President's Cluster

LOS ANGELES HARBOR COLLEGE

PRESIDENT'S CLUSTER COMMITTEE

DRAFT MINUTES

5 May 2009

2:00 pm

President's Conference Room, SSA 214

PRESENT: L. Spink, I. Clarke, J. Lee (co-chair), B. McNeel, A. Patterson, L. Rosas, I. Clarke, B. Richards, A. Tomlinson, R. VanDinther, C. Mussa-Muldoon, E. Reigados, J. Naranjo, E. Joiner

ABSENT: L. McKenzie

Meeting called to order at 2;10 pm; J. Lee presiding.

1. Acceptance of Agenda

Agenda changed; items 3 and 4 swapped, items 5, 6, 7 shelved for next meeting. Agenda now reads:

Acceptance of Agenda
Acceptance of minutes: 5/14/08, 8/27/08
OmniUpdate renewal
April, 2009 External Scan
Public comment time

2. Acceptance of minutes: 5/14/08, 8/27/08

Minutes accepted as presented.

3. OmniUpdate Renewal

J. Lee and R. Vandinther discussed the history of and the renewal of the licenses for OmniUpdate, the software used for the college website. The licenses, originally paid for by the district, are now the responsibility of the individual colleges; we have 25 licenses at $100 a year, and the cost for the Omnipedia system is $12,500. J. Lee and R. Vandinther are committed to the system and feel it is in the best interests of the college to continue using it. It has been decided to renew the licenses; the rest of the colleges in the district are doing so, as well, and there is the possibility that the district may cover the cost, possibly out of Measure J.

4. April, 2009 Environmental Scan

B. Richards distributed the Environmental Scan and Planning calendar, and discussed the calendar; by the end of this semester the Educational Master Plan should be completed. The President's Cluster has to produce Unit Plans for: Research & Planning, Economic and Workforce Development, Marketing, Center for Occupational Advancement. Discussion included:

- Foundation, as a separate 501c3, will not be included in the President's cluster Unit Plan
- Use of a uniform template for cluster plans; unit plans may be in different formats

Dr. Humphreys distributed Questions on the Environmental Scan.

The Environmental Scan was reviewed and discussed:

Slide 3: we are now a college of 10,000. For next year's plan, how do we address more with less? Viability reviews for programs are needed.
Slide 4: there are no projections about what jobs are going to grow in the next 10 years. Construction and manufacturing loses the most jobs; education and health care, mining, logging and government are growing. Our petroleum programs are part of the mining and logging industries. Culinary Arts should be moved forward.
Slide 4: education is a key factor in the unemployment rate. Short term certificates and short-term vocational programs were discussed, as well as vocational programs offered by community services. These latter are not dependent on start of term dates, as culinary arts or the PPT programs are. Advertising is important. Other suggestions included: job fair, career/college day, offering range of services from classes to career advancement.
Slide 13: based on age breakdown of students and service area, we are not the college of choice for older people who need re-training. Suggestions included: we need to reach out to business and industry in the area to retrain their workers; offering life credit for life experience; need to convey to community how they can benefit from a community college, even if they have a degree (post-graduate degrees included). The population in our area is growing older, fewer traditional college-age students will be coming our way in 1 - 2 years.
Slide 14: White non-Hispanic and African American student population is declining.
Slide 16: ethnicity of community and our students are closely matched.
Slide 23: student use of the internet for classes, homework, checking grades, etc. Online advertising was suggested.
Slide 25: nature of incoming generation of students: multi-taskers, not happy sitting in a classroom for 90 minutes. Suggestion: make this a technological destination for students and the community; the challenge there is a certain portion of the faculty is technology and change resistant.
Slide 29: the 110 freeway is the port we draw students from.
Slide 30: competition with other colleges for high school students.

5. Public comment time

No public comment.

Meeting adjourned 3:40 pm