Campus Connections - Klamath Community College

Campus Connections
Klamath Community College Newsletter
Dr. Roberto Gutierrez takes over as KCC’s fourth President
Dr. Roberto Gutierrez has
come full circle. After starting his
post-secondary education at a community college, the one-time high
school dropout is now heading a
community college, the culmination of a long-term goal. “I feel like
I am at home,” Dr. Gutierrez said,
referring to both a return to the west
coast and his comfort with community colleges. “I truly am passionate
about the community college system. This is a uniquely American
system, and without it, I would not
be where I am today.”
Dr. Gutierrez has been an
educator for more than 25 years, beginning his higher education career
as a faculty member before being
named a branch campus director,
dean, and, most recently, vice president for academic affairs at Rhodes
State College in Lima, Ohio. “Education is very important to me,” he
said. “All of us—from myself to
faculty members, staff, everyone at
the college—are in the business of
changing people’s lives. That’s not
an overstatement, and it’s very important that we realize the impact
we can have on individuals.”
Born in Texas, Dr. Gutierrez
moved to Washington at a young
age. “I’ve always considered the
Northwest my home,” he said. Having previously attended and worked
at colleges in Washington and Oregon, Dr. Gutierrez is happy to be
back in the Northwest following a
three year stint at Rhodes State College in Ohio. “My children and my
grandchildren all live on the west
coast. It’s very nice to be back in
the region,” he said. In addition to
his roots and academic and professional connections to Washington,
Dr. Gutierrez has ties to Oregon
as well, having earned a Doctor of
Education from Oregon State University.
That terminal degree followed previous academic work that
saw Dr. Gutierrez earn an Associate of Arts from Columbia Basin
Community College, a Bachelor of
Arts from Washington State Uni-
Dr. Roberto Gutierrez was selected as KCC President following a
nationwide search last spring.
versity and a Master of Education
from Heritage University. “But it all
started with a community college,”
he stressed. “I still remember when
I first stepped onto a community
college campus. I didn’t know if I
See PRESIDENT, page 2
Student Services employees, faculty and other staff members
have been hard at work this year
planning and implementing new
programs designed to improve and
build upon previous student success
initiatives. A handful of these new
programs are being offered for the
first time this summer, including
mandatory new student orientation
and the Running Start Bridge Program.
For the first time, new KCC
students must attend orientation
before being able to enroll in fall
term classes. This is a change from
previous years, when new student
orientation was optional, but not
required. “It’s all about retention,”
said Vice President of Student Services Julie Murray-Jensen. “Under
the old model, only about 50 percent of our incoming students were
attending orientation. That means
half of our new students were missing out on the vital information and
services that are offered during orientation. We need to do everything
we can to ensure that every student
is set up for success, and this is one
means to achieve that goal.”
The new, mandatory orientation takes place over two days and
is scheduled multiple times prior to
the start of fall term. It offers incoming students an overview of college
resources, tips for success, financial
aid information, placement exam,
See SUCCESS, page 3
New student success programs implemented this summer
Volume I, Issue 1
Page 2
PRESIDENT, from page 1
would fit in—if I belonged. The first
person I spoke with was so nice, so
welcoming, that I knew I was in the
right place. I eventually earned my
GED, which got me started in my academic career. Who knows, though?
If that first interaction would have
gone differently, I may have left and
never returned.” It’s that memory
that largely drives Dr. Gutierrez’s
student-centered philosophy. “We
are here for the students,” he said.
“Each and every one of us is in a
position to assist and serve our students. We can’t lose sight of that.”
Dr. Gutierrez officially began working for Klamath Community College June 10, which enabled him to attend the Achieving
the Dream (ATD) kickoff with other
ATD Core Team members from June
10 – 13 in Portland. He officially
took over presidential duties from
Gerald Hamilton on July 1. During his first few weeks as President,
Dr. Gutierrez has spent a lot of time
meeting with faculty and staff members and listening. “I’m the new guy
here. I’ve got a lot to learn about this
community and this institution,” he
said. “I want to hear what ideas and
concerns others have.”
That’s not to imply that no
decisions have yet been made. Already Dr. Gutierrez has implemented a few changes, including not
filling the vacant Dean of Instruction position, restoring the CNA
fulltime faculty position, restoring
the cashier position and other organizational changes. “I’ve received
a lot of feedback, and after getting
information from my cabinet and
others, I think these will be positive
changes for the college,” he said.
In additon to internal meetings with faculty and staff, Dr. Gutierrez has held meetings with many
community members and organizations, with plans to meet with many
more in coming weeks.
Dr. Gutierrez and his wife,
Tessa, a retired educator herself,
have four children; Ernie, Rob,
Monica and Maria. Three are educators in Washington, one an aerospace engineer in Southern California. They have three grandchildren,
Selah, Malachi and Roberto V.
Foundation golf
The Klamath Community
College Foundation held it’s annual
golf tournament July 21 at Reames
Golf and Country Club. The tournament, which was held at Reames for
the first time in its seven-year history, featured 13 teams, 22 hole sponsors and hole-in-one sponsorships
from Holliday Jewelry and Cascade
Auto Group.
More than 25 raffle prizes
were given away and the top three
teams received free rounds of golf
from local and regional golf courses.
This year’s tournament featured a three-way tie for first place,
as teams organized by Steve Tippin,
Todd Flocchini and Don Scheffler
all shared in that honor.
Special thanks go out to
recent KCC graduates Mark Allen and Monica Swearingen, who
volunteered at the event, as well
as staff members Renée Ferguson,
Terri Armstrong and Dana Henry.
The tournament was organized by
the foundation’s golf committee.
Compliance with new tobacco use policy high
Compliance with Klamath
Community College’s new smoking and tobacco use policy is high,
according to campus safety specialist Dennis Narron. The policy (No.
750.0200), which was approved by
the Board of Education during its
March meeting, went into effect
June 25 with the start of summer
term.
“We’ve been issuing verbal
warnings and providing smokers
with a copy of the board policy and
a map of the designated smoking areas,” Narron said. Although Narron
stressed that safety officers want to
work with students and move all
smoking activity into designated
areas, the policy does give officers
the authority to issue citations when
necessary. “Based upon the circumstances, KCC Safety Officer(s) may
issue a verbal warning or issue a citation,” the policy’s compliance procedures read. “If a violation of these
rules is committed, a $25 citation
may be issued and when applicable,
placed on a student’s account.” But
according to Narron, that possibility
has not yet come into play. “So far,
everyone has been very cooperative
and there has been no need to issue
citations,” he said.
The policy was the result of
months of research and hard work.
“This policy is our attempt to find
a middle ground,” said Vice President of Student Services Julie Murray-Jensen. “The intent was to protect the rights of both smokers and
non-smokers while simultaneously
promoting a healthy campus environment.”
In addition to the five designated smoking areas, the policy
allows individuals to smoke inside
their own personal vehicles as long
as all lighted smoking materials
are completely and properly extinguished before exiting the vehicle.
See COMPLIANCE, page 4
Klamath Community College is an Equal Opportunity Educator & Employer
Page 3
SUCCESS, from page 1
class registration and an opportunity to connect with college staff and
faculty, as well as fellow students.
It’s not just incoming students who have new tools for success. Returning students now have
an opportunity to take part in KCC’s
first ever Running Start Bridge
Program, which will take place in
mid-September and offer students
an opportunity to review material
from MTH 10, 20, 70 and 95; WRI
95 and 121; LGS 80 and computer
courses as they prepare to start fall
term. The program takes place three
hours per day over a three-day period September 10 – 12. “There is
really a dual objective for this program,” Murray-Jensen said. “We are
not only setting returning students
up for success by giving them a
chance to review materials they’ve
already learned, but new students
can sign up for this program as well
and retake their placement test upon
completion. We are hoping they will
take advantage of that and improve
their placement before fall term begins.” According to Murray-Jensen,
the program is building on the prior
success of Bill Jennings’ math boot
camp, which has previously been
offered as fall term approaches.
The Running Start Bridge
Program is open to all students. The
program is co-sponsored by TRiO,
which has a bridge program of its
own this summer. For the second
consecutive year, the TRiO Summer
Bridge Program is being offered to
incoming TRiO students. Students
enroll in the program after taking
their placement test during orientation. After a week of intensive instruction in mathematics, writing
and other topics, students re-test
with the goal of improving their initial placement. TRiO manager Jane
Board Chair named
to OCCA committee
TRiO manager Jane Reeder addresses last year’s Summer Bridge
participants.
Reeder hopes to build off of last
year’s success, which saw 70 percent of participants improve their
placement in at least one category.
“Although improving placement is a primary goal of the program, we offer a lot of additional information that students should find
beneficial,” Reeder said. “Everyone
attending the TRiO Summer Bridge
Program will receive instruction on
college success, financial aid, career advice and student responsibility.” The various services offered to
TRiO students appear to be working. To date, TRiO students have
achieved a GPA of 3.04 during the
2011-2012 academic year. NonTRiO students have averaged a 2.75
GPA this year.
“It is really a pleasure to see
how well our faculty has bought into
this program,” Reeder said. “They
have been great about sending early
alerts for TRiO students and making
sure that we are kept up-to-date on
what our students are doing in the
classroom.”
Klamath Community College Board of Education Chair Dave
Jensen has been appointed as a member-at-large to the Oregon Community College Association Executive Committee. The eight-member
committee works with OCCA staff
to drive state educational policy in
a direction that benefits community colleges by communicating and
working with legislators and other
policy makers.
Jensen is pleased to have
an opportunity to help shape state
policy. “We are likely facing some
real changes in the way education
is funded in Oregon,” he said. “It’s
important that we be involved in
that discussion and be proactive in
how we attain that funding.”
As yet, Jensen’s involvement in the committee has been
somewhat minimal “We’ve had
one workshop—the OCCA Board
Development Workshop in Silverton back in July,” he said. But with
activity ramping up in September,
Jensen is ready to begin becoming
more involved as soon as possible.
“One thing that’s really exciting is
the opportunity we have right now
as a community college system,”
Jensen said. “The governor’s 40-4020 initiative is ambitious, but community colleges have a real chance
to achieve that goal. We can be the
shining star in the state’s education system, but it’s not going to be
easy.”
Jensen has committed to his
appointment for one year, but could
end up serving longer than that. “If I
think that my involvement is a benefit to the state’s community colleges in general and to KCC
See COMMITTEE, page 4
Klamath Community College is an Equal Opportunity Educator & Employer
Page 4
COMPLIANCE, from page 2
It pertains to all tobacco, “including cigarettes, cigars, pipes, or electronic cigarette devices” as well as
smokeless tobacco.
With fall term on the horizon and hundreds of new students
expected on campus, Narron and his
staff are preparing to work with students who may not be aware of the
policy. “We’ll approach fall term the
same way we’ve handled summer
term,” he said. “That means we’ll
be giving verbal warnings, handing
out information, and moving people
to designated smoking areas. Hopefully everyone this fall is as cooperative as students have been so far
this summer.”
The policy does not apply
to just students, faculty and staff
must comply as well: “compliance
with KCC rules and regulations is
considered a standard part of job
performance for all employees,” the
policy reads. “If a violation of these
rules is committed by a KCC staff
or faculty member, the matter will
be referred to Human Resources.”
Designated smoking areas
are located outside of Buildings 1
and 3, south of Building 4, south of
Building 5 and west of Building 6.
Upcoming Events
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Final exams, August 20 - 24.
Last day of summer term, August 24.
Applications for Automotive
and Diesel Technology due, August 24.
Board of Education meeting,
August 28, KCC Boardroom.
Labor Day holiday, campus
closed: September 3.
Running Start Bridge Program,
September 10 - 12.
All Staff convocation, Sept. 17.
Fall term classes begin, September 24.
Economic impact report forthcoming
A new report from Economic
Modeling Specialists, Inc. (EMSI)
outlining the economic impact of
Klamath Community College on its
students and service district will be
released soon.
The report, entitled “The
Economic Contributions of Klamath Community College,” details
the role that the college plays in
promoting economic development,
enhancing students’ careers and improving quality of life.
Highlights of the EMSI report include return on investment
analysis for both individual students and taxpayers, as well as economic growth analysis regarding
the amount of income generated by
KCC operations and added regional
income due to the higher earnings
of students and increased output of
businesses in the Klamath Community College Service District.
The report indicates that
both students and taxpayers receive
a great return on investment for dollars spent at KCC, and that KCC is
a major contibutor to the economic
growth and vitality of its district.
“The results of this study demonstrate that KCC is a sound investment from multiple perspectives,”
the report reads. “The college enriches the lives of students and increases their lifetime incomes. It
benefits taxpayers by generating
increased tax revenues from an enlarged economy and reducing the
demand for taxpayer-supported social services. Finally, it contributes
to the vitality of both the local and
state economies.”
Details from the report
should be available for print in the
next issue of Campus Connections,
due in September.
COMMITTEE, from page 3
specifically, then I’ll stay on the executive committee as long as they
ask me to,” he said. “But if I don’t
think there are benefits, or if it interferes with my work on the KCC
Board, I’ll reevaluate.” That said,
Jensen does not anticipate that there
will be any negative impacts from
his position on the committee. “For
the most part, only good things can
come from involvement, from being
active.”
The Oregon Community
College Association has a mission
to “advocate, communicate and
collaborate in order to strengthen
community colleges for the benefit of Oregonians.” In addition to
Jensen, the Executive Committee
includes community college board
members Judith Ervin (Clackamas),
Kevin Talbert (Rogue), Ernie Keller
(Columbia Gorge) and Ed Dodson
(Chemeketa) as well as college
presidents Larry Galizio (Clatsop),
Greg Harmann (Linn-Benton) and
Peter Angstadt (Rogue).
If you have an idea for a future story in Campus Connections, please
contact Ryan Brown at extension 225 or via email at brownr@
klamathcc.edu.
Klamath Community College is an Equal Opportunity Educator & Employer