COMMENTS FROM JOE D. MAY

TO: FROM: DCCCD BOARD MEMBERS JOE D. MAY DATE: MARCH 6, 2015 RE: WEEKEND MEMO #47 COMMENTS FROM JOE D. MAY Good afternoon! Before you take off for a spring break vacation or staycation, take some time to catch up on what you and your colleagues have been doing. The variety of activities and accomplishments we share each week reflects your time and commitment to our students and each other. Thank you. I know that the weather has been a formidable challenge for all of us recently, and I hope that the ice and snow are finally gone! As we set our clocks forward this weekend, I hope we also move toward sunny days and spring-like weather. Enjoy your time off with family and friends, and I ll see you in two weeks! Joe May (Note: For the best viewing experience, please use the latest version of Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, or Apple Safari.) North Lake College Our Students On February 10, North Lake College held a Service Learning Fair. Service Learning gives students an opportunity to apply what they learn in the classroom to real community needs. Representatives from more than 20 agencies were available to answer questions from the participating 100 students. Mathematics instructor Katherine Villarreal is the coordinator for the Service Learning program at North Lake College. Our Community Two members of the historic Boston Park Rangers visited with North Lake College students, faculty, and staff on February 18. In 19th-century Boston, the African-American community led the city and nation in the fight against slavery and injustice. They were leaders in the Abolition Movement, the Underground Railroad, the Civil War, and the early struggle for equal rights and

education. The Boston Park Rangers program was held in the Student Life Center as part of the continuing North Lake College Black History Month celebration. On February 25, North Lake College hosted author and former Associated Press reporter Chris Tomlinson to discuss his New York Times bestselling book, Tomlinson Hill. In the publication, he explores the story of two families one black, one white both sharing the Tomlinson name. The documentary screenings of Tomlinson Hill were held February 18 and 24. Tomlinson s appearance was sponsored in part by North Lake College s Journalism Club, Student Life Office, and Blazer Ambassadors. Our Employees On January 31, 37 teams of young men (grades 4 through 8) from across the county competed in the annual Aiming for the Stars African American Male Academic Bowl, which was held at The University of Texas at Dallas. This event is designed to liberate, validate, and accentuate passion among African-American males to excel in school and beyond. More than 80 volunteers served at this event; North Lake College Assistant Director of Community Campuses Tanisha Shorter served as the volunteer coordinator. North Lake College s Tish Waters (faculty) was a member of the Planning Committee, and De Aira Holloway (director of academic advising) was also a volunteer at the event. Richland College Sustainable Community Building In the 2015 RecycleMania competition, Richland College is currently ranked first in Texas and fifth in the nation. Richland College was the 2014 RecycleMania Grand Champion of Texas and ranked third nationally out of 461 participating colleges and universities. RecycleMania s mission of inspiring environmental and social consciousness aligns well with Richland College s vision to build sustainable local and world community. The college, which has participated in RecycleMania since 2009, also earned the Texas Grand Champion title in 2012, 2011, and 2010. Student Success In its ongoing sponsorship of Black History Month activities, the Richland College Black History Month Committee hosted students, faculty, and staff for The Conscious Theater Project presentation of Suspects in America on February 18 in the college Performance Hall. Playwright Willie Holmes and Director Willie Minor presented the play and a post-play audience discussion that evoked deep listening, self-reflection, and meaningful conversation among participants about the complexities of race relations in our country. Employee Success At the 2015 Achieving the Dream Annual Institute on Student Success, which was held in Baltimore, MD, February 17-20, Richland College s Pat Ellens, developmental math professor, and Mary Darin, executive dean of the School of Learning Enrichment and Academic Development, presented a breakout session on Inspiring Your College s Achieving the Dream Commitment through Faculty Engagement. Also, Richland College English professors Dr. Sobia Khan and Dr. Kendra Unruh presented a breakout session on Faculty-Inspired Approaches for Student Success in Freshman English. Institutional Effectiveness Richland College was represented by 10 faculty members, 5 administrators, 3 instructional support staff members, and 1 student at the 2015 Achieving the Dream Annual Institute on Student Success. Richland College student, Heejeon Kim, was selected by Achieving the Dream to participate all expenses paid in the institute conference; she also served on a closing session panel to provide a student perspective. The team also met Dr. Martha Romero, Richland College s newly assigned Achieving the Dream coach, in advance of her first coaching visit to the college in March. El Centro College Lisa Theriot, executive dean of the Communications, Mathematics, Developmental Studies, and Teacher Preparation Division, attended the 2015 Achieving the Dream Annual Institute on Student Success, 2

February 17-20, where she accepted a scholarship grant from OneMain Financial that will fund four $3,000 scholarships for low-income El Centro College students to complete a degree or certificate. Dr. Pyeper Wilkins, associate vice chancellor for advancement and executive director of the DCCCD Foundation, was instrumental in securing the grant. El Centro College was one of only four Achieving the Dream colleges in the nation invited to participate in the program. Also representing El Centro College at the Achieving the Dream Annual Institute were Troy Furlough, Maggie Johnson, and Karen Stills. David Goomas, psychology faculty, and Dr. Teresa Isbell, dean of planning, assessment, and research, were presenters at the 15th Annual Texas A&M University Assessment Conference. Their study reported on how learning management systems can deliver real-time antecedents that inform students of performance requirements (Atkinson & Lim, 2013; Goomas, 2015). A Blackboard rubric evaluation report was used to compare expected performance for each criterion of an assignment to the students level of achievement. The impetus is to perform an analysis on each criterion of an assignment to determine how closely student performance matches the requirements of the rubric. Used as an analytical assessment tool, the instructor is able to direct students to particular learning activities and adjust teaching tactics in order to meet or exceed the rubric requirements. At the request of Chuck Steelman, fashion marketing advisory committee member and special events manager at Neiman Marcus, the El Centro College Fashion Marketing program provided a team of students to assist with the Fashion Group International of Dallas Rising Stars event. The gala, held at Galleria Dallas on February 26, recognized young fashion professionals in the areas of apparel, accessories, beauty, retailing, interior design, and photography. El Centro College Fashion Marketing students assisted with the registration process, silent auction, and photo booth, and served as student ambassadors. The event was attended by more than 400 fashion industry professionals and guests of the honorees. On March 21, from 1:30 to 4:00 pm, the Food and Hospitality Institute at El Centro College will present #FromOneChefToAnother!! An Empowering Chat and Chew - for Female Culinarians! (Men, you are welcome too!). This tea is an empowering moment for the women of today who seek a successful career in the food service industry. Attendees will hear from successful women chefs who have made it through the barriers of the industry and who share their passion, but who chose a different path using their foundational knowledge and skills to become who they are today. We call them trail blazers. Two of these trail blazers are El Centro College s very own Executive Chef Kimberly Brock Brown and Executive Chef Shari Carlson. Come hear their incredible stories, and those of others who have gained a perspective of truth that needs to be shared, so the tradition of trail blazing continues! To register for this free event, go to http://www.eventbrite.com/e/from-one-chef-to-another-an-empowering-chatand-chew-tickets-15793481729?aff=eac2. Cedar Valley College Our College Cedar Valley College will host the Second Annual Sustainability Conference on March 20 as part of Sustainability Series 2015. The theme of the Conference, H3: A Responsible Pathway, reflects the belief that for any sustainability effort to be truly successful, people must commit to it entirely with their head, heart, and hands. The Conference will be held from 8 am to 5 pm and will feature a variety of sessions presented in three tracks: Saving the People (Body and Soul); Saving the Planet; and Saving and Obtaining Money. Online registration for this free event is now open at http://cvc.co1.qualtrics.com/se/?sid=sv_9qaspyy0vkjqx7d. This year s keynote luncheon speaker is Trammell Crow, president of the Crow Family Foundation and founder of Earth Day Dallas (now Earth Day Texas). Crow is expected to speak about Earth Day Texas 2015 and how it is changing the national perception of our state and its journey to sustainability. The opening speaker for the Conference will be 3

Dr. Elaine Ingham, a soil biology researcher, and founder of Soil Foodweb Inc.; she is a known leader in soil microbiology and research of the soil food web. Ingham will also be the main presenter for the Clean Economy Series to be held on March 21 from 9 am to 5 pm at Cedar Valley College. For more information, please contact Dr. Maria Boccalandro at 972-860-5204 or mboccalandro@dcccd.edu. Our Fine Arts The Cedar Valley College Fine Arts Department Family Music Theatre will present In the Heights on March 6-7 and 13-14 (Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30 pm and Saturday matinees at 1:30 pm) in the Cedar Valley College Performance Hall. The musical was conceived by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who also arranged the music and lyrics; the book was written by Quiara Alegría Hudes. Development of In the Heights was supported by the Eugene O Neill Theater Center during a residency at the Music Theater Conference of 2005. The musical was initially developed by Back House Productions and originally produced on Broadway. In the Heights is presented through special arrangements with R&H Theatricals (www.rnh.com). For more information, please call 972-860-7444, Ext. 9302. Our Staff Cedar Valley College Marketing and Public Information Department representative Dr. Ryan Thornton participated as a guest panelist at the inaugural My Brother s Keeper Summit male initiative event on February 18 at Paul Quinn College. The purpose of the Summit was to bring awareness to the issues minority boys and young men are facing at this time in society. Lancaster ISD wants to ensure that its male student population is adequately prepared to deal with real-life situations, such as How to interact with law enforcement ; How to communicate and dress for success ; Drugs will kill you ; Just because daddy isn t here doesn t mean you can t be successful ; How to deal with life issues ; The importance of being strong mentally and physically ; How to be respectful and what to do if your family is experiencing domestic violence ; How to achieve academic excellence ; and You can go and graduate from college. The male initiative summit was sponsored by the City of Lancaster, Lancaster ISD, and Paul Quinn College. Our Resource Development Cedar Valley College Executive Dean of Community and Resource Development Patricia Davis was the guest speaker and presenter at Leadership Southwest Class Day on February 18 at the University of North Texas at Dallas; the topic of discussion was Linking Business and Education. Also, Resource Development Manager Gerald Andrews was a guest panelist for the Southwest Area College Panel, which discussed exploring leadership skills and segments of higher education within the southern sector; actively engaging input in identifying areas of opportunity; and business partnerships. In addition, the Cedar Valley College Career and Technical Education Department hosted a districtwide workshop on February 20, which was attended by a number of DCCCD executive leadership staff members. Eastfield College Advance Student Success Congratulations to the Eastfield College Harvester Theater Company for its award-winning performance of The Great Gatsby at the Texas Community College Speech and Theatre Association s Texas Play Festival, which was held in Kingwood, TX, February 24-28. Students winning individual awards were: Brianna Lewis - Superior Award for Action and Superior Award for Costume Design; Kayla Anderson - Excellence in Scene Design and Superior Scene Design; Monica Lira - Excellence in Acting; Charles Ratcliff II - Excellence in Acting; Jarvin Lockett - Superior Lighting Design; Adam Wright - Excellence in Sound Design; and Stephanie Carroll - Excellence in Makeup Design. The Harvester Theater Company also presented two community performances of The Great Gatsby on March 2. The Dallas Morning News Opinion Blog recently featured the Eastfield College Early College High School (ECHS) program with W.W. Samuell High School as a plus for the community of Pleasant Grove. Eastfield College President Dr. Jean Conway featured the related video segment in her mid-year update 4

to the DCCCD Board of Trustees on March 3, highlighting both of the college s ECHS programs W.W. Samuell and H. Grady Spruce. The opinion blog and video, which was produced by the Eastfield College Audio Visual Technologies team may be viewed at http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2015/03/voices-of-teens-in-disd-samuell-early-collegehigh-school-makes-me-cheer.html/. Meeting Community Educational Needs Eastfield College has been selected for 2014 Tree Campus USA recognition. The national program, launched in 2008 by the Arbor Day Foundation and Toyota, honors colleges and universities and their leaders for promoting healthy trees and engaging students and staff in the spirit of conservation. Eastfield College was required to meet the five core standards for effective campus forest management: a tree advisory committee, a campus tree care program, dedicated annual expenditures for its campus tree program, an Arbor Day observance, and a student service-learning project related to trees. On March 3-4, the Eastfield College Criminal Justice Programs partnered with the Department of Homeland Security s Office for Bombing Prevention and the North Texas Crime Commission in hosting a two-day class in Protective Measures. Topics covered were the protection and vulnerability of physical structures, including electrical grids and water resources, plus updates on various terrorist techniques used to target these. Fifty-four attendees representing 45 different law enforcement agencies, including corporate security directors from major corporations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, participated in the class. Mountain View College Student Success On March 4, the Office of Student Life hosted Dr. Julie Willett in presenting Are You a Male Chauvinist Pig? Mixed Consciousness in an Era of Ambiguity, as part of the Mountain View College History Department Distinguished Guest Speaker Series. This project traces the genealogy of one of the most infamous antifeminist icons of the 1970s, the male chauvinist pig, but counterintuitively reveals a creature as complex as those who outed him. Much like his feminist counterpart, the chauvinist was caught up in the ambiguities of the era that reveal mixed consciousness in which uncertain social positions and politics can turn on a dime. Not everyone laughed at the chauvinist pig; what made the pig so popular was the way he was both a joke and a political stance. This mix of often unstable arguments and ideology, coupled with comic relief, engendered mass appeal. Employee Success The Mountain View College Police Department will present R.A.D. (Rape- Aggression-Defense) training, a three-class women s self-defense and personal safety training program. Participants will receive basic training against physical abduction. This free program is specifically for female faculty and staff and is limited to 10 participants. Classes are being offered on a first-come firstserved basis. The first training program is scheduled for March 19 and 26, and April 2; the second will take place April 9, 16, and 23. Classes will begin at 11 am and conclude at 2 pm. For more information and to sign up, please contact Officer Willie at arw6870@dcccd.edu. 5