The Odessa College Board of Trustees approved a $4,905,250 bid from Oprex Commercial Construction in Lubbock for the James Segrest Stadium project.
Vice President of Administrative Services Ken Zartner said the college has $5,088,897 in available funds.
At a board workshop in November, trustees discussed value engineering measures such as delaying installation of lights, reducing some of the turf and reducing the number of shade structures from 13 to five.
They can add shade structures as more funds become available, according to the workshop. Also, infrastructure will be in place for lights.
Some of the turf that was going to be put in will be concrete.
Plans are to put in a digital scoreboard.
There is still fundraising to be done, but the project is expected to be complete in fall 2023.
Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness Janice Hicks presented data on student experience focus groups.
Most students say they enroll because of proximity and it’s easy to enroll.
Hicks said students feel a sense of belonging. She noted that many of our students are first-generation students. Students like that OC provides lots of help and they feel very supported by the faculty.
Financial aid was the No. 1 resource cited by students.
Tutoring was mentioned a lot, along with library services, the food pantry, tutoring, library services, advising and all the types of coaches OC has.
There were some recommendations, Hicks said. Overall, students that they may tend not to move forward and persist because life happens.
They said awareness should be raised for night, weekend and online courses for working students; better communication online from adjunct professors; more personal outreach for struggling students; coaching/mentoring access for all students; help with job placement; and more information on what courses transfer to UTPB.
Hicks said students shared that OC excels at student support during enrollment; creating a welcoming environment for students; communicating resources via multiple platforms; and faculty support for students.
Brian Jones, OC director of Professional Learning, gave a report on the Texas Commission on Community College Finance about proposed changes to the funding formula for community colleges. The changes will have to be passed by the legislature.
President Gregory Williams said OC “really wins in this model because it first of all provides more funding overall to community colleges, and secondly, a number of those funds are based on performance.”
Board Chair Gary Johnson said what’s important is that performance and success will be rewarded in the proposed funding model.
“That’s what we do. My concern is that as you get through the process you don’t say well you’re doing really well; we’re not going to fund you as well because some of these others need some help. That’s not equal. So as long as it’s based on performance and we’re all looking at the same performance indicators, then we can compete with anybody …,” Johnson said.
He added that he doesn’t want OC to be held at fault for being successful.
