Board Approves Budget Parameters for 2011-12 Request

Published 08.05.2010

News

Board of Directors' meeting summarized for Penn College community.The Pennsylvania College of Technology Board of Directors on Thursday approved parameters for the college's 2011-12 state budget request and authorized the college administration to enter into contracts for construction of the college's new masonry facility.

Construction of the masonry building, to be located at Vine Avenue and Grier Street, accommodates a new program in renewable energy technologies that will use masonry's vacated space in the Carl Building Technologies Center. The 18,500-square-foot, single-story facility, designed by Murray Associates Architects, P.C., of Harrisburg, will feature a large, open lab area and will reflect the latest in "green" technologies.

Construction bids were "very favorable" to the college and came in under budget projections, said Penn College President Davie Jane Gilmour. She said construction will be paid for with funds left from the Fiscal Year 2010 budget, as well as monies that are designated specifically for that purpose in the Fiscal Year 2011 budget.

The college's state budget request is submitted along with Penn State's budget request. The parameters for 2011-12 ask for a $14,989,700 Operating Budget appropriation representing a 5.07-percent increase of the base appropriations included in the 2010-11 budget, plus $676,000 that was originally cut by the state in 2007-08 but was funded by federal stimulus funds in the 2010-11 fiscal year.

The parameters also include a request to continue a special appropriation of $396,000 for the Operating Budget, (distributed from Penn State's Educational and General appropriation).

In other business, the board approved a routine resolution authorizing Gilmour and/or Suzanne T. Stopper, vice president for finance/chief financial officer, to execute and submit all documents required by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board regarding the college's liquor license.

Carolyn Strickland, assistant vice president for academic services, made a presentation on the Foundations of Excellence initiative. She gave board members a progress report and answered questions about the ongoing work of the FoE Task Force. She said the group remains focused on implementing the report's recommendations. An implementation team was formed last month and has identified 35 individual action items.

Strengths noted by respondents to a survey of students, faculty and staff include the value of a Penn College education, the quality of courses and instruction, a commitment to students' success, academic support, a safe environment and pre-matriculation communication.

Gerri F. Luke, chair of College Council, presented an update on Internal Governance activities.

In her report to the board, Gilmour spoke of the rapid progress made on the Stage X construction and renovation projects, and of her recent tour of the soon-to-open Dauphin Hall with Senior Vice President William J. Martin.

"It's amazing, is really all there is to say," Gilmour said of the new residence hall. The president expressed similar thoughts about the new science labs in the Hager Lifelong Education Center.

Board Chairman Robert E. Dunham urged his fellow directors to attend as many of the upcoming Stage X dedication ceremonies as possible this fall.