Working Together for Student Success
2004-2005: Report to the Community
2004-05 REPORT TO THE COMMUNITY
working together for student success
Message from the CEO Imbedded in our name is the word "community." It's a word that implies much more than merely existing in a particular city or geographic area. Community colleges have a special mission to work together with the communities they serve. Not only do they prepare local students for the local workforce, but they also form myriad strategic partnerships within the community to enhance the educational experience, while maximizing resources. And community colleges give back to their communities many times what they take in. The economic benefits alone are staggering.
In this year's Report to the Community, we take pride in telling about a few of our many wonderful partnerships. High on the list are the local public schools. As you will see, we are work­ ing with them to provide expanded dual-credit opportunities
that pepare high school students to enter college at a higher level. In the end, we all benefit----students, employers, the com­ munity college, the public schools, and, of course, our taxpayers-thanks to the streamlining and increased efficiency that result from such partnerships.
We hope that you will be uplifted by what you read here. Per­ haps you will even be inspired to form a personal partnership with us, one tailored to your own talents and resources. There are many ways to get involved. Literacy volunteers, for exam­ ple, work one-on-one with students to help open a new world of possibilites to those who have been severely limited. Our donors are opening the way for bright young people to attend DABCC who otherwise might not have considered a college education to be possible financially. If you would like to gel involved, I invite you to call my office at 527-7510.
Margie C. Huerta, Ph.D., Campus Executive Officer
serving the community~...
Growth and Advancement for More Than Three Decades Student success is the primary focus of Dona Ana Branch Community College, southern New Mexico's foremost two-year educational and technical institution. DABCC, founded in 1973 as the Dona Ana County Occupational Education Branch of New Mexico State University, started out by offering two associate-degree programs designed for those wishing to enter the workforce quickly.
Through years of growth and advancement, DABCC has become a comprehensive community college offering core educational courses and technical skills training in more than 30 career programs in the divisions of Business and Information Systems, General Studies, Health and Public Services, and Technical and Industrial Studies.
Tutoring, advising, counseling, financial aid, cooperative education, placement services, and services for students with disabilities are among the numerous student services provided.
Also available through DABCC are Community Education; Adult Basic Education, offering CED preparation, English as a Second language, citizenship preparation, and other educational opportunities; and Workforce Development, encompassing Customized Training.. the Small Business Development Center, and the Truck Driving Academy.
Grace Trujillo, a recent graduate of the Legal Assistant Program, knows she made the right career choice because she looks forward to going to worlf every day. Helping her study is her granddaughter.
To meet the educational needs of more Dona Ana County residents, DABCC has establ ished satell ite centers inA nthony and Sun land Park, and also at White Sands Missile Range. A second campus has been established on Las Cruces' East Mesa, the city's fastest growing area.
Future projects include the development of the East Mesa Campus into the main DABCC location, and continued development of the Sunland Park and Anthony satellites to match expected population and enrollment growth.
, FRONT COVEll: Spring ZOOS nursing graduates Srlvl" Trujillo (lef/) and Dank/Ie Tester I front <;over phol:o by Gloria Dominguez
WRITERS Melissa BoIIKhweiler, John Paulman, and Rila Popp I DESIGN Lf't'Sa Mandlman, fineIJne Graphic Design. ws Cruces. N.M. PHOTOGRAPHY IN\BCC Marketing and Communicalions Staff (excepl. individual portraits of CEO and bOiJrd members. and as o!herwl~ noted)
Pens's art, some of which is pictured here, consists of colorlulllnd lively ropresentations of Southwestern and Nathte American /ita.
DABCC to Host Well-known Native American Artist at Fund-raising Gala
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II I I i
"An Evening with Amado M. Pena Jr.," a scholarship fund-raising gala benefiting students of Dona Ana Branch Community College, is slated fOf Oct. 25 at the Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum in Las Cruces.
Pena is an artisan of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona who is based in Santa Fe. He will have an art exhibit and sale at the event. In addition, a special artistic rendering will be available for purchase in JX>Ster form to raise scholarship funds for DABCC students. A portion of other sales also will be donated to DABCC's fund-raising efforts.
The black-tie-optional event will begin with a "meet and greet the artist" cocktail hour and art exhibit, followed by dinner. Pena will be available throughout the evening to provide technical and artistic information about his works, which focus on Southwestern and Mestizo images. Formats include acrylic paintings on paper, board, and canvas, mixed media works, and original monotypes, etchings, serigraphs, and lithographs.
OABCC CEO Margie Huerta not only has known of Pena's art for many years, but also was aware of his efforts in providing scholarships and endowments. For more than a decade, Pena and his wife, J.B., have been providing support to low- and moderate-income students in the states of New Mexico, Arizona, California, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas.
"We're very happy that he accepted our invitation to come, because he's quite busy," Huerta said. "One of the things he's done is to use his talent toward getting scholarship funds and endowments for students. His ultimate goal is to make sure that students do not stay away (rom college because of financial need."
Huerta said she is excited that DABCC is the first New Mexico community college Pena has worked with, adding that, in addition to helping full-time students, she hopes to develop scholarship opportunities for part-time students, who make up a large percentage of DABCC enrollees.
Pena also will hold an open Q & A with students on Oct. 26.
For tickets or additional information, call Erlinda Portillo, 528-7070, in the DABCC Development Office.
DABCC Advisory Board
Nellie Bouvet President
Hatch School Board
Las Cruces School Board
EX -0 FFie 10M EM BERS: Agucda Mora, Acting Superintendent, Gadsden Independent School District; Dane Kennon, Superintendent, Hatch Valley pubric Schools; loui~ Martinez, Superintendent, las Cruces Pub1ic School~ ,
DABCC Receives $400,000 Grant Designed to Enhance Student Success Dona Ana Branch Community College will receive S400,()(X) over a four-year period from Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count. an initiative funded by the Indianapolis-based Lumina Foundation for Education, to implement changes aimed al improving success rates of students.
A year ago, DABCC was one of six Ne-.v Mexico community colleges and one of 27 national institutions selected 10 receive a Lumina investment grant to develop plans to address the challenge of enhancing the academic success of low-income and minority students.
Based on me plans developed and examined since June of 2004, lumina has granted funds to implement new initiatives, said DABCC Campus Executive Officer Margie Huerta.
'""For the next couple of years we witl be working with olner community colleges in the slate and in the nation to develop
policies that will address the issues; in particular, of students enrolled in developmental programs," she said. "I'm very excited; I'm thrilled, because this will allow us to begin jointly, with other New Mexico community colleges, to examine state policies we can propose that will make some fundamental and much-needed changes, especially regarding students enrolled in developmental courses, and specifically, developmental math."
Major goals, she said, will include improving retention rates from fall to fall, improving graduation rates overall, and increasing the pass rate of developmental math students.
She noted new strategies that involve increasing supplemental instruction; examining the curriculum; increasing tutoring, peer tutoring and mentoring; and providing refresher courses prior to having new students take the placement exam. Huerta said she also wants to strengthen the freshman experience, and to do a great deal more financial-aid outreach.
Co-chairs for implementing the grant are Campus Student Services Officer Bernadelle Montoya and General Studies Division Dean Carmen Aguilera-Goerner. Huerta and Interim Campus Academic Officer Anna Chieffo carry the overall responsibility for the grant.
Huerta said she \vclcomes this, yet another opportunity for the community college to examine itself closely and to see what can be done to improve the quality of education and assist underprepared students in staying enrolled and completing their goals, including graduation.
DABCC ... where students
•
GED Smart Start for Future Engineer Zeke Saavedra, a 20-year-old NMSU civil engineering technology student, may have heard a few disparaging comments when he quit high school as a freshman and later earned his CED through DABCC's Adult Basic Education Program. Now, however, he is one full year ahead of many former classmates. Saavedra will be a senior at NMSU in August, haVing auended NMSU for only one year and DABCC for the previous two years.
ABE Tutorial Services Coordinator Marfa Ortiz-Cordero made sure Saavedra knew he was eligible for the New Mexico lottery Scholarship as a CEO grad, as long as he met the same requirements as high school graduates. To be eligible for the scholarship, students must begin college the first semester after graduation, carry a full load, and maintain a minimum 2.5 grade-point average. Saavedra earned a 4.0 CPA the first semester.
"The transfer-track option (between DABCC and I MSU) allows you to apply about 80 percent of your DABCC classes toward your bachelor's degree," Saavedra said.
Although still a student, he has held drafting jobs for nearly two years. Sam Johnson­ "a really goocl teacher"" at DABCC-told him about his current Summit Engineering job, where his boss. Greg Byres, gives him a lot of one-on-one instruction. Byres also values Saavedra's input and ideas. Saavedra plans to complete engineering degrees, gel his Professional Engineer's license, and more.
Zeke Saavedra
the field, I still plan to finish the
degrees and get my professional
engineer's stamp, '" he said, "'but
I'm going to start looking into real
estate also, and to do both - that
1V0uld be perfect!"
Peter Ray Padilla, 2, son of student Olivia Padilla, practices brushing following a "­ dental screening at OABCC.
sandra Smith
Dental Assisting Proves Perfect Career Choice Sandra Smith began the Dental Assisting Program in hcr latc 405, after seeking assistance from the DABCC Cooperative Education and Placement Office. Smith wasn't sure what path she wanted 10 pursue until Administrative Secretary II Viola Garda suggested Ihat she take the Choices computerized career evaluation.
Her answers guided her to the dental field, which lurned out to be the right fit for Smith. She made A's in virtually all classes and was a Crimson Scholar, earned an award for being Ihe lop student in the Health and Public Services Division, and was on Ihe Dean's list.
Program Director Martha McCaslin describes Smith as a dedicated and hard-working sludeni who persevered despite many obstacles. McCaslin told her of a job opening with Las Cruces dentist Marianne Day at the time of Smith's December 2004 graduation, and she started working Ihere a fE:\v days later.
The one-)'ear program served her well, Smith said. "I really enjoy my job/ she said. "I find the radiography fascinating. You can see all of the bones, rool canals, crowns, everything.'" Aside from assisting the dentist during procedures with patients, Smith takes X-rays, makes molds, does ordering. stocks supplies, "a little bit of everything."
The Santa Fe native was a bartender until Paul Smith, whom she later married, urged her to complete the GED and go to college. '"He gave me the encouragement to think that I could do it and, with his help and support, I went a lot further than I ever thought I would;'" she said. She may decide to enroll in the Dental Hygienist Program when it begins, but for now, she's very satisfied with the role she plays in helping people of all ages maintain good health.
come fi rst! -=--=--'--''-'-=------'----'---''-----''''----'=-~-----------==-
VICA Winners (Photo at left) One hundred percent of DABCC's particip.mts in New Mexico's
Vocational Industrial Clubs of America Competition in ,he spring returned with
medals. All first-place winners were eligible fo compete at SkillsUSA in Kansas
City, Mo. At the national competition are, from left, DABCC technic.l1 students
Luis Hernandez, Ashley McClure, Chris V.l/enzue/a, Paul Marrufo, Cheryl Garcia,
and Julian Nieto.
Next Step Gadsden (Photo at right> Gadsden High School graduates, from leh,
Diana 8. ChacOn, Yvette P. Hernandez, Nicole Martinez, .md
Carla·Ann Ponce, celebrate their graduation from the Next
Step Program and receive dua/-<r«/if scholarships in d recent
ceremony. The program between DABCC and the Gadsden
Independent School District dHows senion; to earn high-school
and college credit dt the s.tIJle time. ,
Campus Construction Highlights • At DABCC's Sunland Park Center, Phase Jt construction is expected to be completed in September 2005, funded by a $1.25 million general obligation bond issue authorized by New Mexico volers in 2002.
• Ground has been broken for Phase II of DABCC's East Mesa Campus, the future central campus of the college. The $3 million
project is funded by a 2002 New Mexico general obligation bond issue. A $3.5 New Mexico state bond election passed in November 2004 will support Phase III, which is under design. !n February 2005, Dona Ana County voters overwhelmingly passed a OABCC $14 million local bond election, $5 million of which will support East Mesa's Phase IV; also under design. In all, seven construction phases are envisioned through 2012 on the 60-acre site at 2800 N. Sonoma Ranch Blvd.
DABCC Sunland P.lr/( Ccnter
• The $14 million local bond election, besides providing $5 million for the East Mesa Campus expansion, enables DABCC to go ahead with $9 million worth of additional projects: renovations at the Las Cruces Central Campus and Workforce Development Center, expansion of the Gadsden Ccnter, new centers in Chaparral and Hatch, other facilities­ renewal and land-development projects, and updated equipment for technology.
_prepari ng students for. • •
College Highlights
--­DABCCs White Sands Ccntcr is now located in the new Professional Development Center on the missile range. The WSC is in suite 143, and the telephone number remains the samc, 678-6198.
• DABCC's Digital Graphics Technology Program has expanded its curriculum in 3D animation, video editing, video/film production, and film crew training. DABCC now offers the first two years of New Mexico State University's ne-.v film and digital arts degree program.
• DABCC's Drafting and Design Technologies Program now has transfer/transition pathways for students who wish to earn bachelor's degrees in engineering technology at NMSU and architecture at the University of New Mexico and Texas Tech University.
• The Dental Assisting Program is now fully accredited by the American Dental Assistants Association. Students also have been active in the community, providing dental and oral health·care presentations for elementary schools, day·care centers, and senior­ citizen centers. Students raised money through their club to attend the recentTexas Dental Meeting in San Antonio.
• Every year, Associated Students of DABCC sfXJnsors blood drives, the most recent of which garnered the most donations ever. United Blood Services reponed that the student government group's March 2005 drive collected 57 units of blood, compared to 32 the year before. The group sponsors health fairs and other community activities as well.
• Dr. Earl Nissen, education instructor, led a group of 1BO students and staff and family members in an award~winning fund-raising effort for the March of Dimes in the spring, collecting $22,000.
• The new Associate of Arts Program celebrated its first fall and spring semes­ ter graduates at the 2004-2005 commencement. Within a year, approximately 15 students have applied for their associate of arts degree. Adviser Rita Jo Sosa­ Carver had files on nearly 400 students in June 2005, compared to 80 student files the previous year.
• DABCC's One-Stop Center in Santa Teresa has trained three groups of people---29 in all-who finished eight-week to 15·week programs. Several are receiving their GEOs. The students were laid off by a company in the nearby industrial park. Some had worked for the company for more than 30 years.
• Members of the Drafting and Graphics Technology student club assisted Habitat for Humanity by designing and drawing several house plans for clients to choose from. Club members also meet with the Las Cruces Homebuilders Association and help the community by volunteering with the Parade of Homes, home-product shows, and other events.
• The Legal Research and Writing /I class (OELA 279), which has a service learning component, presented legal information at the Mesquite Neighborhood Learning Center to an audience of mostly Spanish speakers. The students spoke about the New Mexico landlord-tenant law and the state's Nlemon~ law, which deals with warranties on used automobiles.
• Tax Help New Mexico 2005, in its second year at DABCC, offered assistance at three sites, DABCCs las Cruces and East Mesa campuses and the Community Action Agency in Anthony, Texas. Thirty-nine students enrolled in tax-preparation classes helped more than 1,100 persons fill out forms.
• The Computer Technology Program has aligned courses to national certification standards and has begun teaching Computer Science 110 as a distance-education course, which more than 1SO students have taken on-line.
• Moody's Investors Service in April assigned a ratingof Aa3 to DABCC General Obligation Bonds-an upgrade from A1. Moody's based the upgrade on Dona Ana County's sizable tax base and DABCC's stable financial operations and low debt profile. The Aa3 rating will save the college and local taxpayers money in the long run through lower interest costs on bonds, according to DABCC Campus Financial Officer Andre-.v Burke.
tomorrow's workforce
DABCC and LCPS Receive $950,000 Technical Center Grant
DABCC, together with the las Cruces Public $ch<Xlls, recently was awarded a $950,000 grant by the New Mexico Commission on Higher Education in support of a new Technology Center that will benefit both high school and community college students.
Located at the current site of the DABCC Workforce Development Center near Walnut Street and Nevada Avenue in Las Cruces, the center will focus on careers for which the New Mexico Department of labor predicts high growth during the next eight years in Dona Ana County. These career areas include positions for drafters and engineering technicians, electrical and electronic engineering technicians, construction trades
workers, electricians, metal and plastic workers, press machine operators and tenders, machinists, and multiple machine tool setters/operators.
LCPS students will have the opportunity to earn credit toward their high school diploma and community college graduation simultaneously.
Calted "dual credit programs," such arrangements between high schools and cot1eges allow students at the secondary level to take college classes as electives. In this way, they are able to explore career options much earlier while also getting a head start in college.
Another advantage is financial. "Resources between the public schools and the community college are pooled, which makes it possible to obtain superior, state-of-the-art equipment at a substantial savings to the taxpayer," said Dr. Margie Huerta, CEO of Dona Ana Branch Community College. "We're thrilled to have this very effective partnership with the public schools. Everyone comes out a winner./1
DABCC and LCIlS competed against N.M. colleges and school districts to win nearly one-tenth of the $10 million available statewide. The money will be used to build a 5,400-square-foot addition onto the existing Workforce Development Center and to purchase equipment in support of the training programs.
.~"""",stu<Ioo'I1s
It.o_~--
Student Enrollment
Whrte Sands
Las Cruces
las Cruces Central Campus East Mesa Campus Gadsden Center White Sands Center Sunland Park Center Other locations
Credit Enrollments by Location 2004-2005 Academic Year'"
6,697
2,365
82
Individuals Served During the 2004-2005 academic year, DABCC served more than 16,630 members of the community. This total is the unduplicated count of individuals enrolled in credit courses and Community Education, Customized Training, and Adult Basic Education.
Growing Student Population DABCC is one of the fastest growing community colleges in New Mexico. In fall 2004, headcount in credit programs reached 6,347, an increase of 8.1 percent from the pre­ vious fall term. On average, fall headcount enrollment in academic programs has grown 6 percent a year since the fall 1994 semester.
Hispanic Enrollment Up Hispanics comprise 61 percent of the student population, up from 60.2 percent the year before.
First-Generation College Students During the 2004-2005 academic year, 72.4 percent of all DABCC students enrolled in credit classes were first­ generation college students, according to the results of the Faces of the Future Survey, which, for the past six years, has been administered \0 all members of a limited number of classes selected at random.
2004-2005 Operational Budget----- SOURCE OF FUNDS
The majority of revenues for the DABCC
operational budget came from the State of
New Mexico. Federal funds to the community
college represent financial aid to students,
as well as grants, which are allocated on a
competitive basis. Tuition and fees accounted
lor about 1S percent of the total budget, and
the local tax levy of 1mill generated between
6 and 7 percent of the college's revenues.
%of IlllaJ 14.9----::;­$4,699,900
Total Revenues
USE OF FUNDS
instruction and for direct support to
instruction (denoted by the term "general").
While DABCC did make expenditures
in support of public service projects, the
majority of other uses involved federal
and state dollars destined for student
financial aid.
Instruction and General Student Aid Public Services Auxiliary Expenses Other Use of Funds
Total Revenues
$31,497,627 100%
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IN-KIND CONTRIBUTORS Akler$!'o:)I of New Me~ Bartl's Fl:IYierlaod, loe The bin; Co. GSI~SeMces
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