Governing Board Meeting
April 9, 2002
Minutes
An executive session and work session of the Maricopa County Community College District Governing Board was scheduled to be held at 5:30 p.m. at the District Support Services Center, 2411 West 14th Street, Tempe, Arizona, pursuant to A.R.S. §38-431.02, notice having been duly given.
PRESENT
GOVERNING BOARD ADMINISTRATION
Nancy Stein, President Fred Gaskin
Ed Contreras, Secretary Ron Bleed
Linda B. Rosenthal, Member Anna Solley
Don Campbell, Member Rufus Glasper
Gene Eastin, Member Raul Cardenas
Larry Christiansen Arnette Ward
Kay Martens for Ken Atwater
Stan Grossman
STATE BOARD
Gina Kranitz
Linda Thor
Nick Balich Jean Ann Abel for Tessa Martinez Pollack
Art DeCabooter
Corina Gardea
Pete Kushibab
Homero Lopez
Phil Randolph
CALL TO ORDER
President Nancy Stein called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
The Governing Board met in executive session, notice having been previously given.
The meeting recessed at 6:30 p.m.
The meeting reconvened at 6:37 p.m.
WORK SESSION - Academic Excellence, Student Success, Putting Students First
The Work Session was facilitated by Chandler-Gilbert Community College (CGC) President Arnette Ward. President Ward expressed her appreciation to come before the Governing Board and members of Maricopa Community College community to speak about student recruitment, retention, and attrition at the Chandler-Gilbert Community College location. Chandler-Gilbert Community College has developed a model for retaining students. This model is based on providing a caring learning and working environment. They have a student-centered philosophy and culture which includes benefits, services and employee satisfaction. The philosophy they abide by is that student belong to the college president and their needs are put first. Staff are encouraged to enjoy what they do and then students will be served well.
Retention is the responsibility of Student Affairs. The services they provide include advising, assessment, well-maintained buildings and facilities, career planning, counseling, safety, financial aid, housing, instructional and computing support, international student assistance, learning resources, orientation, registration, student affairs, student disability services, transfer information, tutoring, and veterans' services.
Information provided in the work session is based on an article written by Vincent Tinto of Syracuse University. It is Tinto's opinion that retention programs based on advisement, orientation sessions, tutoring, peer mentoring, residence hall arrangements, and freshman seminars have not been limited in their success. These types of retention programs have done little to change the essential quality of the academic experience for most students, especially during the critical first year of college. The article titled "Rethinking the First Year of College" was distributed prior to the work session. This article speaks about student retention from a classroom perspective.
Administrative presenters reflected that when all things are taken into consideration pertaining to the various student activities and experiences, the one thing they have in common is the classroom. It is the consensus of the Chandler-Gilbert administration that the classroom experience should be the focus of their retention efforts. They feel that as a result of this philosophy, their average retention has been 85% versus an average of 50% at other colleges. 75% of their students average grade of A, B, or Pass.
Presentations were made by the following staff members:
Mary Day
Trey Cox - Math Department
Scott Adamson - Math Department
Eva Falletta - Learning Center
Diane Clark -
Camille Newton
Leslie Hamlett
Lynne Flock
Heather Perry
Janet Pinhorn
Lindanne Gabiola
Donald Steward
Patty Wilson
Nick Martinez
Dwayne Moore
Margy Bons
Talat Siddique
Mary Watts
Michael Russell
Stephanie Woodworth
Julie Hallett
Christina Trefzger
Matt Davis
Brad Wright
Jeremy Soria
Trey Cox and Scott Adamson spoke about the engaging activities they use in their math classes to make it interesting and relevant. When math is taught void of context, it is meaningless and creates student experiences and negative attitudes.
Eva Falletta spoke about the Learning Centers efforts to directly impact student learning and instruction through free instruction and support. They provide drop-in tutoring for writing assistance, math and science, ESL and Spanish. They also provide appointment-based tutoring for specialized subjects.
Fifteen students provided first-hand testimonials on the positive experiences they have had as a result of the assistance provided by the Learning Center and the hands-on math classes. Many of them are well on their way to finishing their two-year degrees and planning on continuing with their education at other four-year institutions. Some are honors students and others are considering engineering majors. The tutoring provided has been extremely helpful and successful in helping students understand the course material.
ADJOURNMENT
Meeting concluded at 8:24 p.m.
_________________________________
Ed Contreras
Governing Board Secretary
Governing Board Minutes