JSC President Barbara E. Murphy

Greetings, Faculty and Staff,

I am woefully late on this, my second missive of the year to faculty and staff, and for that I apologize. My goal is to issue a brief update every couple of weeks. Once we return from Thanksgiving break, I’ll do my best to return to this schedule. For now, here is a quick look at some news of note.

NEASC Accreditation Update
We learned this week that the New England Association of Schools & Colleges has accepted our fifth-year interim accreditation report. In a letter informing us of that decision, the Commission cited the strengths of our College Plan, "JSC 2010-2015: A Plan for Access, Engagement & Success," noting that we have “enhanced (our) capacity in planning and evaluation.” The Commission also commended us for our work in “strengthening the program review process.” Other highlights noted in the letter included continuing our Title III grant initiatives beyond the life of the grant, especially those focused on enrollment planning and first-year and other new students.

The report, which we submitted in August, is available on the JSC website here. Thanks to all who contributed to this major undertaking, especially Dan Regan and Joe Farara, who coordinated the report and served as lead writers.

Renovation Update
Plans are proceeding on schedule for the renovations of both Bentley Hall (Phase II) and the Visual Arts Center. Freeman French Freeman has been selected as the architect for both projects, and E.F. Wall has been selected as the construction manager.

The major work in Bentley Hall will take place over the summer. Because of the “all building” approach to the work — including infilling stairways to add significantly to common space on the second and third floors and remaking all teaching labs — Bentley will be offline and unavailable for use all summer. We are making arrangements to relocate classes and ensure that lab work can continue off site.

We are currently in the design stage of the Visual Arts Center work. Plans include renovating the entire building and adding between 4,500 and 6,000 square feet. This will represent our first addition of space to a building since the LLC was constructed 14 years ago. In addition to the new space, VAC will realize a significantly improved use of interior space and will have a more attractive and prominent entrance. This project will have a longer construction schedule and will require taking VAC offline for both the summer and fall semesters.

During this time, the former Child Development Center (CDC) space on the first floor of McClelland Hall will provide a home for art classes and studio space — a perfect use of this area, which will need serious upgrades whatever its next iteration may be. We hope to secure office space for the arts faculty within McClelland as well. Dan Regan will work with faculty to locate those spaces.

Thanks in advance to all for your patience during these projects. (No doubt you’ll be hearing that from me many times over the next year.)

McClelland after VAC?
After hearing many good ideas on how to use the former CDC space, I’d like to step back and adopt a “whole building” approach in our planning. To advance that idea, I’ve asked Sharron Scott to convene a group and draft a focused “master plan” for the future of McClelland. Over the years, McClelland has been adapted and tweaked; we have added and removed walls as immediate needs dictated. It’s time to take a look and see whether we can reclaim some space, make some upgrades — within our means — and aim for more common space. Please let me know if you would like to work on this small group. I will try to honor as many requests as possible.

Community Connection Kudos
One of the goals in our five-year plan is to continue and build on our exceptional work with the greater Lamoille County community. The many ways that our students, faculty and staff make a difference in beyond campus is a great source of pride to me, as I know it is to you. I was reminded of this several times last week when I received letters from the Lamoille Family Center, the United Way and the Town of Johnson offering sincere gratitude for everything from our students’ help with this summer’s “Tuesday Night Live” concert series to the recent makeover of the Lamoille Family Center, which itself is featured in this week’s Mountain Gazette newspaper. Here are some excerpts:

“Please know that the efforts of you, your students, and the background support from the administration at JSC are appreciated by the Board of Directors and staff at the Lamoille Family Center.”
— Scott Johnson, executive director of the Lamoille Family Center

“Doing volunteer work with the town is sometimes lackluster, but your young people were enthusiastic, reliable, competent and unerringly polite…. This year we were able to supply the untested bones of a sound system for the summer, and there were glitches and holes. Your student engineers and the backup gear they brought from JSC more than covered any problems we encountered.”
— Howard Romero, Johnson Selectboard; Cal Stanton, Tuesday Night Live music coordinator

In addition, look for a letter in the upcoming issue of Basement Medicine from Dawn Archbold, executive director of the Lamoille County United Way, praising our students for their work on a number of projects — far too many to list here.

All My Sons Earns Kennedy Center Recognition
For the second year in a row, the fall theater production by our Performing Arts students — All My Sons, just completed — has been named a semifinalist for regional Kennedy Center American College Theater honors. Department Chair Russ Longtin, who directed the play, reports that five students were nominated for their tech work and six were nominated for their acting abilities.

Saving Energy, Saving Money
Yesterday’s cold, blustery day reminded me to thank everyone for wearing extra sweaters this early fall. We saved about 100 gallons of #2 oil per day — plus an additional $250 per day in electricity to run pumps and other equipment — by waiting until Oct. 7 to turn on the heat. The total savings per day was approximately $450 — which means we saved about $12,150 over 27 days. Another way to look at this is that we saved 2,700 gallons of fuel, which is enough to heat one to two typical homes for an entire year.

Thanks to all for your continued good work on behalf of our students. As always, I welcome your comments and ideas.