Welcome back to another distanced semester!

We are going to have to dig deep this spring. I’m always an optimist, but these times certainly tax my ability to be hopeful and positive. I wish we’d be together on campus, but our digital community will have to suffice for now.

Newly elected governing board members

I’m writing this Just after finishing in my role as FSCC President in an orientation meeting for the new governing board members (Dr. Judy Walters and Fernando Sandoval) about the role of the Academic Senate. Knowing that these officials were duly elected after a vigorous and difficult campaign, and that the board members who lost conceded graciously, and seeing the enthusiasm they have for their new role … well, it makes me feel better about our democracy. A welcome experience given last week’s travesty.

Hiring Permanent CCC President

Chancellor Reece announced to the Governing Board in December that he is commencing the search to hire CCC’s next permanent president. The ASC must forward faculty nominations to the hiring committee by February 1 and will be meeting January 19 at 3pm to make sure our procedures are as transparent and equitable as possible. Keep an eye out for the agenda. We’ll also discuss selecting CCC’s one nominee (via the FSCC) to the district hiring committee for the permanent Interim Chancellor – Chief Financial Officer.

FLEX activity promotion!

ASC is sponsoring two FLEX activities promoting faculty leadership on campus: Use the Grow@4CD tile on Insite to search for and sign up for these and other FLEX activities.

Outside the Room Where “It” Happens! Developing a meeting culture before, during, and after a meeting : People and understanding of relationships are what make a great meeting, and this can be supported by clear structures. In this FLEX, we will cover a few ingredients of a strong meeting culture: 1. Framework of a meeting (including Brown Act) 2. Communication 3. Human dimension, the essential ingredient. Wednesday January 20 2:30-4pm.
Preliminary Strategic Enrollment Management (S.E.M.) Meeting : A Strategic Enrollment Management Committee (schedule, analysis of enrollment trends, …and more) is one of the major objectives of CCC’s 2020-2025 strategic plan. A small group has done some pre-work to make sure this first meeting is well-structured so all who want lend expertise to this work have opportunity and a clear way forward. Please join your colleagues and explore what S.E.M. work might mean on our camps. Thursday January 21 8:30-10:30am.

Enrollment concerns

Enrollment is low, as mentioned by Jeff Michels in last week’s message. If you can help with phone banking, please contact Larry Womack (lwomack@contracosta.edu). with the following: Name, department, email, phone, how much time you can devote, whether you prefer to focus on your department or students/applicants in general.

Distance Education Support!

Maritez’ DE updates can be a big help. Here is one from December with lots of good resources. Here are a few more sources of support.

Maritez’ Online Teaching Essentials Repository
Our Instructional Designers: Monica Landeros (mlanderos@contracosta.edu) or Lauren Nahas (lnahas@contracosta.edu)
The DE Spring summit FLEX – register via the Grow@4CD tile on Insite – look for the following titles: Beautifying Your Canvas Course, Student Video Interaction with Flipgrid, Increase Student Engagement on Zoom, Pronto for Text Messaging and More, A Strong Start to Your Spring Classes, POCR (Peer Online Course Review)

We can do it!

Hang in there, everyone. There is light at the end of the tunnel – and we’ll be back with our beloved students soon.