Members of the Arkansas Northeastern College Board of Trustees met Wednesday, December 13, 2023, for their last meeting of the year. Director for Human Resources Tabatha Hampton addressed the board regarding a new wellness program for employees. The Board approved the voluntary WellYou Program for full-time employees. The goal of WellYou is to increase the health and well-being of all ANC employees through a comprehensive program designed to promote mental and physical health. Through the program, employees will be granted a two-hour time waiver per week to participate in wellness activities, and eight hours of Wellness Leave per calendar year for a wellness exam. In addition to the employee benefits of a healthier lifestyle, ANC could benefit through better performance and lessened medical claims.
Hampton also presented a change to the College’s Catastrophic Leave Policy that was recommended by the Catastrophic Leave Committee and The Administrative Affairs Committee. The College maintains a bank of unused leave by employees that can then be utilized by employees needing leave for catastrophic illnesses or events. ANC’s current policy does not include maternity leave. Act 182 of 2017 established paid maternity leave through the catastrophic leave bank program. The Act allowed eligible employees four (4) weeks of paid leave after the birth of the employee’s child or placement of an adoptive child in the employee’s home without having to exhaust leave. The Board approved adding the Maternity Leave Act to the Catastrophic Leave Policy as well as changing the current waiting period from two (2) years to one (1) year to align with FMLA Guidelines.
In other news, new Vice President for Instruction/Chief Academic Officer Ryan Perkins presented a change for faculty hours. As the search for qualified faculty becomes more challenging, the staff considered opportunities to make the College’s instructional positions more competitive. As a part of this process, the policy regarding faculty workload was reviewed. The current policy 4.39 requires 15 credit hours of instruction per week and 15 hours of office time per week. This is equivalent to a thirty (30) hour work week for fulltime faculty. A survey was conducted with two-year and four-year colleges and universities in the state, and it was determined that Arkansas Northeastern College currently requires more office hours than the majority of other institutions. Additionally, a number of institutions allow for a number of the office hours to be virtual. After consideration of similar policies and practices in higher education, the staff recommended a change to the Faculty Office Hour Policy. The following changes were reviewed and approved by both the Academic Affairs Committee and the Administrative Affairs Committee. The Board approved reducing the number of office hours per week from (15) to ten (10) and that, of the ten (10) office hours, two (2) could be virtual. This would define the fulltime faculty work week as twenty-five (25) hours. Faculty are still expected to be available and participate in departmental, division, and college-wide meetings and/or activities that may exceed the twenty-five (25) hours per week. As per the current policy, faculty would continue to be required to have office hours, either live or virtual, Monday through Friday to meet contract obligations and to offer afternoon and/or evening hours.
In his President’s Report, Dr. Christopher Heigle discussed the College’s need for a new roof for the John P. Sullins Building. The advanced age of the roof is making it more difficult to manage all the needed repairs. This will be a significant cost, and Dr. Heigle wanted the Board to know that he and staff were developing a plan to not only provide for a new roof but to also tend to other deferred maintenance issues at the College.
In closing, Dr. Christopher Heigle thanked everyone for a wonderful year. He invited everyone to the ANC Choir concert being held in the A Concourse of the John P. Sullins Building on Thursday, December 14, 2023, at 6:30 pm and shared that there would be an opportunity for pictures with Santa beforehand, starting at 4:30.
