Goal I. Access to Higher Education
St. Philip’s College was selected to partner with the School of Excellence in Education in San Antonio to establish a math and science academy focusing on underserved students. This week, the Texas Education Agency awarded $1.2 million dollars to four Texas schools for the Texas Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (T-STEM) academies, including the School of Excellence.

The SPC Equity Center has partnered with Project Quest, Acorn and Bexar County Human Services to assist students in making a smooth transition to college, while obtaining necessary social services.

Last week, NLC President Dr. Eric Reno and ACCD Staff Attorney Erik Dahler met with Converse Mayor Al Suarez, Converse City Manager Sam Hughes, Universal City Mayor Joe Medinger, Universal City City Manager Ken Taylor, and Live Oak Mayor Henry Edwards to discuss the possibility of providing VIA bus service to the new college.

Goal II. Student Support
This summer, six NVC students had a unique opportunity to visit Spain through a new study abroad program. Over a three-week period, the students shared apartments and took classes with other international students at the Centro de Lenguas e Intercambio Cultural in Seville, Spain, the leading Spanish language school in the city. In addition to the course work, students participated in cultural activities and excursions, such as visiting the El Prado Museum in Madrid, the Alhambra palace in Granada, and the Gothic Cathedral of Seville.

Goal III. Workforce Development
The Kerrville ISD, SAC, and NVC have begun testing students for the initial dual credit technical program to be offered in preparation for a proposed ACCD - Hill Country Technology Center. The proposed courses for the fall 2007 semester are (SAC) dual credit/CE - building trades, (SAC) dual credit - medical terminology, (NVC) dual credit/CE – web design. Projected enrollment for the fall is 110 students.

A four-member team from SPC attended the Foundations of Excellence training session in Asheville, North Carolina. The Foundations of Excellence process will help guide a team of 100+ SPC faculty and staff members in evaluating all aspects of a student’s first year of college experience. The process will begin August 20 and will be completed by May 31, 2008.

Goal IV. Capacity To Serve
PAC adjunct history instructor John Arevalo recently completed a National Endowment for the Humanities 2007 Landmarks of American History and Culture Program in New York, focusing on “FDR and the World Crisis, 1933-1945.” The program allowed participants direct experiences in the interpretation of significant historical sites and the use of archival and other primary historical evidence for their research.

On August 5-8, the Continuous Quality Improvement Network (CQIN) hosted its Summer Institute in San Antonio. CQIN is an organization of primarily community colleges dedicated to enhancing the quality of higher education through the sharing of best practices, training in quality processes, and advocacy of results-oriented educational and leadership practices. The annual institute strives to involve learning partners from entities outside the higher education arena as a way of benchmarking and broadening perspectives on quality. This year’s theme was “Institutional Sustainability” and included learning partners such as Goodwill Industries, Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing, the U.S. Air Force Management Division, and Valero Energy Corporation. NVC has been a member of CQIN since 1998 and hosted Institute participants on its campus.

On August 1, Dr. Beth Lewis, NLC Vice President of Academic Affairs, presented the latest NLC new construction architectural renderings to the Garden Ridge City Council. Dr. Lewis outlined the entire construction project, but focused on the buildings opening in Fall 2008. The presentation was well-received and generated a number of questions from the city council and audience.

Last Sunday, Dr. Reno addressed the congregation at St. Paul Evangelical Church in Cibolo, Texas to invite the community to attend the Watts Lower Valley School District #33 meeting scheduled for August 10th at the College. After the presentation, Dr. Reno spoke with several church members who attended the Lower Valley School as well as with community members who had questions about the College. The meeting on the 10th will generate community support for the relocation and restoration of the rural schoolhouse on the campus of Northeast Lakeview College.

Goal V. Organizational Communication
The Department of Governmental and Public Relations completed telephone calls to 21,300 students reminding them to pay their tuition and fees by the August 3 deadline. Second calls were made to 7,700 students who were dropped as a result of not meeting the payment deadline, encouraging them to re-register for the fall semester.

A roundtable discussion was held with Congressman Charlie Gonzalez, Congressman Ruben Hinojosa and local education leaders to discuss federal education priorities. Congressmen Hinojosa is Chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee’s Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and Competitiveness. Dr. Federico Zaragoza commendably represented the Alamo Community Colleges at this roundtable discussion. The expressed need for new facilities to accommodate more students may generate a news story by Melissa Ludwig of the Express-News who was present at the meeting.

More than 800 children, students, faculty, staff and community members and leaders attended a kick off celebration for National Night Out on the main campus of St. Philip’s College. The event was co-sponsored by the ACCD Police Department, San Antonio Police Department, San Antonio Fighting Back and Target stores. The event included a parade and a flyover by the San Antonio Police Department’s Blue Eagle helicopter. Crime prevention information was distributed and children were finger-printed and offered identification cards at the event. The event was covered by every major television network in the market.

SAC faculty and staff hosted a luncheon at the Koehler House for new District 1 Councilwoman Mary Alice Cisneros. The purpose of the event was to welcome the college’s representative on the City Council and provide an overview of the college. The presentation was followed by informal conversations about San Antonio College programs, such as Gateway to College, the Institute for Community Initiatives, the Connections Program, San Antonio Education Partnership, the Travis scholarships, and other outreach efforts to help students further their education. Follow-up communications with Councilwoman Cisneros have already been initiated.

Express News reporter, Melissa Ludwig, toured ACCD construction sites this week in preparation for an article that looks at all higher education construction in San Antonio. The article may possibly run this weekend.

Save the Date!
The Chancellor’s Annual Gala will be held the evening of Thursday, October 25, 2007. Additional information will be sent within the week.

We have an increasing number of events and activities district-wide and are taking the opportunity to showcase such events on Time Warner Cable channel 98 and Grande cable channel 23. This section of the Chancellor’s Weekly Report provides a schedule of the programming for our regularly scheduled times of 12 – 2 pm on Saturday and 9 – 11 am on Sunday. Programming varies due to the timing of Board and committee meetings, groundbreaking ceremonies, etc. The programming for the coming weekend is as follows:

Saturday, 8/18, 12:00 – 2:00 p.m.
The Citizens' Bond Oversight Committee Meeting of August 14 and the Special Board Meeting from August 1

Sunday, 8/19, 9:00 – 11:00 a.m.
The Citizens' Bond Oversight Committee Meeting of August 14 and the Special Board Meeting from August 1