Richland College Green Commons

To: Kenneth Hart, Facilities
From: Eddie Hueston and Jerry Owens, Facilities

Please pass along our appreciation to Catalina Trejo of GCA for her honesty and diligence in returning a lost wallet yesterday morning to the Custodial Division office. The billfold contained a sizable amount of cash, credit cards and a driver’s license. The license was of great concern because the owner’s job was with DART as a driver. The owner of the wallet was very generous in her praise of Catalina and expressed it to her personally.

On behalf of Richland College, we are proud of Ms. Trejo and GCA for this quality and caring response.

---

To: Suzy Hogue, Information Services
From: Sherry Dean, Humanities

Another chef d’oeuvre, my dear! Thanks for WONDERFUL, creative work.

---

To: Various Thunderducks
From: Delores Elder-Jones, Community Outreach

Congratulations to the organizers and contributors to the African American Read-In. It was a huge success. A special thank you to our President who has been hanging out with us all day.

If you missed this event, you missed a well-produced event, complete with readers, performers, door prizes, and food. The African American Connection and SPAR have done it again. By working together, we can make anything happen.

We also appreciate the youth attending. When asked where they are going to college, they all answered in unison, “Richland College.” It pays to set the tone now.

---

To: RLC
From: Kristyn Edney, RCHS

This thank you is long overdue to the employees of Richland College. So many of you have generously given your time, expertise, support, and care to the RCHS students and staff. Without each of you, we would not be moving towards continuous improvement. If I named each person who helped build a strong foundation for the RCHS program, I would run out of space, so thank you to all Richland Thunderducks! Your guidance and support are what have kept us afloat throughout the challenges we faced while implementing an innovative program.

---

To: Various Thunderducks
From: Joe Perea, Humanities

Boston-based Powderhouse Productions filmed me and the Richland College Steel Band for an upcoming show called “The Works,” to be aired on the History Channel. There was a lot of preparatory work that went on behind the scenes and I would like to express my gratitude to several Thunderducks who really exemplified the Thundervalue of Cooperation. Big thanks go out to the following people:

-Fred Sweet and Jim Stover for providing power tools and supplies
-Jennifer Owen and the students of the Richland Theatre department who did a fantastic job of rapidly cleaning out the scene shop and performance hall stage, despite being exhausted from their successful production of Guys and Dolls
-Cris Bay-Andersen for providing indoor and outdoor theatrical lighting and facility management for the duration of the filming
-Dr. Sherry Dean for providing administrative and logistical support during the filming
-Dr. Michael Crawford for running yesterday’s recital, freeing me up to prepare the drums for filming
-Our students from the Evening Steel Band who worked hard preparing and painting drums, performing numerous takes of the same excerpt of music with excellent consistency, and moving equipment.

These folks did a wonderful job on and off camera and they are to be congratulated.

---

To: Michael Brantley, Facilities
From: Jan Parrish, Health Professions

Many thanks for your assistance in delivering and installing the hood that Baylor donated for our pharmacy technician laboratory. It was a long and cumbersome process to acquire it, but your persistence and follow up paid off! Our new IV class started last night, and I’m pleased and relieved that you were able to expedite the final steps for us.

Your efforts are a good example of customer service. We couldn’t have done it without you and your team!

---

Letters

Dear Steve (Mittelstet),

Words cannot express how much we appreciate your willingness to provide volunteer help today during Jim Dwyer’s funeral. Jim would be most honored and proud to know that his fellow Directors stepped up to help Brookhaven during such a difficult time.

Thank you for your support and respect of this truly unique individual.

Needless to say, please let us know if we can ever be of service to Richland.

George T. Herring
Vice President of Business Services

---

Hi, Debi (Ruiz-Esparza),

I was looking up some things on the Richland website and I saw that you are still teaching there. I hope everything is going well, and the theater department continues to grow.

I am living in North Hollywood, and I must say that I absolutely love it! It’s hard to believe that I have been here for little over a year now! I am still working and actually went to Korea again last December through March. Since then I have been in a couple commercials, a recent music video, and still auditioning for the upcoming pilot season.

Debi, I owe everything to you, because without you and your coaching, I never would have believed that I could be here doing what I am doing. I truly mean that.

Thank you from a grateful former student.

Ernie Felt

---

Sgt. (Robert) Benavidez,

You came to my rescue last semester at Richland, when I couldn’t find my car. You were courteous, polite, and funny. Thank you for helping me on a day when I couldn’t think straight. I appreciate your service and patience.

Thank you!

Stefanie Brennan

---

Dear Roy (Bond),

Thanks once again for your time and support last week. Please pass on my appreciation to all your colleagues who I met. It was a privilege to witness such a focused, aligned and well‑disciplined organization, guided by such inspirational leaders.

Kind regards,

Jonathan Cartmell
Yale College of Wrexham, North Wales

---

Hey Coach (John Horne),

I’m not sure if you remember me. It’s been a year since I last took a class with you. I was in the Engineering Program at Richland and I had a couple of classes with you. I just wanted to drop you a line and say thank you for all that you taught me. It was considerably more than I could ever get out of the book. I would like to also say that what I learned at Richland was very helpful in getting the job I currently have.

Jeff Calloway
Sr. Electronics Technician

---

Dear Debbi (Richards),

Thanks to you and your whole staff for the incredible hospitality. I really appreciate every little thing you guys have done to make this a perfect week. I feel honored to be a part of your group.

Patricia Romero
Mt. San Antonio College, Walnut, California

If you would like for a letter of thanks to a fellow T-duck to appear here, please use this new, convenient online form. Letters from outside Richland may be e-mailed to anitracotton@dcccd.edu or hard copies may be forwarded to the Information Services office.

---

To: Various Thunderducks
From: Rick Walker, adjunct faculty

What a great live conference this morning with Senegal, Africa!
I wanted to pass on my thanks to the tech team who collaborated and worked with such professionalism!
We have such amazing talent and tools to enhance our learning experience.
Freddie Castillo, Kris Hyttinen, Jennifer Owen, Cris Bay Anderson, Jeremy Haldeman, Jimmy Lopez and Brad Logue – great job! (I hope I’m not leaving anyone out)
You could tell the high school students really enjoyed the dialogue with their counterparts on the other side of the globe!

The jazzed up performance hall sound system is an amazing sound improvement from what we’ve had – that was the best skype audio I’ve heard.

Well done!

---

To: Various Thunderducks
From: Babs King, Institutional Research

I want to express my sincere appreciation for the help your office gave me during our toner order “snafu” … and most especially my PI angel, Sharon Wright!!! She couldn’t have been more professional or helpful … she saved us/me. Thanks so, so much Whitney and Sharon!!!

---

To: Jennifer Curtiss, Information Services
From: Eddie Hueston, Facilities

We were very impressed with both your speed and accuracy in producing the new ‘You Are Here’ maps that now grace the campus. Thanks for working closely with Wes Hayes on this timely project that greatly helped reduce confusion last Monday on the first day of the new semester. Congratulations on a job well done!

---

To: Various Thunderducks
From: Delores Elder-Jones and Luz Villegas, Community Outreach

Luz Villegas and I would to thank the awesome committee members for assisting in putting together, yet another, wonderful presentation for the Leadership Garland group’s visit to Richland College. It really does take a village of committed staff to make it happen. Although she is not listed in the email, Ruth Walton, our students assistant, was extremely helpful.

---

To: Bobbie Harrison and Wilfred Manyango, SPAR
From: Becki Williams, Math and Science

Thanks for hosting the Core 2009 Student Forum last week. You took care of every detail. What a treat to walk in and facilitate without worrying about the logistics. It was the largest student forum in the district … more than 100 participants! I know that SPAR asks students to evaluate events, and our committee will use them as part of the process in our documentation.

---

To: Various Thunderducks
From: Alisa Jones, Continuing Education/Workforce Training

I would like to congratulate Richland’s African American Read-In Committee (Tacia Dillard, Sandy Hawkins, Tanisha Shorter, Tameika Williams and Bethany Wright) for planning and organizing an excellent Read-In this year.

A special thank you is extended to Delores Elder-Jones for providing the lunches for the 65 middle school students from E.D. Walker.

The students enjoyed the campus tour, the Read-In, all of the free goodies and especially the lunch from Subway.

Again, thanks Ms. Delores for making their visit to Richland a memorable event.

---

To: Bethany Wright, Administration
From: Whitney Rosenbalm, Information Services

Thanks so much for scheduling this meeting with less than 24 hours when our room fell through at BJP. And for being so helpful and polite! It was the perfect space for the District subcommittee on marketing distance learning. You’re a true thunderduck!!

---

To: Various Thunderducks
From: Martha Hogan,

Jeremy (Roden), thanks for generating so much enthusiasm for our Interactive Simulation and Game Technology program with Conrad, Lincoln, and Sunset students. You could tell by the oohs and awes of the students during your presentation that they were awed by the capabilities of the software. I don’t remember another opportunity to reach out to three high schools at once. Thank you for working so hard to make this happen in such a professional way.

Dan (Dao), thank you for your presentation this morning. Now students see more to their game engine than just playing games. You have shown them that they can modify and create as well.

Emily (Gray), thank you for taking time this morning to come with us and speak the students. Your presentation was a wonderful invitation for the students to continue their education at Richland.

Jeremy, please tell your students how much we appreciate their hard work to prepare the video and assist with the presentation. It was great that our audience could see your students and what they have accomplished.

Again, thanks to all of you.

---

To: All Thunderducks
From: Celeste Hernandez, Math and Science

Thank you to everyone for your notes, emails, phone calls, and prayers as I went through my ordeal with breast cancer last month. I am so blessed to be at an institution that is a family, not just a workplace. I want to say thank you specifically to Steve and the Administration for somehow timing it just right for a beautiful flower arrangement to arrive on the day of my set up for radiation when I was miserable – that really cheered me up; thank you to the M/S division for sending the most adorable cookie bouquet that arrived the day of my second surgery; thank you to Becki Williams and Karen Stanland for sending a wonderful meal home with my husband one Monday during my radiation; thank you to Mary Darin and the DMAT faculty for sending me a gift certificate that forced me to get out to go eat – something I really enjoyed though I was so tired; thank you to Susan Miller for coming all the way to Denton to see me (I was like a little kid in anticipation of Christmas waiting that day!), and then bringing dinner too; thank you to Sue Jones for letting me just bend your ear when I was so depressed about it all and for the wonderful bread; thank you to the Testing Center, the ACCESS office and the M/S Division office for helping my husband find everything for me. Thank you to all of you…my Thunderduck Family.

Letters

Dear President Mittelstet,

We at St. Patrick want you to know how much we appreciate the work of Delores Elder-Jones in bringing Richland’s Community Outreach information to our parish refugees last Sunday afternoon. Delores is truly dedicated to reaching children, teens, and adults in need and informing them of the educational opportunities and financial aid available at Richland.

The variety of resources at Richland College provides such a service to the community. The Community Outreach program is truly an asset to the college and to everyone living in the district.

Thank you, your faculty and staff for all the assistance you have given to the refugees of St. Patrick Outreach.

Sincerely yours,

Mary-Ann Martin
Education Advisor
St. Patrick Outreach

---

Dear Young Eui Choi,

I meant to send this earlier this week and here it is already Wednesday. I just wanted to say I had so much fun Friday at our lunch. I hope we all stay in contact to see how we all proceed in our endeavors, you the poet, Jabar the leader, Terrance the teacher of life, Angel, the traveler of goodwill, and of course me, the student of life. You are an inspiration, like a bee, spreading pollen wherever you go. Thanks!

Judi Miller (student)

---

Dear Mr. (Mike) Bell,

. . . . I enjoyed myself this past semester! I’m not really a science person per se, but I am a deeply curious individual, and one who always wants to know how and why things work. Your class satisfied so many questions that I didn’t even know that I had! I love being able to share my newfound knowledge with anyone who will listen . . .

I have to thank you also for planting a seed in my brain that just may help me figure out my specialty. . . . I always feel blessed to go to Richland, where stupendous professors seem to be the norm, rather than the exception, and it was my most sincere pleasure to have you as one of the best I’ve had at Richland to date. . .

Regards,

Jennifer Kalman (student)

---

This letter appeared as a Letter to the Editor in The Dallas Morning News on Dec. 9, 2007.
Re: “College’s greenery program pruned — Students, experts say loss of Richland degree will leave a hole.”

A bouquet for Richland

It is with sadness I read the story about the pruning of Richland College’s horticulture program.

I graduated from the program in 1982 with an associate’s degree while working full-time at a local florist. The program continued what I learned at Skyline High School.

I am a floral designer and now work at a large nursery and garden center in Raleigh, NC, specializing in the care of orchids and tropical plants. I also help teach some basic floral design at a Raleigh high school, which has a flourishing horticulture department. It is great to see the student’s pride in what they learn.

I have great memories of my time at Richland, with the incredible instructors who made the classes so much fun. I hope the students who will no longer have access to this program find a place to continue their education.

Working in this industry is hard — you definitely have to get dirty sometimes.

But it is rewarding in seeing the results of your own hard work and creativity. Thanks, Richland, for doing all you did over the last 35 years.

-Ventia Gentzler, Raleigh, N.C. (former student)

To: Various Thunderducks
From: GREENRichland

Thanks to everyone from Richland and the DCCCD who made “Focus the Nation” such a successful learning and community building experience, including: Panel discussion facilitators LaQueta Wright, Fred Newbury, Larry Polk, and Kathy Yates; faculty panelists Randy Conine, Ricardo Azpiroz, and David Eishen (Cedar Valley College) and student panelists Li Dinh and Fatima Berrada; technical experts Jeremy Haldeman, Jennifer Owen, Cris Bay-Andersen, Jimmy Lopez, Jay Wooldridge, Kurt Albach, and Sal Chavez (LeCroy Center); troubleshooters and ushers Lennijo Henderson, Jeana Remington, Adriana Cobo-Frenkel, Carole Lester, Kay Coder, Cynthia Clements, Melinda Weaver, Janet James, Eddie Hueston, Gary Duke, Sara Perez-Ramos, and David Canine; referendum polling place staff Tameika Williams, Kathy Acosta, Maria Trebing, Wilfred Manyango, Bobbie Harrison, Janice Bell, Noeli Biggs, Jeanetta Burnham, Sheterric Walker, and Sharlee Jeser-Skaggs; Capt. Alfred Banks and officers of the Richland College Police Department; and many full-time and adjunct faculty, along with ACCESS and academic division deans, whose efforts produced nearly 700 referendum voters and an average of 300 attendees for the Performance Hall presentations!

---

To: Leslie Wendling and Mark Murray, Information Services
From: Whitney Rosenbalm, Information Services

Thanks so much for your extra hard work in creating a program, Leslie, that helps speed up production of the print version of the credit class schedule, and thanks to both of you for working so hard to get the online schedule up so quickly, despite so many glitches this time around. Your dedication and thoroughness will surely benefit the whole college!

---

To: Various Thunderducks
From: Dwayne Carter, Multimedia

I want to thank everyone for their participation with the tours this week.

Both days went smoothly and felt very successful. The kids from both Toler Elementary and Conner Middle seemed to have a blast. The advisors expressed special appreciation of the hands-on experience with animation techniques provided by our department.

Ken Starzer got one of the best reactions of the day. When the kids were told it was time to go, in unison, they all let out a loud “nooo.” One girl wanted to start college that day.

The consensus seems to be that having our students help with the tour groups works very well. We will try it again once or twice during future semesters as needed. Following the visits, I noticed very positive attitudes from our students who had helped.

My best to the faculty and their students who helped, Dwayne

p.s., Special thanks to Jean and Claudia and their groups for their nice work.

---

To: Bob Crook and Janet James, Administration
From: Scott Branks del Llano, WLCC

I would like to offer high words of praise for Kris Hyttinen and Rick Walker. Richland College has for six years been actively engaging our community in a focused professional development series in Intercultural Competence.

To celebrate participants’ completion of this program, I was asked to organize the creation of a short video highlighting the college’s training initiative. Kris and Rick worked with me from the inception and have produced a stunning work of art honoring the intercultural program at Richland and celebrating the diversity of our community.

I want to praise them for their consistent energy and enthusiasm, their steadfast patience, and the amazing expertise they bring to their craft. I have rarely had such an all out positive experience with any task. Kris and Rick truly exemplify what it means to work in community. Please join me in thanking and congratulating them for their excellence.

---

To: Eddie Hueston, Facilities
From: Sue Jones, Academic Enrichment Programs

Many thanks to you and your staff for helping us in our time of need! When you alerted me to the fact that our peace pole had not arrived, I did some checking with the vendor and with FedEx, and started making alternate plans. When I arrived with a temporary “peace” pole on the day of the ceremony, everyone sprang into action and the pole was at the site in time for the show to go on. Sonny, Jose, and Silvano had even had stain added so that it resembled the real thing; some folks thought it was the real thing and wondered what had happened to the words! You, Lee Anne, Raymond, Sonny, Jose, and Silvano all worked to make this work. And Randy kept everyone informed about the problem and was ready to alert us if the real deal happened to arrive before the ceremony began. This was a wonderful example of the ThunderValue of “Cooperation,” and I’m very grateful. It is a perfect example of why Richland is such a great place to work!

---

To: Karla Damron, Program Development and Marcia Hines Parrish, Career Services
From: Zarina Blankenbaker, ACCESS

Kudos to the both of you for expending time and energy today in helping us prepare for and put together a well-planned meeting. Because of your help, our meeting went well. I appreciate the input you gave us on things that worked well at other advisory committee meetings that we can incorporate.

We feel lucky to work with colleagues who strive for excellence just as we do and we look forward to planning the next meeting with you.

---

To: John Carmichael, Academic Advising
From: Scarlett Hill, Adjunct Faculty

Thank you so much for your excellent presentation on “Juggling for Life” this morning. It was inspirational and fun. Several of our students told me they were “off to Wal-Mart” after class to get their juggling materials. We will try to keep you posted on our growing prowess.

---

To: Whitney Rosenbalm and Lisa Henson, Information Services
From: Winona Whited, Admissions/Student Records/Registrar’s Office

Whitney, I just want to take the time to let you know how much I appreciate the work of Lisa Henson. She is always going above and beyond to help me with different projects I have in Admissions and Student Records. Her knowledge and suggestions have helped my projects come together.

---

To: Steve Mittelstet, Administration
From: Neal Abramson, Adjunct faculty

I want to take a moment to acknowledge and praise the wonderful library staff we have at Richland College. They continuously make themselves available to set up special classes to teach my/our students the ins and outs of research – even when requests for help are made at the last minute.

I am very grateful that we have such generous, cooperative, and knowledgeable librarians.

If there is any way, in addition to saying “thank you,” that we as a school can show our appreciation and support, please let me know.

---

To: Judy Ratterree, Math and Science
From: Cindy Castañeda, ESP

Thank you so much for working with the ESP Division to appropriately identify and label the disenfectant we are using in the fitness center gym to minimize the risk of exposure to MRSA by our students, faculty, and staff using the correct National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) labeling. I commend you for your efficiency, expertise and professional skills and for working with our ESP staff to keep our community as safe as possible and in compliance with OSHA standards.

---

To: Various Thunderducks
From: Roy Bond, Employee Services and Professional Development

Let me add my thanks to you for helping make this visit beneficial for both South Texas College and Richland College. It’s always a pleasure to learn from you as I listen to what you share with our guests!

My gratitude also goes to those who worked so hard behind the scenes to pull this visit (and other recent visits!) off without a hitch:

Maria Chobany
Mary Savage
Nancy Kammerer
Bethany Wright
John Pollock
Media Distribution
Subway

Thank you, all!

---

Letters

Dear Steve (Mittelstet),

I want you know how much our entire Chandler-Gilbert Community College team appreciated all you, your faculty, and staff did to make our visit to Richland College so enjoyable and productive.

The time you and Mary Frances spent with us on Sunday providing the tour through your beautiful campus was a particularly special treat. To hear your personal stories and the history of the evolution of your campus into such a successful model prepared us so perfectly for our meetings on Monday with your faculty and staff. Then it was additionally helpful to be able to sit with you at dinner and continue to ask questions about so many of your initiatives and to learn from your years of experience and insight into the processes of building a truly quality community college. Your commitment to sharing and helping others to succeed in serving students is remarkable.

Best regards,

Maria L. Hesse, Ed.D.
President

---

Hi Roy (Bond),

On behalf of the visiting team from South Texas College, I wanted to
thank you for the wonderful hospitality and tell you how impressed we
all were with the innovative things that Richland College is doing!

We so appreciated you taking the time to give us such a comprehensive
tour of the campus and to arrange the excellent and informative
presentations. We were very glad to have the opportunity to meet Dr.
Mittelstet and Dr. Eggleston – they were very kind to welcome us.

We learned so much from Jean Conway, Sherry Dean, and Mary Frances
Gibbons about the Student Learning Outcomes, the QEP Teams and the
Program Review process. It was a wonderful opportunity to see what a
positive impact thoughtful evaluation and assessment can have on the
college community and student learning.

Fonda Vera was such an exceptional wealth of knowledge about all parts
of the discussion and was so helpful in describing how she uses the data
to support the Program Review process. We were fascinated by the Thunion
and look forward to asking her even more questions as we develop our own
dashboard. She is an incredible resource!

We were all glad Greg Thomas could join us to discuss some of the
technical aspects of supporting these kinds of initiatives and we very
much enjoyed Sherry’s discussion of her research about what makes
Richland so unique. It was really helpful to see her model and to be
able to think about which pieces we can maximize at our own institution.

Thank YOU Roy for all your help in giving us an overview of the
Professional Development program at Richland and details about the
transcription system. That was very timely information as we begin to
implement our own system at STC. And finally, I want to thank you for
being an excellent host and rich resource for our entire team.

Please know that the Thunderducks have an open invitation to visit us
anytime! We look forward to seeing you all again soon.

Thanks again,

Lee H. Grimes
Coordinator, Professional Development
South Texas College