Week of December 11, 2024

Hello Crush Fam,

How is everyone???? One more week until everyone is off to enjoy our winter break. I feel the quietness in the halls this week as many of you have already finished for the semester or you have started your vacations. I will be brief in my reflections this week as I am only able to sit down and write this during the last part of the day.

On Saturday, I had the wonderful opportunity to go to the California Arts Academy and see the play The Prom. Our very own Anna Martinez was in the play and it was an absolute joy seeing her perform. She was not our sweet Anna lol. It was a riveting experience for me as I laughed, cried, and had different emotions all over the place. The man sitting next to me told me after the play that he was looking for Kleenex for me. I was a hot mess during the entire play. I recalled that the play was based on a true story and that I actually remembered this happening. If you get a chance Google the 2010 Indiana lesbian prom; it will stir your spirit.

On Sunday, James Sewell, his wife and Renee Garcia attended the company holiday party for the our donor Adam Macy-Ayotte, who is a major supporter of our athletics department. He gave $5000 to our CCC #GivingTuesday campaign this year.

On Monday, we held President’s Council and Chancellor’s Cabinet. We discussed ARs and BPs, reviewed the Board meeting agenda and spent time discussing the Telework pilot initiative. We were asked to develop college-wide plans or guidelines and present them to Cabinet by Friday. There was much discussion about what things should be district-wide requirements in order to provide some consistency to the process. We also reviewed the plans to improve Self-Service for spring as well as some of the changes to be implemented prior to the end of the semester. Lastly, we discussed Board Doc and the opportunity to consider a new platform. Board Docs has existed for 20 years and there may be a product that is more up to date and more in alignment with the needs of the District and the Board. If adopted, the training will take place over the next year or so with the initial training starting with the Board members. Executive Assistants will also be provided the opportunity to see the tool and will also be among the first to receive training.

On Tuesday morning, I started my day in interviews for the Vice Chancellor of Finance & Administration position. Later in the afternoon, I attended the December Board meeting where it was the Clovis Community College show. A couple of the Clovis faculty spoke during the public comments session. I want to thank Teresa Mendez and Liz Romero for speaking as your voices are always heard and respected. During the College Highlights, James Sewell, Head Women’s Soccer Coach Orlando Ramirez, and women’s soccer student-athlete Natalie Galicia showcased the athletes community service/volunteering with the Diamond Learning Center and the importance of the partnership with our donor Jami De Le Cerda. We then followed the College Highlight with recognizing the accomplishments of our student-athletes both in the classroom and on the field. We recognized their team and individual accomplishments and the accomplishments of the coaches. It was fabulous to see the boardroom filled with over 25 Clovis students, coaches, trainers and the AD all dressed in Clovis attire. The students were so proud to be recognized. They took pictures with the Board members and they had time to talk with them and have cookies. They brought lots of hardware. It was a beautiful example of the high quality of excellence that we expect and develop in our students. We ended our College Highlight section with reports from both Teresa and Caryss. I was exceptionally proud of Clovis students, faculty and Classified Professionals Tuesday night.

On Wednesday, I was in interviews all day for the Vice Chancellor of Finance and Administration.

On Thursday, I had a meeting with the ACCJC Chair as we prepare for the accreditation visit for spring 2024 (Redwood Community College). I then held Small Council where we discussed the draft Telework plan. I received input from the group and was then able to solicit more insight from other constituent groups and the plan will be revised to reflect the discussion and concerns. In the afternoon, I attended the Madera- Fresno K-16 Executive Committee meeting and agreed that Reedley would serve as the SCCCD primary representative for the group and that Madera would serve as the proxy. This decision was made because the requirement was for a college not a district lead. FCC and Clovis will still be able to attend but will not serve as primary or proxy. In the spring there will be a site visit of the K-12 Healthcare.

On Thursday evening, I left the Madera-Fresno K-16 Executive Committee meeting and attended a holiday party sponsored by Senator Shannon Grove. There were several community leaders and politicians in attendance. Senator Grove has an office full of Fresno State stuff and requested that she have some Clovis stuff for her office. Absolutely this will happen. There will be Clovis blue and Clovis green ALL over her office!!!! She also commented on the Facebook picture taken at the Board meeting with all the Clovis student-athletes and Board members. She and her staff have been wonderful supporters of our College.
I left the holiday party with the Senator and briefly attended the Chancellor’s Cabinet holiday party. It was nice to get to know people outside of the office.

On Friday, I got to do ornament exchanges with people in my area. It was fun. I got a cute little, tiny, tiny angel which I attached to my earring and have been wearing all day. I then had the pleasure of attending the DO Operations Holiday Party. It was nice to represent the other presidents. I got to finally put faces to names and to voices. It was a nice event. I was able to put into perspective just how many people it takes to take care of operations at the District level.

I then left the Operations Holiday Party and came to Herndon where Dianna Whaley and I had the pleasure of showing donor Ashley Bocek from US Bank (they gave us $2000 at CCC #Giving Tuesday this year) the Clothing Closet. She was excited to see all the resources that Dianna is providing the students and is interested in partnering with us to provide support from business partners. She is associated with Junior Achievement and would like to involve them in partnering to help our students be career ready. This is a wonderful opportunity and I am excited to see what will continue to grow from the Clothing Closet.

I have Friday evening and weekend holiday events planned. I will be going to see Langston Hughes, “Black Nativity” at Fresno Pacific and I will be attending a holiday dinner for the CCAPW Women in Leadership.

Thank you to all of you who have submitted questions and topics for use in the interview process for the Interim VPSS position. I have 3-4 people who I and Ben Duran vetted this week, and who will have submitted CV, bios and will be formally interviewed (using the rubric) on Monday. The plan is to finalize the questions for the rubric this weekend, present them to the candidates under consideration and hopefully have Nico develop the electronic feedback rubric to solicit your input.

I have also asked to submit our draft telework guideline document by close of day Saturday. Thank you to everyone who provided me with feedback. Please know I appreciate the time you took to get me information in such a short timeframe.

Well, as you go home for the weekend, I hope you are looking forward to a wonderful weekend and that you enjoy time with friends and family.

I want to end this week’s reflection by saying thank you to Marco and that I wish him a restful and wonderful retirement. We were able to give him a low key goodbye brunch on Thursday.

And to all, thank you and have a great weekend.

In service,

Kim E. Armstrong, Ph.D.