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President's Updates
Skyline Shines

May 26, 2006

This will be the last weekly edition of Skyline Shines.  It will continue during the summer, but on a less frequent basis--roughly monthly.  Please let me know if you have items during the summer that should be included.

Classified Service Awards Luncheon:  Last Friday we held this important annual event to recognize classified staff members who have completed key landmarks in terms of years of service.  We also recognized the service of classified staff in general.  I would like to share with the college as a whole some of what I said to the classified staff gathered at this event:
 
What do we know about classified staff at Skyline College?

•      What I see myself on a day to day basis:  full engagement of the classified staff in our college governance and decision making processes:
  • College Council in overseeing all of the policy and process decisions going on at the college
  • Budget Committee in making difficult and important decisions about the college’s budget for next year
  • Planning Committee working hard to improve our thinking and understanding about the college and to plan for its future
  • Accreditation Steering Committee and Standard Writing Teams
  • Facilities Planning—countless great ideas are coming into our planning for remodeling and new construction from the classified staff who know so much about what works here and where the weaknesses are
• What the student survey tells us:  When students were asked about “the caring and helpfulness of staff”, they expressed a high level of satisfaction.  They see what you do, they experience your positive attitude toward them and they value the service you provide to th
• What we see in special events:  EYH, WOW, “Making the Connection—Plug Into College”, “Super Saturday”, Pilipino Cultural Night, the Student Recognition and Awards ceremony—and this is a very summary list of examples of events all of which rely heavily upon the efforts and leadership of classified staff.
• What we see in President’s Innovation Fund proposals:  every year, many of them involve classified participation and classified initiative and leadership.
   
  Those recognized for their years of service were:
• 10 Year Service Awards:  Margie Sato, Theresa Uchytil
• 20 Year Service Award:  Marian Kelly
• 25 Year Service Awards:  Stanlee Garriott, Sylvia Martinez
   
  In addition, we were entertained by a four member group of musicians called “Meet the Foggerz”:  Terry Stats, Cass Christian, Julene Rhoan and Dennis Tordesillas.  Here they are in action!

Thanks to Salah Webb who shared with us a video he made about classified staff at Skyline College. The following people were responsible for the lovely arrangements for the event:  Julene Rhoan, Linda Ghio, Roxanne Brewer, Mary Anne Leary, Facilities for the setup here in the Gallery Theater. 
 
Thank you to all of the classified staff who help make Skyline a place that is welcoming to students.  You make Skyline shine.

"Shaping Our Future":   Early this semester I sent you an open letter with this title, outlining the array of important and demanding projects we were all going to be involved with during the spring. Here is that list again, with a brief progress report:

• Educational Master Plan: This plan is completed and will be on our website soon. In the fall, the Institutional Planning Committee will begin work on the detailed recommendations, including prioritizing and sequencing them. Decisions about possible new programs will then influence the detailed planning for new facilities at the college.
• Facilities Master Plan: This plan is nearing completion, with a college Task Force meeting scheduled for June to discuss Steinberg Architects’ proposed blending of the two approaches they presented to the college. They will then make a presentation to the Board, and the Board will take final action in July.
• 3 Year Work Plan Transition: We revised our annual planning process to better align our budget and planning work, and to build in specific college wide Strategies for each of our college goals.
• Accreditation: The writing teams have completed a first draft of our self-study. This is a noteworthy and valuable achievement which will strengthen the quality of our final report and allow for a productive dialog during the next year. This spring we also completed the Student Campus Climate Survey, including 57 classes and over 1100 students.
• Student Learning Outcomes Assessment Cycle: Under the excellent leadership of Karen Wong, numerous faculty across the college have been learning about SLOs, beginning to write and implement them, and beginning work on assessment of them.
• The Fresh Look Project: Thanks to the efforts of the Fresh Look Advisory Group, the college now has new "visual identity standards", we have selected a new logo, and next year we will begin work on a redesign of our website.
• Enrollment growth efforts: Numerous faculty, staff and administrators contributed to the college’s enrollment growth plan, which has had a profound influence on our scheduling, outreach, and marketing efforts and more. We will see the fruits of that labor in the coming terms.
• Campus Change Network, including four projects:  Designing the First Semester Experience, Outreach, Improving Campus Transportation and an All Campus Orientation. This work has led to a developing college wide commitment to some sort of well-planned, coordinated first semester experience for students and this work will continue next year. The college’s outreach efforts have been expanded dramatically and additional efforts are planned for next year. The other two components will move to the front burner next year as well.

Now the semester is ending, great strides have been made in all of these areas, and work is continuing in most of them.  All of this got done by dint of tremendous focus and commitment on the part of faculty, staff and administrators at Skyline. All of this important work has been accomplished alongside the usual responsibilities everyone has for serving students. So I am certain we are all breathing a sigh of relief that the end of the term is here.  I stand in awe of the quality of dialogue, the creativity of ideas and the commitment to providing an excellent education for our students which all of the participants to these many efforts have brought to this work.

End of the year celebration: The end of the year luncheon in the Gallery Theater last Tuesday was just as fun and delicious as usual. Its purpose is to raise funds for the annual Staff/Faculty Scholarship for students, with the fellowship and laughter and good food (particularly the desserts from the library staff!) being an additional benefit of the event. Currently, the total amount that has been donated for the 2007 scholarship is $1,749. This exceeds last year’s figure of $1400, which was divided into two $700 scholarships, awarded last week to two students. Donations are still being accepted for next year’s scholarships. If you would like to help this figure grow, please give your donation to Theresa Tentes (checks should be made out to Skyline College, with "Staff/Faculty Scholarship" in the note line). Thanks to the following people for making this event happen for us, and for students: Linda Allen, Carla Campillo, Barbara Daley, Donna Elliott, Kathy Fitzpatrick, Stanlee Garriott, Linda Ghio, Sandra Hatzistratis, Mary Anne Leary, Sue Lorenzo, Michael Williamson, Char Wulbers, Kathy Zbikowski-Taylor, ASSC and the President’s office for their sponsorship, and Liza Erpelo, Danongan S. Kalanduyan and Andreas Wolf for sharing their talents and those of the students.

At this event, several awards are made by faculty and staff to their colleagues. This year, the winners of those awards were as follows:

• Classified Recognition Award: Maria Norris and Linda Herda
• Academic Senate Recognition Award: Liza Erpelo, Ray Hernandez and Karen Wong
• Meyer Award: Jon Freedman

Please join me in congratulating these individuals for these very special recognitions.

Logo redesign: We have selected the new logo!  Over 600 people voted--628 to be exact--and over half of them were students.  The favorite of the four logos, among faculty, classified staff and students--the largest groups participating--was the fourth logo presented in the survey.  Here it is:

The process we have used to get to the new logo is one that has fully engaged our shared governance process. The redesigning of the logo began last January with work by our College Council and the Fresh Look Advisory Group (appointed by the College Council), and neared its end with the same joint group reviewing a series of about three dozen sample logos, including the current logo. There was a strong consensus in the joint group for four of those sample logos, which are the ones we included in the poll conducted recently. We used the same sort of online poll as for the Student Center inscription selection–it provided an "instant runoff".  Students were also invited to complete paper versions of the survey. The poll results were discussed in the College Council this week, and the final selection was confirmed.  Thanks to everyone who participated.  Over the coming weeks we will work out the details of implementation of the new logo including timing. I will keep you posted.

Annual awards ceremony and reading for Talisman magazine: Last week, the publication of the 36th consecutive edition of Talisman was celebrated in the Gallery Theater. The ceremony was well-attended and the students read beautifully. The event included homemade refreshments, spring flowers, and soaring spirits. Skyline, among other things, is a very creative college and one of the few community colleges that has supported a student magazine of art and writing for 36 years. Copies are available in the Language Arts Division Office just inside Building 5.  Katherine Harer will also be installing new display racks in the lobbies of Building 1, 2, 5 and in the cafeteria. Copies are free, and donations towards next year's publication are always welcome.  Thanks to Katherine Harer for her leadership for this stunning example the excellent education Skyline College provides to our students. 

Automotive program celebration: The Automotive program held its annual end of the year banquet at the Basque Cultural Center last Saturday night. The banquet room was filled with family and friends of the grads, automotive industry partners, along with faculty, staff and administrative supporters. Students were recognized for their achievements and sent off for promising careers in the field.

Skyline student honored:  Candy Rivera, Cosmetology student, was an honorary participant during a ceremony that the City of San Francisco and Mayor Gavin Newsom held on Friday, May 19, 2006. This function involved a volunteer program in which she participated during the summer of 2005.  It was geared toward chemically dependent individuals that required the support and guidance of a program called Drug Diversion. The purpose of the event was to commend the individuals who took part in the success of rehabilitating people.  

College Council update:

1. Fresh Look Project:  The Council reviewed the poll results on the logo redesign project and discussed what needs to be taken into account in the timing and method of the rollout of the new logo.
2. Accreditation update: The Co-Chairs, Steering Committee and all the Writing Teams were congratulated for the completion of a draft by the end of this term.
3. Student Survey update:  Cathy Hasson made a presentation of the summary of the student survey findings and the plans for use of these data. Many such presentations have been provided this spring both for the Writing Teams and for other college groups. More will be provided in the fall.
4. Educational and Facilities Master Planning (EFMP) Project update:  The Council discussed the work on the Master Plan to date, including the two alternative approaches which have been discussed at the college in recent weeks, along with the ideas proposed for blending the two into a single final approach which will be presented to the Board in June. The college’s EFMP Task Force will be convened immediately to work with Steinberg Architects on this final approach.
5. Budget update:  Eloisa Briones provided an update on the status of the college’s budget for 2006-07.
6. Smoking Policy Implementation:  The Council discussed refinements to the designated smoking areas and other recommendations from the Health and Safety Committee.

Coming Up …

• 2006 Commencement, 8 p.m., South San Francisco Conference Center
• Day and Evening Classes End

• Bookstore Closed through June 4
• Declared Recess

• Memorial Day Holiday

• Gateway Program Completion Ceremony, 6 p.m., Gallery Theatre.

For more on this week’s events, see the event calendar at www.smccd.net/accounts/skypio/calendar.html   

To add events to the calendar, visit www.smccd.net/accounts/skypio/events.html   

Victoria P. Morrow, Ph.D.
President, Skyline College
650-738-4111
morrowv@smccd.net
3300 College Drive
San Bruno, CA 94066