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November 2017 Drive-in Workshops Announced

9/27/2017

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Welcome ACCE Members/Colleagues!

We have planned and are participating in a record number of events and activities on behalf of you, our community and continuing education colleagues this year.
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Community Education professionals are revising of the Guidelines for Community Services, a document originally written with ACCE's help in 2012.  Our Continuing Education colleagues tirelessly advocate at the policy level for our students, and are participating in a growing number of educational policy-making opportunities at the state level.

Please keep these dates on your calendar, and register today. Topics at the Drive-in workshops will reach you via the listservs and website shortly. 

Our theme this year accurately reflects who we are in support of our students: Agents of Change. ​

Upcoming workshops: 
Bond, ACCE Bond: Community of Practice in Continuing and Community Education

Northern Workshop
Monday, November 6, 2017
CCCCO
1102 Q Street
Sacramento, CA 95911
​Register online.

Southern Workshop
Thursday, November 9, 2017
Mt. San Antonio College
1100 N. Grand Ave.
Walnut, CA 91789
Register online.


And don’t forget our Annual Conference, coming up in Jack London Square, Oakland, at the Waterfront Hotel, February 7 through 9, 2018. Details will be available soon! 

We are an all-volunteer organization working in support of Community and Continuing Education statewide, and we appreciate your support. 
 
On a personal note, thank you for the opportunity to serve as president of this organization in support of our students.  I look forward to a great year of working with you as an agent of change for our students in their lives. 
 
Sincerely,
Frances DeNisco, President, ACCE
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A Note from ACCE President, Liza Becker (Spring 2017)

4/18/2017

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Each term has its own sense of excitement for me. Summer term is my favorite – a time to tie up loose ends and generate fresh ideas for the new academic year. Fall term is full of hope for implementing new plans and aiming for those benchmarked outcomes. Winter is a time for re-strategizing, re-calibrating, and re-aligning the (enthusiastic) goals set in summer or early fall. Spring is simply action time! It is time to revisit our plans and “close the loop.” 

I hope you too are feeling re-energized and prepared to tackle the myriad of tasks on your list. One thing to keep in mind is that we are here, as ACCE colleagues, to support each other and provide resources needed for our students and our programs. A great venue for this is always the ACCE spring conference, and this year was no exception. We were able to cover a broad spectrum of topics ranging from legislative and Chancellor’s Office updates, to communicative strategies in dealing with micro aggression in the workplace, and sharing our model programs that can be adapted for our own colleges. Kudos to the entire ACCE Board, and especially to Carla, Cindy, Jan, Madelyn, and Rosie for setting up such an awesome program! You’ve set the bar high for next year. 

Next, I would like to tell you about an exciting event with which ACCE is involved in early May. It is a 2-day noncredit summit entitled: Building Bridges and Programs: Developing and Sustaining a Culture of Noncredit. This is a collaborative effort among several organizations including the Chancellor’s Office and Institutional Effectiveness Partnership Initiative (CCCCO, IEPI), Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC), California Community College Success Network (3CSN), and the Career Ladders Project (CLP), and others. Our goal is for teams to leave the conference with substantial resources and a preliminary plan for noncredit implementation or expansion at their colleges. The conference is currently sold out, but you can still add your name to the waitlist using the IEPI website. Look for further announcements through ACCE and other listservs. 

Lastly, I want to wish you a smooth and successful spring term, and look forward to our next in-person gathering.

Liza Becker
​ACCE President

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A Note from ACCE President - Liza Becker

9/6/2016

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Years ago, I used to look forward to summer sessions, jokingly calling them “Summer Lite.” These days, there doesn’t seem to be anything “lite” about them. Now I say “Where did the summer go!?” and I’m sure you can relate. There seems to be a good deal of activity on both the noncredit and community education fronts, and ACCE is making sure that we have representation at the table when the important conversations take place.

As I step into my new role as ACCE President, I can’t help but consider the major accomplishments we have achieved over the past few years. When I first joined ACCE in 2004-05, we were fiercely advocating for equalization of funding and eventually achieved it with the CDCP rate of enhanced funding. (Remember SB361?) This opened doors for some of us, and for others it helped to keep our doors open during the economic downturn, beginning in 2007-08. Today, we have different challenges (good ones!) that are the result of new initiatives, restored categorical funding, and collaborative opportunities with partners across our regions and the state.

So here are just some of the critical issues that are currently on our ACCE radar: Progress Indicators: Board of Governors is currently reviewing the recommendation of adding Satisfactory Progress (SP) as an indicator of success for noncredit, requires title 5 changes. We want this to be approved!

  • Noncredit SSSP: Implementation of Common Assessment Initiative and CCCApply processes are being hashed out with workgroups so that our support services can be adequately reported in the new noncredit SSSP funding formula. Locally, we need to identify gaps and align our data to the data elements coding for proper upload (and pay points).
  • Fee-based and Credit Co-enrollment: ACCE is still pursuing advice and direction for this option which has the potential to provide additional opportunities for student access. This has been reviewed extensively in SACC and discussions will hopefully continue in the coming year.

​Updates on these “hot topics” a
nd much more will be communicated to you via our ACCE website, the noncredit and community education listservs, our one-day fall workshops, and our annual spring conference. If you or a colleague would like to be added to one or both listservs, please contact your Council Leaders or the ACCE website administrator (contact information is on our website). Dates for the Drive-In Workshops are set for October 21 (Fri.) for the north and November 10 (Thur.) for the south. We also have the spring conference dates scheduled, so please save the dates of February 1 – 3 and prepare to stay at a lovely San Diego beach-side hotel. We are working on a special rate for conference attendees.

Last, but not least, I want to send a special welcome message to our new council leaders. Carla Muldoon, Cindy Chang, and Jan Young: You will help your colleagues in the field and learn so much along the way!! 
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From the ACCE President: Spring Updates

5/6/2016

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It has been a little over two months since the 2016 ACCE Conference, and I would like to once again thank all of the attendees, ACCE Board members, presenters, and sponsors who contributed to such a memorable event.  Judging from the evaluations, the content of the presentations addressed the needs and expectations of attendees.  Monterey, with its historical and cultural settings embedded in the pristine nature, was a spectacular location for the event.  As you might remember, I emailed a survey asking all ACCE members to point us in the right direction for next year’s conference location.  The Board is discussing the possibilities and will make an announcement shortly. 

At the conference, recognitions for Excellence in Program were awarded to Michelle King from Santa Monica College, Community Education Program and Julia Peterson from College of the Redwoods, Noncredit/Continuing Education. This year, the Lifetime Achievement Award went to ACCE Past President, Erica LeBlanc from Santa Monica College. 

As we find ourselves in the middle of the spring semester, the ACCE Board finds itself busy participating in a number of state-wide activities.  Valentina Purtell, ACCE Past President, has been attending Institutional Effectiveness Partnership Initiative (IEPI) meetings.  Thanks to her participation, the recognition and validation of noncredit progress indicators is closer to becoming a reality.  The Initiative has expanded its inclusion of noncredit participants at its meetings from one to three persons, which means ACCE will send two more of its Board members to those meetings.  We feel our voices are being heard and our contributions to the state-wide dialogue about noncredit progress indicators are necessary and needed.  Also present at the IEPI meetings, Academic Senate for California Community Colleges and specifically John Stanskas, Academic Senate Secretary, has been credited with truly supporting the noncredit cause.  I sent a personal email to John on behalf of ACCE expressing our gratitude for his efforts.

Over the years, ACCE has been working to ensure that ongoing communication with Academic Senate becomes a reality.  In the context of AEBG legislation, such collaborative efforts are crucial to inform faculty and administrators about the benefits of noncredit instruction.  In the middle of April, the State Academic Senate Noncredit Committee held its Northern and Southern California Regional Meetings and ACCE Board members were present at each meeting. 
 

As an advocacy group, ACCE strives to be on the cutting edge of legislation affecting noncredit and community education in California.  Most recently, Madelyn Arballo from Mt. San Antonio College testified in Sacramento about the progress of the implementation of the AEBG plans.  Also present at the hearing were representatives from adult schools in the state. 

Spring is the time when the ACCE Board holds its elections and if you feel you can contribute to the field of community or continuing education at the state level, please don’t hesitate to contact ACCE.  We can always use help. 
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Wishing you the best of spring semesters,
Jarek Janio
ACCE President


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ACCE Lifetime Achievement Award: Erica LeBlanc, Santa Monica College

3/7/2016

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Erica LeBlanc is a treasure, not only because of her professional dedication and contributions to ACCE and our students, but also because she is the kind of person everyone wants as a friend.

Erica had been active in ACCE events long before she joined the board in 2005.  Once on the board, she served as the Journal editor (twice), Second Vice-President, First-Vice President, President, and Past-President.  Each of the leadership roles carries specific duties including membership, conference planning, leadership of the organization as a whole, and the nomination/election process.  Additionally, each member of the board chips in to help the others do whatever needs doing.  Erica has embraced each role as well as the spirit of "all for one and one for all."

In addition to the board roles, Erica has served as an ACCE representative in committees and task groups at the state level.  Two of the most significant in recent years have been the System Advisory Committee on Curriculum (SACC) and the original AB86 Work Group for the planning grant to restructure adult education in California.

As a member of SACC, Erica brings a deep understanding of both credit and noncredit curriculum to the table.  She gets us because she is us.  She sees implications of potential decisions that may harm or help our students.  She speaks up, time and again.  She builds bridges to decision makers who may not understand noncredit. 

The original AB86 work group consisted of about a dozen members, six drawn from community college noncredit programs and six from K-12 adult education.  The work schedule, particularly in the earlier months, was daunting, with twice-monthly trips to Sacramento, all-day meetings with homework in the evenings, and further assignments between trips.  In addition to the tangible work, there was a great need to build trust and relationships.  Erica, with her worker-bee spirit and her strong people skills, truly excelled in the work group, volunteering for assignments (including a lot of hands-on writing) while building sincere good will among members.

Erica is fun.  If you want a fast walk around Sacramento in the early morning, she's your gal.  If you want creative, possibly crazy ideas for a conference or a presentation, she's your gal.  If you want someone who will not only help develop a Frankenstein-themed PowerPoint on AB86 for a conference scheduled over Halloween, but will also show up for that presentation wearing a full Bride of Frankenstein costume, she's your gal. 

As Dean of Academic Affairs at Santa Monica College, Erica has carried a range of responsibilities including, but not limited to, the noncredit program.  For example, she has been the Accreditation Liaison Officer for the college, has led curriculum processes for both credit and noncredit, and was assigned at least one major musical presentation fraught with political connections and artistic drama.  Yet she has always kept noncredit as a priority in her work.  It speaks well for her work ethic and accomplishments that the college has now established a full-time noncredit dean position while asking Erica to continue fulfilling other significant full-time responsibilities for the college as a whole.

This award does not signal an ending. We know ACCE is deeply rooted in Erica's heart, and we plan to be in her schedule!  But the time is right, and the time is now, to recognize her for her ongoing, incredibly awesome contributions to ACCE and our students.
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ACCE Continuing Education Excellence Award: Julie Peterson, College of the Redwoods

3/7/2016

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College of the Redwoods new noncredit program started in fall of 2013 and has grown to encompass more than 78 courses and 12 noncredit certificates.  The addition of noncredit at CR began more than three years ago when Julia Peterson proposed a noncredit program to Administration at College of the Redwoods.    Ms. Peterson worked with faculty, staff and virtually every department within the college to build an integrated noncredit program that would include educational community partnerships as well as college readiness classes that would align with credit classes to create seamless pathways into college credit programs.
Curriculum was developed to serve the community in all 10 noncredit areas, with a focus on college and career preparation.  Ms. Peterson worked with the community and the AB86 consortium to identify adult educational needs of the District, and worked with faculty to create curriculum to meet those needs.  The community found the classes met their needs and the new noncredit adult education program had over 2,890 Students by the end of its second academic year.

Under Ms. Peterson, CR’s Adult Education program partnered with the Humboldt County Office of Education and Humboldt State University to provide ESL classes to the parents of local elementary schools’ English Language Learning students.  The elementary school based students asked the program to expand and so it grew to include GED classes with support for Spanish speakers.

Another partnership included the development of a noncredit CalFire Wildland Fire Academy.  In this rural part of northern California wildland fire suppression is a rapidly growing and much needed career option.   The Wildland Fire Academy, developed and held in partnership with CalFire and the US Forest Service, graduated its first class of 27 new firefighters this spring, just in time for the graduates to apply for this year’s fire season positions.  The community was so supportive of the new program that the graduation ceremony was attended by many firefighters from local fire districts.  The local Cal Fire Unit Chief was among the dignitaries to address the graduates, and, of course, family and friends of the graduates joined everyone in celebration.

In October 2015, College of the Redwoods Adult Education program began the first face-to-face college classes in Pelican Bay State Prison, a level 4 supermax prison, with the introduction of noncredit Adult Education "College Bootcamp” classes to prepare inmates for college credit classes planned to follow.  Since that start, the first credit class has started within Pelican Bay State Prison, and the College Bootcamp classes continue to prepare inmates for the rigor of credit classes.
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Ms. Peterson identified a need with CR’s credit students when the Dean of Athletics mentioned that nearly 30% percent of his football team was disqualified in fall of 2013 due to academic ineligibility.  Ms. Peterson worked with the Dean, the head Football Coach, and the Counselor for Athletics to develop a “Cap & Gown” program that added noncredit basic skills classes to the already full schedule of the football team.  By fall 2014, the problem of losing football players to academic eligibility had been virtually eliminated and the Cap & Gown program was declared so successful at supporting student athletes that it was expanded to include all sports.  In fall of 2015 CR’s Athletics department had an unprecedented 41% of its athletes with a GPA of 3.0 or higher.  Academic ineligibility has changed from being a formidable issue to a negligible factor, and CR’s student athletes are showing how successful they can be in the classroom as well as on the field.
College of the Redwoods noncredit program continues to expand and grow from the roots started by Julia Peterson.  The isolated, rural district with a history of logging and fishing has a great need and appreciation for the new adult education programs being offered by their community college and we expect them to continue to support the program by attending classes throughout the district.

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