Community College Showcase Agenda 2022

Pre-Conference Session

Teaching to Students’ Cultural Strengths: Empowering First-Generation College Students

Shantell Strickland-Davis, Executive Director, Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence, Central Piedmont Community College

Ellen Wasserman, Senior Research Assistant, Community College Research Center and Adjunct Professor, Westchester Community College

Given the heterogenous nature of first-generation students, a cultural strength teaching approach, one that taps into student’s psychosocial, spiritual, and intellectual assets, can be an excellent way to promote student success.  During this interactive workshop, we will explore how learning environments with shared responsibility for learning, group work and collaboration, scaffolding, motivational language, multidimensional assignments, and flexible deadlines can emphasize cultural strengths and increase student learning.  Participants will also reflect on their own cultural perspective and how it influences their teaching. Working together in small groups, participants will be challenged to develop their own plan to use cultural strengths strategies that respect, reflect, and engage first-generation students from different cultural backgrounds. Given the complexity of this work, participants will be encouraged to partner with a colleague from within and outside their institution to work toward a cultural strengths approach in their classrooms. Participants will be invited to optional follow-up workshops to continue this dialogue with partners also committed to empowering first-generation students. 

Welcome and Keynote

Michael Baston, president Rockland Community College

Academic Leadership in the Now Normal: Partnering with Others for Student Success 

The health, economic, and social justice crisis we have endured requires academic leaders to ensure their institutions are better equipped to respond to the changing needs of learners, communities, and employers while emphasizing the role their college can and should play in combatting racial injustice and disparities. Educational institutions, however, cannot go it alone given the significant shifts in student demographics, alternatives to college attendance, changing business and industry expectations, and greater competition among educational sectors. 

Community College Leader Panel

Karen Archambault, Moderator, Vice President, Enrollment Management and Student Success, Rowan College at Burlington County

Panelists:

Jennifer Brown, Interim Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Windward Community College,

Anna Payanzo-Cotton, Vice President of Workforce Development, Rowan College at Burlington County,
Maureen Murphy, President, College of Southern Maryland
Jermaine Williams, President, Montgomery College

During this session, community college leaders will share examples of how their institutions have engaged in partnerships to increase student success.

Improving Professional Learning:  Partnering with Faculty and Staff to Move the Needle on Student Success

Shantell Strickland-Davis, Executive Director, Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence, Central Piedmont Community College
Lilisa Williams, HR Director of Faculty & Staff Development and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Liaison, Hudson County Community College

As community colleges strive to make gains on student retention, persistence, and completion, it is more important than ever for institutions to invest in mission-aligned quality professional development for the creator of each students' learning experience: the faculty.   Research has shown there is a positive correlation between the strategies faculty use in the classroom and student success.  Professional learning for faculty is an essential component in supporting student-centered teaching methods, however, the sole investment in physical spaces, professional staff facilitators, or technology does not equate to faculty learning and engagement.  In this session, we will discuss challenges associated with professional learning program design and share strategies for engaging faculty and staff with quality learning activities through valued partnerships. This workshop will share best practices, steps and outcomes for professional development opportunities to best meet the needs of faculty and staff serving community college students.

Partnering for Success through the Power of Organizational Coaching

Jennifer Miller, Executive Director, NYS Student Success Center
Renee Dimino, Director & Lead Coach, SUNY Guided Pathways Project, Monroe Community College
Michele Campagna, Assistant Dean, Learning Initiatives & Student Success, Westchester Community College
Wendy Beesley, Assistant Dean for Student Success, SUNY Ulster

Organizational coaching is a powerful way for education, business, and community-based organizations to realize transformational change efforts. Today, national postsecondary organizations including Achieving the Dream and JFF Student Success Centers, as well as individual colleges and their leaders are using coaching strategies to support their transformative change efforts around equitable student success and completion. This session will focus on the impact of organizational coaching and share models to build capacity of faculty, staff and their institutions to improve student success and specifically address equity.

It Takes A Village: How Deans, Faculty and Counselors Reimagined Probation through Embedded Support

Jared Dowd, Assistant Professor/ Financial Aid Counselor, Suffolk County Community College 
Alyssa Kauffman, Professor of Communication/ Study Hour Faculty Coordinator, Suffolk County Community College

Are you struggling with ways to support the students who have failed out of school or are returning after years away from college? Join us for a presentation on providing academic support from a wholistic point of view. Participants will learn framework to a successful retention initiative at Suffolk County Community College, which helps brings together a plethora of departments to provide embedded supports for probation and reinstated students. Presenters come from the administrative, academic and student support perspectives to share experiences and provide the framework on how to implement this programmatic shift and approach to this student population.  

Developing Collegial Partnership to Better Support Undergraduate Research at Community College

Anna Ivanova, Assistant Professor, Hostos Community College of CUNY
Flor Henderson, Professor, Hostos Community College of CUNY

During the session we will discuss the successful partnership and collaboration developed between the Physical Sciences and Biology Units of the Natural Sciences Department at Hostos Community College (HCC) of CUNY, in order to provide an undergraduate research opportunity for our students. We will discuss the implementation and effective use of departmental resources, the benefits of an interdisciplinary partnership, the continuous development of the research opportunities for students in the framework of this partnership, and how we managed to maneuver pandemic related limitations by designing a research project that allowed students to gain hands-on and practical experience at their homes. 

Abandon the Zoom Fatigue: Re-energizing your Professional Development in a New Media World

Sabrina Mathues, Faculty and Department Chair, College Success, Brookdale Community College
Danielle Zimecki-Fennimore, Dean of Academic Compliance, Rowan College of South Jersey

Led by self-identified “professional students” and informed by communication media studies, this presentation considers creative approaches to professional development in a post-pandemic, increasingly virtual, and budget-constrained context. Join this session to be energized and reminded how the same growth mindset and lifelong learning orientation we hope to instill in students also drives our careers. Review common professional development motivations and requirements for faculty, staff, and administrators, and discuss - with practical examples provided - new media solutions and “return to normal” approaches that meet those needs while filling your emotional bucket! Added networking bonus: connect with like-minded folks seeking opportunities to grow.

Huddle Up: Removing Silos for Student Success

Anita Moore-Bohannon, Executive Dean for Academic Support, Waubonsee Community College
Jessica Moreno, Dean for Academic Support, Waubonsee Community College
Spencer Brayton, Director of Library Services, Waubonsee Community College

Rather than working in silos, the Academic Support Leadership team participates in a daily huddle, which brings together the collective wisdom and strengths of the group.  The huddles leverage the interconnected nature of our work toward the common goal of student success. All team members acknowledge that they see the college through the lens of different experiences and each of us participate in various spaces where information is shared that can benefit the entire team.  As a result, information flows more freely at the huddles and we don’t get locked into one perspective.  In short, the huddles leverage our diversity to maximize team performance in support of student success.

SUNY Ulster’s New Start for Women: a Community Partnership for Economic Mobility and Equity

Mindy Kole, Associate Professor and Chair of Business & Professional Studies, SUNY Ulster
Jordan Scruggs, Director of New Start for Women, SUNY Ulster

Today, more than ever, members of our communities struggle with low-paid jobs and lack of economic mobility and look to our colleges for a path to a better life.  New Start for Women helps women with economic challenges and leadership potential earn a Certificate in Business, along with skills and professional network needed for living wage employment and economic mobility.

New Start for Women invites you to learn about the development and continuing evolution of our program, how to leverage community partnerships to increase positive learning outcomes and to participate in conversations with program graduates about the keys to success.

Affirmation & Inclusivity: Building & Strengthening Community Partnerships to Better Support LGBTQ+ Students

Joseph Falco, Executive Director, Student Success, Rockland Community College

This highly interactive presentation encourages administrators, faculty, and staff to build and strengthen their partnerships with community organizations, in order to promote the success of LGBTQ+ students.  LGBTQ+ students experience a lower sense of belonging at community colleges. Heteronormativity and cisnormativity run rampant throughout community college campuses. Not all institutions have dedicated LGBTQ+ Centers, staff, or funding for LGBTQ+-affirming education, programming, support services, and training.  Partnering with community organizations and providing LGBTQ+ students with the curricular, programming and support services they deserve and to which they are entitled, will not only increase their LGBTQ+ students' sense of belonging, but will help them to feel visible and affirmed in their gender and sexual identities.  After attending this session, participants will be able to identify the value in building and strengthening partnerships with community organizations to better support LGBTQ+ students, identify ways to be more LGBTQ+-affirming and inclusive in the classroom and on community college campuses, and identify low-hanging fruit in their own classrooms and on their own campuses that they can employ to be more LGBTQ+ affirming and inclusive. 

Oral History Project: A Collaboration to Raise Student Awareness about Factors that Contribute to Marginalization

Madeline Mary Ruggiero, Assistant Professor/Collection Development Librarian, Queensborough Community College

This session promotes creative collaborations within institutions between librarians and instructors and the community public library’s oral history project, to motivate and engage students to learn about diversity. A pedagogical approach that links primary sources to secondary sources will be examined. This partnership results in a culminating assignment that requires students to form a videographed interview of a community member that tells a story of resistance or resilience. Participants in this session will gain ideas to create a similar collaborative assignment using guidelines, for the step by step interview process, provided by the public library and the Smithsonian Institution Archives.

Employer-School Partnerships: Investing in A Stronger Workforce

Odile Dilone, Interim Director of Non Credit Programs, Capital Community College
John Thomas, Coordinator, Capital's Career Advancement Program, Capital Community College

Employer partnerships are essential relationships for any school. For programs to be successful, schools must secure partnerships where employers invest in the programs and students. These partnerships benefit the students and the school, and the employers recognize a Return on Investment (ROI), too. Businesses thrive and are future-prepared when employers embrace their roles in the creation of a diverse, well-educated, and well-trained workforce. Working together we can create talent pipelines that are all that and homegrown, strengthening the fiber of the communities in which we live and work. Participants will receive a handout with best practices for partnership success. 

Leading & Managing Teams - In Person and Remotely

Forrest C. Helvie, Interim Director of Professional Development, Connecticut State Community College

When we partner with others to find success, we need to work together in a collaborative and productive way. This presentation aims to provide practical strategies that participants can immediately put to use to help their various teams run more effectively and create a stronger sense of team cohesiveness. Whether participants are deans, directors, chairs, coordinators or members of a team, this workshop will appeal to a wide array of faculty, staff, and administrators who find themselves working in small and large teams and want to get the most out of those experiences.

Creating a Strategic Intra-Institutional Collaboration to support Pre-Nursing Students’ Academic and Career Success

Sabrina Avila, Program Coordinator, Passaic County Community College
Betsy Marinace, Dean of Academic Initiatives & Project Director, Passaic County Community College

As the main priority of our Title V project, Passaic County Community College has partnered with Ramapo College of New Jersey to provide Nursing students the opportunity to graduate with a Bachelor’s degree.  To boost academic performance in required math and science courses as well as to clarify misconceptions about the Nursing career, we will present steps we took in creating a pre-Nursing Support Network to include Developmental Math peer mentoring and Career Workshops guided by PCCC faculty and staff from Student Support Services, Academic Advising, Workforce Development and a Nursing professional organization to strategically prepare Nursing pathway students.

Reframing the Academic Integrity Process

Cherie Meador, Moraine Valley Community College

Shanya Gray, Moraine Valley Community College

Presenter will discuss how Moraine Valley Community College reframed its academic dishonesty process and implemented policies to improve equity, student persistence, and success. Moraine Valley used action research to review current trends in its academic dishonesty cases and engaged faculty in discussion about findings, ultimately changing its practices. Presenters will share Moraine Valley's academic dishonesty process, and how college administrators from academic affairs and student development collaborate to support student success. 

Invested: Joining forces with Industry to Design a High-demand Degree Program

Tammy Napiontek, Director of Title V Grants, Big Bend Community College

The community college baccalaureate (CCB) is a growing initiative providing students the opportunity to complete a bachelor's degree without transferring. Expanding its mission to include baccalaureate degrees, the primary goal of CCB programs is to increase access to students with barriers to a baccalaureate degree. This is a perfect fit for the open-access mission of community colleges. Currently, 120 community and technical colleges and half the states offer CCB programs. Big Bend Community College (BBCC), a comprehensive, 2-year, public community college serving a large, rural district in central Washington State launched its first CCB program in Applied Management Fall 2021. BBCC conducted a DACUM (Developing a Curriculum) process with regional employers to ensure the new Bachelor of Applied Science in Applied Management (BAS-AM) curriculum would meet employers' needs and students' needs. Providing another education step for students who have completed workforce-specific degrees and designing a program with a competitive edge when applying for local employment, students would be trained in the skills regional employers need. Participants will hear the data that assisted BBCC in receiving approval to offer a community college baccalaureate (CCB) and the contributions from the DACUM that were influential in the design of the program.

A Model for Developing a Collaborative Community Mental Health Partnership in Pursuit of a Shared Goal: Student Success

Renee Tastad, AVP Student Affairs & Dean of Enrollment Management, Holyoke Community College
Elizabeth Barron, Clinic Director - Outpatient Behavioral Health, The Center for Human Development (CHD)

In this session, participants will learn how Holyoke Community College has partnered with the Center for Human Development to provide on-campus and virtual mental health services for students along with robust professional development opportunities for faculty, staff, and student leaders. The presenters will engage participants in learning through a combination of information sharing, interactive polls, and dialogue.

Building a Great Community College Art Collection Across New Jersey

Marilyn Kralik, Professor of Humanities and Islamic Civilization, Ocean County College
Andrea Siegel, Director of HCCC Foundation Art Collection, Hudson County Community College
Heidi Sheridan, Dean of Arts and Humanities, Ocean County College
Kenneth Malagiere, Director of the Ocean County College Foundation, Ocean County College

The session will begin with a “TED Talk” presented by Dr. Andrea Siegel of HCCC in September 2021, providing a brief history of the HCCC project and essentially establishing a blueprint for potential replication across the state. Dr. Siegel, along with members from the OCC Foundation and College administration, will then briefly outline the shared procedures for organization, acquisition, and installation that has allowed OCC to replicate the program, especially in light of its own scheduled major expansion of the Grunin Center for the Performing Arts. Auxiliary topics, such as publicity, security, and campus and neighborhood public relations, will also be discussed with an emphasis upon the practical realities of such endeavors.

All the Way Up: Successful Tips for Retaining and Graduating Black Men in Community College

LaVon Williams, Coordinator of Student Success Initiatives, Union County College

A review of research suggests Black male students are often overlooked, understudied, and mistreated in higher education. This presentation will discuss the experience of Black men enrolled in community college and will provide student affairs professionals with information to reconsider, align, and establish the services that will create a tradition of academic success that leads to students transferring to four-year institutions. This presentation will discuss the impact of family, mentorship, and cultural capital has on Black men in a support program. Participants will also learn how to improve student success outcomes and how to promote upward mobility.

Promoting Equity and Student Success through a Holistic First-Year Seminar

Michele Campagna, Assistant Dean, Learning Initiatives & Student Success, Westchester Community College
Karen Taylor, Dean, School of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, Westchester Community College
Leonore Rodrigues, Director, Viking ROADS, Westchester Community College
Ellen Wasserman, Adjunct Faculty Member & Program Specialist, Westchester Community College

The First-Year Seminar at Westchester Community College grew out of a partnership between Academic Affairs and Student Affairs. This collaboration contributed to the development of a holistic curriculum focusing on the academic, social, and personal development of first-year students at the institution. Using a Guided Pathways framework and a social justice paradigm, the course curriculum, instruction, and enrollment align to WCC’s academic and career pathways and integrate the College’s holistic student supports. This approach has supported the achievement of student outcomes that illustrate the course is positively contributing to an increase in retention, momentum, and the narrowing of equity gaps. 

From Studio to Spotlight: Partnerships, Pathways, and Bridges for Community College Students in the Arts

Jennifer Smolos, Dean, School of Visual & Performing Arts/Artistic Director, Santa Clarita Performing Arts Center at College of the Canyons, Santa Clarita Community College District

Community College students and alumni face unique challenges as they endeavor to transfer to a four-year institution or enter into the world of professional practice in visual and performing arts. Creating meaningful partnerships (and articulation agreements) with public and private colleges, universities, and conservatories while simultaneously building connective bridges to professional organizations in the field increases access, varied pathways, and opportunities for success!

Enabling Jobs and Other Experiential Learning Through Industry Partnerships

Pamela Bogdan, Program Chair Engineering & Industrial/Technical Studies, Ocean County College
Max Schippe, Engineer, UNEX Manufacturing
Rick Varenick, Workforce Development/HR, UNEX Manufacturing

This talk will describe a framework for experiential learning that enhances the academic experience for community college students. This will be brought to life through the details of the Ocean County College – UNEX LLC Manufacturing work-based learning partnership, including the experiences of a student that has benefitted from this relationship.

Effectively Addressing the Mental Health and Well-Being of Students through Faculty and Student Services Collaboration

Jamie Parmese, Adjunct Assistant Professor of English and Coordinator & Liaison of Pathways to College Success Courses, Raritan Valley Community College
Bruce Yellin, Counselor, Raritan Valley Community College
Carolyn Kinebrew-Bosa, Assistant Professor of Communications, Raritan Valley Community College

This presentation will share ideas, strategies, and tips on how faculty and student services can collaborate in effectively addressing the mental health crisis among community college students by helping them build and develop essential professional skills that will further aid them in their own self-advocacy.  Not only will these ideas, strategies, and tips be targeted towards helping alleviate any challenges that students may be struggling with regarding their mental health but also towards helping equip faculty with ready-to-use resources, activities, and exercises that will help students further build upon skills such as effective communication, time management, considering diverse perspectives, etc.

A Breakthrough Partnership for College-Ready ELLs

Robert Nechols, ELI Director, Westchester Community College
Justin Cody Smith, ELS Program Specialist and DSO, Westchester Community College

In this presentation, participants will learn about the Westchester Community College English Language Institute's English for Academic Purposes program and language evaluation and referral process for guiding students in their transition from ESL to college programs. Presenters will outline positive changes to the process with respect to the ELI’s role in partnership with other college departments during the COVID-19 period (spring ‘20 to the present). The results of data from 150+ students referred for college study during the COVID-19 period will be presented along with strategies for improving matriculation and retention rates by helping students overcome obstacles to academic success.

Implementing a Holistic Case Management Advising (HCMA) Model in Connecticut’s Community College System

Michael Buccilli, Associate Vice President of Student Success Management, Connecticut State Community College
Brian Kapinos, Regional Advising Director, Connecticut State Community College
Licella Arboleda, Regional Advising Director, Connecticut State Community College
Kathleen "Kat" Ahern, Regional Advising Director, Connecticut State Community College

Presenters will discuss the HCMA model and Guided Pathways approach being implemented at the community college level in Connecticut. The HCMA model seeks to reinvent community college advising in Connecticut through promotion of student success and equity. Presenters will outline the implementation process / timeline and discuss the highlights, enrollment trends for the Fall 2021 semester, early retention data, and student survey results from the implementation at Northwestern Connecticut State Community and Middlesex Community College. Presenters will also discuss the highlights, current implementation challenges, and hopes for the future. 

A Community College DEI Enrichment Program Model for Transformative Change

Veronica Gerosimo, Assistant Dean of Student Life and Leadership,Hudson County Community College
Amaalah Ogburn, Assistant Director for the North Hudson Campus, Hudson County Community College
Natalia Vazquez-Bodkin, Assistant Director for the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Hudson County Community College

The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Student Passport Program (DEISPP) is a home-grown DEI student enrichment program. This program was developed through a cross-departmental internal partnership using a Participatory Action Research (PAR) cycle to guide the multi-semester development and implementation process. DEISPP guides students through 8-weeks of difficult and intensive topics and dialogues to build cultural competence and provide psychologically safe spaces for deep introspection, reflection, and growth. Conference attendees will gain access to insight and materials to understand how to build their own DEI student enrichment program, in context, while utilizing college-wide partnerships to ensure a holistic and supportive approach. 

Partnering with Students through Storytelling: Pedagogy to Empower Students for Success

Carol Carielli, Adjunct Assistant Professor Kingsborough Community College, CUNY

As educators we partner with different agencies within the college community, as well as outside of it. Our most important partnership, however, is directly with our students.  In my partnership with students, one of my roles is to empower them for success. I approach that through storytelling: Students telling their story; their lived experience. I ask the students to think about what the stories are from their past that they tend to retell to themselves and others. Those stories, when analyzed, can yield life changing results that can enhance their control over their lives.

Partnering with Industry Leaders and Organizations to Develop Cannabis Education

Ruth Williams, Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs/Dean of Curriculum and Instruction, Oakton Community College

April Reed, Director of Compliance, Ascend Wellness Holdings

Industry partners and organizations are critical to Oakton College’s recognition as leader in cannabis credit and noncredit education in Illinois. Oakton College responded quickly to the emerging cannabis labor market by collaborating with industry partners, organizations, alumni, and government officials to develop and successfully launch its cannabis credit and noncredit programming, including the recent opening of the state-of-the-art cannabis cultivation laboratory. This session will describe the strategies Oakton employees used to connect with these partners, as well as internal partners, to quickly develop, offer, and promote in-demand cannabis programming. 

Implementing a 15 to Finish Communication Campaign: Essential Partnerships for Success

Martine Howard, Chairperson/ Faculty Languages and Communications, Camden County College

I will provide a detailed description of my actions to partner with senior administrators, the advisement center, the communications department, and the Institutional Research office at my institution in order to launch a 15 to Finish campaign. I will include research from my dissertation on the implementation of a 15 to Finish campaign and examples from other institutions that successfully launched such a campaign on how and why the partnership worked for student success. I will offer recommendations for those who plan to have such partnerships at their institution for implementing a 15 to Finish campaign.

Networking Conversations: Enrollment Services, Leadership, Student Services, and Teaching and Learning
Networking Sessions

Keynote and Closing Remarks

Shauna Davis, Strategy Director, Lumina Foundation

Positioning Ourselves to Be Good Partners

Strong partnerships require building and nurturing relationships that are mutually beneficial. Whether it's developing stronger working relationships with colleagues, seeking relationships that can help a new idea flourish, finding ways to build trust with community partners, or establishing dynamic employer relationships – partnerships require work. Whether internal or external, the key to establishing strong partnerships starts with introspection. What makes you a strong partner? How can you develop a path forward that positions you to have successful partnerships? Let’s discuss some practical ways to make your next partnership your best yet!