| San Antonio College Council
The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the proposed Nursing and Allied Health Campus which is part of the CIP IV bond proposal. Dr. Zeigler over viewed the current status of the project. The concept of there being a separate Nursing and Allied Health Campus has been part of the proposal almost since the start. There is some discussion regarding the management of the campus. The deans and chairs have reached agreement. Programs that are SAC programs would remain SAC’s, etc. There would be a director for the campus. There would be a counsel of the faculties which would function as a governing body. Location is an issue. Following are the options: 1. A stand alone campus with the location at the health science center. 2. A stand alone campus with the location to be in the downtown vicinity. Close to downtown and SAC and SPC. 3. A stand alone facility at SPC. 4. Abandon the stand alone concept and expand facilities at the colleges. Based on input from the administrators, the President’s staff, faculty of Nursing and Allied Health, neither a stand alone at the South Texas Medical Center, nor one located at SPC, would be supported. The first choice supported by the above groups is a stand alone near downtown. The second choice would be to build here at SAC. There are advantages of having facilities expanded at the campuses. There would be no worry about management and what might happen in five to seven years. There are already support services at the campus. A stand alone gives the possibility to grow and the opportunity for partnerships. There would be better cooperation between the programs that are currently on different campuses. The colleges could share faculty. It would be a magnet to attract other partners. There would be room to build a clinic in the facility to serve the community. The major disadvantage to expanding facilities on our campus is finding adequate space for a large building within our current campus boundaries. A 5th option was proposed by Mr. Gilbert Castillo, that being the Victoria Courts project area. Mr. J. C. Horton emphasized that the mission of the district is to serve the under served area. Dr. Zeigler emphasized we need to look to what is best for the community, recognizing that in future years things will be different than what we have today. We should not be thinking of what might happen years from now. Mr. Alex Bernal reported that the Chairs Council and the Senate were working on a memo that will go to the chair of the Allied Health Subcommittee of the Citizens Committee which supported expansion of facilities on the campuses but the groups could agree to a down town campus. Dr. Lu Pelayo pointed out that a state-of-the-art campus with adequate parking will also attract faculty which is a significant problem right now. Mr. Horton observed that SPC and SAC have to pull together if we are going to have an impact on the decision. If SAC and SPC are divided we are going to give the decision to someone else. Dr. Tom Billimek asked if there have been any efforts to contact the school districts in the central and south area off town. Dr. Zeigler observed that the CIP projects that are slated for SAC need to have Nursing and Allied Health somewhere else so we can expand into the facilities vacated by their move. Ms. Susan Espinoza mentioned that costs to run the program could partially come from the hospitals in the area. There is such a critical shortage of nurses that they would most likely provide support, especially with a new state-of-the-art facility. The Council reviewed some guiding criteria for determining the location of a Nursing and Allied Health Campus, those criteria being: 1. Student Access Mr. Jerry O’Connor moved: Be it resolved that the San Antonio College community supports a stand-alone Nursing and Allied Health Campus to be located in the downtown vicinity. The motion was unanimously approved |