McGuffin elected as ACC board member

Ken McGuffin, Iola, was appointed to the Allen Community College board of trustees Thursday night to fill Jim Talkington’s position, who has resigned to become a county commissioner.
The decision came after presentations were made by candidates Mike McKinnis and McGuffin. The vote was 3-2 in favor of McGuffin.
“What the college provides to the community, I cannot say enough,” McGuffin said. “This is a tremendous opportunity.”
McGuffin graduated from ACC with his associates degree in 1963, then known as Iola Junior College, where he met his wife, Kit. He then began his teaching career at Humboldt High, before moving to Iola Middle School for eight years. He served as McKinley Elementary principal and Jefferson Elementary principal before retiring in 1999. McGuffin received his bachelor’s degree in education from Pittsburg State University. He has two master’s degrees from the University of Kansas — one in geography and the other in administration.
McGuffin said he appreciates the opportunity that a community college can provide to young students to jumpstart their education and career. He said two of his three sons, Kyle and Kevin, went to community colleges, and were greatly affected by their experience — his other son, Kurt, went to Kansas State University.
The close decision of the appointment to the board was no surprise. McKinnis, formerly an employee with ACC, presented his case to the board — making it a difficult decision for the voting members.
McKinnis is currently an economics professor at PSU, but said leaving his position at ACC was “like tearing my skin off.”
McKinnis suggested his business and accounting background would be helpful to the board, though he admitted that he doesn’t “have a political bone in his body.”
Talkington’s position is open through 2015, and McGuffin will maintain it until it requires re-election. The positions of board members Harvey Rogers, Neal Barclay and Jenny Spillman are up for re-election in early 2013 as well.

IN OTHER NEWS, council members accepted Anna Catterson’s letter of resignation from the college — effective immediately.
ACC President John Master said Catterson, a computer science instructor, has taken a position with Neosho County Community College for the spring semester. The position will entail designing online classes and programs for NCCC.
— Steve Troxel, vice president for finance and operations, made a proposal for ACC to move from Kan-ed to KanREN, the Kansas Research and Education Network, for its video and internet services.
Troxel said after cuts from the state legislature, KANED will be nullified and ACC will lose their connection. Board members approved the motion to accept KANREN for the services.
Troxel said he has been in contact with Peak Uptime, a company that is completing the technology road map for ACC.
“This came at a bad time, because we are completing the technology road map,” Troxel said.
He said Peak Uptime is currently researching better bids for video and internet services, and will report the findings to the board for next month’s meeting.
— Board members accepted amendments to the enrollment and class drop/add policies during Thursday’s meeting.
Cynthia Jacobson, vice president for student affairs, said the policies have not been revised since 1997 and many things “did not match up” with ACC’s current policies. She said ACC did not have online registration or courses when the original policies were written.
Jacobson said important revisions include when a student may withdraw from an online course and on-campus course. According the new policy, students may add or drop a full-semester course within 14 calendar days, or six calendar days for 8-week courses.
Jacobson said students may withdraw from full-semester courses with a “w” instead of “incomplete” within 70 class-days, or 35 class-days for 8-week courses.
— Board members approved tuition changes for the 2013-14 semester.
Masterson said there will be a $4 per credit-hour raise in tuition for the semester — which amounts to approximately $250,000 raised total in tuition. There will be no raise in fees for the students.