Bill’s Bulletin is a feature of HCC Connection Online where President William F. Messner shares news about all-college initiatives and the college’s expanding involvement in the region.

One year ago United States Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings formed the Commission on the Future of Higher Education. The commission’s charge was to generate discussion and ultimately a set of recommendations for strengthening higher education in the 21st century. Earlier this month that commission released its final report, detailing a set of proposed changes for higher education. These recommendations have generated considerable discussion, and have special relevance for community colleges.

The good news is that the report confirms our belief that higher education is increasingly critical to both individual and national success. Especially important for community colleges is the commission’s assertion that “the nation must be committed to building and sustaining a higher education system that is accessible to all qualified students in all life stages.” The report calls for increased investment in higher education on both the federal and state levels, particularly through enhancements in need-based student aid such as Pell Grants.

The commission report also challenges colleges and universities to become more accountable to the public as a whole and more transparent to students and their parents. In this regard, the most notable—and controversial—of its proposals is the establishment of a “higher education information system.” This system would evaluate the performance of institutions based on the success of their students both while they are in residence and after they have left their institutions of initial attendance. Such a system would be especially relevant to community colleges, as it would allow for the tracking of transfer students. This proposal has been attacked, particularly by private institutions, as being a threat to individual privacy rights.

Notwithstanding privacy concerns, the establishment of a database to track student performance beyond HCC would, in my estimation, be a boon for our institution and its students. Over the past year, Massachusetts’ community colleges have been attacked by both the media and public officials for their low graduation rates. We know that the graduation rates do not reflect the success of HCC’s mission. Many of our students move on to new opportunities–transferring to four-year institutions or taking jobs for which they have gained new credentials–before completing an associate’s degree at HCC. We are justifiably proud of their legacy, but we are limited in our ability to pinpoint their progress.

As a result, community college graduation rates become fodder for headline-grabbing politicians and others who are looking for a quick jab.

A national tracking system would give us a much richer base of information about HCC students. It would allow us to celebrate the successes of students who do not appear in graduation statistics. It would also allow us to identify specific groups of students with whom we need to improve our performance.

Stay tuned. The debate over this proposal, and others included in the Spelling commission report, is just heating up. And community colleges, for better and for worse, are certain to be at the center of the debate.

Headlines

MISFITS to hold its first meeeting October 18

Daniel Lincoln

There are a lot of things that Daniel Lincoln will tell anyone about his disability. It’s the things that Lincoln doesn’t share so handily that prompted him to organize a new student club.

“ I can’t tell you how it feels to have a death experience. I can’t and I won’t,” says Lincoln, a former mechanic who lost the use of his legs in January 2005. “But there are other people—other people who have my disability—who understand. They’ve been there.”

It’s the support and camaraderie of other mobility-impaired individuals that prompted Lincoln to form MISFITS (Mobility Impaired Students for Freedom, Integrity, Tolerance, Support), a new student support group that will meet for the first time on October 18 at 2 p.m. in the G parking lot. The faculty advisors are Maureen Conroy and Donna Palivoda.

“ I thought about a lot of names, and maybe this one will offend someone and we’ll have to change it, but the point is, we’ve got to get together,” said Lincoln, a Huntington resident who is studying information security at HCC. “We have a lot we need to do.”

Lincoln hasn’t been waiting around for permission to act, however. Within a month of his arrival on campus, he had fought— and won— his first battle.

“ All of my classes at HCC are in the Kittredge Center, but I couldn’t park in the ‘F’ lot because that’s a faculty lot,” he says. “I got evicted for one day. But it’s OK now.”

A burly man who enjoys a good laugh, Lincoln does not mince words about his disability. It seems a waste of time. Slapping his thighs, he talks candidly and with humor about the day that he lost the use of his legs.

“ I slipped in the mud. Just slipped in the mud,” he says, smiling at the listener’s reaction to his improbable tale. “I was climbing a hill when I began to slide backwards and I grabbed tree. I thought I had pulled a muscle. I went on and walked five miles, went home, ate dinner, and was settling in with a heating pad when I felt my right leg go numb. By then, I figured it was serious…by the time I was halfway to the hospital, I had to take an ambulance. By the time I got to the hospital, I was paralyzed.”

He doesn’t wait for his listener to absorb the finality of his statement. Immediately, he’s on to the humor:

“ My friends say that my legs were carrying me in the wrong direction so God took them away,” he says, breaking again into a devilish smile. “Maybe I was, maybe I wasn’t.”

(You don’t ask.)

For a few weeks after he was paralyzed, Lincoln sunk into a suicidal depression. He doesn’t explain how he threw it off, but he openly savors the irony of what happened next.

“ Six hours after I decided I wouldn’t kill myself, God killed me,” he said. “I developed clots in my legs and six embolisms that settled in my lungs. I was read my last rites and put on respirator.”

Again, he doesn’t go into details. He survived. Stories of near-death are not uncommon among his peers, but they are impossible to fully explain if you’ve never experienced them.
“ There are other people who will understand. They’ve been there,” he says.

And he’s not just talking about high-octane hospital scenes. Lincoln’s referring to the indignity of having to wait for a handicapped bathroom stall while an able-bodied person uses it. Or automatic doors that are inoperable. Or the necessity of scheduling your day around handicapped-accessible public transportation.

“How come the trash gets to the dumpster quicker than a handicapped student can get to class?” he asks. “I’ll tell you why: it’s because people without disabilities use the elevators.”

He pauses to compose himself.

“We have a lot of work to do.”

To find out more about the MISFITS, you can log onto one of the webpages that Lincoln has set up: http://hccmisfits.googlepages.com or http://www.myspace.com/hccmisfits

HCC Forest Summit will look at Robinson State Forest logging plan

Gary Beluzo (left) and Bob Leverett, organizers of the Fourth Annual Forest Summit at HCC.

Students, staff, and anyone who’s ever marveled at the grandeur of a blushing maple tree are invited to HCC on Friday, October 27 for the fourth annual Forest Summit Lecture Series, 1 - 9 p.m. in the Leslie Phillips Forum.

This event features talks from ecologists, arborists, activists, and scientists of many stripes, all of them focused on the history, current status, and the future of northeast forests. From 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., there will be a panel discussion about the state’s plans to institute a logging plan at Robinson State Forest, an 800-acre park that straddles Agawam and Westfield.

Featured speakers include Lee Frelich of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Hardwood Ecology, Thomas Diggins, an ecology professor from Ohio’s Youngstown State University, Will Blozan, president of the Eastern Native Tree Society, and Matt Largess a Rhodes Island-based nature activist.

Conference organizer and HCC professor Gary Beluzo said he anticipates a spirited discussion about Robinson State Park, where environmentalists have clashed with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) over plans to log a portion of the land beginning sometime after the ground freezes this winter. Beluzo said ecologists visiting the park in the last few months have discovered many endangered species, rare plants, and a proliferation of trees.

In mid-September, Beluzo and his colleague, Bob Leverett, documented a State Champion black maple in the Robinson State Forest. The “State Champion” designation is given to trees which are the largest and tallest of their species in a particular state.

“ They (state officials) say they want to improve the health of the forest. They claim that some of the trees are diseased, and that, if you thin it out, you’ll be making room for more desirable trees,” he said. “But when you get into forest management, you are taking a system [nature] that has worked on auto pilot—a system that has adapted to the site—and you are opening up exotic species of pests.”

As an environmental scientist, Beluzo likes to remain neutral on policy debates. But even among his peers in the scientific community, the notion of silviculture is still hotly debated, he said.
“ The silviculturists started in Germany, and they believed it was possible for humans to create a tidy, pleasant forest by selectively planting trees that were economically preferential,” he said. “Not everyone thinks that’s the best way to go.”

Beluzo pointed out that when forests are thinned out by human beings, they become more hospitable to natural pests—plants and animals that might have otherwise remained on the periphery but which now can invade the landscape. He said that trees that are allowed to die and decompose naturally provide habitats for animals.

Before the state goes forward with its plans to log the park, Beluzo said, some activists would like to complete an ecological survey and analysis, so that the impact of the logging plan can be evaluated.

The Fourth Annual Forest Summit Lecture Series is co-sponsored by HCC, the Eastern Native Tree Society (ENTS), the Friends of the Mohawk Trail State Forest (FMTSF), the Massachusetts Audubon Society, the Forest Stewards Guild, and the Walnut Hill Tracking and Nature Center.

The road to HCC

In the coming months, the HCC Foundation, Inc. hopes to begin conversations with state officials about a proposal to improve access to and from campus.

Under discussion will be a proposal to build a new access road from the campus to Route 202 on 34.5 acres of land adjacent to The Kid’s Place. A draft application for a conservation management permit was submitted to the Natural Heritage and Endangered Species program during the first week in October, said Erica Broman, executive director of the HCC Foundation, Inc. The Foundation looks forward to hammering out the details with state environmental officials over the winter so that construction can begin in the spring.

“ The draft application outlines the many steps the college has taken to make sure that rare and endangered species are protected,” said Broman. “We are hopeful that the application will be approved.”

That draft includes plans to protect the woodlands surrounding a vernal pool. It also calls for the creation of speed bumps on the roadway to reduce traffic speed and culverts to provide wildlife with a safe means of traversing the property. The Foundation has also reduced from three to two the number of new office buildings proposed for the property and is offering 21.4 acres of the land, to be placed under a deeded conservation restriction, a provision that will protect it from further development.

The HCC Foundation began investigating the development of the parcel two years ago, but plans were put on hold so that all environmental concerns could be addressed. Broman said it was time well spent.

“ We think the application shows that we’re ready to address all concerns,” she said. “And we think there’s a great opportunity here to have businesses come to HCC, where they can enjoy the synergy of being so close to the Kittredge Center and all the resources a college campus can offer.”

HCC looks to the future at College PLanning Day

What do want to see happen at HCC next year?

That was the question posed to more than 130 faculty and staff at the HCC College Planning Day, held September 20.

The purpose of the event is the establishment of college-wide priorities that will guide HCC in creating a budget for the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1, 2007.

“ It’s a glimpse ahead, so you can link the budget to college priorities,” says Judith Turcotte, director of planning and assessment. “Because the [annual] budget is hard to predict, it’s important to have a list of priorities. It helps us to decide how to spend our resources when there isn’t as much as we’d like.”

The staff and faculty who attended the September 20 session broke up into 10 groups to brainstorm priorities for fiscal year 2008. Turcotte said the Long Range Planning Committee has been sifting through the results of those sessions and will come up with a new list of college priorities by the end of October. In the meantime, you can review the raw data from the September 20 session by logging onto the HCC intranet http://172.16.0.8/

In November of 2005, the college community approved the following fiscal year 2006 priorities:

1. Create a strong community through improved college-wide communication and increased participation in the governance process.

2. Hire and retain more full-time faculty and staff who reflect the diversity of the communities in our service area.

3. Support the recruitment, retention, and academic success of under-prepared students and under-represented students.

4. Increase outreach and collaboration with the city of Holyoke, particularly to foster enhanced educational opportunities for its Latino community.

5. Create a research-based, college-wide strategic enrollment management plan.

6. Foster an institution-wide culture of assessment with particular emphasis on student learning outcomes.

“ The Long Range Planning Committee recognizes the importance of evaluation and we’re working on a way to effectively assess the current year’s priorities,” said Turcotte.

That said, Turcotte noted that significant steps were taken to make the fiscal year 2006 priorities a reality. Among the highlights:

Priority 1: The Shared Governance Committee developed a draft of a proposed committee structure that provides for increased college-wide representation, and more integration of the committee structure with the senate (including ad hoc committees and task forces) so that the two work together effectively.

The college's Luminis communications portal, which provides users with access to a number of communication tools, is complete and staff is in the process of being trained to use it.

Priority 2: The number of benefited employees of color has increased from 54 to 66, an increase of 22.22 percent. Overall, benefited employees of color now account for 17.05 percent of the entire HCC workforce, up from 14.48 percent a year ago.

The Council for Community, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (formally the Affirmative Action Committee) developed recommendations to improve the hiring process and will devote the next academic year developing recommendations to improve retention of faculty and staff.

Priority 3: More than 170 students and their families participated in The ¡Avanza! 2 College program, a collaboration with Holyoke High School, Dean Vocational-Technical High School and HCC to increase access to higher education for Holyoke public school students.

More than 120 students from five high schools in Springfield enrolled in the Early College High School, an alternative high school program that runs in partnership with Springfield Public Schools, Commonwealth Corporation, and Holyoke Community College.

Priority 4: Through ¡Avanza! and other initiatives, the college continues to work with several community-based organizations and services to increase access for Latino students.

Priority 5: The college has established a Strategic Enrollment Management Team and enrollment reports have been revised to provide more refined data about enrollment trends.

Priority 6: The college has embarked on two initiatives, the Foundations of Excellence Project and the Student Learning Outcomes Committee (SLOC), both of which are focused on improving the experience of all HCC students.

Campus Briefs

HCC grad recognized by Wall Street Journal

Tech Prep brings in a record number of students to HCC

More than 400 HCC students can trace their connection to the college to the Tech Prep program, according to figures released by Vice President for Business and Community Services Jeffrey Hayden.

According to Hayden, 415 students gained their first glimpse of HCC’s many programs through participation in the Tech Prep program. That program allows high school juniors and seniors from 17 schools to receive college credit at HCC for eligible high school courses. While at HCC, Tech Prep students also complete a work-based learning component as a part of their degree concentration.

Tech Prep Coordinator Terri Howard reports that there are 33 percent more Tech Prep students at HCC this fall than there were last year.

A warm welcome to new HCC staff

There are a number of new faces in the classrooms, offices, and halls. Please give a warm hello to the following new hires:

• Sharon Wetherby, pharmacy instructor
• Alejandro Sanchez, criminal justice instructor
• Nathan Mercer, math instructor
• Eric Heinzman, math instructor
• Stephanie Easler, assistant professor in biology and health & fitness
• Mary Orisich, economics instructor
• Nicole Hendricks, criminal justice instructor
• Yan Dong, assistant professor of biology
• Sara Jonsberg, assistant professor of English
• Camille Close, librarian

Notices

Learn about college initiatives

If you are curious about the projects that HCC is developing to further its mission, there’s a new link on the HCC website to keep you up to date. The “College Initiatives” link will update you on the Foundations of Excellence Project, the Shared Governance Project, and the Task Force on Free Speech and Civil Discourse.

The link is on the HCC main webpage (www.hcc.edu)

To get directly to the page right now, just click http://www.hcc.edu/2006CollegeInitiatives.htm

The Task Force on Free Speech and Civil Discourse is seeking feedback on the recommendations included in the Report of the Independent Commission on Free Speech and Civility. The entire report and a summary are included at this site along with an email address for the Task Force.

Every three minutes

Did you know that every three minutes a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer? And that breast cancer is the second leading cause of death in women? (Heart disease is first.) Did you know that men are also at risk for breast cancer?

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The Human Services and Psychology Club will mark this by raising money for the local Rays of Hope Walk, to be held on October 29, in Springfield. For more information visit the Bay State Health website www.baystatehealth.com/raysofhope

The club will be selling a variety of themed items, such as pink ribbon carabiner key chains and hand-crafted pink-and-white breast cancer bracelets. There will also be handcrafted pins created by Designs by Lucinda.

On October 4, and 5, 10 a.m. - 1 p.m., there will be tables outside of the Welcome Center in the Frost Building and in the Student Lounge, on the first floor between the Frost and Donahue buildings. Please stop by to show your support for Breast Cancer Awareness and Support.

Moving on from HCC

The HCC Transfer Office will host the annual College Transfer Fair, Wednesday, October 11, from 10 a.m. to noon in the HCC cafeteria. There will representatives from more than 50 colleges available to give students information about potential transfer opportunities. There are also a number of colleges that have scheduled individual campus visits, and the list of colleges and dates are posted in the Welcome Center, Frost 221.

Any students who are considering transferring or who have questions about the process are invited to this event. They can also visit with Transfer Affairs Director Mark Broadbent or stop by stop by the Welcome Center, (413) 552-2000, to set up an appointment.

HCC Connection is published every other Tuesday (or thereabouts) and is distributed to the campus community, and friends of the college, and local media.

To be added to our email distribution list, please email: Kimberly Wilson, kwilson@hcc.mass.edu
To submit campus event information for inclusion in HCC Connection, email Natalia Munoz, nmunoz@hcc.mass.eduwith details including date, time, location, cost if any, open to public or not, web links (if appropriate) and contact information (name, phone number, and email). Deadline: end of day Friday before publication.

Natalia Munoz
Assistant Director of Marketing and Public Relations
Holyoke Community College
Phone: (413) 552-2183 Fax: (413) 552-2479
cell: (413) 348-8515 (emergency)
nmunoz@hcc.mass.edunmunoz@hcc.mass.edu
Holyoke Community College is the Commonwealth’s oldest community college, serving almost 9,000 students annually in 82 associate degree options and 42 certificate programs, and over 4,000 in noncredit and workforce development courses. The college has the highest transfer rate of any community college statewide, holding articulation agreements with 27 colleges and universities. Recognized for its Honors Program, distance learning curriculum, learning communities, and service to students, HCC anticipates opening its state of-the-art Kittredge Business Center in Spring 2006.