Faculty Recognitions

Dr. Janie Sigmon, Biology Instructor, was recently accepted as a member of the second cohort of BEN (BiosciEdNet) Scholars. The process of becoming a BEN scholar is competitive and only twenty scholars are selected each year. The goal of the BEN Scholars Program is to promote the use of digital library resources and student-centered teaching and learning methods in higher education, specifically in biological sciences lecture and laboratory courses, and in research training programs. As a BEN scholar, Dr. Sigmon will participate in two years of professional development activities, including developing submissions for digital libraries and completing outreach activities. For more information about the BEN Scholars program, please see the story published on the AAAS website at: http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2008/0730ben.shtml

Dr. Cree Stout, Department Manager for ECT/EET, successfully completed ABET’s (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) Institute for the Development of Excellence in Assessment Leadership (IDEAL). During her time at the Institute, Dr. Stout developed skills in the principles of program assessment, change management, and facilitation. As an IDEAL Scholar, Dr. Stout will continue to interact this academic year with other scholars through sharing and discussing best practices via SharePoint portal software. More information about the ABET IDEAL program can be accessed at: http://www.abet.org/ideal.shtml

Congratulations, Dr. Sigmon and Dr. Stout!

If you are aware of other faculty and staff that have received similar achievements, please email jnesbitt@yorktech.com. I want to make sure others are recognized as well.

Recognition for Excellence in Teaching

Congratulations to Dr. Martha Macdonald, English Instructor, on being selected as one of four finalists for the South Carolina Governor’s Professor of the Year Award in the two-year college category. As the recipient of the York Technical College President’s Award for Instructional Excellence, Dr. Macdonald and thirty-five faculty from other SC institutions were nominated for the Governor’s Professor of the Year Award. Dr. Macdonald was recognized at a luncheon last week at the University of South Carolina in Columbia for her excellence in teaching. Congratulations, Martha!

Student Success Initiatives

Thanks to all who took time to participate in the Student Success/Institutional Effectiveness (IE) workshops. Over 150 college employees attended one of the workshops during the month of September. All sessions reflected a mix of faculty, student services, and administrative/support personnel. The purpose of the workshops was to discuss student engagement practices and ideas for setting goals to measure student success. Since the completion of those workshops, college departments have submitted IE plans that detail the strategies and measures they have set to improve student engagement and/or persistence. As we discussed at the workshops, the most obvious place to impact student success is through direct contact in the classrooms. As we also discussed, even those of us who are not in the classroom play a part in determining to what extent our students will be successful. The IE plans submitted so far reflect the varying roles that we all play. Some highlights include:

• The Business Administration Department plans to increase collaborative learning in the classroom through the implementation of in-class student group discussions and presentations.
• The Information Technology Department will offer faculty-led tutoring sessions every Friday during the semester to provide support for student learning.
• In the Criminal Justice Department, faculty will contact each student in their classes prior to midterm to assess the students’ academic progress and to offer assistance to help them be more successful.
• The Science Department will increase engagement with high-risk students by identifying those who scored a C or below on their exams and then scheduling conferences with them and assigning peer tutors.
• Staff at the Off Campus Centers will contact all students who are absent from a teleclass meeting in an effort to make those students feel more connected to the college.
• Staff in the Career Services Office will contact all students enrolled in the General Studies Program and provide them career guidance to increase the numbers who transition into a career-oriented program and remain at the college.
• The Custodial, Maintenance, and Public Safety Departments will all conduct customer surveys to determine areas where they can work to enhance their impact on the overall campus environment.

I’m excited about all of your Student Success initiatives and look forward to hearing about your progress. I will continue to provide leadership to assure progress on the five themes that we identified to support Student Success: Organizational Development, Partnerships, Branding, Campus Environment, and Programming. I will personally be involved through investing time with faculty, staff and students to improve communications and two-way understanding. I am also committed to ensuring that adequate resources are available to invest in those activities that have proven to show an impact on student success.

Vincent Tinto, Professor at Syracuse University, has researched and written extensively on higher education, particularly on student retention and the impact of learning communities on student growth and attainment. He comes from a four-year perspective but has worked very closely with technical and community colleges in recent years. His article “Taking Student Retention Seriously” outlines the conditions that support retention. Please take time to read this article and share your thoughts with me.

Maximize Student Success

Thank you for attending the Beginning-of-the-Year meeting and for your ideas on how to achieve our goal of maximizing student success. Workshops will be offered in September to discuss student engagement practices and measures, review availability of data related to student success, and brainstorm ideas for setting department goals for the measurement of student success. Please sign up for one of the workshops listed below by visiting:
http://academic.yorktech.com/department/evaluation/IE_Workshops.asp

Thursday, September 11
2-3:30pm ST-103

Friday, September 12
10-11:30am ST-103

Thursday, September 18
2-3:30pm L-113

Friday, September 19
10-11:30an L-113

Thursday, September 25
2-3:30pm L-113

Friday, September 26
10-11:30am L-113


Taunya Paul shared an excerpt from The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch with me earlier this week related to helping students learn how to learn and students as customers. The analogy is one I have used often. I hope you will take a few minutes to listen to the excerpt posted in the sidebar. Let me know what you think.

Information Services

Earlier this year, you were asked to complete a survey evaluating the services and processes provided by the Information Services Department. This department is responsible for hardware, software, networks, programming, and related services. Your input has been very helpful in evaluating how we can improve on services and processes provided by this department. I wanted to share with you some of their recent activities, some of which are direct improvements based on the feedback you provided.

• 300 new computers installed around campus, mainly in faculty and staff offices. This is the single largest roll-out of new computers ever at York Tech. These systems will support newer Microsoft applications such as Office 2007.
• Internet connection capacity was recently increased from 10MB/sec to 20MB/sec; this has made Internet access much faster and will make Internet applications more efficient. This new connection to the Internet, supplied by Comporium Communications, is also less expensive than the circuit it replaced.
• A new high-speed (10MB/sec) circuit dedicated to interactive video classes was recently installed, which will further enhance the capabilities of the Distance Learning department.
• In cooperation with Comporium, we are completing the transition to a Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol (VOIP) telephone system. This system provides every telephone with voicemail, caller id, and a host of other new features and functions. Thus far, over 350 new phones have been installed.
• Training sessions held on how to use Campus Cruiser to register students during open registration periods. This new method for registration should alleviate the Datatel performance issues we have experienced in the past.
• The Administrative Systems Council will replace the Datatel Core Team, which was responsible for implementing the Datatel Software. The Administrative Systems Council will be responsible for oversight of the administrative data systems which includes how students and staff interact with the systems, how data are defined for use, and how administrative and academic components interact, and how data is collected and reported. Members include Dr. Mark Ulseth (chair), Jack Bagwell, Susan Brackett, Alan Broyles, Dennis Gribenas, Mary Beth Schwartz, and Jim Werner. This group differs from the Information Technology Council which is primarily responsible for the review and evaluation of hardware requests.

Your feedback has also helped with improvements in the Human Resources Department. I hope to share those activities with you next week. Food Services will be surveyed next and will be completed by faculty, staff, and students. An ongoing rotation of feedback will help us improve services that ultimately help support student success. Thanks to Information Services for making these improvements.

Regional Education Center

As part of the Education and Economic Development (EEDA) Act, Regional Education Centers have been designated throughout the 12 Local Workforce Investment Areas in South Carolina. The purpose of the Regional Education Centers (REC) is to “…coordinate and facilitate the delivery of information, resources, and services to students, educators, employers, and the community.” Regional Education Centers will consist of a network of service providers that will collaborate to help connect the local education and business communities. Additional information about the Regional Education Centers can be accessed through http://www.scpathways.org/rec.html.

York Technical College has been appointed as the administrative partner and fiscal agent for the Catawba Regional Education Center (REC). Lisa Robbins will serve as the Coordinator for the local REC and will report to the Catawba Regional Education Center Advisory Board. The position of president of York Technical College is a permanent Board member. Lisa's office is located in the Administration Building in AD9, email address is lrobbins@yorktech.com, and phone number is 981-7702. Please welcome her to the York Technical College campus.

Sherry Glenn continues to administer our local EEDA grant that assists in implementing this legislation and in growing our dual enrollment opportunities with our area high schools. Sherry’s office is located in the Administration Building in AD 29, email address is sglenn@yorktech.com, and phone number is 325-2865.

Budget

Last month, the General Assembly passed the fiscal year 2008-2009 General Appropriations Bill which reduces the amount of funding available to the state’s technical colleges by 3 percent. This equals about $258,000 for York Technical College. Our enrollment increased 13 percent for 07/08 which means the need for more instructors, classes, and support services. To meet this demand, the College Commission met on June 10 and approved a 4 percent increase in tuition. The Schedule of Student Fees outlines the new tuition charges for 2008-2009.

The highest priorities for the SC Technical College System were the Allied Healthcare Initiative and Lottery Tuition Assistance. Allied health programs are very expensive to operate and there is major demand both in terms of students and employers. As a system, we received a special allocation the last two years. The funding was non-recurring, which means it must be secured anew each year. This year, due to budget constraints it has been difficult to secure funding for a third time. The goal was $15 million. We received $4 million from unclaimed lottery prize money. This is not guaranteed but based on past experience it should be available. In addition, there is another funding possibility that was established for next year. This source is potential surplus in a Health and Human Services recoupment fund. At the end of the fiscal year, our system would receive the first $10 million in excess of $50 million. The end result is that we believe we can continue to operate healthcare programs at the current expanded level but next year we could have less or more funding depending on those funding sources.

The goal for Lottery Tuition Assistance was $58 million which based on estimates would provide close to a $1,000 maximum award. We received 47 million. The lottery tuition rates will be announced later this summer.