialist II

Kosrae Campus:

Resignations:
Howard Abraham - English Instructor
Dr. Josekutty, Land Grant Researcher, effective 2/19/05

Chuuk Campus:

New Hire:
Lyte Chapap - Math Science Instructor

October 22, 2004, Incident

Several dorm students were injured during the night of October 22, 2004. The incident started when some of the dorm students got drunk from drinking liquor at the stores across the street from the National Campus and started harassing cars traveling between Kitti and Kolonia. One of the passengers in one of the cars traveling to Kitti was hurt by the dorm students and this resulted in the people from the Dien, Kitti coming to National Campus and entering the campus and the dorm and injuring the students.

The whole incident caused the administration of the College to schedule a series of meetings with the traditional leaders and chiefs of the communities and villages close to the National Campus. A number of recommendations were given to the administration of the College to implement. One of these recommendations is to establish sport activities between the dorm students and youths in the communities and villages close to the National Campus. The administration of the College would like to express its sincere appreciation and thanks to the staff of the student recreation for establishing a schedule of sport activities between the dorm students and the youths in the communities and villages close to the National Campus.

Another recommendation is to set up a sponsorship program between the college and the neighboring communities. The sponsorship program will start with families in Paies and then be extended to other communities and villages, if the program works out for our students and the families in the community. The College has identified some families from Paies to sponsor our students in the dormitory during the weekends on a voluntary basis.

Thank you.