November Top Ten from Academic Assembly
In no particular order:
1. The EVP search is in its final phase and the hope is that a new EVP for Administrative and Fiscal Services will be named within the next month. The Search Committee - which consisted of 1 student, 4 faculty members, 3 staff, 1 member from the Foundation Board, and 6 administrators, reviewed 55 applications and then conducted 75 minute interviews of 9 candidates. The names of 5 highly qualified finalists were forwarded to Dr. Johnson and follow-up interviews with Dr. Johnson are currently underway. Thanks to all those who participated in this search!
2. As of next week, Montgomery College will be teaming up with Montgomery County’s Homeland Security Department and its “Alert Montgomery” emergency communication system to start using text and e-mail messaging for rapid notification of students and the College community, in the event a major emergency were to take place at the College. The new Montgomery College ALERT service will complement the College’s current emergency communication systems. To register, please visit anytime.
3. Congrats to the Men’s Soccer team at Rockville for winning the Regional Championship game against Anne Arundel Community College and to the Cross Country team for placing second in the 2007 Region XX Maryland JUCO Men’s Cross Country Championships. These student-athletes work hard in the classroom and on the field and we complement them on their achievement.
4. The Fourth Annual Learning College Retreat will be held on November 21st in the Theater Arts Arena on Rockville Campus. It will be a pre-holiday feast of information and ideas. Are you interested in a Make It Happen! Innovation Grant? Learn from insiders how to prepare a winning proposal, how to administer the grant, and how to grow your program. Join in discussion sessions about the future direction of the LearningCollege initiatives at MC as well as how we can create a more learning-centered environment. Contact Clarice Somersall or John Hare for more information.
5. The General Education Committee has requested that we delay our discussion on November 21st on the amendments to our Gen Ed proposal until they have more time to analyze the latest amendments which just recently arrived. They hope to produce a new timeline for approval at the 12/4/07 meeting. The purpose of the delay is to be able to present the implications of each amendment as clearly as possible and again get to the respective campuses to share this information when appropriate. We intend to hold a vote sometime towards the end of the semester. Discipline meetings will now take place during this time period.
6. MontgomeryCollege is embarking on a collegewide Website redesign project that will improve integration with the MyMC portal and provide a comprehensive, cohesive, and consistent web presence for internal and external users. Please share examples of Websites with good features, or send your ideas and suggestions to Anita Crawley, by going to
7. We recently had a visit by the Chair of the Middle States Accrediting Team, Dr. Sean Fanelli. He complemented the college on the self-study and pronounced us ready to host the team in March. He visited with various constituencies and a sizable group of students and those visits went very well. We now look forward to march when the team comes for their official visit. Thanks to all those who helped make Dr. Fanelli’s time here go so well.
8. The Academic Assembly is currently undergoing a governance review. This includes many aspects of the governance structure but focuses on the respective assembly, our committees, and the Faculty Councils. Part of this review includes bylaw updates and web site changes. Additionally, we hope to move at least one Academic Assembly meeting per semester to the campuses so that all those who wish to attend may do so at least once without the travel implications. We will announce our first campus meeting very soon so stay tuned. The minutes from each meeting can be found on our web site.
9. The faculty governance leadership team recently met with the Board of Trustees for our annual dinner. Our topic of discussion was “The Quarter-Life Crisis” which dealt with the issues that some of our students face and consequently bring to our classrooms. This was a very rich discussion on how we support students and unfortunately how we sometimes cannot. Watch for some possible positive action items to come from this discussion in the near future that will enable the college to better support faculty as they endeavor to help students who may be in crisis but also help students help themselves. Know that the Board of Trustees was very anxious to help us in this regard!
10. Finally, a possible first: a top ten within a top ten. Many faculty members have asked for help regarding the use of student email. Here are the Top 10 Student Email Tips for Faculty:
Thanks to all those who contributed to this month’s Top Ten list and for doing what they do to make MC the best. As always, send potential items at the end of each month for inclusion for the upcoming list. Happy Thanksgiving!