Week of December 18, 2024

Hi Clovis Fam,

This is my last weekly reflection and activities report before we all leave for the holiday break. I want to start by saying that it has been a pleasure serving as your president for the past 10 months. I mostly appreciate that by about month 7, you started to get comfortable to tell me deeper issues including areas where I missed stepped and failed to communicate effectively and/or communicated harshly. Thank you for caring enough about this college, its future, the success of our students and about each other to freely tell me where I could improve. Thank you for trusting that I will hear you and do better. I am looking forward to the next year where I hope to have more difficult discussions where we can increase our diverse understandings, heal old and new wounds, and begin to fortify the culture where every voice is not only encouraged but heard and respected. As I reflect over the past week, month, and year, I stand more committed than ever to the development of our unique post Covid participatory process where we address issues and collectively come up with solutions. It will be the desire for “better” that will move us forward in the work of student success. This is the hallmark upon which great institutions thrive. Clovis Community College is a great institution. Thank you for allowing me the space to reflect.

When I last wrote, I told you that I was going to a couple of weekend events. I had the pleasure of attending the play Black Nativity by Langston Hughes on Friday after work. So, I left my meeting with Dianna Whaley and Ashely Bocek from US Bank at our Clothing Closet and drove to Fresno Pacific University (FPU), Warkentine Culture and Arts Center and attended a sold-out performance of one of my favorite Christmas plays. This was my annual tradition when I lived in Illinois as one of my friends was the producer and we did the first performance at my college before expanding our auditorium space. The performance was magnificent, and the second half of the show was all uplifting celebration music. I felt like I was in church!!!! While there I saw the president of FPU and his executive team, people from FCC and community leaders. It was nice to see people in a casual and festive place.

On Saturday, I attended the CCAPW Holiday Dinner. This was a small group of Asian American women leaders. It was nice to share a table with Monica and her husband. Monica is a newly elected Board member. During that meeting I met great contacts and will be looking to work with Monica to increase our support and participation in our Asian American communities. I made a connection with a professor at Fresno State whose wife was at our table. I will be meeting with him to discuss partnerships to increase the number of African American students in the STEM – Healthcare track.

On Sunday, I went to church and was graced by the Clovis West Choir. Magnificent voices! I am looking forward to many of them coming here and continuing their vocal training at the collegiate level.

On Monday, I had my weekly President’s Council meeting. We primarily prepped for the Chancellor’s Cabinet meeting. After, I attended my first President’s meeting as a member of the Achieving the Dream 2024 cohort. The zoom meeting was more of an introductory meeting of the presidents and the Director to discuss her vision. I recognized a couple of the presidents from other states who were colleagues of mine at the VP level. I am looking forward to taking our team of four (Ryan, Gurdeep, Teresa, and myself) to the Achieve the Dream 2024 Conference in February. I am looking forward to us returning with great ideas and wanting to implement new processes focusing on student success and equity.

I then attended a short Chancellor’s Cabinet meeting where we went over our enrollment progressions for spring, and discussed the Telework project and the state budget. Also, I started the process of interviewing the candidates for the Interim VPSS position. As you can see from the communication that was sent out on Wednesday, the questions asked by me to the candidates were quite extensive and technical in nature. As a former VPSS and VC of Student Equity and Community Affairs, I know what high-level responses to expect of someone for this leadership position. I solicited and received quite a few high-level questions from some of you and most were incorporated into these questions. The interviews took approximately 2 hours each.

On Tuesday, Monica, Lorrie, and I had a long VPC meeting. We spent quite a bit of time going over the Opening Day agenda. We discussed the process for the Interim VPSS as they are not aware of who the finalists were and remained unaware throughout the entire process to keep a high-level of confidentiality. We discussed the telework guidelines and some changes based on feedback we received. We stated that due to the late start, on our part, spring telework requests may be received in January to not delay the ability to be approved for telework. We talked about the state’s budget as well as budgetary items at the college. After, I had a meeting with Gurdeep to discuss the grants and projects that her area was working with under Marco and looking at timeline to completion and deadlines for reports submission.

On Wednesday, I had the pleasure of having a pizza party with all of you at both the Willow and Herndon campuses. You all came out to eat and spend time together before we all left for the holiday. I enjoyed seeing all of you come out even if it was just to get some pizza and go back to your office. Please know that seeing you and knowing that you came out gave me great joy. I had the opportunity to finally make it over to Herndon and although I didn’t get to have pizza with you, I was still glad to know that you all enjoyed it. In the understanding of our DEIA work, I will be reminded of our family who have Silia Disease, Chron’s Disease, Diabetes, Lactose Intolerance and other special dietary concerns and provide for you as well. I also want to thank you at the Willow campus for your patience and for letting me know when we ran out of pizza. A special thank you to both Bonnie and to Machele (at Herndon) and Michelle (at Willow) for hosting the pizza parties.

Also, the rubric for your input on the selection of the Interim VPSS went live. Thank you all for your participation in the process and for letting us know when there were technical issues with the tool. A special thank you to Nico for designing and implementing the process.

On Thursday, I had the opportunity to do paperwork such as start the training for the ACCJC Chair position. I had a meeting to discuss the possibilities for collaboration with a faculty at FCC regarding getting more Arican American students into the STEM (healthcare/medical pipeline) field. Later in the afternoon, I enjoyed participating in the Mug Exchange held by my office, and I ended the day by attending the holiday party at the Diamond Learning Center as a guest of one of our donors, Jami De La Cerda. Joining me at our table were Dr. James Ortez and his wife, James Sewell and his wife and sons, Megan and her husband, and Dr. Bennett. We were surprised when they announced and recognized Clovis Community College as the 2023 Diamond Learning Center Community Partner.

Also, the rubric for the interim Vice President of Student Services position closed at 5pm. I spent the evening reviewing the data and preparing to contact the finalists with the outcome and thanking them for their interest in our Interim VPSS position. I finalized the communication for the Interim VPSS position and I informed the finalist and we discussed compensation, start dates, and timeline to get the name on the January Board agenda. I want to thank all of you for participating in the process and for providing valuable input. The name of the finalist will be communicated to all of you before the end of the day.

On Friday, I got to enjoy fire-baked pizza with the Outreach Team. I also saw amazing sugar cookie creations from Anna-Marie – WOW! And, lastly, Kim Duong came around with festive treats for all to enjoy. Thank you so much for all the departments and individuals for making this week a festive and joyful time for your department and those around you.

Technology Services Updates
Now, as many of us are on vacation during this next week. I wanted to provide you with what will be going on in IT for next week. Teng has provided a summary of some of the highlighted projects that the local Technology Services department is working on.

To better serve our students with access to technology, a virtual computer lab built on industry tested virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) technology is currently in the process of being configured by the College Technology Services department and District Office IS staff that would allow students 24 hour, 7 days a week access from wherever they may be. The virtual computer lab will provide students with a Microsoft Windows 10 desktop and applications that are currently available in our Open Computer Lab (OCL) in AC1. Benefits for putting into operation the virtual computer lab include increasing student access to technology resources to use software applications to complete coursework when the physical lab is closed, provide remote students access to the same computer lab software that would not otherwise be available offsite, and offer students the capability to access computing resources from a more conducive space where a student feel more comfortable setting. A tablet or laptop and Internet connection is required to connect, however, students that have slower Internet connections will still be able to connect and utilize the environment. Once connected to the environment and provided with a desktop, the student can make use of the very high-speed Internet connection provided by the District as if they were on ground. The virtual computer lab is expected to be available for use sometime in January-February 2024. More information will follow, but rest assured, checkout laptops and hotspots for our students will still be made available through the Library’s Technology Checkout Program.

In addition to the above, Windows PCs desktop and application delivery for computer labs will be slightly changing. Clovis Community College has been shifting away from a VDI approach for delivery of desktops back to a more traditional approach of a physical computer in the computer labs. Combined with application layering technology available through a company called Liquidware with their product, FlexApp, the Technology Services department can quickly and efficiently add or update software available on lab computers in several minutes where it would have hours utilizing traditional methods of lab management. The technology will be tested in the OCL prior to a larger rollout. For the students using the computers, the changes will be transparent for them, and the user experience should be improved. For instructors still needing technology in non-computer lab classrooms, the Technology Service departments still has laptop carts available by requests through an online form found here.

Finally, the Technology Services department is looking into procuring a new digital signage software platform that would allow for effective distribution of content on our wall mounted televisions throughout the Clovis Community College and Herndon campuses. In addition, the software platform would be reviewed for integration with the districtwide mass notification system to display messages to provide alternative methods of notifications and enhance campus safety.

A special thank you to Teng and his team for doing the behind the things necessary to make sure that we can manage our processes when we all are here. I want you to see that these required updates are mostly done when systems are in no-to-low usage status. This is the kind of passion for student success that everyone at the college has demonstrated, even those who are not necessary “student facing”.

A big Thank You to everyone who gave me well wishes for the holidays, cards, and gifts.

As always, I hope and pray that everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday. Please take the time to hug your loved ones tight. Some of us, like, my daughters, are having a hard time spending their first Christmas without their dad/loved one. Please don’t take life and love for granted. Hug and hold them tight. Make sure to tell them that you love them.

I love each of you and I am so very thankful that you are part of the Clovis family.

In service,

Kim E. Armstrong, Ph.D.