TO: Members of the Board of Trustees Chancellor Kathleen F. Burke, Ed.D.

FROM: Dr. Elliot Stern, President

SUBJECT: Report for March 25, 2019 Board of Trustees Meeting

Saddleback College Works to Alleviate Non-Academic Barriers for Students A recently-released survey by the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office and the Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice reveals that more than half the students attending a community college in the state face food insecurity, and nearly one in five are either homeless or don’t have a stable place to live. The college is already well ahead in addressing these non-academic barriers for students: the gymnasium and Student Health Center allow students to shower, and the Student Health Center provides health and mental health services, enrollment in CAL Fresh, a farmer’s market on the first and third Wednesdays of every month, meal vouchers, a food pantry, a second-hand clothing store (opening soon), and free meals for 500 students per week in the Tutoring Center. Further, the SEP program and EOPS provide grocery cards based on financial aid eligibility, and emergency funds are available from the foundation for housing, food, and transportation. We will continue to look for gaps in our services to provide for our students’ most basic needs and find creative solutions that don’t impact the college budget.

Classroom Security Update Campus police and facilities and maintenance are working together to provide every classroom on campus with lock down magnetic strips that will enable faculty to lock their classroom doors in the event of an active shooter or similar emergency. This is an interim but effective solution as we work to launch a fully-automated lock down system in every building on our campus. Facilities and maintenance has piloted the magnetic strips with several faculty, who have confirmed they are simple to use and very effective. A training video and instructions will be provided via email to all employees when the magnetic strips are delivered to ensure that every employee knows how to use them if we are presented with such a situation.

Again, this is an interim solution as we implement a state-of-the-art automated lockdown system in every campus building by January 31, 2020. The process starts immediately, with a testing phase in our police department, technology services, and central plant, areas which are similar in door make and allow for system inspections without impacting instruction. After the testing phase, we will incrementally launch the system in BGS and the Student Services Center; Health Sciences and AGB; Fine Arts; and PE and Math, Science, and Engineering. The system is already installed in the new Sciences Building and the M1 and M2 Buildings on lower campus. When fully implemented, we will be the first community college in the state to have such an advanced campus-wide lockdown system in place.

Nursing Department Welcomes Accreditation Visiting Team During the last week of February, the nursing department welcomed a visiting team of the Accrediting

Commission for Education in Nursing, and the response was overwhelming positive. The preliminary findings show that the department is in full compliance with all standards, and if the findings are upheld, the nursing program will be granted ongoing accreditation for eight years. The visiting team raved about the program and its dedicated faculty, staff, and leadership, and the team chair said the department’s self-study was the best she had ever seen. The college’s student support programs were also noted as an area of strength for the program. Kudos to Diane Pestolesi, Acting Assistant Dean Barbara Huggins, and Assistant Nursing Program Directors/Co-Chairs Jodi Caggiano and Anne Lawson for their excellent work and leadership!

National Convening of the NSF INCLUDES Alliance STEM Core Saddleback is the first community college in the nation to lead an NSF INCLUDES (Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science) Alliance, and was awarded a $9.9 million collaborative research award to assist the scientific community in its effort to make science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and career pathways more widely inclusive of minority groups. In the first year of the Alliance, over 1,000 students have participated in a STEM Core cohort, and over 200 internship opportunities have been identified for these students.

The Saddleback College NSF INCLUDES Alliance STEM Core Expansion National Convening was held at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park on March 8. The focus of this year’s national convening was on strengthening STEM Core pathways to the tech economy and was attended by over 100 faculty, counselors, student support specialists, employer partners, and stake holders from across the country. The keynote address was given by the honorable James Campos, Director of the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity at the U.S. Department of Energy, who reiterated the Department’s commitment to building a diverse community college STEM pipeline for the national laboratories. Employer partners provided information about the number of middle skill technical jobs available for community college graduates and completers at their companies which include Northrop Grumman, Caltrans, and the national laboratories. The need for colleges to quickly respond to workforce demands in STEM fields was emphasized in the California economic sector analysis of skills and labor provided by Rob Sentz, Chief Innovation Officer at EMSI. Attendees were treated to a dynamic presentation by Jo Boaler, Stanford University Professor of Mathematics Education, about mathematical mindsets and innovative teaching.

For more information about the National Stem Core, please see the website at www.stemcore.org.

Saddleback College Students Submit System Acceptance Review for University Rover Challenge Twenty-two Saddleback College students, who call themselves SC Robotics, have completed the second step for acceptance into the University Rover Challenge. This competition, sponsored by the Mars Society, was established in 2007 and attracts student groups from universities worldwide. This year there are 82 teams representing 13 countries. Soon, the judges will post the list for those teams that will compete at the Mars Desert Research Station near Hanksville, UT from May 30 - June 1. Last year 36 teams were selected.

At this time, it appears that SC Robotics is the only two-year institution in this competition.

The project is entirely student driven, with advice from five faculty advisors, and is funded by Associated Student Government and the Saddleback College Foundation

Competition includes a wide range of universities including Stanford, Cornell, UC Berkeley, Rensselaer Polytech, Stony Brook University, UC San Diego, Arizona State University, and CSU Fullerton.

Contract Education Update The college’s economic and workforce development office delivers customized training solutions to business and industry. The not-for-credit, fee based, contract education offerings are of great benefit to area employers and the cost of the training is often subsidized through funds from the California Employment Training Panel (ETP).

This fiscal year alone we have delivered training to companies that include Herbalife Nutrition, 3M, Freedom Innovations, Astronics Test Systems, and Tenacore Holdings among others. We are scheduled to deliver training to global leaders that include; B. Braun Medical, Alcon, and Converse.

We are pleased to announce that we have obtained Amazon as our newest client! Amazon has been approved to have the training subsidized by the ETP. Saddleback College will deliver training in Lean Six Sigma that will include Yellow Belt, Green Belt, and Black Belt certification. Three hundred ten (310) of Amazon’s employees will participate in this training over the next two years. The contract alone will generate $326,000 to $450,000 in gross revenue for the Economic & Workforce Development and Business Science Division.

Our customized training services represent an entrepreneurial response at the local level that can significantly respond to the needs of business, industry, and government to prepare the workforce to be competitive in an increasingly competitive global market. Through training and consulting services, Saddleback College’s Economic and Workforce Development initiative delivers in-demand solutions needed by businesses to meet their workforce development challenges that will affect their economic success.

Industrial Automation Open House Saddleback College’s economic and workforce development office, in partnership with FANUC America, held an Industrial Automation Open house on February 28 and March 1 at FANUC’s Lake Forest facility. The target audience was high school instructors and Orange/LA County College faculty that have a manufacturing/robotics/electronics program. We also invited industry partners B. Braun Medical and Futek Advanced Sensor Technology to participate as they use industrial automation in their manufacturing processes.

The intent of this event was to increase industrial automation awareness, to increase the education sector program offerings to meet the industry workforce needs, and to ultimately strengthen and grow the advanced manufacturing industry sector in Orange County.

We had 46 high school and college/university faculty attend from all over Southern California. The event was so successful that we received a great deal of positive feedback for attendees and industry partners that FANUC wants to make this an annual event. FANUC is the world leader in robotics, CNC systems and factory automation.

Graphic Design Class Lands Cover of TechDirections Magazine The graphic design class on vehicle wrapping landed a cover story in the recent edition of TechDirections Magazine. The three-page, in-depth article focuses on the class that started in 2017 with just seven students and grew to 27 students in fall 2018. Instructor Mark Podolak is extensively quoted and explains how he designed the curriculum to be hands-on from the first day of class. He describes in detail the training provided to students on various types of equipment and methods in vehicle wrapping. Further, Podolak brings guest speakers to discuss careers in vehicle wraps and sign making, ensuring the students are focused on their futures. Congratulations to the graphic design department and the division of advanced technology and applied science for the well-deserved spotlight!

Athletics Update One hundred fifty-nine of the college’s 301 student-athletes were named to the Athletic Honor Roll after grades were posted for the Fall 2018 semester, including a school-record 34 student-athletes with a perfect 4.00 grade point average. The 159 student-athletes represent almost 53 percent of the student- athletes at Saddleback College this year. In order to make the honor roll, student-athletes must have passed at least 12 units during the fall 2018 semester with a 3.00 GPA or higher and finished the season in good standing.

In addition to the honor roll list, eight of the college’s 10 fall semester athletic teams posted an overall team grade point average of 3.0 or higher and will be nominated for Orange Empire Conference and California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) scholar-team awards. The women’s volleyball team leads the list, posting a best-ever team GPA of 3.46. The women’s golf team follows closely with a 3.44 average team GPA, marking the sixth consecutive year the golfers have surpassed the 3.00 benchmark. Women’s water polo came in with a 3.40 team GPA. Women’s soccer (3.14), women’s cross country (3.14), men’s basketball (3.12), women’s basketball (3.08) and men’s cross country (3.04) also qualified for scholar-team recognition.

Congratulations to the men’s basketball team, which won the Orange Empire Conference title with a 69- 65 win over last Friday night, finishing the season with a 19-9 record overall and 10-2 in Orange Empire Conference play. This was the first OEC title for the Gauchos since the 2015-2016 season and the seventh in the 11 years that Andy Ground has been the head coach. All five starters earned all-conference honors, including the conference MVP, and Coach Ground was named conference co-Coach of the Year!

The women’s basketball team also finished the season strong, with a 61-53 victory over last Friday night, finishing the season 6-18 overall and 3-9 in Orange Empire Conference play, giving the team a sixth place finish.

Fine Arts and Media Technology Update Grammy Award-winning trumpeter and composer John Daversa headlined Jazz Day at Saddleback College on Saturday, February 23. More than 100 students from El Toro, Northwood, and Irvine high schools spent the day learning, listening, and riffing in masterclasses with Daversa, Jazz Studies director Joey Sellers, and other Saddleback jazz faculty.

Daversa brought his award-winning music to Saddleback College’s McKinney Theatre in a special Jazz Day performance on Saturday evening, playing with the Saddleback College Big Band, to a nearly sold- out house of enthralled jazz enthusiasts – who Sellers anointed “members of Saddleback’s jazz community.” The concert featured music from his most recent recording, “American Dreamers: Voices of Hope, Music of Freedom,” which won in every category for which it was nominated: Best Large Jazz Ensemble, Best Instrumental Arrangement (on “Stars and Stripes Forever”) and Best Improvised Jazz Solo (on “Don’t Fence Me In”).

Daversa shared with the McKinney Theatre audience his desire to seek out Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA/Dream Act) students across America and how this quest led to his trifecta at last month’s Grammy Awards. His winning record featured 53 “dreamers” brought to America from 17 foreign countries, now living and studying in 17 states from California to Washington, DC.

The Saddleback College Big Band were outstanding stand-ins for the “Dreamers” who performed the original numbers. The Big Band “Swing Thing” was held at 7:00 pm at McKinney Theatre on March 8. Guests danced with the Big Band as they recreated authentic Swing Era music from the 1930s through

the 1950s under the direction of Joey Sellers.

Jazz Vocalist Lara Solnicki brought her unique treatment of standard material to us on March 11, along with one of the most highly regarded pianists on the West Coast, Jeremy Siskind. Honored as a "world class jazz singer" for her "spellbinding voice" and "boldly unique style" (−Everett. R. Davis, All About Jazz), New York based, Canadian jazz vocalist, composer, and poet Lara Solnicki has performed with many of Canada's finest musicians, garnering rave reviews from four continents.

The Saddleback College Wind Ensemble performed on March 15 in concert under the direction of Georgios Kouritas. The Wind Ensemble performed: Irish Tune from County Derry and Shepherd's Hey, by Grainger; Overture in B flat, by Giovannini; It's Broadway, arranged by Edison; 4900 Walnut Grove, by Hale; Cantus Choralis and Fugue, by Mendelssohn, arranged by Brunelli; and Elegy and Fanfare, March, by Nixon.

The coming of springtime was celebrated with a concert on March 16 by the Saddleback College Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Dr. Georgios Kouritas. Pieces performed included: Beethoven Symphony No. 5; Saint Saens Piano Concerto; and Schumann Piano Concerto.

The Saddleback College Chorale and Chamber Singers presented a concert on March 16 that featured works by Mozart, Bach, Mendelssohn, and Haydn.

Respectfully Submitted,

Elliot Stern President