Goal I. Access to Higher Education
Six short-term, faculty-led study abroad programs are scheduled for the “Maymester” and summer sessions. The programs are England, Spain, Turkey, and Mexico. The ACCD Foundation provided $30,000 in scholarships for these programs.

Goal II. Student Success
The ACCD Student Leadership Institute held the 2006-2007 Graduation ceremonies at SPC honoring 53 students with certificates, awards, and medals in recognition for their yearlong commitment and completion of the Student Leadership Institute requirements. All college Presidents, institute faculty, and ACCD administrators participated.

Goal III. Workforce Development
Dr. Zaragoza participated in the Floresville ISD Bond kick-off event for the proposed “Floresville Early College Technology Center.” Featured speakers included Dr. Bruce H. Leslie and Congressman Henry Cuellar. The election will be held May 12, 2007.

Dr. Leslie and Trustee McClendon met with Alan Miller, Executive Director of Alamo WorkSource on Wednesday, 4/4, to discuss several issues, including adult literacy and workforce development opportunities.

Dr. Zaragoza presented at the National Farmworker Conference on Best Practices in Limited English Proficiency for Latinos at the Omni Hotel. He also presented on “Workplace Literacy Models” and “Industrial Sector Skills Training for Latinos” at the same conference.

Goal IV. Capacity to Serve
Dr. Leslie spoke to a group of over 80 ACCD Department Chairs at the annual Council of Chairs luncheon. Every year the organization honors individuals who provided outstanding support to the Chairs. This year Bill Richardson (SAC), Pat Terrell (NLC), John Carnes (SPC), and Erlinda Ybarra (PAC) were recognized for their contributions.

The ACCD Facilities Department partnered with the City of San Antonio to rescue several heritage trees from the SPC Capital Improvement Program construction site. The trees were taken to various parks throughout the City where they were transplanted. This is a partnership between the City, the SA Housing Authority (SAHA) and ACCD.

The SCT Banner Technical consultant was on-site for 3 days (3/27 – 3/30) to provide student data migration and conversion strategy for moving the colleges’ information into one database. The outcome derived from the meeting is that a SCT Banner provided Converter Tool will be used as opposed to the many manual scripts currently being developed.

Fox Lawson is expected to complete the compensation study this week and bring a recommendation to the Board at the regular May meeting. Dr. Lawson met with College representatives both individually and in groups to discuss the slotting of jobs and other outcomes of the study.

Goal V. Organizational Communication
On Tuesday, April 3rd, Dr. Leslie had a positive meeting with Dr. Lou Agnese, President of Incarnate Word. This is part of an ongoing effort to discuss partnering opportunities and further develop relationships with area universities.

Dr. Leslie, Dr. Drum, Dr. Reno, Dr. Lewis, John Strybos, and Carlos Ramirez met with Dr. Lyman, Superintendent of Judson ISD and arrived at a draft agreement to be presented to our Board at its regular meeting on Tuesday, 4/17.

On Wednesday, Dr. Leslie, Dr. Loston, Mr. Zárate, and Leo Zuniga attended a reception in Austin for Senator Zaffirini, in appreciation for her support of higher education. The reception was hosted by the Alamo Community Colleges, Laredo CC, Coastal Bend South Texas CC, Del Mar CC, and South Texas Jr. College

The much anticipated ground breaking ceremony at NLC was a great success and very well attended. Representatives from 10 area municipalities in NE Bexar County were in attendance, as were Judson ISD administrators and board members, and administrators from Samuel Clements High School. Also in attendance were State Representative Ruth Jones McClendon, State Representative Joe Farias, State Senator Judith Zaffirini, and County Commissioner Tommy Adkisson. Special thanks to Trustees Conner, McClendon, Beitzel, Rindfuss, Sprague, and Zárate for showing their support.

SAVE THE DATE!

Last week we asked that you save the date of October 24th for the Institutional Advancement Annual Donor Appreciation Dinner at the Pearl Breweries Stables. Please note that the date has been changed to OCTOBER 25th. Additional information will follow as the date approaches.

PAC will hold its annual PACfest celebration on Thursday, April 26, from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. PACfest is an official Fiesta San Antonio event.