At its Dec. 13, 2017, meeting in Glenwood Springs, the Colorado Mountain College Board of Trustees swore in two new members – Peg Portscheller from West Garfield County and Doris Dewton from Eagle County – plus the reelected Pitkin County trustee, Charles Cunniffe.
Following the installment of these trustees, the board elected officers to serve for the next two years. Patty Theobald from Summit County will serve as board president, Pat Chlouber of Lake County as secretary and Ken Brenner as treasurer.
Also at that meeting, held at Colorado Mountain College’s Morgridge Commons downtown, the board unanimously voted to certify the existing mill levy of 3.997, which has remained the same for several decades. They also unanimously accepted audited financial reports for 2016-17 and authorized CMC President Dr. Carrie Besnette Hauser to negotiate a contract with eCampus, a company that provides books and instructional materials for a set fee.
Previously the college had introduced a pilot instructional materials program at its Steamboat Springs campus, in which students were charged a flat fee per credit. Through this program, books and other instructional materials were delivered to students before the start of the semester. The program proved a popular way for students to save hundreds of dollars each semester on textbooks and avoid the several-times-a-year scramble to locate and buy them.
By authorizing the college president to negotiate an expanded contract with eCampus, the plan is for students at all 11 of the college’s learning locations and campuses to have access to the program for the 2018-19 academic year.
Trustees also voted unanimously to authorize college management to enter into a contract with Ruffalo Noel Levitz, to optimize CMC’s strategic enrollment plan so that the college can better predict the mix of local, in-state and out-of-state students; target students for specific programs and campuses; develop ways to retain existing students; and therefore help to stabilize tuition revenues. RNL was selected following a national search.
The trustees expressed initial approval of a partnership with Get Outdoors Leadville!, providing space at CMC’s Leadville campus for students and Lake County residents to have access to rental of outdoor gear. Trustees also supported the administration’s ongoing research into whether placing a conservation easement on some of the acreage at the Spring Valley campus, near Glenwood Springs, would benefit the college and students.
During a work session, architects Anderson Mason Dale presented the results of numerous meetings and charrettes it has held with CMC employees and students, and community members, about the design of a welcome/conference center, field house and renovations to the existing student center at the CMC Spring Valley campus.