President's Message to the College Community
May 25, 2012
Dear Colleagues and Fellow Members of the COM-FSM Community,
I want to take a moment to extend my thanks to all of you who have contributed to the good work of the college and to our continued success in so many areas. There is so much about which we should be proud! While we continue to work together to address our challenges, I wish to share with you some of the areas in which we are making progress.
Late in April, representatives from the Faculty/Staff Senate and I met to discuss an unresolved issue related to faculty pay for the summer. While this had been unresolved for some time, through mutually respectful dialogue we were able to craft a favorable resolution, and establish expectations for ongoing discussion to ensure meaningful communication.
This month we experienced an exceptional commencement ceremony here at the National Campus which celebrated the success of our graduates from across the nation, and which was replicated at our state campuses. It remains important for us to honor the traditions and customs of our states and therefore we should be proud to have these reflected in the important events in the life of COM-FSM. It was encouraging to have so many faculty and staff participate in the 55th Commencement Exercises.
On May 11th and in some of the state campuses on May 10th we came together as a learning community to review the report which assessed the implementation of our Communications Plan. This provided us with a valuable opportunity across the entire college to engage in ongoing meaningful and purposeful dialogue about the findings and recommendations from this report, but also to respond and think collectively about strategies to ensure continuous improvement of college wide communication efforts.
As well, on May 11th faculty across the college participated in a workshop focused on the ACCJC SLO rubric, and engaged in purposeful dialogue and group work towards completing another cycle of program assessment and program improvements.
For the first time the college has completed a Five-Year Financial Plan and a Five-Year Integrated Educational Master Plan which is linked to the financial plan. This will serve us well as we continue our ongoing efforts to ensure broad based participation in the decision-making of the college, and to inform the Vision Summit and the President’s Retreat in August.
On May 15th the college submitted a supplemental report to the ACCJC in which we reported to the Commission further progress to complete the recommendations for which the college is on probation. Frankie Harriss and I will appear before the Commission at its June meeting and will have five minutes to present additional evidence related to the completion of recommendations for which the college is on sanction. We anticipate hearing from the ACCJC sometime at the end of June or early in July regarding the action taken by the Commission in response to the college’s Follow-Up Report, the Follow-Up Team Visit Report, the college’s supplemental report, and our appearance before the Commission.
The Five-Year Financial report, the Five-Year Integrated Educational Master Plan which is linked to the financial plan, and the supplemental report submitted to the ACCJC were shared with the Board of Regents at its May 23-24, 2012 meeting.
The college also provided the Board of Regents with copies of “Purposeful Dialogue at COM-FSM: An Analysis of the COM-FSM Communications Plan and ACCJC Recommendation One With Recommendations,” the “Assessment of the 2006-2011 College of Micronesia-FSM Strategic Plan,” the revised draft of the “Participatory Governance Policy at COM-FSM,” with associated recommendations prepared by the Council of Chairs, and a draft copy of the “Accreditation Manual for Governing Boards,” published by the ACCJC. The Board of Regents will review these documents for discussion at their August/September 2012 meeting. The Boards of Regents agreed to hold their next meeting in Pohnpei State, so they may participate in the Vision Summit and President’s Retreat.
During this meeting of the Board of Regents, several actions were taken by them on recommendations presented for their consideration and approval.
After careful review and consideration of the Five-Year Financial Plan, and the Five-Year Integrated Educational Master Plan which is linked to the financial plan, the Board of Regents approved both plans.
The Board of Regents also approved the proposal presented in response to the recommendation made in December 2011 to delegate more authority to state campus directors to ensure smooth operations and to allow for the state campus directors to be effective in their overall management of the state campus.
Both the respective vice presidents thru which state campus directors previously reported and the state campus directors themselves acknowledged that current responsibilities and reporting structure needed to be revised to ensure the efficient and effective oversight of the state campuses.
The Board of Regents approved a revised job description which clearly articulates the essential responsibilities for the state campus directors in areas of governance, accreditation, planning and budget, integrity, community engagement, curriculum and instruction, student services, administration, and continuous improvement. The Board further approved a change to the reporting structure from the President to the Vice President for Instructional Affairs. To better align the academic and administrative leadership responsibilities with the academic reporting structure, the position title was reconstituted from state campus director to state campus dean. Further, the state campus dean for Yap State campus will serve in that capacity for the FSM-FMI campus with continued support provided by the director for FSM-FMI. This serves as a continuing effort to share resources and staff to promote quality and efficiencies wherever possible.
Additionally, in support of the college’s ongoing commitment to embrace accreditation and embed participatory governance, meaningful and purposeful dialogue, culture of evidence, and continuous improvement into the life of the college, and to ensure that this commitment is sustained, the Board of Regents has established the position of Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness and Quality Assurance, VP-IEQA. The Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness and Quality Assurance will serve as the college’s Accreditation Liaison Officer (ALO) and leads all accreditation process efforts, provides leadership that supports the college’s goals and strategic plan for institutional effectiveness and quality, and is responsible for effective communication with community organizations, government agencies, state departments of education as it relates to accreditation and quality assurance. Until such time as a permanent appointment is made, Frankie Harriss the college’s current Accreditation Liaison Officer (ALO) will serve as Acting Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness and Quality Assurance.
Finally, to better support the many initiatives and efforts of the president, currently in progress and to facilitate and support the many new initiatives in various stages of planning, the Board of Regents has established the position of Chief of Staff for the President’s Office. The Chief of Staff will be responsible for overseeing all operations of the Office of the President, and for assisting the president as liaison with professional staff, including: Cabinet, Council of Chairs, Faculty/Staff Senate, State and National Legislators and Public Officials, community leaders, and enhances college relationships and partnerships.
As this message to you documents, I trust that you share my pride in the progress that we are making. Please know that we have more work to do and we will continue to work together to strengthen this academic institution in service to our students, our citizens and our country.
It is a privilege for me to serve you as president.
Warm regards,
Joe
Joseph M. Daisy, Ed.D., President
