Archive for January, 2008
This week’s RLC update
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RCHS - Excellent student success news continues to arrive for Richland Collegiate High School (RCHS) seniors! The following RCHS students have been accepted with junior status at the following universities: Justin Pham–Baylor; Caitlin Taylor–The University of Texas at Austin Biomedical Engineering School and U.T. Dean’s Scholar Invitational, which includes scholarship interviews; and Melanie Weiler–The University of Texas and Texas A&M.
Community and Economic Development – To honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Richland College’s Student Programs and Resources sponsored the appearance of Reverend Clarence Glover, a local diversity expert and civil rights activist who was involved with Dr. King’s initiatives. An overflow crowd of students, faculty and staff filled the Brazos Gallery to hear Reverend Glover speak about Dr. King’s philosophy, activities and marches to bring heightened awareness about injustices in our country. Reverend Glover asked students to discuss in small groups when they had experienced injustice and their responses to it, and encouraged them to become involved in organizations whose missions are to eliminate injustice and provide equality for all individuals.
Student Success – This week’s Richland Student Wall of Honor features Rick Walker, former student, current Richland College adjunct broadcast journalism instructor, and LeCroy/Richland cable/broadcast TV production director. When a childhood accident pierced Rick’s left eye doctors indicated he would be blind in that eye and lose sight in the other eye due to infection. Remarkably, his sight remained in tact, and he advanced to a successful career in television and radio after earning an A.A.S. degree from Richland College in 1986, a B.A. degree in radio/TV/film from UNT, and a M.L.A. with communications emphasis from SMU. Having received 34 national, regional, and local awards for broadcast excellence, he currently hosts two DCCCD cable TV broadcasts called College Television and Richland Television, and independently hosts and produces Powertalk on 89.7 FM in the Dallas/Fort Worth market.
Employee Success – Congratulations to Richland College Senior Rehabilitation specialist Aliene Pylant. Aliene is a published poet and playwright of one-act plays, and was recently awarded third prize in a national poetry contest conducted by Winning Writers, an organization that finds and creates quality resources for poets and writers and awards more than $24,000 in writing prizes. Winning Writers was named one of the “101 Best Websites for Writers” by Writer’s Digest in 2005, 2006 and 2007. (Her award-winning poem, Girl in the Fire, is attached.)
Institutional Effectiveness – Richland College is piloting a 2007-08 Program Review of Student and Administrative Support Services, benchmarked from El Centro College. The review model is consistent with the annual credit program reviews conducted over the past 15 years by Richland College’s Academic Council. The review requirements include a SWOT analysis, quantitative and qualitative measures, student learning outcomes assessment, documentation of program initiatives, and an analysis of program resources. Gloria Washington, the college’s director of Institutional Effectiveness, trained pilot participants and is conducting periodic reviews of progress throughout the academic year.
Published by Anitra Cotton on January 28th, 2008 tagged Award/Honors, News, Richland Collegiate High School | Comment now »
Black History Month events planned at Richland College
In celebration of Black History Month, Richland College will be hosting two free events this February:
Student Programs and Resources (SPAR) at Richland will present an event entitled “Portraits of Courage,” noon-1:30 p.m., Wed., Feb. 6 in Fannin Hall, room 102. This two-person show, produced by the nationally acclaimed Will and Company, highlights unsung black heroes and their contributions to American history.
The following day, the Richland African American Connection group and SPAR will host an “African-American Read In” at 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Thurs., Feb. 7 in Fannin Hall, room 108. This event will feature readings of African-American literature, dance performances and more.
For more information about “Portraits,” contact SPAR at 972-238-6130. For details about the “Read In,” contact Tanisha Shorter at 972-238-3746.
Published by Anitra Cotton on January 22nd, 2008 tagged Events, News | Comment now »
This week’s RLC update
Community and Economic Development – Richland College will host more than 70 high school seniors and potential Richland College students from the Garland ISD Hispanic Mentoring Program on January 22nd, when they will complete admissions applications, learn about Financial Aid, and participate in a campus-wide scavenger hunt to collect helpful instructional and student services information and familiarize themselves with the Richland College campus. Departments included in the scavenger are Health Professions, Library, Fitness Center, Student ID Room, Academic Advising, Career Services, Financial Aid, Computer Labs, SPAR, and the Multimedia Learning Center.
Student Success – This week’s Richland Student Wall of Honor features Gloria Jean Reckner, who prides herself in teaching senior citizens the latest in computer technology. Gloria was first affiliated with Richland College as a student in 1972 and over the years has had to juggle raising teenagers, working days, and taking college evening classes. Having originally learned word processing on an electric typewriter, Gloria now has 45 years of computer program experience. Since 2003, this Richland College adjunct faculty member has used her love of technology to teach seniors how to navigate and operate computer programs, such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Photoshop Elements, along with digital photography techniques.
Employee Success – The Richland Council for Teaching & Learning sponsors a program that promotes exemplary teaching and learning practices, and recognizes individual instructors who share their innovative and successful teaching practices with the Richland College learning community. Instructors Young Choi, Lehman Marks, and Patricia Spence were recently selected and honored as the Fall 2007 Featured Teaching & Learning Practice Award winners. Young’s featured practice in English involves techniques to foster creativity through writing rituals and celebrating the power of the writing process. Lehman’s featured practice in government involves 12 projects he developed to get students directly involved in political proceedings, elections, and Supreme Court rulings in Austin and Washington. Patricia’s featured practice in speech involves on-line and small-group interaction in examining culture-specific communications behaviors and characteristics, and how to adjust through mediated communication when functioning in a different culture.
Institutional Effectiveness – A group of 32 community college leaders gathered in Dallas on January 17th for a Learning Site Visit of the Strategic Horizon Network, comprised of eleven community colleges from across the nation. The group spent the morning at Southwest Airlines and the afternoon at Richland College learning about the strategic use of human resources as a means of supporting culture and values. President Mittelstet keynoted the Richland College session, which also consisted of presentations by Fonda Vera, dean of planning and research, Roy Bond, associate dean of organizational development, Bill Dial, assistant HR director, and Debra Lockhart, senior HR coordinator.
Richland Collegiate High School seniors continued their pursuit of excellence through the fall semester. Almost 10% of the class (13 students) achieved a GPA of 4.0 while taking 16-21 credit hours in subjects, such as calculus I and II, statistics, chemistry and physics courses for science majors, and upper-level computer programming courses. More than a fourth of the seniors made the Superintendent’s or Principal’s Honor Roll with a GPA of 3.5 or higher, while 46% of the seniors attained a GPA of at least 3.0. In total, 83% of the seniors (111 students) completed the semester with a GPA above 2.0, well on their way to earning an associate degree along with their high school diplomas in May. Those 23 students who did not meet the 2.0 GPA mark will receive additional support services this final semester to assure they complete their high school requirements and earn diplomas.