@PimaNews

December 3, 2008

Contents

• College Updates
  • Reminder—December Computer System Downtime Scheduled
  • Computer Systems Unavailable Due to February Banner Upgrade
  • Important 403(b) Meeting Information
  • @PimaNews Year End Schedule
  • Discovering Southern Arizona Lecture Airs on Cable TV
  • Pima People
• The Inside Story—PCC Dental Hygiene Clinic
• Best Practices—Pima Leadership Institute
• Upcoming Events
• Ongoing Events

College Updates

Reminder—December Computer System Downtime Scheduled
Due to a required system upgrade, MyPima, student email, and Blackboard/WebCT will be unavailable:

Beginning:   Friday, December 26 at 8 a.m.
Until:           Tuesday, December 30 at 10 p.m.

During this period, the following services will be unavailable:

• MyPima, including MyPima Course homepages and files
• WebCT and Blackboard Vista
• Student email accounts

Banner will be available during this downtime; however, access to Banner services through MyPima will not be possible. Telephone registration and payment remain available.

This maintenance is part of ongoing activity to continue improving the stability and reliability of services.  College staff will work as quickly as possible to perform the needed updates.

Computer Systems Unavailable Due to February Banner Upgrade
Due to a required version upgrade to the Banner enterprise software, Banner will be down and several services will be unavailable:

Beginning:       Wednesday, February 25 at 10 p.m.
Until:               Monday, March 2 at 7 a.m.

During this period, the services affected include, but aren’t limited to:

• MyPima and web site services
• Online registration
• Financial aid status
• Online admissions
• Posting/viewing grades and transcripts
• Online class schedules and course descriptions
• Online fee payments
• Telephone registration and payment will also be unavailable

This maintenance is part of ongoing activity to continue improving the stability and reliability of services.  College staff will work as quickly as possible to perform the needed updates.

Important 403(b) Meeting Information
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, December 8, 9 and 10 have been reserved for individual meetings with our 403(b) vendors. 

To sign up online for a 20-minute individual 403(b) consultation, PCC employees can go to the following links:

Fidelity Investments:
http://fort.fidelity.com
or anyone can call this number to schedule an appointment: 1-800-642-7131.  Make sure to press option “one” to schedule an appointment.

AIG-VALIC:
AIGRetirement.com  Click on Seminar Registration and use access code 4569TUC11AC. Employees can then choose date and time for available appointments.  If employees have any questions or want to schedule a phone appointment, call George Maytorena at 312-2843.

TIAA-CREF: Only available on Monday, December 8, 2008.
www.tiaa-cref.org/moc   TIAA-CREF Phoenix Regional Office number – 866-548-3705 ext. 457765.    

Times and locations are in the schedule below.

Please call the Employee Service Center at 206-4945 if you have questions.

@PimaNews Year End Schedule
The December issues for @PimaNews are December 3, 10 and 17, 2008.  Weekly issues of @PimaNews will resume January 15, 2009 with an update from the January 14, 2009 Board of Governors meeting.

Discovering Southern Arizona Lecture Airs on Cable TV
PCC’s Discovering Southern Arizona lecture, “Ranching in Southern Arizona,” will air on the following dates and times on Cox Digital Channel 121 and Comcast Channel 97.

• Wednesday, December 10 – 6:00 to 7:30 pm
• Friday, December 12 - 12:00 noon to 1:30 pm
• Wednesday, December 17 – 6:00 to 7:30 pm
• Friday, December 19 – 12:00 noon to 1:30 pm

Pima People

• Raymond Lily, Culinary Arts program student and culinary arts apprentice, was awarded the State of Arizona Culinary Apprentice of the Year on November 15, 2008.  Lily works under Chef Odell Baskerville, President of the Arizona Chef’s Association.
• Denise Meeks, Astronomy Faculty and Mike Sampogna, Physics Faculty at Northwest Campus and four Northwest Campus students participated in the Second Annual ASCEND! Balloon Launch on November 22, 2008.  The Northwest Campus ASCEND! Team participated in its second balloon flight as part of the Arizona Space Grant Consortium NASA grant.  The PCC team was one of only two community college teams to participate.
• TiffanyHastings-Kibler, Northwest Campus Student Life Coordinator and Sharett Brown, Aztec Middle School Coordinator, established a partnership with the Marana Food Bank.  The Northwest Campus Student Life Office has been selected as a year-round donation site for canned food items for the food bank.

The Inside Story—PCC Dental Hygiene Clinic
Charles Gordy once said, “A smile is an inexpensive way to change your looks.” PCC is doing one better than that by giving people an inexpensive way to improve their smiles.

The PCC Dental Hygiene Clinic, located at the West Campus Science Building (second floor), provides the public with a cost-effective alternative for dental services. It also gives dental hygiene students an opportunity to learn in a real-world setting.

An extension of PCC’s Dental Hygiene program, the clinic offers several services at a reasonable cost.  For example, clients may receive teeth whitening for $50, dental sealants for $10, or perio-therapies for $15.  A regular clinic visit is $35.  Participants may also receive oral cancer screenings, teeth cleanings and information on periodontal disease management. All students work under the supervision of licensed dental hygienists and dentists.

Students and staff receive training in all aspects of disease control and use total confidentiality while treating patients at the clinic. Patients need to attend multiple appointments of up to three hours each.

The clinic is not currently scheduling appointments for the remainder of the fall semester but will start again in January.  Call 206-6090 to check available hours and to schedule an appointment. 

Best Practices—Pima Leadership Institute
Pima Community College offers the Pima Leadership Institute to help students expand their leadership skills.  The program provides three levels of leadership development to interested students, ranging from developing foundational leadership skills to applying leadership skills through a variety of options

The College provides a variety of leadership development workshops through the Pima Leadership Institute that are available for students free of charge.  Interested students should contact the Student Life Office on
the campuses for a schedule and additional information.

Upcoming Events

• December 4: PTK sponsored lecture, “Archaeological Evidence for the Origins of Affluence,” presented by Dr. Michael Galaty, Northwest Campus, A207, 6:30 pm
• December 5: 22^nd Annual Las Posadas Celebration, East Campus Community Room, 6:30 to 9:00 pm. 
• December 7: Fundraising opportunity for Desert Vista Endowment by participating in the Tucson Marathon.  Contact Brian Miller at 206-5076 if you are interested in running a full or half marathon or the marathon relay.
• December 9: DMAFB ACES Oktoberfest Barbecue
• December 9: PCC Alumni at Zoo Lights, Reid Park Zoo, 6:00 to 8:00 pm.  For more information, contact Toppy Burke at 206-4581.
• December 22: Winter Intersession begins
• December 24 (noon): Christmas holiday through January 1

Ongoing Events

• December 3-December 5: PCC Louis Bernal Gallery presents paintings by nationally recognized artist, Jim Waid.  Contact Center for the Arts Gallery at 206-6942 for gallery hours and more information.
• December 3-7: PCC Music presents a Week of Concerts: Wind Ensemble - December 4 at 7:30 pm; Orchestra- December 6 at 3:00 pm; Chorale & College Singers – December 7 at 3:00 pm.  For more information contact Center for the Arts at 206-6986.

@PimaNews is an electronic newsletter for employees of Pima Community College.  It is published by the Pima Community College Public Information Office.  @PimaNews is published weekly during the semester and bi-weekly during the summer.  Back issues are available at www.pima.edu/pimanews/index.shtml.  Please send announcements and news items to pimanews@pima.edu.