Monday, October 29, 2012

Let's give this a try.

The purpose of this blog is to provide highlights of my work as Vice-President of Instruction at Clark College in Vancouver, Washington.  My goal in this position is to try and improve communication at the College in as many ways as I am able; this is one method.  My plan is provide regular updates and if you choose please provide comments and/or feedback.  I'm a newbie when it comes to blogging, so fair warning regarding how well this site will turn out.

Clark College professor Dwight HughesOne of the highlights of the past couple of weeks was seeing DNET Professor Dwight Hughes present two excellent lectures.

The first was the Fall Faculty Speaker Series and the topic was Cyber Security.  It was standing room only for this timely lecture.  Here is the link to the preview and I believe the entire lecture will be posted soon.


Secondly, Professor Hughes was the faculty presenter at the October board meeting where he gave a brief lecture on Cloud Computing and the creation of the lab where students are learning this skill.  Both lectures were incredibly relevant and informative.

Angela Lohr - CCHA Conference

I had the opportunity to drop in on the Community College Humanities Association conference in Portland where two of our Faculty, Jennifer Locke Whetham, and Angela Lohr were presenters.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to see Jennifer's presentation.  I did get to see Angela's presentation, "Witches, Mothers, and Whores: Medieval to Modern Persecution of Women."  A highly engaging, and interesting lecture.  Well done Angie!

Shared Governance
In my ongoing pursuit to improve communication I have added two new leadership groups and both met last week.   The first is the Expanded Instructional Council which includes all of the Deans, Directors and Managers, the goal of this group is to discuss strategic initiatives for Instruction.  The second group is the Quarterly Instructional Leadership Team made up of all Department/Division Chairs, Directors and Deans and this group discusses issues of interest to the entire Instructional Unit.  My hope is that both meetings will help improve communication throughout our unit.

Please attend one of the upcoming forums regarding Block Scheduling if you are able.  The purpose of these forums is to get feedback on a possible block schedule format.  Block scheduling could be benefit to students scheduling classes as well as open up rooms for use as a testing center and adjunct offices.

Thursday, Nov. 15 from 1:00-2:00 GHL 213 Ellis Dunn room


Thursday, Nov. 15 at CTC  from 2:30-3:30 p.m. in CTC 148
Friday, Nov. 16 at CCW from 11:00-12 p.m. in CCW 124

Monday, Nov. 19 from 2:00-3:00 GHL 213 Ellis Dunn room

Class Visits
I appreciate the opportunity to sit in on classes when I'm invited and my schedule permits.  I have to say it's one of the great perks of the position.  I get to see excellent teachers in action and as a lifelong learner I get to explore topics that I might not otherwise get to see.  Recently I was privileged to sit on the following courses:

Angie Lohr - Humanities 101
Steven Clark - Biology
Garrett Gregor - Math 151
Becky Engel - American Sign Language 121
Adnan Hamideh - Accounting

Professional Development
Earlier this month I attended a conference in Boston on Completion initiatives and Partnerships for Community Colleges.  I came back with several concepts that I will share as the year goes on.   The picture on the left is part of the course for the Boston Marathon, something I aspire to run some time in the future. 

Front CoverFinally, I've been reading a couple of good books on the subject of innovation in the community college.  The first one, Game Changers:  Education and Information Technologies
is a free download. The second is The Creative Community College:  Leading Change Through Innovation.    Both books offer some provocative ideas and potential models for CC's of the future.


Thanks for reading!  Tim