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August 22, 2016
Vol. 3, Issue 27
Board of Trustees

Chairman of the Board
Dr. Yvonne Katz
District 7

Vice Chair
Marcelo Casillas
District 4

Secretary
Dr. Gene Sprague
District 6

Asst. Secretary
Denver McClendon
District 2

Joe Alderete, Jr.
District 1

Anna U. Bustamante
District 3

Roberto Zarate
District 5

Clint Kingsbery
District 8

James Rindfuss
District 9

Emmanuel Nyong
Student Trustee

Chancellor

Dr. Bruce Leslie
Alamo Colleges
Alamo Colleges - Northwest Vista College Ranked One of the Best
in Texas Second Year in a Row
Northwest Vista College made the Best Colleges in Texas
list for 2016 on the BestColleges.com website.

For the second year in a row, Alamo Colleges - Northwest Vista College (NVC) made the Best Colleges in Texas list for 2016 on the BestColleges.com website. NVC is ranked number two in Texas among community colleges for key performance indicators such as acceptance, retention, graduation, enrollment rates and loan default percentages as a measure of graduates' success. The school ranking is based on the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and College Navigator data from the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Educational Statistics.

NVC saw a 5.44 percent enrollment growth from fall 2014 to fall 2015. More than 17,000 students attend the college, pursuing associate degrees, certificates and transfer credit. The number of degrees and certificates awarded skyrocketed by more than 74 percent from the 2013 to 2015 academic year.

The college's four-year graduation rate for the 2011 first-time-in-college student group was 27.6 percent, which is the best in the state for 2015 among very large community colleges. NVC also has a 29.3 percent six-year transfer rate, well above the above the 22.6 percent for Texas' very large community colleges. 


Alamo Colleges Hires 77 to Increase the Number
of Full-time Faculty and Meet Growing Enrollment
New Alamo Colleges' faculty members attended orientation
sessions for two days before the start of Fall 2016 classes.


In order to meet the needs of growing enrollment and to achieve a 55/45 ratio of full-time to adjunct faculty, the Alamo Colleges has added 77 new full-time faculty members who began teaching when fall semester classes started August 22. Previously, the ratio of full-time to adjunct faculty was 50/50. By the time classes began, more than 200 adjunct faculty members also had been hired. The new faculty members attended orientation August 11 and 12 and will continue attending orientation sessions each month throughout the academic year.

Increasing the number of full-time faculty as well as the total number of faculty is critical to achieving the Alamo Colleges' goals of greater student success and completion, as it seeks to realize its vision of becoming the best in the nation in student success and performance excellence. Linda Boyer-Owens, associate vice chancellor of human resources and organizational development, credits the organization's success in hiring more faculty to the board and administration's dedication to student success and to the efforts of newly appointed Director of Institutional Professional Development Carmen Mercedes.

(l to r) PAC President Dr. Mike Flores;  Mario Lozoya, director of government relations and external affairs, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas, Inc; PAC students  Elizabeth Herrera,  Ernesto Cervantes and  Roxanna Valdovinos; and  Dr. Richard Ortega, vice president for university advancement, Texas A&M University - San Antonio.

Alamo Colleges - Palo Alto College Students Commit
to Local STEM Teaching Careers

This fall, three Alamo Colleges - Palo Alto College (PAC) students will begin making their dreams of teaching a reality. Elizabeth Herrera, Roxanna Valdovinos, and Ernesto Cervantes each accepted the 2+2 STEM Teacher Scholarship from Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas, Inc. (TMMTX). In accepting the scholarships, they committed to return to their home ISDs to teach STEM subjects: science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

"I want to be that one math teacher who makes a difference in students' lives," said Herrera, who plans to teach high school. She added that she is looking forward to being "part of the community that helped me be where I am today. I want to give back to show them that they can do it too."

Cervantes developed his dream of becoming a high school science teacher on two of his key traits: "One, I like helping people... and two, I want to contribute to my community with a purpose."

"I want to teach in my home school district because I grew up here," said Valdovinos, who loves science and has her sights set on becoming a middle school teacher.

The full-ride scholarships will fund their associate degrees from PAC and their bachelor's degrees and teacher certifications from Texas A&M University - San Antonio, as well as help them secure jobs in local ISDs after graduation. 


Let us hear from you! Send your comments on our newsletter to   [email protected]. 

The Alamo Colleges mission is: empowering our diverse communities for success. Our vision is: the Alamo Colleges will be the best in the nation in student success and performance excellence. The Alamo Colleges is one district with five community colleges serving more than 90,000 students annually from Bexar County and seven other counties in our service area. We provide an affordable, quality college education that leads to associate degrees, certificates and transfers to four-year universities. Hundreds of thousands of Bexar County residents who have come through the Alamo Colleges education programs are major contributors to the economy and culture of Sa n Antonio.