Parkland Board Honors Late Trustee Jonathan Westfield

Board of Trustees General Meeting, June 16

Parkland College's Board of Trustees honored late trustee Jonathan Westfield and made key appointments and purchases at its Wednesday meeting. 

Before attending to the Board's regular business, Chair Bianca Green led with a moment of silence to honor Mr. Westfield's life and service to Parkland following his passing on June 5. Mr. Westfield served as a trustee from 2017 until stepping down from his position earlier this year. 

In regular business, the board approved Matthew Kopmann as the school's new police chief. Kopmann has worked at the college since 2008. In that time, he has served as a field training officer, college relations officer, and an officer recruiter and hiring committee chair. A former Parkland College alum, Kopmann graduated from Northwestern University's School of Police Staff and Command in 2019.

Trustees also approved the assignment of Morgann Quilty, formerly the director of the Parkland College Library, to the new position of associate dean of the Parkland College Learning Commons, which will be launched next month. Based in the Parkland College Library, this physical and virtual hub for learning will unify multiple student support departments to create a space for students to connect with academic support services.

Among the reports presented to the board was the annual college marketing presentation. Erin Shannon, director of marketing and public relations, outlined future strategic direction for the marketing department.

Also, during the meeting, trustees voted to approve a series of purchases to support Community Education's virtual and in-person course offerings, and extended the successful partnership with 160 Driver's Academy, which provides the personnel, equipment, and other services for the CDL training program.

In other business, trustees approved:

• the bid from K.K. Stevens Publishing Co. for Community Education's printing needs, $38,374

• the reappointment of Meyer Capel as legal counsel for the Board for fiscal year 2022

• the purchase of:  

  • CARLI databases renewal through the University of Illinois, $41,616

  • services from Rock Gate Capital, DVA 160 Driving Academy, $680,000

  • services from ATI Training, Home Inspection Institute, $40,000

  • services from Black Rocket Productions, $25,000

  • services from ed2go, $25,000

  • legal services from Grey & Associates, $35,000

  • services from ProTrain, $40,000

  • services from SDI, $25,000

  • furniture from Krueger International, $250,000

  • license agreement for Payscale MarketPay Core and MarketPay Jobs from Payscale, $57,000

• personnel appointments: 

  • Derrick Baker, Dean, Career and Technical Education

  • Matthew Kopmann, Director/Chief of Police, Public Safety

  • Morgann Quilty, Associate Dean, Learning Commons

  • Steve Barbee, Director, Campus Technologies

  • Rebecca McNaught, Senior Director, Campus Technologies

  • R. Michael Corbin, Financial Aid Assistant, Financial Aid

  • Ryan Doebel, Technical Support Specialist, Campus Tech

  • Jordan Johnson, Career Counselor, Counseling and Advising/SWFT