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Valley Center will change to an Eastern Gateway branch campus next year
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By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
Eastern Gateway Community College President Jimmie Bruce is reorganizing the college with plans to turn the Valley Center downtown into a branch campus in 2017.
As part of that process, five positions were eliminated: operations manager at the Valley Center, dean and director of enrollment management, a student services specialist and an administrative assistant.
Bruce met this week with employees at both the Valley Center and the Steubenville campus to explain some of the changes.
He said the decisions were based on money.
“We’ve struggled with the budget this fiscal year,” he told Valley Center employees Thursday. “We started in a deficit situation.”
Enrollment also didn’t meet projections, Bruce said. Eastern Gateway’s total enrollment is 3,100 students.
While more students are taking classes, there are more part-time than full-time students, so they’re signing up for fewer classes.
The elimination of positions has nothing to do with performance, he told employees.
Because of the number of programs and degrees offered, the Valley Center is more like a branch campus than a different location.
The college will begin the process to change the Youngstown facility to an EGCC branch this fall. The change likely won’t happen until 2017.
It means that the Valley Center will have a full-time administration, its own budget and hiring ability.
Bruce also wants full-time advisers and more full-time faculty.
Employees voiced concerns about a lack of communication and students’ frustrations.
Bruce said he understands there’s a division between the Youngstown and Steubenville sites and he wants to change that.
“I want everybody to feel part of Eastern Gateway Community College,” he said.
The president said he has a three-year hiring plan to bring in more full-time faculty. He believes that’s a way to better serve students.
“Right now, we have more programs than full-time faculty,” Bruce said.
“We need to make Eastern Gateway a choice and an option for students in the Mahoning Valley,” he said.