Student Equity Committee
Friday, November 7, 2014
Minutes
Attendees: Mary-Sue Allred, Marissa Avendano, Marybeth Buechner, Michelle Beuttel, Jim Collins,
Victoria Cornelius, Katrina Cruz, Sheryl Fairchild, Melissa Fellman, Shawn Ledet, Norman Lorenz, Tara
Loschiaro, Debra Luff, Holly Piscopo, Donnetta Webb
Introductions of new members; Katrina Cruz, Student Senate; Holly Piscopo, BSI; Tara Loschiaro, BSI
Oct. 3 Meeting Minutes were reviewed and approved.
AVP Debra Luff announced the Los Rios Board of Trustees would be hearing the Student Equity plans
from all four colleges on November 12 on our campus. She invited all members of the committee to
attend.
D. Luff discussed how the budgets for the Student Equity activities and the SSSP activities will at times
be integrated as the many of the activities overlap.
Marybeth Buechner discussed how the two plans will be structured with the colleges planning process.
The College Strategic Planning Committee will need to determine and vote as to how these two new
plans fit in with the overall Program or Institutional planning scheme.
Jim Collins gave us an update of how the new Student Equity Plan came together and was completed in
such a very short time. Twenty plus individuals were involved in the planning. There are three main
focus points at this time; one being to support and build on the existing programs that have proven to
be highly successful; two is to build a Community of Practice; and three is to engage the entire college
community through communication and Professional Development. We hope to build an “Incubator of
Innovation”.
The budget for implementing the Student Equity Plan for 2014-2015 is roughly $1.02 Million which
needs to be spent in approximately nine months; no small task but a great problem to have. Nearly 45%
will go to direct student support and approximately 30% will go towards building the Community of
Practice. Approximately $75 K will go towards Professional Development.
M. Buechner mentioned that we are already working on interviews for a FT Temporary Researcher to
assist in our efforts. One of the major keys to having this plan work is to measure and put our goals into
action.
Allred suggested an idea for gathering student voices is to borrow from the new project out in the quad
where chalkboards have been attached to the Cafeteria wall and individuals have been invited to write
their thoughts regarding. “Before I die I_________.” This project is from Joanne Moylan’s Death and
Dying Class. We could change the sentence stem to; “What would help me succeed at SCC is________.”
Or some other sentence stem that would allow our students to tell us what they need from us to be
successful while here at SCC.
Discussion ensued about the “Community of Practice” and how it will be implemented. The structure
will most likely come from the individuals who are working directly with the students; our task is to
determine how to support these efforts.
D. Luff expressed the availability of emergency funds for students through various resources on campus
such as Cal Works, the Foundation office and Counseling.
Holly Piscopo asked if students readily knew about these various sources for emergency funds. A
discussion followed about the appropriateness of broadcasting the availability of the funds as there are
concerns about the misuse of funds and what is deemed an emergency. Perhaps a FLEX activity to
inform Faculty and Staff about proper referrals for emergency funds and agencies and Institutions
outside of campus that can help our students would be I order.
Sheryl Fairchild inquired as to who determines where Professional Dev. Funds go.
N. Lorenz stated we need to be transparent and intentional with our Professional Development
activities. Student Equity funds need to stay in the State, so we cannot travel outside to attend
conferences.
We were reminded we cannot use funds as “gifts” for students, such as free meals or handouts.
N. Lorenz reiterated his enthusiasm for a Teaching and Learning Center and indicated we would be the
first Community College in the State to have one.
Discussion focused on implementation of the plan; how, when who? We need to hire individuals now
and who will make these decisions. What is the strategy and how do we execute the plan?
D. Luff is the contact person for both the Student Equity Plan and the SSSP Plan. A new Interim Dean of
Student Services will begin Thursday Nov. 13th and remain with us through February.
H. Piscopo asked about the Faculty Coordinator position and we were informed it will be a .5 position.
M. Buechner and N. Lorenz led a discussion regarding Goals, Objectives and Activities for each indicator.
We need to focus on Course Completion of English, Math and ESL.
Job descriptions need to be tweaked for the specificity of the plan. We have job descriptions for most
everything with the exception of Case Workers.
We will invite the new Interim Dean to our next meeting.
Katrina Cruz asked about our current statistics and we directed her to our Student Success Report Card
to get an idea of where we stand.
We will have an additional meeting on November 21, 2014 to determine next steps and meet the new
Interim Dean.
Next Meetings: November 21, December 5th, 2014; February 6, 2015