The Institutional Policy Committee passed a new rule that forces faculty members to password protect their personal computers and phones, provided that they could be used to share confidential OCCC information.

The new college rule is part of the updated Information Technology Resources Acceptable Use Policy. The decision was made May 17 when faculty and students were on summer break.

“The purpose of the policy is to prevent unauthorized access to confidential information,” said Jerry Steward, executive vice president.

Isaiah Powers, a 2005 OCCC graduate, and graduate of the Kansas City Arts Institute of Missouri, has been named a winner of the 37th Annual Student Academy Awards competition.

“I’m very excited, pretty blown away, actually,” Powers said.

“It’s nothing we were expecting.”

Powers and his collaborators Jeremy Cas-per and Stuart Bury, won for their short animation “Dried Up.”

He said the short, made entirely in classic stop-motion animation, was a collaborative effort between the three from concept to finish.

For the first time since June 2008, OCCC is considering raising tuition, and for the second year in a row faculty and employees will not receive raises — all due to a decrease in state appropriations, said President Paul Sechrist.

For 2011, the college is expecting a $1.46 million funding reduction over last year.

As a result of the reduction, the college has proposed a $6 per-credit-hour increase for resident students and a $10 increase per credit hour for non-resident students.

Improving the quality and safety the nation’s healthcare system is the goal of a major curriculum revision under way for nursing programs across the country, said Rosemary Klepper, nursing program director.

Two members of the OCCC nursing program staff attended a national seminar in San Antonio this semester on infusing national safety initiatives into nursing education programs, Klepper said.