Dear SRJC Community,

I am pleased to share with you the District updates that were provided to the Board of Trustees at the September meeting.

As a reminder, you will receive these updates from me following the monthly Board of Trustees meeting to celebrate the accomplishments and successes of our colleagues across the District for the previous month. These updates are a chance for you to learn more about the excellent programs, services, initiatives, events, and work we undertake in support of our students. You will be able to find all District Monthly Updates going forward on our News site at https://news.santarosa.edu/.

 

President’s Office  

• The Board of Trustees unanimously approved the 2023/2024 Budget for the Sonoma County Junior College District as well as the ACCJC/WASC Accreditation Follow Up Report in the September 1, 2023 meeting.
• Attended the High School Equivalency Program (HEP) Graduation and celebrated with graduates and their families during an emotional and culturally grounded event. 
• Participated in the Chronicle of Higher Education’s panel, “What is really takes to be an HSI,” as part of the Chronicle Festival: The Ideas Shaping Higher Education.   
• Attended various meetings in Sacramento at the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office and several meetings with key legislative staff, department of finance staff, and the Lt. Governor’s office regarding the Student Housing Grant Program.   
• ACCJC President, Mac Powell, visited SRJC as part of the series "ACCJC on the Move."  He toured the Public Training Safety Training Center and the Santa Rosa Campus with an invitation to return to see SRJC Petaluma, SRJC Roseland, and Shone Farm.  I will share the article on his visit when it is posted on the ACCJC website.   
• Attended the inaugural Public Safety Training Center Welcome Day on September 1st and will attend the SRJC Roseland Welcome Day on September 16th. This will complete the District's Welcome Days for students and community members for Fall 2023.  
• Provided an interview for NorCal Public Media, KRCB with Mark Albert. Click here to read.  
• Hosted a visit from the Economic Development Agency (EDA) and received affirmation on the progress of the new construction building. Additionally, there is the SRJC Petaluma Building Futures event on Saturday, September 23rd from 4:00 - 6:00pm, benefiting the new construction training center. 
• Completed seven “SRJC Voices” listening sessions and have gathered great insight into the experiences, hopes and challenges presented by colleagues. There are still many left to go this semester.    
• On September 8th, we celebrated the opening of Polly O’Meara Doyle Hall with nearly 250 people in attendance, including national, state, and local elected officials, Board of Governors, and many contributors and supporters of the project. The event began with a student speaker, one of the Resident Advisors, on what on-campus housing means to students. Tours of Polly Hall were also given by Resident Assistants.    
• Traveling to the White House in Washington, DC September 12 – September 15 for the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities.     
• Marketing & Communications submitted position letters in support/opposition for various state assembly bills.  
• Marketing & Communications supported 11 media inquiries for interviews, subject matter experts, incident response, and more.
• Institutional Effectiveness & Research Planning completed the ACCJC Follow-Up Report due by October 1, 2023 and preparing for the November 8, 2023 follow-up visit.   

 

Academic Affairs  

•  We have 514 Student-Athletes on campus this Fall. The fall sports are in full swing with Women’s Volleyball off to an 8-0 start this season and Men’s Soccer off to a 3-0 start this season. Come support Bear Cub Nation: http://www.srjcathletics.com/landing/index  
• The SRJC Automotive Technologies Program was re-accredited by Automotive Service Excellence (ASE), a prestigious industry accreditation awarded to high-quality automotive training programs.   
• Santa Rosa Junior College Shone Farm was selected as the winner of the Recycled Water Customer of the Year (North) by the WateReuse California organization. The WateReuse California Awards for Excellence recognizes individuals and/or projects that are making significant contributions in support of greater adoption of water reuse.   
• SRJC Adult Education is continuing its successful bilingual Fire Resilient Landscaping training program in partnership with the Graton Day Labor Center and other community partners. Through 40 hours of classroom and hands-on learning time, students receive their OSHA 10 card and learn landscaping and home hardening practices that protect homes form burning during wildfires.   
• Spotlight on: Community Engagement for Volunteers has 53 students currently enrolled in the program, the highest in class history.  This is a self-directed student volunteer program designed to facilitate experiential learning and service to the community.  Volunteer placements include animal care facilities, clinics, day care centers, hospitals, recreation programs, schools, senior care centers, and various social service agencies. Students volunteer 52.50 hours per unit per semester for 0.50-3.00 units.   
• Rising Scholars was awarded the Juvenile Justice Grant, which will help us expand our programming for systems-impacted youth across the county. Rising Scholars (IGNITE) is currently offering Creative Writing and will be offering 4, 3-unit classes at the jail for the first time ever this fall.  
• 51 students joined the QRC’s inaugural "Queer First Year" program for LGBTQ2+ students who are new and/or returning to the college.  
• Faculty members Kim Kinahan and Lauralyn Larsen are on the statewide CIWEA committee to help implement the Title 5 changes for Work Experience, and are moderators for the new Chancellors office Forum Board on Work Experience.  Curriculum changes, and development of a new policy and procedure for Work Experience will be completed by the February deadline.  

  

Student Services  

• On August 12, we hosted Welcome Day activities on the Santa Rosa and Petaluma Campuses. We also officially opened Polly O’Meara Doyle Hall for Move-In Day. Hundreds of faculty and staff participated and we estimate that we welcomed and served between 1500-2000 students and families on that day.   
• On Friday September 1st, we hosted our initial retreat of fall 2023 focused on the first tenant of Dr. Keiffer-Lewis’ Cultural Humility framework: Introspection. The central question was how each of us are present to best support students. By providing training on the principles of Cultural Humility and Restorative Practices, the goal was to improve trust in our relationships and strengthen the overall health of our community to foster an inclusive and supportive learning environment for our students. Over 150 faculty and staff participated.   
• SRJC Roseland will be hosting a Welcome Day event on Saturday, September 16 from 9:30am to 1:00 pm. Numerous college programs and services will be there to give out resources, welcome students, and provide workshops. Registration and breakfast begins at 9:30am. All are welcome.   
• On September 15, the Santa Rosa Intercultural Center, in collaboration with numerous other programs and departments, launches the Herencia line-up of events. This is a time where we center the Latinx, Latine, Indigenous, Hispanic, and Chicanx identities and experiences. Please visit this link for a full schedule of activities and events.  

  

Finance and Administrative Services  

• Finance/Accounting has finalized the 2022/23 year end and 2023/24 budget development. The 2023/24 budget will be presented for approval at the September board meeting. Gilbert Associates, the District auditors, will begin the year end portion of the 2022/23 District and Foundation audits the week of September 18. This is an intensive process of providing information, documentation and justification for the past year and impacts many departments across the District. A huge thank you to everyone involved but especially Whitney Schultz for leading this process and the Accounting, A&R, and Student Financial Services teams who will all be heavily impacted by this process.  
• The clocks are fixed!! The old district clock systems were completely unreliable and failed constantly. Facilities Operations and IT worked collaboratively to identify a clock vendor that would help bring the district’s clock systems up to a higher standard of reliability.  There were 12 Primex radio transmitters installed across all five district locations and connected to the internal computer network to receive a signal that will synchronize all of the district’s clocks to the exact second. There are now nearly 550 Primex clocks in service across the district. A huge shout out to the Fac Ops and IT teams, including Tim Bell, Dan Roberts, Jesse Asher, Jason Kostic, Ken Feuerstein, Steve Chapman and honorary finance/admin member Connor Murphy at Shone Farm for getting this project done. 
• It has been a busy month for the Custodial Services department. In addition to their normal duties and despite being short staffed, they refinished the basketball gym floor in Haehl and completed set ups for close to 30 events. 
• IT has moved back to Bussman. The long overdue renovation has been completed and Capital Projects is wrapping up the final punch list items. A huge thank you to the IT team for being flexible during this project and to Project Manager Ryan Leahy for stepping into the project and getting it across the finish line Stop by Bussman to check out their new areas and welcome them back home.  

  

Human Resources  

• Implemented Fall 2023 Professional Development Activities (PDA) Day. For the plenary program, there were 350+ in-person and 200+ remote participants. In addition to the plenary program presentation, approximately 50 workshops presented mostly by the college community were offered. Plans are underway for Spring 2024 PDA on February 15, 2024. 
• In collaboration with the Employee Affinity Groups and the Embracing a Culture of Inclusion Program, implemented the second annual reception to welcome new hire employees. Approximately 100 employees attended the event. 
• 40 applications were submitted for the second cohort of the Courageous Leaders Academy (18 classified, 15 faculty and 7 management employees). The next Academy will start on October 27 and Cabinet and the Board will be invited to attend the kick-off session. 
• SRJC is a recipient of the Equal Employment Opportunities Innovative Best Practices Grant offered by the Chancellor’s Office Institutional Effectiveness Division and the Office of the General Counsel. SRJC received this award to develop and implement the Cultivating an Ecosystem of Belonging (CEB) Program. The primary goal of the CEB program is to increase retention of newly hired BIPOC faculty at SRJC. The Steering Committee for the grant includes three Deans from Academic Affairs (Cathy Prince, Tammy Sakanashi, Roam Romagnoli) and two management team employees (Sarah Hopkins, Sussanah Sydney) from Human Resources. Proposals for external consultants to assist the Steering Committee in development and implementing the program are currently being considered with implementation planned for Spring 2024. 

 

SRJC Foundation  

• The Foundation partnered with the Health Sciences Department to host an Open House of the Race Building and all of its programs on August 24.  In 2022-23 the Foundation and the Scholarship Office partnered to award over $5 million in scholarships to students. This is a record! Over $3 million was awarded from the Doyle Trust and another $2 million awarded through Foundation scholarships.  Close to 5,000 scholarship awards were offered.  
• The Petaluma Building Future fundraiser is coming up on September 23rd, and we are planning for the October 20th Investiture Celebration at Shone Farm for Dr. Garcia. The usual fall golf tournament to support Athletics has been moved to May 17, 2024. 

 

 

In community,

Dr. Garcia

Angélica Garcia, Ed.D.
Superintendent/President
707-527-4431, angelicagarcia@santarosa.edu