February 10, 2006

Financial Aid and Scholarship Season: The Financial Aid staff is doing a great job to get the word out to students that there are resources available to help them with their education. You recently received a packet from them in your mailbox. There are a couple of key messages in the materials they sent to all of us:

Thanks to Karen Chadwick for her leadership and to the rest of the Financial Aid staff for their work on this critical task: Sherri Hancock, Maria Escobar, Regina Morrison, Randy Claros, Juanita Quintero and the Financial Aid Office student assistants. The same people were responsible for our annual Cash for College Day last weekend. The turnout was double that of the prior year. Participants learned about the different sources for financial aid, along with a detailed overview of how to complete the application forms.

Skyline faculty member wins Soroptimist award: Please join me in congratulating Marijane Datson, member of our English faculty, who has won the Soroptimist "Making a Difference for Women" Award from the North San Mateo County chapter. The award honors women who, through their professional or personal efforts, are making extraordinary differences in the lives of women or girls. In addition to her teaching in the Women in Transition program, Marijane has made a significant contribution to the reputation of Skyline College as a center for the intellectual nurturance of women of all ages through the creation of the annual WOW! Women on Writing Conference. Marijane will receive $1,000 which will be awarded to the charity of her choice, which is Skyline College’s WOW! Conference. Marijane also advances as a nominee to the regional Soroptimist award.

Student leadership–we need your help: A robust and diverse student leadership is critical to our shared governance process as well as being a valuable educational opportunity for students. Student leadership opportunities abound at Skyline College, through the Associated Students of Skyline College (ASSC), the 15 clubs, the Honors Program, and Phi Theta Kappa. Involvement in student leadership positions at Skyline provides both intrinsic and tangible benefits, including scholarship awards and and conference travel. Please help us identify and recommend student leaders to the many leadership positions that currently exist. Oftentimes, students do not see themselves as leaders or potential leaders and words of encouragement or affirmation from their teachers and mentors make a huge difference in whether or not they pursue leadership opportunities. Encourage your students to visit the Student Activities Office or you may e-mail your recommendations of potential student leaders to Amory Cariadus in the Student Activities Office at cariadusa@smccd.net. For Spring 2006, ASSC has the following available positions by appointment: Commissioner of Activities, Commissioner of Finance, Commissioner of Publicity and 13 Senator positions. Elections will be held in May to fill all ASSC Governing Council positions for the 2006 — 2007 Academic Year. For more information about the ASSC call (650) 738-4327 or stop by the Student Activities Office, room 2350B.

MOT Film Festival: What I love about this film festival is how beautifully it reflects Skyline’s Value related to Campus Climate: We value a campus-wide climate that reflects a ‘students first philosophy’ with mutual respect between all constituencies and appreciation for diversity. This year’s two part series is entitled "Reconcilable Differences," and we enjoyed two films this week–"Tangled Roots" and "Mixed Feelings." We owe thanks to the President’s Council and the President’s Innovation Fund for the funding for the festival. We also owe thanks to a number of Skyline people who have worked consistently to further our college-wide interest in issues of diversity. The Key Skyline people involved in the film festival were these: Barbara Daley and Betty Lindgren-Young, festival coordinators, authors of the Innovation Fund proposal; Donna Elliott and Carla Campillo, who have provided consistent MOT leadership, served as theater managers, and were the developers of the programs and flyers; and Rich Tidd for the theater set-up and media. Many of our colleagues also served as ushers and assistants for the program. Thanks to them all!

Student survey coming up: Skyline College is scheduled for an accreditation site visit in Fall 2007 using the new accreditation standards. These standards focus largely on student learning outcomes and the quality of the learning environment. The purpose of this survey will be to measure students’ attitudes and perceptions toward Skyline College’s programs, services and the learning environment and then use the information to help inform the responses to the accreditation self-study.
When will we survey?
The survey will be distributed, administered and collected during a two week period between February 27-March 10, 2006. The survey will be administered during one class period and takes approximately 30 minutes to complete
Who will we survey?
A stratified random sample will be used to build the sampling framework which will include approximately 80 randomly selected classes from both day and evening sections. A 75% response rate is expected.
Questions
Contact Cathy Hasson, Office of Planning and Research, at hassonc@smccd.net.