January 24, 2024
WVC Community, Welcome to 2024!
I hope you enjoyed a wonderful break and many opportunities to spend quality time with family and friends.
On a personal note, I celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, honoring him and the many people from different cultural and religious backgrounds who risked personal harm so Black Americans might enjoy even the most basic civil rights. The movement, I was reminded, was neither accidental nor spontaneous. In sitting with this realization, I transcended for a moment time, space, history to envision (and feel) Dr. King drafting his letter from Birmingham Jail. The civil rights movement was strategic and was not to be delayed. As Dr. King shared in his letter to fellow clergymen, he was in Birmingham for a very simple moral reason—because injustice was there.
Our work as educators always begins with dreaming beyond our current circumstances and thinking forward to improve ourselves, our professional skills, and the college. I am inspired to “do right” by West Valley students. Transforming the lives of students is doable. Even more, as our shared mission unites us, as our vision guides us, we are dauntless in our actions.
Diverse Teams Are Wiser
As a college community, we will continue to foster practices of equity, inclusion, and justice in the college’s 2.0 Antiracism Action Plan. Regarding diversity in hiring, on Saturday a group of West Valley and District representatives attended a statewide California Community Colleges Registry Job Fair. We focused on recruiting faculty for our upcoming nine job searches. We also had the opportunity to share our upcoming administrative positions.
Highlighting the college’s accomplishments and great professional community was a blast. Attending recruitment activities like this helps us reach out to talented potential applicants from different backgrounds in all areas: classified professionals, faculty, and administrators.
Enrollment Demographic Trends
Good news, we are seeing a recovery in enrollment across multiple groups!
Winter term FTES enrollment is more than 5% higher than this time last year.
Spring Enrollment continues to improve. We are at 104+% for our credit FTES Target.
Our credit FTES and Headcount both have more than a 5% increase from this time last year and a 25% increase from this time two years ago.
Above average one-year increase in credit headcount:
- Black/African American students (+21%)
- Latinx students (+10%)
- Asian students (+7%)
- 19 or younger (+10%)
- 55+ years old (+29%)
- Concurrent – High School Students (+20%)
College Council
Please plan to attend College Council this semester. Meetings are open to everyone. The College Council Charge has been updated and approved. Meetings will be held on the second Thursday of each month for two hours, except for the first meeting which will be held on February 1.
I am excited to share one of the more significant revisions to the committee charge: “College Council ensures decisions impacting the institution are vetted collegewide and that the diversity of ideas and perspectives among college constituency groups are respected. The purpose of the committee is to ensure integrated planning and to model participatory governance processes and practices.”
I invite you to review the council charge as it reinforces adhocracy—in that we value creativity, innovation, and flexibility in problem-solving.
Mission, Vision, and Values
College Council, as part of the revised charge, has established definitions and structure for organizing “task forces” and “work groups” to better facilitate the work of the college.
Shusaku Horibe is leading a task force on the college mission, vision, and values. If you are interested in joining this important task force, please reach out to your senate leader. And you may contact Shusaku if you have questions or would like more information.
Climate Survey
Opinions and perspectives matter! Later this semester, we look forward to sharing and discussing the results of the campus climate survey, which will inform elements of the college’s Education Master Plan (EMP). Likewise, as the results reflect our understanding of the college atmosphere and people’s experiences, we may consider opportunities to improve the institution.
Measuring Student Achievement
Establishing college benchmarks and metrics is key to understanding student achievement and institutional effectiveness. Please plan to attend the All-College meeting on Thursday, March 21 at 2:00 p.m. One of the agenda items includes an EMP strategic implementation plan update. EMP implementation will inform the summer leadership retreat at which all college constituencies are represented. A priority for our work going forward is to operationally define student success measures to refocus goals and priorities.
Accreditation
The accreditation midterm report will go to the February Board of Trustee meeting for approval. In the seven-year accreditation cycle, the midterm report submission transitions us to the preparation phase for the institutional self-evaluation report (ISER), which is due August 1, 2026. We are expecting for the college to host and experience an in-person ISER training with ACCJC Interim Vice President Ginni May on Friday, April 26, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
60th Anniversary Kick-Off
Let’s get excited about celebrating 60 years of instruction. As we approach the college’s anniversary in September, the planning committee has been busy designing the festivities, and organizing events leading to the main celebration.
Our first event will be held on Thursday, March 21, featuring a panel discussion and celebration with our college founders and a program in honor of the 60th at the Planetarium.
I look forward to seeing you at All-College Day. All-College Day is a wonderful opportunity for our community to connect with one another and to learn from each other. And what a day it will be with the opening of Valhalla Stadium! Spring is in the air, and with it comes baseball season.
Let us also give a huge shoutout to our undefeated men’s basketball team. We are cheering for you!
Here’s to dreaming beyond! See you on campus and please join me for a campus walk and talk meeting! My walking office hours are Thursdays from 2:30 to 4:40 p.m. and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Please get in touch with Elizabeth%20Tablan to schedule a 30-minute slot.
In community,
Jennifer Taylor-Mendoza, Ph.D.