President Schilling’s Board Report for January 22, 2019
The following is a report to members of the North Orange County Community College District Board of Trustees.
Presented by Cypress College President JoAnna Schilling, Ph.D.
on January 22, 2019
Campus News
Enrollment Trending Up! As of this week, the college has enrolled 14,000 students and our headcount is up 2.1% compared to last spring. Our deans and faculty chairs have worked diligently to reduce the number of sections, while increasing the fill rates and addressing demand. A great example of meeting student needs is that last week we added 4 additional Biology and Chemistry sections meeting on Friday and Saturdays, and they immediately filled, adding an additional 146 students needing to take these critical classes. Our Communication department has been sending nudge messages letting students on wait lists know of new and open classes, as well as reminding students of their enrollment period. We are using email, our app, social media, and our website to communicate with students to ensure our numbers stay positive. We have also asked students about any barriers they face and have been working to assist these students. These are all great examples of the Guided Pathways interventions we want to make standard at Cypress.
Opening and FLEX Day Events: We are fast approaching the beginning of the spring 2019 semester. This year all breakout sessions and activities are focused on looking at our work thorough an equity-minded lens. Our FLEX Day will be held on January 24 and we kick off with keynote speaker Ken Nwadike, a filmmaker and peace activist. His speech will be from 9 to 11 a.m. in the campus Theatre if you are able to join us. On January 25, our Opening Day convocation will include the Presidents Message on why Guided Pathways though an equity lens is so important at Cypress, followed by keynote speaker Heather Hackman, on “Developing and Utilizing an Equity Lens in Our Teaching”. Ms. Hackman is a nationally recognized speaker and we are fortunate to have her share her expertise at Cypress College.
Food Insecurity — Also on Opening Day we will launch a new phase in our efforts to reduce food insecurity among our students. All employees will receive a re-usable grocery bag with messaging on the topic. We will ask our faculty, staff, and administrators to use these bags while shopping and to remember to purchase “grab-and-go” items to share with students in need. Additional bags will be used to support donations to our food pantry. You will each receive your own Buen Cypress food bag at the board meeting. We Take This Journey Together!
Save the Dates: We are happy to announce that the groundbreaking ceremony for our new SEM Building will be held on Friday, February 8 from 10 – 11:15. You will be receiving an invitation very soon to this important event so please mark your calendar for this kickoff to Measure J. In addition, our second building project, the VRC, will hold its groundbreaking on March 15. The program will be held from 9:30-10:30 a.m. and then our annual Veterans 5K run will begin at 11 a.m. Please join us for all or part of the day!
Kudos to our Library staff! The Cypress College library is one of 11 colleges that will be leading the Statewide LSP (Library Services Platform) Project through the state Chancellor’s office. This encompassing project will lead to a remodel of the library catalog, while linking all database resources within one system. The training and certification for our staff is now complete. Under the leadership of Dean Treisa Cassens, faculty member, Monica Doman, and Classified coordinator, James Carrocino, will now transition to training the rest of the 111 California Community College library staff and faculty this semester (spring 2019) and summer (2019).
Take Flight! Cypress College President JoAnna Schilling and Aviation & Travel Careers Department Coordinator Ed Valdez test-flew our new 737 Flight Simulator on January 10, 2019. This state-of-the-art simulator was made possible through a donation to the college, and it will serve advanced aviation students seeking careers as commercial pilots. No other community college in the state has a piece of equipment this advanced. Come by the college for a demo- you will be amazed!
Personnel Changes: The President’s Office welcomes interim Executive Assistant III, Karen Joy, to our team. Ms. Joy has served in multiple capacities at the college, most recently as the Administrative Assistant to Dean Rick Rams and Student Support Services; she is lending her expertise to the Presidents staff and we are grateful for her wonderful support.
Finally, our most recent Guided Pathways blog is posted on our website and can be found here under the Presidents Blog site.
Community Events
Cypress Chamber State of the City Luncheon: The District has purchased a table of eight in support of our Cypress City Council. This event will be held on January 23 at the Cypress Community Center from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Cypress will also be participating
Save the Date: Join us for a Ribbon Cutting on February 1, 2019 at 10 a.m., announcing that Cypress College, NOCE, and the Boys and Girls Club of Cypress will be launching a collaboration to support short term babysitting services for NOCE and Cypress students with children. We are starting a pilot on February 11-May 24 allowing students to drop off children over 5 years old on Tuesdays and Wednesday between 2 pm to 6 pm, with the hopes of expanding these services next fall. BGCC will supply qualified and certified staff, NOCE is providing the room and art supplies, and Cypress will be funding the personnel. All children will participate in literacy, art, and educational activities, as well as be able to access services at the Cypress and Anaheim Boys and Girls Clubs. We are excited to see this collaboration take shape.
Hunger Task Force Legislative Briefing: The Taskforce on Affordability, Hunger and Housing Access will be briefing the legislators on the needs of our students at the upcoming Capitol Briefing on January 28 at 4 pm in Capitol Room 444. If you are attending the CCLC Legislative Conference that weekend, and are in town, we encourage you to join us and show your support.
Pathways of Hope: In another great community collaboration, Drs. Schultz, Schilling, and Provost Purtell met with David Gillanders of Pathways of Hope to discuss providing staff for our respective food pantries. The current proposal is to have expert staffing provided by Pathways of Hope who can not only provide much needed resources on food insecurity, but also help provide on the spot counseling for housing resources. We are working out the details but are hopeful this will produce positive results for our neediest students.
That’s the Board Report from Cypress College. Buen Cypress and Happy New Year!