President Schilling’s Board Report for June 3, 2020
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 June 3, 2020
The last two weeks have been challenging, as our campus and communities have been rocked by the turmoil in our nation. We took swift action to respond to our students and employees that Cypress College is a place where racial equity is celebrated and supported. As this report is being prepared, the campus leaders are preparing to have a Student Town Hall and an Employee Town Hall, to allow all our constituents a safe place to have difficult, but important conversations. Our hearts are broken for our African American brothers and sisters and we must, and will, do better.
Summer enrollment demand continues to be strong. As we approach the beginning of our first session on June 8, we are up 2% in enrollment, up by almost 8% in our fill rate and up 2% in FTES. We are offering 20 fewer sections this summer due to the challenges with our lab sections, and although there is additional demand for classes, we have decided to add sections this fall when we are certain that these sections will serve more of our Cypress students, rather than add courses to our summer term.
Capt. Ed Valdez, Cypress College’s aviation instructor, participated in a well-publicized Memorial Day tribute, and one you all may have seen. He was among the aviators aboard the “Flabob Express,” a World War II-era DC-3 that flew in the lead group. In all, about 14 vintage aircraft flew as the “D-Day Express” across Southern California on Monday, May 25, crossing landmarks in San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange, and Los Angeles counties. Captain Valdez flew a Douglas DC-3 aircraft.
Cypress College in the News: National Public Radio (KPCC), and journalist Adolfo Lopez-Guzman, featured student, Kylie Christensen in his LA Diary project. Kylie, our Presidential Scholar of Distinction for the Fine Arts Academic Pathway, spoke about her pride in receiving this recognition, of her feelings about participating in our virtual commencement, her love of dance, and her vivid tale of overcoming adversity in her life. Hear more, and read the article. We are #CYProud of Kylie.
Classified Appreciation Day: The campus held our Classified Zoom Appreciation Celebration on Wednesday, June 4. We had a great time together and shared some fun, provided raffles, and provided all our classified employees with a GrubHub e-certificate in place of the luncheon we normally serve. Thank you to our Professional Development Team, led by Michael Brydges and Ruth Gutierrez , to Christina Mix and Marc Posner for the Zoom content, and special thanks to Classified President, Dawnmarie Neate for her inspiring words of encouragement.
Now that the semester has ended, we are finishing up our degree and certificate evaluation and we are happy to report that with 600 transcripts still being evaluated, the college continues to exceed last year’s award total. Here is a quick overview of our progress:
- We are awarding more degrees and certificates than any previous year (with currently over 4,100 awards to date, compared to 3,600 last year)
- Every demographic group was awarded more degrees and certificates than any previous year
- The largest increase in awards was observed among Asian students, with Hispanic students a close second
We will be providing a full tally to the Board in July when we have our final numbers.
Our Media Arts and Design Program students featured their annual film festival virtually this year. Fifty films from a variety of genres, including live-action narrative, stop-motion animation, and motion graphic title sequence are screening now on YouTube. Get out your popcorn, relax at home and enjoy these short films. Kudos to faculty members Kati Angelov and Ian Holmes for their leadership.
It is our pleasure to announce the newly appointed Peer and Data Coaches for the college’s Title V Grant. Led by project manager Deidre Porter, and partnering with our Guided Pathways Steering Committee, led by co-chairs Lisa Gaetje and Ruth Gutierrez, each of these outstanding individuals will serve on one of the Completion Teams created for each academic pathway. Peer coaches will lead the completion teams and create strategies for helping guide students on their path. Data coaches are responsible for pulling the data needed in each pathway to help drive strategies for student success. BUSINESS & CIS Completion Team: Peer Coach – Ali Moady; Data Coach – Peter Molnar. CAREER TECHNICAL EDUCATION Completion Team: Peer Coach – Lisa Clark; Data Coach – Stephanie Rosati. FINE ARTS Completion Team: Peer Coach – Janet Owen Driggs; Data Coach – Michael Brydges. HEALTH SCIENCE Completion Team: Peer Coach – Thu Pham; Data Coach – Jolena Grande. KINESIOLOGY/ATHLETICS Completion Team: Peer Coach – Anthony Hutting; Data Coach – Sergio Cutrona. LANGUAGE ARTS Completion Team: Peer Coach – Stephanie Tran; Data Coach – Kathy Wada. SCIENCE, ENGINEERING, & MATHEMATICS Completion Team: Peer Coach – Sarah Jones; Data Coach – David Nusbaum. SOCIAL SCIENCES Completion Team: Peer Coach (Lead) – Steven Estrada; Data Coach – Angela deDios.
On the following page is a sample of some of the amazing work from our Theatre Arts Prosthetic Makeup Class. You may be looking at the work of some future academy award winners. Kudos to instructor Paul Hadobas and his students!
Buen Cypress! We Take This Journey Together!