By DAVID ADAM
Herald-Whig Staff Writer
A marketing and enrollment initiative at John Wood Community College is paying dividends.
Members of the Board of Trustees heard Wednesday night a presentation by Tracy Orne, director of marketing and public relations, and Melanie Lechtenberg, director of financial aid, about a series of efforts designed to provide consistency for the college's branding.
Orne said when she was hired in Sept. 2009 that the duties of marketing were added to her role in the college's office of public relations, and some of the information presented at Wednesday's meeting was an update on that effort.
"When I came on board, (the board) wanted to increase the marketing of the college," she said. "This is a joint effort throughout several departments, and we keep improving it and adjusting it as we get information. We're really excited about the results."
Orne talked about a postcard series that recently was sent to students who had dropped out, as well as students who had graduated from local high schools in the past two years. The campaign netted $14,760 in credit hours for summer and fall classes. She also explained that an integrated adult marketing campaign featuring student success testimonials will start later this month.
Lecthenberg talked about an increased focus on relational recruitment, on-site admissions, advising and registration, a retention initiative for students who did not re-enroll and a Smart Start pilot program with Quincy High School that is targeted at students who are eligible for early release, late arrival or early graduation.
Other changes were implementation of a new website for both the college and the school's athletic teams, a style and branding guide and a consistent message and look in admissions materials, academic brochures and advertising.
"Fabulous, just fabulous," trustee Larry Fischer said. "When you show the personal touch and show that student and their parents that we truly care, good things will happen."
In other action, trustees:
º Approved authorization to accept $12,450 in grant funding from United Way of Adams County in support of the RSVP program.
º Approved the submission of grant applications to the American Association of Community Colleges for $15,000 over 3 years for the Plus 50 Initiative and to the Bank of America Foundation for a workforce development grant between $15,000 and $25,000.
º Heard a review from trustee Reggie Coleman of the June meeting of the Illinois Community College Trustees Association meeting in Normal. Coleman will become president of the association on July 1.
º Approved to grant a changeback to Parkland College for a Amanda Sally, a district resident, wanting to pursue a degree in veterinary technology.
º Approved a resolution and certificate ascertaining the prevailing wage ordinance for people employed on public works of the district. Trustee Jim Gay and Coleman voted against the resolution.
º Approved writing off $114,579 worth of delinquent student accounts as uncollectible. That figure was $35,352 higher than the amount that was written off last year.
º Approved paying $3,783 in dues to the Illinois Community College Trustees Association.
º Approved updating and submitting a Resource Allocation Management Plan document to the Illinois Community College Board for the construction of the Health and Natural Science Building project, which was approved by trustees in June 2010. The state has $500 million in projects that have been approved but have no funding, plus $1.2 billion in projects that have not yet been approved. The JWCC project is part of that $1.2 billion.
º Received letters of thanks from the parent of a JWCC baseball player for the work of the coaching staff, and from Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White for assistance with the Organ/Tissue/Eye Donor Initiative.
--dadam@whig.com/221-3376
