Office of Instruction Update - September 2024

I am dedicating the opening of this monthly update to the hardest working curricular crew in the District – Margee Loya, Stacy McArron, and Anna Martinez. This team of superstars meets twice weekly on normal curriculum issues, but for the last 7 weeks they have been tasked with getting our campus in sync with CalGETC and the first 6 courses of the Common Course Number (CCN) initiative – in addition to all of our normal curriculum issues of 2-year reviews and new courses. They have met, emailed, texted, zoomed, and called with many of you over the last month. They solve one question, and another one emerges. Then they each quickly go into brainstorming mode so that we can move forward. They are working with a finicky CurriQnet system that as of today still only holds 4 digits, while the new common course numbers are 5 digits long (go figure). Y’all do not see the ‘behind the scenes’ emails and teams messages that occur all week long (and some nights and weekends) – indicative of their dedication to our college and doing this right for y’all. Across the district, they are the leaders, the standard. The others look to us, what is Clovis doing? I am so proud to share the work that this team is doing to meet the intense deadline of having this first round of CCN courses completed by December 2. Big cheers to Margee, Stacy, and Anna!

In the midst of all this we still had a vacancy in our SLO Coordinator position. Midway through the month, we received a proposal from Christina Wells and Nathan Wensko to serve as co-coordinators for the remainder of this term. Christina and Nathan share duties working with faculty on SLO development while attending Curriculum Committee and Tech Review. After a call for a permanent Coordinator, Christina was selected as our new SLO coordinator, joining Erica Johnson as the SUO Coordinator. One stop outcome service.

And there is so much more…

Shout out to Vicki Cockrell and Jake Rosenbery for auditing the Spring 25 schedule. That was a great save for us, thank you so much!

We are working full-steam on AgTEC. Working with Dean Whitney Menefee and Matthew Graff, Clovis finds itself well positioned to start courses in the Spring term. Our AgTEC faculty position has been posted and we are a couple of weeks away from the screening process.

Our MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement) Program is progressing nicely. Dean Laura Hill, Rebekah Viallalta, and Brandon Huebert have been recruiting students and working on outfitting AC1-118 as the new MESA Center. We are seeking a new Faculty Coordinator/MESA Director and a Program Assistant in time for having a cohort of students in the Center at the beginning of the Spring semester.

I have been working with Dean Ruben Diaz on a variety of Dual Enrollment efforts including a potential degree pathway for Sierra Unified School District; building relationships with Fresno State in the Human Service Area; exploring ideas for a culinary program (some day we will visit a kitchen when the food is ready to serve) to offer certificates that compliment our burgeoning hospitality services program; and closer to home (and the heart), we are working on the fourth annual Men of Color Summit – a District sponsored event focused on junior and senior high school males of color (from Fresno and Madera County) and introducing them to the idea of college.

Before the “transition,” I had been working with Von Torres on an Ethnic Studies workshop with a consultant from San Francisco State, Dr. Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales. Since then, Dean Teresa Mendes has smoothly helped guide this process with Von, Diana Chandara, Hugo Lopez Chavolla, and Patrick Fontes. I was jealous that I was not able to stay longer.

As you transverse across AC1, please take a moment to take a breath and soak in the Continuum exhibition in the Art Gallery/Lobby. Continuum showcases the work of various CCC art faculty members, reflecting different stages of their artistic journeys. This is an amazing opportunity for our students to learn about perspective and the process of evolving ideas and identities. The exhibit features work from: Vanessa Addison-Williams, Isabel Barraza, Allyson Darakjian, Stephen Dent, Hilary Dildine, Audia Dixon, Dawn Hart, Heather Hubbard, Phillip Johnson, Kirtley King, Janice Ledgerwood, ChoLin Park, Alex Taylor, and Lindsey Weaver.

Did someone mention Herndon? I met with Tracy Stuntz, Max Hembd, Stephanie Coffman, Jenna Irish, and Dean Mendes to discuss a potential Teaching and Learning Center being housed at Herndon. There is a lot of excitement around this concept, so much that last week we put out a call for letters of interest for a DEI coordinator and a Teaching and Learning Coach, both to be hosted in the Center at Herndon. Check this spot for more details next month.

I attended the California Health Sciences University Accreditation Celebration (got to see some very freaky lifelike mannequin patients and check out a VR anatomy class), College Night at Exhibit Hall (always love talking to the kids-have fun, get lots of swag, and come to Clovis!), and our CCC Scholarship Ceremony (my wife and I give a family scholarship)-on three consecutive evenings in September. That was fun and exhausting. I followed that with a quick trip to Seattle to watch 3 baseball games and my Huskies play in the Apple Cup against the cougs of Washington State. They lost on the last play of the game (well, they could have won at any other point, but I digress). I don’t mind watching football in the rain when my team wins. That same weekend my 49ers and my fantasy football team also lost. Not a good weekend for me and the pigskin. In fact, the whole month of September has been pretty dismal for me and most everything football. But it has been wonderfully exciting for everything that is going on in instruction on campus.

See-ya September, onto October…Don’t forget the Accreditation Open Forum on October 9, 4pm! It’s on zoom and we’ll be sending out another reminder soon. Go see your favorite Accreditation Coordinator, Jaclyn Rowley for more details!

(I will be in Seattle again this Saturday to watch my Huskies play Michigan - I was in Houston in January to watch them get destroyed by Michigan in the Natty, and apparently I’m a glutton for punishment. Only 8% chance of rain, so that’s something. Go DaWgs.)

Respectfully,

James R. Ortez, Ph.D., MPA
Vice President of Instruction