Dr. Sharon L. Blackman
December 13, 2007
The Fall 2007 semester has come to an end. The work you have done this semester clearly demonstrates your belief in our new vision statement as your work has provided a progressive educational environment enriching the lives of students, employees and our community. Once again, I want to thank the members of the visioning committee for the time spent developing our new vision statement. This was no easy task as they took all the thoughts, suggestions and ideas from students, employees and community members to construct a vision that will continue to drive us toward achieving the mission of our college.
As we continue our work in the year to come, we have several new initiatives that move us forward in reaching our goal of being a “Success College.” Beginning in the spring 2008 semester all new first-time-in-college students who place in two or more developmental education areas will be required to take a Human Development 1300 (Learning Frameworks) or 1310 (Student Success) or Developmental Reading class.
A “Success Coaching” program is planned under the direction of two faculty members, Becky Knickel and Stephen Herd. Four groups of college employees have volunteered to work with first-time-in-college students making stronger connections toward their success. Students will work with a college “Success Coach” providing guidance as they strive to reach their goals. Each of the groups will experiment with various strategies while working with students during the semester. Input has been derived from many of you, as well as new students who entered our college this fall about how we can effectively work with students to help them complete their courses and stay in college. If you are interested in participating in one of the groups, give Becky or Stephen a call.
There are several new and continuing learning communities that will be available for students in the spring. As you know, coordinated studies programs have been offered for many years. Now we have new courses that are providing a learning community for students. Listed below are the spring offerings of learning communities:
More detail information about these courses can be found in the Spring 2008 Credit Course Schedule on pages 90-91.
All of the aforementioned programs are based on our work of identifying student success measures from our work with the F.A.S.T. Program and use of funds through the Achieving the Dream initiative. We know that the more students feel connected with the college the more successful they are in staying in school to achieve their educational dreams. In order for these programs to be successful, we all need to be involved. Your help is needed to inform students of options that they have available to help them accomplish their goals. Become familiar with these programs, if you have questions, ask someone involved for more information.
Achieving the Dream funds were used this semester to help sponsor an external assessment of our admissions, orientation, assessment, advising, registration and financial aid/tuition payment processes. Members of the National Academic and Advising Association (NACADA) were on campus Nov. 28-30 to review all of these processes. This is an effort to address areas of improvement for these services. As you may know, we have had slight improvements in these areas over the last several years, based on students’ responses to Noel-Levitz and CCSSE. This is a continuing process for further improvements in serving our students. The preliminary report received by members of the student services areas yielded no major surprises; however, it did give us food for thought about where improvements can be made. A full report is expected in the near future and will be shared with the college.
Also beginning in the spring 2008 semester, we will offer a Weekend College, page 98 in spring schedule. Many of the Core Curriculum courses will be offered over several semesters for students to complete courses that are guaranteed to transfer to Texas public institutions and many private ones as well. Thank you to the faculty and deans who have worked on designing this program. There is more work to do, as we want the complete Core to be offered in two years. This is a great beginning and we are well on our way.
Our college committee for District Conference Day is working hard to develop an exciting and informative program for you. Thanks to all who have given their suggestions as to what you would like to experience during your day of professional development. Sessions are planned in the areas of Employee Development, Teaching and Learning, Personal Development, and Health & Wellness.
Changes to the Sick Leave Pool for faculty have been approved. Faculty will have from May 1 through June 1 to donate days to the Sick Leave Pool. Also, the number of days that faculty can contribute has been increased from five to 10 days. The number of donated days, currently 10 days, and the August time period, remains unchanged for all other employees.
Work for the Strategic Distance Learning Plan has commenced. For two years, work was done to develop the major aspects of the plan. Now, 11 sub-committees will work further on the plan. All district employees received an e-mail from Dr. Andrew Jones, vice chancellor of educational affairs, giving you the link to plan. In addition, you can read the plan in its entirety on the Brookhaven Employee Intranet. Several members of the college will be serving on various sub-committees. An orientation of the co-chairs was conducted in October and all committee members will attend an orientation in January. We will continue to provide you updates on the work of this group.
Reports are made to the Board of Trustees on a regular basis on the DCCCD Strategic Goals. Goal 1 – Student Access & Success was provided in November. You can find the Strategic Goals and the Board Reports on our college Website by referring to the A to Z index and looking under the letter “G” for Goals, for you to review at your leisure.
The results of the 50 Best Companies to Work For Survey have been shared with all of you. There is a lot of information to digest but there are several categories to give you some quick summations. I would suggest you review the PowerPoint presentation that was presented to the board. There is a file too about the Brookhaven summary of the three key areas as well. Each vice president has been asked to work with his or her area staff to review and identify the top three items each work group feels is important for the college to address and develop recommendations about how it should be addressed. I will be meeting with the presidents of the employee associations to discuss the survey results and suggestions on how we should proceed as a college. Members of the Extended PCAB reviewed the data and have begun discussions about areas we would like to see addressed by the college. Many avenues will be used to gather information to develop the college’s action plan. As a reminder, this survey is being used as our baseline and it will be administered again next year. There are some things that may be addressed in a short time, but items such as respect, behaviors and attitudes will not change overnight. District-wide issues such as compensation, performance review and the like, will need to be addressed at the district level and also will take time.
Brookhaven Lady Bears 2007 Volleyball Team
Congratulations to our Women’s Volleyball Team. For the 4th consecutive year, they traveled to the national championship games. We placed third and three players, Katie Jager, Kendra Braswe, and Danielle Sneed were named to the All-Tournament Team.
Congratulations to our Men’s Basketball Team. They were nationally ranked #3 this week. This is the first time in the college’s 26 year history for this accomplishment. We wish continued success to Coach Hurst and the Men’s Basketball Team.
Congratulations to George Herring for becoming an honorary member of the Alpha Delta Phi chapter of Phi Theta Kappa. George was recognized for demonstrating the ideals of the organization and the support provided to our campus chapter.
Congratulations to Adrien Cuellar-McGuire on being asked to participate at the Oxford Roundtable on Human Migration: Borders and National Interests. The meeting will be Aug. 3-8, 2008, at Oxford University.
Kudos to the Brookhaven Student Government Association members for their community service project, the 2007 Angel Tree. Thanks to all of you that donated gifts and clothes that was provided to the Genesis Women’s Shelter. Giving and thinking of others is a core value for our Brookhaven College community.
Thank you to the following members of the Holiday Committee for providing a great luncheon filled with good food, fun, entertainment and camaraderie:
Last month I asked that you take the time to complete two additional surveys. Once again, I’m asking for your participation. Both surveys have extended their deadlines and as you wrap up your work for the fall semester I ask that you take a few minutes from your busy schedules to provide your thoughts about our college and initiatives.
The first is the Brookhaven College Strategic Planning survey. The deadline for completing this survey is the end of January. The second is the Achieving the Dream survey. You have until Dec. 14 to provide your response by phone and until the week of January 14 for the online version. The survey evaluators will send another e-mail reminder that week if you have not responded. Both of these surveys are important for our future work as a college.
In this month’s Board Update, it was reported that Brookhaven, along with several other colleges received a $15,000 award from THECB to use with vertical teams. Brookhaven was not awarded these funds. This was an error in the Board’s paper and will be corrected at next month’s board meeting.
As I close this month’s column, my thoughts are with the recent graduates of the Radiologic Technology program. As I listened to the words written by the students as they were being pinned this last weekend, it reinforced all the work we are doing to help our students be successful and reach their goals. Each of the students not only thanked their loved ones and others, but they all stressed the important role that their cohort members and professors played in helping them to become graduates. Many spoke about an encouraging word or assistance they received when their belief in their own ability was low.
Hearing these words from these students strengthen my belief in cohorts, learning communities and success coaching, and working together with others. No one is successful without the help of others. Strength is in numbers and it will take all of us to continue the path we have made for ourselves as being a “Success College.”
Thanks for all you do to work as a team to help our students achieve their dreams. May you have a happy and enjoyable holiday season and may you have many blessings in the New Year!
