Lilenthal

Provost Robin Lilenthal spoke about the new college catalog for Ellsworth Community College and Marshalltown Community College. This allows students to explore programs, requirements for degrees and courses. It can also be accessed by parents, faculty and staff.

Fourteen transfer majors have been added in “seamless transfer from the community college to the universities for specified majors,” said Lilienthal.

These include biology, business, chemistry, communications, criminal justice, English, fine arts, math, physics, psychology, sociology, early childhood education, elementary education and secondary education.

The effort is collaborative between community colleges and universities in Iowa. More majors will be added in the future.

The catalog was unanimously approved by the board.

The board unanimously also approved the sale of $17 million General Obligation School Bonds Series 2020 to Robert W. Baird and Co. Maggie Burger of Spear Financial said the interest rate will be 0.8651 percent.

“We are just delighted by the interest rate to say the least,” Burger said.

The board further discussed plans for COVID-19 response.

“We are awaiting guidance from the Iowa Department of Public Health,” Chancellor Kristie Fisher said.

She said they expect to receive recommendations by next week.

“We continue to plan and we continue to change those plans as new information arrives,” Fisher said.

Lilienthal shared some plans for IVCCD classes during a pandemic.

“Our goal and our priority was to be back on campus. We knew that’s what our students needed to have,” she said.

In environments in which all students cannot meet face-to-face because of regulations, the class will be split in half. While one section attends in person, others will livestream the class and vice versa.

Some classes will be transferred to larger rooms in order to social distance.

In other business:

• IVCCD will continue to partner with Test Iowa as a testing site.

• The Automotive Technology program at Iowa Valley Grinnell was awarded the Iowa Automobile Dealers Foundation for Education grant in the amount of $3,025 for the purchase of an electrical trainer.

• IVCCD will allow the county to use the Orpheum for court proceedings.

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Contact Anna Shearer at 641-753-6633

or ashearer@timesrepublican.com