President's Monthly Message
July 22, 2015
Dear Colleagues and Fellow Members of the COM-FSM Community,
COM-FSM Mission Statement:
The College of Micronesia-FSM is a learner-centered institution of higher education that is committed to the success of the Federated States of Micronesia by providing academic, career and technical education programs characterized by continuous improvement and best practices.
A team returned from attending the Regional Workshop on Student Learning Outcomes and Assessment, and on Preparing for Self-Evaluation of Educational Quality & Institutional Effectiveness on July 14-15, 2015, by ACCJC in Hawaii. Community colleges across the pacific region attended. Presentations were made by the Guam Community College, Kapi’olani Community College, the ACCJC President and Vice President. COM-FSM and Palau Community College had the opportunity to have a one-on-one session with Dr. Barbara Beno, President of ACCJC, Jack Pond and Susan Clifford, Vice Presidents of ACCJC regarding the accreditation Standard language and preparation of the self-evaluation report.
On July 14, 2015, the college received notification from the Office of Insular Affairs that its proposal for the Technical Assistance Program Grant was awarded. The college is awarded $103,160 US dollars. With the fund, the college proposes to participate with an institution that could help address student persistence, student retention, and student success for two years beginning August 2015 to July 2017.
From Vice President for Administrative Services: The annual financial audit of the college was completed with a good standing, which was expressed with an “unmodified opinion”, by the auditor. VPAS will meet with Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited this month regarding the college’s annual financial audit. In addition, preparation is underway by the vice presidents for the planning and development of the 2017 budget.
From Vice President for Cooperative Research Extension: Under the Resident Instruction in the Insular Areas (RIIA) program the following actions have been taken:
1. 15 students were provided scholarships of $250 per course to pursue summer courses.
2. One student attended a 3-week Experiential Learning internship at the American Samoa Community College May 29, 2015, to June 19, 2015, to learn of activities in food and agriculture and potential study areas for her future. As a result, she was credited with her internship course.
3.Three scholarships of $1500 each were issued to students studying Agriculture or Food related sciences at University of Guam for the summer session.
4. The program PI attended the required national meeting for the RIIA and Distance Education (DE) grants, in Washington DC.
Funding for these actions was provided through USDA National Institute for Agriculture and Foods (NIFA).
Dr. Murukesan and Dr. Verma conducted training in Climate Smart Agriculture in three sites: FSM, Marshall Islands and Palau. They discussed actions farmers can take to respond to climate change. Funding for these programs was provided by USDA through the SARE program.
Dr. Murukesan, CRE researcher from Yap represented COM-FSM at the 28th Pacific Islands Environmental Conference in Pago Pago, American Samoa on June 16, 2015, to June 18, 2015.
Dr. Virendra M. Verma, CRE researcher from Kosrae represented COM-FSM at the June 15, 2015, In Vitro Biology Meeting in Tucson, Arizona.
Western Region Sustainable Agriculture, Research and Education (WSARE) coordinator, Jackson Phillip, attended the regional coordinators meeting in Colorado July 7-10, 2015, on behalf of the program in Micronesia.
From Acting Vice President for Instructional Affairs: On July 14, 2015, the faculty successfully piloted the online submission of grades.
From Acting Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness and Quality Assurance: David Adams will be at National Campus from August 3-7, 2015, to assist with accreditation standard teams with their self-evaluation report.
From Acting Vice President for Student Services: Early class registration is from July 20-24, 2015. Freshman orientation is from August 3-7, 2015. August 11-13, 2015, is the regular class registration.
Board of Regents’ Meeting: The Board of Regents’ Meeting will be held on August 6-7, 2015. The meeting will be held at the National Campus.
Foundation of Excellence: A meeting of VPIA Karen Simion, VPSS Joey Oducado, Chief of Staff Universe Yamase, and faculty member Dana Lee Ling on June 16, 2015, focused on the first year and transfer experience continued to develop the plan for the Foundations of Excellence effort during this upcoming academic year. A launch of the fall Foundation working groups is set for 2:00 P.M. on Monday, August 3, 2015, at MITC. The launch event invites all faculty, staff, and students to join.
I convey my appreciation to you for all your work, effort and dedication to the students we serve. Each of us plays an important role in the successful implementation of the mission of COM-FSM.
It is a privilege for me to serve you as president.
Warm regards,
Joseph M. Daisy, EdD
President and CEO
