President Schilling’s Board Report for November 8, 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 November 8, 2022

On October 27, Cypress College was honored to host Governor Gavin Newsom at our Veterans Resource Center. The Governor was here for the ceremonial signing of AB-1595, which makes it possible to create a new veterans cemetery in Orange County, a project long-championed by Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva. In attendance were Drs. Breland and Schilling, veterans’ coordinators Dr. Juan Garcia and Nick Gutierrez, Student Trustee Kisha Mehta in her role as an intern in the Governor’s office, as well as State Senators Newman, Umberg, and Archuleta, Assemblymembers Quirk-Silva, Petrie-Norris, and Daly, and Supervisors Chaffee, Wagner, and Foley. Special thanks to Marc Posner for coordinating the visit with the Governor’s office, to Craig Lee for working with the Governor’s security team, the CHP and Cypress PD in providing parking for our dignitaries and security for the visit, and to our M&O team for always making us look good!

On November 1, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Cypress College welcomed over 1,200 incoming high school seniors and current students to our annual Connect2Cypress & Majors2Careers event. Connect2Cypress is organized to introduce prospective students with all Cypress College programs through a Guided Pathways lens. Each program invited representatives to share their respective meta majors with interested students. Majors2Careers also helped connect current and new students with their career interests. Students started the morning with a welcome rally, visited program booths, were treated to Habit Burger food trucks, and explored the campus by major interest. This was a great opportunity to showcase our college to prospective students, create community, and highlight the amazing things going on at our college. Thank you to Paul de Dios, Gisela Verduzco, Angela Sardan, our deans, counselors, faculty, and countless others who made this an impactful day for our high school seniors and prospective students to Connect2Cypress!

Also, the week of October 31-November 4, our Transfer Center sponsored Transfer Awareness with a jam-packed lineup of transfer-related workshops, webinars, and advising appointments leading up to Cypress’ 6th annual Transfer & Pre-Graduation Fair, which will be held on Thursday, November 3 from 10 a.m.–1 p.m.

On Thursday, November 10, we will get a head start on holiday shopping with our annual Cup and Bowl Sale, sponsored by the Cypress College Art Department. Our ceramic students and faculty members, Molly Schulps and Mary Beirle, will be sharing their work for your holiday gift-giving. Please join us between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. in front of the Art Gallery in Gateway Plaza.

The Cypress College community had an inspiring all-campus retreat at the UCLA Conference Center in Lake Arrowhead October 27-28. The focus of this retreat was Reimagining Our Future: Flexible Work and Learning. Over 100 employees and students came together to have important discussions and student basic needs, the classroom, facilities, and campus climate needed in the future, and the opportunity to reconnect, reimagine, and create the innovative college we want to sustain at Cypress College. Thank you to the Associated Students who joined us and made it possible to center every discussion with their input; to our employees who engaged throughout the two days; to Regina Stanback-Stroud who facilitated, inspired, and led the focused discussions; and to Dr. Breland who took time out of his very busy schedule to join us on Thursday.

As previously announced, Cypress College was recognized by Campaign for College Opportunity as a 2022 Equity Champion of Higher Education for our exemplary work in implementing the Associate Degree for Transfer for Latinx students. Cypress College was honored at the 2022 Champions of Higher Education Celebration on Tuesday, November 1, 2022, from 10–11:30 a.m. via Zoom. In the past four years, Latinx students have earned 45% of all degrees and certificates awarded, have increased the numbers of degrees achieved by 53.7%, and have increased the number of Latinx students taking math and English in the first year from 11.2% in 2017 to 42.6% in 2021. Congratulations to our campus community for their intentional work to ensure our Latinx students succeed and thrive. Listen to the remarks provided by Dr. Schilling.

On November 4, the fall 2022 Leadership Team met to focus our campus Guided Pathways work. Department coordinators, managers, and faculty leaders came together to discuss the latest progress and iteration of Guided Pathways 3.0, led by new faculty GP co-chair Liana Koeppel, Dean of Student Services Lisa Gaetje, and new Title V Program Manager Brady Miller-Wakeham.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the Pathways of Hope (PoH) fundraiser, Look Who’s Dancing, on October 22. Team JoAnna and Team Marwin competed along with Team Nick and Team Lisa in support of our community partner PoH to end hunger and homelessness in Orange County. Collectively we raised over 100K to support this great organization – an all-time record! Marwin took home the top dancing prize (and perhaps bragging rights!) and Dr. Schilling won the Money Ball along with Nick Preston for raising over $32K each, also historic highs for individual competitors. We are grateful for the support from campaign managers, Marc Posner and Jodi Balma, as well as the District, our individual donors, and our Board.

In celebration of Veterans Day Week, our VRC has a great week of events to celebrate our veterans and military-affiliated students. First, we started our celebration by taking on our Fullerton veterans at our 3rd Annual CC VRC vs FC VRC softball game. The game was hosted at Fullerton College on Friday, November 4 at 10 a.m. Next, our VRC staff and students facilitated the Green Zone Project on Monday, November 7. The Green Zone Project is a professional development training to bridge the knowledge of the transition of student veterans for staff, faculty, and administrators.

The Cypress College Foundation Golf Classic occurred on October 20 and raised a record high in funds for scholarships: over $123,000. This year’s Golf Classic was held at the Black and Gold Golf course in Yorba Linda and revenues exceeded our goals. There has been a 300% increase in revenues for this event since 2017. Kudos to Executive Director Howard Kummerman and his team for a successful event. Thank you to all our donors and corporate sponsors who supported this event.

On Tuesday, November 8, a resource fair will be held to provide our military-affiliated students with off-campus resources. And, for the first time, we will celebrate our women veterans in the VRC on Wednesday, November 9. To close out the veterans week celebration, VRC staff will be hosting a BBQ on Thursday, November 10, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. for students and supporters. And please don’t forget to honor all our veterans for their service, commitment, and sacrifice on Veterans Day, November 11. 

Buen Cypress! We Take This Journey Together!

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