Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays to our wonderful students, staff, and community at American River College. We hope you take this holiday season as an opportunity to recharge, spend time with loved ones and reflect on the accomplishments that have made this academic year memorable.

Here's to a festive holiday season and a new year filled with endless possibilities and shared accomplishments.

Toy Drive - Today at Noon... there's still time!

Let’s make this season magical! ARC will be collecting new, unwrapped toys for children in our Child Development Center and United Way. The ARC Child Development Center is currently serving children from ages one to five and the toys can be dropped off with Kirsten DuBray in the Philanthropy Office (in the Admin Building near the IT help desk) or Kaitlyn Collignon (in the Admin Building). Please drop your donations off by Noon on Monday, December 11.

Contact Kaitlyn Collignon with any questions.

Giving Thanks for Giving Tuesday

Nearly $25,000 was raised for Los Rios students during Giving Tuesday this year! Thanks to generous donations from across the district, the Los Rios Colleges Foundation raised an incredible $24,910, far surpassing our goal of $15,000. These funds mean that many of our most vulnerable students will have the support they need this holiday season through Los Rios Cares. Under the Cares programs at the colleges, students have access to services such as the Emergency Hotel Program, the Student Emergency Fund, textbook scholarships, our food pantries and so much more. Thank you for making the season brighter for our students.

Student Spotlight

At just 13 years old Alan Daniel started the long journey to fulfill his dream of becoming a neurosurgeon. 

“Exploration of the human body. It’s pretty cool actually. How it works, how it functions. The brain especially,” Alan said while talking about why he is pursuing medical school and ultimately a career in neurosurgery. 

Alan, now 14, enrolled at American River College as a biology major, taking some initial pre-requisite classes while working to complete his high school graduation requirements. Starting with the Spring 2024 semester, Alan plans on becoming a full-time ARC student where he will focus on completing his transfer requirements. He hopes to be transfer-ready at 15 and to start the next phase of his education journey at UC Davis or Sac State.

From the lively nature of the college-level classes to a welcoming environment, Alan finds that classmates don’t mind his young age and has found great joy and fun in taking classes at ARC. 

“There is a lot of open room for discovery between peers and teachers.”

By using ARC to complete important prerequisites and become transfer-ready, Alan plans to complete his undergraduate degree and medical school by 22. For other students who want to get a head start on a degree, Alan encourages them to go for it.

“Don’t be afraid of the age gap. Everyone is accepting here,” Alan says.

Register for Okta Now

Before you leave on winter break, you are encouraged to register for Okta, the District’s new Identity & Multi-Factor Authentication platform. Registration is open for employees and will be available through Wednesday, January 3, 2024.

Beginning Thursday, January 4, all students and employees will be required to authenticate through Okta in order to access most Los Rios systems.

An information session has been scheduled to demonstrate user experience, walk you through the setup process, and answer any questions you may have:

• Thursday, December 14, 10:00 to 11:00 am, online via Zoom 

Look for more information to come from DO IT. Visit the Okta Information Page for additional details about this rollout.

Register By 12/21 for Districtwide Convocation

Register now for Spring Convocation at ARC and check it off your list! Convocation will be held Friday, January 12, 2024, starting at 8:15 am, at American River College in the Gymnasium. This will be the first Los Rios in-person districtwide convening in six years!

Please register by Thursday, December 21, at 5:00 pm to ensure that we have accurate head counts for seating and catering.

End of Fall Semester

The Fall 2023 semester ends Thursday, December 14. Final exams for full-term classes begin Friday, December 8 to Thursday, December 14. See all dates and deadlines related to enrollment, dropping classes, and petitioning for pass/no pass by visiting our Fall 2023 Academic Calendar webpage.

Refund Request Deadline

The last day for students to submit a refund request to the Business Services Office for tuition or fees is Thursday, December 14. Please direct students to ARC’s Refunds webpage for more information. 

Note: Money in a student’s eServices account is not automatically refunded to them. If they have a credit balance in their eServices account and do not request a refund by the last day of instruction of the semester, then they forfeit that money.

Important: Many ARC Library Links are Changing

The ARC Library is changing the way it provides off-campus access to many library resources. We’ve done a lot of updating behind the scenes already, but you will need to take action if you’re sharing links to certain types of library material in Canvas, your syllabus, or other course materials. Note: Changes to library links are only needed if they have ezproxy.losrios.edu in the URL.

We will have a temporary redirect, but your links will need to be updated to ensure students continue to have access. If you are adjunct faculty teaching at multiple Los Rios colleges, It’s also important that you’re updating your links with the college-specific information (see an example below).

We have created an easy tool to help you convert links and we’ve also created an FAQ that you can bookmark now so you don’t have to come searching for this message later. We urge you to take action as soon as possible so that your students experience a seamless transition.

Links to Help You Make Updates

• Library Link Converter Tool
• FAQ (bookmark this now): How will library links be changing over winter break?

Example:

You teach public speaking at ARC and CRC and are sharing a link to an ebook from the EBSCO Ebook Collection database. You will convert your link twice, once for your ARC class and once for your CRC class.

This is the original link: https://ezproxy.losrios.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1913584&site=ehost-live&scope=site

This is what it looks like after conversion for each college:

ARC:

https://arclosrios.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1913584&site=ehost-live&scope=site

CRC:

https://crclosrios.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1913584&site=ehost-live&scope=site

If you have any questions, please feel free to email the library

Get Your Tickets for the 2024 ARC Athletic Alumni Association Crab Feed!

Come out and enjoy great food, great drinks, a silent auction, and amazing music at the 2024 Athletic Alumni Association Crab Feed on Saturday, February 3 from 5:00 to 9:00 pm at the ARC Student Center. All funds raised will go towards supporting our American River College student-athletes.

Winter Recess

This is the final newsletter of 2023 – thanks for reading!

Reminder: All American River College offices will be closed for winter recess from Friday, December 22, 2023 to Monday, January 1, 2024.

Offices will reopen on Tuesday, January 2.