CCC grad list shows 6.8% increase in graduates

The Clovis Community College (CCC) Board of Trustees (BOT) approved a supplemental graduation list that showed a 6.8 percent increase over last spring, according to Executive Vice President Robin Kuykendall.

At their monthly meeting Tuesday morning, the BOT learned with the list that they ended up with a total of 404 graduates.

The BOT also heard several presentations at Tuesday’s meeting. One of them was on a nonprofit organization they’ve recently been involved with, CHESS: Collaborative Higher Education Shared Services project.

Kathy Ulibarri is the Chief Executive Officer for CHESS, and she attended the meeting via Zoom to give the presentation.

“We are a structure, not a system,” Ulibarri explained.

In a previous interview, interim president Dr. Robin Jones said the college chose to team up with CHESS “To align student services and key business processes.”

According to the CHESS website, the project covers independent public colleges collaborating to align student services and key business processes and systems using a common, more secure, and more efficient ERP (enterprise resource planning) as the foundation.

The other state community colleges involved with CCC in CHESS are Central New Mexico Community College in Albuquerque, Northern New Mexico College in Española, Luna Community College in Las Vegas, San Juan Community College in Farmington and Santa Fe Community College.

“We are excited about this model and the potential it holds,” Ulibarri said.

The BOT also heard a presentation on the Upward Bound program, which helps low income or first generation 9-12 grade students from Clovis High School (CHS) in their preparation for college.

Director Kellyann Weber provided a review for the year 2022-2023 to the BOT, and discussed the different activities and services that were provided through the program.

Because Clovis is a rural area, Weber described how beneficial it is to give these young people real world experiences in different places. Weber gave an example of how the kids were able to ride a subway train on one of their trips over the last year and how they had to learn the right directions to get to their destination.

The program is funded to serve 55 students; two low-income, 12 first generation, and 36 that fit both criteria.

In other items of business:

• Kuykendall presented the 2023-2024 CCC catalog which was approved with changes presented.

• Dr. Marcus Smith, Dean of Student Services/Government Relations presented the legislative funding process and explained how money comes in from the legislative session, as well as how the college asks for money from the state.

• In the President’s remarks, Jones stated there are around 12 openings in the staff, so hiring is underway. Jones said they try to interview around three applicants for each position.

There will not be a BOT meeting for the month of July. The next one will be August 2.