Ivy Tech Announces Lawrenceburg, Batesville Board Of Trustees

The seven-member board was formed to replace the College’s Regional Board of Trustees that was dissolved with the College’s restructuring.

Photo provided. 

(Lawrenceburg, Ind.) - Ivy Tech Community College has appointed a new Campus Board of Trustees to help guide the College’s Lawrenceburg Campus and Batesville Site, including approval of the campus budget and serving as student and community advocates.

The seven-member board was formed to replace the College’s Regional Board of Trustees that was dissolved with the College’s restructuring to give campuses more autonomy and enable them to draw closer ties within their communities. The Lawrenceburg Campus previously shared a Regional Board of Trustees with the Madison Campus and Batesville Site with members coming from communities in both campus’ service areas.

The new Lawrenceburg/Batesville Board of Trustees consists of members from the Lawrenceburg Campus service area, which includes Dearborn, Franklin, Ohio, and Ripley counties. They represent the economic sectors of labor, education, commerce, agriculture, and manufacturing, as well as an at-large member. Some members were retained from the previous Regional Board of Trustees.

 The board members are as follows:

• John Kime, Chair, of Dearborn County, represents the labor sector. He is retired member of Carpenters Local Union #1142. He was retained from the former Regional Board of Trustees, on which he served since 1988.
• Kenzie Bentle, Vice Chair, of Dearborn County, represents the education sector. A retired teacher at Sunman-Dearborn School Corporation, he was retained from the former Regional Board of Trustees, on which he served since 1998.
• Karen Snyder, Secretary, Dearborn County, serves as an at-large member. She is Executive Director of the United Way of Greater Cincinnati. She is newly appointed to the Campus Board of Trustees.
• Dave Deddens, member, of Franklin County, represents the commerce sector. He is the owner of Sky Line Chili restaurants in Brookville and St. Leon. He was retained from the former Regional Board of Trustee, on which he served since 2016.
• Belinda Eldridge, member, of Dearborn County, represents the healthcare sector. She is a Nurse Development/Recruitment Coordinator for Highpoint Health and is newly appointed to the Campus Board of Trustees.
• Dr. Laura Haupert, member, of Ohio County represents the agriculture sector. She is Director of Research & Development at OMI Technologies and is newly appointed to the Campus Board of Trustees.
• Brett Hofer, member, of Ripley County, represents the Manufacturing Technical sector. He is the Safety and Training Coordinator at Batesville Tool & Die and was retained from the former Regional Board of Trustees, on which he served since 2016.

“The Lawrenceburg/Batesville Board of Trustees features a wealth of experience and representation from our service area and our highest-demand economic sectors,” Ivy Tech Chancellor Mark Graver said. “We welcome each of them and are excited to work closely with this board to ensure our campus and our academic programs are aligning with the needs of our communities.”