Fullerton College
Student Equity Committee
End of the Year Report 2008-2009
The Fullerton College Student Equity Committee continued to meet twice a month
during the 2008-2009 school year to help begin the implementation process of the
Student Equity Plan approved by the NOCCCD Board of Trustees on November 25,
2008.
Members of the 2008-2009 Committee
Ken Collins
Jeanne Costello
Pilar Ellis
Carolyn Facer
Mark Greenhalgh
Chuck Helms
Stewart Kimura
Chris Lamm
Adela López
Surya Dennis-Young (student rep./fall semester)
Ram Kim (student rep./fall semester)
Jackie Napalan (student rep,./spring semester)
Peter Cornett (student rep./spring semester)
Overview of Process
September 25, 2008
• Received the final input from PAC and various constituents for the Plan.
• Put the plan into a logical format including a timeline to bring groups together through
“informal conversations” to work on next step and continue to receive input
throughout the year. We referred to this as the “Activities by Responsible Party
Chart”.
October 2008
• Reviewed the Goals and & Objectives of the plan after the Fall input was included.
• Reviewed the Chart that was created.
• Began the process of identifying the status of each of the Objectives in the Plan using the
“Activities by Responsible Party Chart”.
November 13, 2008
• Continued the process of identifying the status of each of the Objectives in the Plan.
• Revisited the Timeline for Informal Conversations for 2008-2009
December 2008:
•Informal Conversations with: Larry Buckley and Toni DuBois regarding the Equity Plan.
•Informal Conversations with : Dr. Hodge and Brad Rippe regarding the Campus website.
January 2009:
• Informal Conversations with: Lisa Campbell, Robert Jaurequi, Albert Abutin, and Bob
Miranda regarding the counseling and financial aid side of the Plan.
February 2009:
• Informal Conversations with: Dan Willoughby, Jackie Boll, Lisa Campbell & Enrico Del
Zotto from SCE regarding the instructional side of the Plan.
March 2009:
• Informal Conversations with: Paul McKinley, Chris Kiger, Cecelia Alvarado, Ray Bustos and
Stephanie Reyna looking at key support services in regards to the Plan.
April 2009: Campus Website focus group discussions:
• April 16, 2009: Focus Group: Andrea Hanstein, Co Ho, Brad Rippe, Tara Austria, Alin
Roman, Diana Kyle for the 2nd discussion of the campus website.
• April 23, 2009: Focus Group: 3rd Discussion of the campus website. Students: Alin Roman,
and Tara Austria; Ray Bustos, Paul McKinley, Toni DuBois, Bob Miranda, and Cecelia
Alvarado.
May 2009:
• Informal Conversations with: Darlene Jensen, Alix Plum-Widner, Karen Rose, Lily Espinoza,
Janine Cirrito looking at additional support programs and services.,
[Detailed notes from each of the above meetings, as well as the regular Student Equity
Committee meetings are available].
December 11, 2008
Conversation with Larry Buckley (12:30)
• Identify Benchmarks to work from
• Focus - Ken Meehan’s support.
follow-up: Larry talked with Ken. All requests to Ken will be cc’d to Larry.
Ken talked with Chris the next day. He suggested that each project identify
questions they would like to have addressed as an evaluative tool and send them
to Ken. Ken then will work directly with the program.
• Have your priorities focusing on reasonable goals in regards to budget limitations.
Focusing on sustainability is good.
• Many of the decisions will be qualitative in nature. Student satisfaction is key indicator
of a successful program.
Conversation with Brad Rippe and Kathie Hodge (1:00)
• Brad inputs information to the website from Co Ho and Andrea Hanstein’s direction.
• Kathie stated that the design was from a part-time student designer
• The website is using a standard framework
• There are to be updates in January
• Comments regarding the Website:
• disjointed regarding a new students route to resources
• Recommend:
• a Regular Focus Group with student representation.
• need a different look for the main site.
• Chris will call a focus group meeting to start the conversation.
Conversation with Toni DuBois (1:30)
• Toni asked about cross-over responsibilities. We discussed that this was a working
model and our committee’s next steps, including our discussion, was to bring
everyone together to work on a collaborative implementation strategy.
• She acknowledged that she doesn’t see enough community outreach - it was more
directed to schools.
• She feels we need key people responsible for implementation, like a “point person”.
• She identified the need to have additive activities for new students using a variety of
venues.
• More staff development is needed.
• January 22, 2009
General Discussion and then the conversations with our guests: Lisa Campbell,
Albert Abutin, Robert Jaurequi and Bob Miranda.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Stewart mentioned that on March 24-25 there will be a site visitation
from the Chancellor regarding categorical funding (EOPS, Matriculation,
DSS, CalWorks).
As a Committee, we need to relook at impact of the budget cuts and the
Equity Plan (we can look at a two-year plan). Basic Skills and high school
connections, student success, etc.
Chris needs to schedule a meeting to follow-up on the college website
with Stewart, Co, Brad and Andrea. Focus: What needs to go forward
on the website.
The Study Abroad has been cancelled for the Fall. It will be scaled back
to one semester per year. Madrid in Spring of 2010 will be the next
program.
Chancellor has reinstated the District membership to HACU. We need
to check how HACU can support the Equity Plan - possibly in regarding to
staff development.
Foundation website: www.fullertoncollegescholarships.com. Need to get
the word out to students.
Admissions and Records:
• most of the information regarding courses is no longer mailed
• mostly students need to retrieve by e-mail or on the website.
• ideas for marketing: kiosk in the mall, materials in public libraries
and community centers (i.e. Valencia Park), possibly create an
8-fold information flyer
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
• What happens after we’ve made contact? The student still needs to
be tech savvy to use the computer as their primary means of
getting campus information
• kiosk with auditory connection on campus
• every applicant gets an e-mail that identifies steps, counseling and
support
• student’s e-mail needs to activate all 3 sites (computer lab does the
activation now?)
• the regular window - validates the e-mail before proceeding
(yahoo or gmail accounts?)
Financial Aid
• do lots of outreach to high schools
• coordinate packets
• Piggyback with HS Outreach and EOPS to distribute information
How best to Coordinate (PIO)
• trying to enhance our efforts as a Team - create a Outreach Master
Calendar
• Someone was hired part-time in Andrea’s office. (check with
Andrea. Stephanie Reyna is the assistant in marketing)
Space to support student’s privacy
• Financial Aid, A&R and Counseling have open counters that do not
support conversations with students regarding sensitive I
information and/or data collection. There are plans in the
future for renovating various areas; however, we could look at
the space to come up with a redesign of the existing spaces to
help in the interim.
Other Outreach Ideas:
• Extending outreach to Junior High Schools
•Stewart mentioned the CSUF Outreach Collaborative
• look into this again
• Robert Jaurequi and Greg Menchaca took them (students?) directly
to Assessment (?)
• Jeanne recommended that we start early
• also look at alternative high schools
• Bob Miranda mentioned La Sierra High School
Question: What role should the School of Continuing Education play?
• act as a bridge
• articulation: HS  SCE  FC
• ESL has good communication established
Advertise Senior Night - Change focus (?)
bring bridge discipline faculty together
15.
16.
17.
18.
Jeanne: bring materials from the Student Success Summits,
assessments of writing, CA Standards for HS and College all together (?)
Chuck and Stewart will connect to explore the free on-line prep courses
(self-guided, non-credit)
Mark and Stewart will look at assessment (pre and post)
The ACC (Adult College Career Transitioning Program) Committee will be
meeting next week.
• February 12, 2009
• Need to work with Counseling on (#9) student orientation.
• (#2) Pilar and Adela will look at the HACU website and report back
• March 25th:
Guests: Paul McKinley, Chris Kiger, Cecelia Alvarado, and Ray Bustos
• Stephanie Reyna - new Marketing Person invite to a meeting? (April
23rd?)
• Chris still needs to call the meeting to discuss next steps with the campus
website (Peter, Jackie, Stewart, Brad Rippe, Co Ho, Andrea
Hanstein, possibly Stephanie Reyna (new marketing person). Cc:
Kathie Hodge.
Date:
February 26, 2009
Time:
12:30-2:00pm
Location:
1415-01
Present: Chuck Helms, Adela G. López, Pilar Ellis, Carolyn Facer, Ken Collins,
Chris Lamm, Jackie Napalan.
Guests: Enrico Del Zotto (SCE) edelzotto@sce.edu, Jackie Boll, Olivia Veloz,
Dan Willoughby
Focus: Informal Conversation regarding the Instruction components of the
Student Equity Plan with Humanities, Library Services, Academic Support
Services and School of Continuing Education.
Olivia - designed a “specific” framework for departments to utilize the
services at Academic Support Services Center. She is attempting to make
department needs and ways the Center can offer support. Child
Development & Educational Studies and Cosmetology are the first to work on
this plan. There are lots of good services provided that faculty are not
aware of: conversation circles, test taking strategies, etc. This meets many
of the objectives in the Equity Plan, especially on pages 6-7.
Question: If we do a good job to bring awareness to campus support
programs, will there be a problem of space, etc.?
We need to begin a more concerted effort to bring a dialogue between
Fullerton College and School of Continuing Education (it was nice to have
Enrico join us from SCE).
Question: What is the problem that got students to not be successful?
(Math 10 or English 39). What students are not even in Math 10 or English
39?
Early Alert - priority registration - matriculation. Flagging a student is easy.
What do we do after is more difficult. How do/should we connect with SCE?
Strengthening Student Success - get the data from the first 3 Student
Success Summits. (Results for Summit I is on our website).
We need teacher “buy-in” to support students needing basic skills.
Enrico/SCE: If students do not have a high school diploma, they should be
at SCE.
We need to look at placement tests, etc.
Library has many resources. We need to tap into those resources.
Date: March 12, 2009
Time: 1:00-2:00pm
Location: Room 1415-01
Recapping Our Informal Conversations:
1.
2.
3.
Schedule a meeting regarding the Campus Website.
Stewart, Peter, Jackie, Brad Rippe, Co Ho, Andrea Hanstein,
any others - Stephanie Reyna (marketing?)
Check on how HACU can support the Equity Plan (Adela and Pilar)
Get word out to students regarding the Foundations Website:
4.
5.
6.
7.
www.fullertoncollegescholarships.com
Work on the ideas for marketing (1-22-09 meeting notes)
Work on Outreach ideas (1-22-09 meeting notes)
Identify questions for statistics for Ken Meehan to run.
Invite: Paul McKinley (DSS), Cecilia Alvarado (Director of EOPS),
Darlene Jensen (Director of StudentAffairs), Center for
Veterans Affairs ? Do we want to and if so, when?
Date:
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Location:
Room 1421
Time:
1:00-2:30pm
Present:
Student Equity Committee Members: Carolyn Facer, Chuck Helms, Pilar Ellis,
Stewart Kimura, Adela Lopez, Chris Lamm
Focus Group: Andrea Hanstein, Co Ho, Brad Rippe, Tara Austria, Alin Roman, Diana
Kyle
Great beginning discussion. Long overdue. Let’s keep the momentum going. We
need to move quickly regarding the proposal to present to Dr. Hodge before the
end of Spring semester.
Next Campus Website Discussion: Thursday, April 23, 1;00-2:00pm in Room 1421.
This will during our regular Student Equity Committee Meeting. Everyone is
welcome.
Summary of the Meeting
Dilemma: FC has never put value in the campus website
Campus climate is changing. Timing is right to be proactive to create a
campus website that truly reflects all aspects of the College. It needs to be
a powerful teaching tool as well as a great information & marketing source
Needs:
• Rebuild the whole website. Look at Cypress College’s for inspiration (see
attachment from Alin).
• Needs to be easy for students to find information on health services
• Online orientation - quiz about how much they know about services.
• Revision of all the links - is needed
• Everyone wants a great Front Page ASAP
Questions:
• Does everyone take the placement test when they come here? Ans.: No.
• No clearly identified Campus address on website (Address for the school - no link
Students have no way to contact the college). Ans: You click on the maps
section on left of main page.
• What servers are available? Ans. many (I didn’t type in the various options)
Logistics:
• Lourdes from Financial aid -scholarship information does not have an active link.
• Updating information: Need to send information to content owner for changes
• Website Framework is basic:
• Dept. itself should be proactive
• Create an account.
• Up to dept. to keep the website up-to-date
• Brad can provide a template; however, there has been resistance
• Template - PIO (Public Information Office) - good example
(later discussion addressed this issue)
• The District has a standard for website.
• We don’t have a process in place.
• Who will determine what’s friendly and unfriendly.
• Search is a button not a link
• INFRASTRUCTURE IS THE KEY!
• Let’s focus on the main site and get some targeted links. This can be done
relatively quickly.
• Front Page: (initial brainstorming)
• more interactive
• need specific ideas
• need focus group discussions
• what is it that students want on the website?
• way too many links on the front page
• slide show of pictures
The following is the brainstorming that came out by looking at the websites:
• We need to look at lots of other college websites.
• Compare our website and Cypress College’s website in depth prior to next
meeting.
• Explore other websites (see list at from Alin)
• Need pictures on the website that reflect what’s happening on our campus:
• Need to create a system and have in place;
• when these events occur, take pictures & send ASAP directly to a
particular location - i.e. Marketing - (Stephanie Reyna)
• Students don’t understand “terminology” - look at “Student Affairs” on our
website - It actually is NOT “student affairs” issues - it is more academic
support issues. “Student Life” - may be a better title - identifying club
information, Associated Students, etc.
• Need easy links to Divisions and Departments within Divisions. Right now the
“divisions” are titled “departments”. Hard for everyone to find correct
information.
• “About Fullerton College” - need address (footer - My Gateway is on the footer).
• much more useful & interesting information is needed
• Dates need to reflect that the website is updated.
• Possibly ask publishers to financially support the website
• We need to demonstrate in the proposal that the Campus website if paramount to
everything we do on campus. Avoid the trap of “competing for resources”.
• We need to have a process in place for
• developing a website
• administrating and updating
• connect management systems
• develop a reporting structure
• Check into an effective “virtual tour” for the website. One that is interesting.
• Create a slideshow on the main page that changes
• Packaging is key. How it looks as well as how it works!
• If a decision as to which campus you would attend, Cypress or Fullerton,
was based on the Campus Websites - which would you choose?
• The above exercise illustrates the importance of the website.
AGAIN: INFRASTRUCTURE IS THE KEY!
Alin Roman’s Ideas: Some of these are in the other part of the minutes; however,
I decided to keep them intact as well. Thank you Alin.
• Fullerton College street address is very hard to find
• Search button should be a box and not a button.
• Scrolling is not something preferred on websites.
• White background will make the website look like it’s on a diet, and not complete.
• My Gateway can be made as proprietary to Fullcoll, so people don’t think it is a
different website (Just the login.)
• The beautiful picture with the library is hidden in the yellow. That should stand
out.
• Admission and Records
• looks like a student’s scratch paper. (5 Different colors of text don’t look
professional.) the eye can’t focus on one thing. It’s just a mess.
• also there is no back to the fullcoll.edu page. There is one on the bottom of
the page and I had to search for it
• the page is full of links that are underlined, while the buttons are not
underlined and makes the user think it’s just plain text.
• scrolling bars in the middle of the page is not acceptable at a college level.
Looks my project website I had to do in High school.
• today frames are not recommended to be used anymore. Since it is jsut
text it can be used, but if you add some background picture, it will
make it harder to load, plus the issue with the scroll bars in the
middle of the page.
•All other directories: -all directories have either the old looking template form,
or just a plain white website. If it has a template then it should look like the
homepage. All websites should have at least the template on, so they do not look
white. Directories should look like the schools homepage, and they should comply
with it. Slight modifications can be made in order to fulfill all the needs for the
specific directory. If they have a web template of their own, it should at least
follow a color code that will be similar to the college homepage.
• Contact us is not present on the webpage. If someone has a question they have no
way of contacting the college.
• A flash slideshow can be made and placed on the homepage, gives a nice
presentation. Pictures say more than words when you are just skimming
through websites.
• A link to a photo gallery will be also very good on the homepage.
• Text is too small on the buttons.
• Website is made for the 1024*768 display resolution, but nowadays most
screens run at least 1280*768, therefore, a wide screen website needs to
be taken in consideration.
• Some pages scroll left and right which is very annoying
• Background can be made as a big pictures logo in the back, combined with the
hornet symbol, a mixture at big scale that can be combined to a nice
background. FC Login, has a nice background for the text. That can be used
for the plain text pages.
•“About the college” should be first on the right side. Not many people are
interested in the president’s statement unless they find some interest in the
college in the first place.
• None of the provided standard colors in from public info where used for the
webpage. They are all different tones of those colors.
• EOPS cannot be found on the first page, and many other offices cannot be found
directly.
• Technical:
• Websites should follow a css file. That makes it easy to change something
big, and also easy to use for future websites.
• Hosting more extensions on a server is not that hard, and can be done
safely. PHP is one of the most commonly used on web design and
programming, but yet the school cannot support it, as I am sure the
servers could . Web design and web programming are 2 different
things. You can design a page however you want, but with all the
programming languages it is hard to learn them all and then make
a website, for example for a club or an office. Some programming
languages are very common, therefore, the school could provide
support for at least a few of them, since they are free and cost just
the time for a web admin to install them.
http://www.ulbsibiu.ro/en/ good linking and page organization
http://www.uark.edu/home/ big text links, nicely organized
http://www.obu.edu/ good logo example.- has no web 2.0 effects which make a big
difference (the rounding, shadows, transparencies)
http://www.pepperdine.edu/ best websign I have seen so far. Colorful, but easy to
read. Well organized. Important links and information on the top, news and the rest
on the bottom, not much to scroll down, a lot of web 2.0 effects.
Next Steps - For the meeting on April 23.- 1:00-2:00/2:30pm - Room 1421
[Alin’s notes give us an idea of how we need to prepare for next Thursday]
• Compare FC and Cypress Websites in depth.
• Check out Alin’s list of websites as well as others you find useful and bring
specific components/ideas to next week’s meeting.
• Andrea will get the RFP(?) from Cypress as to the process and procedure of
creating their campus website for the next meeting.
• Think about what needs to be in the proposal.
This is a great RE-Start.
Date:
Location:
Time:
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Room 1421
1:00-2:00pm
Student Equity Committee Members Present:
Carolyn Facer, Mark Greenhalgh, Jeanne Costello, Pilar Ellis, Chris Lamm
Focus Group Present:
Alin Roman, Student
Tara Austria, Student
Ray Bustos, Director of the Veterans Center
Paul McKinley, Director of DSS
Toni DuBois, VP of Student Services
Bob Miranda, Dean of Student Support Services
Cecilia Alvarado, Director of EOPS
Focus Topic: College Website
Next Steps - For the meeting on April 23.- 1:00-2:00/2:00pm - Room 1421
[Alin’s notes give us an idea of how we need to prepare for next Thursday]
• Compare FC and Cypress Websites in depth.
• Check out Alin’s list of websites as well as others you find useful and bring
specific components/ideas to next week’s meeting.
• Andrea will get the RFP from Cypress to look at their process and procedure of
creating their campus website [Still hasn’t come in. I”ll send it to everyone
as soon as possible).
• Think about what needs to be in the proposal.
Everyone’s Immediate Task
Timeline
Discussion Notes from Today’s Meeting
Cypress:
Audience - who are you?
Apply Now? - Go to my Gateway
It is not another place or website it is a place where you apply.
Who are you - What do you need
How to apply.
Cypress: 6 Steps - easy to read (eye captures visually the 6 steps) Links
508 compliance - learn a lot every single person in the world can access it.
eliminating people - with visual impairments. (lines)
million links reads everything to the student (in Jaws).
Universal Design principles - is a must! in our
fonts without
text only cite
good contrast, consistency with links all the
left justified as best.
1st: Focus on Structure first:
Get our front page website similar Cypress Website - for us to begin
Consistency between the pages (lost the navigation bar should be uniform - (top,
right, left).
Long Beach City College - (Web Department)
Board Policies: Compliance 508
District Director of Public Affairs
Department of Academic Computing
Three-Four
front page
here are concerns for all pages: 508, consistency,
funding alternatives
left sides eliminate all the things
2nd: Text itself
Date:
Location:
Time:
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Room 1421
1:00-2:00pm
Student Equity Committee Members Present:
Carolyn Facer, Jackie Napalan, Adela Lopez, Chris Lamm
Focus Group Present: Darlene Jensen, Alix Plum-Widner, Karen Rose, Lily Espinoza,
Janine Cirrito
Meeting Notes
• Clarification for the Student Equity Plan:
• Student Affairs co-sponsors events with Departments and other programs,
such as, Dia de los Muertos, Kwanzaa, KinderCaminata rather than
coordinate the entire event which is how it reads in the Equity Plan.
• KinderCaminata, for example is a campus-wide collaborative and should
reflect this rather than coordinated by the Office of Special
Programs.
• Staff Development:
• Possibly create a general information handbook for faculty and staff
• Provide an interesting, creative way to convey information
• We need to provide a way both faculty and classified have
knowledge regarding how to support students.
• Look at the existing New Faculty Orientation
• Look at Adjunct Faculty Orientation
• Check with Dr. Hodge regarding the Fall Convocation and the FC Strategic
Conversations in the Fall (possibly provide a focus and how to apply
the Equity Plan across campus)
• What is the Student Equity Plan? How does it apply to them?
• What does it mean?
• What is our responsibility to have all students feel welcome at FC?
• Do we expect them to be successful?
• Faculty need to realize that taking time to get the know their students at
the beginning of the semester will be pay dividends not only in
student success but also in the quality of instruction.
• Need to shift the attitudes of instruction. Connect with the students.
This will make instruction more stimulating and fun for all.
• 1st six weeks is when we lose the majority of our students - whether they
drop out physically or mentally.
• Smart Start Saturday - is a first attempt in updating and revising the new
student orientation. It will be Saturday, August 8, 2009 from 10am-2pm.
This is a focus on students and their families to not only learn more about
the college but also to have the students feel “connected” to the college.
The key ingredients that came out of the Summits and the Equity Plan
Interviews: have tours led by college students only, have food, have
creative teaching snapshots spotlighting some of our finest teaching
strategies.
• Division Meetings: provide the Divisions with concrete ideas to support students.
• Paul McKinley has a good powerpoint presentation regarding DSS.
• Equity Committee create a good, concrete presentation for each division.
• Provide the in-person support and information as well as the
handbook.
• Career Center
• There is an integrative link for faculty on their website including a Career
Center Assignment.
• A difficulty to support students in the Career Center is that there is only
one person to staff (Cypress has a Coordinator and a technician). The
Center processes over 3,000 assessments per semester.
• Supporting Night Students:
• Need to find new and innovative ways to continue to support our night
students.
• One idea that was successful on another campus was to have an area/office
open until 8:30pm to be a welcoming place for students to get
questions answered in person. This could even be an area identified
at night in the Campus Commons where even the “Dean of Darkness”
hangs out. With the internet accessibility, they could get work done
if they had no students.
• Student Engagement.
• What are the opportunities we are providing students to get them
engaged?
• There is a direct correlation between student engagement and student
retention.
• We need to engage: at risk, borderline and blossoming students.