QUICK TAKES - MAY 2022 (updated)

Rita Hernandez_Board Recognition_NCCHC Fellowship_051022

RECOGNITION

Rita Hernandez, Interim Dean of Student Engagement and Retention, has been accepted into the National Community College Hispanic Council (NCCHC) Class of 2022 Leadership Fellows Program, which is a collaboration between NCCHC and the College of Education at San Diego State University. Additionally, NCCHC partners with the American Association of Community Colleges to advance the number of Hispanics in leadership positions with community colleges across the nation. Hernandez will begin engagement with other class members in June with meetings occurring throughout the year. The program is designed for community college educators whose career interest focuses on assuming increasingly responsible administrative positions, with the ultimate goal of becoming an executive leader of a community college. Congratulations, Interim Dean Hernandez!

Arnold Mendez_wife Janie Mendez_Mary McQueen_Naomi Freeze_husband Randall Freeze

ACCOLADES

Del Mar College Representatives Attend Governor’s Volunteer Award Reception
 

Continuing Education & Off-Campus Programs staff, including Construction Trades Program Manager Arnold Mendez and Career Counselor Naomi Freeze, and Executive Director of Development and the Del Mar College Foundation Mary McQueen traveled to Austin on April 19 to attend the Governor’s Volunteer Award Reception  hosted by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and First Lady Cecilia Abbott. For the College’s Rebuild Texas Carpentry Skills Program, DMC was named the 2020 recipient of the Higher Education Community Impact–Community College Award, one of nine categories given each year; but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an in-person reception was not held. However, 2020 award recipients were invited to celebrate with the 2021 awardees. The DMC Rebuild Texas Carpentry Skills Program was in response to the devastation that Hurricane Harvey generated across South Texas’ Coastal Bend region in August 2017.  The initiative was made possible by a grant from the Rebuild Texas Fund initiated by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and the OneStar Foundation.

To read the College’s original award announcement release, click here.

Process Technology Instructor Ben Polasek with Donated Textbooks

Process Technology Instructor Creates Textbook Loaner Program for His Students
 

Sometimes getting the textbooks needed right at the beginning of the semester can be a challenge for students. That’s where Process Technology Instructor Ben Polasek, recently retired from Flint Hills Resources, has come to the rescue to ensure his students have the resources they need. After seeing so many of his students unable to get their hands on the required textbook until weeks after the class started, he felt compelled to help and came up with a textbook loaner program with the help of the Del Mar College Foundation and the DMC Libraries. Polasek personally donated the funds, and the Foundation and Library staff made the purchase of 40 textbooks. Students can now check out a textbook from the Barth Learning Resources Center on the Windward Campus and can even see an acknowledgement sticker in the back of each book crediting Polasek for his generous donation.

Cheniere Energy Donates to TABPHE Corpus Christi

TABPHE Corpus Christi Receives $15,000 from Cheniere Energy for New Math Initiative 

 
During a College and Resource Fair organized as an early Juneteenth event and held by the Texas Association of Black Personnel in Higher Education Corpus Christi (TABPHE-CC) on May 19 at Embassy Suites, representatives from Cheniere Energy presented a $15,000 donation toward the organization’s new math initiative. The event aimed to connect students in underserved communities with higher education institutions and provide access to preparatory courses. TABPHE-CC’s President Simone Sanders noted that “the organization created the new math initiative to tackle a lack of accurate and foundational resources in the TSI (Texas Success Initiative) math area. With the full support of Cheniere Energy, we have created and launched this new initiative with the hopes of reducing dropout rates and increasing graduation rates.” The funding provided by Cheniere Energy cover costs for low income and minority at-risk populations to apply and attend TSI math preparatory courses. TABPHE-CC will hold other events in celebration of 10 Days of Juneteenth during the month of June. Since 2006, Corpus Christi bas celebrated with the10 Days of Juneteenth Jubilee to recognize the ride of General Gordon Granger to Galveston for the reading of the Emancipation Proclamation. For information about local 10 Days of Juneteenth Celebrations, visit www.tabphecc.org.