Goal I. Access To Higher Education
On Friday, August 31, Dr. Beth Lewis, Vice President of Academic Affairs-NLC, attended a reunion of the Randolph Civic Leaders Tour participants at Randolph Air Force Base. In June of this year, the group of civic leaders toured Ellsworth AFB in South Dakota and Nellis AFB in Nevada; on Friday, the group toured Randolph AFB. The group heard the history of RAFB, learned about the “Pilot for a Day” program for terminally ill children, and toured the POW museum on base. The Civic Leaders also learned how pilots maintain physical balance and equilibrium while enduring the effects of gravitational forces.

Goal II. Student Support
The Northeast Lakeview College President’s Picnic was held on Wednesday, August 29th, in the courtyard at 11:30am and 5:00pm. Both day and evening students had the opportunity to greet President Reno and enjoy a hotdog, chips, cookie, snow-cone, popcorn and a glass of fruit punch. Over 275 students attended the day event and approximately 150 students attended the evening event. Twenty-five faculty and staff members served as greeters and servers for the event.

Goal II. Student Support
Washington Monthly magazine recently ranked Northwest Vista College as one of the top 30 Community Colleges in the country. While such rankings are not the intent of CCSSE and somewhat controversial, it does indicate that some of our teaching methods are contributing to student success. The magazine sought to identify colleges that used teaching methods that have been associated with student success. In addition, the magazine examined those colleges with high graduation rates as collected by the US Department of Education. Information about teaching methods was gathered utilizing the benchmark measures from the annual survey of colleges in the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE). NVC has been identified as one of a handful of community colleges that, when compared to other colleges of similar size, have demonstrated outstanding performance on certain CCSSE benchmarks. NVC was particularly strong in the area of active and collaborative learning.

Goal III. Workforce Development
The Alternative Teacher Certification Program at Northwest Vista College started the new year welcoming 32 students in the fall 2007 Cohort on August 13th. This was the result of a concentrated marketing effort that included invitations to military job fairs and guest appearances by NVC staff on Good Day SA and Des De San Antonio television programs. The net effect is we have 18 students seeking teacher certification in the area of Bilingual Education (Early Childhood – 4) and 14 in Special Education (Early Childhood – 12). While we are pleased with these numbers, we are already seeing the long range potential of our enhanced recruitment efforts as requests for a new January 2008 Cohort continued program growth.

The number of entering students indicates an upward trend, but our key performance indicator continues to be the number of students securing internships with various public and charter schools throughout the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Eighteen students from previous Cohorts are now teaching and helping area schools to meet critical needs.

Goal I. Access To Higher Education
Dr. Amie DeLeon is working with Junior Achievement of South Texas, a local non-profit organization, by assisting college students in becoming mentors to school-age students in order to help them understand the free enterprise system, business, and economics

Goal II. Student Support
PAC’s Office of Student Activities hosted a week-long celebration welcoming students back to campus last week. Highlights from the week included the distribution of more than 700 free hot dogs and sodas; a Club Fair; 500 free raspas to faculty, staff and students; and a concert by “Lynette Rocks!”

Goal III. Workforce Development
PAC’s Community and Corporate Education renewed its training partnership with The San Antonio Lighthouse for the Blind (third year in a row!). Under this agreement, students graduating from the program can take a test to receive continuing education credit equivalent to one three-credit business course, transferable to any major university.

Goal IV. Capacity To Serve
Luis Mercado, Public Information Officer, has been appointed to serve a two-year term on the Citizen's Oversight Committee of the Advanced Transportation District. The ADT was created by Bexar County voters in the November 2004 general election. The charge of the committee is to advise ATD Trustees on issues related to the expenditure of the 1/4-cent sales and use tax authorized by the election. An estimated $34 million will be generated each year for transportation projects in San Antonio and Bexar County.

Goal V. Organizational Communication
Juan Ortiz, Instructor of Music, was invited to represent the United States at the 14th Annual “El Encuentro del Mariachi” Music Festival currently underway in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Mr. Ortiz is leading a group of mariachi students from area high schools, colleges and universities (including 7 Palo Alto College students) in this International event.

Goal I. Access To Higher Education
St. Philip's College Homecoming Celebration is scheduled for October 19th through the 21st. The event is being called a “friend-raiser” and is designed to bring SPC affiliates together including graduates, former faculty members, community members and friends of the College. The purpose is to provide support for greater access and opportunities for current and future students to be successful. Celebration activities include a Get Reacquainted Mixer, graduate and faculty recognitions, as well as musical and dance performances.

Southwest Campus is enjoying a strong start to the new academic year with 85 high school students returning to the campus for the Phoenix Middle College Program. In addition, new students were enrolled in the TECH Prep Program, the Exploratory Program and in dual credit courses.

Goal II. Student Support
Welcome Week 2007, beginning September 4, was successfully implemented by the Student Life and Service Learning components of the College. The event engages students in experiences to help them become familiar with the College culture, processes and procedures as well as with student-focused activities and events. From the Get the Scoop ice cream social/information sessions to the Waffle Day networking event, Welcome Week 2007 engaged hundreds of students in the St. Philip's College experience.

Goal IV. Capacity To Serve
The St. Philip's College Bookstore received high marks after a surprise visit by a “Secret Shopper” during the textbook purchasing rush. The store received an approval rating of 96%. Much of the credit for the high score is attributed to the work of temporary student workers.

St. Philip's College was featured on News4 WOAI prime-time newscast during its Kitchen Cops segment on Wednesday, September 5, 2007. The College’s Tiger Café was presented with the Blue Plate Special Award that is given to eating establishments that receive a perfect inspection score from the San Antonio Health Department. The Tiger Café is the College’s on-campus cafeteria that serves thousands of students, faculty and staff daily.

Goal V. Organizational Communication
St. Philip's College is initiating the Don’t Drop campaign to inform students, faculty and staff of the recently enacted legislation that limits students to six dropped courses before they are faced with penalties.

Students, faculty and staff are engaged in the development of a “Spirit of St. Philip's College” statement that will be used to introduce the College at public and private events.

Goal I. Access To Higher Education
The Staff Council completed a successful school supply drive, with staff, faculty, and students donating supplies. Staff Council representatives delivered many needed supplies to neighboring Travis Elementary School for their students.

Goal IV. Capacity To Serve
The following employees received Enrichment (scholarship) Awards from the Staff Council: Tamotioa Byrd-Franks (Admissions & Records), Lucia Guerrero (Student Support Services Project), and Francis Mendoza-Diaz (Nursing Education).

Jacob Fuentes (Facilities Management) won the Employee of the Month Award for August, and Leonard Ziegler (College Photographer) won the Employee of the Month for September.

Goal V. Organizational Communication
The Public Relations director recently appeared on KABB-TV to explain the college’s smoking policy, including the new regulation that smoking is also prohibited in the parking lots. In addition, the department produced a flyer outlining the policy, which was distributed to students in Orientation classes, during registration, and via the SAC website.