President/CEO Message
October 29, 2020
Campus Community,
The Open Educational Resources (OER) Committee, a subcommittee of the Academic Senate, was established after the inaugural Compton College Tartar Success Team (TST) Institute in 2019. What is OER? OER are educational materials freely and legally available through open licensing for instructors and students alike to use, adapt, share, and reuse. If you have not had a chance to view, please view the Compton College library guides for OER, which are available here. Special thanks to Lynn Chung, Instruction Librarian, for the development of this webpage for faculty.
As outlined in the President/CEO Message - August 2019, one of the ten goals from the 2019 TST Institute was to implement OER campuswide by fall 2021. The goal is to address the outrageous cost of textbooks, acknowledging many of our students cannot afford the required materials for their classes, putting them at a disadvantage and creating an unnecessary barrier to their success.
However, fall 2021 is an ambitious goal and I am recommending we fully implement OER in all Compton College courses and degree programs by fall 2035. I have asked the Academic Senate, working with the OER Committee, to develop a campuswide plan.
The President/CEO Message - October 29, 2020, includes COVID-19 information and other campus-related updates.
Compton College COVID-19 Update
Los Angeles County's current risk level is Tier 1 (widespread), according to California's "Blueprint for a Safer Economy." As of October 28, 2020, there were 1,351 newly recorded confirmed cases in Los Angeles County. The county now has a total of 303,369 reported cases (including cases reported by Long Beach and Pasadena Health Departments). For more information, go to http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/media/Coronavirus/data/index.htm. According to the Compton CCD Pandemic Outbreak - Emergency Operations Plan, Compton College continues to operate at Level Four - Severe Infection Rate.
Essential Employees Work Schedule
The Essential Employees Work Schedule for Monday, November 2 through Friday, November 6, 2020, is posted online here. The schedule will be updated every Thursday for the following week as employees continue to gradually return to campus.
Open Pandemic Coordinator Meeting
At today's Open Pandemic Coordinators meeting, the most current version of the "Eventual Return to Campus Plan" was discussed. Twelve Compton College employees participated in the meeting. Questions asked during the meeting included:
- Are door handles and latches included in the daily cleaning schedule of restrooms?
- How do you differentiate between flu and COVID-19 symptoms? And what should an employee do if they are not feeling well?
- If MLB Youth Academy is approved to return to full operations, what guidelines are followed? Would there be a specific drop off area for the youth participants?
- If Tartar Athletics are approved to resume their practice and game schedules, will student-workers be allowed/approved to assist the Athletic Department?
- Will internet services be provided to employees who continue to work remotely?
- For employees requesting to take ‘office furniture’ home, will Maintenance & Operations staff assist with the disconnection or monitors and loading of chairs?
These questions about the draft "Eventual Return to Campus Plan" will be reviewed by the Pandemic Coordinators and addressed accordingly.
Telecommuting Policy Statement - Temporary Use of Office Furniture
The Compton Community College District intends to maintain the quantity, quality, and integrity of District employees' work product while reducing the climate effects of commuting during this period of social distancing to mitigate the potential spread of COVID-19. Therefore, the District will allow employees to request the temporary use of chairs and monitors for telecommuting purposes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With supervisor approval, employees may request the temporary use of 'office furniture' and portable goods necessary for telework for use at their residence. This includes monitors and chairs. No other equipment or supplies may be requested. The policy statement and procedures are available online here. If you have any questions, please contact the Director of Purchasing & Auxiliary Services, Reuben James at rjames@compton.edu.
Interim Vice President of Administrative Services
Yesterday, October 28, 2020, Joann Higdon resigned as the interim Vice President of Administrative Services with Compton Community College District due to a medical condition. Joann Higdon, last day with Compton CCD, was October 27, 2020. I have asked Rachelle Sasser, Vice President of Human Resources, to contact Community College Search Services to assist the District with identifying an interim Vice President of Administrative Services to serve in the position through December 31, 2020, or until the permanent position has been filled. I will be overseeing the Administrative Services Division until an interim has been hired. Please note, the permanent Vice President of Administrative Services position closes on Monday, November 2, 2020.
Resilient Conversations - Open Forum on Dealing with Stress
Join a webinar on practical strategies to deal with stress. The virtual gathering will provide Compton College employees an opportunity to discuss different ways to deal with stress at home and work. The workshop is scheduled for Friday, October 30, 2020, at 3 p.m. If you are interested in participating, check your @compton.edu email. Details, including the Zoom Meeting link and password, were emailed to all employees by Professional Development Manager, Pilar Huffman.
Accreditation Mid-Term Report
A Virtual Town Hall Meeting was held today, to discuss the current draft of the Compton College Accreditation Midterm Report. A PDF of the presentation is available below. College stakeholders are asked to provide feedback on the draft Midterm Report by 3 p.m. on Tuesday, November 10, 2020. Please download a copy of the report below, track edits, and then email them to Accreditation Liaison Officer, Lauren Sosenko (lsosenko@compton.edu), Accreditation Faculty Coordinator, Amber Gillis (agillis@compton.edu), and Vice President of Academic Affairs, Sheri Berger (sberger@compton.edu).
eLumen Implementation
Based upon a recommendation from faculty and the Core Planning Team, Compton College will be moving to the eLumen platform for student learning outcome (SLO) assessment and planning data collection starting in spring 2021. The new eLumen system will make faculty data entry of student-level data more seamless as it integrates with our Canvas platform. Due to the transition to eLumen, all fall 2020 SLO or program learning outcome (PLO) assessment data must be entered into the existing Nuventive site by Monday, December 21, 2020. If you have questions about the new eLumen system, please contact the Director of Institutional Effectiveness, Lauren Sosenko, at lsosenko@compton.edu.
Final Thoughts
As a community college president/CEO, I participate in many professional development activities to improve my leadership. Professional development also helps me provide direction for Compton College and the Compton Community College District. A couple of years ago, I participated in the Wheelhouse Institutes provided by the University of California, Davis School of Education. This year, Wheelhouse has brought participants back together once a month through educational leaders' conversations. Last night, the speaker was Dr. Michael Crow, President of Arizona State University. Dr. Crow talked about the transformation at Arizona State University and the need to continue to revolutionize higher education. He spoke about how within an organizations, we continue to innovate at all levels. Finally, Dr. Crow talked about how we must fundamentally restructure organizations to support student success.
Compton College has made many advancements in innovation over the past couple of years. We have restructured our organization by implementing the Tartar Completion by Design framework; however, the COVID-19 pandemic will challenge our organization to be dynamic and continue to break ground and rethink our processes. Over the weekend, think about your program/departments and how you can support student success by making improvements at Compton College.
Please be safe, and yes, tomorrow is Friday.
Keith Curry, Ed.D.
(preferred pronouns: he/him/his)
President/CEO
Compton College
