Essential Skills Committee Minutes
March 12, 2014
Members Present: Susan Polk, Diana Bonilla, Michong Park, Carlos Gonzalez, Marie Zaiens,
Ludi Villegas-Vidal, Patricia Chow, Sarah Master, Debby Wong and Cindy Luis
Diana called the meeting to order at 3:08 p.m. The minutes from February 12th meeting were
approved with corrections. MtA: Polk, Second Wong. All in favor.
Voted on secretary was done and Diana volunteered to be the secretary for this meeting.
Old Business:
a. AtD Update: (Luis and Bonilla) -There were 3 present that attend the conference in
February. There will be an AtD report provided on March 20th. Bonilla thought it was a
great conference, with great examples of leader colleges doing excellent strategies to
improve student success. She stated that it would be important to present to the entire
faculty body to engage a campus wide discussion on student success. Luis stated that she
went to different workshops on how to accelerate programs, how to set up a professional
learning hub but her take away from the conference is that AtD isn’t a certain program
you do it’s rather a philosophy, a frame work in which the whole campus needs to be on
board. Our focus is on our students being successful and whatever programs we
implement to help them achieve that is a framework of scaling up and campus wide
engagement towards moving the needle towards student success. We need more
counselors, offering a First Year Experience Program, to help close the gaps. This mindset
has to be campus wide effort with administrative leadership supporting the faculty driven
programs. Dean Villegas, reported that it is important to have the support of the
administration to help in this manner and that she will be reporting back to President. She
stated that we all need to be aware of the programs currently being piloted and that they be
data driven. Luis stated that it is important to have all stake holders present to make the
necessary changes and implementation of new programs. Fall Kick Off poster was
presented. Sarah Master stated that they were able to provide date on the effectiveness of
the Fall Kick Off program that was shared at the conference and will also be share when
the team reports to the campus community. A district discussion occurred at the
Conference regarding if we would continue in AtD. It was left to each individual college
to determine if they would continue. Deborah Harrington and John Nixon will be
presenting to the BOT about the possibility of continuing with AtD. Zaiens suggested that
we present at Flex Day to train faculty on how we can become a leaders college, to help
faculty understand the steps that need to be taken. Bonilla stated that she developed a
presentation that will address these questions for the AtD conference presentation.
Gonzalez mentioned that Title V is working on a grant to create a First Year Experience
Program.
b. Professional Learning Hub: ( Zaiens) The hub as per VP Allen will be launched sometime
this semester. The Eagles nest seems to be up in the air. LRC 208 was scheduled to be the
location but there seems to be confusion about the room location and that it may not be
housed in LRC 208. A schedule of training sessions will be developed in collaboration
with the Professional Development committee. Training on the Smart Board is being
planned to be done in LRC 208 and other trainings on How To Create an Eventbite.
Gonzalez stated that he can help fund the Eagles Nest with Title V funds and then move to
institutionalize it. A discussion took place about how the Eagles Nest needs to be faculty
driven and why is there a hold up? It was suggested that an Ad Hoc committee be
established to help move the Eagles Nest forward. A survey was discussed to go out to
faculty to see what they may want in professional learning center. Gonzales suggested that
we should look at the University of Idaho’s best practices on professional learning, as they
have a very high tech approach. There are grants out here to help establish a hub.
New Business:
a. Review of any request for funding- Luis stated that she has not received any formal
request but that ESL is working on an accelerated program, Polk also reported that Dev
Com Department will be submitting a proposal for an accelerated Dev Come 1-21
program. Questions were brought up about when to spend the money, if we do not use the
funding do we lose it? Some of the money roles over but there is a limit. The committee
needs clarity on the expiration date of the current 18K we still have to spend. It was
suggested that Roza Ekimyan be contacted to clarify. What is the last day we can spend
the dollars? It was also suggested that the committee needs to invite Dean Montes to the
meetings moving forward.
b. Announcements- no announcements given
Upcoming Conferences & Workshops
a. Michael Wesch event @ PCC 4/25/14- Announced at LACCD SSI meeting, instead of
going to LACCD for SSI we will be attending this event instead.
b. District AtD Retreat –tentatively 5/30/14- Location is tentative at LAMC due to the Spring
Fest and logistically but Bonilla suggested to email Harrington to suggest hosting it at
CMS.
c. BSILI 2014: Leadership for Curricular & Institutional Transformation June 1-6@ Lake
Arrowhead- Luis cannot attend this year, Zaiens and Bonilla are interested in attending,
the committee would like to gather more people to attend.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:15 p.m.