Weekly Update, May 9

Congratulations to Suzanne Gaulocher and Dale Stowell, named LBCC’s Distinguished Alumni at the annual Alumni Reception May 7. Suzanne, of Menlo Park, Calif., is the director of Community Engaged Learning at Stanford University. She was nominated by LBCC counselor Mark Weiss. From Arizona, Suzanne attended LBCC from 1992-1994, then transferred to OSU where she earned a bachelor’s degree in cultural anthropology. She earned a master’s in public health and interdisciplinary studies, and a doctorate in environment and resources from the University of Wisconsin. Dale is the executive director of LBCC Institutional Advancement and Foundation, hired for the position in 2012. His nomination originated from the LBCC Foundation board. From Philomath and residing in Albany, he attended LBCC from 1977-79, studying journalism, then transferred to Portland State University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in English. Dale came to LBCC after a 17-year stint in the Washington State community college system.  

The Destination Graduation team is currently beta-testing software changes that will help make it a mandatory class. When students register, the system will first check to see if they have the DG attribute (which all new students under 24 credits should have). If they have the attribute, but haven't picked a DG section, the system won't let them register but instead will give them a popup telling them to select a DG section. If students drop DG after registering, another popup will tell them they have 24-hours to re-add a section or they will be dropped from all their classes. Staring this fall, visiting their advisor and completing an education plan will be mandatory for students to pass DG. All DG sections are moving to ten weeks (one hour per week), and an online option is in development, but won't be ready for fall term.

Dave Henderson was hired May 1 as the new vice president of Finance and Operations, replacing outgoing VP Jim Huckestein. Dave has served as interim vice president for the past two months. He will be responsible for the college finance and budget, information technology, institutional research, facilities management, public safety and risk management, food services, bookstore and printing operations. He comes to the position with 13 years of experience working on major programs with the state legislature, and four years with Marion County working on capital and IT projects. His past experience includes directing all operations of three Oregon offices of U.S. Representative Greg Walden, directing the business services department of Marion County, and serving as the administrator for the Oregon State capitol, leading its five support units. He has extensive leadership in facilities management, facility services, financial services, human resources and risk management. Dave has a bachelor’s degree from OSU, a certificate in public management from the Atkinson Graduate School of Management at Willamette University, and a certificate in management and supervision from Portland Community College.

Carol Raymundo has accepted the position of coordinator for Disability Services and Student Assessment, a promotion from her current position as instructional support for disability services. Carol has a master's degree in Instructional Design and Technology, a bachelor's degree in Business and Organizational Leadership, and is working on her reverse LBCC associate degree. Carol has experience with the laws related to equity for our broad range of learners and disability access, knowledge of our student assessment programs, and the ability to strategize about teaching and learning design.

Weekly Wrap-Up

Starting fall term, students who successfully pass Destination Graduation will qualify for priority registration for their second term, which will help students plan their schedules by removing a major obstacle, where first-term students are in the back of the line for their next set of classes and those classes often filling up before the students can register. In addition, Richard Gibbs will serve as faculty lead for DG for 2013-2014, and is working with faculty this summer to develop an online model. The Curriculum Committee also is reviewing the DG "textbook" to streamline, make suggested changes, and improve course materials, and to examine options on physical textbooks versus online Moodle material. The Steering Committee is planning to pilot an eight-week DG option for winter term 2014, alongside the five-week class, and will assess which model works best for students and the DG Advising and Achieving the Dream initiative. The committees welcome your input and constructive feedback.

The LBCC Board of Education met last week and among action taken, the board:

• Approved the college’s 2013-14 budget. The general fund budget, which is the primary operating budget for the college, was 3.8 percent less than the current year’s budget (2013-14 budget year begins July 1).
• Approved the contract with English Language and Cultural Institute to teach English Speakers of Other Languages Classes. The board sought and received assurances from college staff that quality and progression standards would be monitored. ELCI has developed plans to maintain – and hopefully expand – access to the class in Linn and Benton Counties.
• Approved awarding a $1.5 million bid for the construction phase of the Advanced Transportation Technology Center, which is projected to open by the end of the year. The Automotive Technology Program will move to the new facility in Lebanon upon completion of the first construction phase.
• Said goodbye to board members Dan Bedore and Penny York, who did not run for re-election in May. Jim Merryman and Lyn Riverstone will join the board in July.

The 2013-2014 college catalog is out and includes a new arrangement of program information. Rather than the traditional alphabetical listing, programs are grouped by degree type: Associate of Science, Associate of Applied Science Degrees and Certificates, and Associate of Arts Oregon Transfer Degrees. The appendices have been removed, with the general requirements for each degree type included at the beginning of each section. Printed copies are available in Admissions, with online PDF and "flip-book" versions available at www.linnbenton.edu/catalog.

This week on the president’s blog, Notes From the Edge, read about why Greg feels the book “Leadership in the Crucible of Work” is so distinctively different from other leadership books: http://linnbentonpresidentsblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-heart-of-matter.html

Destination Graduation Update

By Susan McNaught

The first round of the new Destination Graduation, a one-credit mandatory class, got off to a great start this fall. We had 73 sections and about 1,220 students!

For most sections, the first day of class was on Welcome Day, planned that way to give students a chance to get acquainted and feel more confident maneuvering the system and the campus. Winter term, all classes will start the first week of regular class—nobody really wants to come back during Christmas Break!

The class met two hours a week for five weeks—the idea was to provide some transition and support early in the term so that students got off to a solid start. This structure will continue.  A few sections met for an hour a week for eight weeks because their program had some other scheduling. 

Students were provided course-books at no cost. While the class was only one credit hour, we packed as much as we could into the curriculum. The focus was on helping students get familiar with available resources on campus, establishing a relationship with an advisor, and developing an educational plan—a guide for the time students are here at LBCC, not just a schedule for next term. The idea is that long-term planning will help students be more successful - which is what DG is all about.

Faculty who taught DG in the fall will have the chance to come together to talk about what worked, what did not, and what changes they would like to see for next time. We will revise accordingly.

Most of the plans went well. There were some bumps. A major component of DG is the advising piece. All students were supposed to be assigned to an advisor and the original intent was that each DG instructor would have only his or her advisees in his or her class. That did not work; too many students needed different times because of work or class schedule conflicts. So DG sections turned out to be more diverse that we had expected.

The college purchased AdvisorTrac to help with assigning advisors, scheduling, & tracking visits to advisors. AdvisorTrac took more time to get set up than we had anticipated. Between these two bumps, advising did not go as smoothly as we had hoped. Next term will be better. AdvisorTrac will be in place, we have figured out how to make sure all students have advisors assigned, and we know now that students will not automatically have their advisor as their DG instructor. This may turn out for the better—they will have both their advisor and DG instructor going to bat for them!

All in all, this was a good start. The faculty members who taught DG this term deserve a special thanks for being willing to invest their time and effort into our first venture. They are the ones who made it fly.

For more information on Destination Graduation: www.linnbenton.edu/admissions/destination-graduation

(Susan McNaught is the associate dean of Academic Development, Communication Arts and Mathematics, and lead team member of Destination Graduation.)