Meeting Minutes 12/13/2023
Aiken County Commission for Higher Education
December 13, 2023
Penland Administration Building, Room 110
ACCHE Members Present: Tim Simmons, Teresa Haas, Chip Marvin, Joe Lewis, Debra Gantt, LaWana McKenzie and Dan Heimmermann
USCA Staff Present: Brian Enter, Mary Driscoll, Todd Wilkinson, Ahmed Samaha, Cam Reagin, Christen Engel, Ernest Pringle, Dan Robb, Julie Radford and Carmen Williams.
ACCHE Members Not Present: Sharon Marra, Jackie Busbee, Sallye Rich, King Laurence, Clarence Jackson
Chair Haas called the meeting to order at 5:03 p.m. She stated that notice of the meeting had been published in accordance with the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act.
Motion from Mr. Tim Simmons to approve minutes from the last meeting. Mr. Chip Marvin seconded the motion. The motion was approved.
Chair Haas presented an award to Carmen Williams for assisting the Commission over the past 5 years. She stated that Ms. Williams work and efforts are greatly appreciated and we are grateful for her service. As an expression of appreciation, Chair Haas presented Ms. Williams with a plaque and gift certificate to the Aiken Downtown Development Association shops and restaurants. The Commission wished Ms. Williams well in her new position as USC Aiken’s Director of Alumni of Alumni Relations.
Chair’s Report: Chair Haas thanked the Commission members who were able to attend Chancellor Heimmermann’s presentation to Aiken County Council’s work session on November 14th. It was a great opportunity for members of the County Council to learn more about the university. She also reported that County Council Chairman Bunker is interested in continuing annual joint dinner meetings with the Commission. Julie is working with Chairman Bunker’s office to schedule the meeting. Chair Haas also noted that the Pacer School of Business hosted its 3rd annual Women in Business with two great speakers from the SC Department of Commerce. The MANE event was held on Oct 25th, to recognize USC Aiken’s Equestrian Eventing team, who won the Intercollegiate National Championship this year. Chair Haas reminded everyone that the Commission’s joint dinner meeting with the Aiken County Legislative Delegation is Jan. 3, 2024. She also reminded everyone that Commencement is tomorrow night.
Chair Haas also reminded everyone that the Commission bylaws do have an attendance requirement. When three meetings are missed in a 12-month period, we are supposed to notify the Chairman of the Legislative Delegation.
Finance Committee Report: Chip Marvin noted that the financial statement shows that we are above our cash target. He stated that he and Chair Haas executed a trade of $175,000 to cover the Commission’s commitment to provide $50,000 for the new engineering machine shop building last fiscal year and an additional $50,000 this year. The engineering project is now fully funded. Cam Regain stated since the AMC is not in city limits, we may have issues with water pricing. Our campus water bill doubled from $6,000 a month to the current $12,000. Brian mentioned if we do go with the City, we must follow city ordinances around issues such as trees. The Valley Public Services Authority rate is about the same as the city rate. Members questioned whether the city gives us a rate as a nonprofit? There needs to be research done into the advantages and disadvantages of going with the City of Aiken vs The Valley. On the parkway, we can likely choose either, but the softball field and soccer field, the two entities cannot run water lines together.
Buildings and Grounds: Brian Enter provided an update regarding several projects on campus. The AMC is on schedule for completion in 2025 and the SC National Guard projects are still in design. Chair Haas requested to be notified if there are delays in the schedule. Roof replacements in the Ruth Patrick Science Center and Penland are upcoming. Projects next summer will operate in two phases, 2024 first half and 2025 second half.
Chancellor’s Report: The fall of 2023 was the second largest freshman class, enrollment is up, beginning to trend in the upward direction. New academic programs continued to be developed and we will likely see more graduate programs upcoming.
The Chancellor mentioned for all in attendance to look under item two when things are due, currently not going to raising tuition but with inflation it could lead to further issues. About two months ago, Dr. Heimmermann and Chip Limehouse met with the South Carolina House Speaker to discuss further opportunities for USC Aiken. The Speaker was very supportive of engineering and cyber activities and potentially a building. We are requesting $90 million with the potential support of the Speaker. We do have a great partnership with USC Sumter (the Speaker’s area) for the nursing program so we will continue to work to make connections.
The provost search is moving along well; we had over 80 applications for the position and four will be coming to campus in January.
We hope to expand to offer academic certificates where a student can get 15 or 18 credits to earn this credential in areas such as cyber security. We are excited at the approval of our BS in Public Health program which will serve the critical workforce needs of our region and provide some of our nursing students with a different option in health care.
There was a meeting at Aiken Tech two or three weeks ago with personnel from the Savannah River Site to talk about the types of jobs and skills they will need. The Site is continually looking for more locally trained engineers since they have an employee retention issue. There was also conversation about housing, activities, public schools in the county and region and the impact on recruiting and retaining the workforce.
Through our Technology Service Division, we now have a Regional Security Operations Center on campus that monitors intrusions and discovers bad actors in cyberspace. This has been run successfully at USC Aiken and we are now offering this to local communities. We have had discussions with the FBI in Columbia and made service offers to Aiken Public Schools. In line with service mission. Aiken students are working at the RSOC and getting invaluable experience. The long-term goal is to charge a fee for this important service, but initially offer at low or no cost. We are reaching out to several local municipalities including Jackson, North Augusta, and others.
The 2024-29 strategic plan is almost done and will then need to get Board of Trustees approval. The handout provided gives an overview, talks about the basic priorities for the university, and making sure the academic programs are aligned with the regional workforce needs.
Ahmed is designing a presentation on Generation Z and their characteristics. They tend to value Amazon-like service with speed, accuracy, and ease of use. The university needs to adapt a bit more nimbly and we cannot afford not to. If not at this university, then where? We do have a responsibility.
The AMC, Cyber Innovation Center, and National Guard Readiness Center will all be coming online in the next few years. While we did receive money to build, we will be required to pay for integration activities such as sidewalks and lighting. We continue to examine ways in which we can pay for the athletic field relocations.
A new webpage is currently being worked and will see the improvements soon.
About 80% of graduates stay here, wanting to add to the population. When they introduce the nurses, they will announce where they are going, most of them do not go to Aiken Regional Hospital. Only a handful of them go there.
We hired a consultant to help better support fundraising activities. Going to work with Mary to see how we can raise more money and build a culture of giving.
WiFi continues to be a moving target with upgrades being done consistently. We are expecting, H&SS and B&E to have WiFi upgrades done during Summer 2024.
Mary reported that the endowment current is approximately $35 million.
The campus has been quiet, and we do not anticipate any change in that regarding the current issues in the Middle East. Any concerns about antisemitic, inflammatory statements are run through our campus judicial system; policies had been recently updated well before the Hamas/Israeli conflict.
As part of Homecoming, on February 24, 2024, at 10 am, we will have an unveiling of former USC Aiken Chancellor, Dr. Sandra Jordan’s portrait.
Motion to adjourn meeting by Mr. Chip Marvin. Seconded by Mr. Tim Simmons. Meeting adjourned at 5:58 p.m.