Week of September 23, 2024

Good morning, Colleagues!

Black & African American Student Engagement (BAASE)

I had the honor of welcoming students to the Fall 2024 Welcome Black Student Meet & Greet last Tuesday. You may know this effort through its prior name: African American Success Initiative. We wanted to acknowledge our students in the ways in which they identify themselves, hence the name change; however, the same great efforts and goals drive the work. The group's purpose is to ensure that ALL Black/African-American students thrive while attending Clovis Community College by providing them with access to necessary resources, events, and activities that support them during their time here. Kudos to members of our Student Services team: Sasha Fisher, Clarke-Lauren Richard, Caryss Johnson Franklin, and Akyia Ervin. The initiative is facilitated by Dean Gurdeep Hébert and VPSS Kira Tippins.

San Joaquin Valley Manufacturing Alliance (SJVMA)

I had the pleasure of welcoming CEO Genelle Taylor Kumpe and a few members of the SJVMA to our campus on Wednesday. SJVMA was launched by the Fresno Business Council with the goal to strengthen regional manufacturing, an industry responsible for over $19.3 billion of the Valley’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and more than 115,000 jobs. SJVMA designs training programs and provides jobs to interns, addresses legislative issues, and hosts the "Valley Made" Manufacturing Summit, an annual manufacturing conference. The group held its Quarter 3 meeting on our campus to highlight our Mechatronics program. While here, the group received tours of AC3 and spent some time in the Mechatronics class/labs with Matthew Graff and some of his amazing students. I was so incredibly proud to hear Matthew discuss our program and his amazing students talk about their work! We are optimistic that opportunities such as this one will allow us to explore more options for our students to earn internship experiences and enter the workforce. Thank you also to Dean Whitney Menefee and Interim VPI James Ortez for their support of this work!

Achieving the Dream (AtD)

Two days last week were spent with our ATD Coaches, Greg Hodges and Miguel Ceja. Thank you to faculty, classified professionals, students, and administrators who participated in the listening/Q&A tour! The coaches left on Friday after a brief discussion about next steps. They will send us a report with feedback for us based on all that they heard; as soon as we receive that, we will share out with all of you. In preparation for that feedback and the work ahead, we have formed two teams (Core and Data) as recommended by ATD with representation as suggested by ATD. The Data Team will provide the information that will serve as the foundations for the discussions that will be facilitated by Dean Gurdeep Hébert at the Core Team meetings. Both teams will meet monthly, and we will create a repository to house all documents shared with the groups, including notes of all discussions, so that you may keep apprised of these discussions. You may seek additional information from your constituent representatives and/or colleagues on the groups as listed below.

Core Team:

  1. Monica Chahal
  2. Stephanie Babb
  3. Heather Boynton
  4. Stephanie Briones
  5. Angel Campa
  6. Diana Chandara
  7. Ryan Feyk-Miney
  8. Sasha Fisher
  9. Gurdeep Hébert, Team Facilitator
  10. Max Hembd
  11. Robbie Hill
  12. Caryss Johnson Franklin
  13. Abigail Martin
  14. Teresa Mendes
  15. James Ortez
  16. Milagros Prado
  17. James Sewell
  18. Ravi Somayajulu
  19. Carla Stoner
  20. Tracy Stuntz
  21. Kira Tippins
  22. Michael Vongsa

Data Team:

  1. David Cao
  2. Alicia Diaz-Wrest
  3. Akyia Ervin
  4. Ryan Feyk-Miney
  5. Gurdeep Hébert
  6. Teng Her
  7. Erica Johnson
  8. Teresa Mendes
  9. Emilee Slater
  10. Christina Wells

Monica Chahal, Ed.D.