MCC Board Meeting Tonight - via conference call

The MCC Board of Trustee meeting will be held this evening at 5:30 p.m. by conference call at the Administrative Center, located at 3200 Broadway.

FY 2012 budget passed by board of trustees

The MCC budget for fiscal year 2012, which begins on July 1, 2011, was ratified last week by the MCC board of trustees.

The budget book, which outlines and explains the budget in detail, is now posted on InfoExchange. To access it, click here. (After you log in, click on Financial Reports tab and then click on the FY 2012 link under Budget Books - pdf. If you have trouble opening the file, you may need to update your Adobe Reader. Do so by clicking here.)

To read the highlights of the budget presented to the board of trustees by Vice Chancellor Tuesday Stanley, visit MCC Budget Source.

MCC Foundation Gives Surprise Gift to Students in Need

A generous donation from the MCC Foundation is sure to bring smiles to the faces of some very deserving students this fall.

The foundation’s board of directors approved a measure last week that would provide $500 scholarships to a group of almost 200 high-achieving students who are struggling to pay their college costs. Foundation board president, Anita Maltbia, presented a $100,000 check to MCC officials and student ambassadors during the college’s board of trustees meeting on Thursday.

MCC Foundation Board President Anita Maltbia, second from right, presented a check for $100,000 made out to "Metropolitan Community College Students" at the MCC board of trustees meeting on June 16. Pictured with Maltbia are (left to right) Mark James, MCC chancellor; Duc Nguyen, student leader at MCC-Penn Valley and MCC-Maple Woods; Mehrnaz Shahlari, student ambassador at MCC-Penn Valley; Maira Cuevas, student leader at MCC-Blue River and MCC-Maple Woods and student advisor for the MCC Foundation; and David Disney, president of the MCC board of trustees.   

Financial-need parameters have been established for the scholarships but specific students have not yet been selected to receive the awards, said Cindy Butler, MCC's district director of financial aid. The students, who will be identified by the financial aid office, will have completed at least half of the coursework for an associate's degree and be in good academic standing with the college.

“These are bright students who are poised to do well in school and in their careers,” said Maltbia, who is also director of the

Classroom doors to get new locks

Classrooms across MCC will soon become a little more secure, thanks to a measure just approved by the board of trustees that calls for installation of more than 500 new door locks.

The locks, which will be installed beginning in May, are intended to protect students, faculty and staff in the event of a public safety emergency involving an intruder or other threat to personal safety. Once installed, the doors will be lockable from both inside and outside of the room. Currently, most classroom and conference room doors can only be locked and unlocked from outside of the room and require the use of a key.

“We want to give students, employees and guests peace of mind,” said Bill Hudson, chief of campus police. “If there is a safety threat in the building or anywhere on campus, people will be able to close and lock the door to protect themselves from danger.”

MCC’s construction and maintenance crews will be manually installing the new knobs and handles on a schedule that will not interfere will classes or other college business. Installation will begin in May and is expected to be complete by the middle of the fall 2011 semester, according to MCC’s construction superintendent Richard Hill.