Women’s Leadership Conference, Las Vegas
On August 27th and 28th, fourteen Nevada State women leaders attended this amazing conference at the MGM. Highlights included outstanding mainstage speakers such as “Me Too” founder Tarana Burke, Rwandan genocide survivor Immaculée Ilibagiza, and the incomparable financial expert Suze Orman. Participants also attended break-out sessions on all facets of women and leadership and were offered the opportunity to have one-on-one sessions with professional coaches.
Participation was sponsored primarily by the President’s Office and the Provost’s Office as an example of our commitment to professional development for our community. Student participants were Nicola Opfer, Erika Arballo, and Melissa Rangel. Also participating were Vickie Shields, Abby Peters, Amber Lopez Lasater, Amy Evaluna, Cristina Caputo, Erin Keller, Holley Risdon, LaNelda Rolley, Leilani Carreno, Penny Morris, and Sita Sales.
Provost Goals for 2018-19
At convocation I shared an abbreviated list of my major goals for 2018-19. I am happy to share a more robust list below. Thanks for asking!
- Lead a college-wide strategic planning effort, with a goal of a completed plan by March 15, 2019
- Work with NSC faculty and leadership to develop a Data Informatics degree
- Continue to develop policies and procedures for Academic and Student Affairs
- Lead a task force to examine and update the current Standards of Academe for all three Schools
- Continue to develop our shared governance in a close working relationship with Faculty Senate, increasing faculty productivity and satisfaction
- Assess the improved course scheduling system and continue to work with faculty, the Registrar, and School schedulers to develop our student-centered course schedule
- Support the Common Read Program and help keep excitement high for this great initiative
- Lead innovation around alternative forms of course and program delivery, particularly online and hybrid instruction
- Work on continuous and improved communication between leadership, faculty, and staff
- Support the President in development and community relations and represent NSC proudly at NSHE and the Board of Regents
Provost’s Office Responsibilities Chart
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A Plan for All Seasons
The start of the semester has been brisk, with nary a dull moment, and several of the big projects have been in the planning realm. There is, of course, the institutional strategic plan that Vickie is helming, but we've also worked on supplemental plans in the areas of recruitment and student life.
Recruitment Plan – The 2018-19 recruitment plan emphasizes our strategies and initiatives for high school and transfer recruitment in the coming year. The recruitment team – led by Andrea Martin – did tremendous work to refine a plan that, in previous iterations, has already led to significant enrollment increases at NSC. Though continued growth remains an integral part of the plan, we are placing an increased emphasis on making NSC a “first choice” destination for students who are strongly committed to earning a high-quality baccalaureate degree. To this end, we have refined our recruitment presentations and materials and adopted an array of initiatives and strategies that include a compelling scholarship model, an annual transfer symposium with the College of Southern Nevada, a Scorpion Preview Day, and a Counselor Breakfast for our high school partners.
Student Life Strategic Plan – As NSC continues to evolve and serve an ever-larger proportion of first-time freshmen, the campus experience must evolve along with it. Part of this evolution includes the development of a student life strategic plan that charts the path to a more robust student life experience at NSC. This plan began in spring 2017, when faculty and staff from across campus completed reports on different elements of student life, and soon I will present an executive summary of these reports to campus leadership for additional input (my thanks to Phil LaMotte, who has been instrumental in moving this process forward). The next critical step will be working with campus stakeholders – including students, faculty, and staff – to further develop the plan in conjunction with our over-arching institutional strategic plan
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Campus Mental Health Services
We have expanded
on-campus mental health services for students to three days a week. All About You (our contracted provider) will offer appointments on campus during the following hours:
- Tuesdays 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
- Wednesdays 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
- Thursdays 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Appointments are free for currently-enrolled NSC students. Students can make appointments directly by calling the main office at 702-754-0807. Students should inform the coordinator, Gabby, that they attend NSC.
Faculty and staff can also refer students to the Student CARE Team. The Student CARE Team reaches out to students in distress, conducts threat assessments, and connects students to campus and external resources. To make a referral, use the "Refer a Student to the Student CARE Team" link in the portal. Our full-time Case Manager, Laura Carroll, reaches out about all referrals and works with the Student CARE Team to develop a plan of action.
For issues involving violations of the Student Code of Conduct, faculty and staff may discuss the situation with the appropriate supervisor or reach out directly to the Student Conduct Officer, Edith Fernández.
Food Pantry
Laura Carroll also oversees the
food pantry, which is open to all NSC students. In addition to food for adults, children, and infants, the food pantry has basic hygiene supplies. We do not require any proof of income other paperwork. Students who would like assistance should contact Laura at 702-992-2514. We also make every effort to connect students who use the food pantry with longer-term assistance and community resources, if needed. Thank you to those who made recent donations to the pantry!
Seed Grants
I am now accepting applications for the 2018-19 round of Seed Grants. Faculty may apply for up to $2,000 in funding for a scholarly or creative work that puts you in a better position to present, publish, or apply for external funding.
Starting this year,
we will only have one round of Seed Grant applications and awards; there will not be a chance to apply in the spring. This is to avoid situations where faculty apply in spring but are not able to spend their award money before the end of the fiscal year. All funding will be awarded this fall, and PIs will have until June 1st to spend their funds.
Publications, Honors, & Awards
- Heather Lang (LAS) wrote a poem that was accepted for publication in North American Review, the oldest literary magazine in the U.S. She was also interviewed for a story in Las Vegas Woman Magazine.
- Sandip Thanki (Director of Institutional Research) will be performing at the Smith Center with Indian classical musician Ustad Shafaat Khan on November 2.
Grants Update
- Paul Buck's (LAS) NSF GEOPATHS grant has been funded for $350,000 over 3 years. A huge thanks go to Laura Naumann, who helped tremendously with revising the proposal for submission last year.
- Amber Howerton (LAS) received a $4,500 Nevada INBRE grant for bioinformatics research to support research with one of her students, Luz Arvizu. They are looking at potential genomic mutations in an anthrax strain.
Workday Webinars
Workday is offering webinars for NSHE faculty and staff. To register, login to Workday and click on the "question mark" icon (for Workday training). Click through and you'll find training materials, including an icon to sign up for Workday Wednesday Webinars. Upcoming topics:
- Sept 12: Spend authorizations & expense reports
- Sept 19: Workday reports
- Sept 26: Financial accounting adjustments
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Teacher Academy and Dual Credit Success
We enrolled over 680 dual credit students this fall at four high schools (SECTA, ECTA, Liberty, and Mojave) that support the Teacher Academy initiative. These high-performing students have the opportunity to take college-level classes in education, English, history, psychology, sociology, and math. Ideally, the experience these students have in their dual credit classes will encourage them to consider teaching as a profession and choose NSC when they graduate.
So far, the feedback has been terrific. The counselor at Liberty High School wrote, “I was the dual credit program coordinator at my previous high school and with a previous local college for several years, and I can assure you that my experience at the start of a semester working with the partner school was never nearly as wonderful as it has been working with Nevada State College this school year.”
A complex task like this requires an incredible amount of work. Thank you to Dennis Potthoff for his vision and leadership; Andrea Martin and Tracy Matthews for all their help with admissions; Caiti Hippler, Elia Curls, Tricia Ramos, and Jaime Castle for their help onboarding faculty; and Sandip Thanki and Mick Haney for developing helpful reports. I also want to thank the faculty liaisons who are serving as NSC contacts for the dual credit instructors: Heather Lang, Shirli Brautbar, Seth Churchman, Darlene Haff, and Emily Hoover.
Minor in Leadership
Provost Shields noted in her update that one of her goals this year is to lead innovation around alternative forms of course and program delivery, particularly online and hybrid instruction. In support of this goal, I’ve been working on a Minor in Leadership that covers topics such as community engagement, problem solving, and organizing in a digital age. The current design has an online pathway but also allows for in-person options.
Since many of our faculty and staff are directly involved in leadership roles or take on leadership roles as needed, I’d like to get your feedback. I held my first walk in session today (thank you to those who attended!) and I'll be hosting two more:
Wednesday, September 12 from 3-4:30pm in NSE 352 (At 5pm,
Kri Edholm will be speaking about modern leadership in the NSE Auditorium)
Tuesday, September 18th from 1pm-2:30pm in LAS 127
Feel free to drop in at any point during these times or stop by RSC 356 at your convenience.
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Now that the add/drop period is over, how does our enrollment look? For overall headcount, we have grown over 15% from last fall! One of the biggest contributors to this growth has been our dual credit program, which accounts for over 620 new students. The following chart shows our overall growth for the last five years. As of this semester, NSC's total headcount is over 35% larger than it was in fall 2014.
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NSC Office of the Provost | 702-992-2663 | http://nsc.edu/provost
Be Bold | Be Great | Be State
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