Public Services Committee Meeting: December 17, 2025

Zoom / Conference Call

Members attending: Kristen Blankenship (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), Kelly Fisher (Eureka College), Charity Ringel (University of Illinois Springfield), Kimberly Shotick, co-chair (Northern Illinois University), Dawn Sterning (Prairie State College), Diana Sykes, co-chair (Erikson Institute)

Members absent: Kate Tallman (Illinois State University), Gretchen Schneider (Oakton College), Beth Hultman (Elgin Community College)

CARLI Staff attending: Elizabeth Clarage, Amy Maroso

Decisions

• No additions to agenda.
• Minutes of 11/19/25 approved.
• Tentative dates for open houses:
  • April 8th for Northern Illinois University and Kishwaukee College
  • May 21st for Oakton College Des Plains and Skokie
  • Virtual tour for Sauk Valley Community College and Elgin Community College sometime the week of April 20th Tuesday-Friday afternoon

Tasks Assigned

• Minutes taken by Charity Ringel.
• Diana will reach out to Sauk Valley Community College to communicate virtual tour logistics and dates. She will also follow up with Beth at Elgin Community College to confirm participation. She will also ask participants if they would be willing to open the virtual tour to the Professional Development Alliance. 
• Kimberly will check with Gretchen for a tour day on May 21st or 22nd For backup, she will check for availability on May 27th-29th. 
• Kimberly will work on some structured questions for the tours. She will also check whether a contract is required for CARLI to occupy their space, the occupancy numbers, and preferred caterers for her space at NIU. 

Announcements

• Member Announcements:
  • No member updates
• CARLI Announcements:
  • CARLI is closed 12/24/25-1/2/25.
  • New CARLI director, Laurie Blandino, started on 12/8/25.

Discussion

• Survey results from the CARLI Community Conversation on Student Employee Supervision were discussed. Overall positive feedback, but a few comments about facilitation and dead air. Kudos to Kristen and Kelly for stepping up and leading the discussion. Summarization of conversation and feedback will be added to the committee’s annual report.
• Learning commons open houses for the spring were discussed. Resource sharing committee declined participation in the Learning Commons open houses. Open house dates for Northern Illinois University (NIU) and Kishwaukee College were discussed for April 8th/9th. Elizabeth could not attend the 9th due to prior obligations, which would prevent purchasing lunch using CARLI funds. The 8th is to be double-checked with participants. NIU would start the visit and then participants would travel to Kishwaukee College to view their space after lunch. 
• Oakton College’s 2 campuses would provide another good open house option. They are distinct and close enough to travel back and forth within a day. Kimberly will inquire with Gretchen for May 21st or 22nd as potential dates for these tours. Otherwise, May 27th-29th would work as backup dates.
• The idea of a virtual tour was floated for Sauk Valley Community College and Elgin Community College, but questions were posed about logistics. Elizabeth posed the idea of having two distinct meetings or a shared tour with split time. Committee members supported one event with shared time for both institutions. Potentially the program could be 1.5hrs with time for both institutions to present their space and answer questions. Virtual open house date was set for the week of April 20th Tuesday-Friday in the afternoon. 
• The committee will incorporate a short presentation and structured questions for all open houses and virtual tours. 

Next Meeting Dates and Deadlines

The Public Services Committee will next meet on January 21, 2026, at 10-11 a.m.

Committee Meetings:
January 21, 2026, minutes taken by: Kristen Blankenship 
February 18, 2026, minutes taken by: Kelly Fisher 
March 18, 2026, minutes taken by: Beth Hultman 
April 15, 2026, minutes taken by: Charity Ringel 
May 20, 2026, minutes taken by: TBD
June 17, 2026, minutes taken by: TBD

Deadlines:
January Meeting: Save the date announcements for open houses
May 29, 2026: Committee Annual Report due