NPC Invests in Full-Time Faculty
National Park College (NPC) Board of Trustees held their regular monthly meeting Wednesday, August 24. Items for report included approval of a construction manager, academic program changes, and updates on employee recruitment and investments in new full-time faculty positions.
The Board welcomed special guest Representative Bruce Cozart. He thanked the board,
faculty and staff for all of the great work they do for students. He said, “We have
a great college here. It’s really a great place to be.” He discussed the lottery scholarship,
veteran’s scholarship, ARFuture scholarship, and the newly revised funding formula.
Dr. Christopher Thrasher introduced students from the new honors program.
Steve Trusty, Vice President for Finance and Administration presented the financial report. He reported a 3.9 percent decrease in expenses last year and said year-end reports for the fiscal year should be complete next month. The Building and Grounds committee recommended approval of a construction manager for the new building project. The Board recommended Hill and Cox Corporation pending review and approval from the Arkansas Legislative Council.
Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Wade Derden presented academic program changes for approval. The Associate of Applied Science in Visual and Media Arts was amended to include Introduction to Computing, meeting the Arkansas Division of Higher Education’s requirement for 15 semester credit hours of general education courses. The Technical Certificate in practical nursing has been restructured to allow for better flow of the curriculum and promote classroom and clinical application.
Janet Brewer, Vice President for Human Resources discussed employee recruitment efforts for the season. The College received approximately 1800 applications for 27 advertised positions, including seven new full-time faculty and six replacement positions. She mentioned the College’s goal was to hire fewer positions at a higher level. The human resources team has worked to expand employee recruitment efforts online, reduced the number of classified employees, and increase the number of full-time faculty. Brewer noted the team works hard to retain employees with a unique quality pay program and a competitive benefits package that equals approximately 35 percent of an employee’s income. The College also invests in regular professional development and wellness program incentives to help with medical expenses and insurance premiums. Employees participated in over 6000 active hours of wellness activities last year. “We really take care of our employees from hire to retire and beyond. We believe that if you take care of your employees they are going to take care of our students so we work really hard to recruit, retain and develop those employees here at the college.” Board Chair, Forrest Spicer said, “One of our greatest assets are our faculty and our staff. We have done a great job of assembling a great team out here and the product of that will be our students as time goes on.”
Dr. John Hogan concluded the meeting with the president’s report. He thanked Representative Cozart for attending and all that he does to support NPC students. He discussed the newly revised funding formula and noted that all of the efforts at the college are an investment in student success. He noted the College’s employee reorganization, budget reorganization and priority to hire full-time faculty are each important because of the impact they will have on student success, retention and degree attainment. “The purpose of our building, the purpose of our human resources philosophy, the purpose of all the budget reorganization, right now we are bearing the fruit of that and continuing to invest in the lives of our students,” said Hogan.
He expressed excitement about the quality of the new hires, the number of people who want to work at NPC and the economic impact the College has as an employer. He commended the work that has been done to create the honors program, basketball teams, and improvements to new student orientations.
He announced a free concert will be held on campus September 16 at 5 p.m. featuring Barrett Baber from the Voice.
Photo: Representative Bruce Cozart addressing the Board of Trustees at National Park College during their regular monthly board meeting.
