Bob DeWitt: Candidate Profile

Note: Answers provided have not been edited for grammar, misspellings or typos. In some instances, candidate claims that could not be immediately verified have been omitted. Jump to:BioKey IssuesQA Bio City: Crystal LakeWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: McHenry County CollegeAge: 55Family: Married, one daughter, a step-daughter and a step-son.Occupation: General Manager, SunGard Higher EducationEducation: Ph.D. in Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1982Civic involvement: Candidate did not respond.Elected offices held: Trustee, McHenry County College, 2009-presentHave you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: No.Candidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Key Issue 1: Academic ExcellenceMCC should be recognized as a preferred destination for students in the region, both because of the quality of its programs and the success of its graduates.Key Issue 2 Key Issue 2: Operational and Service ExcellenceThe Board must ensure that all business of the college is accomplished following generally accepted business practices, that service to students and parents is of the highest quality, and that fiscal discipline underpins all financial decisions.Key Issue 3 Key Issue 3: Maintain Transparency and IntegrityThe purpose of the Illinois Open Meetings Act is to ensure that the deliberations of the Board are a matter of public record. While matters such as the details of contract negotiations need to be done in private, the Board must insist that all appropriate business be done openly, and should conduct all business only in the best interests of the College and its constituents.Questions Answers With enrollment up at my many community colleges, it can be challenging to keep pace as far as available classroom/lab space, the number of qualified teachers and available course work options. How would you manage that?MCC led the State of Illinois in enrollment increases in the past year, so the MCC Board must ensure that the College has the capacity to provide a quality education to many more students while tax revenues remain flat or even decrease.First of all, supporting higher enrollments doesn#146;t require proportionate spending increases. Smart planning for enrollment increases can limit costs by using college resources more efficiently. As an example, in the past year, the MCC Administration implemented several such efficiency measures. By applying data-driven scheduling to smooth out the demand for parking and classrooms, and by restriping parking lots to increase the number of parking spaces without adding an additional parking lot, MCC was able to meet additional demand at a low overall cost. Secondly, we can ensure that MCC has a sufficient number of qualified teachers to handle the increased demands by carefully managing the mix of full-time and part-time instructors. The use of part-time instructors is a standard practice in all institutes of higher education, and they add value to MCC by helping the College to manage fluctuations in demand while also bringing expertise in business, professional and similar areas. At the same time, MCC must continue to orient and integrate part-time faculty in order to sustain the quality of its academic offerings.Finally, particularly given the current fiscal climate, MCC should prioritize new resources toward programs that will produce students with skills that are suited to the workforce needs of District.In tough economic times, many students (and working professionals) turn to a community college for its educational value. How do you ensure that a person's financial sacrifice equates into an educational benefit?Community colleges can no longer consider increased enrollments to be their primary measure of success. Many students attend community colleges in order to learn marketable skills and to obtain certifications of those skills. Therefore, #147;success#148; should be defined not by the number of students who are starting college, but the number who are completing their programs of choice. Community colleges need to provide programs to monitor student progress and to intervene should a student stumble on his or her way to completion. Further, programs of study should be structured so that students can obtain incremental certifications along the way to their final certification, which will allow them to demonstrate to employers that they have marketable skills in less than the two or four years it takes to obtain a certificate or degree.Is a tax rate increase needed and, if so, how do you justify it?Because of the continued economic challenges in the District and the recent increase in the State income tax rate, we should not increase taxes within the District. If and when a tax increase is warranted, it should be in support of the primary mission of the College, and should have broad-based support from the voters.Community colleges provide many services to a diverse population. Is there a service your college should be providing that it is not, or reaching a segment of the population that it is not?MCC is doing a good job of providing a variety of programs and services to support the Community and address the Mission of the College. One area that I would like to see further expanded is the offering of courses which can be taken by high school students and which offer dual credit. Such courses can streamline the pathway to college for area high school students, while decreasing the time and overall cost of a college education.If you are a newcomer, what prompted you to run for the park board? If you're an incumbent, list your accomplishments or key initiatives in which you played a leadership role.In the past 18 months that I#146;ve been on the MCC Board, I have had the privilege to lead the Presidential Search Committee that selected Vicki Smith as our new President. Since June, 2010, I have served as Vice-Chair of the Board, and since that time have worked with Chair Mary Miller to encourage more transparency and integrity in the way in which the Board conducts its business.