Flint Hills Technical College

INFORMATION REGARDING BOARD AGENDA ITEM

TO:	Board of Trustees
DATE:	08/11/2025
PREPARED & SUBMITTED BY:	Lisa Kirmer
SUBJECT:	Academic Affairs and Student Services

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Academic Affairs:

New faculty orientation was held on July 30 - August 1. Academic Deans, Kim Dhority and Katherine Morgan facilitated the training.
Programs in the Industry Technology Division hosted tool shows for incoming students. Tool shows were also hosted for the automotive technology programs at Garnett and LaHarpe.
Professional Development for all employees was conducted on August 5 and 6.
Faculty have been preparing their classrooms and labs for classes starting August 11.

Student Services:

Enrollment continues for the fall semester and Student Success Center staff have been helping students with admissions, enrollment, financial aid, books and payment.
The annual Nondiscrimination Notice was published in both English and Spanish in a variety of electronic means.
A summary of items purchased with the Kansas Board of Regents Student Success Initiative Funds (almost $250,000) during the 2024-2025 academic year include:
- First aid kits for all classrooms/labs and office areas
- Website redesign
- Tables in Library for standing workstations
- Scholarship software
- Communications software through Jenzabar
- Laptops for student checkout
- Textbooks for use in the Library for each program of study
- Little Library supplies and sign
- Television in financial aid to step students through the FAFSA process
- Office compartments and furniture in Student Success Center so students have a private area in which to meet with staff
- Salary for College Navigator position

Institutional Effectiveness:

Denise Gilligan is preparing for the submission of the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) Assurance Argument. Employees received training related to the HLC criterion during Professional Development.
The annual Assessment Report is being compiled for presentation in October.
Institutional Effectiveness is working with the Marketing Department to update guiding statements throughout the institution.
A second Patterson Grant was submitted and the College should receive notification later this fall.
The IE department is currently compiling information for two large federal grants.

Marketing:

The Marketing Department has been busy with back to school initiatives as well as recruitment drives. An advertising campaign with the KC Royals in July resulted in high web site traffic over July 7-9.
Ryann and Bethany continue to work together to get through marketing requests to ensure faculty have their materials for the fall semester.
Flint Hills Technical College's website demonstrated strong performance in July 2025, with 7,097 total sessions representing a 10% increase from the previous period. The site attracted 3,993 unique users and generated 15,911 pageviews, indicating healthy user engagement and content consumption.
The website shows excellent user engagement with an exceptionally low bounce rate of 0.48%, indicating that visitors find the content relevant and engaging. Users typically view 2.24 pages per session and spend over 3.5 minutes on the site, demonstrating strong content quality and user interest.
Google dominates the search engine traffic with 3,701 sessions (89% of organic search traffic).
Flint Hills Technical College's social media presence during July 2025 achieved a 4.08% average post engagement rate across three primary platforms. The organization reached 34,609 people with 54,083 total impressions, demonstrating strong visibility in the digital space.

FHTC Board of Trustees