President Schilling’s Board Report for February 12, 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 February 12, 2019
Campus News
The spring semester is off to a brisk start. Enrollment is keeping pace with last spring, and we are seeing that our retention is stronger than in previous semesters. In academic news, faculty are busy holding auditions for the performing arts, meeting with students, welcoming students back in the Pledge programs, dual enrollment, Puente, Legacy, FITE Club, EOPS, and, in general helping students integrate back into campus life. We are off to a positive start.
Showtime! Our Mortuary Science Program was featured on A&E’s “Storage Wars,” airing on January 30. Retired Professor Dave McCament appeared in an episode titled “Nowhere to Formaldehyde.” The episode debuted at 10 p.m. on Wednesday, January 30, and was filmed on campus last summer. The episode was shot primarily in the Mortuary Science Department’s embalming room — a source of discomfort for one of the buyers — and includes other visual elements of the campus. Stay tuned for reruns of this episode.
Black History Month: February is Black History Month and our theme this year will be “A Celebration of Collective Community Through Education, Faith, Politics, Culture, and Race Relations”. Our celebration begins with an Opening Day Ceremony on Thursday, February 7 from 12- 2 p.m. in front of the LRC. On February 13 Erin Gruwell, author of The Freedom Writers Diary will be sharing the stories of the Freedom Writers from 3-6 p.m. in HUM-131. There will also be a movie and panel discussion of I Am Not Your Negro, an Oscar nominated documentary about James Baldwin on February 21, from 6-9 p.m. also in HUM-131. We hope you will join us for some or all of the events throughout February.
Food and Housing Insecurity – Our food pantry has launched a free breakfast and lunch station in the Student Union, and students who qualify may access a cereal and sandwich bar each day. Dr. Schilling also participated in a legislative session in Sacramento on Monday, January 28 – presenting the recommendations of the Affordability, Hunger and Housing Access taskforce. Cypress student, Kenyun Rone shared his powerful story of the challenges that faced him as a foster youth and then finding his way to, and succeeding in, college without stable housing.
Groundbreaking Ceremonies: The groundbreaking ceremony for our new SEM Building was held on Friday, February 8 from 10 – 11:15. We thank our board members who attended this important kick off to our District Measure J project. 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!
Sunburst Youth Academy: Cypress College is collaborating with the Sunburst Youth Academy and the CA Jobs Challenge to provide 75 students with training in Cybersecurity and Automotive Technology beginning this summer. Each student will be enrolled in a 22-week intensive training program held at Cypress College. The students will live at the Los Alamitos Army Base and come to Cypress each day for their classes. At the end of the training, they will receive their certificates in either Cybersecurity or Auto Technology. Dean Henry Hua and Special Project Manager, Stephanie Teer, led this collaboration as part of our Dual Enrollment program and we had a program kickoff this past Tuesday to provide a tour of the campus and meet the coordinators of this program.
The Cypress College Art Gallery opened the student-curated and faculty show, Trajectories, on January 25. This photographic exhibition focuses on the exploration and inquiry of the multiple diverse and curving lines of a celestial body, such as a planet, in space. Cypress College photography student Patience Joy Flaro has curated the exhibition featuring the work of Photography Department faculty members. Trajectories runs through February 21 with an opening reception on Thursday, February 7, from 6-8 p.m.
Also in the Art Department, tickets are on sale for the musical Legally Blonde which runs from Friday, March 8 to Sunday, March 17. Please join us for this fabulous show.
Please take a moment to enjoy the wonderful video, Cypress 2018 Rewind, which our Communications team put together commemorating the past year of Cypress College student, staff, and faculty accomplishments We are #CY Proud!
#CY Professional: We are proud to focus on our faculty profile this month. Juan Garcia, our Veterans Center Counselor, is featured on the website as our #CY Professional for February. Please read more about Juan’s story and his passion for serving the veterans at Cypress College. We are truly fortunate to have Juan as part of our team.
Finally, our most recent Guided Pathways blog is posted on our website and can be found under the Presidents Blog site. This installment updates the campus community on our progress towards becoming a Guided Pathways College.
Community Events
Garden Grove and Buena Park State of the City Luncheons: Dr. Schilling and Foundation Executive Director, Howard Kummerman, Dr. Paul de Dios, and Dr. Rick Rams attended the Garden Grove State of the City Luncheon on January 30, and the Buena Park State of the City Luncheon on February 6. Both events were excellent updates on the great things happening in our neighboring communities, and emphasized the importance of partnering with our communities.
The Cypress College, NOCE, and the Boys and Girls Club of Cypress short term babysitting services will be starting 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.
Dr. Schilling and Marc Posner participated in an interview on housing and food insecurity with LA Times Reporter, Carla Hall. Ms. Hall will be writing an op-ed for the LA Times regarding the challenges students in higher education are facing with these serious issues. We hope Cypress College will be positively represented in the opinion piece.
That’s the Board Report from Cypress College. Buen Cypress!