Skip to main content


Repost Message
will copy the article into draft mode and enable you to edit/change dates and information.
Do not change the dates
of this posting because it will affect the original.

MCC Daily Tribune

A Message from Board Chair Lovenheim

My colleagues on the Monroe Community College Board of Trustees and I are individually and collectively committed to our responsibilities as trustees, including those related to finances, policy-making, personnel and strategic direction. We are publicly accountable for the College's finances, and I am proud of our record of balanced budgets, strategic investments and tuition rates among the lowest in the State University of New York (SUNY) system.

I am equally proud of the transparency with which we operate. Board meetings and annual budget and enrollment workshops are open to the public and College community. Our Board agendas include opportunities for shared governance partners and any member of the public to provide input. Alongside faculty, staff, administrators and students, Board members participate in College events and initiatives--such as Shared Leadership Coordinating Council, and the recent engagements with an enrollment management consultant and the SUNY Faculty Council of Community Colleges.

In its expression of dissatisfaction with the MCC Board of Trustees, the Faculty Association union asserts that the Board has not responded to its November 2018 call for transparent performance evaluations of President Kress and her management team. The Board evaluates President Kress annually; however, those evaluations will not be public. No MCC employee's evaluation should be made public; to do so is inappropriate and disrespects employees. With that said, the Board responded to the interest in evaluation by charging President Kress with establishing a task force to make recommendations on the format and scope of evaluations for all MCC employees. It is my understanding that this task force of more than 30 individuals from all employee classifications and the student body has been meeting since November and is on track to complete its report by August, the deadline set by the Board. (Regrettably, the Faculty Association representative has declined to participate in this task force.)

The MCC Board of Trustees respects and values the input of all stakeholders in the College: the 31% of Faculty Association union members who expressed no confidence in the Board and the 66% who chose not to participate in the vote. Despite these differences of opinion, it is my sincere hope that we can focus on the work before us: implementing necessary changes to grow enrollment and supporting our students on their educational journeys.

Thank you for all you do for MCC.

Barbara Lovenheim, Ph.D.

Chair, MCC Board of Trustees

06/06/2019