FROM THE PRESIDENT

Dear colleagues,

It is with gratitude that I write my last column as president of EACUBO: gratitude for the many volunteers with whom I have had the privilege to work this year; gratitude for the advice of our members who took the time to provide input and feedback on what is important to them; and gratitude for the financial support of our sponsors and vendors. All parties were responsible for the accomplishments of the year.

EACUBO’s 2004-2005 goals and objectives were described in detail in the January 2005 newsletter. In this parting column I will highlight some achievements. The full annual report of all our association’s accomplishments will be posted on the web by the time of the Annual Meeting.

A major thrust this year was in member services. The Member Services Committee, energetically led by Greg Rumsey, produced a new brochure that provides an excellent synopsis of our mission and activities. We also devoted a lot of energy to analyzing the case for changing our constituent groups from EACUBO’s three (Two-year College, Small Colleges and Large Institutions) to NACUBO’s four categories, derived from the Carnegie classifications: Community Colleges, Small Institutions, Comprehensive/Doctoral Institutions and Research Universities. Our analysis showed that moving to the four categories would transfer a number of our members from the overly large “Small Colleges” group to the Comprehensive and Doctoral Institutions group. Our hope is that this change will enable both groups to be better served. This change requires an amendment of our by-laws, and if that is approved by the general membership at the Annual Meeting in Chicago, we will have a year to effect the transition.

Another topic to which we devoted considerable attention was how to optimize the time of our volunteers. The thinking behind this objective was that we should try to protect our volunteers’ time from logistical and administrative tasks that can be outsourced inexpensively, and instead try to derive greatest benefit from our volunteer resources by focusing their attention on programmatic content in their fields of expertise. An ad hoc group, led by Terry Sampson, evaluated outsourcing opportunities to ensure best utilization of volunteers’ efforts and to provide continuity and cost-effectiveness. Terry presented a final report with a much-admired graphic presentation of the complexity of our activities. You will see some of the recommendations implemented over the next year in EACUBO’s programming.

There was a concerted effort to use registration and survey data that we had collected over the last two years to inform decisions on programming. For example, data from Annual Meetings over the last three years formed the basis for discussions on changes to the Annual Meeting format, in response to perceived changing trends in membership desires and needs. Barry Cohen and Rita Murdoch shared generously of their time and knowledge. The Board also asked Joe Grasso to review the format of the Senior Business Officer Round-table, and discussions have begun on the purpose and optimal delivery of the intended programmatic goals.

Besides programming changes, the year also saw efforts to enhance the effectiveness of association administration, from managing committee budgets to greater use of technology to support programs, and documentation of operational guidelines. Peggy Plympton developed an operating manual for the planning and running of our retreats. Ann Spencer (our Information Coordinator and utility in-fielder) authored a document on the role of the Board and the Executive Committee. I myself penned brief guidelines for committee chairs and vice-chairs to send with their appointment letters early in the year.

The transition of the treasury function from one school (Gary Raisl’s University of the Sciences) to another (Lisa Marie McCauley’s King’s College) brought home the fact that more extensive descriptions of the operations of our various officer functions would be a valuable legacy for future EACUBO officers. The officers rose to the occasion and a larger operations manual is the result of this team activity. In closing, I will loop round to the opening, and pull out this final group to thank.

I owe a huge debt to my executive committee who stuck with the tasks and put up with my endless follow-up lists, who did not complain when I added one more meeting to the year’s roster, who provided wise counsel, who helped one another grow by speaking up at critical points to provide re-direction: my colleagues, friends, teachers.

From the Editor

This issue of the newsletter comes to you electronically. There is no printed version - unless you choose to download your own. One of the advantages is that we can get it to you quicker - no need for printer’s proofs, no snail mail delay. On the other hand, it’s not clear the extent the whole newsletter is read versus a printed version.

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Many years ago, when I was working at Princeton, I helped form what has become known as the Ivy Plus Controllers, a group of controllers from the eight Ivies plus Stanford, Chicago, Southern Cal, John Hopkins, Rochester and MIT. One of our initial rules, which is still followed to this day, is that our biennial meetings had to be held on the college campuses, the point of which was that you learned something about the institution from seeing and feeling the environment in which they existed. I was reminded of that recently when the Executive Committee of the EACUBO Board met in Charlottesville, VA, the home of the University of Virginia and our current president, Yoke San Reynolds. In recent years, we have been following the practice of meeting at the home institution of the president and last year it took us to Bethlehem, PA where Lehigh University and Peggy Plympton reside. The year before it was Atlantic City – Atlantic Cape Community College and Terry Sampson, and the year before it was Middlebury, Vermont and Bob Huth, VP at Middlebury College. Each of these places was distinctly different from each other and did offer some insight into some of the issues each of the colleges presented. For example, Lehigh is located on the side of the river dominated by the abandoned Bethlehem Steel plant that seems to go on for miles, as well as the hoses once occupied by the steelworkers. Across the river is the very upscale downtown area. In contrast, Middlebury is Middlebury College, surrounded by rural Vermont. The University of Virginia campus has a fascinating old Southern charm to it, particularly highlighted by The Lawn, originally designed by Thomas Jefferson, whose presence still is a significant part of the campus. I’m sure each of the past presidents can identify the ways in which their work life is impacted by their surroundings. It’s not surprising to read about programs like those described in the September issue of NACUBO’s Business Officer magazine that have the colleges in Baltimore and Philadelphia awakening to the need to become more concerned with the quality of life in their surrounding communities.

Determine Your Destiny

Are there times that you’re unsure of the course you should take? Are you faced with a choice of roads to pursue without the benefit of knowing which path is best? Survey what lies ahead at the 2006 EACUBO Annual Professional Development Workshop to be held in the new location of Providence, Rhode Island on March 23–24, 2006.

The Annual Workshop Committee is working diligently to develop a very informative program. The preliminary list of sessions will benefit all organizational levels – from chief financial officers to analysts and other administrators, and institutions of all sizes. Some of the topics include: debt/liquidity management, employee development, post-award grant financial management, student information security and finding process efficiencies with internal business analysts. In addition, the workshop provides an excellent forum to network with colleagues from other institutions throughout the region.

The workshop will be held at the Providence Marriott. The hotel is located steps from downtown Providence. Come and experience all that this distinctive New England city has to offer.

Don’t leave it to fate, plan now to attend the 2006 Workshop. Continue to watch the EACUBO website (www.eacubo.org) for detailed program and registration information.

 

 

Spotlight on LYNN COLEMAN

Currently Vice President of Administration and Finance at Howard Community College, Lynn Coleman says she grew up in Maryland, attending a small private school (there were only 11 in her high school graduating class) outside of Baltimore, and then went from there to Michigan State, as she declared, exactly the opposite in size of her previous academic experience. She was attracted to Michigan State through her godmother’s cousin who was president of the university at that time. She majored in mathematics with the idea of becoming a teacher until she realized that career wasn’t really what she wanted for her future. Lynn said she got involved in accounting on a bet. Her roommate had taken and failed an accounting course and when Lynn looked at the material, she told her roommate, “This is easy. How could you fail it?” Whereupon, her roommate challenged her to take the course which she did – and passed with a 4.0! Unfortunately, her decision to stay away from teaching as a career didn’t hit her until she was a senior and involved in practice teaching. Interestingly, Lynn mentioned that a test she took as a freshman indicated she showed aptitude for accounting.

After graduation, she found that the non-teaching jobs available were not particularly attractive so she decided to head to graduate school instead. Her next stop was Clark Atlanta University for their MBA program from which she graduated in 1977. She spent the next two years with Arthur Anderson in Baltimore. Lynn said she didn’t like that work, primarily because of the constant change of location, never having an office she could declare was her own. In 1979, she left AA and went to work for The Rouse Company in Columbia, MD, as an internal auditor. (It was during this time that she completed her CPA requirements.) Rouse was a well-known developer of regional shopping centers, including the Baltimore Harbor complex and the South Street Seaport in New York City, Faneuil Hall in Boston, and Union Station in St. Louis, as well as their planned community in Columbia. Rouse has recently been purchased by General Growth Properties. Lynn declared that it was “an extremely interesting job, and she really liked working there. Over time, she moved up in the Rouse organization to become a Group Controller and eventually a Senior Group Controller, supervising the financial accounting functions for ten regional shopping centers.

In 1986, with a change in management, she decided to leave Rouse, accepting a position at Howard Community College in Columbia, MD as Comptroller, and has remained there ever since. In 1988, “vice president” was added to her title and in 1997 she became VP of Administration and Finance.

Howard has 6,800 credit students and 14,000 non-credit, a small campus, about 120 acres, with 470,000 square feet of space. Lynn credits her current president for significant changes in the college during the past five years, putting them in a growth mode with enrollment having increased at least 5 to 7 percent each year. While currently non-resident, the school has done a market study that indicates the feasibility for providing 300 beds, particularly for their growing-international student population. Interestingly, the school has a number of international exchange programs, including with Mexico and Denmark. While a majority of their students go on to four-year schools, Howard has a substantial nursing program as well as offerings in other health-related fields.

Howard County is located between Washington and Baltimore in what Lynn described as one of the wealthiest counties in the country. An important consideration in their funding, a third of which comes from the county with an additional 16 percent from the state and about 40 percent from the student fees, the balance from auxiliaries and such. Interestingly, Howard has embarked on capital campaign pledging to raise a quarter of the funding for their new Horovitz Visual and Performing Arts building, the first community college in Maryland to raise funds for a new building. The county provides an equal amount and the state the remaining 50 percent.

In her spare time, Lynn volunteers through her sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha, at a homeless shelter, including participating in clothing drives for people in the community. For hobbies, she declared she get her exercise participating in a “spinning” group, that is, riding a stationary bike and through aerobics. In addition, she finds time each morning to go for a long walk in the wooded area near her home with her dog, Raven. (It just occurred to me that my dog’s name is in the article and not my husband - Carlton - of 27 years. We do have a wonderful marriage. If he ever found I out I mentioned Raven and not him, it might not be so happy! )

We turned next to her participation in association activities. Lynn has been a member of the Maryland Community and Junior College Business Officers Association since 1986, having served as President in 1993. For NACUBO, she served on the annual meeting Host Committee in 1993, became a member of the Community College Council in 2003 and is currently chairing that group. With the Eastern Association, Lynn was a part of the Annual Meeting program committee 1995 – 1997, has served on the Two-Year College Committee since 1999, and joined the EACUBO Board in 2004. When asked what got her involved, she declared it was the opportunity to network with others, that she has learned a great deal at almost every meeting she has attended, and encourages all her staff to become active participants as well. We welcome Lynn as a valuable member of the EACUBO Board.

Howard Community College

No matter where you’re going in life …

     Earn a degree
     Start a career
     Upgrade job skills
     Pursue personal interests

… You Can Get There From Here.

The HCC Vision

Howard Community College is a dynamic, creative learning community that strives to meet challenges by providing innovative solutions leading to learning breakthroughs for all students. We are dedicated to establishing strong student and community connections and to working together to stimulate students, faculty, and all members of our learning community to develop their talents and to discover their greatness.

Dedicated to preparing students for success, Howard Community College (HCC) in Columbia, Maryland, is known for its progressive and innovative programs and for its reputation as one of Maryland’s most technologically advanced campuses. An integral part of the community, the college was authorized by Howard County and approved by the State of Maryland in 1966 -- the same period when James Rouse’s vision of a planned community began to take root.

Since its first class in October 1970, HCC has grown to become the college of choice for Howard County residents. Nearly 7,000 students pursue a variety of studies leading to transfer to four-year colleges or immediate employment upon graduation. An additional 14,000 students take continuing education courses for personal or professional development.

HCC is fully accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools.

The Campuses

HCC’s main campus is situated on 120 acres in the heart of Howard County. Customized training is available from the Charles Ecker Business Training Center (BTC) in Columbia’s Gateway corporate park near Interstate 95
The Laurel College Center (LCC) is an innovative partnership to make higher education more accessible to people who live and work in the Laurel area. HCC and Prince George’s Community College offer credit and noncredit classes at the LCC.

The Belmont Conference Center, an 18th century estate in Elkridge, is a beautiful, secluded site for executive retreats, corporate training, weddings and special events.

Programs and Features

HCC strives to continually monitor the educational needs of its service area and develop programs to meet those needs. Innovative programs include:

Computer certification partnerships: HCC has partnered with organizations such as CompTIA, Microsoft, CheckPoint and Cisco to prepare students for successful entry into the IT employment market.

James W. Rouse Scholars Program: An innovative honors program featuring leadership training and articulation agreements with prestigious universities including Johns Hopkins, Temple, Boston, and George Washington.

Silas Craft Collegians Program: A program designed to increase the retention, educational performance, and graduation rates of participating students. The program is aimed at recent high school graduates whose past academic performance may not reflect their true potential.

Flexible Learning: HCC helps adjust to busy schedules with Internet classes, Weekend College, Fast Track classes (three credits in as few as three weekends), and classes on television or video. A complete degree can be earned through flexible learning programs.

Maryland Statewide Programs: As the designated Maryland statewide trainer in Biomedical Engineering Technology and Cardiovascular Technology, all Maryland residents may enroll in the two programs at in-county tuition rates.

The Region

In Howard County, communities ranging from historic mill towns like Ellicott City to the planned city of Columbia are home to more than 228,000 residents. Now a city of 80,000, Columbia maintains a small-town feel through its 10 villages clustered around schools, shopping and recreational facilities. The school system is considered one of the best in the country. Commercial centers are balanced by miles of greenspace, farmland and lakes. Baltimore and Washington, D.C. are less than 20 miles; the ocean and mountain resorts are only three hours away.

Howard County enjoys an impressive variety of arts groups and performance venues, including Rep Stage, Columbia’s professional theatre company in residence at Howard Community College. Pro sports enthusiasts are minutes away from the Baltimore Orioles, Baltimore Ravens, and Washington Redskins.

The county’s stable and friendly business climate attracts both national and international companies. More than 100,000 employees work in 6,000 businesses ranging from high technology and telecommunications firms to wholesale distributors and manufacturers. Buses and trains carry commuters to Baltimore and Washington.

Area Programming

The following areas have plans for fall programs:

SYRACUSE AREA - will hold a full day workshop on November 17th. The session topics and speakers include the following:

• James Mingle, University Counsel for Cornell University will present on institutional governance, board of committee structure and leadership, and how Sarbanes-Oxley has impacted these issues.
• Ted Lewkowicz of Bond, Schoeneck and King will speak on section 4958 of the Internal Revenue Code which addresses excess benefit transactions and recent inquiries sent by the IRS to several hundred colleges and universities regarding compensation paid to officers and board members.
• Mary Wheeler, associate controller for Cornell University, and John Robinson, The RSmart Group, will present on the Kuali Project, the development of a financial administrative system by a consortium of colleges and universities using open source code.
• PriceWaterhouseCoopers will present on filing requirements for foreign bank accounts and investments as well as other current issues they see in the accounting and tax field.
• Marsh and Mercer HR Consulting will present on Medicare Part D prescription benefits for retirees and its impact on costs incurred by colleges and universities for retiree benefits.

CPE credits are available for attending the workshop.

NEW JERSEY - will hold its full-day fall workshop at Rutgers University on Wednesday, November 17th. The session topics include

• a tax update by John Harabedian of Rutgers (a committee member and great resource),
• a fraud prevention session presented by Robert DiPasquale of JH Cohn,
• a presentation by Jean Demchak of Marsh on managing international program risks, and
• a "Whistleblower" program compliance session contrasting outsourced and internal programs. That session will be co-presented by Tom O'Keefe of Ethicspoint and Laurel Harvey, Chief Compliance Officer at Princeton University.

CPE credits are available for the workshop.

NEW YORK METROPOLITAN AREA - will be holding its fall meeting at The New School on November 10th. Topics include:

• New Financial Ratios Published by KPMG,
• The Balanced Scorecard,
• Business Officer Ethics,
• Relationship Between the Business and Development Offices.

Registration materials will be emailed in late September. For information contact Howard Buxbaum at hbuxbaum@njcu.edu.

Administrative Management Institute Participants Value Application of Knowledge and Skills

Judy L. Langworthy touts AMI as "the best professional development conference I have ever attended." After participating in this year’s Administrative Management Institute (AMI), Langworthy returned to her department, ready to apply new knowledge and skills to daily challenges.

Langworthy, Director of State Accounting at SUNY Fredonia in Fredonia, New York, was one of dozens of administrative managers and supervisors from around the country who came together at Cornell University July 24–29 to participate in the thirteenth annual Administrative Management Institute.

For over a decade, this acclaimed five-day institute, co-sponsored by EACUBO, has been providing managers with an extremely valuable and comprehensive opportunity to gain the skills, background, and perspectives they need to succeed in their evolving roles as well as a framework for interpreting current trends. Participants appreciated the presenters' focus on applying knowledge gained at AMI to daily challenges.

AMI participant Cornelia D. Mead, Assistant Dean in the Watson School of Engineering at Binghamton University also benefited a lot from this year’s institute. "The presenters assessed their audience, and pitched their presentations perfectly. The informative sessions had good solid information, and the sessions were very inspirational," said Mead.

Through workshops, case studies, and interactive sessions, the institute seeks to expand participants’ awareness of changes, trends, and issues shaping the work of unit managers and their institutions; help them update and develop technical skills and knowledge; and provide them with detailed and immediate practical applications. In addition, participants have the opportunity to hear, question, and interact with senior university administrators and exemplary administrative managers.

"I was especially impressed by the breadth of the program," said Tracy S. Parkinson, Associate Dean of Faculty in Academic Affairs at King College in Bristol, Tennessee. "It effectively covered several different topics relevant to higher education, which was one of the things that first attracted me to the program. I left with a long list of things to try to accomplish on my campus."

This year's Institute highlights included an in-depth workshop on building leadership skills and managing change, presented by Thomas J. Champoux, executive vice president of The Effectiveness Institute, Inc.; and a stimulating interactive theatre session addressing diversity/inclusion education and training in the workplace, presented by the Cornell Interactive Theatre Ensemble (CITE). Other topics included leading change in a values-based culture, current topics in employment law, risk management, sponsored programs, fiduciary responsibility, and negotiation essentials.

Kenneth J. Kline, Business Systems and Financial Planning Manager in the Information Technologies department at Cornell University returned to his department, ready to apply new skills to daily challenges. "The most valuable element of the program was its focus on real-life situations and application," Kline said. "The interactive sessions allowed me to reflect on how I would handle the situation presented and enabled me to see all sides of the story."

For more information about next year's institute, set for July 23–28, 2006, or to reserve a space now, contact the Administrative Management Institute, Cornell University, Box 533, B20 Day Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853-2801; Telephone: 607 255-7259; Fax: 607 255-9687; E-mail: cusp@cornell.edu; Web: www.sce.cornell.edu/ami

EACUBO Thanks Its Corporate Sponsors

Roy H. Merolli
Marist College
EACUBO Sponsorship Coordinator

We are pleased to report that support from our corporate sponsors continues to help EACUBO offer top quality programming events at reasonable costs.

Over the past year, several hundred letters were sent to, and follow-up contacts were made with, existing and potential sponsors. Sponsor support for the 2005 Annual Workshop in Philadelphia reached the highest level ever for this event. At this time, sponsor assistance for the 2005 Annual Meeting is being finalized with the assistance of MRA Services. Our upcoming Annual Meeting in Chicago provides EACUBO with the opportunity to recognize and thank new and existing sponsors for their assistance in helping to support all our major programming initiatives throughout 2005.

Sponsors support EACUBO programs both through monetary and in-kind contributions. There are five sponsor recognition giving levels: Bronze ($1,000 - $1,999); Silver ($2,000 - $4,999); Gold ($5,000 - $9,999); Platinum ($10,000 - $19,999); and Diamond ($20,000 and up). Each level of sponsorship provides a list of benefits that the sponsor receives at the respective program event along with appropriate recognition to highlight their support to program attendees. Annual sponsorship levels are based on a company’s overall contribution to EACUBO throughout the calendar year.

The EACUBO sponsorship program is a broad-based one that has been developed in collaboration with MRA Services which also coordinates our Exhibitor Program for each year’s Annual Meeting. EACUBO’s efforts focus on leveraging our institutional relationships with both existing and prospective new sponsors. MRA focuses on the full gamut of logical support including marketing sponsorship opportunities, finalizing sponsor contracts, collecting critical background information on sponsors, assigning sponsorships, and producing the sponsor recognition booklet.
Our work with MRA provides EACUBO with a comprehensive approach to our sponsorship development and management efforts.

As you speak with exhibitors and sponsors at the upcoming Annual Meeting in Chicago, please thank our sponsors for their continued support and take the time to learn about the many products and services they provide. Sponsor support plays a key role in the success of EACUBO because it enables us to continue to provide outstanding professional development opportunities.

…And the Winner Is!!

This spring, EACUBO asked for responses to a survey concerning whether members intended to attend the Annual Meeting scheduled for Chicago October 9 – 12, 2005.
Those responding were promised to be entered in a drawing for an iPod. And the winner is .... Jay Cary, a business officer at Dartmouth College. We’ll hope he indicated his intention to attend. Many thanks to all the others who took the time to fill out the questionnaire. The Annual Meeting Committee declares it provided useful information not only for this year but for future meetings as well.