Northern Essex Community College Board of Trustees
Minutes of Meeting (OFFICIAL) – December 11, 2024
A meeting of the Northern Essex Community College Board of Trustees was held in room LC301 in the El-Helfni Building located at 414 Common Street, Lawrence, MA on December 11, 2024 at 5:00 PM. A Zoom Teleconference option was also available.
PRESENT:
Ms. Borislow
Ms. Hatem-Roy (arrived at 5:04PM)
Mr. Cousins
Ms. O’Rorke
Mr. Gomez (joined via Zoom)
Mr. Silverio
Mr. Hamm
UNABLE TO ATTEND: Ms. Fernandez, Ms. Mohammed, Ms. Quiles, Ms. Sanchez
ALSO, PRESENT: President Glenn
CALL TO ORDER: Chairwoman Borislow called the meeting to order at 5:02 PM with a roll call of attendance and a quorum present.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Chairwoman Borislow asked for a motion to approve the November 6, 2025 meeting minutes.
On a Motion presented by Trustee O’Rorke and seconded by Trustee Cousins, by roll call vote, the Board unanimously approved the November 6, 2024 minutes as presented.
REPORT OF BOARD COMMITTEE:
a) Audit and Finance Sub-Committee:
1) Motion to Accept FY2024 Audited Financial Statements (AFC-25-02):
Agenda Item 7a was taken out of order to ensure Auditors were present for the report. Trustee Hamm reported that the A&F committee met earlier today and Tony DeGregorio, Comptroller provided a brief update on the meeting discussion. Trustee Hamm highlighted the key numbers including increased year-over-year credits, grants, and revenues. In addition, FY 2024 salaries and overall operating expenses were on target and the year-end with a $15.1M positive change in Net Position. This profit margin is very high and very good considering our reasonable expenses. Trustee Hamm credited President Glenn, VP McCarthy, and the executive team for keeping operating costs relatively flat for the last five years.
Ben Deforest, from Withum (the College’s advisory tax audit firm), provided the annual Audit & Finance required communication. His presentation included the full audited statements, financial position for FY24, and an unmodified, clean opinion which is the best opinion you can get in the audit space. With that said, Trustee Hamm called for an approval of the motion to approve.
On a Motion presented by Trustee Cousins and seconded by Trustee Silverio, by roll call vote, the Board unanimously accepted the NECC FY2024 Audited Financial Statements (AFC-25-02) as presented.
Trustee Hatem-Roy arrived at 5:04 PM
CORRESPONDENCE: There was none.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS: There was none.
EDUCATION REPORT:
a) All College Assembly Annual Report (ADM-3898-121124)
Due to illness, there was no All-College Assembly Annual Report.
b) Liberal Arts Faculty Presentation (ADM-3899-121124)
President Glenn introduced Provost Beaudin who introduced Dean Callahan. Dean Callahan holds an MFA from Columbia University and is scheduled to defend her PhD dissertation in January 2025 with UMass Lowell. She supervises over 100 faculty and was invited to give the Liberal Arts Faculty Presentation. Her topic is media literacy.
Dean Callahan highlighted the contributions of the Liberal Arts faculty to the NECC mission. Education is core to the mission that includes verbs such as educate, empower, enhance, create. These verbs describe what our faculty are doing to engage. The Liberal Arts division offers seven associate degrees and houses nearly 100 faculty (24 full-time and about 70 active part-time faculty). Part-time faculty are essential to our mission, to keep students engaged, and to keep our commitment to offering high quality education. Dean Callahan featured one part-time faculty member who teaches art and design with an incredible commitment to our students; her family runs the brewery in Amesbury (Bear Wolf Brewery acknowledged).
Dean Callahan emphasized the decrease of public appreciation of understanding of the value of college education, and especially Liberal Arts. Experts continue to express the urgent need for access to humanities. She quoted Dr. Lynn Pasquerella, AAC&U, “to the more substantive avenues to which learning affects us all, conditions of human existence, only outcome of disenfranchise students care about money we rerun the risk of circumscribing their futures both privately and public domain.” There is a connection between education and democracy.
Liberal Arts faculty contributions include governance, academic assessment and curriculum development, experiential learning program development. Dean Callahan recognized Meredith Gunning, Trisha Machado, Shelia Pierre, Lis Esplnoza, and Eldlane Elmeus for their talents and leadership roles and governance.
Experiential learning is an area for growth in Liberal Arts. It goes beyond internships as we build opportunities for students gain a sense of professionalism and welcoming. For example, our two art galleries on both campuses allows students to give gallery talks and share how they created their work. Journalism coursework aligns with local businesses. NECC also has experiential learning built into programs like music, which also brings life and vibrancy to the campus. Opportunities to expand include attendance at in-state conferences such as Bear Wolf magazine alliance, Pace maker award, local field trip like the one to Lawrence City Hall to meet Mayor DePeña. Dean Callahan was also proud to share that this year students won 13 national awards for theater at Kennedy Center in Washington, and the student press is award winning.
BOARD CHAIR UPDATE: There was none.
REPORT OF BOARD COMMITTEES:
a) Audit and Finance Sub-Committee: Motion to Accept NECC FY2024 Audited Financial Statements (AFC-25-02): motion approved at the top of the meeting.
b) Alumni Advancement Sub-Committee: There was none.
c) Nominating Sub-Committee: Trustee Cousins shared there has been two meetings, and we have reached out to several people being considered. Committee is waiting for return meetings and related paperwork.
d) Presidential Evaluation Sub-Committee: No Report; the committee will reconvene in January 2025.
REPORT OF ADMINISTRATION:
a) Economic Development Bill (Verbal)
President Glenn shared as part of the recently passes ED bill, there are three items of interest including a $0.5M bill for health care for high school students, $2.5 million for a clean lab facility to be shared with WT and NECC on our Haverhill campus (thanks to Sen. Finegold who helped), and some language in the direction of the FAFSA legislation from last year. We were working with Rep. Vargas last year to require completed FAFSAs (a bill which other states have passed). Why is this important? We saw last year when FAFSA got botched, what you heard in the press was about selective students being affected; however, we are more worried about low-income students seeking any education. By way of contrast, about 58% or so complete the FAFSA, and we are slightly ahead of national average. However, this metric masks a lot of issues. Communities like Andover and Newburyport, etc. have support and families know how to complete it. The FAFSA tracker shows they reach 80% completion rate while Lawrence is 50 points lower. We will continue to look at this next evolution as there is more work to do.
b) Whittier Tech Shared Campus Update (ADM-3900-121124)
President Glenn shared that, as of today, we have been invited to Friday’s MSBA meeting as listed on their agenda which is a public document. There will be a vote to admit the school back into eligibility period. This is the first step in many steps to eventually get a school built and funding, but the many steps are ahead, and they have the qualifiers. This time around it will need to be self-funded. The last time, state-funded was voted down from the communities. We continue to explore all financial options. The UMass Donahue Institute facilitated the six-month vision study and is nearly finished with their report. A second report was shared with planning group, painting a picture of what a new type of institution might look like. It won’t show the school per se, but will focus instead on programming and labor trends. Many thanks to all who have helped.
Q: Trustee O’Rorke asked how many communities are involved? A: 11 communities are currently involved. 10 of 11 signed the MOU. The project isn’t derailed by that, and if this project points to a new institution, the state has a stake in the process for it to be built on state-owned land which may void the regional agreement from 1967. Some Mayors and Town Managers have been public about with not wanting to open an agreement under existing circumstances, some want adjustments or new agreement, and everyone understands form follows function. We are at least 1 to 2 years from understanding exactly what this is, and no public vote will happen until 2 or 3 years from now. We won’t be cutting a ribbon until many years.
Q: Trustee O’Rorke asked is there no avenue to reopen another vote? A: It’s unusual to get back in pipeline as fast we did which may lead to another vote.
c) VP of Lawrence Campus Search Committee (Verbal)
Earlier today, President Glenn sent a college-wide email noting that finalists will be on campus Wednesday, Thursday, Friday next week. He noted there is a lot of talent in the pool. They are all very accomplished, and any one of whom can do this job. When we hire a new VP, we bring folks in for entire day and present to the leadership, at open forums, and the people on Lawrence campus will meet with these candidates. Everyone is invited to join. With the holiday break ahead, we want to name the new VP before end of year.
Q: Trustee Hatem-Roy asked if the finalists were local? A: Two are in-state, one is out-of-state but will be moving here due to family. Each of them quite accomplished.
Q: Chairwoman Borislow asked was it a surprise to see that many candidates? A: It’s definitely a different dynamic this year. We totaled around 50 applications, but keep in mind this is not a provost position or CFO. This is a very unique role to be VP of the Lawrence Campus with bilingual requirements.
Q: Trustee Hatem-Roy asked what was education level required? A: We only required a bachelor’s degree, but we do have doctorates for all three finalists. We wanted to be sure that this was open to those who didn’t necessarily have higher ed only backgrounds.
d) Communique (ADM-3901-121124)
President Glenn noted that this month’s Communique newsletter is in their packets for review.
g) Campus Update (Verbal)
Bidding for the health and wellness project is going through the RFP process now. All questions to be answered by end of January. Building updates for B and E are also planned, and additional revenue will go toward these projects. Funding did come from the state, but additional funds are needed from our bottom line to complete the projects.
We inducted 232 students to Phi Theta Kappa honors society for junior college. Those students are eligible for a transfer scholarship. In the past, some NECC students won the $50K Coca Cola scholarship, and the Jack Kent Cooke scholarship which is available to students.
NEW BUSINESS:
Chairwoman Borislow noted that the board had three (3) grants presented for approval totaling $673,986.05 and asked for a motion to approve all three grants collectively. They were:
a) Grants
1. MA Dept. of Higher Education: Early College Funding Allocation
2. MA Dept. of Higher Education: Hunger Free Campus Program
3. MA Dept. of Higher Education: Student Behavioral and Mental Health Grant Program
On a Motion presented by Trustee O’Rorke and seconded by Trustee Hamm, by roll call vote, the Board unanimously approved the three grants (ADM-3902-121124, ADM-3903-121124, and ADM-3904-121124) totaling $673,986.05 as presented.
OTHER BUSINESS: There was none.
ADJOURNMENT: With no other business, Chairwoman Borislow adjourned the meeting at 5:58 PM, and wished all of the faculty/staff, leadership team, and fellow trustees a very happy and healthy holiday season.
