Week of April 1, 2024

Happy Friday Clovis Fam,

I hope you all had a great long weekend and came back this week all refreshed and ready to finish the semester invigorated. This has been a week for me. I hope as I share with you, you will not only be informed but amused as there were times when I just had to laugh and throw my hands up in the air.

I actually was able to end my week by spending time enjoying art and poetry in the lobby in AC1. Steve told me about it earlier in the week and I just didn’t get to experience it until Thursday afternoon. It was quiet and I was able to take my time and feel the art as well as have it come more to life through the eyes of our students through poetry. I left feeling filled with joy and awe of the work we get to do and the comfort and safe space for expression that we provide. Thank you all for the integrated approach to my senses being stimulated via the art, the poetry, and the music.

On Sunday morning, between sunrise service and visiting Clovis Hills for Easter service, I stopped by the college to get some things done as I had a couple of hours. When I came out of AC1, I saw Nathan and our students at the circle drive. I had the pleasure of seeing them off as they headed to nationals. Our Speech and Debate Club is phenomenal. Please, everyone, cheer them on and continue to wish them much success.

On Monday, I had the President’s Council and Chancellor’s Council. In the President’s Council, we discussed the upcoming Manager's Meeting and the topics and format for the VPs who will be leading the training. This training will continue to focus on helping managers handle difficult situations. We recognize that the level of the manager is where most conflict or difficult situations must be handled. These are the first levels to address concerns and issues and we want to continue providing opportunities to develop these skills. Things should only be brought to the level of the President after attempts to address the issue were handled by managers, then the VPs.

In the Chancellor’s Cabinet, we talked about the 25% increase in healthcare costs proposed by Kaiser. HR will continue to research options and will provide feedback if and how to proceed. We also discussed items brought up in the Communications Council as it pertained to ARs and BPs; i.e., processes and language. I then had the pleasant surprise of having the Ag Tec Leadership meeting cancelled and it was not an April Fool’s joke. Note, if it had been an April Fool’s joke, the joke would have been on them because I was gone 😊.

On Tuesday, I invited Christine Miktarian to the VPC meeting. She talked about our needs for instructional space (including lecture and lab space, office space, and tutorial and study space) to meet our growing enrollment demands. She reviewed our project score, shared our space analysis information, and proposed project costs. She provided us with our room assignment data and the cap load for each room. We have several rooms that have been miscategorized and the cap load no longer matches the current usage of the room. The Deans will review this data and make updates and corrections. This information is critical to our ability to rate high enough to get approval to build future buildings. She and I then walked around campus and assessed facilities as well as ground issues. We are developing and implementing process improvements regarding strengthening communication as well as timely response by the DO. Later, in the afternoon, I attended our monthly Board meeting at FCC.

On Wednesday morning, I had the pleasure of leading Chapel Hour at Fresno Pacific University (FPU). I spoke on my guiding bible verse Luke 12:48 - “ To whom much is given, much is required.” I spoke to approximately 100 students and was able to provide a prayer for them after I finished providing words of support and encouragement. When I got to my car I found a FPU parking ticket for parking on their property without an FPU parking permit in my window. Well, I took the parking ticket back into the venue and handed it to one of the people over at the Chapel, and He said, “Jesus paid it all.” Yes, He did, and Hallelujah.

I then had a meeting with our General Counsel regarding our Posting Guidelines. This meeting was followed by a meeting of all 4 SCCCD colleges, the Chancellor, Academic Senates, CTE Deans, and Faculty. We also had Karen Agaves there to discuss the Ag Tec grant from the State’s level and we had representatives from Career Ladders there as they will be assisting with the program. I think the meeting was very productive as it allowed all colleges to address their understanding of the initiative as well as to express challenges and concerns. The meeting was so good that after the meeting was over, I saw the Chancellor at our table talking to Matthew, Teresa, and Whitney. Please note: Matthew and Teresa were the champions of the CBE discussion. Way to go everyone, as we are ahead of the game in offering For Credit CBE.

As the conversation was so good, I suggested that we continue the meeting off-site. We went to some place, really cool, and continued the discussion for another couple of hours.

When we returned to the parking garage, we got into our cars, said goodbye, and started leaving to go home. Well…for those of us who got out of the parking garage successfully, as it should have been, an uneventful moment. For the rest of us, we found ourselves locked in the DO garage as the garage door malfunctioned and we were trapped. Well, the devil is a lie; cause spending the night in the DO garage was not on my calendar. It was me, Matthew, and Rebecca from Reedley College who were trapped. Matthew took my fob and attempted to open the gate from the other side where we entered. Rebecca attempted to trigger the green lights on the inside to see if the gate would lift. I left and went back to the DO, which closes at 7 p.m. to see if I could get a SCCCD Police to open the gate. They were already gone since it was now 7:25 pm. However, I called the emergency number posted on the security window at the DO. They answered and I told them the situation. I then walked back to the parking garage to let Matthew and Rebecca know that they were working to open the gate remotely. Long story short, they were not able to open the gate remotely. They needed to send an officer to assist. Well, if you are going to be stuck in a garage, the best people to have with you are an engineer and an Academic Senate President. The troubleshooting, the problem-solving, the “I can figure it out attitude,” and as I always say the intellectual capital bounding together with the sole purpose of opening the gate was powerful. Matthew and Rebecca had already located the manual chain and levers. They asked me what they should do. I gave the okay to manually attempt to open the door. Then SCCCD PD called me back and, asked if the PD had arrived, I said, “NO.” He said when he comes, he will need to manually open the door because we cannot open it remotely. He said that he saw us using the manual chain and that was what he had instructed the officer to do. Then he asked if we wanted to wait for the officer to arrive to open the gate. Again, I said, “No, we will continue with the manual lift ourselves.” Matthew and Rebecca saved the day, and we escaped the DO parking garage, and no one had to spend the night in their car at the DO! The moral of the story is to please make sure that you have all SCCCD emergency numbers with you on your phone because a work-related emergency can occur when you least expect it and when you are nowhere near the college. Please everyone take heed and do this simple one thing that I ask so that if you find yourself in a similar situation, you will not have to look for the numbers. I was still able to go home and walk my dog and enjoy the night air.

On Thursday morning, I had President’s Full Council meeting and told everyone about my ordeal the previous night and Teng provided everyone with the emergency and non-emergency numbers. We discussed other process improvement opportunities such as progress with communication with DO regarding our facilities needs and our need for timely responses. We also talked about things that we can do and should do to be proactive in taking care of our students’ needs while waiting for the DO to respond or fix things (for example, the south door of AC1).

Thursday afternoon I attended a luncheon for The Maddy Institute where I sat with Congressman David Valadao, California 22 District, and Blake Zante, Executive Director of The Maddy Institute. The Congressman provided legislative updates on the water bill, farm bill, leadership issues, and appropriation committee. Before I left, I got to play with the FS bulldog. He was such a good baby, and he gave me kisses.

I then returned to campus and held the College Council meeting where we reviewed ARs and BPs and made the College Council recommendations on each. After I left College Council, I had the pleasure of attending the Women’s Soccer team Meet and Greet. I enjoyed meeting the new recruits and seeing the returning players. It’s going to be another great season. And I am looking forward to it. I saw Megan’s baby bump!!! I also got a chance to wish the Soroptimist group well wishes for a successful Dream It, Be It conference that will be held at the campus the next day.

On Friday, I attended the Governor's meeting on CTE. I excused myself at 11 a.m. to attend our Integrated 2035 planning meeting via Zoom from a side room. After the Integrated 2035 planning meeting, I reconvened the Governor’s meeting.

On Saturday, I will attend a social justice event held at FCC, then go to Clovis Big Hat Days, and end my day by attending the Elements of the Arts Scholarship Gala.

It was an eventful week more so than usual. I hope everyone has a great weekend and as always enjoy your family and friends and take time to relax and refresh.

I appreciate you more than you will ever know.

Be safe and take care.

In service,

Kim E. Armstrong, Ph.D.