Sharon Blackman, Ed.D.
April is a very special month for us. Can you guess why? It is when we celebrate the birth of Community Colleges—it is known as Community College month. Our purpose as a community college is to provide a quality educational experience for our students. During this time we reflect on all that we do in helping our students reach their educational goals. We reflect on how we help our students succeed. We reflect on how we help our students achieve their dreams. As we reflect, we think about how we want to continue to excel as an institution. We think about how we will make that happen and what steps we need to take to make our vision a reality.
At the recent All-College Meeting, I announced that on Friday, September 29 we will begin to develop our Strategic Planning process for Brookhaven College. All college employees will be expected to participate in this all-day college-wide strategic planning process. I am asking you to place this date on your calendars now! Faculty members are asked to plan their syllabus around this date so that we can have everyone to help us plan for our future. To help you prepare for this activity, in May, we will be publishing a list including articles, books, videotapes and other resources that will assist you in thinking more about how we become an even stronger learning college. Departments may want to have discussions on articles, books or videotapes prior to the planning session. There may be an upcoming Webcast that would be good for everyone in the department to see. The Brookhaven Teaching and Learning Center and our library will have many of these resources. If you have a book or article that you think might be good to share, please send it to Linda Lee. I am asking you to think about where you would want your instruction, or your student support services, or your college operation, or the College to be in five years? We need you to participate and contribute to the development of our college. Please share this information with your colleagues and I will also remind you of this event throughout the coming months.
Many of you are aware that I recently made a trip to China. Vice Chancellor Andrew Jones, Educational Affairs, and I met with government, college and school officials in Wuxi City, China. Wuxi City is located about 90 miles south of Shanghai. Officials of Wuxi City College of Vocational Technology are interested in developing and agreement involving educating Chinese students through our Automotive Division and other career technical programs. It was a fast week where we visited several schools and colleges. There are more than four million people in this city and you can see the growth and development of one of the largest, if not the largest, countries in Asia. We will continue the dialogue about a possible educational program between the DCCCD and Wuxi City College of Vocational Technology.
As I share with you activities involving international education, I think about the great opportunities we have for good dialogue regarding immigration laws for our country. The recent protests in Dallas and across our nation provide a teachable moment for all of us. I hope faculty members are taking advantage of students sharing their thoughts and ideas with one another on this subject and that of nativism. Whether we talk as an entire class or small group, helping one to gain insight and to formulate one’s thoughts and ideas is what education is all about. It is not an easy topic, but one that you can gain so much from is never very easy. I encourage you to take a chance and provide the opportunity for dialogue among your students and yourselves.
Again, I would like to welcome back our colleagues, Mary Brumbach and Jim Dwyer. It is good to have them “home” again and they both tell me it’s good to be back. I want to ask for your continued good thoughts and prayers for Charles McAdams, who is now home from the hospital and is on the road to recovery.
If you have read the e-mail but have not taken the time to respond, please take five minutes to complete the professional development survey sent from the Achieving the Dream Co-Chair, Johnny Castro on behalf of the ATD Core Success Team Professional Development sub-committee. We need your information so we can better plan and meet the needs of the members of our community.
On Tuesday, April 18 from 3-4 p.m. in the EMGI we will celebrate with our retirees and their families. Please come and give your wishes to these employees who have provided many years of service to our college and the district.
