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This marks my last newsletter submission as interim provost. It has been a great honor to serve NSC in this capacity. Before I pass the baton to the exceptionally capable hands of Dr. Shields, I want to acknowledge a few ongoing and developing efforts to address the Climate Survey. We have a lot of room for continued improvement, but I would be remiss if I failed to highlight a few of the emergent efforts to overcome our challenges:
- Transparency & communication – This very newsletter was launched in large part to give the campus a better sense of what we are doing in the provost’s office, and why we are doing it. It is connected to several elements of the Climate Survey, most notably procedural justice.
- Course releases for new faculty – I announced the details last week, but I think this is an important step towards addressing the challenge stressors that faculty face on campus.
- Career advancement for professional staff – this is a developing initiative, with ample work remaining to be completed, but we are trying to develop a system that gives professional staff an opportunity to advance in their current roles. The advancement would involve a change in title (e.g., advisor 1, advisor 2, senior advisor) and an increase in pay, and I believe it begins to address the career development opportunity component of the Climate Survey. We already have solicited input from many division leaders, and will continue to converse with directors and staff over the coming months.
Finally, I want to thank everyone who worked so hard over the last few months to continue building this “little college that could.” That, of course, would mean just about everyone on campus, but I want to send a special note of appreciation to the incredible team in the provost’s suite. This includes our reigning superstars, Rich Yao and Sandip Thanki, our amazing new contributors, Laura Naumann and Gregory Robinson, and the unsung heroes who rarely get the limelight but never fail to contribute in outstanding and indispensible ways: Janice Le-Nguyen, Leo Pena, Qingmin Shi, Mick Haney, and Sita Sales (who bailed me out more times than you can imagine). I’m deeply indebted to the tremendous work that all of you do on a daily basis.
As always, though my role is evolving, one thing will not change, and this is my willingness to discuss the above efforts or anything pertinent about NSC. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me.
Tony
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I met with the Deaf Centers of Nevada (DCN) Director Kevin Carter this week to continue our ongoing conversation about creating a Deaf-friendly culture in Nevada. If you aren’t aware of the DCN,
take a look at their website. Much of their work involves helping to connect Deaf and hard of hearing Nevadans with important resources to improve access to education, health care, and legal assistance. I hope to partner with the DCN to provide some services on campus, which would increase the DCN’s coverage of Southern Nevada and improve our ability to serve Deaf students.
As the BA in Deaf Studies begins this fall, we’ll be working on some campus-wide initiatives to ensure we are as inclusive as possible:
- Dr. Davis suggested basic ASL training for interested faculty;
- Dr. Sharp proposed training to help faculty work with interpreters and learn some of the basics of Deaf culture;
- Caiti Hippler, the Administrative Assistant for Humanities, is planning on attending ASL classes.
I’ll be helping faculty learn how to caption videos (with
some tips offered by Beth Case), which will become increasingly important due to new NSHE regulations requiring accessible design for all publically available materials.
In other news, the Teaching Fellows Institute (TFI) started today! Six weeks from now, I'll be sharing the results of their efforts.
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MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
The Professional Development Committee plans to bring you some great programming throughout the academic year. The times for these events are still in the works, but detailed agendas and calendar holds will be sent out as the dates approach.
2nd Annual Staff Development Day - Monday, July 17th
Fall Convocation - Wednesday, August 23rd
Spring Convocation - Friday, February 16th
If you are interested in speaking at an event, would like to conduct a breakout session, or have other comments/suggestions, email Laura.Naumann@nsc.edu. We won’t be able to accommodate all requests for speaking time, but will do our best to provide alternative avenues for your information/workshop.
NSC AWARDED TWO TRIO-UPWARD BOUND 5-YEAR GRANTS
Did you know some colleges had their Upward Bound applications denied because of formatting errors? Well fear not – NSC correctly formatted our grant applications AND presented a compelling case to support programming for CCSD high school students interested in post-secondary education. NSC was awarded two federal grants for the TRIO-Upward Bound program totaling more than $2.7 million over five years. Upward Bound provides high school students who are low-income, first-generation, or at-risk for academic failure greater opportunities to attend college. NSC, under the direction of Kimberly Williams, has executed Upward Bound programming throughout the academic year and over the summer since our first federal award in December 2007. These two awards will extend our existing services in CCSD for the next five years. Notification for funding on our application for the TRIO-Upward Bound Math & Science grant is expected at the end of summer. That grant will focus on increasing high school students’ interest and enrollment in STEM majors. Stop by Dawson M503 to congratulate Kimberly and her team!
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NSC’s 6-year graduation rate for first-time, full-time students rose slightly to 15.4% for the Fall 2011 cohort and is expected to be higher once summer graduations are posted. Still, this rate is significantly below the national average of 59% and Nevada's average of 46%. Is there a sub-group of these students that graduates at higher rates? Yes! Our first-time, full-time students who enrolled during their first summer with us graduated at much higher rates, even compared to students who did not take summer classes but did enroll in the fall. For example, NSC’s graduation rate for Fall 2010 first-time, full-time students was 15.3%. Those from this cohort who re-enrolled in Summer 2011 graduated at the rate of 28%. The number was similar for the year before.
So, where are we now for our most recent cohort of Fall 2011? We graduated 40% of the fall 2011 first-time, full-time students who re-enrolled in Summer 2012. Once the summer 2017 graduations are posted, this rate is expected to rise. This finding suggests that when our new students are retained into their first summer, the graduation rates are much higher.
The chart shows the entire history of our 6-year graduation rates.
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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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