Counseling and Student Success

Division Council Meeting Minutes

August 26, 2015

N. Barber__X____
D. Brown___X___
S. Bennett___X___
G. Castro ___@__ / Y. Cooper___X___
B. Flameno__X____
V. Haynes __@____
A. Funes ___@__ / R. Lozano__X____
B. Mims___@____
C. Mosqueda _@__
C. Pajo __X__
B. Prado __@____ / L. Perez_X___
D. Vaughn__@___
C. Weston__@____

Appointment Center – Lisa Perez

  • Appointments continue to book quickly. L. Perez is continuing to save a few appointments for students that may call or walk in to schedule a same day appointment. The appointment center is well staffed with casuals and students with the exception of the mornings. In the process of searching for a work study student that can work the morning shift.

Athletics – Stephanie Bennett

  • In the process of helping students re-enroll and add courses because some were dropped from classes due to the nonpayment policy.
  • In the process of evaluating student transcripts for the AAAtutoring program and the Scholar Baller recognition.
  • Planning to attend a conference hosted at UCLA that will provide the opportunity to meet with Division 1A schools, athletic counselors, advisors, etc.
  • Most of the sports have games this upcoming week.

Career Center – Yamonte Cooper

  • In the process of securing 3 rooms in the MBA building for the upcoming career workshops. The rooms should be confirmed after September 4th. The computer labs are needed for the following workshops: Resume Writing; LinkedIn; Careers in Stem.
  • S. Bennett suggested the Chemistry 108 and Life Science 134 computer labs may be available for the workshops

Financial Aid – Bernadette Flameno

  • The SAP appeal deadline is Oct 29th. They are asking students to submit the petition before the deadline.
  • If the student is submitting a regular appeal, meaning they are below the 67% completion rate or a 2.0 gpa, it will be indicated on their SAP letter. Any counselor can complete the educational plan for the student as long as it’s for 1 year.
  • If the student needs a lock-in list, they will have to meet with either C. Kroll or B. Flameno and the student will get a letter stating they need a lock-in list or if they are reaching their 150% maximum timeframe.
  • The SAP letters are mailed out once the Financial Aid Advisors completes the file. The new Financial Aid Director, Melissa Guess, is aiming to get financial aid award letters to students before the fall semester begins. In previous years, the award letters were sent in the middle of the fall semester. They are hoping the process will be faster in mailing the SAP letters. SAP is tied to the professor submitting theirgrades and if one professor does not submit them it will delay the process in Admissions. The SAP calculation is based upon the grades Admissions receives from the instructor. In addition, due to the partnership with the Compton Center, federal regulations state that both campuses are not allowed to disburse at the same time.
  • Another glitch a student may encounter is missing information,which is relayed in the MyECC Financial Aid communications tab. Students need to be aware of the communications tab that may request the completion and submission of a particular form.

Honors Transfer Program – Rene Lozano

  • All HTP workshops and seminars are scheduled for the semester and they will be facilitated by the Transfer Counselors.
  • The orientation for the new students was a huge success with a record breaking number of students in attendance.

Project Success – Nikki Barber

  • In the process of registering students for fall classes. There are a total of 37 students for the 2015-2016 cohort.
  • The new student orientation was held on the same day as NSWD. Students were given survival kits, back packs, and the student contract was discussed. The first part of the SAO was also completed.
  • The 1st yearstudent cohorts are registered in the following three courses: Library Science; Ethnic Studies; Human Development 10. The 2nd year students are registered for History 110.
  • There were 4 Project Success student orientations hosted in May and June. The Student Success Program hosted 5 orientations that were facilitated by N. Barber in the summer.
  • Recently collaborated with Bright Stars Charter School as a method of recruiting.
  • The Student Success Program students have the following courses for the fall semester: English A; Math 37; Math 80. The Math 37 morning course was the most popular and the evening class was opened to the general population since it did not fill up.
  • There are approx. 60 students in the Student Success Program.

Special Resource Center – Cristina Pajo

  • Success coaching is facilitated by Tisa Casas for students to be able to make one on one appointments if they are undecided about a major, need help getting organized, internships, etc. Students can schedule an appointment at the SRC front counter.
  • Dr. Jan Schaeffer is also available in the SRC for one-on-one appointments with students.

SSTARS – Dipte Patel

  • The way SSTARS was organized in the past is no longer active. The academic resources and support programs continue to exist. The academic and support services list was updated over the summer and distributed at Flex Day. There will need to be a meeting with the SSTARS committee to determine how to disburse the existing SSTARS monies that were used for scholarships and the banquet. R. Lozano would like the transfer students to be considered for scholarships from the SSTARS monies.

Transfer Center – Rene Lozano

  • The applicationdeadline for CSU spring admissions is Monday, August 31st. The final workshop/lab assistance is Thursday, August 27th.
  • September is the kick off forTAG month to help students fill out the TAG tool. In the process of producing the annual book explaining the TAG criteria. R. Lozano will send it electronically.
  • At the counselors meeting R. Lozano will give an update of the new AAT and AST for 15-16. There are slight changes made to the petition and he has been working with Edgar Corona to lobby for this. September 1st is the first day to begin applying.
  • Transfer fair is scheduled for September 29th.

SCA Council – Dipte Patel

  • The council met on August 6th and Dr. Patel will see if there is an update from this meeting.

Dean’s Updates – Dipte Patel

  • T. Newman and J. Fariolen are currently sharing the workload of posting the job openings from employers. Dr. Patel is looking for someone to hire to take over this workload and would like referrals. The job postings areavailable for students through the portal. Approximately 15 – 20 jobs per week are posted on the portal.
  • Planning –Dr. Patel distributed handouts of the college planning model. It visually shows all the various functions that work together.
  • The Program Review process will be initiated toward the end of the fall semester, and is due Fall 2016.
  • Annual plans are completed regularly and the recommendations from the annual plan derive directly from Program Review. The outcomes and Assessments are the SAOs. The college has a curriculum review. All of this ties into the institutional effectiveness. The driving forces in these areas are the college mission and strategic initiatives.
  • In the planning process the recommendations come directly from Program Review and since it is4 - 5 years old, many of the recommendations have been completed, abandoned or in progress.
  • 1st step in the Planning Process - Each year, in addition to the ongoing recommendations, items that are new or emergent needs will be assessed. Dr. Patel distributed the recommendations on Flex Day and she requested for them to reviewed and discussed amongst the constituents that they represent on council to see what needs to be updated or added for the current year plan.
  • 2nd Step in the Planning Process – To begin drafting the plans for next year. Each of the program plans will be reviewed from September – November for updating. The program plans are due November 15th. After November 15th, the Division Council will come together and review the recommendations to make prioritizations for the unit plan. The Division Unit plan is due February 15th. These recommendations will be taken, information will be added, prioritized, and shared at the Classified and Counselors meetings. After the Division Unit plan is submitted, the divisions within the Student and Community Advancement Area will review the plans for prioritization. At the Division Council level, Dr. Patel will ask what the priorities are and how they should be ranked for the Division Unit Plan.
  • Faculty will use the new tool called TracDat toenter the program plans for their area. Puente, Project Success, FYE, Career, Transfer and general counseling will enter their area program plans. Dr. Patel may take the general counseling plan to the counselors meeting for recommendations.
  • All the program plans are inputted into TracDat, Division Council will prioritize the recommendations for the Division unit plan, and this will be forwarded to the VP’s plan. Last April, Dr. Patel distributed the spreadsheet of the priorities from SCA. This is where the staffing is reviewed for classified and faculty positions, technology, equipment, furniture, and supplies. The college would like to move to a model where everything that is desired is not listed in the plan. The past practice has been to do request everything on the wish list but the district would like to move towards having a replacement budget for things. Some of the areas that are not institutionalized in funding such as fairs and travel can be included until there is a solidified budget for the expense.
  • Although SRC, EOPS/CalWORKs/CARE will submit their own program plan, Dr. Patel would like all items that are linked to counseling to be mirrored.
  • For questions regarding the planning process, please see the document titled, Making Decisions at El Camino College on the IR website. Dr. Patel will send a link and a timeline that she developed of all deadlines.

Institutional Effectiveness Outcomes

  • These are the goals that are set for the college. Indirectly, counseling contributes to many of the goals.
  • The transfer rate is based on a percentage of students who transferred to a 4 – year university within 6 years. The data was derived by reviewing the past six years of students who had a first time enrollment and of that group it was determined how many transferred. The number of transfer is an “n” number and in that year of 13-14 is shows the total number of students thattransferred.
  • The student readiness rate is directly tied to counseling and the core services. Dr. Patel sent data in the spring listing how many students completed one of the three core services. She will send the information again to determine where the numbers are now and it may require the implementation of measures to encourage the completion of the core services.

Meeting adjourned.