During its meeting on Monday night, the Kaskaskia College Board of Trustees learned about the results of an analysis of the school’s program enrollment.
Julie Obermark, KC’s Vice President of instructional services, walked the board through the program review process, which covered the period from fall 2022 through spring 2024. Obermark says the review examines program cost, quality and need. She reported that overall enrollment trended upward during the analyzed time period, with the nursing and early childhood academic programs among the big gainers in terms of headcount and credit hours.
KC President George Evans says the annual program review is a good tool for the college to assess not only which programs are gaining and losing students, but why those changes are happening.
“The purpose for today’s presentation was just really a highlight to the board of our program review process, which is really how we internally analyze our programs for success, areas for opportunity of improvement and to make sure we have and are utilizing accurate data so if there is an area of concern … we’ve seen a decrease in this area, why is there a decrease? And most of the time, we find our answers when we dive into that data.”
College officials say the program review takes place internally for four straight years, with an Illinois Community College Board program review occurring every fifth year.
In other business, the board approved a resolution approving the fiscal year 2026 Resource Allocation Management Plan capital request application, which will be sent to the Illinois Community College Board for consideration. The top priority on the list is the exterior main water line replacement, with an estimated cost of $1,410,000.
The board also approved the hiring of James Patrick as development and grant coordinator, James Anderson as director of institutional effectiveness, Brittani Miller as English transition success coach and Vanessa Burgess as Children’s Learning Center teacher.
Also on Monday, the board recognized the recent success of KC’s representatives at the Future Business Leaders of America National Leadership Conference. Madison Johnson of Vandalia, Isabelle Highfield of Patoka and Tyson Thompson of Okawville competed as a team in the Emerging Business Issues category and earned ninth place in the nation, competing against scores of other colleges including large four-year schools such as Penn State and Arizona State. Johnson also competed in the Business Presentation category and placed in the top 15 in the nation.
Evans says school officials are very proud of the KC students’ showing.
“(We’re) just so thankful for them and the fact that they’re willing to put in that time to represent the institution, but they’ve also gained a considerable skill set that’s going to pay dividends for the rest of their lives. I want to give a shout out to the instructors, as well, who did a good job.”
The FBLA leadership conference took place June 24 through July 2 in Orlando, Florida.
