BLINN BOARD APPROVES NEW ASSOCIATE DEGREES

  

The addition of new Associate Degrees were approved by the Blinn College Board of Trustees at their Tuesday evening meeting

Two Associate of Science Degrees were considered and approved, one in Accounting, and one in Economics, and two Associate of Arts Degrees, one in Anthropology and one Geography.

The Board also approved the purchase of a 2015 Starcraft International 45 passenger bus.

Ross Schroeder told the Board that the college currently has a thirty-six passenger bus that was purchased in 2013 to be used by student organization groups. With the growing population and awareness of the bus, some groups have been turned away from using the bus due to it already being booked.

It is hoped that a new bus would help avoid cost incurred by charters, which are used when the bus was not available. Athletic teams are in the most need of the new bus when two teams need to be gone at the same time.

Schroeder says that $100,474 was spent on chartered buses in FY 2015, which he believes could be reduced with the purchase of this new bus.

An update on the enrollment figures for the college put the Summer 2015 numbers down 2.3 percent from last year, as are the numbers at most Junior Colleges, according to the report.

Blinn is waiting until after the Drop Date to give numbers on Fall registration.

Gary Waits, Emergency Management/Safety Manager gave a report on Safety and Security audit. In 2009, the Texas Education Code was amended to require junior colleges to perform a safety and security audit every three years. One of the actions in the code was to provide a report of the audit finding to the Board.

According to the audit, which was presented at the meeting, all campuses have been included in the safety and security audit of the college district. While there are opportunities for improvement, improvements made so far include the addition of security cameras and fire alarms.

Also approved were the list of individuals authorized to sign financial documents or initiate financial transactions of behalf of Blinn College.

The only addition to the list was Board President Mary Hensley.

Also approved were Consent Agenda items concerning the possibility of accepting donations of office furniture for the Schulenburg campus,