CHANCELLOR’S C-DIRECTAugust 3, 2016

Dear Colleagues:  New Interim Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs

Let’s welcome Luis G. Pedraja, Ph.D., as he joins Peralta this week as the new Interim Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs. Dr. Pedraja has an impressive background, as you can see from his bio:

As a child, Dr. Pedraja immigrated to the U.S., where he grew up in a low-income neighborhood. He became the first in his family to attend college and later earned a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia. Focusing on Latino perspectives, Dr. Pedraja published books and articles exploring how understanding language and culture can promote intercultural dialogue and tolerance. In addition, he has published on higher education issues and best practices, including governance, assessment, strategic planning, and faculty and program development. He taught philosophy, ethics, and religious studies at the University of Puget Sound and Southern Methodist University. At SMU he served as Division Chair and was elected to the faculty senate. After becoming a Dean and Provost, Dr. Pedraja continued to mentor Latino doctoral candidates and served as President of La Comunidad of Hispanic American Scholars in his discipline. Dr. Pedraja advocates to increase higher education access for minority and marginalized populations who have been underserved historically by the American higher education system, and he has been quoted on this topic by the Associated Press, Huffington Post, International Business Times, and Univision.

From 2011-2016 Dr. Pedraja served as Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Antioch University Los Angeles, a non-profit institution serving adult students through degree completion and professional graduate programs in psychology, education, nonprofit management, sustainability, and creative writing. At Antioch, Dr. Pedraja developed a partnership with the Los Angeles Community College District, and led the creation of competency-based, hybrid, online graduate programs, and undergraduate degree programs in applied studies, business, technology and criminal justice that enable students to apply all of their community college or workforce development credits toward their bachelor degrees. In addition, he worked with the faculty to establish on-site degree completion programs at community colleges and an early college program providing courses at local high schools. These innovative programs provide clear pathways to college for K-12 students in underserved communities, and help adult students to achieve new professional goals or advance their current careers.

Previously, Dr. Pedraja served as Vice President for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education from 2004-2011, where he oversaw the accreditation of many universities and community colleges in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. In that position, Dr. Pedraja championed intercultural dialogue by

leading the first program to grant American accreditation to foreign universities. Since then, universities in South America, Asia, and Europe have retained Dr. Pedraja to guide them on conforming to American higher education standards. At Middle States, Dr. Pedraja also developed higher education policy and advocated with political leaders and other external constituencies about strategic solutions to a range of challenges, including financial, governance, and political crises. For instance, Dr. Pedraja was instrumental in resolving student protests at the University of Puerto Rico that had debilitated the entire university system for months. In 2014, he lead a successful, comprehensive evaluation of Arizona’s complex Pima Community College District, which was under probation for publicized violations of integrity, governance, mission, and other criteria.

Outside his academic life, Dr. Pedraja has volunteered extensively with the American Red Cross Disaster Services and local emergency management. He has also served on non-profit boards and co-founded two organizations, one focused on animal rescue and the other on supporting cancer patients’ families.

Information Technology Update

IT Services welcomes new leadership. Deb Bennett, pictured, a Ferrilli colleague with over 20 years of experience in higher education, will assume the lead role for the day-to-day leadership of the District IT operations, and will focus on a communications strategy and an overall shared vision for technology. Antoine Mehouelley, a long-term, well-respected colleague of Laney College, serves alongside Bennett as Interim Director of Technology Services. Our partner, the Ferrilli Group, in collaboration with the District, has already addressed a number of key

areas of safety and security. Considerable work has been done to date for IT, however, there is much more to do. The efforts to remove and address a range of concerns will continue over the next several months. Several projects have been completed and delivered. One major project that is ongoing is addressing an infrastructure upgrade that will lay the foundation for Laney and Alameda Colleges to be able to implement VoIP. This project is critically important, as both Laney’s and College of Alameda’s aging infrastructure is no longer capable of handling the demands of our telecommunications needs. We know this upgrade will be a welcomed addition to the communities of Laney and Alameda. The intent of the infrastructure upgrade project is to provide a robust communications infrastructure that provides greater reliability to students, faculty and staff.

Fall Marketing Report

2

Executive Director of Public Information, Communications & Media, Jeff Heyman and his marketing team have developed and implemented a fall marketing campaign based on input from the Colleges and the Public Information Round Table members, which includes College outreach folks, PIOs and others. Marketing efforts focus on terrestrial elements and on mobile/social media advertising that targets certain geographic locations and demographic groups. The purpose of the campaign – which began in July and runs through August – is to recruit students to enroll in our four Colleges.

The campaign features outdoor billboards, which have proven very effective, and AC Transit bus ads and shelter posters. All are among the highest ranked engagement methods according to our annual student marketing surveys. Data from the latest survey, Fall 2015, in which 1,628 student responded, shows that 24.5% of our students said that Peralta Colleges marketing efforts “extremely influenced” or “moderately influenced” their decision to attend one of our colleges. That represents 8,327 FTES, which generates $9,729,308 in revenue for the District. The current campaign costs less than $25,000. Not a bad return on investment!

3

Management Leadership Development Academy at Peralta Reports

The participants in the Management Leadership Development Academy have been hard at work implementing projects that will have a positive impact on our community. Below is a description of two of the projects. In next week’s edition of C-DIRECT, there will be additional information on other

projects that are being generated by this dynamic team.

1. The goal of the group project is to empower and inspire all new employees through a comprehensive orientation to the Peralta Community College District on their first day of work. The full day program will provide a basic introduction to the mission, context and internal operations of the entire District. Topics include history, the six-city service area, programs, governance, business operations, and major District-wide goals, challenges, opportunities and strategies.

Themes include unity and diversity, social justice and public service, and working together for positive change. It will connect the dots – showing how the wide variety of employees and responsibilities tie into larger issues, such as enrollment and accreditation. The first version of the orientation will be offered at the District Administrative Center on Tuesday, August 16. To RSVP for yourself or your new employee(s), please go to: https://goo.gl/forms/Bb1oF86G6uRJnfvB2 or contact Fong Tran at ftran@peralta.edu.

2. You are invited to a “Day 0 Management Training” intended to introduce (or reintroduce) you to tools and resources that will support your success as a Peralta Manager. In coordination with the Office of the Chancellor and the “My Peralta Journey” team, the Management Leadership Academy is offering this on-boarding training before the academic term kicks into high gear. The event will take place on Tuesday, August 9th from 9 am – 1 pm in the District Board Room. This workshop is especially designed for:

New managers (new to Peralta and new to the role) Managers (new to the role, but perhaps not new to the Peralta Community

College District) Seasoned Managers (who want a refresher on contacts within the District)

During the session you will be introduced to a variety of resources and District representatives from the following departments who will be on-hand: Human Resources, Payroll, Business Services, Information Technology and Purchasing.

A calendar invitation was sent to eligible participants. You may RSVP to the calendar invitation and/or address your questions to any of our Team members, which include Lilia Chavez, Merritt, Maria Spencer, Merritt, Andre Singleton, Berkeley City, Keiko James, Foundation, Chanelle Whittaker, District, Chriss Foster, Merritt, Sui Song, District and Chioma Ndubuisi, District.

4

Maintenance & Operations: 30 Day Project Report

The intent of this Maintenance & Operations Report is to apprise the PCCD stakeholders of the ongoing projects occurring in the District during this summer. Copies of this report can also be found on the DGS webpage at http://web.peralta.edu/general-services/30-day-projects-district-wide/ .

LANEY COLLEGE

LibraryPainting of interior spaces, including most offices on the ground floor, is underway and will be completed on Thursday, August 4, 2016.Contract for carpet deep cleaning & stain removal in the Library is already awarded and work will start on Saturday, August 6, 2016.Anderson Carpet Company will do a job walk at 9.00 am, Wednesday, August 3, to inspect and determine the extent of the carpet replacement in the interior stairwell.

Chemistry/Biology LabsDeep cleaning of floors/sinks and window washing in the labs will begin on 8/3/2016 and completed on Sunday, August 7.

CosmetologyElectrical and plumbing repairs in the labs, by in-house staff, started on 8/2/2016 and will be completed next week. Painting of the interior spaces by an outside contractor will start on Monday, 8/8/2016. Orders have been placed for new countertop-mounted retractable mirrors, and will be installed, upon arrival, by an outside contractor.

Quad & Access PathwaysPressure washing of the Quad and Fallon Street area was done 2 weeks ago. Pressure washing of all the ramps, stairwells, breezeways and pathways will begin on 8/5/2016.

Child Care CenterPressure washing and deep cleaning of both the exterior and interior of the Childcare Center will begin the week of 8/8/2016.

ElectricalWork for the replacement of all existing 12 watt LED exterior lighting with 62-watt fixtures in campus core was completed on Saturday, July 30 th. A discernable difference in lighting in the campus core will become obvious during late summer night hours.

Theater Flooring & Counterweights

5

The contract for the renovation of the stage flooring and retreading of curtain counterweights was awarded earlier in the year, but work was deferred until the end of spring semester. We are happy to report that both jobs were completed this week and the punch-list walk was done on 8/1/2016. Facilities engineers are working feverishly to get all the restrooms and auxiliary rooms in the Theater in topnotch condition prior to the commencement of Flex-day ceremonies.

RestroomsAll 84 restrooms at the College are undergoing renovation by a 4-person crew of PCCD engineers, and all restrooms are expected to be completed and functional upon commencement of the Fall 2016 semester.

MERRITT COLLEGE

Parking LotsStriping of stalls, curbs, and directional signage in all parking lots, including the horticulture lot, was completed on Saturday, July 30 th. Outstanding work includes cross walks, stop signs and speed bumps; these items will be done by August 7.

Pressure WashThe pressure washing of all walkways, breezeways and sidewalks in the entire campus was completed on July 31.

General CleaningFloors, sinks, countertops, cabinets and equipment in the new Science & Allied Health Building are scheduled for both deep and general cleaning beginning from the week of August 1st.

BERKELEY CITY COLLEGE

ElevatorNew flooring for all four (4) passenger elevators was installed earlier in July 2016.

PaintingN.S Construction & Painting has been contracted to paint the atrium space on the 4 th

and 5th floors, the Student lounge and about half a dozen classrooms. That work is slated to begin on August 8 and completed within 4 days.

COLLEGE OF ALAMEDA

COA AviationElectrical work, including the replacement of exterior lighting fixtures, is scheduled to begin the first weekend of August.

General CleaningConsolidated Cleaning Services, Inc. has been engaged for general cleaning in all the buildings at COA Main. They are scheduled to begin work next week.

6

Update: Budget Allocation Model Task Force

The Budget Allocation Model Task Force (BAM TF) is an ad hoc committee of the District’s Planning and Budgeting Council (PBC). It began its work in October 2015. Comprised of faculty, classified staff, students and administrators, the BAM TF is charged with reviewing the District’s current budget allocation model and making recommendations to improve resource distribution equity among the Peralta Colleges.

In October 2015 the BAM TF surveyed our College communities to better understand collective and individual perceptions about the current allocation model. Survey results indicated that a majority of respondents felt the model was unfair and not transparent in allocating resources to the Colleges. Respondents also indicated they did not thoroughly understand the model. Over the past ten months the BAM TF has met regularly, reviewed the current model, analyzed data, considered other community college allocation models and reported findings to the PBC. To date, it has developed the following recommendations to be presented to the PBC for its consideration:

Recommendation #1: So that no one College is penalized for having more senior faculty, PCCD should remove all Full Time Faculty salaries and benefits costs from the per College allocation. FTF expenses will be accounted for “above the line,” thereby reducing Available Revenue in the model. Because FTF are a component of FTEF, all FTEF (i.e.-part time faculty) may need to be allocated above the line as well.

Recommendation #2: Keep the allocation of fixed costs (utilities, phones, etc.) decentralized and base resource allocations on prior year actuals. Remove the cost of BCC’s security, currently allocated to the College’s fixed costs, and add it to the appropriate District Office Service Center budget. That way, all District security costs are shared across all Colleges.

Recommendation #3: After reviewing Career Technical Education and other related data across all Colleges, the Task Force concludes that CTE courses have no significant disproportionate impact on College productivity levels. Therefore, make no change with respect to resource allocation and capped courses.

Recommendation #4: Recognizing the complexity of such an undertaking as resource distribution, form a separate Task Force to review and assess service levels, efficacy and reasonableness of costs associated with all District Office support services.

7

Recommendation #5: Allocate the appropriate level of custodian staffing to all Colleges, based on industry best practices and an acceptable level of facility cleanliness. Analysis reveals that some Colleges are staffed appropriately and others fall short.

The BAM TF anticipates more recommendations to follow, prior to completing its work this fall, with the goal of implementing these recommendations into the next budget development cycle, 2017-18.

Merritt’s Coach McMiller Ranked No. 8 in the State

Keenan McMiller, Merritt College Kinesiology Instructor and Head Men’s Basketball Coach, send the following email:

I want to give thanks to the Merritt College Administration, Faculty, Staff, current students and alumni that have given me the ability to learn, work, teach and coach around so many wonderful people. The acknowledgment in this article is product of God and you all. Please take a look at this article. Here is the link to the article:

http://norcalprepandjuco.blogspot.com/2016/07/ranking-top-10northern-california_23.html

Congratulations Coach McMiller!

Town Hall Tuesday, August 9

Join Trustee Meredith Brown and Chancellor Laguerre, for a special Town Hall, August 9, 4-6 p.m., at Youth Uprising, 8711 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland. There will be information for our community’s students and we will feature some of the special programs at the Peralta Colleges. Refreshments will be served.

Thank You

8

Thank you to all of our contributors this week: Laura Leon-Maurice, Luis Pedraja, Deb Bennett, Sharon Millman, Siri Brown, Osafran Okundaye, Jamille Teer, Sadiq Ikharo, Jeff Heyman, Ronald Little, Keenan McMiller, Annette Dambrosio and Yashica Crawford.

JowelJowel C. Laguerre, Ph.D.

Chancellor

Here are some quotes in recognition of the Summer Olympics that start this week:

The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.

- Pierre de Coubertin, who primarily responsible for the revival of the Olympic Games in 1894.

 The Olympics are a wonderful metaphor for world cooperation, the kind of international

competition that's wholesome and healthy, an interplay between countries that represents the best in all of us.

- John Williams 

We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self discipline, and effort.

- Jesse Owens, American track and field athlete and four-time gold medalist in 1936.

9