VTEA Advisory Committee Meeting

11/22/05

Attendees: John Baker, Stephanie Rodriguez, Victoria Martinez, Lisa Raufman, John Means, Ron Way, Francisco Arce, Jan Ball, Virginia Rapp.

Absent: Ed Hoffman, Kevin O’Brien, Karen Hess

I. John Baker welcomed all attendees. Everyone then introduced themselves.

II. Overview – Dr. Arce and Dr. Baker questioned how we could advance and promote enrollment with programs that help retention. We need to make existing programs that are successful stronger but also look at new directions.

We need to maintain the level of quality. The committee members are the authors. There has been discussion on campus on how much money is spent on what. That is not what we should be focusing on. A large amount of VTEA money has been freed up for the college. But VTEA is not just about ordering more equipment. We need to be spending the money on new programs or helping successful programs. We need to propose and reorient our thinking about VTEA. This is a phenomenal amount of money for recruitment and retention for non-traditional students. If we de-emphasize the equipment portion of it. In the past we never had enough money for equipment so VTEA was mainly focused on that. Our college has a large amount of equipment money from bonds. This should satisfy some of the equipment needs.

It was stated that we may not providing all of the services that the college can provide. We need to inform, direct and support students. We also have a need to bring in non-traditional students in. There is also a large ESL community that is in need of support. We need to get these people into the right program and retain them. One of the best examples of recruitment and retention is EOP&S. When there are counselors assigned to classes, those students tend to do better and are more inclined to graduate with a certificate or degree. We have seen the connection between instructors and their classrooms. We need to get faculty more involved. We need to show each student that they count and that they have our support.

Another hope for this committee would be to create a momentum or impetus to take charge of the issues for VTEA. Bringing students in and retaining them, that is the focus.

The Women in Industry and Technology (WIT) program is another example of a success story. There are now over 100 women enrolled in classes geared towards non-traditional careers. This is up from approximately 30 last year.

III. What is VTEA? – John Means and Stephanie Rodriguez went over the different sections in the binder supplied to the members covering Special Populations and Core Indicators for WIT and Industry and Technology. Core indicators show how the college is doing compared to the state mandated levels. Core indicators are broken down in the following categories: Achievement; Completions; Employment; Employment Retention; Nontraditional Participation and Nontraditional Completion. We need to get more students into qualifying programs to receive more funding. There are 30 programs currently in the Business and I & T divisions. Also included are Journalism and Nursing programs.

Victoria Martinez explained how she has been working with the high school outreach programs along with Robin Dreizler and Josefina Bedolla to get the word out about Tech Prep and Career and Technical Education (CTE). They have been going to high schools, colleges, women’s centers and other diverse locations to speak with other potential students. Printed brochures, posters and pamphlets are given at these locations with great success. There is even consideration for translating the printed materials to Spanish for greater coverage.

John Means has hired Karen Hess for the Business Division. She is building up her contacts at the moment. She will then be able to work for the Business Division in the same capacity as Victoria Martinez, visiting locations to get potential students.

V. Where Are We Going? – Our greatest challenge is to bring students into our programs and retain them until they receive either certificates or degrees. We need to develop programs that will accomplish this. We have also found that a transition needs to be made in depending on money for equipment and not programs. We have a tendency to treat programs as temporary. How do we get faculty to view VTEA differently? We need to find a way to get faculty to workshops that will explain the VTEA process. A suggestion was made about a possible stipend to give to faculty for attending workshops.

Dr. Arce stated that he does not think we need to concentrate on low enrollment; we need to concentrate more on recruitment and retention. We need to walk students through the whole process. Peer students are very critical. If we explain to the faculty what we want to do with the newly released funds they might be more responsive.

Dr. Arce suggests that we go to faculty with a prepared proposal. Tell them our goals and timeline. We should have a proposal with three or four objectives with two or three activities, such as faculty articulation, recruitment and outreach and student services. Lisa Raufman also suggested that we go to the Academic Senate and explain VTEA. A copy of our meeting minutes will be sent to Susan Dever along with a presentation for VTEA.

We have approximately $150,000 available for programs right now. There will probably be more. We will find out the exact amount in January. At that time we will need to start receiving proposals from faculty for funding. There is a very tight timeline for proposals.

It was agreed to meet again on Tuesday, January 17, 2006 at 10:00 a.m. to follow up.

Stephanie would like everyone to submit a list of ideas to present to the Academic Senate for a presentation.