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VP/Provost’s Report to the Germantown Campus
Germantown Campus
VP/Provost’s Report
To The Germantown Campus Community
September 2009
Montgomery College President’s Report to the BoardFebruary 21, 20051
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PRESIDENT’S REPORT TO THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
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Montgomery College President’s Report to the BoardFebruary 21, 20051
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PRESIDENT’S REPORT TO THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
A Message from the Vice President and Provost
WELCOME EVERYONE!
I trust we are all off to a great start for the new academic year 2009-10. I very much appreciated your participation at the opening meeting on August 26, where I had an opportunity to more fully introduce myself and share some of my thoughts on education. Based on the responses I received, I am confident that we will be able to meet the needs of our students in this dynamic knowledge-based economy.
Let me take this opportunity to formally welcome Dr. Pinkney back to the College as the Interim President. Dr. Pinkney, of course, is already well- known for his many accomplishments and efforts on behalf of the Germantown Campus. I am sure that we all are looking forward to working with him in the months ahead.
Since my arrival on Campus, I have had many experiences that show the energy and high quality of our students, our faculty, and our staff. My meeting with the Renaissance Scholars and faculty showed me that they have a great energy and enthusiasm for the program, with a curriculum that addresses the most important issues in education and the global economy.
Our first Campus Coffee was a great success. I also had the opportunity to mention the importance of the “open office” hours for the Provost. Among other things, we talked about some of the excellent opportunities for relationships with the incubator companies in the Germantown Innovation Center located in the Goldenrod Building.
I have particularly enjoyed the opportunities to interact directly with our students. I spoke at a joint meeting of the Math Club and the Engineering Club on a favorite science topic of mine -- “Data, Calculus and Differential Equations.” I also had a good time playing soccer with students on International Peace and Justice Day.
While my time working with faculty and students on campus is a primary focus, it is also equally important that I participate in various off-campus activities. In particular, the campus needs to work closely with our elected officials, business leaders, and donors. Over the last couple of months, I have attended County Council meetings and met with individual Council members to help ensure that they fully understand the impact of County decisions on roads, zoning, and growth decisions on the Campus’ future development. I also have met with our business partners on the development of the Science and Technology Park on campus and gave a tour to the Planning Giving Committee of the College Foundation.
Finally, I must add that I am determined to help make sure that the Germantown Campus takes a leadership role in pursuing the new federal challenge grant funds being considered by President Obama and Congress. This will give us a great opportunity to demonstrate why Montgomery College is one of the top community colleges in the country.
I know this has been a long “welcome,” but I am very excited about the opportunities we have on our Germantown Campus. Please stop by my office during the “Provost Open Office Hours.” I am looking forward to finding out how together we can make Germantown Campus a community place for learning, conversation, and development.
Sanjay
Faculty Council
Submitted by John Hamman, Faculty Council Chair
Welcome to the beginning of a new semester. This is a great time of change here at MC Germantown. We have a new President, a new Provost, and several personnel changes across campus. Like a rock, however, I will be serving again as your Faculty Council Chair (for my last year). I was pleased to see how many of you came to greet our new President and Provost at our first campus coffee. This is a great time to get to talk with your colleagues, voice concerns to our Provost, meet new people, and get free coffee. What is not to like? Our next campus coffee will be held on Thursday, October. 22, from 9until 10 a.m. I hope to see many more of you there.
Our first Faculty Council meeting of the year will be held on Monday, September 28, at 2 p.m. in GB 108. All of our meetings are open to the public, and we hope to see some interested faculty there. We are striving for effective communication this year; hearing information first-hand, where you can ask questions and hear the discussions, is the best way to make sure you are well-informed. There are a lot of committees and groups meeting across the campus this year. I am so glad to see so many of you involved in College governance – it really does make a difference. We will continue to need faculty for committees throughout the year, so watch for e-mails from me.
As a reminder, our Council is made up of six members: Jenny Polm (vice chair), Marianne Noyd, Meg Birney, Lori Kelman, Christina Devlin, and myself. Please feel free to contact any of us with any questions, concerns, or compliments you may have throughout the year. I hope you all have a successful and enjoyable semester. Thanks for all you do to make Germantown such a great place to work and learn!
Enrollment
Germantown’s official combined summer 2009 enrollment grew by 130 students over summer 2008, an increase of 5.1%. During the same period of time, credit hours grew by 311, an increase of 3.6%.
The Germantown Innovation Center is 90% occupied with cutting-edge technology, start-up companies in the fields of stem cell research, telecommunications, data processing, solar energy applications, and others.
Dr, Sanjay Rai will be hosting monthly coffees to provide opportunities for networking and integration with academic units.
Business, Science, Mathematics, and Technology
Grant Awarded for Expansion of Biotechnology Program
The Federal Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Service Administration has awarded Montgomery College a grant of $706,860 to provide equipment for the expansion of the biotechnology program at the Germantown Campus. These funds will help Montgomery College remain globally competitive in science, technology, engineering, mathematics (the STEM fields), and health care.
Grant Awarded for CyberWATCH Program Montgomery College’s CyberWATCH (Cybersecurity: Washington Area Technician and Consortium Headquarters) program, an NSF-ATE Regional Center in Cybersecurity, has been awarded a three-year continuation grant. As part of the original grant, Montgomery College developed the Information Systems Security degree and certificate curriculum and established a remote IT security lab, located at the Germantown Campus. The CyberWATCH II continuation grant awards Montgomery College $240,272 over three years to continue the operation of the remote IT security lab, strengthen the K-12 pipeline, and increase enrollments in the Information Security/Information Assurance (IS/IA) programs; provide real-life or simulated work experiences for students; address public awareness about cybersecurity and promote the IS/IA profession; and develop a revenue stream that will sustain the consortium over the long term.
Grant Awarded to Implement Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Program
The Academy for Educational Development (AED) partnered with the Germantown CampusBiotechnology program in a successfulproposal for the National Science Foundation's Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program.The AED wonthe grant award to implement the ATE Program Graduate Employment Outcomes Study. This two-year research study will examine the employment outcomes of advanced technological education program graduates who earn either a certificate or associates degree in biomanufacturing/biotechnology and process technology fields to improve accountability, management, and ultimately, performance in these programs.
Distance Learning (DL)
It has been a busy summer in the Office of Distance Learning.
Elluminate Training
The Office of Distance Learning (ODL) spearheaded the training of about 100 faculty and staff this summer on Elluminate, the College’s web conferencing system. Faculty will use Elluminate for a variety of synchronous teaching opportunities, and staff will use it for campus-wide and/or college-wide meetings. Additional training will be conducted throughout the fall semester.
Student Focus Group
Plans are underway for the Office of Distance Learning Student Focus Group. The group will launch during the fall semester and will provide ODL with information that will be used to help improve teaching and learning. ODL is hoping to get a group of 10 students, and much of the communication will be done online after an initial face-to-face meeting.
Quality Matters
ODL will be promoting the use of Quality Matters (QM) beginning in the fall semester. QM is a faculty-centered, peer review process designed to certify the quality of online course design and online components. Sponsored by MarylandOnline, Inc., of which Montgomery College is a member, Quality Matters has generated widespread interest and received national recognition for its peer-based approach to quality assurance and continuous improvement in online education. Originating from a Fund for the Improvement of Post-secondary Education (FIPSE) grant, Quality Matters is now a self-supporting organization offering course reviews and an array of trainings.
The Quality Matters program is a process of online peer course review; the reviews are centered on a rubric. A QM Review may be external (provided by the QM organization) or Internal (offered through and with existing institutional resources). Review teams consist of three faculty members and the faculty/developer. An important component of the QM process is “Continuous Quality Improvement,” a resolve on the part of QM and its subscribing institutions to continue working with faculty/designers to achieve a level of meeting expectations in online course design. The ODL will be working with interested faculty in becoming QM Peer Reviewers.
Distance Learning Program Advisory Committee
The Distance Learning Program Advisory Committee (DLPAC) continues to meet to discuss issues related to DL at Montgomery College. The committee’s main focus at this point is on a new course management system for online learning. Several vendors will be brought in during the fall semester to give presentations and to answer questions from faculty.
DLPAC will also be looking to create consistent definitions for the various types of distance learning at Montgomery College.
Faculty Training on WebCT
Thirteen Montgomery College facultycompleted the Online Teaching course offered this summer. The course prepared faculty to teach online or blended learning classes. Twenty-four faculty completed WebCT Basics, an introductory course that teaches faculty how to supplement their on-campus course with the course management system
Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL)
The Summer has been a particularly busy one. The CTL has offered more professional development opportunities than it has in its recent past and has begun to implement changes that hopefully will increase the quality of services to faculty, as well as the currency and variety of offerings. CTL continues to address the need for a more streamlined process to achieve the mission of supporting student success by providing cutting-edge professional development for faculty. In addition to planning efforts to put processes in place that support the infusion of new faculty presenters, participants, and workshop topics and offerings, the CTL has introduced a new project to support more and better use of technology in the classroom.
Workshops
In Summer I, the CTL offered the first-of-its-kind Summer Faculty Fellowship. The Grant Writing for Faculty Fellowship, open to both full- and part-time faculty, occurred over a period of one full week, attracted more applicants than CTL could support, and received excellent feedback from the more than 20 participants. The Grant Writing Workshop was facilitated by Dr. Jennifer Dobbins, Counseling, Germantown, who has more than twenty years of experience as a grant writer and a grant reviewer. Dr. Dobbins organized and delivered an authentic learning experience for the faculty fellows that included an online submission of their grant, a collaborative presentation, and included a replication of the tension and stress that routinely accompanies the grant writing and submission process. Dr. Joseph Nwoye, CTL instructional designer, Rockville, worked closely with Dr. Dobbins to ensure a positive and learner-centered experience for the participants.
In addition to the Summer Faculty Fellowship, the CTL offered another 29 workshops for faculty that served over 500 faculty members. Because so many faculty are unsure about their availability for facilitating workshops during the summer, the CTL instructional designers scheduled and delivered all of the summer workshops for the CTL. Mr. Andrew Ryan, CTL Coordinator, prepared and delivered a variety of technology-based professional development for faculty on Blogs, Wikis, and Elluminate. Mr. Ryan also coordinated the Full-time Faculty Fellowship application and selection process, and he will be facilitating the Blended Learning Faculty Fellows this academic year. The outcome for this effort is to provide 15 heretofore face-to-face teaching faculty with the training and qualifications to teach blended or fully online courses.
Planning
The CTL has been working very closely with the Centre for Professional and Organizational Development (CPOD) and Distance Learning (DL) to address the college-wide professional development needs of faculty, administrators, and staff over the summer and was a critical part of the State Diversity Plan team. This collaborative work has also resulted in the third edition of the print catalog of all professional development offerings in the fall. The CTL is looking closely at gaps in the processes that have resulted in lower than expected part-time faculty attendance at some workshops. Part-time faculty attendance at CTL-sponsored professional development events is one of the top agenda items for this academic year. The CTL is preparing for its College Area Review and has also begun implementing phase 1 of a proactive approach to support the CTL’s Learning Technologies in the Learning Spaces project.
Student Development
Dean’s Office
Dr. Karen Roseberry, Dean of Student Development, acknowledged the academic achievement of those students who made the Dean’s List by congratulating them in writing and extending them an invitation to come in and meet her. Several students took advantage, giving the Dean the opportunity to congratulate them again in person.
The GermantownCampus-based Behavior Intervention Team (G.B.I.T.), chaired by Wayne Barbour, Associate Dean of Student Development, made preparation to initiate the process of acclimating the campus to the College’s efforts to further its mission to maintain a healthy, safe, and secure environment, free of intimidation and harm, by systematically addressing behaviors of concern and disruption. The reporting of incidents began August 31, 2009, the first day of classes.
As a Unit, members of Student Development joined other campus faculty and staff in saying farewell to Dr. Hercules Pinkney, who retired as Vice President and Provost of the Germantown Campus after eleven years of leadership and countless accomplishments.
Assessment Center
The Assessment Center experienced one of its busiest times of year, as 1,044 students took assessment tests to assist with determining course options. Another 173 were administered academic tests. With students now having the ability to come in on a walk-in basis, the Assessment Center has enhanced its ability to be more accommodating and respectful of its students’ needs. The beginning of the administering of all testing on a walk-in basis began August 31, 2009.
Career/Transfer Center
Career/ Transfer Center staff and faulty continue to welcome visiting colleges and universities on campus to recruit students. The University of Maryland University College and the Universities at Shady Grove were among the visiting universities during the summer.
Counseling and Advising
Counseling and Advising accommodated over 3,000 students this summer. Thirty-seven sessions of Mandatory Advising Programs were held, attended by over 700 students.
Counseling faculty took full advantage of professional development opportunities over the summer by attending workshops and training such as Communication, Language and Style Tapestry Certificate Program; Grant writing; and Skip Downing’s On Course training.
Other counseling faculty, such as Professor Audrey Hill and Adjunct Counseling Faculty member Dr. Helen Dias, made presentations. Professor Hill conducted a workshop for 60 high school counselors at St. Mary’s College of Maryland on “What Secondary School Counselors Need to Know about Community Colleges.” Dr. Dias was the keynote speaker for the National Association of Campus Activities Summer Institute held at George Washington University. The address was based on her dissertation entitled, The Leadership Perspectives of Former Student Government Presidents and the Post-College Impact of the Presidency. Over 200 were in attendance. Dr. Dias received her Ed.D. fromGeorge Washington University this past May.
Disability Support Services (DSS)
Gillian Reid-Nelson, Disability Support Services team member, got a head start on acclimating new students to the tutoring services available at the Germantown Campus, presenting study skills materials and reinforcing skills necessary for students making the transition from high school to college during the Summer Bridge I and II programs from June 22 through July 2and July 13 through July 23.
The addition of Dr. Harvey Stempel as a disability support services counseling faculty member has significantly increased referrals of students who assess into Pathways to Success and other Workforce Development and Continuing Education (WDCE) offerings, thus averting the potential of these students not receiving appropriate counseling and advising. To better assist students with disabilities, DSS has updated the hardware in the library and computer lab with print magnifiers.