From: Sent: To: Subject:

Carmen Camacho on behalf of Kevin Walthers Friday, August 23, 2013 11:21 AM ahcall Thinking Out Loud

News and ideas from Superintendent/President Kevin Walthers

August23, 2013

Howdy!

It's amazing how something said in an "off the cuff' manner can catch on so quickly. Last week at All Staff Day, I mentioned the "Howdy Rule" at Texas A&M. Since then, I have heard from many of you who are putting it into practice in your classroom, office area, or personal interactions.

It's a good example of how we came to call this newsletter Thinking Out Loud. Staff told me that the name of this newsletter tends to have a deeper meaning, or least a reason or clever twist. That killed my first inspired idea: President's Newsletter. Then I thought about calling it 10,000 Words, but figured others might not find the humor once they figured out the reference (I'll buy an AHC t-shirt for the first person who correctly em ails me the appropriate reference!) .

Many of you have heard me say that sometimes I "think out loud" when I should be a little more patient or thoughtful. Friends and mentors encourage me to remember Ben Franklin's truism that 'Thinking aloud is a habit which is responsible for most of mankind's misery."

However, we find ourselves at a significant point in the history of Allan Hancock College where we need to consider as many ideas as possible. We have new leadership at all levels, new campus infrastructure, and a robust planning process in place that will chart the college's future for more than a decade. I hope this newsletter is not just informational, but aspirational.

Therefore, I am not taking Mr. Franklin's advice, and instead inviting you to explore ideas with me; I hope that together we can solve a few challenges along the way by Thinking Out Loud.

(P.S. -I also hope this is the last time we look to the evil empire- Texas A&M- for inspiration!)

All Staff Day Recap I am pleased by the exceptionally positive feedback we are receiving in response to All Staff Day on August 19. I understand that a good portion of the feedback comes from the campus' welcoming spirit- but I know that many of you enjoyed a chance to interact with others that you wouldn't normally meet on a typical day. The most rewarding part of the day for me was when I asked how many people had met someone new and almost every hand went up. We are a large organization, but we can still say "Howdy!" to the familiar faces we see around campus.

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Planning We have an ambitious agenda this year. We need to complete work on the technology and educational master plans (drafts are coming soon), gear up for a facilities master planning process, and roll all of those discussions into a comprehensive strategic plan. Meanwhile, College Council is already in the process of updating our Councils and Committees: Pathways to Decisions (CCPD) document.

Nancy Meddings has agreed to continue as our Accreditation Liaison Officer- something for which I am very grateful. This work will include two substantive change proposals (Registered Vet Tech and the relocation of the public safety program). We also will be getting ready for a full site visit from ACCJC in spring of 2016-that's not that far away!

Each of these tasks (and the countless others) will require a collaborative effort with substantial input from faculty and staff.

Construction Update We also had a chance at All Staff Day to discuss "Fence Fatigue," a condition brought on by a seemingly endless number of construction projects that block access to parking, coffee, and general accessibility. Fence Fatigue is a treatable condition and is the side effect of a good problem: All of those fences are an indicator that our community believes in us. Our neighbors have generously provided the funds for a transformation that has and will modernize our campus and centers and will serve Allan Hancock College students for decades to come.

With great kudos to our facilities staff and those on the bond planning and implementation teams, we will see the completion of six major projects by January 2014. Occupying a new building is a challenge by itself­trying to move this many people essentially all at once will be a monumental effort. I am impressed by those in our maintenance, IT, and construction areas who have taken on this task with a smile on their face! Thanks!

Building Completion/Move-in Timeline: • Early Childhood Education - Open House Sept. 10 • Performing Arts Center- September • Public Safety (LVC)- September/October • Student Services - October • Administration - December • Industrial Technology- Spring 2014

Don't forget that the latest information on the move-in schedule is on myHancock. Go to the "My Page" tab, then the "Move Guide" channel.

Student Success Factors During All Staff Day, we also had the opportunity to talk about the RP Group's research study, (Re)Defining Student Success. More than 900 students across 13 California Community Colleges identified six elements that lead to student success. Students want to succeed, and they identify faculty as the key to ensuring this. Students tell us that they want to be:

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This starts with the faculty, but must be part of the intentional and deliberate actions that all of us take every day to help students. When we do things like taking on extra students in a course section, rearranging work schedules in A&R, or moving the cashiers to a place where high-volume transactions can occur, we are promoting the six student success factors .

The All Staff Day conversation we had about this was thoughtful and engaging. More than 200 educators (again, we are all educators!) participated in a conversation about serving students and fostering success. am committed to carrying this conversation through the year and hope you will engage with your colleagues in a similar conversation.

I'd Love to Be There I have had the chance to meet a lot of folks in my first six weeks. I've found all of you to be engaged and focused on students and our efforts to ensure their success. I thank you for that, and for the warm welcome you have offered to my family and me. I look forward to more opportunities to meet you and your students -my calendar fills up fast, but Carmen is a master of prioritizing the schedule to ensure we put students first. Feel free to email requests- interacting with students, faculty, and staff is the fun part of my job!

Budget Speaking of fun , albeit sarcastically, I suppose no president's message is complete without an update on the budget. We will ask the board of trustees to approve our 2013-14 budget at its September 10, 2013, regular meeting. As you know, our budget has stabilized this year. The passage of Proposition 30 and a recovering economy provided us with $620,000 in state restoration funds, allowing us to add about 120 sections to the academic schedule. The budget also includes a 1.57 percent Cost of Living Adjustment; an estimated $400,000 in Student Success funds ; $384,000 in Prop 39 energy efficiency funds; and $114,744 each in scheduled maintenance and instruction equipment funds - something we have not received for several years.

Thank You I spent a lot of time in the Commons and at the photo ID camera in Admissions and Records this week. talked with a lot of students. They were engaged, hopeful , cheerful , and thankful for the opportunities Hancock is opening to them. My goal is to ensure that those same students have that same attitude and motivation at the end of the term as they did this week. With education , anything is possible. I am eager to work with you to help them get there.

Enjoy your weekend, and we'll see you next week.

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From: To:

carmen Camacho Carmen Camacho

Subject: Date:

Thinking Out Loud - Nov. 22, 2013

Thursday, June 18, 2015 11:19:42 AM

From: Carmen Camacho On Behalf Of kevin.walthers@hancockcollege.edu Sent: Friday, November 22, 2013 12:01 PM

To: ahcall and Board of Trustees Subject: Thinking Out Loud - Nov. 22, 2013

kin News and ideas from Superintendent/President Kevin Walthers I ~~

November 22, 2013

Greetings,

It feels like a nanosecond, but it has been four months since I came to Allan Hancock College and it has truly been the best four months of my career. We are suddenly on the cusp of the Thanksgiving Holiday. How did we get here so quickly?

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love its universal , non-partisan spirit that allows us to collectively pause and recognize how fortunate we are. As we come to the Thanksg iving season, my family and I have a lot to be thankful for- new friends, a welcoming community , and an opportunity to be part of a great college. Our students certainly have a lot to be thankful for: dedicated faculty, committed staff, and a brand new campus. As educators, we have much to be thankful for as well. We do nothing less than make a positive , life-changing difference for our students.

I am thankful to work with educators (we are all educators at AHC !) that are committed to serving our at-risk students. Our efforts to purchase Thanksgiving meals for families and the "Angel Tree" are tangible examples of your generosity. ·Although I have been here only four months, I can affirm that the community is thankful for the work we do.

A Hancock Hero As many of you know, our community lost a legendary educator this month when Nat Fast passed away. I did not have a chance to meet Nat myself, but Marti and Sue Fast were kind enough to invite me to the memorial service . It was an amazing event- the Marian Theater was standing room only with a video feed to the lobby for the overflow. The hour long event included stirring remembrances, songs, poems, readings, and excerpts from PCPA productions. As I waded through the crowd in the lobby, I heard one story after another about the personal impact Nat had on individual lives. I am saddened that I never got to know Nat, but I can see his impact on our campus and in his community. He was truly a Hancock Hero.

Staying Focused This week I am attending the annual conference of the Community College League of California . A highlight of this meeting is the presentation given by Chancellor Brice Harris on the future of our system. His message this year was to "stay focused. " With all of the think tanks and external organizations that want to "help" us with "prescriptions ," Chancellor Harris noted that we are making real and sustainable progress in serving our students. Our efforts in basic skills have substantial impacts on our underserved populations, our course completion rates are improving, and the system has created more than 1,000 associate degrees for transfer in only 18 months.

I echo Chancellor Harris' theme - as long as we stay focused on student success we will be successful ourselves.

Budget Looking Up 1 know it's not me, but I sure would like to take credit for the statement Betty Miller made about the budget this week. In presenting the Budget Council 's 2014-1 5 income and expenditures assumptions, she said it is the first time in years that the most likely assumption puts us in the black (or "green," as Kelly Underwood prefers to say!). After seven painful years , the pendulum is starting to swing back the other way for California community colleges.

And with that, there is some good news for students. We have clearly seen that the passage of Prop 30 has already increased access to AHC, with the percent of first-time students up in fall 2013 by 24.4 percent.

At the risk of sounding all "Alan Greenspany" with irrational exuberance, we are optimistic that the next five or six years are going to be markedly improved. There are many structural issues to address in the state , but even the Legislative Analyst Office is reporting better than expected budget news.

It is also true that we can never fully rely on state funding to provide all that we need. To that end, Allan Hancock College has been very successful over the years securing grants and other private sources to support teaching and learning .

Earlier this year we received a $400,000 CCAMPIS grant in the early childhood studies program to help parents succeed in college by providing childcare for their children , along with other support mechanisms. And just last week we learned that a donor, yet to be publicly named, has promised $1.4 million to enhance the Public Safety Training Complex. When we have the green light to provide details about this exceptionally timely and generous gift, you will be the first to hear.

Credit Rating While we are on the topic of funding , budget, and Measure I projects, we had additional good news last week about the college's impressive credit rating . Wall Street analyst Standard & Poor's recently elevated its credit rating of Allan Hancock College to AA/stable, and Moody's Investor Services reaffirmed its AA rating of the college, in anticipation of the sale of $8.6 million in bonds for the college's Measure I facilities improvement efforts.

The bottom line is that this means the industry's leading credit analysts have affirmed that we have properly managed our budget and the bond funds entrusted to us. It further emphasizes, as Standard & Poor's cited , "strong financial management assessment (FMA) due to prudent financial planning ," along with the district's tradition of "consistently managing to very strong fund reserves." This is a direct reflection of the board's fiscal policies and the excellent implementation of those policies by Dr. Betty Miller over the last two decades. By receiving these high ratings (our credit rating is better than many countries), the bond interest rates are lower and therefore the taxpayers win with a shorter payback period. We are issuing $10 million in bonds to complete the projects we currently have under way.

Facilities Update Whatever I am going to tell you right now will probably be different by the time you read it. The flurry of effort under way to finish strong with several projects means that dates and deliveries are also changing almost daily. We know that the move into the administration building remains on track for the week of Dec. 8. We also know that Student Services is in and happy, for the most part, in its beautiful new space. We still have some signage and other issues to work out, but I don 't hear anyone clamoring to get back into their old closets- I mean offices. We will plan a grand opening once classes are under way in spring.

The Public Safety Training Complex is a remarkable sight- all 68 acres. They have worked surprisingly fast to get us to the point that furniture is moving in now, with staff ready to move in December. We plan to offer classes at the new facility beginning this spring. A grand opening for us as well as the public is planned for April 2014.

The Industrial Technology building is also moving rapidly. The plan is to move all labs and lab equipment to the new buildings next month, again with lab classes taught in the new spaces starting this spring. The rest of the buildings will be delivered later this spring.

I hope you have your tickets to Mary Poppins; not only will you see a great show, but you will see some of the work that was accomplished over the last 10 months at the Marian Theatre . I say some, because it is like an iceberg, much of the most important work you will likely never see: new catwalks, HVAC systems, etc. However, the updated and expanded lobby and restrooms are a very welcome addition .

We have also completed the track, which reopened to the public this month. We have posted signs about appropriate usage with the hope that the public will work with us to ensure this great new asset stays great for a very long time. How old was the previous track? Someone told me it had been there about 40 years. What wouldn't look bad after four decades of use and abuse?

The softball field is a work in progress. We are finalizing plans to upgrade the facility to the appropriate level for collegiate competition. That includes some work with the dugout and backstop, among other upgrades that w ill ensure equity within our athletic programs.

Interim VP, Student Services

While on the subject of new, let me introduce our new interim vice president, Student Services, Jane Harmon, Ph.D. She begins Dec. 2. Her contract is through June 2014. While she is here helping to move the division forward , we will work out the details of a permanent leader for Student Services. Her specialty is interim appointments. She holds a doctor of philosophy in higher education administration from the University of Texas at Austin . She earned a Master of Science degree in education with a concentration in reading/specific learning difficulties in 1981 from Bemidji State University, and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education with a concentration in reading from Moorhead State University in 1971. Dr. Harmon was the interim executive vice president at Moorpark College, Moorpark, California, from July 2012 to July 2013; interim vice chancellor, educational services, at Kern Community College District, Bakersfield, California, from August 2011 to June 2012 ; interim chief instructional officer at Compton Community College District, Compton, California, from June 2008 to February 201 0; interim vice president, student learning , at Cerro Coso College, Ridgecrest, California , from August 2006 to June 2008; and interim vice president, instruction and student services, at Gavilan College, Gilroy, California, from August 2005 to July 2006.

Planning Retreat About 50 representatives from across the district, including trustee Greg Pensa and Jane Harmon, our new interim VPSS, recently participated in two days of very meaningful dialogue and planning at the Lompoc Valley Center. We spent some time reviewing our accomplish-ments before forging toward the future. The group was engaged and fully committed to improving our service to students. We are now synthesizing the many pages of notes and plans from that effort and will share our next steps very soon.

Contest Follow Up In the last issue I joked that I thought about naming this newsletter "10,000 Words" and offered a challenge to see if anyone could figure out why and offered a tee shirt for the first person who did. I might not have thought that through very well (more 'thinking out loud') as I got several emails with essentially the same time stamp, so we declared first place to be a tie!

The phrase comes from an Avett Brothers song in which the singer says he, like others, "likes to talk on things we don't know about. "

Finally, three more things to be thankful for ... The past couple of months have included events that enrich our college and our community:

AHC hosted a visit from the Tibetan monks from the Drepung Gomang Monastery in South India . Not only was it a moving experience for each of us individually, but it was a unique opportunity to invite the public to our campus to enjoy what was perhaps a once in a lifetime opportunity.

The Dia de los Muertos celebration provided a venue for many on campus to remember their friends and family members in a way that was touching and significant. As it happened, my mother was making her first visit to Santa Maria, and I was proud to have her see the kind of people that I get to work with every day.

The Blaine Johnson Memorial Golf Tournament was a great success. The Johnson Family puts on this event every year to support the college's industrial technology program. It's exciting to see the world 's best racers investing in the future of our students in such a touching manner.

We truly have much to be thankful for. I can 't say it enough- I am thankful for the opportunity to work at a college that is focused on serving students and to live in a community that supports our efforts.

1 hope that your Thanksgiving Holiday is great. I will see you on campus!

Kevin

From: Sent: To: Subject:

February 20, 2014

Greetings Colleagues,

Carmen Camacho on behalf of Kevin Walthers Thursday, February 20, 2014 3:46 PM ahcall Thinking Out Loud - February 20, 2014

I am excited to share with you this edition of Thinking Out Loud, because, although the contents are just the tip of the iceberg, I believe they demonstrate the depth of the great work going on in all corners of the college.

Hancock Heroes Last month I informed the board of trustees about the retirement of groundskeeper Bob Solano, one of the inspirations for "Hancock Heroes." Nearly two years ago, Bob, Campus Safety Officers Daniel Meraz and Alfredo Rodriquez, groundskeeper Heracio Castillo, and maintenance worker Paul Spire, came to the rescue of a female student being harassed in an attempted abduction by her ex-boyfriend on our Santa Maria campus. Our safety officers and Bob fought with the suspect and subdued him until our chief of police arrived to place the suspect under arrest. The suspect was booked into county jail. Thanks to our staff, our student was physically unharmed. Our folks saw a need and literally came to the rescue.

Not all acts of heroism need to follow a TV crime drama script. Last month, counselor David Hernandez reported progress in certificate attainment for students in the automotive program. He noticed that students were completing all requirements but leaving the program without petitioning for a certificate. From the 2006-2007 academic year through 2012-2013 only 19 students received certificates- and in three of those years, not one student received a certificate. David started going to the automotive classes and having students petition for certificates -this year alone 32 students have received their certificates. This is the kind of intentional and deliberate action that allows students to be successful! Not unlike the heroes above, David saw a need and found a way to address it.

Aspen Again! First, I want to make sure everyone has heard the news that for the second time in three years, Allan Hancock College has been recognized by the Aspen Institute for College Excellence as one of the top colleges in California and across the nation. We are among seven colleges in the state and 150 across the United States that have been invited by the Aspen Institute to compete for the $1 million prize they will award to their choice for the top community college in the nation. We are currently preparing our documentation for submission. In the meantime, I want to say that being selected to compete is an honor in itself- and to have been selected twice in three years is phenomenal. Congratulations to all of you whose work, every day, brought us this recognition.

Advocating in Washington for the Public Safety Training Complex

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We are in the final stages of completion on many of our construction projects - including the Public Safety Training Complex in Lompoc. We still have some "punch list" items, but we are dedicated to ensuring that the complex will be fully functional. The primary use of the complex will always be for our fire, police, and EMT training programs, but we will have an opportunity to allow other governmental entities to make use of the facility. Such partnerships will provide us with additional revenue to offset the cost of operating and maintaining the complex.

With that in mind, last week I attended the National Legislative Summit sponsored by the Association of Community College Trustees. This is an opportunity for community college officials to meet with members of Congress and their staff. I was able to meet with staff for both senators, as well as Representative Capps and her legislative analyst for education. I shared with them the potential of using the training complex for local, state, and federal agencies that have a first responder mission. The response was great- especially from Representative Capps' office. They are excited by the prospects and are eager to help us make contact with the appropriate agencies.

As part of the presentation, I shared our short video about the importance of training for public safety professionals- you can it see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q lzDAMXp-0.

Our SBCEO Friends I recently accepted, on behalf of the college, a proclamation from the Santa Barbara County Board of Education lauding the college for its impact on northern Santa Barbara County and the students we serve. It was presented by Dr. Peter MacDougall, Santa Barbara City College Superintendent/President emeritus and current SBCEO board chair. In part, the proclamation read :

"Hancock has demonstrated an enormous range of community support, especially evidenced in the passage of a $180 million bond measure, Measure I, which enabled the addition of new facilities and technology enhancements; and

Whereas, Hancock contributes significantly to the local economy as one of the largest employers in northern Santa Barbara County, with some 1 ,300 employees.

Therefore, be it resolved that we, the members of the Santa Barbara County Board of Education, offer our sincere appreciation for all that Hancock has been able to accomplish , and congratulate the faculty and staff for their unceasing efforts on behalf of student success, and their commitment to excellence in public education .

The proclamation came the same afternoon that SBCEO board members and staff, including County Superintendent of Schools Bill Cirone, toured the college and enjoyed lunch in our new Captain's Room. As you can imagine, they were very impressed by the new facilities on campus. However, the new facilities quickly took a back seat as the group got to see our faculty, staff, and students in action. Stops in the Children's Center lab school , the dental assisting and nursing programs, the student art show, and PCPA refocused the conversation onto the great things that take place inside our new facilities.

Putting that event together took a lot of preparation by a lot of people. I want to thank the following for their work:

• Carmen Camacho and Melinda Martinez for taking care of all the logistics; • Brad Bisquera and Kevin Boland, for set up and tech support; • Andrew Masuda, Vicki Hernandez, Sonja Oglesby, Gordon Rivera, and Robert Nourse, in Public Affairs

and Campus Graphics, for the beautifully engraved drinking glasses, custom centerpieces, and materials and handouts;

• Paul Murphy for his STEM presentation and Rebecca Alarcio and Nancy Meddings for helping with the tours; and, last but not least:

• My sincere thanks and gratitude to the instructors and staff who took the time to explain their programs with such great expertise and enthusiasm: Bonny Friedrich in nursing, Maureen Titus and Diane Detter in the dental lab, Yvon Frazier at the Children's Center, Marti Fast in the Foxworthy Gallery, and Katie Gucik at PCPA.

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Enrollment at Census-It's Up! We have confirmed enrollment numbers at census and it appears we are right on track with our projections. On February 4, our FTES were up 2.5 percent with a relatively flat headcount of 10,436. This is a good sign - it means that students are able to get more of the classes they need. Our FTES in Lompoc rose by 9.3 percent- this is of great significance in securing funding from the state for the center.

Budget The Budget Council has been analyzing the recommendations from the governor. The good news is that the governor proposes investing in our student service programs again. On the other hand, funding for enrollment restoration and COLA did not come in at the levels we expected. Almost all new dollars in our general fund will go toward mandated costs such as movement on the salary schedule, the addition of classes to capture growth funding , fuel and power increases, and salary driven costs (e.g ., PERS, unemployment insurance, and workers' compensation) . Final budget adoption will not happen until the fall semester, but the Budget Council , College Council , and the board of trustees are working to find the best solutions for the coming year. Your participation in the process is encouraged!

A cered itation As accreditation liaison officer Nancy Meddings previously reported , the IEC Council is starting to work in its role as Accreditation Steering Committee for the 2016 Self-Evaluation. The revised ACCJC standards will be unveiled this summer, and then collaborative work on our self-evaluation will start in earnest. You can help now by making sure your program reviews and updates are current, notes and agendas from meetings are posted on myHancock, and learning outcomes for all areas are being assessed. If you are in an area that sponsors activities and events for students, please be sure to document them - keep copies of fliers and announcements, and take lots of pictures. All the good work we do needs to be documented for evidence.

Laurie Pemberton and I are both scheduled for separate team visits next month. There's nothing like being on a team to know a) what visiting teams are looking for, and b) how to avoid some of the trouble spots here that we see in the colleges we visit. I hope to bring back some insights from which all of us can learn.

Master plans Planning is abundant on campus. The Educational Master Plan, the Facilities Master Plan , the Technology Master Plan, and the Strategic Plan are all moving toward completion this semester. Check out myHancock to look at progress, read draft reports, and learn how to participate in the discussion!

Kevin

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From: To: Subject: Date:

carmen camacho carmen Camacho

Attachments:

FW: Thinking Out Loud· March 20 15 Thursday, June 18, 2015 11:23:00 AM

~

From: Kevin Walthers

Sent: Wednesday, March 04, 2015 8:41AM

To: ahcall and Board of Trustees

Subject : Thinking Out Loud - March 2015

J News and ideas from Superintendent/President Kevin Walthers 0~

Colleagues,

We are approaching the half way point of the semester and a lot has happened since we were together at all staff day. It seems like every week I am

giving you bad news, so we are going to change it up for this edition of Thinking Out Loud. I need to tell you about a couple of issues we face as a college

-nothing to panic over, but items that need our full attention. Then, some good news to share ..

Enrollment

Our current projections show us lagging 1n enrollment by about 150 FTES. This is something we need to pay close attention to. Dr. Paul Murphy and

Armando Cortez are working together to investigate why we are missing our target. I know that many other districts are facing this same issue, but our

sense of urgency is heightened by the need to maintain our funding as a mid-size college. To date, we have taken several steps to address the issue th1s

year:

We are making a big push for Term 4 classes. These are eight week classes that begin March 23. Don't be afraid to tell your friends and

neighbors to sign up- especially if they have a student here or at a four year institution ! Our efforts for Term 2 classes resulted in an additional

70 FTES that we had not anticipated- much of the thanks for that success goes to ASBG and our public information office.

We are making Institutional Effectiveness a priority. We discussed this at all staff day and the response was very good. This week, those that

facilitated the discussions will come together to look at a synthesized report so that we can make a recommendation.

Our counselors and student services professionals are going the extra mile by meeting with high school counselors to facilitate better transition

to AHC.

The good news in this is that we have time to address the issue and we have taken intentional and deliberate steps to ensure we are addressing the 1ssue.

One other step we will take is to maintain a regular schedule during the summer rather than a four day week. We discussed this with the Board during its

last meeting, with CSEA and with our other groups. Even so, I want to make sure everyone IS aware that we will not be using the alternative calendar for

summer. If we have potential students coming to campus on a Friday, we need to be there to make sure we sign them up. Having the regular schedule

will also allow us to offer Friday/Saturday classes that could prove to be important in closing the gap on our enrollment target.

There is a lot of work going on all over the college to maximize our enrollments -I can assure you that the Board is appreciative of those efforts and will

do whatever they can to support us.

Vice President Searches

We have posted the positions for Vice President for Instruction and Vice President for Administration and Finance. On all staff day and in several informal

venues, we have discussed an issue with our salary schedule for those at the vice president level. This week I shared with College Council my heightened

concern with our executive salary structure. I have received two calls from individuals that would be great candidates for the position and they each

asked the same question: " Is the posted salary right?" Our current range for vice presidents is the equivalent of dean salaries in most districts. Th1s

means we are going to have difficult time attracting pool of talented individuals and will have an impact on our effort to have a diverse pool of

candidates.

While this wasn't an action item for College Council, there was understanding of the issue. I want to share it with you and explain how I am suggesting

the Board add ress it. On the March 17 agenda, we will ask the board to approve a new salary schedule for vice presidents . It will only have one step and

will , in effect, move the potential upper range $16,000. If approved, current vice presidents will move onto the salary schedule but will not have a

change jn salarv. They will simply move to the same step on the new schedule.

The positions out at this time are too important for us as we address enrollment and accreditation issues. By creating the new schedule, we can attract

quality candidates and we still have time to continue the discussion on campus. We need a deep and diverse pool to ensure we have the best leader

possible.

Some Good News- Engaging, Focusing and Directing

This past Saturday the Santa Maria Philharmonic joined with AHC's Folklorico dancers and the AHC Singers. It was a great night of music and the visuals

of the folklorico dancers was amazing. When we talk about tying the six student success characteristics to the colleges mission, this is what we mean.

Students are clearly engaged and focused- and there is no doubt they are directed by Horacia Heredia and Ann Lucas! Our mission includes a promise

to enhance the intellectual and cultural vitality of our diverse community. We did that and more on Saturday. I should also mention that our local

philharmonic is an extraordinary orchestra. There is a lot of hidden talent in our area.

More Good News - Nurturing and Valuing

As the semester started, I was doing a welcome to a group of parents and students. As I was leaving I had one parent, who had driven in from Las Vegas,

stop me to make sure I knew why his son was in college . "He wouldn't be in college today if it wasn't for Dana Avila." This is indicative of the frontline

work that goes on in our student services area . Our staff take the extra time to give our students (and apparently some of Nevada's I) every chance to be

successful.

Even More Good News- Connecting and Valuing

Last year we started on a path to build a veteran's center and create a program for our students and local veterans. It has taken longer than expected, but

it's better to get it right than get it fast. The infrastructure is almost completely in place and we are having meetings with local service providers for

veterans to ensure that the center is a resource for all veterans. This has been a college effort- with great thanks to ASBG for allocating space in the

student center, faculty and staff for agreeing to move to a smaller place for their lounge and to those in student services who are making it happen. Rob

Parisi acquired funds for the furniture and computers, Dr. Davis has been a strong presence in providing leadership to the student veterans and Shirley

Rorabaugh and Joyce Cole have been making sure that services are in place to provide proper support for our veterans.

A final bit of good news- Valuing Students

Over the past two months I have had several visitors on campus. In each case, I am told how great our facilities and grounds look. Students may not

recognize it, but the way our physical plant staff maintain our college definitely demonstrates our commitment to student success. I hope as you walk

across campus you recognize that students are sitting on the lawn, using the furniture in the commons area and creating a campus culture. This doesn't

happen when grounds are ignored and buildings aren't maintained- it's a lot of work to keep the college looking great and we are fortunate to have

such a dedicated team making it happen.

Thanks for taking a minute to read- don't forget to keep up with "News 2 Know" for even more good stories about your friends and colleagues I

Kevin G. Walthers, Ph.D.

Superintendent/President

Allan Hancock College

800 S. College Dr.

Santa Maria, CA 93454

805-922-6966, ext. 3245

805-868-9651 mobiie

~~CK '~~~ COLLE.GE

Start here. Go anywhere.

Linda A Reed

From: Sent: To: Subject:

Happy Fall Semester!

Kevin Walthers Tuesday, September 01, 2015 9:10 PM ahcall Thinking Out Loud - September 1, 2015

News and ideas from Superintendent/President J

As we settle in to week three, I have been thinking about a few things .. .

Home Football At Home! Thanks to the incredible work of the athletic department, the facilities and grounds crew and the AHC Booster Club, we will play our first-ever football game at home this Saturday at 2:00. Admission is free to any student, staff or faculty member- but you need to have your ID card to get in (available for free at admissions and records). Tickets for guests are six dollars, tickets for children under 17 and senior citizens are three dollars. If you would like to purchase guest tickets in advance, you can pick them up at the cashier window in Building A. Feel free to bring some lawn chairs to the game as we expect the stands to be full!

Coast Hills/Presqu'ile Wine Event Supports AHC Ag Program The Coast Hills Foundation is hosting its Rancho Vino fund raiser at the Presqu'ile Winery in support of our agriculture program. This is a unique event, and not just because there is no auction ... Coast Hills and Presqu'ile have made sure that all proceeds will benefit the college by donating both labor and wine! Each person who attends will get a specially produced bottle of wine provided by Presqu'ile winery along with fantastic heavy hors d'oeuvres and wine pairings. Even if you can't attend, feel free to forward the link to someone who might want to go!

Bow WOW Don't forget that Bulldog Bow WOW is coming up. This is a great opportunity for students to get involved in clubs and other student activities. The first Bow WOW will be Wednesday from 9:30 to 1:30 on the Santa Maria Campus. This year's Santa Maria campus event will include the Bulldog Blitz at 12:30. Students will be able to meet players and coaches, as well as win T-shirts and tri-tip sandwiches. The next Bow WOW will be on the Lompoc Campus on September 9, also from 9:30 to 1:30.

All Staff Day We had one of the most energetic All Staff Days ever- and we had a great turnout for the morning. The cheerleaders brought energy and fun while Ann Lucas, David Passage and Kim Sargen provided inspiration. Add a few football players throwing foam footballs and it seemed most were having a good time. I managed to remember to thank almost

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everyone at the event- but I left off our student worker, Kenia Perez (among other things, she put the cups together!), along with Espie Valenzuela, Kathy Buckey, Toni McCracken and Annie Looysen who helped sign you in. Most importantly, I did not mention the incredible work that Melinda Martinez does to make sure All Staff Day goes smoothly. Melinda is the organizational force behind the whole day and she starts months in advance getting everything set up. Next time you see her, tell Melinda "thanks!"

If you missed it and want to check out the presentation, we have loaded it here. We are working out a technical issue and hope to have the video posted soon . We had a lot of fun that day, but we also tackled three very important topics: enrollment, instructional faculty and accreditation.

Enrollment

We continue to see enrollment lag behind our funded target. We have been discussing this since Spring 2014 and we are now at the end of our " roll forward" enrollment that we have carried over from past years. Our actual annual enrollment is stable- the difference is in our ability to carry forward FTES for a higher reported enrollment. The good news is that we have a balanced budget to present to the board next week and we have a plan to address the impact of lower reported enrollment. These conversations will move forward in our enrollment management committee, budget council and student services council.

Instructional Faculty

If you look at the All Staff Day PowerPoint, you will see two slides that show the change in instructional faculty during the budget crisis. Not only do we have fewer instructional faculty now, the instructional faculty share of total faculty has also dropped. With enrollment challenges, we need to increase the number of instructional faculty quickly. Fortunately, the state has provided funding for additional faculty and the Board ofTrustees has expressed support for adding faculty. The conversation is underway with deans and department chairs to update our prioritization process so that we can proactively recruit new faculty members.

Accreditation We are in the home stretch of preparing for our accreditation visit next fall. You can read our draft report for each standard here (use the links at the top left). This is the institutional self-evaluation, so every member of the institution is encouraged to take part by reviewing the reports. We need your feedback to ensure we are on target with the report. Over the course of the fall semester, the Institutional Effectiveness Committee will closely review each section of the report and feedback from a broad group will make our effort stronger.

New Faces In Leadership This fall we welcome three new faces to the executive team. Dr. George Railey joins us as Vice President for Academic Affairs, Michael Black takes over as Vice President for Finance and Administration and Dr. Paul Murphy moves into our newest position, Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness. Each of these professionals are already making a huge impact on campus and I hope you have had a chance to work with them. We hope you will join us for a formal welcome next week. At 3:30 on Tuesday we will have some light snacks and coffee to give faculty, staff and students a chance to personally welcome our new vice presidents.

In Conclusion If you are like me, you are asking "how is it September already?" With all that we have going this year, we need to start quickly or we will be at the end of the year asking "where did the time go?" I know that we have a plan in place and the team to implement it -I am looking forward to a great year and I hope you are as well!

Go Bulldogs!

Kevin G. Walthers, Ph.D. Superintendent/President Allan Hancock College 800 S. College Dr.

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Linda A Reed

From: Kevin Walthers Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2016 7:38 PM

ahcall To: Subject: Thinking Out Loud

Importance: High

News ond ldeas from Superintendent/President Kevin Walthers It's appropriate that we end our semester during Derby month- because we are certainly trying to accelerate as we head down the home stretch. A few items of note as we sprint toward graduation:

Accreditation The draft of our Accreditation Comprehensive Self-evaluation Report & Quality Focus Essay is located at the following link: http://www.hancockcollege.edu/ accreditation/

This is an "all hands" task- please take time to review sections that relate to your area on campus and provide any feedback/questions to Vice President for Academic Affairs George Railey or Academic Senate President Marla Allegre. The Academic Senate received a draft today and the Board of Trustees will have a first reading next week.

Great thanks to Mary Girty who has given up some of her retirement time to help us with this- she has managed a very crazy process and still has a smile on her face (mostly!).

New Faculty! Great thanks to all of you who have been involved in the faculty hiring process. This has been a tremendous effort and those of you that served on committees have seen first-hand the work of HR staff (Liz Phillips in particular!) to keep the process moving. So far, we have offered positions to six people:

• Brent Darwin in Accounting- Brent is the controller for Helical, but has 30 years of experience teaching accounting at AHC.

• Danae Madrid in Chemistry- Danae has been a part-time faculty member in Chemistry for several San Diego area colleges;

• Janae Dimick in English- Janae has been teaching English for several Orange County colleges • Linda Kelly for the LAP Counselor- Linda has been working part-time for the learning assistance programs in the

Solano and Yuba districts. • Ben Britten for the Early Alert Counselor- Ben has been a part time counselor in our athletics department and also

coaches women's water polo; • Dayana Zepeda de Rosas for Non-Credit Counselor- Dayana is a native of our community and has been an active

member of our counseling program through her part-time work. • Maria Arvizu-Rodriguez for Transfer Counselor- Maria currently works full-time for Cal Poly and has been working

for AHC as a part-time counselor.

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We are still in the process of reference checks for Math, Art and Dance. Interviews will continue this week for Architecture, Speech and a Librarian. Where possible, we will get revisions to the Board for its meeting next week. The remaining positions will be forwarded to the Board in June.

Enrollment Management

The Board has been very supportive of our efforts to hire new faculty- so much so that they have authorized the use of one time funds allocated last year as a way to restore enrollments, particularly in areas where we struggle to find consistent part-time faculty. As our new faculty arrive in the Fall, we will be engaging in a campus-wide discussion of enrollment management. We are getting support for this work from the Chancellor's Institutional Effectiveness Partnership Initiative (IEPI}. Through IEPI we have been able to hire the Collaborative Brain Trust to help the Enrollment Management Committee build a program that will grow our enrollments. Full-time faculty are a key component of our future budget plans, and we need to maintain focus on our need to expand our service area .

Fun Events!

May is full of fun events for the entire campus. You won't want to miss Science Night this Friday -lots of explosions on campus! On Saturday the winery will have its first public open house/ wine tasting event from noon to 5:00p.m. Those of us doing second level interviews for speech and a new librarian on Saturday will certainly be dropping by later in the afternoon!

If you can't make it to the winery on Saturday, you will have a chance to try our college's wine at the Retirement and Recognitions Celebration on May 12 at 2:30. This celebration is two-fold: the first is to recognize our retiring faculty and staff and acknowledge the accomplishments of our team members this year. The second purpose is to provide funding for the AHC Retirees Scholarship. Yes, the event is a fundraiser! Your donations are encouraged as a way to keep the scholarship solvent. Our goal is to at least replace the amount of the scholarship each year as an honor to our retirees. We did not do the fundraising component last year {hence, no wine!}, but we are bringing it back at the request of many of you .

PCPA will hold its graduation on Sunday the 15th at the Marian Theater and our Fire Academy will graduate its 13ih class on the following Friday {May 20}. If you want to see learning in action, come down to the public safety training center at 10:00 a.m. on the 20th to see the cadets display their skills through a live demonstration. The Law Enforcement Academy

will have its graduation ceremony on June 9 at 10:00 a.m.

CSEA Week culminates on May 19 with the CSEA BBQ. The Board of Trustees will once again provide lunch for all CSEA members. Your local staff representatives will have tickets for faculty and administrators to purchase. Please join us for a great day to celebrate our staff members.

The Scholarship Awards Banquet on May 26 will celebrate a new record in scholarship awards- this year exceeding $545,000! There will be almost 1,000 attendees at this year's banquet, which could not go on without the support of dozens of volunteers.

College Commencement Of course, college commencement is on May 27 at 1:00 p.m. We are expanding our services to graduates this year, opening a "grad central" in the gym where students can come early, have a snack and get a chance to rehearse the ceremony. As always, there will be many events on campus to celebrate our students' accomplishments. This is always the best day ofthe year and we encourage you to join us for as much of the event as you can. Faculty are a big part of commencement, and we want our staff to participate as well- our graduates are the product of a full team approach to education.

Following commencement, everyone is invited to the Elks Lodge (around 4:00} to raise a glass to Espie and all of the staff that make the event happen.

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