Dr. Sharon L. Blackman
Last week a team of Brookhaven College staff members attended the third Achieving the Dream Institute in Atlanta, Ga. Eighty-five colleges from across the country sent teams to share and learn about practices colleges are implementing to address student success. In fall 2007, the final round of colleges was accepted to participate in the Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count initiative. The ATD effort, which began in 2004 with 27 colleges in five states, has grown to eighty-five colleges in nine states. The ATD colleges have taken their work toward student success seriously and are implementing practices to help students succeed in reaching their goal of acquiring a college education.
Brookhaven team members Kathleen Long, Czarina Reyes, Kendra Vaglienti, Mathewos Kassa, Teri Walker, Sylvia Coffey and I attended sessions to learn best practices from colleagues at other ATD colleges. I am pleased to report that many of the initiatives developed at Brookhaven are being implemented at other community colleges. These colleges have made a commitment to address the needs of developmental students, economically disadvantaged students and students of color. Data from the participating colleges are collected and shared with other colleges, then tracked over time so that success methods can be validated and used by any college interested in improving the success rates of their students.
Teri and Kendra presented information about Brookhaven’s Future Achievers Succeeding Today, F.A.S.T., pilot program and how information gained from that pilot is being used now to develop other college initiatives. We learned that our newest initiative, mandatory enrollment in a student success course for students who place in two or more developmental areas, also is being implemented at Valencia College in Central Florida. This is one example of how being intrusive with a student for a specific reason is supported by another college. The collaborative nature of ATD also means that we can share with Valencia the information learned from our initiative and they can share with us. Our work to create more opportunities for faculty members and student services staff to work together to increase the retention of our students also was reinforced as an important effort in support of achieving student success. Keynote presentations addressed the widening gap between the students identified as those who “have” and those who “have not.” The continuing work to obtain information from students about their college experiences, through instruments such as CCSSE, helps colleges strengthen the services that address students’ needs.
Next year is the last year that we will have the funding support from the ATD initiative. Our goal is to sustain the practices and services that help our students succeed. As we assess our work over the past several years, we will continue to modify and improve our efforts toward student success.
On Feb. 21, we will have our annual District Conference Day. As you know, this year is a little different from recent years in that it is not a combined conference with all DCCCD locations. Brookhaven employees will be together at our campus to continue with this year’s districtwide theme of “Building Community and Building Bridges.” Conference Day is an opportunity that we do not get very often during the academic year to focus primarily on increasing our knowledge and strengthening our skills, while also networking and socializing with colleagues. Our conference chair, Monica Taliaferro, and co-chairs John Williams and Deanie Martin, have provided excellent leadership with our Conference Day team in providing a very informative and fun program for college employees. You will find personal and professional development programs that will engage you. If you have not registered for conference day, I strongly encourage you to do so by contacting Russell Hixon in the Marketing and Public Information Office, so that your registration can be added manually and adequate arrangements can be made with regard to room assignments and food. Online registration for Conference Day closed Jan. 25.
In the spirit of community building and being connected with our external community, kudos are extended to Linus Spiller, faculty members and students who participated in our Service-Learning Program opportunities. This week we were informed that the college made the 2007 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll. This national acknowledgement of the work of our program speaks greatly to the hard work of students and employees and their commitment to helping others by giving back to our community.
In a few weeks, we will open our newly remodeled TreeTop Café and student lounge featuring the SUBWAY® restaurant on the second floor of the Student Services Center. Our students’ selections of the design is very contemporary, inviting and even has a cyberspace component for students to plug in computer laptops. Students will have an area to gather, connect and socialize in a comfortable surrounding with futuristic furniture and technological conveniences.
Friday we will have our groundbreaking ceremony of the new Science and Allied Health Building. All are invited. At 10 a.m., we will have a community forum to share information about our bond projects in the Performance Hall. The groundbreaking ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. north of Building K at the construction site of the new building. A light lunch will be served after the ceremony.
Next year we will celebrate our 30th anniversary. I want to thank the following employees who have volunteered to serve on the anniversary steering committee Donna Baker, Dawn Bishop, Evonne Clark, Carol Cinclair, Winnie Clarke, Donna Crenshaw, Brenda Dalton, Jamie Jenkins, Erin Lewis, Marilyn Lynch, Jane Rowe, Stephanie Sarles, Donna Taylor and John Williams. You will be hearing from this group as they develop plans for our 30th celebration.
May all of you have a Happy Valentine’s Day!
