Goal III. Workforce Development
Dr. Cindy Griffith, Dean of Workforce Development and Continuing Education, and Dr. Amy Glenn, Chair of Social and Behavioral Sciences, recently met with Ms. Belkiss Bradford-Rodriguez, ACCD Special Projects Coordinator, to discuss the history and organization of the district’s Teacher Certification Preparation programs. With district guidance and administrative approval, Northeast Lakeview College anticipates offering such a program in future semesters.

Goal IV. Capacity To Serve
Cuihua Zhang, Ph.D., Northeast Lakeview College Assistant Professor, will attend the CCIS China Seminar—The 21st Century: The Modernization of an Ancient Nation from July 6-24, 2007. The CCIS China Seminar trip will benefit Northeast Lakeview College as the nation looks to institutions of higher education to provide leadership in enhancing globalization, international understanding and national security through international studies and instruction of critical languages. NLC looks to develop a Chinese Studies program and will offer a Chinese language course in the fall of 2007. The ACCD International Program is funding Dr. Zhang’s participation in the seminar.

Goal II. Student Success
The following NVC faculty members presented at the NISOD Conference in Austin.

Dr. Don Lucas’s presentation, Teaching an Online Course, What Would William of Ockham and Socrates Do?, shared with participants how using discussion boards to facilitate online courses can build transparent bridges between students and content, and support student success. Dr. Lucas demonstrated how certain techniques can deeply engage online students, resulting in outstanding success and retention rates.

Dr. Cathy Brigg’s presentation, “An Online Buffet: All You Care to Eat,” introduced a model for online learning that uses constructivist theory and sociocultural instructional design to provide students with a flexible, inquiry-based and learner-centered online experience.

Coordinator of Distance Learning Julie Bajusz’s presentation, “TeacherLink: Training Teachers Online,” told the story of how Northwest Vista College implemented TeacherLink—an online faculty certification course.

Instructional Librarians Linda Reeves, Nancy Kaida, and Renata Gibson led a discussion of What Librarians and Classroom Faculty Can Learn from Each Other.” In this interactive session, participants explored how librarians and faculty can use technology and work together to enhance student learning.

Dr. Jackie Claunch was selected to serve on the National Advisory Board for the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE). Dr. Claunch attended the Board’s annual meeting following the NISOD Conference.

Goal III. Workforce Development
Kathi Ashworth, Interim Director of Workforce Education, has been elected treasurer for the Texas Administrators of Continuing Education (TACE). Previously, Kathi served as the South Region Representative to TACE. Kathi and her colleagues in the NVC Center for Workforce and Community Education recently attended the TACE conference in Austin.

Goal IV. Capacity To Serve
Faculty members Carla Kaylor, Chris Hairston and Andrea Anderson met with Brandon Patton of Bartlett Cocke Construction to develop a plan to address the displacement of animals that will be caused by the upcoming campus construction. The group devised a plan to notify Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation should construction workers come across animals that may be in jeopardy or at risk.

Goal I. Access To Higher Education
PAC and the Mexican American Business & Professional Women’s Club of San Antonio hosted a two-day “Garibaldi at Palo Alto Mariachi Fiesta-Val” on campus May 18-19. More than 300 students from 16 middle schools and high schools participated in mariachi workshops during the day, and participated in stage performances for the community in the evening.

Goal II. Student Success
PAC’s Learning Resource Center is offering “Matter Matters: Chemistry for Kids,” a free summer program for 3rd and 4th graders. The program will be offered in two separate three-week sessions. Participants will employ scientific methods to perform simple experiments, construct molecular models and learn about the use of chemistry in every day life.

Goal IV. Capacity To Serve
PAC’s president was Southside High School’s Commencement Keynote Speaker, May 23. Approximately 250 students participated in the graduation ceremony held at Municipal Auditorium.

Goal V. Organizational Communication
PAC’s Director of Public Relations Vincent Bosquez has been selected to receive a Proliner Award by the Association of Women in Communications—San Antonio during an awards banquet scheduled June 7. The award is in recognition of book reviews written for the San Antonio Express-News.

Goal II. Student Success
Six members of the St. Philip's College class of the Student Leadership Institute (SLI) are concluding their year-long experience in the program with the “DC Experience.” This trip, coordinated through the District SLI Office on May 21-26 to Washington, DC, allowed students to interact with leaders in the governmental and educational sectors. The experience allowed students to gain exposure to numerous rich historical and cultural opportunities.

The Director of Student Life (John Martin) and four members of the African American Men on the Move, participated in the Pfeifer Academy Career Day, and presented “G.O.Y.A. (Get Off of Your Ambition) Success Strategy” to encourage the 80 middle school students in attendance to make good grades and look forward to college.

Three students from St. Philip’s College served on a panel during the NISOD Conference facilitated by Vince Tinto. The session’s discussion explored the impact of relationships on student success between the students and conference participants. Following the panel, the students participated in a question and answer session with the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) workshop attendees.

Goal III. Workforce Development
The Southwest Campus leadership met with the Vice President of Learning, Training and Development of Boeing Corporation and with Boeing’s training team to discuss the working model used in Boeing’s San Antonio plant. Emphasis was placed on best practices and current activities which promote cooperation between St. Philip's College and the local Boeing plant. The company is trying to find ways to implement the same model to allow collaboration with other community colleges throughout the nation.

Goal IV. Capacity To Serve
The annual Administrative Professionals Workshop, sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs, was held on May 18. The half-day workshop was attended by approximately 65 SPC administrative/clerical support staff. Dr. Adena Williams Loston, President of the College, welcomed the group with words of encouragement to go from Good to Great.

The annual NISOD Conference was held in Austin on May 20-23. The 2007 NISOD Excellence Awards recognized: Dr. Burton Crow, Dean of Enrollment Management; Larry Duron, Allied Health Department faculty; Mary Cottier, Math Department faculty; Renita Mitchell, Math Department faculty; Connie Weber, Nursing Education Department faculty; Ellie Sieferth, Reference Librarian; Pearl Conyers, Counselor; Vernard Grice, Continuing Education Specialist; Kevin Schantz, Coordinator of Service Learning; Rita Fonseca, Fine Arts Department Executive Secretary; James Wright, Coordinator of the Basic Skills Academy; and Dennis McDonaugh, Electronics Department faculty. SPC administrators who attended the conference were Dr. Adena Williams Loston, President of the College; Dr. Patricia P. Candia, Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs; Dr. Gregory Hudspeth, Dean of Arts & Sciences; and Dr. Adele Dendy, Dean of the Learning Resource Center.

Goal V. Organizational Communication
The Presidential Scholars Project is a new National Science Foundation (NSF) grant initiative that will allow St. Philip’s College to recruit, select and award students two-year scholarships to pursue associate degrees in biology, chemistry, computer science, environmental science, mathematics, or engineering through the duration of the five-year project. The goal is to increase the number of students who enter the workforce or transfer to a university following completion of an associate degree. Project objectives include: (1) recruit, select and award eligible Scholars with scholarships, (2) retain Scholars utilizing Title III-funded retention activities, and (3) ensure Scholar goal attainment of earning an associate degree and (a) securing a career placement with support from the College Career Placement Office, or (b) pursuing a baccalaureate degree with support of the College Transfer Center.

St. Philip's College held a Good to Great Leadership Retreat on May 16 – May 17, 2007. Eighty administrators, directors, associate directors, department chairs and other key personnel participated in this event that resulted in a reaffirmation of SPC values, an articulation of four strategic directions for the College, a draft of systematized processes and procedures for resource allocation and a Good to Great Leadership Team commitment to get on the bus. A follow-up session is scheduled for June 13, 2007.

SPC Web masters continued to work on the new SPC Web site and the Web server migration project, launched on Monday, May 21. The SPC Web Standards Manual was completed and forwarded to ACC Public Information for review and comment. Work continues to build an image library for the new SPC Web site.

Goal I. Access to Higher Education
The San Antonio College Scobee Planetarium co-hosted the Amazing Skies program of hands-on exhibits and speakers on May 26, which also included a star viewing at the Scobee Planetarium Observatory and with telescopes provided by the San Antonio Astronomical Society. The featured speaker was Col. John Blaha and NASA Education Specialist Jennifer Becerra, in addition to a talk by Planetarium Director Bryan Snow and a discussion of rocket launches by Art Applewhite.

Goal II. Student Success
The Ranger student newspaper at San Antonio College won the following
awards in recent competitions: Best Non-Daily College Newspaper of the Year in Texas in the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors competition at their annual convention in San Antonio. “This was a very competitive category, and The Ranger does the most things best,” said the contest judge Mac
McKerral, Coordinator for News-Editorial in the School of Journalism and
Broadcasting at Western Kentucky University. Student editors during the
contest period were Kristina Lindberg and Cesar G. Rodriguez.

First Place for “Recovering Lives,” a collection of stories reported in East
Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi four months after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita — with students winning 10 individual awards in the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association competition against both two- and four year college publications;

Second Place for Best All-Around Non-Daily Student Newspaper published fewer than four times a week and Second Place in the Best Affiliated Web Site Category for http://www.theranger.org at the Region 8 convention of the Society of Professional Journalists recognizing
excellence in journalism among colleges and universities in Texas and Oklahoma.

Goal IV. Capacity To Serve
The Instructional Technologies and Innovation Center is providing faculty and staff web developers fast-track training to become certified for web development and to upload new material on the new server.

Goal V. Organizational Communication
President Robert Zeigler launched a Letter from the President feature in the Update newsletter, as a way to keep the college community informed about the many activities and initiatives of the college and to offer a larger perspective on the work that they do.