Goal I. Access to Higher Education
NLC President Dr. Reno and Dr. Cindy Griffith, Dean of Workforce and Community Education, recently attended the Walzem Road Area Revitalization Community Meeting to learn more about the plans for economic revitalization of the Windsor Park Mall area and its newest tenant, Rackspace Managed Hosting. A presentation by Randy Smith, Rackspace real estate manager, provided information regarding company services, employees, and future relocation plans. An additional presentation by North East ISD administrators focused on the renovation and additions to Roosevelt High School, an adjacent neighbor of Rackspace. Further meetings are being planned to determine workforce needs, discuss the establishment of appropriate career pathways, and design future NLC programs that will be specific and relevant to the local information technology industry.

The SPC Department of Tourism, Hospitality, and Culinary Arts is scheduled to meet with public school representatives from Del Rio regarding development of curriculum, training of teachers, and other topics. Del Rio public schools are developing Culinary Arts programs and want to gather ideas for facilities and articulation opportunities.

PAC instructors Honey Kirk and Diane Lerma attended a Mathematics Across the Community College Curriculum (MAC3) Traveling Workshop Facilitators’ Training in Leavenworth, Washington. They were selected to develop guidelines for planning and conducting traveling workshops for the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges.

Two NVC faculty members have been selected to participate in the English Language Fellows Program. One is scheduled to teach in Belarus, the other in Mongolia. Final preparations are being made for their assignments.

Goal II. Student Support
PAC’s Disability Support Services Coordinator, Lydia Hannawi, participated in the planning and production of the San Antonio Youth Mental Health Council Conference, held at Region 20 Headquarters, Aug. 24. Entitled “A Fragile Generation: Meeting the Mental Health Needs in the School Community,” sessions included topics on Bipolar Disorder and Depression; Self Injurious Behaviors; Adolescents and Suicide Prevention; and the Language of Grief.

Goal III. Workforce Development
Through a technical services agreement between Raytheon Professional Services and St. Philip’s College, employees from various automotive service centers throughout Texas have been receiving training from the SPC Automotive Technology Department. Training has been coordinated with the Continuing Education Department and focuses on upgrading the skills of employees with the new technology in General Motors products to meet the demands of the automotive industry. Students receive both formal and hands-on instruction in topics from Heating/Air Conditioning and Electrical Connectors to GM Powertrain Performance.

The Alamo Community Colleges, Alamo WorkSource Board and BioMedSA have agreed to pursue funding for a Bio-Science National Center of Excellence in the Alamo region. ACC will be working with our partners, NSF, and Northwest Vista College to identify possible funding sources.

Goal IV. Capacity To Serve
On Friday, August 24, NVC conducted a faculty workshop with guest speaker, Clark Friesen from Tomball Community College in Houston. NVC coordinated with St. Mary’s College to bring this well-known service learning speaker to assist our faculty in implementing successful service learning projects in the classroom. Thanks to Migdalia Garcia, Service Learning Director and Susana Satrustegui, Civic Engagement Coordinator, for making this program possible.

Dr. Burmeister’s retirement becomes effective today and we have named Mel Indyk as Interim Chief Information Officer and Director of Information Technology. Mel has had manager, executive director, vice president, Chief Information Officer, and Chief Technology Officer positions with General Dynamics, United Technologies Pratt & Whitney Aircraft, Bell Labs, and Lucent Technologies.

Goal V. Organizational Communication
The SAC Public Relations office has revised the Alternative Parking Flyer and distributed the information to students during Orientation classes this month. Information is also provided via a link on the SAC main web page, is posted in every classroom, and is circulated by DPS, the Bursar’s Office, Admissions, and Counseling.

St. Philip’s began a new process to be more inclusive in making decisions that impact the College. Work that began with faculty during Professional Development Week continued between department chairs and administration in an effort to develop a systemized process to annually review curriculum. This inclusive process will be on-going as the College moves forward in its continuous quality improvement efforts.

For your information, the speeches from convocation by Drs. Leslie and Cisneros are available online. Henry Cisneros also provided written remarks that are posted on the website. To access the video and the written remarks, log onto the ACCD website at www.accd.edu, click on “Chancellor” on the left hand panel, then click on “Presentations.” If you need assistance, please contact Sandra Mora.

In an ongoing effort to nurture relationships with area higher education institutions, Dr. Leslie met with Dr. Charles Cotrell, president of St. Mary’s University. A follow up meeting with the leadership teams from St. Mary’s and ACCD is planned.

This week Dr. Leslie also met with Kendall County Judge Gaylan Schroeder. This is the latest in a series of meetings with county judges throughout our service area.

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, 9/8, 12:00 – 2:00 p.m.
The Academic Accountability and Student Success committee meeting from August 21 and the first half of the August 21 regular Board meeting.

Sunday, 9/9, 9:00 – 11:00 a.m.
The last half of the August 21 regular Board meeting and the District Convocation from August 20.