Good morning, everyone, trustees, staff, and visitors, Chancellor, I'd like to call to order the December 15th, 2020 Board of Trustees meeting. And I'm very happy to invite our own Trustee Jimmy Chambers, who will bring our invocation this morning. Trustee Chambers. Yes, ma'am. Dear gracious internal God, I come to you as humble as I can, and I ask you for continuing guidance and coverance of everyone. I pray that you continue to guide us all to be effective leaders for ECSU. Thank you for your life, health, and strength. In Jesus' name, my friend. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much, Trustee Chambers. And Secretary Sanders, would you please, I'm sorry, Secretary Trustee Stephanie Johnson, would you please do the roll call? Yes, as ECSU Board of Trustees Record of Attendance, December 15th, 2020, the roll call, Harold Barnes, Phyllis Bosenworth, present, Kim Brown, present, Lynn Bond, Andy Colpepper, present, Jimmy Chambers, present, Christine Evans, step up, Jan King Robinson, present, Tracy Swain, Paul Tine, present, and Kenneth Wilkins, present, did Harold Barnes come on? He's not going to be with us this morning. Okay, he's not going to be with us. There was a, there were two other names, Tracy Swain, is he going to be with us? I don't know that for sure, Gwen, are you there? He indicated that he may or may not, so he's certain about today. And Christine Evans. I did not hear from Trustee Evans. He probably will be on the phone. That is, that is the roll call. That too, Trustee Chair. Thank you, Madam Secretary. Alrighty, okay, so as Chair of the Board of Trustees, I want to remind everyone that we will be conducting today's meeting pursuant to the new amendments to the Open Meetings Act that apply during states of emergency. The amendments were signed into law and allow for public bodies to meet via electronic means. The new law does require, however, that we take all votes via roll call, which we will do today. Additionally, pursuant to the amendments to the law, all chats, instant messages, texts, or other written communications between members of the Board regarding the transaction of the public business during the remote meeting are deemed a public record. Finally, I will ask all Board members and participating staff to please identify yourself before participating in deliberations, including making motions, proposing amendments, and raising points of order. As Chair of the ECSU Board of Trustees, it is my responsibility to remind all members of the Board of their duty under the State Government Ethics Act to avoid conflicts of interest and appearances of conflict of interest as required by this act. Each member has received the agenda and related information for the Board of Trustees Committee meeting. If any Board member knows of any conflict of interest or appearance of conflict with respect to any matter coming before the Board of Trustees at this meeting, the conflict or appearance of conflict should be identified at this time. Hearing none, I am calling for approval of the minutes of September 22nd, 2020. Dennis Wilkins, Moon, so moved. Thank you, Trustee Wilkins. May I have a second? Trustee Johnson, second. Thank you, Trustee. And may I have roll call for the vote? Roll call for the vote of the minutes. Yes, ma'am. Trustee Harold Barnes is not with us. Trustee Tho is spousing work. Yes. Trustee Kim Brown. Yes. Trustee Lynn Bunch. Yes. Trustee Andy Colpepper. Yes. Trustee Jimmy Chambers. Yes. Trustee Christine Evans. Yes. Trustee Stephanie Johnson offered the second. Trustee Jan King Robinson. Yes. Trustee Swain is not with us. Trustee Paul Tine. Yes. And Trustee Kenneth Wilkins offered the motion. The minutes are approved. Thank you. Thank you. Before we get to our special recognition, I would like to take a moment and just acknowledge two of the chancellor's executive team members. First, I would like to just say AD Bright. It was brought to my attention recently, and we are very sorry to hear, but one to acknowledge your loss, the loss of your mother and your father-in-law. So please know that our heartfelt feelings and prayers continue to go out to you and your beloved family. I just wanted to recognize that. Thank you so much. We sincerely appreciate everything. Thank you. Certainly. And also we learned yesterday that our very own VC Brown got his doctorate degree. So we're always very delighted to recognize those accomplishments and to say welcome, Dr. Brown, to that esteemed group of folks who you, I know it was very well deserved and we're delighted that you were able to attain that recognition. And so now we're going to move to a special recognition for another member of our chancellor's executive team. And this is for our own doctoral theoretic. Is Dr. Riddick in the house today? Good morning. Good morning. Can we see you? There you are. I'm here. There you are. It's a little early for retired people. It is. Look at you, girl. You're just, you're freshly retired. Wait a minute. We're so delighted that you're here with us this morning. On behalf of the board, we really just wanted to take a moment to recognize your time served as a Viking. As a dolphin. In higher education. For those of us who've been with you since I guess we've been on, I've been on the board for almost eight years and I think your time at ECSU. We have watched you go through a number of chancellors serve on a team. But personally, you and I have been sewn together since back 20, some odd years ago when we first tried to get our first articulation agreement between the school of business. And COA. And so who would have thunk that all the years later that you would come forward and get those articulation agreements, you know, when the time was right. And so we've traveled together. I've personally witnessed a number of the things that you have done in the larger community as well as both of our schools. But this morning, we just wanted to take the opportunity to recognize some of your achievements here at ECSU. You led the efforts to establish the co-emission agreements with community colleges. As the associate vice chancellor for enrollment management, you led the university to a 19% increase in enrollment, including the then largest class in five years. No small feat for those of us who witnessed what we had gone through with our different chancellors. Working tirelessly to put in place a process for awarding certificates. Under your leadership, we have our very first certificate program, which is emergency management. And look at the times. I mean the timing of that in terms of what's happened. Nothing but grace of God that ECSU was at the forefront once again. And your commitment to veteran affairs led to the memorandum of agreement with the U.S. Coast Guard relocation of the military and veteran affairs center to increase visibility, national recognition of ECSU as a military friendly school, military friendly spouse school, and best for vets colleges. And I know that is near and dear to your heart and you continue to advocate for the military and your new responsibilities as a commissioner of Gates County. And I learned trustees and staff and friends that Dr. Riddick is now the chair of the board of the commission of the Gates County commission. So she presses on and we have been the recipient of your pressing on. And I think it's important to note that that pressing on also occurred during a time that was very difficult for us as a university, but also difficult as a person. Dr. Riddick lost her husband. And she lost her husband. And she lost her husband. And she lost her husband. And she is a cancer survivor. In the midst of all that was going on with our university, this Viking continued to fight for all Vikings. And for that, this board wants to recognize you for all you did. All you've done and all you continue to do, because I know you have the heart to continue to be a very active Viking. And we are grateful for you for all that you've brought to our service. Thank you. I appreciate it. I really do. We're snapping and clapping. You might not hear us. But the board was able to get a small token of our appreciation so that every time she looks at our little gifts, she'll think of us fondly and remember that we're standing with her and we'll be calling on you as we hope you'll call on us as we continue this fight together. I appreciate the gift. I'm going to take some pictures and send them to Miss Sanders so she can disseminate them so you can see a beautiful piece of pottery, a bowl. It is lovely. It touched my heart when I received it. And I'm grateful for the opportunity in higher education. And I just want to read the card that came with this bowl because I'm going to keep this along with other momentum that I have. I appreciate it. Thank you, Miss. Dear Dr. Riddick, we thank you for years of dedication and success and providing both greater access and enrichment in the lives of a generation of dolphins and Vikings. We congratulate you on your retirement from higher education and wish you all the very best as you continue your brilliant life of service to others. May the good Lord continue to bless and keep you as you build a trustee. The only thing I ask is that the ECSU continue to take care of the students. Students have always been my focus. And to show my appreciation to all that has been done for me and helped with me, I will be meeting with one of the developers and the development officers in advancement. And I'm going to endow our scholarship in my name for a transfer student from COA to COA. Thank you. That's the least I can do is put money where my mouth is. So I pray that you will continue to take care of the students. I will do the same as chair of the Board of Gates County commissioners. I will always be an advocate for the college of the Albemarle and Elizabeth City State University. Make no doubt. If you need me, just call me. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you again for from COA to ECSU. Just is a brilliant again. Active great grace to continue your legacy. So thank you for that. You're welcome. Have a wonderful blessed day. You're welcome to stay on, but we know you're retired. I never thought that I was in my career as a student. I never thought that I was in my career as a student. I never thought that I was in my student. I never thought that I was in my student outfit and go do what retired people do and help run the county of Gates County. Thank you so much. You too. Thank you. So now we go to our consent agenda. I have a motion for approval of that agenda. Move to approve land batch. We have a second. Thank you. Any discussion? All right. We'll ask for roll call. Roll call for the consent agenda. Harold Barnes. Phyllis Bosenworth. Trustee Bosenworth. Yes. Trustee Brown. Yes. Trustee Brown. Yes. Trustee Bunch made the motion. Trustee Culpepper. Yes. Trustee Chambers. Yes. Trustee Evans. Yes. Trustee Johnson. Yes. Trustee Robinson. Yes. Yes. Okay. The consent agenda stands approved. Thank you. We're moving on to the Board of Trustees of Endowment Committee report. During that committee meeting yesterday, Vice Chancellor McClinton provided a brief summary on the endowment report. Since the inception of investing with first citizens, the performance overview is 5.83% for the ECSU foundation endowment. The portfolio has recovered from the loss during COVID-19 and continues to perform well. This concludes the report for the Board of Trustees of the Endowment Committee. Is there any discussion? Any comments? Hearing none. That concludes the committee report in time. We will move on to the Committee on Academic Excellence and Strategic Growth, Trustee Lynn Bunch. Thank you. The academic excellence and strategic growth had no action items. As information, the committee received an update on the SAC-COC reaffirmation timeline. The due date for the focus report in QEP is February 1st with the virtual onsite visit scheduled for March the 15th through 18th, 2021. Provost Ward provided updates concerning spring 2021 courses with 53% being face-to-face and 47% being online. In the fall semester, the following accreditation reports were submitted and onsite visits held virtually for Abbey in Aviation Science, AACSB for Business Administration Accounting and Sports Management and ABIT for Engineering Technology. Provost Ward provided information regarding the Co-Admission Agreement with Vance Granville Community College along with ECSU's continuing partnership with College of the Albemarle and Pitt Community College. A video regarding the collaboration with Wake Tech Community College centering around ECSU's emergency management and unmanned aircraft system programs was also shared. An update was provided regarding the $1 million COVID-19 mitigation grant the 11 counties that have been served in the area to date and how the project is being used to promote interdisciplinary collaborations on campus. Provost Ward also highlighted several on-campus and virtual student engagement events that were offered this semester. Enrollment data for spring 2021 and fall 2021 was provided and showed increases in both applications and confirmations. Information on ECSU's inclusion in the Common College Black Application as well as the Winter Open House was also included. Lastly, a video documenting the fall 2020 semester was shown. That's the end of my report. Thank you, Trustee. Alrighty. We are going to move now to the Committee on Student Excellence. Good morning. During the Committee on Student Excellence we received informational updates from Vice President Chancellor I mean Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs the newly conferred Dr. Gary Brown our Athletics Director Mr. George Brighton, Student Government Association President Mr. Jimmy Chambers. Under the Student Affairs update we had four different divisions of the presentation fall 2020 highlights which included how many hours of counseling services 63 confirmed COVID cases from July to November 20th 1070 COVID test administered our residential life had an 80% occupancy for fall 2020 and V.C. Brown shared a video that allowed us to see students feedback related to the semester and the challenges of COVID. He also informed us about GAP, a workforce development initiative funded by the Golden Lea Foundation and our voter engagement activities. He also gave us an update on the 2020 through 2025 strategic plan year one progress. He broke out several initiatives and gave us data on virtual events sponsored. We had just under 5,000 students participating in events since August which is exceptional. He has been awarded $192 almost just under $193,000 in grants since August 2020. The alumni career development critical conversations hosting alumni held a virtual career fair which is really difficult during these seasons implemented a campus climate survey and exceeded the goal by 7.4% for a total of 537 respondents. He also briefed us on our COVID preparedness for spring and the move-in schedule for January 14-18 and how that will require a negative test prior to being able to move into our resident halls and then he introduced us to new hires project gap, hired a director, two job coaches and the governor's crime commission hired a prevention and awareness coordinator and a victim advocate. Under department of athletics our AD introduced us to several new hires including the associate director of athletics for compliance and a faculty athletics representative. He informed us and I'm sure we will be updated today that the CIAA has delayed the start of all winter sports seasons which includes men's and women's basketball track and bowling and gave us as well game management details related to COVID. Under the strategic plan there were several initiatives that were delayed because of lack of ability to implement because of COVID. He also gave us photographs or shared photographs about the development of facilities improvement plans that included project prioritization, capital and operating budgets fundraising plans, efforts to respond to mental health for our athletes which was just great to hear providing tips and tools for mental health and wellness. And then student highlights we were blessed to be introduced to two international tennis students and one football player to hear their story of their journey to get to Elizabeth City State University and we celebrated the nomination of one of our own alumni, Johnny Walton has been nominated and named the Black College Football Hall of Fame finalist. And then finally we were able to see photographs of the reimagined Robux Stadium. And then finally SGA President Jimmy Chambers provided updates for this semester. His highlights were voter engagement, wellness day deliberating the past fail options improving safety measures on campus, participating in the Advocacy Week and working to implement a system where students could submit their own maintenance requests. He also shared photographs of various events that took place on campus to include the March to the Pole Black Voters Matter initiative hosting Chief Judge Beasley and also gave us input on tuition and fees meeting in the student form. This concludes Madam Chairperson my report for committee on student excellence. Thank you so much and we will have our committee report on operational excellence provided by Trustee Phyllis Bosenworth in Trustee Barnes absence. Thank you. Can you hear me? Yes, I can. Excuse me. During the committee on operational excellence we received information and progress on the following items. Vice Chancellor Goodson reported that Anyal Bola new director of design and construction reached out to colleagues at ECU to introduce building standards for ECSU and Mrs. Bola is spearheading this effort. In addition, the following updates were provided. The 800 ton chiller bids were received and came under anticipated budget. This provides good news as funding will be allocated to other renovations. Superior Mechanical and we have submitted bids for contract release to SCO. Upon release, construction will start in the summer of 2021. Concerning the Bedel cafeteria, this project is complete. I'll undergrime water lines and gas lines have been replaced. Hurricane Dorian Repayers the JKF architecture on-site investigating groups for repairing and will be submitting designs to SCO approval in the spring. So construction will begin the summer of 2021. Concerning bias hall, slight owner requested delay with bias roof assessment. ECSU foundation generously provided assistance in getting a new roof for bias hall. This slight delay will not affect the April 2021 opening of bias. The foundation has been thanked for their support. Concerning more hall, GR Little, proceeding on schedule for more hall as furniture has been ordered and the date of completion is February the 15th. GR Little is proceeding on schedule as furniture is being ordered and the date of the completion is also February the 15th. Vice Chancellor Goodson provided information informational facilities update as follows. The HVAC upgrades focused on preferred alternate process to contract with trains so work can be done faster. Williams Hall outside columns have been painted. Johnson Hall, 90% completed in upgrades such as interior and exterior painting. Jenkins complex lab floors were started over the weekend and the bathroom upgrades will provide a better user experience. Trig Hall water intrusion replacement was done and interior repairs are underway. Conversations with historical commission to replace the roof for the longer life. Robot track the track surface and new fencing has been added to accompany the new football field. Fine Arts resurfacing of the stage with black coated flooring, carpet repair and new flooring on the front of the stage in addition to the second floor carpet replacement has all been completed. A six year capital plan that focuses on things that cannot be seen as being discussed backup generators, electrical and mechanical upgrading and campus main switch will sustain the university for the long term. Collaborative discussion with UNCG to start seeking information on how firms were selected to formulate their master plans and how cost effective it could be. More information will be provided during the March meeting. The committee of the following action items a hang release at EC regional airport for $1500 a month the UAS design approval approval to move forward as funding becomes available. The department of information technology updates CIO reported that DIT updates were policy manual and codes on chapter 1400 .1, 1400.2 and 1400.3 1400.1 IT governance ensures policy is aligned with the university's strategic plan. DIT is implementing an IT governance committee for ECSU 1400.2 information security ensures the security of infrastructure and being up to par with industry standards and framework and 1400.3 user identity and access Chrissy Dillard spearheaded the completion of the DUO two factor to authentication deployment excuse me, this system has been implemented. In addition it was reported that the cybersecurity breach ECSU experienced has been taken care of and all system upgrades and maintenance upgrades were being done continuously. Carbon Black a 24-7 monitor for malware and ransomware was being considered. Communications and marketing updates. Michelle Ball, executive director for strategic communications reported that advertising videos, social media website and ECSU news encompasses billboards throughout North Carolina print advertising and higher education publications and tourism brochures. Social media and paid ad campaigns for events such as open houses orientations and key deadlines generate engagement opportunities for ECSU to reach audiences that otherwise would not seek information from the website. There were 280 landing page reviews to ECSU that these avenues generated website banners promote all achievements and events to show points and prides and profiles of freshmen ECSU wants to be able to tell the ECSU story that these are what communications and marketing strive to continue to help with recruitment and brand recognition. That concludes the report for the committee of operational excellence. Chair. Thank you, trustee. Thank you, trustee Byzenworth. I have one observation. Yes, sir. I think that on all our committees that we should, when motions are made we should make that positive record of who made motions. Okay. So noted. That's normal. Okay. Gwen, did you hear that recommendation? Sure did. Okay. I don't think we need a motion for that, do we? I think that's on the record. On the record. I think we can accommodate that. Thank you, trustee Wilkins. Alrighty. We're ready now to move on to committee on finance audit university advancement report. Trustee Culpepper. During the committee on finance audit and university advancement the committee received updates from finance internal audit and university advancement vice chancellor for business and finance Lisa McClellan introduced budget director Robert Thibault who presented two action items approval of the proposed fiscal year 21 general fund budget and approval of the fiscal year 22 being rate proposals and I'm sorry I don't have who approved who made the motion, who seconded it in the present time. I assume they'll be in the minutes of the finance and budget committee when we have those and we'll approve those minutes for the next meeting. The committee approved both of those action items. The advice chancellor McClellan gave updates on the fiscal year 21 general fund and trust auxiliary budgets and updated financial outlook for fiscal year 21 in business and finance strategic goals. Chief audit officers are in need of Parker presenting information items only which was a summary of completed reports three reports completed this quarter for architectural services allegation student conduct disciplinary process and disaster preparedness and continuity of operations. Vice Chancellor Anita Watson provided the committee with an update on fundraising progress the solution solicitation plan engagement plan and advancement strategic planning total dollars received to date is $372,582 there are currently 225,000 in funded proposals that were not included in that first figure in the fiscal 21 total as the dollars have not yet been received excuse me we continue to see steady growth of new donors with the focus on growing the number of alumni donors steady transfer donor participation are reflected across the various constituent alumni participation has increased while the number of alumni donors has increased the amount of dollars is down further progress on fundraising was shared the number of proposals submitted the number funded and the number under review were discussed leadership giving for both the foundation board and the board of trustees is at 50% and greater the 1891 campaign raised $5,058 and brought in $87 giving Tuesday had 86 donors and raised $59,613 which included $50,000 gift from the Duke Energy Foundation and overview of the solicitation plan the remainder of the year was reviewed the engagement efforts that took place this fall were reviewed and upcoming plans were shared which include the ECSU Foundation Scholarship Gallup it will be held virtually on March the 13 finally an update on the strategic plan was given this concludes the report of committee on finance audit and university advance thank you trustee culpeper all right we move now to our committee report on regional development trustee paul time thank you very much this will be a fairly typical zoom presentation as someone has an air blower outside of my window and my dog is mad about it that's great perfect the way it goes during the committee on regional development we took no action we received information on strategic initiative number six the bylaws charter and expectations documents have been created for the board of visitors the economic summit to be hosted by ECSU was discussed with the next step established of inviting potential regional and state partners to assist with the planning process vc wilkins provided an update for the small business and technology development center year to date data 220 businesses have been served with 8 1,890 business counseling hours provided 11,484 1,664 dollars of capital formation created and 850 jobs created or retained an overview of the state and federal election results was given highlighting a significant percentage of freshmen in the state legislature a republican majority still held in the state house and senate and the u.s senate awaiting the runoffs in georgia to be held in january that concludes the report of the regional election thank you sir all righty now bring the report on the committee on university governance yesterday we received information on personnel matters human resources presented an overview of findings from the employee engagement survey for 2020 legal affairs review the risk register and its relationship to the university strategic plan additionally a legal affairs update that concludes the report of the committee on university governance and I'd like now to move to our chancellor for her report Chancellor Dixon thank you chair good morning everyone good morning chair robinson members of the ECSU board of trustees administrative staff and guests thank you so much for joining us today as we convene for our December meeting okay something happened to my computer there if you just control of my screen thank you as we convene for our December meeting 2020 has indeed been a year for the record books 2020 vision is how we started out this year and that's a term that suggests visual clarity or sharpness with great clarity we have seen the effects of social injustice the dreadful effect of a global pandemic and our ability to pivot in unprecedented times transparent and effective communication has afforded us the opportunity to join forces as a team of administrators faculty staff and students all working together to keep our university students engaged in the community of students and students who have been addressing during such uncertain times I maintain an open door to meet with the leadership of the faculty and staff to keep open communications going as we continue to make progress last week I had to send their students home due to COVID-19 spread we successfully at ECSU kept our residential students on campus the entire semester while safely managing community spread and I have to thank Vice Chancellor Gary Brown his team, my entire cabinet all of our faculty staff trustee Jimmy Chambers everyone who contributed to this success thank you all so much and trustees thank you for trusting in us to do the right thing just as we set these clear expectations and we actually termed it having everyone live up to building a culture of expectation to ensure campus safety this semester we shared our expectations we shared our plans for a safe return in January 2021 the second town hall which was with employees celebrated the progress made as we worked towards improving employee morale and confidence in leadership although as the modern think consultant reported we have made a dramatic improvement over the 2018 survey we committed to continuous improvement to foster a healthy environment where employees love where they work and students love where they live and learn earlier this quarter I hosted small group events to safely celebrate employees years of service we are fortunate to have such dedicated employees across the university just everyone involved including our groundskeepers housekeepers, residence staff, faculty staff everyone around the university the entire community celebrating what they do to keep us going during our winter commencement on Saturday we conferred an honorary doctor of public service degree for ECSU alumna Lenora Jarvis Mackie for her decades of service to the citizens of northeastern North Carolina we also were proud to designate the title of professor emeritus to doctors Ronald and Belma Blackman for their dedicated and distinguished service to the academy during their tenure at ECSU although these are challenging times for families businesses and institutions of higher learning I remain clear eyed in forging our future to ensure the future success and sustainability of this great institution with our strategic plan as the guide we will be intentional in our deliberations and decisions to continue moving in the right direction as my senior leadership team shared during the committee reports yesterday great things are happening at ECSU these results are happening because of intentional efforts to be and do our best without excuses we accept our challenges as opportunities to innovate and reimagine as we discover effective and efficient solutions we are strategically building our brand to demonstrate to the community region state and nation that ECSU is a viable institution in the UNC system at this time I want to transition to a few slides that show some of the progress that you heard about yesterday and again this morning by trustee Bosenworth as she recap the minutes from yesterday's committee meeting here you will see our distinguished honors that were offered at the Commencement Ceremony the first picture was Dr. Lenora Mackie honorary doctorate degree in public service congratulations Dr. Mackie if you are listening in and then our distinguished professor emeritus status with the black men, Dr. Ronald Blackman and Dr. Vilma Blackman we are very happy to have awarded them those distinctions on yesterday so a couple of slides with our progress that we are making that you heard about yesterday just to put some visuals to the descriptions you heard about so this is what the fine arts auditorium looked like before and I have to say this next picture is not the most recent picture because I was amazed at what I saw the fine arts on Saturday for the graduation but as you can see the stage has been redone it is a black stage now the rails in the front are now black the wood that you see in the front is gray the panel, the hardwoods in the front leading up to the stage are now a gray with a bluish tint it is absolutely beautiful and the carpet as you will see in the fine arts has been replaced and it is amazing as you see on the right of the screen with the gray so the contrast of colors really set a precedent I mean it was I heard graduates and their family say as they walked in towards the stage this is beautiful and hopefully you all will be able to see it in person but when I talk about and Alan BC Goodson talks about the improvements people take notice because first impressions mean everything and when you have a state of the art facility you want it to look good our next picture is a Johnson hall and mentioned yesterday we've done some painting trying to do some upgrades on the appearance of outside the building this is before and this is after the difference a coat of paint makes in making a building look good from the outside of the building this is a picture of what was described yesterday and here's a picture of a building facing the outside or the back of campus as I just mentioned so you saw last meeting what we did to upgrade the appearance of Lane hall and this is just a picture of what was described yesterday the appearance of Lane hall well because more hall is being renovated with the eight million dollar NC bond connect money then we're now wanting to make trig look even better because all three buildings face outward to towards that Parkview Drive street and so this is the after of trig next and here you see we have done some branding and some upgrades cosmetic upgrades to our TV station and the blue there the branding goes through to the radio station as well where when I arrived on campus the radio station had a lot of red in there well is now blue Viking blue and lots of graphics on the walls in both the TV station and the radio station because as we bring guests to campus to interview them we want them to see that we have some high quality equipment and we want them to see their surroundings as being very much taken care of as well as far as an appearance standpoint and branding for the university so trustees that ends my report but I do want to say it is quite a pleasure to lead Elizabeth City State University yesterday I celebrated my second year as permanent chancellor and thinking back trustee brown I know you remember because you were there with me thinking back to December 14th of 2018 when trustee brown and myself were at the UNC Board of Governors meeting and I was named chancellor of Elizabeth City State University it's been two years it's been a great two years we've made significant progress that some people can't believe you're able to make in such a short period of time but I am thrilled to lead this university with a great board of trustees who advocates supports us and is really there to help guide the ship as we move forward so thank you madam chair thank you board of trustees for all that you do I look forward to the great things that we're going to do in 2021 and this is an exciting time so thank you so much thank you very much chancellor can you hear our applause thank you thank you great before we go into closed session I know we're going to lose some folks when we come back out I just want to make sure that they hear on behalf of the board of trustees one our great joy in being able to serve the Vikings this entire institution under the leadership of your great executive team and all of the staff and faculty it's just been quite a journey and we hope that someone on the team chancellor has taken notes because this is a story to tell all of the natural disasters that have happened the man-made disasters that have happened and still the Vikings prevail you know the pressing on so there's a cumulative spirit and great grace that we've enjoyed some of us are taught that we've got to claim that and acknowledge that and I just wanted to say that on behalf of the board and to wish everyone a very merry Christmas we'll come out of closed session I don't know who will be with us and I didn't want us to have this opportunity leave us but I'm going to ask to do something that's very unorthodox and ask everybody to turn their microphones on and I want us to just make some noise in applauding the great grace that we've enjoyed the leadership of the students so take your mics off and let's just make some noise I can cry I can cry I can cry very nice good got to have some energy around I can cry that's right thank y'all alright I'd like to entertain now a motion from trustee brown yes good morning motion to go into closed session I move that we go into closed session structural statute 143-318 .1 section A to 3 to consult with our attorney to protect the attorney client privilege and two to prevent the premature disclosure of an honorary degree scholarship prize or similar award thank you trustee may have a second second seconded by trustee Trustee Wilkens? Okay, thank you. Yes, and roll call? Roll call for closed session. Yes. Please. Phyllis Fossumworth? Yes. Trustee Brown made the motion. Trustee Bunch? Yes. Trustee Colkepper? Yes. Trustee Chambers? Yes. Trustee Evans? Trustee Evans? Trustee Johnson? Yes. Trustee Robinson? Yes. Trustee Tine? Yes. And Trustee Wilkens made the second. Okay, we will begin to one moment before you begin. Thank you. Thank you. Do we have any announcements of trustees or staff? Any announcements to be made? Before we adjourn our meeting? No announcements? Well, then on behalf, did I hear someone announcement? No. On behalf of the Board of Trustees, we certainly would like to just wish everyone a very merry Christmas to stay safe and to please share your bounty with anyone that you see within your eyesight or you hear about who's in need, that could be a prayer or it could be reaching your pocket. There's opportunity all around us and to recognize how blessed we are. So I thank you all. Merry Christmas, happy new year, and we look forward to seeing everyone in this new year. God bless. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Happy holidays. Happy holidays.


Gunmen have kidnapped two male children of the deputy provost of Isaketa College of Education, Dismal Katsina State, Dr Ismael Adofun Tuah. The gunmen, foreign number armed with sophisticated weapons, attacked the premises of the college at about 11.30 p.m. last night. The hoodlums upon their arrival moved straight to the residence of the deputy provost. They tied the gate men and proceeded to kidnap the children of the college's deputy provost along with his junior sister's son. The victims were identified as Usman, Aminu and Abdulahi. Please authorities in the state are however said to comment, yet to comment on the incident at the time of filing in this report. Hello, hope you enjoyed the news, please do subscribe to our YouTube channel and don't forget to hit the notification button so you get notified about fresh news updates.