COS student featured in Lumina photojournalist project

Miguel Contreras, a 22-year old student majoring in nursing at College of the Sequoias (COS), was featured in a special year-long project by photojournalist Rachel Bujalski for The Lumina Foundation (Lumina), a partner of the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium.

For the past year, Bujalski has followed and documented the lives of a handful of California students whose lives reflect that of many of today’s students. Her work, including compelling photos and narrative that depict a candid, close up look at the lives of five low-income students and the immense college challenge they face during the COVID-19 pandemic, was recently published on Lumina’s website.

“Rachel is an accomplished photojournalist that has worked with Time, the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, National Geographic and more,” said Dakota Pawlicki, Lumina’s strategy officer for Community College and Workforce Education. “She recently was part of a team that earned an Emmy for their undercover reporting.”

CVHEC, a Lumina-designated Talent Hub, and other California Talent Hubs hosted Bujalski and connected her to the students she featured including Miguel, a cancer survivor and an amputee who grew up in foster care.

He works full time as a hospital aide at Kaweah Delta Medical Center while attending CVHEC-member institution COS in Visalia full-time in search of a nursing career — all while preparing for fatherhood.

Miguel’s right leg was amputated below the knee after a cancer diagnosis at age 18 and the care he received from his nurses inspired him to become a nurse himself. But his classes have moved online because of COVID-19 and he says the work has become much harder without in-person help.

View his and the other photo stories here: https://www.luminafoundation.org/news-and-views/photo-essay-the-college-climb-steepens/ )

See Guardian.com story: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/07/college-students-coronavirus-pandemic-california

CVHEC Pedagogy and Continuous Improvement Workshops

 

The Charles A. Dana Center of the University of Texas at Austin will offer two virtual workshops series to CVHEC member institution faculty and staff. Participants are welcome to participate in all six workshops or the workshop that best fits their schedule.

Registration deadline for the workshops is Jan. 27 at 1 p.m. 

• Pedagogy Workshops (support faculty in implementing student success strategies)

Helping Students Transition to Learners 
February 23, 2-4 p.m.  REGISTER

This session will explore several structural and psychosocial course design principles that can help students develop from passive receivers of knowledge to independent learners in an online setting.

Introduction to Psychosocial Factors: Belonging
February 24, 2-4 p.m. REGISTER

Psychosocial factors and their importance in supporting students in a heterogeneous virtual classroom will be introduced. The Belonging Mindset will be explored, including tools to help students develop a Belonging Mindset that can be incorporated into any course, whether face-to-face or virtual.

Differentiated Instruction Online
February 25, 2-4 p.m. REGISTER

Participants will actively experience instructional techniques that, by their design, meet individual needs within a diverse online student classroom while providing instructors with immediate formative assessment. These “low-floor, high-ceiling” strategies include all students, giving them the opportunity to understanding through discourse. The purpose, construction, and recommended facilitation strategies for each technique will be discussed and examples and templates will be provided.

• Continuous Improvement of Corequisite Models

This series of workshops will focus on the continuous improvement of corequisite models and is appropriate for both English and math instructors and department chairs. Participants will explore a continuous improvement framework for identifying, implementing and evaluating incremental changes to increase the efficacy of the corequisite models at their institution. Participants who are unable to attend all three workshops are advised that the “Continuous Improvement Planning” workshop (March 11) makes more sense if the “Introduction to Quality Improvement” is attended.

Promoting Continuous Improvement 
Tuesday, March 9, 2-4 p.m.  REGISTER

Participants will explore the characteristics of a department culture that supports Continuous Improvement.

Introduction to Quality Improvement 
Wednesday, March 10, 1-4 p.m. REGISTER

Participants will receive an overview of the Quality Improvement continuous improvement process that can be used in their departments to support implementation of corequisite courses.

Continuous Improvement Planning
Thursday, March 11, 2-4 p.m. REGISTER

Participants will model the process of continuous improvement and how it could be used to address a current challenge they are dealing with at their institution.

‘Dual Enrollment Upskilling Teachers Master’s Program’ Advances Equity

An innovative master’s degree program is underway to incentivize dual enrollment delivery at Central Valley high schools with the “Dual Enrollment Upskilling Teachers Master’s Program in English and Math.”

This approach addresses an equity concern raised by the Central Valley Dual Enrollment for Equity and Prosperity (CVDEEP) Task Force that was convened by the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium (CVHEC) in March 2020 when educators asserted that not enough Central Valley teachers are available to teach dual enrollment resulting in fewer opportunities for students – an equity gap.

“Although dual enrollment has been a tool for students to get ahead for college, not every student has been exposed to its benefits and still others who may not view themselves as ‘college material’ lose out on the benefits of its early exposure,” said Dr. Benjamin Duran, executive director of CVHEC. “By broadening dual enrollment opportunities for both rural and urban students, where they didn’t previously exist, more students are able to develop their collegiate confidence.”

CVHEC decided to tackle this equity issue head on when the Fresno K-16 Collaborative made funding available to its local partners. The Fresno K-16 Collaborative is the recipient of a $10 million investment Governor Gavin Newsom announced at the November 2019 California Economic Summit with the intent that the program will take innovative approach to improve student experience and create opportunities for success. Duran said dual enrollment is an effective strategy to help Central Valley students accelerate their college learning.

“Dual Enrollment is key to student access, success and equity. The reality is that dual enrollment only works when students can participate,” said Duran.

CVHEC received grant funding from the Fresno K-16 Collaborative for the Dual Enrollment Upskilling Teachers Master’s Program for English and Math in partnership with CVHEC-member institutions National University and Fresno Pacific.

CVHEC is coordinating two grants: one that is specifically for K-16 Collaborative partners in the Fresno area and a second one that allows for an expanded regional reach. In all, teachers from Fresno, Madera, Merced, and Kings counties will benefit from the Dual Enrollment Upskilling Teachers Master’s Program for English and Math 1.0 and 2.0.

“CVHEC’s two Dual Enrollment Upskilling Teachers Master’s Programs meet the Fresno K-16 Collaborative’s accessible equity-focused mission of creating an integrated, replicable, regional K-16 educational system foundation to address race equity and inclusion of our most vulnerable student populations,” said Karri Hammerstrom, executive director of the Fresno K-16 Collaborative.

This teacher upskilling program serves as a model to scale the program throughout CVHEC’s nine-county region as funding becomes available.

“CVHEC’s mission in all of our work is to create scalable innovations among our intersegmental higher education member institutions,” said Duran. “Although we are starting with a smaller scaled region, our commitment is to scale this program to all nine-counties as soon as we are able.”

The first cohorts of master’s degree students began their studies the first week of January 2021 and the second round of cohorts will begin in May 2021.

Students will have tuition supplemented, in some cases books will be paid for as well and students participating will be paired with college instructors from State Center Community College District who will serve as mentors. In total, the Upskilling Teachers Master’s Programs (1.0 and 2.0) provide for 115 teachers to participate in the program.

About CVDEEP

In Spring 2019, Central Valley community college leaders approached CVHEC to provide convening assistance surrounding dual enrollment that led to a gathering in July 2019 where over 60 education leaders from the CVHEC region began exploring the issue in follow up sessions.

From those convenings, CVHEC created the Central Valley Dual Enrollment for Equity and Prosperity (CV DEEP) Task Force consisting of Central Valley colleges and K-12 partner district educators collaborating to develop a strategy for effective dual enrollment programs regionally.

In March 2020, CVHEC held a comprehensive convening of the CVDEEP taskforce where over 100 community college and K- 12 partners gathered to share best practices, identify ongoing challenges and propose viable solutions.

“One of the top challenges that emerged is the need for more instructors qualified to teach college math and English to meet the increased demand for course offerings in dual enrollment (DE) programs,” said Virginia Madrid-Salazar, CVHEC strategies lead who developed a white paper documenting the organization’s DE initiatives and providing the foundation for the master’s attainment program proposal: “Dual Enrollment in the Central Valley: Working Toward a Unified Approach for Equity and Prosperity”.

“The most desired solution was a partnership with universities for streamlined programs so that interested high school faculty could earn their master’s degree in these two high-need disciplines,” she said. “This would enable them to meet the minimum qualifications set forth by the State Chancellor’s office required to teach college-level courses and providing this opportunity for students as part of their regular high school instructional day.”

CVHEC is a one of 15 Collaborative Partners that comprise the pilot Fresno K-16 Education Collaborative established in 2020 with funding by California Governor Gavin Newsom,  reporting to his Council on Post-Secondary Education, to develop four dual enrollment-related  educational pathways that help Fresno-area students move from high school to college and into the workforce.

“The outcomes from the ongoing dialogue between community colleges and their K-12 partners in the valley will continue, as will advocacy efforts, to institutionalize dual enrollment as a strategy,” Duran said. “A strategy to blur the lines between high school and community college for those students who can benefit from taking college courses and get a leg up on their quest for a college degree or certificate.”

 

Statement in Solidarity with the African American Community

Statement in Solidarity with the African American Community

Benjamin T. Duran Ed.D.

Executive Director

Central Valley Higher Education Consortium

 

The Central Valley Higher Education Consortium (CVHEC), a consortium of 27 colleges and universities serving the Central Valley of California, ordinarily works with its consortium members to enhance opportunities for valley students to access college and realize their life’s dreams.

However, these are not ordinary times. We find ourselves in dark times looking for the light we know lies out there for our nation.  Our country has been through dark times before and we have always emerged as a better people.  Once again, as we see our America in these historic times, engulfed in tumultuous scenes of strife and danger, I am compelled to join my CVHEC colleagues in denouncing the resurgence of the racism and bigotry that many have fought, for decades, to quell and eliminate from the America we all strive to create.  Today, we stand by, and with, our African American students, faculty, staff and communities of our Central Valley colleges and universities as they join others in the country to grieve and endure the pain of yet another senseless killing of an African American man, who like many of us, was a beloved father and friend. When he left home on that fateful day his family never imagined that they would never see him again.

In the killing of George Floyd, I, along with millions of Americans, witnessed yet another hateful and graphic act of violence against an African American in today’s America.  Perhaps as tragic and horrific as this killing was, is the fact that a simple act of humanity and compassion by other police officers present could have prevented the taking of his life.  Instead, we saw a complicity that was deaf to the anguished pleas of witnesses on a public street voicing their alarm at what they were witnessing.  Sadly, George Floyd’s death was preceded by the recent deaths of Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, two other African Americans who suffered the same fate, not because they were violating any laws, but because they were African Americans.  These deaths, as tragic as they are, are symptoms of a much larger systemic problem of injustice and equality that the protesters are striving to shed light on through their actions.

As I witness the images of Americans and people throughout the world who join them in using the voice of national protests to convey their anger and anguish at the injustices that are disproportionately thrust upon the African American community, I like many Americans was saddened and sickened by the violence and destruction that we witnessed in media reports, perpetrated by those opportunists whose motives should be questioned and who are not acting on behalf of the vast majority of those on the streets.  For many of us, it awakened old wounds and memories from another time when our country faced similar anger and rage. Though these acts of violence may be partially responsible for compelling authorities to file charges against those responsible for George Floyd’s death, I pray that the violence, against all, will begin to subside. I fear, continued violence will detract from the message of those protesting racism and bigotry while also dishonoring the memory of Mr. Floyd and the others who have suffered similar fates.  Senseless spurious violence, focused on police officers, protesting citizens or businesses and community centers has no place in the search for solutions that protesting Americans are pursuing.

As I dialogue with friends, family, and colleagues, I am struck by the compassion and solidarity they feel with those on the streets fighting the inhumanity and barbarity that has risen up again in our country and breeds the racism and bigotry that is the antithesis of America.  It is times like these when all Americans must join together to address the institutional racism that prevents our African American colleagues, students, and neighbors from successfully addressing the challenges and barriers they encounter, not only in our Central Valley region, but throughout the United States of America.

To that end, I am committed to ensuring that the umbrella of equity, under which CVHEC works, will encourage an ongoing and meaningful conversation on the difficult topics of racism and intolerance in our institutions of higher education in our communities.  We must strive to reflect the human values, ethics, and morals that lead to treating everybody equally regardless of our diversity and political differences.  We must walk together, side by side, to lead this country out of these dark times to create a more enlightened nation, where truly there will be liberty and justice for all.

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  • 559.292.0576

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