Tag Archive for: Talent Hub

CVHEC DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE (April 2024): The math mission!

A mission of math continues in the Central Valley

 

Greetings CVHEC friends and colleagues!

Welcome to our April newsletter as we are a month or so to closing out another academic year in the Central Valley. We are particularly pleased to shine a spotlight on our community college board members for National Community College Month. Our Central Valley community college leaders are dedicated to serving our students with great pride.

You will note that this issue focuses on mathematics education activity in the Central Valley.  Our CVHEC partners — College Bridge and the Charles A. Dana Center from the University of Texas at Austin — have been working with our regional partner community colleges and high schools to build pathways and eliminate barriers for our students looking to navigate the challenge of completing their gateway courses in college math.

You will get a glimpse of the work that the Central Valley Math Task Force members will be undertaking at their April 19 convening.  Also, an update by Dr. Nicole Korgie highlights the progress College Bridge has made with implementing the Math Bridge project to enroll high school students in college level dual enrollment classes.

But our big news on the math mission front is the awarding of two grants to CVHEC from the Regional K-16 Education Collaboratives Grant Programs by the WE Will! K-16 Collaborative that will expand our Math Bridge and Master’s Upskilling projects into the north valley. Congrats CVHEC-members: University of California, Merced (WE Will’s lead agency); Merced College; Modesto Junior College; San Joaquin Delta College; and California State University, Stanislaus for your leadership.

And in our News section, we welcome new presidents to two of our CVHEC member institutions:

  • Britt Rios-Ellis was named by the California State University Board of Trustees as the new president at CSU Stanislaus effective July 1.
  • Dr. Rafe E. Trickey will begin his tenure as superintendent/president of Taft College May 3 after his appointment by the West Kern Community College District.

We look forward to having President-select Rios-Ellis and President-select Trickey join us on the CVHEC Board of Directors.

Thank you all, I hope you enjoy this April issue.

CVHEC DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE (March 2024): The winds of a prospering education scene

The winds of a prospering education scene

Greetings CVHEC friends and colleagues!

Welcome to spring 2024 and our March e-newsletter.

This issue carries some interesting articles beginning with a very unique situation in the South Valley where our regional lead, Tom Burke, provides a perspective from his role as chancellor-emeritus of the Kern Community College District regarding the unprecedented winds of change in five major Kern County education institutions in the past year alone.

In previous issues, we have noted the appointments of Kern Community College District’s new chancellor, Dr. Steven Bloomberg, and Bakersfield College’s new president, Jerry Filger. Now we welcome them as both began their respective terms this month as well as their terms on the CVHEC Board of Directors. They are part of that transitioning educational leadership in Kern County that Chancellor-emeritus Burke presents in this month’s “What the CV-HEC is Happening” Blog.

Also, you will see our participation in the recent Digital Dual Enrollment Week campaign by the Dual Enrollment Coalition of California. We highlighted our Master’s Upskilling programs and recent graduates; one of the alumna of that program now teaching dual enrollment at Sanger West, Mrs. Jade Martinez and her students; our dual enrollment video with student success stories; and the work of our Math Bridge Program with partner College Bridge as they conduct student recruitment this spring.

We  also congratulate and welcome two new members of the California Community Colleges Board of Governors who make their homes in the Central Valley and are associated with two of our CVHEC member colleges: congratulations Cirian Villavicencio of San Joaquin Delta College in the North Valley, and Kern Community College District trustee Nan Gomez-Heitzeberg in the southern San Joaquin Valley.

The latter represents the first South Valley representation on the highest governing body in California’s community college system that advocates for nearly 2 million students at 116 colleges across the state, including our 15 CVHEC community college members. We thank them for the service they will be performing for this community.

And last but not least, we bid “farewell” to a cherished team member, Ms. Pricila Villanueva, our administrative coordinator since 2018 who moves into a fulltime position with Equitable Bank Standards, Beneficial State Foundation where she will continue her work as a champion for equity. Pricila, we wish your and your family all the success in the world!

As you can see, there is so much more in this issue as our e-newsletter continues to grow and provide a communications platform for the great higher education work underway in the Central Valley.  Please enjoy!

CVHEC DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE (February 2024): Ongoing mission for students

CVHEC members’ ongoing mission for

students’ successful academic journey

 

Greetings and welcome to 2024 from the CVHEC Team,

Welcome to our February CVHEC e-newsletter as we share how our Central Valley colleges and universities are ensuring that the academic journey of our students is successful and rewarding for their individual experience and growth.

I hope you enjoyed the days of note this month: President’s Day and Valentine’s Day. But we especially observe African American History month and the many contributions of African American educators past and present. Thank you for all you do for our communities.

As you read on, please note how the Central Valley Math Task Force continues its valiant work addressing issues around high school and college math pathways such as AB1705 implementation with another successful convening in January. We now look to the follow-up session April 19 as faculty from both systems undertake an unprecedented partnership that will provide leadership for this important endeavor and deliver a meaningful experience in the classroom for our students.  We call it “the Central Valley Way.”

Also illustrating this professional collaboration amongst faculty members is our “What the CV-HEC is Happening” guest blog by Owynn Lancaster of College Bridge. Student recruitment is underway and Owynn updates our joint Math Bridge Program and how the work of colleague Dr. Nicole Korgie and her team impacts targeted high school students in the region helping them embark on a journey to successfully complete college level math through dual enrollment courses.  We are encouraged by the success rates of those students and their performance once they get to our local community college.

We are also delighted to share that Fresno State has joined California State University, Bakersfield,  Stanislaus State and the University of California, Merced in working with our regional community colleges in the Central Valley Transfer Project which is unique in California.  This innovative approach is the only one in the state that includes a University of California campus collaborating with California State University and community college partners — all members of the consortium — in establishing transfer pathways for Central Valley students to get them into and through college in a timely manner.

And last but far from least, congratulations to Dr. Kristen Clark, our CVHEC Board of Directors chair, who recently announced her retirement as chancellor of the West Hills Community College District effective June 30 which means she will be stepping down from our board as well. Please see my statement about Chancellor Clark, who is truly a champion of higher education for all.

Please enjoy this edition and look for some of the new initiatives fueling up on our launchpad in the months to come, such as Online Educational Resources/Zero Textbook Costs that assists our students with the high cost of getting educated in today’s environment.

As always, thanks for joining us.

CVHEC DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE (January 2024): A promising New Year!

A promising 2024!

 

Greetings and welcome to 2024 from the CVHEC Team,

We are excited about what the new year holds for our member Central Valley colleges and universities and the thousands of students they serve in this part of California.

As we find ourselves halfway through the 2023-24 Academic Year, you will find in this first newsletter of the new year updates on the exciting initiatives and projects that we undertook during the fall semester and will continue into the spring of this year.

In the fall, our Board of Directors introduced the CVHEC Strategic Plan that will guide the consortium for the next three years.  One way to plan your future ventures is to take stock of where you have been. Please enjoy the blog by team member Stan Carrizosa who has masterfully laid out the collective efforts and accomplishments of the CVHEC team, its colleges and universities and its contributing partners this last year as a guide into 2024.

Also, to help carry out that plan, we will soon be rolling out our 2024 CVHEC Campaign which will serve as the umbrella under which our higher education and K12 partners will do their work.  We have found that the talent and insights of our Central Valley higher education professionals are reflected in the collaborative approach to developing and implementing innovative strategies to addressing student success challenges the Central Valley way.

These efforts will include work from CVHEC’s Math Task Force, English Task Force, Online Educational Resources/Zero Textbook Cost Task Force and the CVHEC Dual Enrollment for Equity and Prosperity (CVDEEP) Task Force.  Keep an eye out for more details about our campaign!

We are also delighted you will read about the continued support for the consortium from the College Futures Foundation as well as new federal funding awarded College Bridge, one of our partners working with us to deliver the innovative Math Bridge intervention in partnership with regional community colleges and their feeder high school partners in the valley.  This includes new Math Bridge collaborations with our Central Valley Transfer Project as well.

Last but not least, our member institutions were engaged this month in their annual local efforts to bring community members to their campuses for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations and activities in observance of the contributions and sacrifices of this great American leader of civil rights and next month for Black History Month.

Thanks for joining us in kicking off a great 2024!!

CVHEC DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE (December 2023): Happy Holidays!

 

Best wishes for 2024 from the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium staff: (FRONT) Dr. Benjamín Durán and Ángel Ramírez. (BACK) Tom Burke, Dr. Liz Rozell, Pricila Villanueva, Stan Carrisoza, Elaine Cash, Dr. John Spevak and Tom Uribes. (Not pictured: Vikash Lakhani).

  All the best this holiday season as we reflect on 2023

 

Holiday greetings from all of us here at CVHEC,

I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful and restful Thanksgiving with your family and loved ones and are doing the same during this Christmas season.

We invite you to reflect on an eventful and rewarding 2023 for the Central Valley and the Consortium captured here in our final newsletter of the year. Thank you to our partners as we share our accomplishments in pursuing initiatives and projects with our region’s students in mind.

This year we are happy to salute and greet our K-12 partner districts who have joined us in creating meaningful pathways from middle school and high school to college.  As we prepare to welcome 2024, stay tuned as we continue to nurture many roads leading to one destination – getting students to and through college in a timely manner!

We were particularly excited to close the year this month with two major national conferences: the Talent Hub Convening in Mobile, Alabama by the CivicLab where we revisited how partnerships between industry and education, working off the same playbook, are vital to cross-collaboration success for both landscapes; and the Complete College America conference in Las Vegas, Nevada where we encountered “a clear-eyed vision for leading systems change” throughout our nation. We started the year-end conference season with the  Community Colleges League of California in November where our summit student panelist Araceli Tilley joined us to talk about her successful Program Pathway Mapper experiences.

CVHEC is excited to be an active part of these national and state movements as we leave 2023 and forge ahead into a promising 2024.

And in closing, congratulations to our two newest CVHEC board members selected this month to serve as CEOs:  Brian Sanders was named president of Modesto Junior College by the Yosemite Community College District’s Board of Trustees; and Dr. Steven Bloomberg was named chancellor of the Kern Community College District by the KernCCD Board of Trustees.

So, once again, holiday greetings to all with wishes for a wonderful start to the coming new year!!

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

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