12/02/2002 • Issue #78

News & Views

Make a Difference Through the Annual Fund!
The BCC Foundation’s Annual Fund starts this week and runs through December 23. This annual campus fundraising drive, which is co-chaired by instructor Jim Ellinger and Volunteer Tutor Program Manager Tess HelesHunt, provides critical support to many campus programs, projects and educational partnerships. Last year, funds supported the Early Learning, Family, and Childcare Center, student scholarships, the Margin of Excellence awards, emergency funds for Worker Retraining and other BCC students, and scholarship assistance for BCC Science Camp participants. You may drop off pledge forms in the BCC Foundation office (A102) until December 23. An automatic payroll deduction option is also available. For more details, please contact Brian Freeman at 564-5074 or via campus e-mail.

Record Enrollments for Worker Retraining
This quarter, Worker Retraining enrollments are up 60% compared to fall 2001 enrollments. The state-funded program, which provides free tuition for unemployed workers in a variety of expanding career fields, is currently serving nearly 500 students – the highest number ever served on the BCC campus. Many students come to BCC with prior higher education experience: 28% have a Bachelor’s degree or higher, and 17% have an associate degree or certificate. Many are currently enrolled in popular BCC programs such as programming, media communication and technology, accounting, business and network support. Participants can often earn substantially higher wages after upgrading skills and completing the Worker Retraining program than they previously earned. Learn more about Worker Retraining at http://www.bcc.ctc.edu/wrp/program.html.

College Recognized for Commuter Reduction Efforts
BCC was recently named a “Pacesetter” by the Commuter Challenge non-profit organization for its efforts to reduce employee and student commute trips. In partnership with the Economic Development Council of Seattle and King County, Commuter Challenge helps businesses and organizations create innovative solutions that reduce commute trips to decrease regional traffic congestion. In the past year, BCC has expanded commute trip reduction (CTR) benefits to more employees and has increased the student bus pass subsidy. In the past four years, student and employee bus pass use has gone from approximately 300 to 800 users per month. BCC also received a $30,000 grant to continue its CTR efforts and to initiate a Flex Pass program for full-time employees. For more details, contact Lois Harrison, Commute Trip Reduction Coordinator, at 564-2505 or via campus e-mail.

Employees Share Expertise at Innovation Conference
BCC administrators and faculty members shared their expertise with educators from community colleges across the nation at the League for Innovation Conference in Long Beach, California a few weeks ago. Educators and industry professionals conducted courses, presentations and forums on the latest developments, products and practices in the field of information technology (IT) during the annual conference. Neil Evans, Peter Saflund, Kelley Beverly and Jim Shuman of the NWCET and instructor Suzanne Marks shared their knowledge in areas such as cyber security, educational trends for the future, IT certification programs, best practices to prepare workers for 21st century high-tech jobs, Microsoft’s .NET program, curriculum, courseware and more. Instructors Marcia Williams and Rudy Helm gave presentations on incorporating ‘soft skills’ into technology training courses and problem-solving techniques for technical support programs.

Campus Departments on the Move
Due to a renovation of the south portion of Building A and the demolition of Houses 1 and 2, a few department offices have been relocated over the past few weeks. You will now find many faculty and staff in the following new locations: Business Division– D104 and 105, Faculty Association Office– D207C, Web Services– D272, some Media Communication and Technology faculty– D272; and English Language Institute (ELI) faculty—D207. These temporary office relocations may last for at least one year. All campus phone numbers remain the same.

Winning Season for Two BCC Teams
Fall proved to be a historic winning season for many BCC student athletes! The BCC men’s soccer team won its second consecutive Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC) championship last month! With an 11-1 season record, the BCC women’s volleyball team won the North Region title for the first time in 20 years, and coach Tony Miranda was named the North Region ‘Coach of the Year.’ The team went on to place third overall in the NWAACC tournament, their best finish ever. Congratulations to soccer coach Chance Fry, volleyball coach Tony Miranda and all of BCC’s talented student athletes. And stay tuned for updates as winter sports get underway this month in men’s and women’s basketball.

Movers & Shakers
Congratulations to:

• Media instructor Phil Lucas won the Best Public Service Film Award for his film “Restoring the Sacred Circle” at the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco last month. This 29-minute film, which was produced for the Oregon Department of Human Services, provides training and information about elder abuse, its causes and prevention in the Indian community. The video will be used by tribal social service providers, police, judges, healthcare workers and other medical personnel in order to better respond to the problem of elder abuse. Congratulations Phil!
• One BCC employee went the extra mile to help others during the Thanksgiving holiday. Tri Van Duong, offset press operator in Printing Service, along with his wife and other members of the Vietnamese community rented the Filipino Community Center in Seattle on Thanksgiving Day in order to serve a hearty, traditional holiday dinner to those in need.
• During last month’s Professional Development Day event,15 faculty members and the Serve, Learn, and Lead project team spent part of the day at the Hopelink food bank in Kirkland. Hopelink is an organization that provides food distribution, transportation, transitional housing, child care, and literacy education services to over 50,000 people each year. For their service project, the BCC group helped portion out nearly 2,000 pounds of rice that will be distributed to over 1,000 families in the coming weeks at the food bank. Faculty who are interested in getting involved in service learning at BCC can contact Shairose Gulamani, Service Learning Faculty Liaison, at 564-4083 or via campus e-mail for more information.
• Sally Meijsen, Transitions Coach in the Career Center, was named the “Employee of the Month” for November by the classified staff association. Sally’s colleagues rave, “Sally goes beyond her duty at BCC to serve her clients and help her colleagues” and “She is an inspiration to everyone she comes in contact with.”

In Brief

• Take a look at BCC’s “Report to the Community 2002” to learn about accomplishments of BCC employees, students and the college as a whole during the last year. The report contains highlights from almost every area of BCC, contributions to the local community, accomplishments of the BCC Foundation, student profiles and many useful statistics. Read more at http://www.bcc.ctc.edu/president/community.htm.
  

Coming Attractions
Mark your calendars!

• Holiday Gift Fair – Start your holiday shopping early this year with a trip to the Holiday Gift Fair from 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. tomorrow and Wednesday in the cafeteria. You’ll find items such as hats, gloves, jewelry, CDs, sweaters, ponchos, prints, magnets and something for just about everyone on your list!
• Pottery Sale – Looking for some original, hand-made gifts for your friends and family members? Stop by the holiday pottery sale from 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. on Thursday, December 12 in room C-157. Proceeds from the sale will help to purchase supplies and equipment for BCC’s ceramics program.
• CEABCC Holiday Luncheon – The classified staff association sponsors its annual holiday luncheon at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, December 13 in the cafeteria. Enjoy a delicious meal while celebrating the holiday season with coworkers. Please RSVP to Wendy Brault (564-3182 or campus e-mail) by Friday, December 6.
  

• Laura Schumacher, Accountant Senior, Finance
• Casey Spence, Administrative Assistant to the Vice President, Human Resources
• Michael Thomas, Food Service Worker, Food Services

Congratulations on recent promotions or changes:

• Mary Anne Meng, Program Coordinator
• Bess Parks, Administrative Assistant to the Dean, Information Resources

A fond farewell to departing BCC employees:

• Avon Barquist, Food Service Worker, Food Services
• Kurt Simmons, Worker Retraining Project Manager, WorkFirst
  

Campus Calendar

December 3-4            Holiday Gift Fair, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m., Cafeteria

December 5-23          BCC Foundation Annual Fund, A102

December 6-7            Choir Concert, 7:30 p.m., Carlson Theater

December 9                College Issues Day – No Class

December 12             Fall Quarter Ends
                                      Holiday Pottery Sale, 10 a.m. – 7 p.m., Room C157

December 13             CEABCC Holiday Luncheon, 11:30 a.m., Cafeteria

December 24-25       Holiday – Campus Closed

January 1                    Holiday – Campus Closed

January 6                     Winter Quarter Begins

January 20                  Holiday – Campus Closed

January 21                  CEABCC General Meeting, 1 p.m.

College Relations Corner

In the News
Today’s edition of the Eastside Journal features a story about Nawang Dorjee, BCC’s first scholar-in-residence, and his journey in exile to his home in Dharamsala, India. Read the story online at http://www.eastsidejournal.com/sited/story/html/113755.

Cheryl Becker, program chair of BCC’s Nursing program, was interviewed for an article in today’s Seattle Post Intelligencer about the shortage of nursing faculty at local colleges and universities – and the resulting lack of availability to admit interested students to area programs. Despite a severe shortage of nurses in Washington and many other states, lack of qualified faculty has forced many schools to turn away qualified applicants. Read more at http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/98060_nursing02.shtml.

General Manager of KBCS radio station Steve Ramsey was interviewed for a story about radio webcasting in the current issue (Nov. 28 – Dec. 4) of The Stranger. KBCS terminated webcasting earlier this year due to new restrictive content rules. Read the story online at http://www.thestranger.com/current/city4.html.

Black Student Union President Rudy Brown was profiled in the November 26 edition of the Seattle Times. Read more about this motivated student online at http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/134584020_bccsnapshot26e.html.

Two local newspapers reported that the BCC’s men’s soccer team won the NWAACC championships last month. Read the articles in the November 26 Eastside Journal http://www.eastsidejournal.com/sited/story/html/113177 and the November 26 edition of the Seattle Times http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/134583974_soccer26.html .

On November 21, ASBCC President Kennedy James was interviewed for a KCPQ Channel 13 news broadcast on behalf of BCC’s student participation in the “Great American Smokeout,” an annual event organized by the American Cancer Society to encourage smokers to quit for at least 24 hours.

The November 18 issue of the Seattle Post Intelligencer featured a story about an English-as-a-Second-Language program for employees at Crossroads Shopping Center. The program, which was created through a partnership between BCC, Crossroads Mini-City Hall and King County Libraries, has boosted the skills of many immigrant employees and reduced employee turnover. The program’s future is uncertain due to lack of funding. Volunteer Tutor Program Manager Tess HelesHunt, who helped create this innovative program, was interviewed in the article. Read the story online at http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/96065_ccrossroads18.shtml.

BCC’s R Building was mentioned in a November 10 article in the Tacoma News Tribune about the increasing number of ‘green design’ projects that are being constructed in the Puget Sound area. Read more online at http://www.tribnet.com/news/story/2107594p-2204117c.html.

On the Web
New i-BCC Home Page
Find out about the status of technology projects currently underway and those in development.
http://ir.bcc.ctc.edu/ibcc

Making Your Site Accessible in 2003
Beginning in January, Web Services will offer assistance, training and resources to help you revise your site to make it compliant with new information accessibility standards. Information will be sent out in early January giving you more details on the next steps.

BCC Website Redesign Progress
The BCC website redesign project is near completion of the planning stage. A campus-wide committee was formed in August to assist the Web Services team in identifying changes needed and setting goals for the new site. The formal website redesign plan will be presented to the Web Steering Committee, Ed Services and President’s Staff in early January for review and feedback. Production is expected to begin in early 2003.

Consult the Web Publishing Guide
If you are planning to work on your existing website or create a new site during winter break, please refer to the online Web Publishing Guide before you begin.
http://www.bcc.ctc.edu/webpublishing/

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!