May 2008

Message from the Chancellor

Public higher education in Arizona faces ongoing funding challenges that continue to impact how we approach the strategic planning of our institution. In April, the Arizona Legislature passed a balanced state budget for FY08. While having little impact on the College this year, we can expect greater challenges to our state funding next fiscal year, as the Arizona Legislature addresses another difficult year ahead with the state's FY09 budget.

Downturns in the local economy, in specific industries like housing and construction, may also affect a vital source of the College's projected revenue from assessed property valuations. While the overall impact is not yet fully known, these economic realities will have an effect on all public agencies until economic factors at the state and local levels improve.

Our challenge as an institution of higher learning is to continue to make the case, to lawmakers and to all those we serve, that higher education is crucial to Arizona's long-term prosperity and workforce competitiveness. Pima Community College is well poised to adapt and respond quickly to the economic challenges ahead.

Effective strategic planning requires strong support at every level of our institution. Part of our responsibility as a public institution is to ensure the College has a well thought out strategic plan for the future. The 2008 - 2011 Pima Community College Plan will help us improve our operations and services to students, manage public funds wisely and responsibly, and continue to offer top-quality programs from some of the most qualified and dedicated faculty and staff in the nation.

College Plan 2008 - 2011

Improving instruction, strengthening institutional effectiveness, and increasing student success, while creating the foundations for creativity and innovation -- these are the central components of the Pima Community College Plan for the next three years.

The 2008 - 2011 College Plan is our roadmap to address the most difficult and important issues facing our institution. This plan identifies seven initiatives, 38 strategies, and 195 specific action items the College will focus on over a three-year period.

Major elements of this plan are aligned with specific institution-wide preparations for the College's scheduled national reaccreditation in 2010. All of the plan's elements address our mission to develop our community through learning, as well as our fiduciary responsibilities as a public institution.

The College Plan is a result of a rigorous process of data collection and discussions held with expert panelists, faculty, students, staff and administrators, and participants from the community -- who all have a stake in the future of this institution. It is designed to create the foundations for change and will make the College more nimble in meeting Southern Arizona's diverse educational challenges.

The College Plan will help us integrate consistency across our operations, while streamlining our system-wide procedures through the use of technology. It will also help the institution create more effective learning environments by delivering educational programs in ways that are more responsive to the needs of students while emphasizing overall student success.

I urge you to take a look at the 2008 - 2011 College Plan in greater detail on our website. The document serves as Pima Community College's direction for the future, and identifies how the institution plans to best support the personal and professional aspirations of the people we serve.

College Update

The College is making strides in providing high-demand educational opportunities to underserved students through a $5.4 million federal Title V grant awarded to the West and Desert Vista Campuses. The multi-campus federal grant from the U.S. Department of Education, allocated for five years, is the largest in PCC's history.

On the West Campus, the Title V award has allowed the College to build a high tech simulation laboratory for nursing and allied health students, as well as make upgrades to current facilities. The state-of-the-art laboratories provide students with a dynamic learning environment, comparable to a hospital intensive care room, to develop patient care skills invaluable to graduates of our Nursing and Allied Health programs.

At the Desert Vista Campus, the grant has helped the College add a certificate in Avionics, and additional program development to the Early Childhood Education and Bilingual Nursing Assistant programs. Part of the grant also includes a fund raising component for the College that will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $310,000 to create an endowment for the Desert Vista Campus.

When fully funded, the Desert Vista Endowment will create a permanent fund that will be invested at the initial sum of $620,000, the combined amount from private endowed funds and federal matching funds. Interest earned from this endowed investment will generate approximately $31,000 annually for scholarships, program development, and facilities at the Desert Vista Campus. The College, through the PCC Foundation, has raised $51,000 thus far for the endowment. The remaining balance needs to be raised by 2011 in order for the funds to be completely matched.

A fully funded endowment for the Desert Vista Campus goes well beyond the annual source of funding it will generate for the College. This permanent endowment will strengthen the entire community by providing a regular source of funding for educational opportunities for Tucson's workforce of today and tomorrow, multiplying its overall economic impact.

If you would like to support the Desert Vista Endowment fund raising campaign, you can find details on how to contribute on our website or call (520) 206-4646.

Partnerships and Initiatives

The Jim Click Automotive Team has renewed its scholarship program for top automotive students entering Pima Community College's nationally accredited Automotive Technology program.

The scholarship covers tuition, course materials, and fees for selected students to attend PCC while in full-time employment at a Jim Click dealership service department.

The partnership with the College was set up in 2006 to provide auto shop students from area high schools with a pathway to the higher education and technical training needed for success in the automotive service industry. Sixty students have been selected for the full-ride scholarships since its inception.

The Jim Click Automotive Team has committed additional funds for scholarship recipients entering PCC in the Fall, and has expressed its ongoing support of this highly successful partnership with the College. This year is the first year the scholarship will be open to students in collision repair.

We are pleased to continue this partnership with the Jim Click Automotive Team. The program has become a model for area businesses that support higher education and training for Tucson's workforce in high-demand career areas.

Pima Community College's Centre for Archaeological Field Training has been invited to become the first community college to collaborate with the Monumental Architecture Field School in Hawaii.

PCC staff archaeologists, including one student, will assist co-collaborators San Jose State University and the Hawaii Archaeological Research Project with running a three week field school on monumental architecture in June. The field school is open to undergraduates, recent graduates, and graduate students worldwide.

"PCC staff will teach the use and operation of multiple, high-precision mapping and survey equipment," says Dr. Michael Graves, Principal Investigator for the Hawaii Archaeological Research Project. Specifically, PCC staff will teach students how to map rock architecture in North Kohala on the Big Island of Hawaii.

"We will be evaluating how effective our equipment is in mapping this type of monumental architecture," explains Dr. David Stephen, PCC Archaeology Centre director. Over the past 25 years, PCC's Centre for Archaeological Field Training has established itself as one of the leading community college archaeology field school programs in the United States.

Pima Community College students and faculty advisors from the Northwest Campus composed one of the first teams from a community college to participate in the Arizona Space Grant Consortium/ASCEND Program. The program is a statewide initiative with funding from NASA for students to simulate a full "design-build-fly-operate-analyze" cycle of a space mission.

Dr. Denise Meeks, Northwest Campus Science Department Chair and astronomy and physics faculty member, and physics faculty member, Mike Sampogna, together with students Daniel Jerrim, Roscoe Vertein, Ken Michika, and Harry Preston designed a one pound "payload" module to withstand a parachute-assisted descent and ground impact after being carried up 92,000 feet into the Earth's atmosphere by a helium balloon. Students installed specially designed instruments to collect measurements on atmospheric characteristics, including temperature and pressure, and record images from a digital camera as the balloon ascended.

Students presented the results of the project at the Arizona Near Space Research Symposium at the Kuiper Space Sciences Center at the University of Arizona in April. Other participants in the project included Arizona State University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, University of Arizona, and South Mountain Community College, the other first-time community college participant.

Awards and Recognitions

Three Pima Community College honors students were named to the USA Today All-Academic Teams in April. Alison Lamm-Chapman and Karla Bustamante Scott were named to the All USA Second Team, and Aindrea McCammon made the All USA Third Team.

The national program, administered by Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, recognizes outstanding two-year college students across the nation. More than 1,500 students were nominated for the awards. A total of 61 students were chosen for the three All-Academic Teams.

All three students were also selected for the All Arizona Academic First Team in February, carrying PCC scholarships and two-year Arizona Board of Regents tuition waivers to any Arizona university.

Faculty Spotlight

Name: William L. Scurrah
Position: Writing/Literature Instructor and NCA Self-Study Faculty Coordinator
How long at PCC: 20 years (12 years as full-time faculty)

PCC Writing Faculty member and Downtown Campus Honors Coordinator Bill Scurrah likes to see the Big Picture. And, after 20 years teaching at the College, he is tackling the biggest picture for the institution in some time, the accreditation self study.

"It is quite interesting to me how complex an organization Pima really is," says Scurrah, who was selected to compile information for and write the College's self study that is part of the institution's planned ten-year reaccreditation cycle in 2010.

Scurrah is part of a team of College officials responsible for gathering data on all the nuts and bolts responsible for ensuring the College maintains its accreditation, the gold standard for all institutions of higher education. Things like educational activities, admissions, student learning outcomes, student services, effectiveness, governance and administration -- are all part of the self study's requirements set forth by PCC's regional accreditation body, the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

"This year, we are making initial preparations for the self study. Next year, we will be gathering information from all College areas and will produce a draft of the self study for the Chancellor's Cabinet. The final draft goes to the Higher Learning Commission at the end of the 2009-2010 academic year," says Scurrah.

An accreditation review team will visit the College in the Fall of 2010 to conduct interviews and get a larger picture of all levels of the institution, including checking the accuracy of the self study, according to Scurrah. Taking on the responsibility of ensuring that the self study is well written and thoroughly addresses all of the Higher Learning Commission's accreditation criteria is something Scurrah does not take lightly, but it is one he looks forward to.

"We have a really good team in place," he says. "And Pima is a good institution with a solid plan for the future. The self study is a great self-reflection opportunity for the College."

Staff Spotlight

Name: Denise L. Kastigar
Position: Coordinator, Downtown Campus Learning Center
How long at PCC: 26 years

The first time Denise Kastigar set foot on a Pima Community College campus she was seventeen years old. After riding the bus for an hour from the southeast side of Tucson to the West Campus so her sister would not have to go alone on registration day, Denise caught the college "bug" herself and, to the surprise of her parents, enrolled in two classes of her own.

"I didn't think I could take college classes before graduating from high school," she remembers. "But when I found out I could, I went for it." She registered for a math and writing course, beginning her long connection with the College.

Today, as coordinator for the Learning Center at the Downtown Campus, she oversees the place where students can get help with a variety of subjects in a supportive environment. Important services like study skills workshops, class tutoring, and self-paced courses all run out of the Learning Center.

Denise has been integral in moving the Downtown Campus Learning Center from a traditional paper and pencil format, to a model of the 21st century technological classroom, providing leadership over some of the most creative and future-oriented learning tools at the College.

"In 2003, the College began using WebCT as a course management system for self-paced courses," she says. "With the help of faculty, I converted all the paper-based exams for self-paced courses to computer-based. It was the best thing that could have happened for the students by increasing accessibility and improving the overall instructional experience."

Self-paced courses allow students to take courses at their own convenience, providing greater access to higher learning to those with difficulty attending classes during the day. Students with jobs or children or other special needs benefit greatly from the self-paced format.

Denise is looking forward to the conversion of WebCT to the latest in computer-based instruction, Blackboard Vista, planned for the College in the near future. "I have excellent colleagues who all understand that what we do really makes a difference to students. And I really like the challenge of discovering new things."

Program Spotlight

Pima Community College's Avionics Technology program was designed to meet the growing demand for technicians skilled in aviation installation and troubleshooting of aircraft electrical systems. The certificate, which was added to the College's Aviation Technology program following a federal Title V grant award in 2006, provides students with hands-on training on working aircraft and avionics systems in a state-of-the-art facility. Classes began this Spring semester at PCC's Aviation Technology Center in the Tucson International Airport.

The Aviation Technology program includes three direct-employment certificates and an Associate of Applied Science degree. Graduates of the program can find immediate employment as an avionics apprentice or avionics technician.

"The addition of the Avionics program gives us the three of the most sought-after careers in the aviation field, Airframe and Powerplant, Structures, and Avionics," explains Pete Stogsdill, Aviation Technology Department Chair.

"Our program is unique in that it trains technicians to understand how the electronic systems are integrated into aircraft control systems, which is the direction the industry is heading." For more information, visit PCC's Aviation Technology program online or call the College Information Center at 206-4500.

Alumni Spotlight

Pima Community College Board of Governors member Richard Fimbres has always believed in what community colleges can do for people. In 1976, after serving in the U.S. Army, Mr. Fimbres enrolled at Pima and earned two associate degrees through the GI Bill.

"My parents always pushed us to obtain a higher education," recalls Fimbres. His older brother, Gilbert, and sister, Mary Helen, are both graduates of the College as well. Two other siblings, Steven and Carol, attended classes at the College.

Fimbres' wife of 29 years, Mary, has also taken classes while son, Joe, is currently a part-time student at PCC. His son, Richard Michael, is a Pima alumnus.

Fimbres is a 20-year veteran of the Pima County Sheriff's Department. He holds a bachelor's degree from the U of A in business and a master's degree in educational leadership from Northern Arizona University. In 1985, he received the Pima County Sheriff's Department Officer of the Year Award.

In 1998, he was Arizona's recipient of the prestigious Jefferson Award for community service. In 2000, he was named one of Pima County's most influential individuals by the Tucson Citizen. And in 2001, the League of United Latin American Citizens named him the National Man of the Year. A year later in 2002, the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce named Fimbres its Man of the Year.

In 2004, Fimbres was honored with the Ohtli Recognition from the Mexican government for his dedication to promoting the well-being of Mexican communities abroad.

Governor Janet Napolitano appointed Fimbres to his current position, Director of the Governor's Office of Highway Safety, in 2002. In announcing his appointment, Governor Napolitano stated that Fimbres "is uniquely positioned to bring a renewed focus to highway safety as our state's population continues to increase."

First appointed to the College's Board of Governors in 1997, Mr. Fimbres was elected to the Board in 1998 for his first term from 1999 to 2004. His was reelected to a second term in 2004 for the term 2005 to 2010. He served as the Board's Chair in 1999 to 2000 and 2006 to 2007.

"Pima students are better prepared to transfer to a university and they do better once they get there. A lot of our educational programs become models to the rest of the state. I saw that first hand when I transferred to the U of A," Fimbres said.

"The College's mission is tied to the educational improvement of the community. That's why I continue to be a part of it; we are truly a community college."

Send comments or suggestions to: chancellor@pima.edu

Pima Community College, 4905 East Broadway Blvd., Tucson, AZ 85709