February Bragging Breakfast

Northwest Vista College President Dr. Ric Baser started off the February bragging breakfast, hosted by NVC College Services, thanking everyone who helped with the bomb threat at the college on Thursday, Feb. 21. Right about 2:25 pm, the Alamo Colleges District Police Department were sweeping through Juniper Hall, along with local authorities, to find an alleged bomb. Juniper and surrounding buildings were evacuated and the incident was over before 5 pm.

Dr. Baser said staff on campus did a phenomenal job evacuating buildings, and Alamo College’s Corporal Jill Sprowls and her team, went through every inch of the building looking for the alleged bomb. He added he was proud that the Building Action Team (BAT) put the safety of students, staff and faculty first.

NVC Coordinator of Risk Management Garvin Dansby added he’s never been in an emergency where everything went perfect. He encouraged everyone to take part in the April 6 active shooter drills in the morning, and then in the afternoon, a campus-wide lockdown drill. More information will come soon.

In the meantime, Garvin and his area have been busy holding NVC emergency drills throughout the campus and engaging the BAT and Crisis Action Team (CAT) teams to help them practice their roles. He also encouraged everyone to update their information in ACES for emergency communication purposes.

Dr. Steven Rodriguez, assistant professor of NVC Education/Student Development, gave a short representation on how he’s been busy utilizing the recent Foundation Innovation Grant to help students. His presentation titled, “Enhancing Student Career Development, Institute Selection & Retention,” showed how by end of this semester he will have held 60 meetings with students to help them determine the best career choice for them and what path to follow at NVC. He said many students come to him saying they want to go into a career because because their mom, dad, or sister are doing it, but don’t realize they may be suited for something completely different.

Announcements:

• Computer & projection replacement begins May 14. If you have questions, call 210-486-4777.
• Redesigned Open Lab in Juniper Hall, which has an open feeling and many collaboration stations for students.
• Budget – Start preparing for fiscal year 2019 budget and finalizing your budgets for 2018. Spreadsheets should be coming your way in March.
• Institutional Research Planning & Effectiveness – If you were not able to attend a strategic planning informational session, you can still contribute your ideas by visiting NVC’s website here.
• Quality Enhancement Program – In April, the second graduation class will present their information literacy capstone projects.

Celebrations:

• NVC’s Angela Cavazos-Barajas recently received the Patriotic Employer Award. Read more here.
• Corporal Jill Sprowls received the Wildcat Spirit Award
• Francisco Saucedo of Student Success received the Employee of the Month Award. Read more here.

Touchstone of the month is “Openness” where we engage in open and honest communications that create an atmosphere of trust and an openness to change for the benefit of students.