Report of Activities • September-October 2013

Andrew Dorsey President

All Coloradans shall have access to comprehensive community college educational programs. • Nobel laureate Dr. Thomas Cech, center in photo at right, spoke

to students and staff on the Westminster Campus as the guest of the Biology Club, sponsored by Dr. Anjali Vaidya, biology faculty. Dr. Cech is a distinguished professor at the University Colorado-Boulder, director of the CU BioFrontiers Institute, and investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He spoke about RNA and its ability to stimulate chemical reactions in living cells.

• Health Information Technology (Westminster) attained accreditation through the Commission on Accreditation of Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM). This accreditation allows graduates to sit for the registration exam to become a Registered Health Information Technician (RHIT).

The demands of Colorado businesses and communities shall be met through the development of a highly skilled work force. • U.S. Secretary of Labor Tom Perez, left

in photo at right, announced at FRCC that the Colorado Community College System was a recipient of a Round III-Trade Adjustment Assistant Community College Career Training Grants. The grant will award $24.9 million to CCCS to fund instruction and capacity-building for welding, machining, and other manufacturing-related programs for seven colleges. FRCC, the lead college on the grant, was awarded $3.6 million to lease and equip a new Advanced Technology Center which will house credit and non-credit training centered on manufacturing.

• Multimedia Graphic Design students (Westminster) are producing a Veterans’ History Video Project sponsored by the Library of Congress. The project involves gathering oral histories of women veterans and producing a film documenting their stories of service and how their roles changed through the 20th century. The production is being led by Brandon Berman (MGD faculty) and a group of students in a Special Topics classes Documentary Production I and II. Anthony Heideman (history faculty) is a consultant.

FRCC President’s Report September-October 2013

Colorado students shall have seamless opportunities to transition from high school into college and from two-year institutions into four-year institutions. • Career Pathways (high school) Wildlife and Forestry Program students completed a service-learning

project. They studied soils and erosion factors and went to a property damaged in the High Park Fire. The students placed erosion bars (log terraces), planted grass seed, and mulched a steep hillside. Students got to see the effects of the fire across the landscape and its subsequent impact on the Rist Canyon and Poudre River watersheds through the increased erosion of the barren mountainsides.

• Robert Olson is the Adult Learner of the Year Award for 2013 from the Colorado Adult Education Professional Association (CAEPA). Despite personal hardship, Robert graduated with his GED in May 2013. He is enrolled in the new Dev Ed College Prep class at Larimer Campus, and he is planning to attend FRCC in spring 2014.

• Dr. Laura Jensen, director of Institutional Research at Colorado State University, shared data with FRCC IR to assist in determining whether students who take their foundational math course at FRCC did as well in their subsequent math course at CSU. While the “native” CSU students had a higher pass rate in their subsequent math course, additional analyses found that this difference was strongly correlated to the elapsed time between the two courses. The data revealed that FRCC students are more likely to take longer breaks between math courses, which generally results in reduced pass rates. However, once this elapsed time was controlled for, FRCC students actually had higher pass rates than the CSU students.

Colorado students shall have the opportunity to succeed through high quality, cutting-edge instruction and educational services.

• FRCC had its first-ever Assess-a-Palooza – a one-day assessment conference. A total of 110 people attended. Among the 31 presentations were: Flipping the Classroom, Cooperative Learning, Conducting a Department Wide Assessment, Classroom Assessment Techniques, Student Generated Rubrics, Student Learning Outcomes, Embedded Syllabi, The State of Learner Analytics, Student Ownership of Learning, and many more. All presentations included results of student learning. In the opening session, participants were given a conference challenge – to look for ways the presenters used assessment to improve student learning. In the closing session, participants reported on the challenge, offering ideas and models for how to improve student learning through assessment.

• Kae Novak (Online Learning), Dr. Farah Bennani (biology), and Dr. Anjali Vaidya (biology) presented “Project Outbreak: Creating an Epistemic Game” at the STEMx Global Conference. The presentation was delivered simultaneously in French and English to a worldwide audience. A collaborative effort of the Westminster Campus and Online Learning, Project Outbreak takes microbiology and epidemiology out of the classroom and into the world through game-based learning, with funding from a CCCS Immersive Learning Grant.

• Student Services (Boulder County) collaborated on a pilot program, Wolf Express: Register in a Day. The Wolf Express days were scheduled on the five Fridays before the start of the fall semester. More than 90 percent of participants completed their registration in one day.

• The Design Club’s First Annual Interior Design and Bath event at the Larimer Campus consisted of a “gallery walk” exhibiting student work, professional affiliation contacts for interior designers, and local and national vendors. A Color Trends consultant presented at the event, and a Kitchen and Bath Design professional spoke about “Selling to Design vs. Designing to Sell,” a hot topic in the

FRCC President’s Report September-October 2013

industry. The club also organized a fundraiser table for flood victims for cash donations and silent auction items.

• Visual and Media Arts (Larimer) is running a series of 12 workshops on portfolio development for all Creative Arts, Design and Humanities students. Workshop topics include photographing work, crafting résumés, creating professional presentations, and finding jobs and careers in the creative industries.

• Music (Larimer) sponsored The Front Range Chamber Players with special guest world-renowned composer Kenji Bunch. They performed in Harmony Library.

• Students Helping Students assisted 515 Boulder County students in completing fall 2013 registration. The student-peer program provides a “safe” environment for students to ask questions, so that their subsequent time spent with an academic or financial aid advisor is more productive.

The financial stability of the system’s institutions and the physical safety of its students shall be ensured. • FRCC worked with the city of Fort Collins on a Site Plan Advisory Review, including a community

open house that attracted more than 100 people. Larimer Campus neighbors were invited to learn about the proposed Integrated Technology building and the parking plan designed for the proposed new land parcel to the south of campus.

• Campus Security and Preparedness (CSP) is raising awareness and addressing the impact of crimes against persons on campus. Responding to an increased emphasis under the Clery Act and the Violence Against Women Act to address dating violence, domestic violence, stalking and sexual assault, each campus will have a specific officer assigned who will receive advanced training and will work directly with the CSP director on presentations and trainings. A comprehensive communications plan and a networking strategy with our community partners are being developed. To date, the team leader has presented to FRCC’s Clery Committee and brought in local law enforcement and domestic violence resources for presentations.

• The Sunlight Peak science building at the Larimer Campus was awarded the LEED Gold Certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.

• Construction on a traffic signal at Westminster’s 112th Street and East Drive intersection has begun. It is expected to be operational in January 2014.

• The FRCC Foundation received contributions of $204,000 in the first quarter, compared to $101,000 a year ago. The FY2013 Independent Audit contained no material issues. The foundation has awarded $423,000 to 415 students this fiscal year.

Miscellaneous • Jeff Borg (political science, Larimer) and two volunteer student assistants, Buffeigh O’Donnell and

Kristi Escalante, organized Constitution Day events. Students could register to vote, pick up a free pocket Constitution, and tour an interactive display called “The Bill of Rights Experience.” Students who completed the tour received an “I Know My Rights!” commemorative sticker.

• Information Technology Services (Boulder County) reports that one-third of its student technician staff is bilingual. A growing number of Spanish-speaking students are being directed to the Student Success Center Computer Commons for computer assistance, and the staff are wearing buttons or name tags that welcome these conversations.