Week of October 2, 2023

Hi Clovis Fam,

This is the first time in two weeks that I have been at home (with you) all week. It feels good to be back and as much as I have enjoyed the meetings in both San Diego and Oakland, there is no place like home. Thanks to all of you who prayed for me, who emailed me, and who checked in on me. It warms my soul. So let me catch you up on what I have been up to since my last communication.

As you saw, Leslie sent last week’s Reflections out before noon on Friday, which means that I actually finished it late Thursday night while still at the Guided Pathways Institute. Friday, we finished the Institute and I proceeded to drive my grey van back to the Central Valley. What you may or may not know about me is that I love driving. I love the scenery. This time I saw a farm of wind turbines!!! I am in awe of these structures. I get excited when I see them either up or on the back of a truck going by. The blades are huge. It made me smile as I thought we could only have them in the mid west because of the flat lands. Here these beautiful structures were among mountains. Simply beautiful. As I played my oldies, I enjoyed my drive home. I arrived at Enterprise to return my van at about 4:40 pm. I told the rental car agent that as much as I acted up when he gave me the van, I truly enjoyed driving her. She drove incredibly well and was she handled so smoothly. At times I found myself approaching 100 miles/hour. So, thankful for the prayers. 😊. I returned the van, went home, showered, changed clothes and joined Ruben, Monica, and Megan at the California Teaching Fellows Gala. They were surprised to see me. I enjoyed the evening and the company of such dedicated colleagues. We made great contacts which is why we attend community functions. As the mission of the community college is to serve as “the community’s college”. It always makes me proud to have you join me in spreading the great works of Clovis when we are out. It also provides us with opportunities to establish and build new partnerships. Back in the day, we knew that most deals were made on the golf course. This is the same concept. Most deals are made when relationships are created and personal/professional bonding occurs outside the office/business setting. The best part of the Gala was sitting next to Ruben and getting a blow by blow of the soccer game. Girls won!!!!

Saturday I came in for a few hours to catch up on all the work that I did not complete while out of town. Cathy sent out an email informing people that people were coming to clean the Solar panels over the parking lots. I read the email and told Cathy that I was going to apologize now since I would forget not to park in my spot on Saturday. Cathy, I publicly state that you did tell everyone, me included, and I still parked under the solar panels. In my defense, I did forget, but I remembered when I saw all of the water on the ground. I didn’t get there until noon. So I think they had already finished.

On Sunday, I rested and prepared for my week. However, I did receive an email from my Airplane model friends. They provided me with documentation that they had an established agreement to be on our campus. The document was dated 5/29/14 and was signed by Deborah J. Ikeda, Campus President, on letterhead of Willow International Community College Center. The history and beauty of this document made me take pause and reflect upon the start of this college and how it has grown over the past 10 years. It reminded me of the shoulders that I stand upon with pride and with determination and dedication. Sunday, was a good day.

Monday I had both President’s Council and Chancellor’s Cabinet; during both we focused on ARs, BPs, the KPI Presentation for the Board and the Board meeting. Monday afternoon, I attended the 2023 TRiO EOC Scholars’ Recognition Luncheon. There were five female students from across the Central Valley to be recognized as scholars. Maria Sanchez Garcia received recognition. Maria is a single mother of 2 who is seeking to receive an associate degree in accounting. I was proud to be there with her as she was recognized.

Monday night , I attended the City of Clovis Council meeting where I was appointed as one of their two appointees for the CMAC Board of Directors. The Fresno/Clovis Media Authority serves as the Joint Powers Authority overseeing Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act funding for Public, Education, and Government television channels operated by CMAC. CMAC, or the Community Media Access Collaborative uses the funding provided to provide training, equipment, and opportunities to all sectors of the Fresno/Clovis communities- in particular, underserved and underrepresented groups. This could be a wonderful partnership for both our faculty and students. They currently have stipends for mentors/instructors and scholarships for students. They currently partner with Fresno State, Fresno Pacific, and FCC. They also are showcasing photography art from FCC . And I think our photography instructors and our student’s art is second to none. This is definitely a partnership that we can build.

Tuesday, I had VPC meeting where I reviewed the items form Chancellors Cabinet. I have also asked the VPS to start (effective November 1, 2023) providing monthly updates of their activities as VPI, VPAS, and VPSS. As it is important for you to know what I do, it is equally as important for you to know what the VPs are doing to help lead not only their divisions, but also how they are providing leadership at the College and District levels. We initiated having the VPs provide an update of their areas at the Opening Day in the fall. We will continue to provide updates of facilities, instruction and student services, from the VPs, each Opening Day as a way to improve institutional communications.

Tuesday was Board meeting night. I was proud to see that so many of you came to Madera to be present for the public comments and for the meeting. Tyler, Michelle, and Caryss made public comments on behalf of the Classified Professionals. They each took their time to make sure that their voices were heard. I will also say I was proud to see them continue to use their voices and will encourage all of us to do so. I saw several Classified Professionals as well as administrators and faculty, including your Academic Senate President in attendance. That is the culture of inclusivity and collegiality that we have and want to continue here at Clovis.

As I was leaving the Board meeting I saw a TEAMS message letting me know that the women’s soccer team won their match 6-2. We are looking to see when we finally get ranked top 10 in the nation. Way to go Women!!!

Wednesday, I met with Academic Senate President Teresa and Academic Senate VP Galin. We talked about BPs, ARs, the DEIA – Focuses Faculty Recruitment Pilot, and the opportunity to have an Accessibility Capability Maturity Model Campus Accessibility Plan. This opportunity that they are bringing forth will allow us to assess our current accessibility status and needs, thereby, allowing us to develop short and long range plans. We will be able to be intentional about all of our website, IT, and facilities accessibility needs (It will also allow us to fully address all of our needs not just those served by DSPS). This is a new opportunity and to develop how to best move forward will be discussed later. This opportunity will help Clovis to be on the forefront of addressing accessibility needs in our District. As a person with a background as a Rehab Psychologist, this is exciting to be able to develop and implement an institutional accessibility plan. We also talked about a way that we can allow time for professional development for all faculty and classified professionals. We bounced around several ideas about blocking out time each week and having standard professional development topics such as Guided Pathway and this Accessibility Capability Maturity Model. This opportunity will put a priority focus on the importance of professional development and will remove the barriers of not having time, low participation, and putting all of our training on Opening Day or Flex Days. We are working on a process with the goal of implementation Fall 2024. I also participated in the CSJVK16P Healthcare Pathway Working Group zoom meeting to be remain aware of the upcoming deliverables of this project.

Wednesday afternoon, I had the extreme pleasure of attending the best Transfer Day event that I had ever had the pleasure of hosting at my college. I was so thrilled with the lay out, the turn out, the hospitality that you showed the transfer universities and the Clovis collaboration that went into making the event a success. I mostly was thrilled with the pride that you all felt in the event. I was told last week to make sure that I mentioned the Transfer Fair in my Weekly reflections and on the day of the Transfer Fair, you came up to get me to make sure that I saw it for myself. I could feel the pride you all had in this wonderful labor of love. I also was filled to the brim with pride when I saw the Clovis tables representing, and represent you did!!!!! I sent picture back to ASUTR to do a brag on this is how is done at Clovis! I am looking forward to seeing the evaluations that will certainly provide the same results that I saw. Great job everyone. Thanks for showing the CLOVIS Spirit.

Wednesday night I attended my first Board meeting for CMAC.

Thursday morning, I participated in the Management Development Academy session. Here the presidents worked with attendees from the colleges and district office on developing their mission statements. I was proud to see both Bonita and Emily (CDC) in the Academy. As I was participating in this academy, I was inspired to want to provide a similar opportunity for those here at Clovis. I have started conversations with Monica about developing something of this nature to start in the spring.

As I walked to College Council, I was pleasantly surprised to see the blue decorated windows!!! Thank you for the important opportunities to stop and appreciate what makes Clovis beautiful. In my absence for the past two weeks, I missed seeing the beauty in all aspects. I then had College Council where we discussed the goals of the Council for 2023-2024. We also discussed the Clovis Community College mission, vision, and values. I asked them to take a deeper dive into describing the “Clovis Spirit” so that it is reflected in our core values. I see you all doing wonderful things and I see you passion, commitment, and love for our students, community, and each other. I am challenging each of you to try to verbalize what it is that makes us have the “Clovis Spirit”.

Friday morning, I had the opportunity to attend the Madera College President’s Breakfast. It was a beautiful and well attended event. I then had the honor to host Clovis Celebrates as we celebrated our Science Labs Coordinators. Thank you all who were able to attend (over 30 people from all across the college) for letting them know just how much they are appreciated and valued. Thank you for taking the time to express to them how much and why you appreciate them. Thank you for embracing them and showing them the Clovis Spirit. A special thank you to Tyler, who was unable to attend as he was at the District Office still in contract negotiations.

I want to thank whoever it was that put the notes of affirmation on the mirrors in the restrooms. Again, just another way where you reach out to others to give kind words. Thanks for the smile and the reminder that there is empathy, kindness, and care in our world. Clovis Spirit????!!!!!

I received my Breast Cancer Awareness tee-shirt, mug patch, and magnet. These items were being distributed by our very own SCCCD PD. I found out the Sargent Kifer designed the tee-shirt and mug. I had him to autograph my shirt. As a two time breast cancer survivor, I am thrilled to see the support for Breast Campus Awareness month by our men and women in Blue and with our sport teams and all of you. Way to go and way to give back!

I checked in on our men’s soccer team as they prepared to take on Lemore here at home. Sad that I can’t be there to cheer them on in person but am sending good vibes for a successful game. I had also planned on stopping by to see our magnificent Debate Team meet with FCC and Fresno State Debate teams at FCC. I heard they represented us well and were quite impressive in the skills. I am not surprised as I have seen this team in action. I also have full faith in their coaches. I have high expectations for this year’s team.

To end my Friday, I attended the Central Valley CEO Check In meeting. The Central Valley CEO Board will be attending the Legislative Summit. Here we will inform our legislators of the following: 1. Enrollment trends in the Central Valley. 2. Facilities and Scheduled Maintenance Funding needs 3. 50% Law concerns. The goal will be to provide our legislators with key examples and talking points so that they can be prepared to best advocate for us.

Lastly, I wasn’t to thank Maya and Taylor for taking care of Herndon and the Willow campus after hours and on Saturday. They are truly carrying out a culture of care and compassion to make sure that our evening students, faculty, and classified professionals feel seen and valued.

I hope all of you had a wonderful weekend and that you were safe and were able to enjoy time with friends and family. You will not get this reflection and activity report before you leave on Friday. Leslie had to leave early. It will be a reading to start your Monday morning.

Take care everyone.

In service,

Kim E. Armstrong, Ph.D.