Goal I. Access To Higher Education
On August 1, 2007 the ACCD Board of Trustees agreed to accept the Lower Valley School District #33 as a gift from the Lutrell and Maxine Watts family. The Lower Valley School, a two-room rural schoolhouse, served the Cibolo and Schertz communities from 1877-1966. Plans for the schoolhouse include relocating the building onto the 250-acre campus at Northeast Lakeview College and restoring it as a museum. While there are 24 rural schoolhouses on college/university campuses across the nation, this will be the first schoolhouse on a Texas institution of higher education campus.

On August 2, 2007, Firstmark Credit Union, formally San Antonio Teachers Credit Union, presented Northeast Lakeview College with a $5,000 check to establish Founder’s Endowment Scholarship for Lakeview students. Firstmark Credit Union President and CEO, Leon Ewing, and Assistant Vice President for Legislative Advocacy, Kelli Larsen, presented Dr. Reno and Dr. Trevino, Director of College and Grants Development, with the check. The Firstmark Credit Union Founder’s Endowment Scholarship was the first scholarship established at Northeast Lakeview College.

On August 3, 2007, NLC President, Dr. Eric Reno, and ACCD Staff Attorney, Mr. 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 and explore the possibility of providing VIA bus service to the new college.

Goal IV. Capacity to Serve
On Wednesday, 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, then focused specifically on the buildings which will open in Fall 2008. The presentation was well-received and generated a number of questions from the city council and audience.

On Sunday, August 5, 2007, 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 10, 2007 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 Watts Lower Valley School meeting on August 10, 2007 will generate community support for the relocation and restoration of the rural schoolhouse on the campus of Northeast Lakeview College.

Goal II. Student Support
This summer, Northwest Vista College gave six students 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. The courses offered were Intermediate Spanish and World Cultures. Of the three NVC students who took six credits, two received $750 scholarships from the Alamo Community Colleges.
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 IV. Capacity To Serve
Northwest Vista College has been a member of the Continuous Quality Improvement Network since the college opened its doors in 1998. CQIN is an organization of primarily community colleges (but some university and business organizations) 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. On August 5-8, CQIN hosted its Summer Institute in San Antonio. This annual institute strives to involve learning partners from entities outside the higher education arena as a way of benchmarking and broadening our perspectives on quality. This year’s theme was “Institutional Sustainability” and, in addition to NVC, included learning partners such as Goodwill Industries, Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing, Accelerated Improvement Mentoring, the U.S. Air Force Management Division, and Valero Energy Corporation.
NVC hosted Institute participants on its campus on August 7, making presentations on the following topics
• Finding Our Way: Culture and Strategy
• Developmental Education: Using Data in Developmental Math
• Taking the Distance Out of Distance Learning
• Active and Collaborative Learning
• Hope for the Best, but Prepare for the Worst: Effectively Dealing with Crisis in Colleges.

Goal I. Access To Higher Education
Two students from PAC’s Upward Bound Program received scholarships during the 2007 Rey Feo Scholarship, Inc. and LULAC Council No. 2 “Rey Feo Scholarship Awards Ceremony” held at SAC’s McAllister Auditorium, Aug. 3. Jesus McDonald, a 2007 graduate from Lytle High School, and Ben Hernandez, a 2007 graduate from Poteet High School. Both students will attend The University of Texas at San Antonio during the Fall 2007 semester.

Goal II. Student Support
Due to popular demand, PAC held a second “Registration Bash” in the Student Center, August 8. One hundred applicants took advantage of the “one-stop” registration process and received one-on-one assistance in the application, testing, advising, and financial aid areas.

Goal III. Workforce Development
Tod Bruning, PAC’s Corporate and Community Education Information Technology Program Manager, has been invited by representatives of the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to join them in an editorial board discussion with the Express-News to discuss the “Access to Technology” partnership initiative, Aug. 10.

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 Hyde Park, 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.

Goal V. Organizational Communication
Melissa Ludwig, education reporter for the Express-News, visited the campus August 8 for an update on PAC’s Capital Improvement Program construction plan.
Aissatou Sidime, business reporter for the Express-News, is scheduled to visit the campus August 9 to speak with the Director of Student Financial Services, on opportunities available to students to request funds for college expenses.

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. The School of Excellence was one of them. Through the dual credit program, St. Philip’s College will offer six dual credit hours per student at no cost to the students or to the School of Excellence in Education. With a successful dual credit program between SPC and the School of Excellence in Education’s STEM academy, St. Philip’s will be providing the equivalent of $72,000 in tuition.

St. Philip’s College is completing its first Math and Science Academy for middle school students. The program was a tremendous success. Participation in the program was limited to the first 30 students but nearly 35 enrolled and attended. The program was designed to dispel the many misconceptions students have about math and science. The classes also promoted awareness of the relationship between math, science and technology. The academy provided seminars, tours, experiments, demonstrations, school supplies, refreshments and student projects all for free.

Librarians are utilizing computers in the library’s public computer usage area
and are assisting prospective and returning students as they complete
applications for federal financial aid and admission to SPC for the fall. Students
are also registering for classes at SPC, accepting their financial aid awards, and
selecting payment options for their classes.

The Coordinator of the Basic Skills Academy conducted campus tours for five families (students and parents) from the San Antonio Independent School District High Schools on August 6-10 2007. The students have been selected to participate in the Fall 2007 Phoenix Program located at St. Philip's College/Southwest Campus.

Goal III. Workforce Development
The Vice President for Student Success/Interim VP for Academic Affairs, Director of Educational Support Services, Coordinator of Service Learning, and Chairperson of the Psychology/Philosophy Department 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 students’ first year of college experience. The process will begin August 20 and will be completed by May 31, 2008.

Goal IV. Capacity To Serve
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 San Antonio Police Department, the Alamo Community Colleges Police Department, San Antonio Fighting Back and national retailer Target. The event included a parade and a flyover by the San Antonio Police Department’s Blue Eagle helicopter. Participants received free information about crime prevention and safety tips from various non-profit, anti-crime organizations. Children were finger-printed and offered identification cards at the event. Positive media coverage was phenomenal. Every major television network in the market covered the event which included live-shots and repeat broadcasts of the event.

A total of 1,689 students were served in the Instructional Technology labs on the MLK and SW campuses between July and August of this year. This total only reflects usage in labs where the monitoring software has been installed. All students-use labs will have this software installed in the next few months.

Staff from the Equity Center have partnered with staff from Project Quest, Acorn and Bexar County Human Services so that SPC students can experience a smooth transition from those agencies to college while obtaining necessary social services.

Goal V. Organizational Communication
Instructional Technology staff members are working with staff and administrators to move email accounts to Microsoft Exchange. The process is expected to take several months and all employees will be encouraged to participate in training on this new application which will be offered this fall by the Instructional Innovation Center.

Instructional Technology staff members are working with staff members from SPC/SWC to determine technology needs in order to support fall registration. IT staff members will be available throughout registration to support the technical needs of the SPC registration team.

Goal IV. Capacity To Serve
San Antonio College administrators, directors, faculty and staff attended all-day Baldrige workshops in the Loftin Student Center Faculty-Staff Lunch Room to discuss process improvement on August 9 and for up and coming leaders at the college to learn about the Baldrige model on August 10.

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Distance Education Advisory Committee gave its full approval for San Antonio College’s Institutional Report on Distance Education and Off-Campus Instruction. In a letter to Distance Education Director Helen Torres, Assistant Commissioner Joseph Stafford said, “We at the Coordinating Board … wish San Antonio College much success in its delivery of distance education and off-campus instruction, and we are grateful for all your efforts to make quality education available to students in Texas.” The committee’s evaluation included these comments:

1) Institutional Issues: “Strong documentation and process for assuring compliance,”

2) Faculty: “Administrative certification is an excellent innovation. Hopefully it can be encouraged throughout the college and shared with other institutions.”

3) Student Support Services: “Good mix of services and methodology for offering online student services. Online access to advisors and counselors is a strong addition. Access to a live librarian through several channels is helpful. The Quick Start guide to Elluminate is a great idea. Laptop loan to students is innovative

Goal V. Organizational Communication
San Antonio College President Robert E. Zeigler with college administrators, 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.

San Antonio College President Robert E. Zeigler wrote an Op-Ed article that appeared in the August 12 San Antonio Express-News to clarify the role of San Antonio College’s Nursing Education program in providing more RNs than any other school in San Antonio. He added that 6,000 more students in Texas prefer to earn an RN through an associate’s degree program than through a bachelor’s degree program, which reflects national trends. The SAC Nursing program ranks 3rd in the U.S. in the graduation of Hispanics and 1st in Texas in awarding associate’s degrees.