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Lake Region State College is a
wonderful resource for its students, community, and state. Since becoming
President of LRSC, I have been working with the administrative council to
develop plans to best move the college forward, continuing the excellence we
currently have and preparing for even better times.
The administrative council set
the top three priorities for the coming year:
1.
Implementing Pathways
2.
Completion of Erlandson expansion and renovation
3.
Matching Fund campaign
That means a few organizational
structure changes will be taking place this summer in preparation for the
upcoming academic year. We will be working with the departments involved to
develop a schedule for the moves.
Office Name changes:
First, naming of offices has
changed. The offices of Administrative Services, Student Services, and Instructional
Services are now Administrative Affairs, Student Affairs, and Academic Affairs.
These names mirror our sister institutions within the state and nationwide.
Office locations:
In many community colleges the
communications and outreach positions are affiliated with Advancement as these
job missions work on advancing the college, its image, and its message.
Erin Wood, director of marketing
and communications, will be moving to the Advancement/Foundation Office area
and now reporting to the Vice President of Advancement. She will continue her
current duties and also assist the Foundation in donor relations and campaigns.
Katie Mertens will be taking on some additional communications and PR duties to
assist Erin. Joycelyn Hagen also will be joining the Advancement Office. She will
continue to be located in the President’s Office area; however she will be
located nearer to the Welcome Center Window to assist customers entering the
college. The Welcome Center window will permanently reopen during normal office
hours to bring the inviting, welcoming atmosphere back to the front entrance.
The president’s office reception
area will be expanded by moving the wall that currently separates the President
Office reception area and rest of the office areas past the area where Joycelyn
currently has her work space. This will allow room to create a reception area
in the President’s Office that Joycelyn and Bobbi Lunday can share comfortably.
The doorway that leads from the President’s reception area to the mailbox area
will be walled off to create room for additional office space.
The current marketing and
communications office will become the Academic Affairs office. Vice President
of Academic Affairs, Lloyd Halvorson, Brandi Nelson, Jennifer Jenssen, and Anne
Rasmusson will now be housed in that area.
Financial Aid will move to the
area currently occupied by Lloyd Halvorson and Jennifer Jenssen. A wall will be
installed to create a private one-on-one environment for students seeking
information and counseling from Financial Aid.
The remainder of space that
currently is Instructional Services will become the Center for Distance
Education and Outreach Services. Director Dan Driessen, online advisor Andy
Wakeford, Anne Dumont, Lois Bachmeier, and the new instructional design position
will be housed in this area.
With Financial Aid moving to a
more private area, Student Affairs will be restructuring office configurations
in its areas, which will be announced at a later date.
Precision Agriculture and Adult
Farm Management is scheduled to move to the former Twete Inc., building north
of campus later this summer (late July to early August).
New positions
The funding formula approved by
the legislature gives LRSC an opportunity address needs in many areas of the
campus, including staffing in critical need areas. Administrative Council has
approved the following positions recently to meet those needs:
Academic Affairs
Instead of replacing the
Assistant VP (Lloyd Halvorson’s former position), Brandi Nelson will serve as
Director of Academic Affairs and Institutional Effectiveness supervising some of the non-program areas of
Academic Affairs and Dan Driessen will supervise some of the CTE programs. A Program Coordinator/Administrative
Assistant, Anne Rasmusson, will replace Brandi Nelson.
The Adult Learning Center had
another record year with over 75 graduates.
Director Nicole Claussen has received additional funding from DPI to
hire another GED Instructor. This faculty position will be shared with Academic
Affairs.
Student Affairs
A Power Skills Coordinator
(formerly Academic Skills Center)/Disability Services Coordinator will be hired
to provide services to non-Trio students. This position is critical for
implementation of Pathways and will focus on retention and completion.Administrative Affairs
Our growing institution has reached the point where we need a Human Resources Specialist. An HR position will be added this year.
Institutional
Advancement/Foundation
A Campaign Project Manager –
will be added on a temporary contract to manage the campaign to raise 2 million
dollars and receive the 1 million dollars in matching funds appropriated by the
legislature.