Good Monday morning, December 4th, 2017--- Time flies. Just one week of classes left this semester and then finals. Good luck to us all. We are also in the midst of our Winter and Spring enrollment push. Make sure to tell students that now is the time to register for Winter and Spring classes. Our external advertising is taking off that includes a LATTC Winter and Spring enrollment campaign on busses, trains, and stations this week. More outreach is being pushed out over the next few weeks and months. It is so helpful if each of us embraces our role in increasing enrollment. And we can do that by encouraging our students to understand the benefit of taking that extra class to complete sooner so they can hit this strong job market as soon as possible with their certificates, degrees and transfers. Some good news for the college before I launch into the week s events. Last Wednesday, Martin Diaz, the Academic Senate President, and I received an email of congratulations from the Academic Senate of the California Community Colleges. The email stated that LATTC s Advanced Transportation & Manufacturing Pathway (ATM) was selected by the State Academic Senate to receive the 2017-18 Exemplary Program Award. It is officially a Board of Governors award, sponsored by the Foundation for California Community Colleges. Awardees will be recognized by the Board of Governors at their January 16-17 convening. The award includes a $4,000 prize. Although I do not know how many other colleges received this award, this is bragging rights for our campus and for our ATM Pathway. We should all be proud of the work that we do together. I sent a message last week to you with the Winter Break Hours. The college will be open the week of 12/18 to 12/21 Monday and Tuesday 8am to 6pm and Wednesday and Thursday 8am to 4:30pm. Friday 12/22 is a holiday for us. The following week (12/25) the campus will be closed. Those staff members who choose to work, will work in Physical Plant on Tuesday 12/26 and/or Wednesday 12/27 until 4:30 at the latest. All other days that week are holidays. We re-open again with normal hours of operation on Tuesday 1/2/18. Be sure to submit your blue slips by Friday 12/8. The Week Ahead Our Work Environment Committee (WEC) is meeting today at 1:15-3pm in MA-03. We will be again weighing in on the name changes to our buildings and there will be more discussions and problem-solving about campus construction. Hope to see you there.
This week the ASO and the Inter Club Council have set up a full week of activities as part of their holiday celebration. While the students are going to have some fun, there is also a serious aspect to the event. The ASO/ICC are collecting new, unwrapped toys to be given to children of students from the LATTC community. Today there will be games and food on the North Lawn along with representatives from many of the ASO clubs. This Thursday the Performing Arts Club will be holding a Talent Showcase.
Academic Senate meets on Tuesday and they are hosting their holiday party on Thursday. One of LATTC s grand special events each semester takes place this Friday. The Fall 2017 Gold Thimble Fashion Show is happening on Friday evening at 7pm at the Reef. That is the design building just two blocks east of the LATTC campus and it promises to be a great venue. This year s theme is a tribute to famous Hollywood costume designer Edith Head. This event is always a highlight of each semester and I understand the student designs surpass other years. If you want tickets for one of the
best nights of the LATTC calendar, please visit the Fashion office on the 2nd floor of Cypress Hall. LAST WEEK On Monday afternoon, College Council, plus other campus voices who responded to the call for input in last week s Monday Morning email, focused first on a vote and then provided input to a separate report to the Board of Trustees. The first portion of the meeting centered on a presentation by LACCD Vice Chancellor of Educational Programs and Institutional Effectiveness Dr. Ryan Cornner, who spoke about the District Strategic Plan and the campus approval needed. After a look at the very detailed district initiative that tracks the rigorous new metrics from the Board of
Governors, the College Council approved the plan unanimously. Next up was a facilitated discussion on four areas related to our enrollment efforts that will be presented and discussed at our Board of Trustees meeting this Wednesday at Pierce College. The breakouts focused on a required college-by-college report addressing new efforts to impact our declining enrollment around Adult Ed, marketing, student retention/persistence, new high school partnerships, and ensuring efficient class sizes in the process. All of the tables representing campus constituencies made contributions to the report that is now in the Chancellor s hands. The discussions served as a call to action for campus leaders as we work together to improve our enrollment. On Tuesday morning, I hosted a meet-and-greet session in the Magnolia Atrium for Dr. Jim Lancaster, our new Vice President of Instruction, to give everyone on campus an opportunity to say hi, and provide Jim the chance to meet more of the LATTC family. Jim comes to us with decades of experience from Citrus College, and extensive knowledge about career training and transfer education. Thanks to everyone who came by to meet Jim and, of course, as you see him around campus, please introduce yourself.
Last Wednesday, we celebrated yet another inspiring Deans Honors Awards with more than 300 students who attended being recognized for their accomplishments in their classes. Congratulations to those students who made the President s and Dean s Lists. To be on the President s List, a student has to have a 3.5 GPA for at least three consecutive semesters. A special thanks goes to the LATTC Foundation and other groups for providing more than $154,000 in student scholarships. It was great to see so many parents, relatives and friends in attendance in support of our students. We will have a link to other photos on Facebook and on the website.
Last Thursday through Saturday, LATTC participated in the second California Guided Pathways Institute. We were selected to participate in the collective community of 20 colleges leading the statewide change effort to organize our colleges into pathways. We were able to spend time in beautiful downtown Bakersfield (and I learned that I do not do a good job sleeping through train whistles all night long). Our college is getting some respect for the hard work we have been doing on PACTS (Pathways to Academic, Career and Transfer Success), which is identical to the Guided Pathways framework. There will be six institutes over the three years of this collective effort, and participation, although limited, will be shared throughout the campus over time. Feel free to do a Google Search on the California (CA20) Guided Pathways work and you will see many of the presentations on the Four Pillars and the related collateral material. It is worth a read, as this one is not intended to be just another initiative, it is a shift in how we deliver programs to students.
This past Saturday we hosted a large gathering called the Forward LA Summit: A Day of Justice, sponsored by the United Parents and Students. This non-profit group organizes around issues facing education. The summit brought out more than 600 folks to organize their work and listen to elected officials like state Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, who talked about equity within the State s public education system. Once again, these events place attention on LATTC as an accessible location for higher education. Dr. Michelle Cheang, our dean over high school partnerships, represented us well as we continue to grow this work and our enrollment in this area. Our marking of World AIDS Day at the end of our week, was complete with a mobile testing van in the South Campus. Students and staff were able to get tested to know their status. Thanks to everyone responsible for arranging the mobile test unit on campus and for keeping us aware of the importance of remembering that our communities remain affected. Finally, our men s and women s basketball teams are launching pre-conference play with the men at 2-6 and the women at 6-2. My wife and I saw the LATTC women dominate Southwest College last Wednesday evening, and the men beat Oxnard College. This past weekend the women lost to Mt. San Jacinto, one of strongest teams in the state during a tournament where LATTC had a strong third place showing. Can t wait to see how well our teams do in conference play. Go Beavers! Best of luck to Coach Wells and Coach Morgan.
As we wrap up our Fall semester, let s continue to push students toward the Winter and Spring semesters. Make sure they know that the Winter session is a great time to pick up extra classes to move them closer to their goals. Let s keep pushing that message and build the numbers of the students we serve so well. Larry Larry Larry Frank President, LATTC College to Career, It s All Here L. A. Trade-Technical College