Barton Community College’s Board of Trustees on Tuesday approved new career certificate programs at the Grandview Plaza campus, as discussed at the Sept. 8 study session.
For Hazardous Materials Management students, the college wants to add the certificates Environmental Regulations Specialist I and Environmental Management Professional, both requiring 18 credit hours. Each of these certificate options builds into the next and leads to the completion of the Cert2 and then to an associate of science degree.
The board also approved new certificate programs for Emergency Management/Homeland Security students. Barton wants to add an Emergency Planning & Mitigation Certificate and an Emergency Operations Specialist Certificate. These are also 18-hour certificate options that can lead to the completion of the CERT2 and AAS.
Now that the programs have board approval, they will go to the Kansas Board of Regents for final approval.
New personnel
The trustees also approved hiring Anderson Greaves as a part-time Assistant Care Provider and Erica Stacey as a Student & Resident Life Assistant, both on the Barton County Campus.
In other business, trustees heard a monitoring report on “END 1: Essential Skills” and a strategic planning report.
The college’s over-arching goals are written as “ENDS Statements” that drive policy. The END for Essential Skills states, “Students will acquire the skills needed to be successful for the programs they are in.” This includes having the essential skills to succeed in the workplace and to lead productive lives. It also states students will be provided remedial education as needed.
For the monitoring report, trustees heard presentations from Coordinator of Adult Education Matt Connell; Coordinator of Assessment Jo Harrington; Dean of Academics Brian Howe; and Instructor and Coordinator of Developmental Education Carol Murphy. The October END report will be on the “Barton Experience.”
The strategic planning report was presented by Charles Perkins, vice president of Institutional Effectiveness, although all strategic planning has been placed on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Among other things, Perkins reported Barton’s website and related pages received 35,651 views in the last 30 days. The top five cities where viewers were located (outside of Great Bend) were Kansas City, Manhattan, Chicago, Wichita and Hays.
