Heartland Community College will not hold a traditional graduation ceremony this spring, opting instead for a virtual alternative commencement amid the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.
President Keith Cornille announced the decision during Tuesday’s special Board of Trustees meeting, which was held online after the scheduled March 17 meeting was canceled. Commencement had been scheduled for May 15 at Grossinger Motors Arena.
“We have staff that are working diligently to provide a virtual-type of ceremony for all of our graduates, and trying to make it as special as we possibly can for them,” Cornille said, adding that this year’s graduates will be invited to participate in next year’s ceremony.
Cornille said details on the virtual ceremony are still being finalized and an official announcement is expected Wednesday.
With the current Heartland semester being held online in adherence of Gov. JB Pritzker’s prohibition of group gatherings, Cornille acknowledged “exceptional work” done during the transition.
“The one thing that hasn’t changed is truly the spirit of our faculty and our staff and our students in order to ensure that we can provide the quality of instruction that the college is known for and we will continue to be known for,” he said.
Cornille said a decision on summer classes also would be announced Wednesday.
“We feel like we need to get that information out to (students) and to our faculty so that they can plan appropriately,” Cornille said.
Master Plan Update
Michael Lundeen of Legat Architects provided an update on part one the college’s long-term Facilities Master Plan Update. The presentation focused on examining needs and prioritizing objectives. Among the projects listed among the objectives is a possible new complex for the agriculture program.
“One of the things that came up early in conversations was the types of facilities to support our agriculture program that we started here in the past couple of years and are looking to grow,” Cornille said.
While the board placed a priority on developing an agriculture complex, Cornille said discussions remain in a preliminary phase but conceptual ideas could become more clear in the fall.
“Right now we’re just in the stages of trying to collect information and understand what is needed for that type of a complex if it was to move forward,” he said. “The board feels that’s an important growth area for us as a college … and we need to have the types of facilities to support that.”
Other Actions
The Board unanimously approved some new “microcertificate” programs as part of the career and technical education program. The five new programs are split among three areas: business technology, computer networking technology and industrial technology.
“The idea is that you can do one or more of these microcredentials as you are moving toward a bigger certification or a degree program,” said Rick Pearce, provost and vice president of academic affairs. “That allows people to bite off a little chew and possibly get an employment opportunity while they continue their studies.”
The new programs under business technology are a Microsoft Office specialist certificate and a bookkeeping certificate. The computer technology addition is a cybersecurity certificate, while the new industrial technology programs are for robotic operators and for high-voltage battery technology.
Pearce said the programs were established to begin this fall, if possible.
“Depending on how we are operating in the fall, we may not be able to do the two industrial technology certificates just because those are hands-on and need to be in a specialized lab,” he said. “But hopefully by fall we will not be working from home.”
The board also voted unanimously to hire Wipfli for its fiscal year 2020 audit and to revise policy related to employee leaves.
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