Sharon Blackman, Ed.D.
The fall 2006 semester is well on its way! First, I’d like to thank all of the enrollment services staff members for your hard work during this year’s registration period. Also, I want to thank all of you who completed your six hours of volunteer registration assistance. You may have noticed that we had all of the departments with information tables in Building S during the last two weeks of registration. Many faculty and staff members managed our phone banks and provided assistance with orientations. Each and every one of you played an important role and your service is greatly appreciated.
We tried some new marketing and recruitment strategies, as well as registration assistance. We need to hear from you about your thoughts on the recruitment and registration process. Please take a few minutes to attend any of the feedback sessions that have been planned this week. You can get those dates and times in this Chatter edition or contact Claude Caffee’s office. We need your voice, thoughts and ideas so we can continue to meet the needs of our students.
Many of you are aware from personal involvement of some of the problems that we had at the beginning of this year with eCampus. I’m pleased to report that a new load balancer and server have been installed to help alleviate the problems with the system. I heard from many of you as well as many students, about your concern for online and distance learning instruction. As we continue to move forward with using technology as a tool for instruction, it also brings about learning pains. Although we had an increase of pure online courses, we also have had an overwhelming number of classes using the technology for supplemental instructional purposes. We did not do an adequate job of projecting the amount of use in this area. This indicates that faculty are very interested in using this technology in their classes and it will be our (the president’s and executive cabinet members) goal to ensure that you have the resources you need to use the technology’s full capabilities. In the near future, faculty members will be receiving an inquiry about their eCampus use plans for the upcoming semester and the future. I ask that all faculty members please respond to this request when it is received. I want to thank Ben Barnes and Michael Dennehy for their work in serving our students and faculty.
The Student Program And Resources office has done an outstanding job in providing an excellent fall lecture series. If you have not attended or encouraged your students to attend, I urge you to do so. This is a great way for students to have a wonderful learning experience outside of the classroom.
Kudos to the Career Development Center staff for a great Career Fair last week! There were more than 85 companies present and this year there was collaboration with the Ellison Miles Geotechnology Institute to have a focus on the energy industry. It was a great success and I commend all who contributed to this outstanding event.
We also have had several other performances, recitals and showings from our Brookhaven College School of the Arts. This past weekend our own Octavio Gutierrez performed with the Mesquite Symphony Orchestra and gave an outstanding performance, which demonstrated once again the rich talent we have in our faculty ranks. There are several other opportunities scheduled this semester to catch some wonderful performances. Once again, I encourage you and your students to take advantage of this resource.
The kick-off for the State Employee Charitable Campaign is just around the corner. Again this year, the district will be providing a match for the dollars that we collect. It is not all about getting something back, but it is about giving to those that may have a need so they can receive some assistance when necessary. Look for more to come from our Brookhaven SECC committee.
On Friday, Sept. 29, we will begin our strategic planning process with the Brookhaven College Appreciative Inquiry, AI, Summit. This will be an all-day, all-college meeting where we will be molding the future of Brookhaven College. This is where we will begin to identify the key strategies necessary for Brookhaven College to be the Success College! I look forward to working with you on the 29th as we move forward in accomplishing our mission.
