The president of Florida State College at Jacksonville, Dr. Cynthia Bioteau, is retiring at the end of the spring semester.
Bioteau announced her plan in an all-staff email Monday morning.
The announcement followed another all-staff email on Thursday, in which Bioteau delved into the continuing challenges the state college faces because of implementing new software, a process that was partially blamed for a projected significant drop in enrollment last year. The PeopleSoft system stores student, faculty and staff information, including payroll, and students must log into it to access class schedules or take online courses.
“With the commencement of our spring semester, we continue to embrace and overcome the numerous challenges that the implementation of our ERP [enterprise resource planning software] PeopleSoft has had on our students and our enrollment at FSCJ. Despite achieving enough to keep the wheels turning, we have significant issues that are being addressed because of our current state of PeopleSoft and workarounds. Many of these aren’t sustainable for us or students in the long term — nor is it yet at the level we expect of ourselves,” she wrote.
She went on to say that spring enrollment is on track to be down 7 percent, which “can still be attributed to the ERP issues, and as we rectify them item by item, so shall our enrollment challenges diminish.”
With the Florida legislative session in full swing in Tallahassee, Bioteau also outlined her legislative priorities for the year, including advocating for a funding restoration to make up for a budget cut last year, adding mental health services on campuses, and a request for $12 million to raze a warehouse at the corner of Main Street and State Street in downtown Jacksonville and build a STEM Center in its place.
In her resignation letter to FSCJ's board Monday, Bioteau outlined some of her accomplishments. At the top: reconciling the Federal Financial Aid issues she inherited. She worked on correcting "numerous internal processes and payback of millions for erroneously reported and awarded funds."
Since Bioteau's arrival, the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program recognized FSCJ nationally as one of the top 150 community colleges in excellence for student success twice. She also noted the college has secured $38.8 million in federal, state grants during a four-year time period.
Another plus for the college was securing legislative support that resulted in construction of medical-simulation and virtual-reality teaching labs on FSCJ's North Campus.
Bioteau became president of FSCJ in 2014. She inherited a school still reeling from months of negative press and broken trust over the questionable spending habits of its employees. Former FSCJ President Steven Wallace resigned in fall 2012 amid the criticism.
Copy of Cynthia Bioteau's Letter To The FSCJ Board of Trustees:
Photo used under Creative Commons license.
