October 24, 2003
Number 405
In our continuous efforts to develop and establish stronger ties with our culturally rich and diverse
communities, on Thursday WCCCD hosted a community breakfast for leaders from the Middle
Eastern and Bangladeshi communities. I facilitated a meeting with more than 50 individuals from
these communities and other community leaders. The event served as a forum to dialogue with
community leaders. We informed them of the dynamic changes at the College District, among them
being our Strategic Plan, community outreach and recruitment plan, and our effort to recruit
international students and our continuing education initiatives. We heard from community leaders
on how they plan to work with College to continue to improve and increase the educational services
we provide to better service our students. I want to congratulate John Bolden for moderating the
program and Dr. Janet Dettloff for coordinating the event.
A small team of administrators visited the Community College of Baltimore County—an SCT Banner
User, October 15 – October 18. Each team member was given an opportunity to meet with
respective counterparts to gain information pertaining to the Banner system and its advantages.
The team was also given a tour of all three campuses—Essex, Catonsville, and Dundalk—each
focusing on increasing initiatives in technology.
In an article reported in the Thursday, October 9, 2003 edition of The Detroit News “Metro speech
grows diverse.” It was reported that the number of Michigan residents that speak a language other
than English is up 40 percent in the last ten years. The article also reported that the most commonly
spoken languages in Michigan, other than English are Spanish and Arabic. This information is a
strong indicator that our academic programming and continuing education initiatives in the area of
ESL (English as a Second Language) are serving as a community resource to both employees and
local, national, and international businesses. The Downtown Campus is continuing programming
efforts in ESL Grammar, Reading, Spanish I and II, Arabic I and II. In the Spring semester we will
continue to work with the Detroit Public Schools’ “World Language Academy,” where we host
classes for area junior and senior high school students each Saturdays in Japanese, Spanish, and
French.
Marcus McGrew began a three part training session on Friday for campus administrators and
student service personnel on the current Department of Education’s policy changes and the
Districts policies, procedures and processes in the delivery of student financial aid, emphasis will be
placed on the electronic financial aid application process.
All campuses are encouraging students to take advantage of early registration which begins
November 17th. A special effort will be made to encourage the current financial recipients to take
advantage of early registration, because the up coming holidays will have little to no impact on their
educational funds for the spring semester.
In the last three years, Michigan has lost more than 250,000 jobs in manufacturing. The District
may wish to consider this trend and its impact as it looks at career and occupational offerings in this
area.
This weak job potential in manufacturing is backed by the research work of Donald Grimes.
Grimes, an economist at the U-M. Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations, says that “the outlook
for American factory jobs remains bleak.” He says that, if output and productivity growth in the next
five years matches the levels of the last decade, manufacturing employment would be at of level of
15.4M jobs, down 13 percent from the 1990s peak which was at 17.6M and up 5 percent from
current levels. The current level of manufacturing jobs is a little more than 14.5M, down nearly 10
percent since the beginning of the recession in March 2001. Source: University of Michigan News
Service
The eastern region of the District includes the largest urban re-development project in the nation.
The 1,200 acre project is only one of many targeted for the eastside of Detroit. New Detroit, Inc.
conducted a special Community Re-development meeting with leaders from the public, private, nongovernmental agencies and community-based groups at the Eastern Campus on Monday morning.
The campus was selected for the event as a focal point in the transformation of the community.
Participants spent the morning reviewing development projects and considering new initiatives in
the area. Immediately after that session, participants were given a guided tour through the
community to visit sites of impact.
The District plays as unique role in linking access, training and enhancement of area residents,
employees and employers. As such, organizations going after an eastside audience are seeking to
identify their efforts within the context of the Eastern Campus. Another example can be seen in the
Michigan Department of Transportation public information meeting at the Eastern Campus on
Wednesday evening. The I-94 Rehabilitation Project will replace and enhance the Ford Freeway
east of I-96 to Conner Avenue. This event was well attended by area residents and business
owners with the opportunity to view conceptual schemas, design exhibits, and discuss the major reengineering of the freeway system with architects and representatives from the Michigan
Department of Transportation. The Eastern Campus balances one end of the project and
representatives from the planning entities have expressed an interest in helping to create a
signature entrance into the facility.
The third annual dental community outreach project sponsored by Representative Mary Waters (DDetroit). This event will be held on Friday, October 24, and it will run from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at
the Northwest Campus Dental Clinic. This project is a small way to help address the oral health
needs of the citizens. The target population is children. The focus of this event is oral disease
prevention and awareness. Services to be provided include oral screenings, prophylaxis, fluorides,
and oral hygiene education.
The CCBC District implemented the SCT Banner system four years ago after a very successful
implementation period of just two years despite the awesome task of converting three separate and
distinct systems into one. The Banner system is functioning very well, and staff is happy with the
ease of use, the effective processing of data, and other features such as student and employee
self-service portals.
WCCCD staffers were given an opportunity to preview Banner’s Student Financial Aid system indepth. This system will provide our institution with many advantages over our current EDEN
system. It eliminates the need for manual processing, and separate applications for tracking
withdrawn students—students who lose financial aid eligibility, and automates the return of federal
funds. Reconciliation to the student accounting system and to the general ledger is automated—
thus, eliminating room for error. Issues such as these have been very problematic for our institution
in the past. Fortunately, for our College, we have an additional resource to draw upon, and were
encouraged by CCBC IT administrators to do so as we begin the installation and implementation
process of our own Banner system.
Carol Wells, Executive Dean of Student Services, attended a meeting today at Henry Ford Health
System and Fitness Works to finalize the Health and Wellness workshop topics, which will include
an array of issues important to the entire College community. In addition to sessions on Pilates
Exercises and Aerobics for all ages, workshops will be conducted on Pain Relief, Harnessing
Healing Powers with the Mind, Restoring Energy Levels, Healthy Cooking, Herbal medicines, Stress
elimination and other exciting topics that will empower all to live a healthier lifestyle. Workshop
sessions will be held at the Downtown campus from 12:00 noon to 3:00 pm.
A recent National Social Work steering committee meeting, held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from
October 15-18th, 2003, yielded possible continuing education and workforce initiatives (e.g. case
management, and grief, trauma and loss counseling, and human resources training programs).
On Saturday, October 18, the Pre-Apprenticeship seminar was held at the Downtown Campus.
Over 200 program participants attended the educational seminar, some of which were interested in
pursuing a career in the skilled trades, and others who were currently employed in the skilled trades
industry, and wished to further enhance their career. Workshop topics assisted attendees in the
following areas: resume writing, interpersonal communication, math for skilled trades, and testtaking skills. The overwhelming response received from the community further demonstrates the
incredible need that the College is meeting as it relates to career enhancement and employability
skills.
As we continue to expand the marketing strategies for new and upcoming programs, on Monday,
October 17, Marian Thomas attended the ClickonCareers.com Advisory Committee meeting held at
the American Society of Employers. Opportunities were discussed to broaden the use of
ClickonCareers.com as a promotional vehicle for the Continuing Education Division’s spring
certification program. As of October 8th, the average number of users is over 1100. Other strategies
discussed were having a weekly email communication to counselors and registered users to feature
a “career of the week”.
Dr. Mary Smith was recently appointed to serve on the Schools of the 21st Century Education
Advisory Council. On October 24, Dr. Smith attended a meeting that focused on further integrating
parental involvement in the child’s education. Some viable solutions that were examined for
strategically implementing this crucial component include adult literacy training and other
continuous workshop training opportunities for parents.
The Western Campus continues to reach out into its communities to ascertain potential educational
needs. As members of the Romulus Chamber of Commerce, Western is keeping informed about
the voter initiative on the December ballot in that community. If passed, a casino/race track will be
built, and opportunities for training future employees at the facility would be presented.
One of the largest and most relevant conferences on distance education for community colleges is
the League for Innovation in the Community College Conference on Information Technology. This
year the conference was held in Milwaukee, WI on October 19-22, 2003. Five WCCCD
administrators, staff, and a faculty member attended sessions covering issues regarding libraries,
using digital resources such as learning objects in teaching, legal issues in distance education, and
creating classroom web sites. Future trends include the creation of nanotechnology programs and
3-D projection of images that can be viewed with an ordinary computer.
WCCCD has successfully offered the Middle College Multicultural Educational Exchange Program
(MCMEEP) at the Downtown Campus. The MCMEEP has been officially approved by Dr. Suzanne
Klein, Superintendent of the Grosse Pointe School System, for Grosse Pointe high school juniors
and seniors. The principals of both Grosse Point North and South High Schools have agreed to
incorporate the MCMEEP as an elective with their schools. Lutheran East High School and Harper
Woods High School have also approved the program for their schools. In Detroit, the program has
been approved by Cass Tech High School, Western International High School, Catherine Ferguson
Academy and Caesar Chavez Academy.
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Saturday, October 25, 2003
9:00 a.m. – 12:00 P.M.
Downtown Campus
Literacy Program: Reading and Writing Rally
Executive Women International (EWI) , in partnership with WCCCD will host a “reading and writing
rally” with 3rd and 4th grade students from Mayberry and Neinas Elementary Schools. EWI has
adopted these two elementary schools and have conducted a reading program throughout the past
year. Two hundred plus students from these schools will be on site to participate in reading and a
variety of other literacy activities.
Tuesday, October 28, 2003
8:30 A.M. – 4:30 p.m.
Cobo Hall
nd
2 Annual District-wide Conference Day
All faculty, staff and administrators are required to attend this event. Conference day is a joint
partnership between labor and management and is designed to enhance communication,
strengthen relationships, and provide an opportunity for information sharing. Focus groups will
address topics on retention and special interests.
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