Clarkson College Town Hall Meeting: November 20, 2007

 

Welcome by SGA President Katie Nichols - 3:10 p.m.

• Open Forum
• Where to view minutes from meeting (SGA website)

 

Introduction of Panel

• Tony Damewood, Dr. Burgher, Jeff Erhlich, Katie Nichols

 

Dr. Burgher Welcome:

• Way to meet students
• Wanted open forum
• Wants to do more face to face meetings!
• Worked at Mayo clinic
• Pulmonary/Critical Care at Clarkson College
• Went to Outpatient for awhile
• Was CEO at Clarkson Hospital
• Lead the merger of the Nebraska Medical Center

 

Addressing of Student Issues

 

1. Graduduation in Spring - Dr. Burgher

• Usually on Saturday
• Changed to Friday last two semesters
• He is trying to get it changed back to Saturdays for spring semester
• Also wants to do something nice for the graduates on Friday as well

 

2. Online Registration - Larry Vinson

• Is anything being done?
• Too many people in at the same time
• Need to work on the software to make it work faster

 

3. Interim President - Dr. Burgher

• What does he see for Clarkson's future?
• He is on a month to month basis through summer
• May take job permanently
• Doing both Clarkson College president and consulting firm
• Will advise board when appropriate to start search

 

4. New student/graduate luncheons - Dr. Burgher

• Wants to bring back luncheons
• Way to meet new students and pick their minds
• Talked to Dr. Upright about how he conducted them
• Gives sense of community and family

 

5. Goals/Changes for Clarkson College while here - Dr. Burgher

• Have a more streamline administration
• Develop a long term strategic plan
• Accreditation coming up soon (May 2009), working on getting ready, rules change/ people change, doing a self study, and the teachers are evaluating themselves

 

6. Any specific topics in strategic plan needing to be looked at - Dr. Burgher

• Needs to be measurable, Jeff Erhlich - expert
• Need to evaluation strengths and weaknesses and find a way to work on the weaknesses
• Cost - comparison to other schools in the area

 

7. What are Clarkson Strengths - Dr. Burgher

• Good reputation
• Had highest NCLEX scores in the nation at one time
• Wants to get scores back up
• Job security for students
• Unique set - up
• Good resource base

 

8. Bookstore

• Does not have enough books for students
• Improved this past fall
• Trying to put process in place to have appropriate number of books for students
• Having meeting with the bookstore staff

 

9. Top Priority: Positions to be filled

• Lost 22 positions in last year
• Interviewing for vice president of academic affairs
• Going from the top to the bottom
• New director of general education has been hired

 

10. Update on PTA Program

• Andrea Nebel is new director for PTA
• 2 weeks ago PTA students held their own THM
• Also want to change graduation back to Saturday
• Why high turnover
• Changes in the way we look
• People didn't fit anymore
• Only lost one student through the transition
• RT and PTQA graduate rates are way over the national average

 

Closing by Dr. Burgher at 3:45 p.m.