President Schilling’s Board Report for August 23, 2022
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 August 23, 2022
On August 19, the college celebrated our first in-person Opening Day in over 900 days! We welcomed over 300 staff and faculty for the fall semester kick-off and enjoyed a morning breakfast, all-campus luncheon, campus updates, and raffled off Dodger tickets. The extra bonus was a student performance of The Age of Aquarius from the musical Hair; a performance and poem from classified members Steve Auger and Meg Alton, respectively; hearing student testimonials about how Cypress has helped them reach their goals; and demonstrations in our new Immersive Digital Classroom (IDC) in the new SEM building. Also on August 19, we welcomed over 1,000 new students to our Welcome Night featuring carnival games, program booths, music, and great food from 4-7 p.m. Welcome to the fall semester, Cypress College!
The college is actively reaching out to students through a variety of marketing and outreach strategies. Below are some of the ways you may hear about Cypress College on radio, TV, or social media. In addition to the many welcome events on campus, direct call campaign to all students who have either stopped out, have applied but not enrolled, or missed their registration appointment, we are also offering the following:
Radio and TV Ads and Promos
- KIIS-FM
- Spectrum
- Spotify
Social Media Ads and Videos
- TikTok
- YouTube
Direct Mailer – over 100,000-plus homes in surrounding service areas
- Brochure highlighting students, graduates, and college accomplishments
Website Digital Display
- Short promotional video ads in support of fall enrollment
Cypress College will be participating in the Great American Shakeout on October 20, and our Director of Campus Safety, Craig Lee, has been working with our managers to update all our evacuation routes, as well as identify new building and floor marshals. The executive team, deans, and campus safety officers will be participating in an emergency training on September 19 and we will be conducting trainings for our building marshals in late September.
Faculty member Carolee Freer proudly announced that the Los Angeles County Court Reporter’s Association (CCRA) is sponsoring three of our students to attend the Annual California Court Reporter’s Association Convention held in September at the Westin Hotel in South Coast Plaza. Valerie Lobato, Ryan Frailich, and Ashley McCay will receive scholarships to attend. We appreciate the support of CCRA who are continually working to advocate for the advancement and protection of all court reporting stenographers.
We congratulate Cypress College deans Kellori Dower and Troy Davis, along with Director of Equity and Student Success, Gisela Verduzco, for being accepted into the new year-long ALIVE program, which stands for Institute for Advancing Leadership for Instructional VPs in Equitable Education. Twenty-eight candidates were accepted from across the state, so we will be well represented from Cypress. Congratulations to our outstanding managers!
Orange County Department of Education/OC Pathways was awarded $18,130,00 as part of the Regional K-16 Education Collaboratives Grant Program. We are pleased that Cypress College will be one of the lead colleges for developing and expanding career education opportunities. This project brings together partners from the Orange County Department of Education, all our community college districts in Orange County, CSU Fullerton, UC Irvine, and Chapman University to implement high-quality programs in education, health care, business management, and engineering/computing. We will update you as the projects take shape.
On August 10, our Puente Program welcomed a new cohort of 30 students for an orientation in their new center! Thank you to Puente coordinators Dr. Therese Mosqueda-Ponce and Alejandro Omidsalar, and our entire Puente Program planning team on a successful orientation for our 27th cohort of Puentistas. Si se puede!
Legacy, AMEND, LIFE, our Associated Students, and the Black Student Union held their 1st Annual Welcome Back to School informational event on August 11. Over 90 students attended this event for our African American students with a BBQ lunch, informational and club sessions, and welcomes from faculty and staff. Thank you to all our organizers for making our students feel valued and welcome!
The college will be hosting a vaccination and booster clinic on September 5 for all students and employees still in need of their vaccination. In addition, on August 19 and again on August 25, we are hosting a Verify Your Vax event to assist already vaccinated students upload their vaccination records or request an exemption. Every student will receive a $10 gift certificate from our bookstore for successfully uploading.
On Tuesday, August 30, Cypress College will be sending five individuals to Driving Out Darkness: Orange County Summit on Antisemitism and Hate, held at University of California, Irvine. This will be an immersive learning experience for leaders across all sectors of our Orange County community, including civic, government, non-profit, faith-based, education, media, and law enforcement. The summit will cover topics such as the history of antisemitism, explore ways to support our communities combat all forms of hate, and provide resources to create collaborations across our institutions.
Save the Date! Don’t miss Cypress College night at Dodger Stadium on September 24. The Dodgers play the St. Louis Cardinals and 75 attendees will be selected for a photo on the field. Tickets are $50 and went on sale August 22 through our Foundation webpage. We hope you will be able to join us!
Cypress had a fantastic NASA on Campus event the week of August 1-4; 32 STEM(2) Scholars received certificates of completion – a 46% increase from last year! – and four lucky winners were awarded real NASA patches that had been in orbit. Thank you to professors Aaron Schwartz and Layal Lebdeh for serving as instructors for the 5-week course, and all the SEM faculty who attended the events, served as judges and coaches, and who were there to cheer on our students. They are: Brinda Subramaniam, Anthony Hall, Christina Platt, Phyllis Mays, Scott Hugenbberger, Amy Ward, and Eric Armstrong. Thank you, Yanet Padilla, Ron Armale, and our entire STEM(2) team for continuing to support our students.
Buen Cypress! We Take This Journey Together!