August 14th, 2017
Vickie Shields

As with each academic cycle, as summer wanes activity accelerates in the Provost’s office in anticipation of a fantastic new semester beginning. I look forward to addressing all faculty and staff at Fall Convocation on August 23rd. I will be giving an update on what I learned from my e-mail survey of the campus and how the findings inform my goals for the upcoming year. I will also be leading a discussion relating to possible changes in admissions standards.

 

I continue to meet with campus representatives, community members and potential academic partners almost daily. I greatly appreciate all that I continue to learn from those who know NSC well and have the institution’s best interests at heart.

 

I have been profoundly inspired by the summer program events I have attended in the last month. I was honored to give remarks at the TRIO/Upward Bound awards ceremony. I received a tour of the INBRE lab in LAS where the student scientists eloquently discussed with me the research they were working on, and the INBRE faculty and students treated me to a potluck lunch and a game of “which mentor did this crazy thing.” I visited the Learning Outcomes work day for student services units and I had the amazing treat of listening to the final presentations of the faculty working in the TFI. All I can say is, our students are incredibly fortunate to be taught by such a committed faculty who care so deeply about innovative pedagogy.

 

Finally, I have given interviews for The View magazine and State of Nevada for KNPR. On August 16th, I will be discussing NSC and our relationship to the Southern Nevada workforce on the morning show for Fox News 5.
Tony Scinta

Fall Enrollment Update


We are finally closing in on the achievement of a goal that stretches back to September 2016: the anointing of our fall 2017 freshmen class. At well over 500 students, this cohort promises to be the biggest we have seen at NSC by a fair margin. Last year’s cohort of incoming freshmen, by comparison, was 325 students.  Importantly, it also is shaping up to be a relatively strong cohort from an academic standpoint. Though we continue to welcome students from a broad array of high schools in accordance with our mission, we also are seeing a historically high proportion of students from diverse and competitive science and technology schools. 

This work began with heavy and strategic lifting by the Admissions & Recruitment team, but has been facilitated by a constellation of offices, including Financial Aid, the Bursar, Advising, and the Registrar (along with Kim Smith and the school of LAS, who have been scrambling to help us offer more sections of gateway courses than ever before). Our sincere thanks goes out to all of them.

Accreditation Funshop (i.e., Workshop)


Progress towards another big goal also is moving forward, though the finish line for this one is farther off on the horizon. Thanks in large part to accreditation co-chair Gwen Sharp, last week we ran a half-day workshop that emphasized the creation of departmental outcomes and measures for an array of campus divisions.  This work represents yet another step towards the development of our culminating Year 7 Accreditation Report for the Northwest Commission. Participating divisions included the Registrar’s office, Admissions & Recruitment, the Academic Success Center, Advising, Financial Aid, the Library, NSSA, the Disability Resource Center, ITS, the Career Center, and CEDI.  

Gregory Robinson

SECTA Faculty Orientation


 We hosted a Southeast Career Technical Academy (SECTA) Orientation on campus Friday in support of our new dual-credit program. SECTA teachers received instruction on Canvas from the CTLE and then had meetings with faculty specialists to discuss curriculum. Special thanks to Sierra Adare-Tasiwoopa Api, Christine Draper, Chris Garrett, Kathryn Tucker, Peter La Chapelle, and Jonathan Dunning for volunteering their time and expertise. Orientation for the SECTA students is taking place on Wednesday.


The Bridges of Clark County


 Nepantla hosted their Summer Bridge Completion Ceremony on Friday, August 4th, celebrating another successful summer program. Leilani Carreño presented Leila Pazargadi and Joey Lopez with awards for five years of continuous service to the Nepantla program. (Click the photo to enlarge.)

The TRiO-SSS Program is hosting their first extended bridge program next week, which will provide students with five days of training on math enrichment, library resources, financial aid, peer mentoring, and more. Congratulations to LaKiasha Hollingsworth and Andreana Franco for their work on this project.
Laura Naumann

FALL CONVOCATION NEXT WEDNESDAY

 

Convocation kicks off the Fall 2017 semester next Wednesday! Join us for updates from the President, Provost, and leadership team and a campus-wide discussion on NSC’s GPA admissions requirements. Stay through the afternoon for several professional development breakout sessions developed by your colleagues. Please help us provide an accurate head count for lunch by RSVPing by the end of business today. Check in begins at 8:30 in the RSC Ballroom. Lunch will be served from 12:15 – 1:00 pm.



HEADSHOTS FOR NEW NSC WEBSITE

 

What: Faculty Headshots for the new NSC Website

When: During Convocation and several other dates. Choose the time slot that works best for you.

Where: Visual Media Studio on the 3rd floor of the Roger's Student Center.

  • From the 3rd floor lobby, take a right towards Human Resources wing
  • Turn left at the end of the hall
  • Turn left to get to the studio
  • Follow the signs in the hallway and lobby
Rich Yao

Join Team NSC for the United Way Day of Caring Event! NSC is partnering with the United Way of Southern Nevada on their Day of Caring Event on September 29th. This event is the largest one-day community-wide volunteer event dedicated to improving people’s lives in the Las Vegas/Henderson area. Thanks to President Patterson, NSC is a proud sponsor. NSC has set a goal of 140 volunteers, which would be close to 10% of the United Way’s goal of 1500 total volunteers throughout the valley.  Please promote with your students, colleagues, and friends to join Team NSC!  (Click the image to enlarge.)

You can RSVP at www.nsc.edu/unitedway. Each person who would like to volunteer should RSVP individually. NSC is taking the lead on 4 different volunteer sites:

  • Basic High School: 60 volunteers needed to paint portables and hallways; landscaping on campus. (10:00am-1:00pm).  NSC Team Lead: Phil LaMotte
  • Leaders in Training:  16 volunteers needed for to assemble furniture for student spaces and painting hallways at Futuro Academy. (10:00am-3:00pm) http://leaders-in-training.org/.  NSC Team Lead: Leilani Carreno.
  • US Vets:  20 volunteers needed for painting, installing shelving, organization of supplies, and gardening.  (10:00am-3:00pm)  https://www.usvetsinc.org/lasvegas/.  NSC Team Lead: Alicia Contreras
  • Future Smiles:  40 volunteers needed to assemble oral prep kits for low-income children dental program.  (10:00am-1:00pm – this will be located in the United Way Boardroom) http://www.futuresmiles.net/.  NSC Team Lead: Richard Yao.


Disabilities Resource Center


Our DRC Director, Sandi Patton, was recently recognized at the Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) national conference.  AHEAD is the premier professional affiliation for disability services in higher education, and they presented her with the Ronald E. Blosser Dedicated Service Award. This award was established to publicly honor individual members who have given outstanding, selfless, and quality dedication and service to AHEAD. The award is considered one of AHEAD's two highest honors, and it is the highest recognition of service to the Association.  Please take the time to congratulate Sandi on this incredible achievement!
Sandip Thanki

Nurses and Teachers in Nevada


What are the needs for nurses in Nevada and how are we helping? Career Path Nevada, an NSHE resource states that we currently have 420 openings in nursing due to growth and replacement.  By 2014, we had 556 total nurse practitioners employed in Nevada and 849 are expected to be employed by 2024. The most recent degree report shows that 352 bachelors’ degrees in Nursing were awarded in Nevada (2015-2016). Among these completers, 130 (37%) came from NSC, even though our size is much smaller (about 7%) than our sister institutions granting bachelor’s degrees in Nursing. 


What about the need for educators? We currently have 3120 openings for secondary school teachers (5370 in elementary and 2330 in middle school) due to replacement and growth. By 2024, we will need a total of 7219 teachers in secondary education (12,822 in elementary and 5552 in middle school). In 2015-2016, Nevada awarded 241 degrees in Teacher Education and Professional Development.  Out of those, 74 (31%) degrees came from NSC, which is also significant given our size.
NSC Office of the Provost | 702-992-2663 | http://nsc.edu/provost
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