The November Bragging Breakfast, hosted by Student Success, was a salute to veterans on campus from employees to students.
Northwest Vista College President Dr. Ric Baser started the meeting off by thanking veterans for their service to the country. He said veterans are a major portion of who NVC. Next week, there are a variety of activities on campus to honor veterans. Here’s a list of activities.
Robin Sandberg, NVC director of Enrollment, encouraged employees to remind students to check their ACES emails because next week spring registration starts. She said it’s important they check emails to make there is nothing preventing them from registering.
One thing that could keep students from registering is a T9 hold, said Jennifer Comedy-Holmes, NVC dean of Student Success. T9 stands for Title 9, which is a federal law that states “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”
NVC is required by the state to educate students about sexual assault awareness and the way NVC does this is through an online module. New students are required to take the online training before they can register for classes.
Viviane Marioneaux of the NVC Digital Media program, presented how she used Innovation Grant funds to help her students stay in class and eventually get a degree from the program. Titled “Anyone Can,” she received funds to buy microphones and cameras to record classes for those students who couldn’t come to class due to having a sick child, being deployed or even having to move unexpectedly.
Viviane said after an initial test run, she found her students loved it and she found ways to increase student interaction. Not only did this help students, but she didn’t realize how this would help her too. Last year, she was involved in a bad car accident that would have caused her to cancel a class that many of her advanced students needed to graduate. The technology gave her the means to remotely teach it and those students were also able to get their associate degrees.
Jill Sprowls announced new software that will be added Nov. 27 to employee computers as a safety alert notification system “at their fingertips.” If a faculty member or employee feels threatened, they can push the button and Alamo Colleges DPS will respond.
Celebrations/Announcements:
- Dr. Baser said Thank You for contributing to the NVC Cares Annual Campaign. NVC shattered all records in giving and participation. From 28 percent participation of full-time faculty and staff last year to 71 percent this year and over $54,000 raised.
- NVC has been nominated for the prestigious Aspen Award (2019) for a $1 million prize based on four categories: learning; certificate and degree completion; employment & earning; and high levels of access and success for minority and low-income students.
- At the annual Alamo Theater Arts Council Awards, the NVC Drama production of “Grease” took home nine awards for Excellence. Read more here.
- The NVC Psychology Club and Psi Beta Honor Society chapter recently purchased items and filled 100 Coping Kits for the counselors at Childsafe to give to children when they come in for intake at their agency.
- The Wildcat Spirit Award was given to Luz Hernandez of Student Success.
- The Employee of the Month Award was given to Sarah Reyes of the NVC IT department.
- Touchstone of the Month is Diversity. We value diversity, appreciating different ways of knowing ands ways of living and recognizing that our diversity is a source of strength. How can your department show diversity of the next month?
- Congratulations to Kerri Hammer, an NVC alumni, for having the winning design for the 2018 NVC and Friends of the Arts Fiesta Medal contest.
- The 2017 Employee Giving Campaign Leadership Team were thanked for their service in helping NVC reach 71 percent participation. The team consisted of Judy Camargo, Migdalia Garcia, Robert G. Marbut, Renata Serafin, Bianca Vasquez, Mary Zocchi, Diane De La Garza, Virginia Leggett, Bailey Rodriguez, Dawna Upshaw and Qiaoying “Joy” Zhou.
To see the meeting, go here.