The Grand Rapids Community College Board of Trustees met on Sept. 19 to discuss state funding, workplace profiles, and latest institutional news.
The meeting began with Vice President of Finance and Administration, John Globoker, presenting a report about GRCC’s “Local Strategic Value.” Local Strategic Value refers to how well a community college contributes to the economic and social well-being of its local area. There are three main components that community colleges must satisfy to be considered for state funding, and Globoker informed the board that the institution meets all the requirements.
Triezenberg also discussed the importance of continued financial support from the state in terms of funding. Sustained community college funding in the new fiscal year was seen as paramount to the growth of community colleges, including GRCC.
“I want to advise the trustees that we’ve been advocating for state financial support,” Triezenberg said. “We’ve sent a letter identifying particular concerns we have about some of the budget proposals that the state is still wrestling with. We remind them that we are grateful for the base support that community colleges get. We’re grateful for the additional programs that Michigan has invested in, the Reconnect Program and the Community College Guarantee. But we also make it clear that the state needs to sustain the community college funding for the new fiscal year.”
State aid will continue to be monitored as GRCC administrators await the final state budget.
Executive Director of Human Resources and Talent Development, Rayvene Farnum, presented an update from the People, Culture, and Equity department within the workforce at GRCC. It began with advocating for contingent school employees to receive greater compensation and benefits for their efforts. Contingent workers who work less than 28 hours per week fall into the Professional Service: No Benefit Group. The talking point shifted into sharing the new Culture & Climate committee, which consists of current staff and faculty at GRCC and advocates for a healthy work environment for GRCC employees. A survey was conducted that discovered a lot of staff didn’t feel a sense of belonging, and as a result, this committee was formed to combat that.
“This was something that was done out of the climate survey that was done in October of 2024,” Farnum said. “Out of that survey, we heard a list of concerns from our employees. Sense of belonging, communication, recognition, all of those being concerns of our employees. One last solution that we’ve come up with was the Culture and Climate Committee.”
President Triezenberg requested the board to make Jan. 2, 2026, an additional holiday shutdown for all approved faculty and staff. The board approved the request.
Triezenberg transitioned into his President’s Report, highlighting an increase in Fall to Fall retention from 47.42% (2024) to 51.43% (2025). Along with the Lakeshore campus totaling 1,037 students enrolled this Fall, which is a 10% increase in enrollment.
From there, the agenda shifted to Institutional Reports as the Art Department Head and Professor of Drawing and Painting, Nick Antonakis, shared GRCC’s alumni and student involvement in this year’s ArtPrize. GRCC will host two locations where visitors can view artwork. One will be at the Paul Collins Art Gallery, located on the fourth floor of Raleigh J. Finkelstein Hall , and the other at GRCC’s Spectrum Theater at 160 Fountain St. NE.
“We always want to provide our students with an educational experience, so we choose the best artworks out there that we can find that have applied to us and that will make a good example for them as to what is professional that they can follow and that they can try to emulate.”
There will also be a ceremony for the GRCC artists who have work featured in ArtPrize on Tuesday, Sept. 23, at GRCC Secchia Piazza from 4:30-7:30 p.m.
Student Government President, Eldin Causevic, then shared an update about student leadership on campus. He highlighted the many positive outcomes from initiatives, including the Michigan Hunger-Free Campus program, where students have the opportunity to submit a request for an $11 credit to be used at any campus dining establishment. Causevic went on to share information about upcoming campus events, including Constitution Day where students will be educated on the significance of voting and how the U.S. Constitution impacts their daily lives. He also announced Homecoming Week from Sept. 29 – Oct. 3, where there’ll be a week-long array of events for students, alumni, and visitors to participate in.
The Board went on to invite any guests in attendance to come up and share any comments they may have, and one person walked up to the podium. It wasn’t just any person, it was Deborah Perkins, the mother of GRCC Board member Micah Perkins. Currently serving as a tutor for 13 years, she began in the English Department and has since moved over to the Math Department. Perkins opened her statement by expressing her appreciation for not only her job but for GRCC.
“What I do at GRCC, I do because I love, first of all,” Perkins said. “We are like a family and that has been true since day one since I’ve worked here at GRCC.”
With her history and experience as a tutor she voiced some concerns about the reduction in basic math skills that she has seen with students. GRCC no longer offers remedial math courses that used to give students who lacked basic math skills to not only acquire them but have the confidence to move on to higher level college math courses.
“I am concerned because since the beginning of my tutoring we have taken away all of those remedial maths,” Perkins said. “Even other programs like Fasttrack, Bridges, and so on, all of those have also gradually gone away. So what’s happening is we have a massive part of our population that is really not being addressed.”
GRCC has implemented a math tutoring lab where students can go if additional assistance is needed for one of their math classes, however even those are felt to have excluded many students from getting the help they truly need.
“Unfortunately, that gives the population that really couldn’t make the grade to be in Math 107, double the work, they have double the money that is going out for those classes,” Perkins said. “Therefore, people that can’t really afford it the most, the people that aren’t able to do the work, are really missing out.”
Once the Institutional Reports concluded, the board shared a final announcement that the search firm for the new President of GRCC will be visiting campus to talk with members of the GRCC community. The meeting was then adjourned.
The GRCC Board will reconvene on Monday, Oct. 20, at 4:15 p.m. on the fifth floor of RJF in the board library.
