April 2021 District Newsletter
Note: The District Newsletter is intended to share available updates about district participatory decision-making groups, new and/or revised Board Policies and Administrative Procedures, the Chancellor’s Cabinet, District Services (Educational Planning, Fiscal Services, Information Technology, M&O, and Human Resources, Grants), and excerpts from the Chancellor’s monthly Board Reports.
District Consultation Council (DC3)
Draft Strategic Plan
During the 2020-2021 academic year, the District has been creating a new YCCD Strategic Plan. The District Consultation and Coordination Council (DC3) is the governance body responsible for oversight of long-range and strategic planning and budgeting, educational and student services plans, and advocacy at the local, state and national levels. This work has been guided by planning priorities articulated by the Chancellor and Board of Trustees:
- Community Oriented: Focused on our communities’ education, economic, civic/social, and health priorities
- Future Facing: Anticipating and shaping the future of education, the future of work, and the future of our communities
- Leverage Partnerships: Extend access to a broad array of educational programs through strategic partnerships
The Draft Strategic Plan is now available for review by the college and district communities at https://www.yccd.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Draft-YCCD-Strategic-Plan-3-25-21.pdf.
After reviewing the Draft Strategic Plan, we hope you will provide feedback through the Strategic Plan survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YCCD_2021 by Friday, April 23.
Chancellor Houston’s Farewell Celebration
Please join us via Zoom tomorrow, April 13, 2021, starting at 3:30 p.m. via Zoom at this link: https://cccconfer.zoom.us/j/93387005101
Classified Employee of the Year Award
The statewide Classified Employee of the Year awards honors community college classified employees who demonstrate the highest level of commitment to the Vision for Success and equitable student outcomes. Recipients are nominated by their colleagues and endorsed by the local Board of Trustees.
Classified employees with a minimum of 5 years of service as permanent employees within the nominating Community College District (full-time or part-time) are eligible for the award. The nominees are evaluated on their commitment to the Vision for Success and equitable student outcomes, professional ethics and standards, serving the institution’s diverse student population through participation in professional and/or community activities, and serving as a leader beyond their local institution.
Yuba Community College District employees nominated 14 employees, of which 10 met the California Community College Chancellor’s Office requirements. All qualifying nominations were considered by the selection committee which included Interim CHRO Terri Pyer, Yuba College President Dr. Tawny Dotson, Woodland Community College President Dr. Art Pimentel, Interim Director of Institutional Effectiveness Cassie Leal, and classified employee representatives Annie Revell (Yuba College), and Marrisa Boswell (Woodland Community College).
The selection committee utilized a scoring rubric developed by the State Chancellors Office to determine the YCCD winners for the Classified Employee of the Year Award.
After review by the selection committee, three (3) names were forwarded for Board of Trustees recognition:
- Silvia Gonzalez — EOP&S/CARE Specialist, Yuba College: Silvia has been a committed EOPS/CARE Program Specialist for over 15 years and has since day one gone above and beyond for over 20,000 Yuba College students. Her dedication and passion in serving first-generation, low-income, educationally at-risk, single parents, foster youth, disabled students, and undocumented students is mesmerizing.
- Kimberly Boles-Cravea — Lake County Campus Student Success Specialist, Woodland Community College: Kimberly is a hard-working colleague who is committed to student success and has a passion for providing students with an equitable education. As our DSPS lead for Lake County Campus, Kimberly goes above and beyond to make sure our DSPS students have the accommodations and tools to be successful as students. Kimberly has over 8 years in Classified service.
- Renee Hamilton — Executive Assistant to the Vice Chancellor of Educational Planning & Services, District Services: Renee has been a YCCD employee for over 31 years with deep and rich institutional knowledge. Her work is instrumental to institutional planning and supports student success and equitable outcomes. She works tirelessly to improve policies and procedures and ensure that institutional barriers to student success and completion are removed. She is knowledgeable about YCCD and the community college system as a whole. She is a team player and one of those “go-to” people.
At the March 11, 2021, Regular Board meeting, the Governing Board elected Silvia Gonzalez for submission to the California Community College Chancellor’s Office for consideration by the Board of Governors for the Classified Employee of the Year Award.
The Governing Board adopted Resolution 21-19 honoring the service and commitment of the YCCD Classified Employee of the Year Award winners and recognizing the following employees nominated by their YCCD colleagues:
- Diana Adams – Yuba College
- Raminder Bains – Yuba College
- James Day – District Services
- Sonia Diaz – Yuba College
- Renee McKenzie – Yuba College
- Rebecca Reyes – Woodland Community College
The four employees that were nominated but did not meet the 5 year employment requirement.
- Danielle Stennet-Lake County Campus
- Isabel Duenas-Woodland Community College
- Desiree Forbes-Woodland Community College
- Crystal Ferrer-Yuba College
Beginning next year, the District will have a Rising Star Award, which will recognize the commitment and excellence of YCCD classified employees with less than 5 years of permanent employment history within the district.
District Services Seeking Volunteers for Morale Workgroup
In response to the College Employee Satisfaction Survey results, District Services is seeking volunteers to serve on a Morale Workgroup. The goal of the workgroup is to brainstorm, schedule, and organize 2-3 fun activities to promote a sense of community in the workplace. We will be having our first meeting at the end of May. If you are interested in being involved, please email Cassie Leal at cleal@yccd.edu.
In the spirit of promoting fun and community within District Services, we have schedule an online Loteria game for Friday, April 28 at 11:00 AM. Lotería is a traditional game of chance, similar to bingo, but using images on a deck of cards instead of numbered ping pong balls. Look for the calendar invite that was sent by Cassie Leal on April 9 to join the fun.
YCCD Answers Audit Update
At the beginning of Fall 2020 YCCD executed a contract with Cambridge West Partnership to assist the District with data integrity and related processes to optimize student success and alignment with the Student-Centered Funding Formula. Since the launch of the Data Integrity Project Deborah Ludford, the consultant from Cambridge West, has worked with District and College staff to evaluate current MIS workflow processes and develop gap analysis and recommendations that has been shared with the Data Validation Steering Team.
To continue the work of the Data Integrity Project, Cassie Leal, Interim Director of Institutional Effectiveness, has been working with specific District and College staff to audit the reports contained in our YCCD Answers platform. The focus of this work will be to:
- ensure the accuracy of the data captured in the reports
- increase the confidence staff have in the data contained in the reports
- improve departments utilization of the reports
- develop supplemental documentation and descriptions for each report
Currently Cassie is working with DSPS, Financial Aid, and Business Services to audit the first 22 reports. If your department would like to move forward with your portion of the Answers audit project, please contact Cassie at cleal@yccd.edu
Chancellor Houston’s Farewell Celebration scheduled for April 13, 2021. Please join us via Zoom at this link:
Information Technology
District Phone System Replacement
Phase 1 of the District Phone System Replacement project has been completed and efforts are underway for Phase 2 which includes the rollout of end user training, deployment of soft phones and selected handsets. IT personnel are currently working to deploy soft phones to all faculty and staff computers in teh District, so expect to see a new icon on your desktop called UCx. Also look for emails providing links to training materials and knowledge base articles. The tentative plan is to complete Phase 2 the week after grades have been submitted in early June.
Coming Soon: External Flag in Outlook
In an effort to protect users from phishing attacks Microsoft has implemented a new flag for their Outlook email system called “External.” This flag will be presented in Outlook for the Web and Outlook for Mobile Devices.
Please see this KB article for more information. External email message received
IT personnel expect this flag to start showing up in mid-April.
Yuba Community College District Foundation Welcomes New Investment Advisor
At a special meeting of the Yuba Community College District Foundation Board of Directors, Aaron Schmoekel, with the firm Smart Investor was approved as the new investment advisor for the Foundation’s endowment funds. Aaron’s office in in Woodland. He is a former community college student at Consumes River College, and then earned a degree in Business Administration from the California State University, Sacramento. His vast array of credentials includes Investment Advisor Representative (IAR) and Certified Financial Planner (CFP). As the investment advisor Aaron will work with the Foundation Board on crafting investment policy and strategy in order to protect the assets of the foundation, while maximizing investment growth to benefit our students. For more information on the Foundation can be found on their website at www.yccdfoundation.org and a copy of the last Foundation newsletter can be found here.