Goal I. Access To Higher Education
Northeast Lakeview College held its groundbreaking ceremony on April 5th. The well-attended event included representation from the 10 surrounding Metrocom cities and San Antonio, including County Commissioner, Tommy Adkisson. State representation included Senator Judith Zaffirini, Chair of the Senate Higher Education SubCommittee, Representative Joe Farias, and Representative Ruth McClendon. Construction is scheduled to begin on the site early next week.

Goal II. Student Success
Eleven Northeast Lakeview College psychology students attended the Regional Southwestern Psychological Association Annual Convention in Forth Worth. TX from April 5-7th. Students attended talks and poster sessions on a variety of psychological research topics given by psychology professors in the region. Additionally, students met with various 4-year universities to discuss transfer opportunities and requirements.

Goal III. Workforce Development
Dr. Cindy Griffith, Dean of Workforce Development and Continuing Education, and Ms. Kim Turner,Universal City’s Economic Development Services Director, recently met with a number of businesses located in Northlake Business Park. The purpose of the meeting was to acquaint business leaders with Northeast Lakeview College, determine their employment needs, and discuss future educational opportunities and partnerships through the Workforce Development and Continuing Education division.

Goal IV. Capacity To Serve
Six representatives from Northeast Lakeview College attended the Baldrige Workshop held at St. Philip’s College on April 9-10th. The workshop provided an overview of the Baldrige System and addressed an actionable approach to address improvements at each one of the Alamo Community Colleges and establish leadership excellence.

Goal I. Access To Higher Education
NVC hosted the first Alamo Community Colleges Student Development Faculty Train-the-Trainer Conference on March 23, 2007. Over 55 Student Development instructors from all five campuses gathered to present best practices and develop ideas to share at their respective colleges. Currently, the Student Development course is required at all colleges for incoming students with less than 15 hours.

Goal II. Student Success
In the fall 2006, Northwest Vista College acquired the STARBAK announcement system through a Title V Grant. This system has allowed the college to promote student events on monitors located throughout the campus. An added feature of the system that has recently been introduced to NVC is the ability of instructors to access CNN, CBS and MSNBC through the classroom computer workstation and to project these news stations for use in the class.

Beta Lambda Epsilon (BLU), the NVC chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, received the coveted Hallmark Award for chapter leadership at the Texas Regional Conference in Odessa, Texas, on March 22-25. BLU distinguished itself by hosting the PTK District Five convention, co-hosting the Texas Honors Institute, conducting presentations at PTK events, and participating in numerous philanthropic endeavors. BLU also was recognized as a Three-Star Chapter, which is a major accomplishment for a chapter that was chartered only four years ago. During the convention, Allen Haas, BLU President, was inducted into the Phi Theta Kappa District Five “Hall of Honor,” and Kevin Kelly received the Horizon Award, which recognizes outstanding chapter advisors.

Samantha Garcia, a 19-year old student at Northwest Vista College, was crowned Miss Fiesta San Antonio 2007 on February 3. She was also named Miss Congeniality and won an award for Best Historical Skit, in which she portrayed labor rights activist Emma Tenayuca. Garcia is an education major who plans to become a school teacher and counselor before opening her own catering business. She is a member of the Phi Theta Kappa honor society and regularly volunteers at schools and in the community.

Goal IV. Capacity To Serve
Northwest Vista College hosted examiners from the Texas Award for Performance Excellence (TAPE) on our campus from April 2-4. The college will receive a feedback report from the visit in June. TAPE is the state version of the Baldrige National Quality Program. The college has received three site visits from TAPE examiners and submitted its first Baldrige application in 2006.

Goal II. Student Success
Former PAC student Laurie Guerrero Garces, has been recognized by Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, as an Ada Comstock Scholar. Established in 1975, the Ada Comstock Scholars Program enables women of nontraditional college age to complete a bachelor of arts degree at a realistic pace, either part time or full time. Garces is also a poet and is currently writing two books. Several of her poems appear in the Spring issue of the Palo Alto Review.

Goal III. Workforce Development
Tony Villanueva, an instructor of psychology at PAC, made a presentation at the 2007 National Farm Worker Conference held in San Antonio, April 1-4. Villanueva’s presentation was entitled “Industrial Sector Skills: Training for Latinos.” The conference is the largest national farm worker conference that addresses a variety of issues confronting migrant and seasonal farm workers.

Goal IV. Capacity To Serve
Palo Alto College, a Partnering Organization of the “Circles of San Antonio Community Coalition,” will join other coalition members in a “Fiesta San Antonio” initiative aimed at reducing underage drinking, and drinking and driving during Fiesta 2007. The coalition is planning a media conference at Alamo Stadium, April 16.

Goal V. Organizational Communication
PAC student Sirena Abrego was featured in a collegiate profile in the April 11 issue of 210SA, a new weekly publication published by Prime Time News. Five PAC students were also featured in the issue answering the question “How would you feel about having a female President?”

Goal I. Access To Higher Education
The Cowboy Breakfast Association presented the ACCD Foundation with a check for $10,000 earmarked for five scholarships for the Department of Tourism, Hospitality and Culinary Arts at St. Philip’s College. As a community service and for many years, the SPC Culinary Arts faculty and students have assisted the Cowboy Breakfast Association prepare food for the annual Cowboy Breakfast.

Goal II. Student Success
Through an on-going relationship with the San Antonio Blood Bank, a blood drive was hosted by the college which brought in more than 75 donors from the SPC community. The blood collected goes to benefit hospitals and emergency units throughout the southwest region of the state.

This summer, the K-8 Summer Academy will provide students with a fun, high quality, researched based, academic program. Certificated teachers will instruct academic camps.

Goal III. Workforce Development
Vocational Nursing faculty attended the Texas Association of Vocational Nurse Educators (TAVNE) Convention on March 28-30, 2007, held in San Antonio. The focus of the convention was evaluation of current content in the vocational nurse school curricula. This included the increased use of simulation to increase the technical skills of the vocational nurses. Connie Weber served as chairperson of registration for the conference and was assisted by B.J. Jackson, Esperanza Uriegas, Marcia Colleran, Rose Spruill, Susan Thornton & Melissa Hancock. Mrs. Teresa Mcpherson has been selected as a Test Item writer for the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN). These writers develop test items for the National State Boards for the NCLEX-PN and NCLEX-RN. Mrs. McPherson's skills as an item writer will assist St. Philip's Nursing faculty to develop tests more in line with the current NCLEX test plans.

Mr. Jorge Trevino, Director of Workforce Training, met with Mr. Curtis Thomas from Mooney Aviation to develop customized training programs to deliver at their plant in Fredericksburg, Texas. The year long training program will be supported by a skills development grant being prepared by Southwest Campus.

SPC (John Carnes, Gregory Hudspeth, Mary Kunz) met with Robert Sohn of Rio Perla Properties to discuss potential opportunities for arts education activities at the Pearl Brewery Development. The overall goal is for the Development to be an interesting urban community that is not “gated or exclusive.” Rather, the approach to planning is inclusive emphasizing integration of spaces. The intent is to attract a mix of people who represent the greater San Antonio community resulting in a more interesting and vibrant urban community.

SPC hosted the Training, Simulation and Performance Improvement Division from Southwest Research Institute at the Upper Deck. The purpose of the meeting was to explore potential partnerships between SWRI and SPC including contract and grant proposals. The SWRI guests included: Ms. Susan Porter, Director, Advanced Technology; Dr. Daniel Cooper, Director, Performance and Instruction; and Dr. Fred Previc, Staff Scientist, Advanced Technologies. Participants from SPC included Richard Tietz, Dr. Bess Stewart, Dr. John Carnes, Sharon Carson, Dr. Al Barringer, and Dr. Adena Loston. The group will meet again to formalize to partnerships vision.

Goal IV. Capacity To Serve
The Department of Institutional Advancement coordinated with Dr. Charles Gunter, First Time in College (FTIC) Director, to research, prepare, and submit an application to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) for a six-week summer 2007 “Bridges” program to assist San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD) rising juniors and seniors in passing TAKS tests. If awarded, the grant will provide $50,000 for 80 students to participate. The program will be modeled on FTIC.

Goal V. Organizational Communication
Rafael Brisita attended the West Side Chamber State of the Union dinner. The guest speaker was Congressman Charles Gonzalez who spoke on how the economy will impact the small businesses in our area. Congressman Gonzalez made some recommendations on what to monitor regarding legislation in Washington that will impact the business sector on the West Side of San Antonio.

Goal I. Access to Higher Education
As their part of the Connections Program initiative, the College Access Team from San Antonio College has assessed 633 high San Antonio ISD school seniors, as well as assessing another 1,441 seniors from 12 other schools. Combined with the other colleges’ efforts, a total of 2,169 students from 20 high schools have been assessed.

Goal II. Student Success
The San Antonio College Beta Nu Chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society was awarded a Texas Top Chapter, Five Star Chapter, 2006 Pinnacle Silver Chapter, and 2006 Pinnacle Platinum Chapter at the Midland/Odessa PTK Texas Regional Conference.

Also, the Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) Team won the SIFE USA Regional Championship in overall competition on April 4, based on their report of the organization’s year-long community outreach projects to a panel of business leaders. The team also received recognition as a finalist in the SIFE USA Sam’s Club Entrepreneurship Competition and the SIFE USA GE Consumer Products Program Sustainability Competition. The team will now advance to the national level competition May 6-8 in Dallas.

Goal V. Organizational Communications
The Public Relations Office worked with the San Antonio Express-News reporter Josh Baugh, who wrote a front-page story with photos about the San Antonio College Health Fest, which appeared in the April 11 edition of Neighbors. The photos featured a student climbing a rock wall and an indoor cycling class. The story indicated that 1,000 people attended, with the rock-climbing wall, self-defense class and blood-screening booth as the most popular activities.