General Information:

The College of Micronesia-FSM will continue to receive the Grant Notification Awards for the FSEOG and Federal Work-Study Programs for the next four years under the amended Compact. The College will also continue to use the current guidelines for disbursement of the funds for these programs. These current guidelines will be terminated after four years when the Supplemental Education Grant guidelines become effective. The message from the Joint Compact Negotiation Office is that COM-FSM should operate these two programs under "status quo" for four years. This is good news for the College and its students.

The Interim President Office learned on June 23, 2004, through FSM Budget Office that the FSM Congress Student Assistant Grant for FY 2005 is at $190,000. The College is currently receiving $470,000 during FY 2004. The reduction of the grant by about $280,000 will require the College to revise its guidelines on disbursement of the funds under this grant.

The College Community was shocked and saddened by the untimely passing of late Daniel Suda, Bilingual Education Instructor, Career Ladder Program at Chuuk Campus. On behalf of the administration, Board of Regents, faculty, students, and staff at the College of Micronesia-FSM system, I would like to express our sympathies and condolences to wife, children, and families of late Daniel Suda. We will remember late Daniel Suda in our prayers and thoughts.

Accreditation:

Interim President received a faxed copy of the June 25th 2004 action letter for College of Micronesia-FSM from the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, Western Association of Schools and Colleges. The report indicated that after reviewing the College's Self-Study Report and the report of the evaluation team which visited College of Micronesia-FSM on March 1-5, 2004, the Commission moved to issue a Warning on recommendation #2. This warning stipulated that the College must submit a Progress Report on this recommendation by October 15, 2004. The report will be followed by a visit by Commission representatives. The College will be subject to reports and visits at a minimum of every six months.

This warning delays the accreditation reaffirmation for the College, however, the accreditation status of the College continues during the period of warning.

The Progress Report of October 15, 2004, should focus on recommendation #2 noted below:

2. The College must develop, document, and implement an organization of administrative responsibilities across the six sites (campuses) that ensures continuity in student support and instruction and gives a clear, consistent line of administrative authority, such as:

Chuuk Campus:

Mr. Joakim Peter, Director of COM-FSM Campus, is still in Hawaii for medical reasons. Director Peter has been in Hawaii for more than a month. Mr. Switer Eter has been Acting for the duration of time that Mr. Peter has been in Hawaii.

The Summer Session 2004 commenced on June 14, 2004, with 135 students. The enrollment for Summer Session is below the projected enrollment and is about 50% less than that of last Summer Session. The Campus is hoping that Chuuk Department of Education teachers who will be attending the second Summer Session will make up the shortfall.

Kosrae Campus:

Two students in the Campus Upward Program were among nine who were awarded FSM wide Junior Statesman Scholarship. The students are Cathleen Sigrah and Elina Fred.

Two faculty members from the National Campus were contracted to teach Summer Session 2004 courses at Kosrae Campus.

About 60 students registered into 8 courses being offered at the Campus during Summer Session 2004.

FSM-FMI:

FSM-FMI will be graduating 10 cadets in Maritime Studies (Class 5 Master) and 4 cadets in Maritime Studies (Class 5 engineer) on July 3, 2004. Interim President and other officials from the National and State Governments have been invited to attend the graduation.

National Campus:

A delegation of three from the National Campus consisting of Mrs. Jessica Stam, Mr. Francisco Mendiola, and Mr. Spensin James will be visiting the States of Chuuk and Yap during the week of June 28 to July 3, 2004, to meet the leadership of these two states regarding the facilities construction at the Chuuk and Yap Campuses. The delegation will also be attending the FMI graduation on July 3, 2004, at FMI.

Ambassador of the Federal German Republic to FSM, His Excellency Herbert D. Jess, visited National Campus on Monday, June 21, 2004, and presented a session on the historical aspect of Western Europe leading up to the establishment of the European Union to faculty, staff, and students at the AV viewing rooms.

The FSM-China Friendship Sport Complex was the venue for the opening ceremony for the 26th APNLC Conference. Over 140 nurses from the American Pacific entities attended the conference.

The Pacific Area Clinical Training (PACT) consultants and PEACESAT Staff from the Universities of Guam and Hawaii collaborated with the College in using the technology equipment (computer lab and PEACESAT) at the LRC and conducted demonstrations for doctors and nurses from the Pacific entities on accessing online courses.

The Vice President for Support and Student Affairs Ringlen Ringlen reported that Fr. Francis X Hezel, SJ will be giving a lecture on "Suicide" on July 13, 2004, at 3:30-4:55 p.m. All faculty, staff and students are encouraged to attend. The venue will be at the MITC conference room.

Pohnpei Campus:

Mr. Gardner Edgar, electronics Instructor, departed Pohnpei on June 14, 2004, for a six months vocational computer training in Japan. The training is fully funded by JICA.

Interim President visited Pohnpei Campus on June 24, 2004, and looked at the renovation projects that have started there. It was nice to see some of the old classrooms being renovated.

The Summer Session for Pohnpei Teachers commenced on June 28, 2004, and over 100 teachers are expected to be enrolled in the Teacher Quality Enhancement Grant Modules. The enrollment in these courses will make Pohnpei Campus to surpass its projected enrollment for Summer Session 2004.

Pohnpei Campus looks like a community college as you can see by the good numbers of its students are of older adults from the community. The classes there started at 8:30 a.m. and continue up to about 9:00 p.m.

Francisco Simram, SSSP Coordinator, was selected to be the coach for the Pohnpei Basketball Team. Mr. Simram was granted administrative leave by the Interim President to travel to Guam with the Basketball Team.

Patterson K. Shed, Student Services and Activity Coordinator, is also reported to be the new President of the Pohnpei Lion Club making COM-FSM and Pohnpei Campus proud. Our congratulations to Patterson.

Maria Dison, Pohnpei Campus Counselor, became the Program Developer/Instructional Coordinator for Pohnpei Campus. Maria has been in the acting capacity for the job since Patty Grandos, former Program Developer, left Pohnpei. Our heartfelt welcome to Maria.

Yap Campus:

Yap Campus has submitted an OMIP Project Proposal in the amount of $200,000 to Mr. Joe Barboo at the Army Corp of Engineers Office in Hawaii for possible funding. The proposal is a fifty/fifty matching. The Yap State Government Budget Review Committee has recommended to Governor and Legislature to provide $100,000 matching for this project proposal.

Yap Campus has also been designated to receive from the FSM National Government $330,000 for construction of classrooms in FY 2005.

Fundraising Activities

FSM-FMI and Yap Campuses have jointly organized a Fundraising Committee for the COM-FSM Endowment. The members of the fundraising committee included the following members: Serphin Ilesiuyalo, Chair, FSM-FMI; Gilmoon, Yap Campus; Joseph Falmet, FMI; Julie Waatham, Yap Campus; Martin L. Ruwiniyol, Yap Campus (Land Grant); and Santus Sarongelfeg, FMI. The fundraising committee has put together an action plan for the school year 2004-2005 and set a goal to raise $10,000.

The Fundraising Committee at the National and Pohnpei Campuses has been re-organized into three subcommittees. The Fundraising Committee met on June 16, 2004, and decided to meet once a month. The subcommittees also develop their action plans for the school year 2004-2005. The next meeting for the Fundraising Committee is on July 15, 2004.

The Interim President will be working with the other two campuses (Chuuk and Kosrae) to organize their fundraising committees.

Personnel

The Director of Personnel would like to remind everyone that June 30th is the last day to submit forms for the retirement program. If you have any questions please feel free to contact the Director.

Thank you.