Dr. Cheryl Ajirotutu has been appointed to the Global Learning Advisory Board, within the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). Dr. Ajirotutu will represent Skyline College, advancing AAC&U’s global learning agenda through participation in and preparation of conferences and meetings, technical support mentoring for AAC&U member institutions, grant projects as well as reviewer for AAC&U global learning projects.

AAC&U has advanced global learning for over three decades. Its ongoing work facilitates national conversations on important global issues such as:

• Outcomes, Assessment and Curriculum/Co-Curriculum Global Learning Pathways
• Ethical Obligations to International and Domestic Students and Community Partners Strategic Planning for Global Learning: Designs for Greater Inclusivity
• Integration of Global Learning with Other High-impact Educational Practices

Cheryl Ajirotutu is Coordinator for the African Diaspora Program in the Global Learning Programs and Services (GLPS) division at Skyline College.

Article by Cheryl Ajirotutu

The Skyline College Strategic Planning and Allocation of Resources Committee (SPARC) held its final meeting for 2016 on Thursday, December 8, 2016.

Eloisa Briones, Vice President of Administrative Services gave a quick update on the Facilities Planning underway at Skyline College.  She noted that the Pacific Heights building will be upgraded instead of the original plan to demolish and construct a new building in its place.  Due to an escalation in construction costs, the funding that was allocated to build three new structures is only adequate for two new structures.

Aaron McVean, Interim Vice President of Instruction was available to provide the group with an overview of three major grants that are available to Skyline College.  Currently in process is a technical assistance grant from the Laura and Arnold Johnson Foundation to facilitate implementation of the Skyline College Promise.  The grant of $836,607 for two years will allow the college to model the best practices from the highly successful City University of New York Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (CUNY-ASAP) which allows students to attain Associate Degrees within 3 years.  CUNY-ASAP graduation rate is over 50%.

Two other major grants from the State with a deadline of February 3, 2017 are the Award for Innovation in Higher Education from the California State Department of Finance of up to $2.5 million per award and the California College Promise Innovation Grant Program from the California Community College Chancellor’s Office for $750,000.   Both grants will allow the college to fully implement and expand the Skyline College Promise of “Get in. Get through. Get out…on time!”

Karen Wong, Coordinator of Institutional Effectiveness and Zahra Mojtahedi, Planning and Research Analyst, gave a hands on presentation of the highlights and implications of the results of last spring’s college wide survey, the Community College Survey for Student Engagement (CCSSE).   CCSSE, which was created in 2001, is designed to capture the institutional practices and student behaviors that are highly correlated with student learning and retention.  Skyline College has administered the survey once every four years since 2008.   The survey was administered in 51 randomly selected courses to ensure a decent sample, resulting in 1005 students taking the survey.  The survey allows the college to also compare results against the 2016 cohort of colleges that administered the survey. The highlights will help inform faculty, staff and administrators on how to improve upon institutional practices that enable students to meet their educational goals and increase student engagement. Please see the accompanying article on the CCSSE in this edition of “Skyline Shines.”

Article by Judy Hutchinson

The Emergency Response Task Force met on December 1, 2016. The Task Force is rotating locations of meetings and including a building tour to become more familiar with the various building nuances to better prepare for emergencies. The following updates were provided during the meeting and a robust discussion on improvements and next steps took place, followed by a building 7 tour by Dean Hernandez.

Communication Go Packets: Cherie Colin reported that she is working in conjunction with the Chief of Staff at the district, the other two college PIOs and Tom Maloney, the district consultant for emergency preparedness, to develop communications “go” packets for various emergency scenarios.

Emergency Vests: Tom Maloney has provided a recommendation to the district on a rollout of emergency vest color coding for building captains and Emergency Operations Center members to wear during drills and in the event of an emergency situation. The district will prescribe what colors that will be used at all three campuses for consistency. Vice President Briones has requested that the vests be ordered in time for our February tabletop exercise.

Building Safety Teams: Tom Maloney is recommending that we adjust the district-wide terminology from Floor and/or Building Captains to Building Safety Teams, so that a more team-oriented approach is taken.

Building Captains: Tom Maloney is recommending a policy for determining how many Building Captains should be assigned based on the size of the building. Part of the recommendation includes that each division determine its needs based on their building to create a Building Safety Team so there are multiple people in the division available to support emergency response efforts. Chief of Public Safety, Jim Vangele would like to assign staff to these positions who are willing to be trained to take on the safety tasks as part of their regular duties. While faculty can assist, he would only like to recruit those who voluntarily want the assignments. John Doctor, Facilities Manager said that Facilities is prepared to assist with Building Captain duties in the evening in all campus buildings. They have established a chain of command to back up the Facilities Manager if he is not on campus. Scott Mansfield will be contacting the division deans and ask them to be intentional about who they assign to their Building Safety Team.  He will also ask the deans to assess how many team members are needed, what their resources and specific needs are. Chief Vangele is available to walk through each building with the dean(s) to assist in determining what their needs are.

Emergency Supplies: Chief Vangele reported that Skyline College will be organizing its emergency equipment and “go bags” and needs a final list of what to order. They would like these supplies to be standardized throughout the district.  The Chief and Tom Maloney will coordinate with district and report back to the committee.

Evacuation and Emergency Response: All faculty and staff should be required to participate in and follow instructions from Building Safety Teams during drills. It should be mandatory that they evacuate in all instances, including during drills, which did not happen during the last drill.

Campus Radio Training: Chief Vangele scheduled and held radio trainings before the Winter Break for interested staff and faculty.

Building 7 Tour: The Task Force toured Building 7, which houses classrooms, labs and staff offices. There are also chemicals and other hazardous materials stored in the building. Because of the multiple stairwells and exits, evacuation during the October Great California Shake-Out was complicated. Dean Hernandez pointed out that the maps near stairwells will need to be corrected and should be easier to view in an emergency as they are oriented wrong. Building 7 connects with Building 8, so coordination between the Building 7 and Building 8 Building Safety Teams should be established. A suggestion was made to standardize the evacuation route for Building 7 and create a set of instructions. Emergency egress locations need to be established for each building.

Article by Cherie Colin & Linda Bertellotti