I want to sincerely thank all of you for your efforts this week to keep our college operations underway, so that we can take care of our students and also take care of you. This is a challenging time for all of us. The most challenging part is predicting the future. We do not know how long we will have to adapt operations or how restrictive our lives will become. This is all unprecedented for our lifetime, and we are having to remain fluid and flexible with everchanging governmental mandates and recommendations.

To the maximum extent possible, we are putting processes in place so that college faculty, staff and administrators can work at home. We will still have essential services that will need to report on a schedule to be determined, so that college operations can continue. Each division is working with their staff to determine what those needs will be and to determine essential support. The vast majority of support services will be remote. However, we will still need to schedule designated staff to ensure that our basic operating activities continue. The cabinet is working diligently to finalize what those needs will be and how often they need to occur. We hope to have most of those protocols in place by close of business tomorrow. In the meantime, many faculty and staff have already been able to make that transition. That has been important to reduce personal contact for those who we still need to be on campus. We greatly appreciate those who are still on site and particularly thank our facilities crew for working diligently to maintain a safe environment.

We ask that all faculty maintain contact with their students to guide them through these instructional changes. As previously announced, the College has extended spring break for students through this week. Beginning March 23, all instruction, including laboratory sessions, will be delivered online or through alternative formats to the extent possible until further notice. We are continuing to work on alternate options for courses where that is not currently possible. IT sent a message today with instruction on how to use Microsoft Teams. That app is simple to use and has been a great alternative to face-to-face meetings for staff and faculty.

Again, all of your efforts are appreciated. Our aspirations are to make sure we can meet the needs of as many students as is humanly possible. To that end, we also want you to know that we intend to make sure every employee will continue to be paid. Everyone’s lives are being disrupted, and we do not want you to have to also be worrying about income. Your energies are better spent taking care of your family, our students, each other and yourselves. I will be back in touch in the very near future regarding future actions and timelines where possible.

Charlotte Warren, Ph.D.
President
Lincoln Land Community College

Students, faculty and staff,

I want to assure you that the health, safety and well-being of our college community are our highest priorities. In light of the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, our leadership team has been meeting and considering the latest information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Lincoln Land Community College is taking the following preventative measures:

• For students, we will extend spring break by one additional week (March 16-22) for all classes.

• Though classes will not meet, the college will be open. Staff should report to work as usual.

• Faculty will work (either on campus or remotely) on ensuring that they will be able to instruct their students remotely beginning Monday, March 23. More information on preparing classes for adaptive modes of teaching will be provided.
• This week, faculty and staff are encouraged to remain in their workspaces as much as possible, practicing reasonable social distancing.
• Faculty and staff who have recently traveled to CDC identified high risk countries should speak to their supervisor and Human Resources for permission to work from home for a 14-day period of self-quarantine.

• Faculty and staff exhibiting symptoms of the coronavirus are asked to contact their health care provider and follow their instructions. All employees who are feeling ill should take sick leave and stay home from work.

• All student travel and non-essential employee travel are suspended for the foreseeable future. Any previously approved employee travel must be resubmitted for consideration.

• The LLCC Child Development Center will remain open with regular business hours.

• LLCC Community Education classes are canceled until further notice.

• All activities involving community groups meeting on the LLCC campus or at any LLCC Outreach Center are canceled until further notice.

• A polling place for primary election voting on March 17 will be open in Montgomery Hall.

• Bistro Verde will be closed until further notice.
• The Midwest Athletic Conference has canceled all softball and baseball (including the LLCC Loggers teams) games until April 1.
• Quiznos is the lower level of Menard Hall will be closed this week.

Although no classes will be held this week, the college will be open as we prepare for adaptive modes of teaching through the duration of this health crisis. Our facilities staff is taking extra measures to ensure a clean and sanitary environment.

Additional communications will be sent as warranted, and updates will be posted on www.llcc.edu.

Thank you very much for your patience and understanding as we work together to continue to provide a safe learning environment for our students.

Charlotte Warren, Ph.D.
President, Lincoln Land Community College

Students, faculty and staff,

I want to assure you that the health, safety and well-being of our college community are our highest priorities. In light of the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, our leadership team has been meeting and considering the latest information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Effective immediately, Lincoln Land Community College will take the following preventative measures:

• For students, we will extend spring break by one additional week (March 16-22) for all classes.

• Though classes will not meet, the college will be open. Staff should report to work as usual.

• Faculty will work (either on campus or remotely) on ensuring that they will be able to instruct their students remotely beginning Monday, March 23. More information on preparing classes for adaptive modes of teaching will be provided.
• Next week, faculty and staff are encouraged to remain in their workspaces as much as possible, practicing reasonable social distancing.
• Faculty and staff who have recently travelled to CDC identified high risk countries should speak to their supervisor and Human Resources for permission to work from home for a 14-day period of self-quarantine.

• Faculty and staff exhibiting symptoms of the coronavirus are asked to contact their health care provider and follow their instructions. All employees who are feeling ill should take sick leave and stay home from work.

• All student travel and non-essential employee travel are suspended for the foreseeable future. Any previously approved employee travel must be resubmitted for consideration.

• The LLCC Child Development Center will remain open with regular business hours.

• LLCC Community Education classes are canceled until further notice.

• All activities involving community groups meeting on the LLCC campus or at any LLCC Outreach Center are canceled until further notice.

• A polling place for primary election voting on March 17 will be open in Montgomery Hall.

• Bistro Verde will be closed until further notice.
• The Midwest Athletic Conference has canceled all softball and baseball (including the LLCC Loggers teams) games until April 1.

Although no classes will be held next week, the college will be open as we prepare for adaptive modes of teaching through the duration of this health crisis. Our facilities staff is taking extra measures to ensure a clean and sanitary environment.

Additional communications will be sent as warranted, and updates will be posted on www.llcc.edu.

Thank you very much for your patience and understanding as we work together to continue to provide a safe learning environment for our students.

Charlotte Warren, Ph.D.
President, Lincoln Land Community College

It is with great sadness that we acknowledge the loss of Cinda Edwards, former chair of the Lincoln Land Community College Board of Trustees, and her husband, Frank Edwards, yesterday in a plane crash. Cinda and Frank were among LLCC’s biggest proponents and supporters.

Cinda was a proud graduate of our nursing program. She was elected to the LLCC Board of Trustees in 2007 and rose through the ranks as board secretary, vice chair, and finally chair of the board in 2011. She served as chair for two years, presiding over the opening of the Workforce Careers Center.

Cinda was known for her calm, decisive leadership and tireless support of our students, faculty and staff. Frank was her constant supporter and was so proud of her many accomplishments.

We extend our deepest sympathy to their son, Alex, an alum of LLCC, along with their extended families, countless associates and friends, and also to the family and friends of the third victim, John Evans.

Charlotte Warren, Ph.D.
President
Lincoln Land Community College

Every three years the college administers a climate survey to provide data on perceptions of the college environment and to help inform us on what we are doing well and what could be improved. We will be conducting such a survey, the Personal Assessment of the College Environment (PACE), this fall. It will open on Tuesday, Oct. 8 and be available through Friday, Nov. 1.

We are committed to a constant process of internal review and analysis to guide our continuous quality improvement. One significant way we can work to enhance our campus climate is to listen to and take action on your views regarding its various factors. The PACE helps us better understand our campus environment as it relates to institutional structure, supervisory relationships, teamwork and focus on students. It also provides a way for us to assess effectiveness of new initiatives and measure growth or change over a multi-year period.

I understand that honest communication can sometimes feel difficult to provide. That is why we work to ensure your anonymity. We have engaged the National Initiative for Leadership and Institutional Effectiveness (NILIE), an independent college survey specialist, to undertake our climate survey and provide the college aggregated results. So please be candid in answering these questions. Honest and constructive communication is critical in our process of identifying priority areas on which to focus.

You will receive an email invite from NILIE to participate in the PACE survey once it has opened. When the survey is completed and the data compiled, results will be reviewed by various groups and shared with the campus community.

Thank you in advance for taking the time to complete the survey. Your input is very much appreciated.

Charlotte Warren, Ph.D.
President, Lincoln Land Community College

As many of you know, we have had several administrative retirements in the last year or so that we have managed with temporary appointments.  That void has led to a great deal of speculation around the campus and sent the grapevine into overload.  Even so, it was important for us to take our time to step back and take a look at how our needs may have changed, and then plan for those needs.  We also wanted to make sure that all who would be affected by the changes would be able to have a conversation with their proposed supervisor before plans were made public.  This work has taken some time as there has been a fair bit of reshuffling.  As always, the intent is to find the best way to take care of our students.

As important for many of you has been knowing that although some will be sitting in different seats, everyone has a spot.  That has been my philosophy during difficult financial times, and it remains true.  Each person involved in the changes has had a discussion with the supervisor to whom they will report, and is aware of any change that directly affects them.

Faculty were informed of departmental restructuring before they left for the summer.  We have created seven academic departments where there were previously five.  By rearranging a bit, and realigning disciplines, we hope to help departments be better able to support students and faculty alike.  You can find the new academic departments, their deans and support staff in the Academic Services Organizational Chart.  As you take a look, you will note that some programs/departments previously under the VP for Workforce Development and Community Education are now supervised by the VP for Academic Services.  Dr. Jozaitis will be retiring in a few months, so her responsibilities have been redistributed.  We are making the shift as of July 1.  This allows transition/overlap for Judy’s remaining time so that we can prevent anything from falling through the cracks.

So, beyond the traditional academics, Dr. Lindquist will be responsible for all of the workforce programs, as well as Community Education and the Capital City Training Center.  The SBDC will report to Paula Luebbert.  The Adult Education program will be housed in Student Services, reporting to Dr. Lesley Frederick.  Additionally, with the retirement of Julie Rourke, we have lost important grant writing talent.  To remedy that, a grant writing position has been created and that will be housed within the Foundation reporting to Karen Sanders.  We are working on the remaining organizational charts to replace the ones posted under human resources.

You will also see some difference in the structure of student advising.  In fact our staff will have different titles, and are changing up the way services are offered.  In an effort to build stronger and increasingly supportive student/staff relationships, those staff have taken on the role of coaches.  This is not just a title change, but a change in approach.  We want to change from a transactional model to more of a relationship building model.  I won’t get into the specifics here, but just want you to be aware that things might not look quite the same.

The world of education is changing at a much faster pace than ever.  We are trying to find ways to not just keep up, but to continue to position ourselves for the students of today and tomorrow.  Lincoln Land Community College is fortunate to have such talented faculty and staff who step up, roll up their sleeves, and step in.

Charlotte Warren, Ph.D.
President

Dr. Charlotte Warren, president, was elected to the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) Board of Directors at the recent AACC convention in Orlando, Fla. Her three-year term begins July 1. AACC is governed by a 32-member Board of Directors. The 32-member board acts on behalf of the institutional members to create and maintain a vision for AACC and to determine and ensure that the organization adheres to appropriate standards of performance.

I am pleased to inform you that on Feb. 27, 2019, the LLCC Board of Trustees approved collective bargaining agreements for full-time and part-time faculty. With the new agreements in place, the college is moving forward with salary and insurance adjustments for administrators, classified staff and professional staff retroactive to July 1, 2018.

The college has increased the annual amount it contributes toward health insurance coverage from $10,400 to $10,920 for plan year 2019. On March 15, a premium refund will be issued for those covered under the Open Access Plan and a health savings account deposit or premium adjustment will occur for those covered under the High Deductible Plan.

On March 31, salaries will be adjusted to reflect a 3.97 percent increase retroactive to July 1, 2018 with a retroactive payment. Please note that salaries were already increased by 2 percent, so the adjustment will be for an additional 1.97 percent. Those employees who started on or after January 1, 2018 are only eligible for ½ of the overall increase. Only current, active employees are eligible for these adjustments. The Human Resources office will send individual correspondence with additional details.

Charlotte Warren, Ph.D.
President