February 14, 2024

Dear SRJC Community,

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

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 find all District Monthly Updates on our News site at https://news.santarosa.edu/.

 

• Presented at Philanthropic Educational Organization and Sonoma County Forum
• SRJC Voices with Student Affairs and Counseling
• Lindley Center Ribbon Cutting 
• Attended a series of meetings in Sonoma with Trustee Chaaban that included: 
  • Boys & Girls Club 
  • Sonoma Valley Mentoring Alliance 
  • Sonoma Valley Education Foundation 
  • Sonoma Valley Unified School District 
  • Sonoma Valley Hospital 
  • Sonoma Valley Community Health Center 
  • Parks Commission 
  • Sonoma Valley Catalyst Fund 
  • La Luz Center 
• Attended several athletic events (women’s and men’s basketball, baseball, softball and swimming) 
• Check out some of the upcoming events for March: 
  • Music Performances 
  • Theatre Arts - Orlando 
  • Athletics 
  • Women’s History Month 

 

• Distance Education and IT staff worked closely with the California Virtual Campus team to include all SRJC online classes in the cvc.edu listing. Students from other colleges can now find and enroll in our classes to complete their educational goals. 
• The Distance Education team has created a new “walkthrough” that helps students who are new to Canvas discover how to find and use the tools they need to be successful in their Canvas-based classes. This should greatly reduce barriers and improve retention for students who are new to this technology. 
• The SRJC Libraries are hosting a yearlong exhibition of artworks featuring the creative work of Classified Professionals on the second floor of Doyle Library. The exhibit features painting, photography, sculpture and mixed media art. A celebration opening will be announced for later this spring. The work was organized by Librarians Phyllis Usina and Loretta Esparza along with Art & Humanities Dean, Kerry Loewen. 
• The SRJC Culinary Arts Alex Ling Bakery opened on Thursday, January 25th. It is open Thursdays and Fridays from 8:30am to 2:00pm.  
• Dental Hygiene Clinic: The Santa Rosa Junior College Dental Hygiene Department is thriving with an average of seventy-two patients served each week in the dental clinic providing dental cleanings, deep cleaning, sealants, and oral health instructions. The Dental Radiology department serves the public with an average of 20 patients per week. The Dental Hygiene department has already served two students from the HEP program this semester and continue to receive an abundance of calls from the public for our services. 
• The Foods & Nutrition program has created a video in both Spanish and English to promote their programs in Dietetics. https://nutrition.santarosa.edu/ 
• We opened the doors to the Lindley Center of STEM Education at the start of the Spring semester to smiling students. Consisting of 34 classrooms and labs, and thanks to the herculean efforts of multiple campus departments and groups, faculty, and staff, thousands of students streamed through the doors on opening day. On Jan 26, in collaboration with the President’s Office, the ribbon cutting event celebrated the opening of the Lindley Center.  The event was student-centered with the SRJC Physics Club providing hands-on demonstrations and the SRJC Chemistry Club serving liquid nitrogen ice cream. The STEM Success Center; HOPE, MESA, and Avanzando Center; and Innovation Center all showcased how they will support our diverse student body in their academic journeys. 

 

 

• Student service teams at Santra Rosa, Petaluma, and Roseland held Super Saturday on January 13th to reach students who had not enrolled or wanted assistance before the start of the semester. A&R, Counseling, Bookstore, DRD, EOPS/CalWORKs/Foster Youth, Health Services, Financial Aid, Student Life, and Welcome and Connect Center were open. Combined, all areas were able to assist 405 duplicated students. 
• Welcome Week was a success with tables across campus at all locations offering grab-n-go snacks, coffee/hot cocoa, maps/information and a warm welcome.  
  • SRJC Santa Rosa had four tables from Student Life, one table from HR, and one table from Tutorial Center. Combined, the Welcome tables helped 500 students per day, for 1,500 during the first week of the semester. Additionally, many staff and faculty were out on campus helping students find their way/navigating detours around construction areas.  
  • SRJC Petaluma hosted 11 days of welcome tabling at peak times and assisted over 50 students. 297 students were invited to take campus tour and 565 students were contacted for assistance with completing incomplete applications. 
  • SRJC Roseland participated in the Caring Campus Welcome Tables during the first week of classes. SRJC Roseland Student Service Team helped 325 students find their classrooms and answered questions about the Bookstore hours and registration services. 
• The International Student Program hosted a Welcome Day reception on Friday, January 19th with 40+ attendees that included 16 new students, 15 continuing students, staff, administrators and community partners. 
• Financial Aid hosted Cash for College events for new and continuing students during the day and evening and provides assistance with the new FAFSA.  
• Financial Aid staff have completed the review and entry of Spring SAP for 7,950 students. For 2023-2024 year-to-date, 3,099 students have received a Pell grant totaling $9,333,785.  We are currently on pace to pay Pell to more students this year than last year. In 2022-2023 we paid Pell to 3,101 students by year end. The behind-the-scenes work of the SFS team becomes tangible for each of these students and their families when they receive financial support to pursue their educational goals. 
• Student Health Services clinical and mental health staff performed athletic screenings in January intersession seeing over 50 students. 
• In collaboration with Sonoma County Transit the NEW EXPRESS route 30 was established which provides direct line to SRJC Petaluma from the City of Sonoma. And just a reminder that SRJC Students have access to free rides on Sonoma County bus lines by showing their current SRJC student ID. 
• This spring, the Sawubona Black Student Support Center and the Santa Rosa Intercultural Center are continuing the highly successful Cub Catalyst: Social Justice and Leadership Development program for students. Applications for SRJC’s Cub Catalyst leadership program Spring 2024 are now open! The application due date is February 9. This 2-part training is designed to create and cultivate student leaders through a social justice and professional development-based framework. Students will complete the program equipped with the necessary skill sets to promote change on campus and within their communities, while identifying potential careers! 
• Download and be where the students are on the MySRJCApp! There are approximately 3,600 students using the app since the first week of classes and there are about 1,100 unique active users. Dr. Senecal has her own channel where students can ask questions of the Vice President, Student Services/Asst Superintendent directly. You will have access to events, an interactive campus map, resources, and more. All users can post on the student feed, and Student Services staff monitors this. Log on today! 
• We partnered with Motimatic again to reach students who had “stopped out” and “applied but not registered” prior to this academic year. Below are results as of 1/26/24: 
  • Stopouts list: 722 unduplicated registrations; 3,844 total units enrolled, 5.49 average units enrolled. 
  • Applicants list: 142 unduplicated registrations; 1,009 total units enrolled; 7.1 average units enrolled. 
• Staffing Updates: 
  • New VPSS, Dr. Molly Senecal, started on 1/8/24 
  • New Disability Intake Facilitator at Petaluma, Ceci Barragan, started 1/8/24 
  • New Coordinator of the Queer Resource Center (QRC), Jennifer Espinoza, started 1/25/24 
  • Joseph Hancock,  our new therapist serving Black/African American Students, started 2/1/24.  
  • New Dean of Counseling and Support Services, Dr. Julio Flores, started 2/6/24. 

 

• Instruction began this spring in the incredible Lindley Center for STEM Education and the ribbon cutting was held on Friday January 28, 2024. This was a multi year, $100+ million project that will have a lasting impact on the education of STEM students far into the future. We are very proud of this new space and are grateful to so many for the final push to open, including Heather Chierici, Victor Tam, Robert Grandmaison, the instructional departments and the IT, Media, and Custodial teams. 
• Construction began on the renovation for Tauzer Gym in early January. The project is expected to be completed by end of 2025. We appreciate your patience with the way finding and longer routes created by taking the building offline. Facilities Operations has created a new access gate and accessible pedestrian side walk on the west side of Baily field, which is now open and usable for all. 
• The Governor’s released his 2024/25 proposed budget on January 10 2025. The impacts to SRJC include: 
  • 0.50% growth for the Student Centered Funding Formula (SCFF). 
  • A proposed 0.76% COLA for SCFF, Adult Ed, EOPS/CARE, DSPS, CalWORKs, Apprenticeship, and mandated cost programs  
  • $60M a year for five years (in one time funds) to expand nursing programs 
  • A proposal to redirect student housing funding to the districts, including SRJC, that don’t fit in the student housing lease revenue bond program to backfill the previously committed funds that were pulled back in the 2023/24 budget year. 
• This is just the beginning of the state budget process, we will keep you updated as more information is known. 
• Finance and Administrative Services, Student Services, and the Foundation have collaborated to create a new streamlined process for Student Compensation and Gift Cards and Incentives. This creates a consistent and easy process to compensate and support the needs of our students, please visit the fiscal services guide on the accounting website for additional information. A special thank you to all involved, with a special shout out to Stephanie Dirks for leading the project and creating the website. 
• As part of the Banner implementation project, Brian Reagan with Strata Information Group conducted a two-day training on data governance for a group of managers.  We will be meeting regularly over the next few months to develop a structure and process to integrate as part of the implementation process and use into the future to keep data organized and accessible as needed. 
•  

• The Classification Study Internal Review Group has almost completed the 50+ appeals that were submitted by Classified Professionals. Once appeals are completed and all job descriptions are finalized, the study's implementation will be negotiated by SEIU and the District. It is anticipated that negotiations on implementation will begin this Spring. 
• SRJC’s Courageous Leaders Academy is halfway through the second cohort and participants will be brainstorming this Spring on recommendations for improving employee retention efforts at the District. We are also in discussion with the Cub Catalyst program coordinator on how Courageous Leaders (for SRJC employees) can collaborate with Cub Catalyst (for students) to promote social justice and equity efforts at SRJC. 
• Human Resources staff members have worked with District representatives on hiring and onboarding over 30 individuals for the following employee groups: 
  • Classified Professionals – 14 positions 
  • Faculty (Associate) - 15 new hires 
  • Faculty (Temporary) - 1 assignment 
  • Management – 3 positions 
• The performance evaluation process will be restarted for Classified Professionals and Management Team in Spring 2024. Details forthcoming in February. 
• Spring 2024 Professional Development Activities Day is on Thursday, February 15, 2024. Approximately 45 workshop proposals will be offered and the highlight of the morning plenary presentation will be the Brook Tauzer Lecture offered by Dr. Araceli Osorio. Lecture title is ‘The Transformation of the Spanish Language – A Virtual Trip around the World’. Most workshops will be offered in the new Lindley Center for STEM Education and Kunde Hall. Workshop schedule posted online here. 

 

• At the SRJC Foundation Board meeting on January 10th, the Board approved FY25 distribution of funds from endowments managed by the Foundation. This is the time of year when we provide this information to the Scholarship Office so they can accurately communicate the amount of funds available from scholarship endowments for the upcoming year.  
• We have up to $1,523,782 to distribute from 514 endowed scholarship funds for FY25. We had $1,447,045 available in FY24. We have up to $355,460 to distribute from 68 endowed program funds. We had $362,700 available in FY24. Currently, we have a total of 582 endowed funds compared to 575 in year prior. The Foundation Board approved the disbursement of up to $1,879,232 in FY25 from endowed funds held and managed by the Foundation. 
• The Foundation Board held a Retreat on January 10th that was the kickoff to a strategic planning process to create a new plan for FY25-FY27.  We introduced the Community Centric Fundraising model to the Board to help us explore how to ground our work in a more community and equity centered approach. 
• The Foundation partnered with Ken Sebastiani and the Fire Technology Program to secure a $1.5 million grant. Ken and Sarah Laggos worked very closely with State Senator Mike McGuire to secure this grant from the State. A special thanks to Senator McGuire for his continued close friendship and partnership with the College.   
• The Foundation recently received a $150,000 grant to support scholarships and the new student housing endowment. 
• We have created a direct mail piece to raise funds for Athletics that will drop in the mail this month. The piece will feature SRJC football player Issac Torres who was the recipient of the first Jorgen Sarganis Memorial Scholarship. Issac just accepted a scholarship to UC Berkeley and will play football for Cal this fall. Congratulations Issac!   

 

In community,

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