* Stacey Thompson and Patti Dungan, both
Developmental Writing instructors, have been certified as "Developmental Education
Specialists" following completion of a summer long training program at the Kellogg
Institute for the Training and Certification of Developmental Educators. The reports they
completed for the program were rated exemplary and will be placed in the resource library
for future Kellogg participants as examples of an outstanding practicum.
* Allen (John) Underwood, Physics Professor,
had a proposal accepted by NASA to participate in NASA's Reduced Gravity Student Flight
Opportunity Program. The proposal is titled "Testing the Physiological and
Psychological Side Effects of Superficially Inducing Earth's Gravitational Pull on a Human
Subject in Microgravity." ACC is one of only three community colleges nationwide
selected for this prestigious activity. Universities participating include Brown, Cal
Tech, Michigan, Washington, Purdue, Drexel, UT Austin, Penn State, SUNY, University of
Illinois and Georgia Institute of Technology among others.
* ACC's Biotechnology Program, in the Math and
Sciences Instructional area, was selected as a finalist for the Bellwether Award by the
Institute for Higher Education. The Bellwether Award is given to recognize outstanding and
innovative practices that are successfully leading community colleges into the 21st
century. The Biotechnology Program was recognized for having established strategic
alliances and partnerships, which promote community and economic development. The
Bellwether Award will be presented at the 2002 Community College Futures Assembly,
sponsored by the Institute of Higher Education in February. ACC representatives at the
awards ceremony will be Dr. Linnea Fletcher, Program Coordinator, Dr. Alice Sessions,
faculty member, and Dr. David Fonken, Dean of Math and Sciences.
* The Government Department presented a
December Symposium on Judicial Selection in Texas. Panelists were the Honorable Craig
Enoch, Texas Supreme Court Justice, Honorable Lee Yeakel, District 8, Court of Appeals,
Honorable Scott McCowan, County District Court, Honorable Elena Diaz, Justice of the
Peace, Representative Pete Gallegos, D-Alpine District 74, and Craig McDonald, Executive
Director of Texans for Public Service. This symposium was chaired by Karry Evans, Chair of
the Faculty Development Committee for the Government Department. Rex Peebles is Dean of
Social and Behavioral Sciences.
* Linnea Fletcher, Program Coordinator for
Biotechnology, and Alice Sessions, Professor of Biology, co-authored Lessons Learned
Through Bio-Link: Austin Community College as Beneficiary, which was published in the
December issue of biolink Connection.
* Holt, Rinehart & Winston will publish
Billy Boyar's (Professor of English) essay on teaching grammar to ESL students in the
teachers' editions of English textbooks, grades 6-12, which have been adopted by the state
of California.
* Joe Lostracco, Communications Task Force
Chair, has completed his term of service as a member of the Commission on Composition for
the National Council of Teachers of English.
* The Austin Advertising Federation Board of
Directors recognized ACC's Visual Communication Design program (Andrew Saldana, Program
Coordinator) and students in its e-mail publication.
"You've probably heard a lot about the
outstanding advertising programs at the University of Texas and Southwest Texas State
University. But here's another local academic institution that deserves long-due
recognition for its top-notch visual communications program: Austin Community College.
This latest issue of our eNewsletter was a class project for students in the typographic
design class at ACC, under the direction of instructor (and Austin Ad Fed Board member)
Linda Smarzik. The issue available for download was brilliantly crafted by student Deborah
Wolfinsohn; to see fabulously designed versions by other students visit http://www.austin.cc.tx.us/viscom/newsletters.html after Monday, December 17. Many, MANY thanks to the fine students and faculty in the
visual communications department at Austin Community College for a job well done!"
Also, Linda Smarzik spearheaded the award
winning success of the Graphic Design students. In the Design 2 Show, which was held in
Dallas, 166 pieces were entered. Forty got in the show, 21 of those were VCD students.
There were six honorable mention awards given out; the VCD students received 3 of those.
In addition, our VCD students also won awards in the local Top Dog Awards given by the
American Institute of Graphic Arts.
* Randee Fox, who teaches in ACC's visual
communications design program and student, Jennifer Capers-Wehrlen were featured on FOX 7
to discuss how the ACC students' artwork ended up at the United Nations in New York and in
Oslo, Norway at the celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Also, The City of Austin's "Art in Public
Places" invited Randee's ACC class to display its United Nations Counterterrorism
Poster Project at City Hall from December 7th through February 20th. A number of the
posters were displayed at the U.N. in New York through January 10th.
This program is under the direction of Adult
Education (Dr. Guadalupe Lopez-Cox).
* Project ISO 9000 is a grant through the
Texas Workforce Commission. Funded in the amount of $219,583, ACC has contracted with
National Training Associates, Inc. (NTA) who has been in business for over 15 years,
specializing in training companies in ISO 9000 Quality Management systems and related
areas. Much of the training will be provided by ACC and other training by NTA. The grant
funding will help retain and create jobs in Austin and surrounding areas.
This project is under the direction of Sonia
Hogan, Coordinator of Workforce Grants, Grant Development Department.
* Jere Hammer, Program Coordinator of
Associate Degree Nursing, was awarded a $48,755 THECB Category A grant, "Nursing
Faculty and Student Recruitment: Preparing the Future Workforce," designed to provide
additional nurse educators and nurse graduates to meet the diverse health care needs of
Texans at the local, regional and state levels by:
increasing the number and diversity of the
nursing faculty from the current rate of 17% diversity to at least 25% diversity by the
end of the grant period
increasing the number & diversity of
enrolled nursing students from the current rate of 22% to at least 30% diversity by the
end of the grant period.
Strategies to increase faculty diversity
include serving as a clinical site for graduate students, inviting masters prepared nurses
in the community to shadow nursing faculty and focusing recruitment advertising dollars
toward sources that target underrepresented faculty populations (25-34 year olds, males
and ethnic minorities).
Strategies to increase the diversity of enrolled nursing students include hiring a
half-time staff member to function as a Student Recruitment Specialist and awarding
student scholarships with emphasis on minority groups (18-21 year olds, males and ethnic
minorities).
* Also, Jere was awarded a $218,213 THECB
Category B grant, "ADN Student Retention Model," designed to evaluate the
effectiveness of a comprehensive retention model that results in increased student
retention in the nursing program with a special focus on minority students.
Outcome measures to evaluate effectiveness of the model are:
The model is composed of pre-admission
assessment, intro-program interventions and program exit outcome measures.
Pre-admission testing is used to assess academic, personal, and environmental factors that
could impact student success.
Intra-program interventions consist of multiple strategies to support student learning.
Examples of supports that will be available to students include:
supplemental financial aid
a dedicated counselor to address personal
and environmental issues
a full-time nursing faculty tutor to
remediate academic deficits in nursing courses
practicing nurse mentors from the community
Student retention rates and performance on the
HESI Exit Exam (predictive of success on the National Licensure Examination for RNs) will
be the outcome measures used to assess the effectiveness of the model.
