ICCTA - ACCT Illinois State Coordinator Report for February 13, 2011
Submitted by Diane Gallagher, Highland CC 

Association of Community College Trustees chairman Col. Pete Sercer led a busy morning with the ACCT Board of Directors and representing the 567 member boards and 950 registrants. I will list here some of the points from the reports and discussions held:

- a reminder that ACCT members are the schools and the voting delegates are the named trustees; all trustees of member schools are encouraged to participate and attend via associates of committees or attendance at meetings;

- for the first time, an Advocacy Workshop is being provided by Jee Hang Lee to support efforts in Washington, DC and in our communications with congressional representatives;

- Dallas, TX, will be the site of the fall conference; a call for presentations with an April deadline is important to share with your schools;

- the winter Trustee Quarterly was distributed along with a new wire-bound ACCT resource booklet that lists the contact information for Congress;

- trustees in each region are eligible for a drawing for an i-Pad if they submit their email address to ACCT; the current ACCT board will be using i-Pads and electronic communications in the future; (ACCT has 1800 addresses but 6800 actual members in database)

- more schools are joining ACCT because of all the benefits and it is ¼ the cost of AACC;

- the self-evaluation tool of the ACCT board has been revised and enlarged;

- the House Community College Caucus will be holding a reception on Tuesday from 4 - 6 pm in 2261 Rayburn building. The room is limited in size so it will be important to come but stay for a brief time;

- the Trust Fund, which is funded by the Lifetime Memberships, received 9 proposals for the $10,000 grant and awarded it to a program that California Orange County and New York will work together on to provide for trustee education using webinars; 

- state coordinators are encouraging lifetime memberships to provide funds for ACCT grant monies; there are 152 lifetime members now (35 within the Central Region);

- ACCT will be using monies from the Trust Fund to begin webinars this year; also “tweet” updates are a new service of ACCT;

- continued on other side -
- Dr Frank Chong, deputy assistant Sec of Education overseeing community colleges, spoke about the President’s proposed budget that wants to support Pell Grants, veterans programs, and rural colleges; the White House CC Summit was so successful that a series of 4 regional summits are scheduled: 2/28 Philadelphia, “transition of adults to post secondary”; 3/9 Houston, “transfer to 4 yr; 3/23 Indianapolis “industry partnerships”; 4/15 San Diego Dr Biden, veterans programs”; 

- the Equity Award needs nominations from more schools;
- VFA (Voluntary Framework of Accountability) and GISS (Governments’ Institute for Student Success) will be programs we will be hearing more about. GISS began in Columbus, Ohio in 2009 thru a program at the Univ of Texas at Austin and funded by Gates Foundation;

- NLS will occur one day later next year to allow more time when congressional people are on the Hill so all meetings will be held one day later;

- State coordinators are being asked what our schools are doing to increase student success;

ACCT Governance and Leadership Needs All of Us to Plan Ahead

As you become more experienced with ACCT governance, you will note that positions on the ACCT board come open regularly because terms end and by changes in local board memberships and even sometimes by illness. Currently Communications/Education committee chair Celia Turner is critically ill. Also, some ACCT board members are on their local spring ballot for reelection. This highlights the fact that we need to have an active recruiting effort for trustees from Illinois to step forward and submit their names for nomination and positions as committee associates. Dr. Clare Ollayos has interviewed with the ACCT Nominating Committee for an At-Large position now. We do support candidates who serve from other states when appropriate to balance the needs of the board. Attend our next ACCT boot camp and learn what process is most successful and have your questions answered to place your name on the ballot in the future.