Goal I. Access to Higher Education
Northeast Lakeview College participated in the Converse Economic Development Expo on September 10-11, 2007. Its purpose was to facilitate a platform where businesses, government, and community organizations came together with mutually beneficial interests. Participants received an update on the development and construction progress on the new NLC and potential NLC workforce development partnerships were discussed.

The Department of International Programs has 12 applicants who have been selected for the English Language Fellow Program (or ELFP). The ELFP is a 10-month teaching opportunity for English language educators to travel abroad, to teach and exchange language learning ideas. International Programs is responsible for recruitment and advising to English educators in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico and Colorado. This year's candidates who have been interviewed and accepted in our region will be going to many countries, including Russia, Belarus, Turkey, India, Mexico, Qatar, and Guatemala.

Goal II. Student Support
PAC’s Veterinary Technology Program received notice that they had a 100 percent pass rate in both the National and State Board Exams for all 14 students that graduated in May 2007. PAC’s Vet Tech Program was the only program nationally to have a 100 percent pass rate.

The National Association of Developmental Education (NADE) Certification Council has awarded the Math Advocacy Center at Northwest Vista College their NADE Certification at the Advanced Level. NVC’s program is only the third tutoring services program in the nation to earn certification at the Advanced Level, joining Stephen F. Austin State University and Utah Valley College’s Writing Center in this honor. The Math Advocacy Center was developed under a Title V grant received by the college in 2001 and serves between 10% and 15% of the developmental math populations.

Goal III. Workforce Development
Certificates of completion were awarded to 12 students at the Bexar County Detention Center who completed a customized training program consisting of 125 hours of culinary instruction. These students are inmates identified by the Sheriff’s Office as low risk and were offered this training in an attempt to provide workforce skills that will enable them to successfully integrate back into the workforce after their time is served.

Dr. Federico Zaragoza and Duane Labom of Toyota, provided testimony to the Governor’s Commission for a College Ready Texas on advanced skill sets required for advanced manufacturing jobs in the City of San Antonio. Drs. Leslie and Reno also spoke during the public testimony segment of the meeting, offering recommendations related to college readiness; Dr. Leslie’s written testimony was entered as part of the meeting record.

PAC’s Corporate and Community Education Division began H.E.B.’s first professional development training program. The training is designed to offer employees the opportunity to advance from Team Coordinators to Team Leaders. The three course module system will offer partners 120 total hours of training in areas such as goal setting, conflict resolution, effective meeting guidelines, problem solving, group decisions, business communication, supervision, theories of total quality management, and internal customer service.

Goal IV. Capacity To Serve
Mark Hogensen, an Associate Professor of Art, exhibited his paintings at the McNay Contemporary Collectors Forum “Artist Looking at Art” series. In his work, Hogensen uses color and pattern to explore perspective and space. For the McNay, he installed three paintings adjacent to stained glass windows from the Oppenheimer collection, creating a dialogue in which decorative elements and architecture play a critical role. The Artists Looking at Art series of monthly gallery talks salutes the vitality of the contemporary art community in San Antonio.

The classroom of Tanyia McCall, Instructor of the Early Childhood Center at SAC, has been certified as a Pioneer Texas School Ready Classroom by the State Center for Early Childhood Development. The “Texas Readiness Certification” awards were presented at a press conference at the San Antonio Main Library. According to Dr. Susan Landry, Director, this classroom “has met the Texas School Readiness Certification System criteria for being a Texas School Ready classroom.” Landry added that the classroom has “established an environment that facilitated the preschool children who graduated and entered Texas public kindergarten in 2006-2007 school year to have the cognitive and social skills needed to be successful in school.”

The Office of Community and Public Relations met with VIA Metropolitan Transit and members of the San Antonio Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission. St. Philip's College will serve as a major transportation hub for the thousands of people who plan to march in the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. March. St. Philip's College will be highlighted in VIA and City promotions as a viable transportation source for participants in the March.

Goal V. Organizational Communication
Dr. Eric Reno has been recognized as an “Honorary Commander” on behalf of the 12th Flying Training Wing at Randolph AFB. As “Honorary Commander,” Reno will strengthen the partnership between Northeast Lakeview College and the military. The program focuses on integrating community leaders into the Air Force Family. Reno will actively learn more about the military mission while the individual units learn more about the community where they serve.

Dr. Reno is the newly elected 2007-2008 President of the Higher Education Council of San Antonio (HECSA) and presided over the meeting on September 10th. The meeting was held as UIW’s new Feik School of Pharmacy.

The San Antonio College Scobee Planetarium was one of five planetariums featured in the October 2007 issue of “Astronomy: The world’s best-selling astronomy magazine” in the article titled “Astronomy Thrives in Texas.” The other planetariums included were Comanche Springs Astronomy Campus, Central Texas Astronomical Society Turner Research Station, George Observatory, and McDonald Observatory.

This week the Department of Governmental and Public Relations coordinated media coverage for the LULAC Parent/Child (Rey Feo) Scholarship program in which $1,000 scholarships to the ACCD were awarded to twenty-six children less than six years old, contingent upon their parents completing an education program with the Alamo Community Colleges. This program is the only one of its kind in the country and to-date, LULAC has awarded $300,000 in this type of scholarship. Media coverage was KENS-TV, KABB-TV and the front page story in La Prensa.

Four marketing firms made presentations to a combined college and district team. One firm will be recommended to the Board in October.

On Thursday evening, the Judson ISD Board held a signing ceremony to approve the lease. Mr. Zárate, Dr. Sprague, and Dr. Reno attended the meeting and report that the lease was signed with great accolades for the partnership. Thanks to all who worked so diligently to make this lease agreement possible.

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, 9/22, 12:00 – 2:00 p.m.
The regular September Board of Trustees meeting and the LULAC Parent/Child Scholarship Awards Ceremony

Sunday, 9/23, 9:00 – 11:00 a.m.
The regular September Board of Trustees meeting and the LULAC Parent/Child Scholarship Awards Ceremony