REDWOODS COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT
College of the Redwoods Del Norte Education Master Plan Committee
Del Norte Education Center Room DM 29
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Summary Notes
Present:
Absent:
Welcome and Introductions: Following the continental breakfast, Dr. Marsee began the meeting at 9:05 a.m. The format for the meeting was reviewed, indicating that a draft document had been produced and that the ten recommendations included in it would be reviewed by the committee for approval.
Review of Recommendations for Del Norte Educational Master Plan
1. Broaden and Improve Career and Technical Education Programs: Del Norte Education
Center Dean, Anita Janis, explained that this recommendation is a focus on career and technical education that was developed as a result of the review of external and internal scanning data. The recommendation to collaborate with Del Norte High to improve facilities for education in the trades, as well as to deliver new certificates being developed through the college’s grant from the Department of Labor, was approved by consensus.
2. Encourage Concurrent Enrollment for High School Students: This recommendation was endorsed by consensus after presented by Dean Anita Janis.
3. Improve College Readiness of Incoming Students: The recommendations related to math and
English readiness were endorsed by the committee. However, in addition to these recommendations, the committee asked to include a recommendation about exploring
ESL (English as a second language) partnerships through collaborative relationshiops with existing organizations and agencies (including K-12).
4. Provide a Guaranteed Transfer Program: This recommendation was endorsed by consensus after presented by Dean Anita Janis.
5. Articulate CR Degrees with Programs at Four-Year Institutions: The committee endorsed this recommendation after it was presented by Dean Anita Janis.
The committee took a 15-minute break at 10:25.
Review of Recommendations, Continued:
6. Improve Training Opportunities in Allied Health Professions: Dr. Pat Girczyc, Interim Dean of Health Occupations and Public Services, pointed out a minor error regarding the status of CNA (certified nurse assistant) training in Del Norte County, and she also referenced a new initiative (“Med Start”?? CDE) at the high school that is designed to improve training in the allied health professions as well as provide career pathways for high school students. The proposal to further improve training opportunities in allied health professions was unanimously endorsed by the committee.

7. Promote Distance Education: Dr. Maggie Lynch, Dean of Information Technology and
Distance Education described recent achievements and initiatives in the Distance
Education Department at CR including dedicated advising for distance education students, distance education orientations and introductory classes (e.g. Distance
Education 101). She also explained that, pending approval of the college’s accrediting body, a number of degrees and certificates only require a few courses be developed in order to be available fully online.
8. Deliver Educational Programs at Pelican Bay State Prison: Dr. Maggie Lynch described some of the challenges and opportunities inherent in an initiative to deliver distance education at Pelican Bay State Prison. For example, the college must take action to ensure correspondence courses are administered appropriately and provide a high quality education to incarcerated prisoners, corrections officers who work odd shift hours, and/or armed services personnel who may be located overseas and have limited or no access to online delivery of education. The recommendations to provide credit-based instruction for the prison population, corrections training, and continuing education for correctional officers, were endorsed by the committee by consensus.
9. Respond to Community Needs and Emerging Job Market Demands: Ahn Fielding, Executive
Director of Community and Economic Development, explained that as the Del Norte
Education Center develops new initiatives and enrollments increase, additional community needs and newly emerging job market demands may be identified for new project initiatives. Some examples include culinary arts, park ranger, or other economic development and workforce training partnerships. This initiative was unanimously endorsed by the committee.
10. Offer New Transfer Programs: Roxanne Metz, Director of Special Projects, noted that some transfer programs currently only available at the Eureka campus, such as agriculture, may be implemented at the Del Norte Education Center, or that new programs by be developed (e.g. Environmental Science or Environmental Studies).
Community Forum: Dr. Marsee led a committee discussion regarding the formation of a public forum to review the draft education master plan and gather community feedback. Committee members agreed that questions or concerns raised by members of the public at a community forum should be responded to during the forum, if possible, to honor the involvement of interested members of the community.
Closing Remarks: Committee members made the following suggestions for next steps:

Continue to ensure the needs of native American tribes are met, including responding to training needs related to economic expansion (e.g. resorts and hotels)

Monitor progress related to the Del Norte Center’s Education Master Plan on a trimester basis and review data regarding metrics.

Identify resource requirements to accomplish the initiatives identified in the education master plan (e.g. staff time, capital investment, additional faculty load)

Revise/update the facilities master plan to reflect the supplement to the education master plan

Make the draft education master plan publicly available well in advance of the public forum to ensure the public has time to review the plan prior to a public forum being held.

Notes submitted by Roxanne Metz