Enrollment is Up, LMC's Future is Bright!
Thanks to everyone, from student services to facilities to instruction, we are enjoying an excellent beginning to the new academic year. Recruitment and special efforts to welcome, orient and serve new students have been very successful, the facilities (new and "mature") look great, and classes are full. New learning communities and newly redesigned instructional programs, such as the Umoja Scholars and Electrical/Electronic Technology programs, started the semester with waiting lists.

The good news about enrollments, and therefore the district and college financial picture, isn't just anecdotal. The projected increase as of September 30 in FTES (full time equivalent students) for LMC compared to Fall 2007 is 12.1%, with the number of enrolled students ("headcount") up 9.5%. A comparison of those two statistics indicates that students are taking more classes, on average, than they did last fall. Productivity (FTES/FTEF), an indication of how effectively we are aligning instructional resources with student demand, is up 9%. This last statistic is particularly impressive, because the deans and department chairs worked to carefully "grow the schedule" to take advantage of our new facilities in order to serve more students and they clearly made a lot of good decisions. It is obviously also important for us to grow as a district, so the projection of a 1.7% district increase in FTES is good news as well.

Multiple efforts to support student success, both ongoing and newly created, should help us meet our goal of improving outcomes for this semester and persistence into the spring term. With support from the Hispanic Serving Institutions grant, the Basic Skills Initiative and college operational funds, student support services such as the Reading/Writing Center, a new and expanded approach to tutoring, redesign of the curriculum and services in ESL, and a collaborative effort involving all of the learning communities and the Honors Program, are all aimed at assisting us to do a better job of helping students meet their goals.

Serving all of these new and returning students is a lot of work, but it's good and important work. Many thanks to all you have done, and will do, for them this year. For a district enrollment report, as of September 30, click here to view our PDF...

Accreditation Team Visit Week is Here!
At long last, we're in the midst of our accreditation team visit. Many LMC employees will be meeting individually or as committees with the team, however everyone is invited to the open meetings on Tuesday evening at 5:30-6:30 p.m., or on Wednesday morning at 8:30-9:30 a.m. in the Library Community Room (L109). All are also welcome to attend the exit interview on Thursday at 1:00 p.m. also in L109. For information about the visit, please click here.

Solar Panels Help District and Environment - Output/Savings Update
Wowie! We're saving a bundle of money and helping out the environment at the same time.

Annualized projections (now that they're up and running, and we know how well they operate) show the district saving an anticipated $813,000 in the first year of operation. For more details, click here...

Grand Opening of Quad, Science and Math Buildings Attracts Crowd and Interest
The grand opening of the science and math buildings held in September was quite an event, attracting a standing room only crowd of faculty, staff, administrators, retires, students and community partners.

Dan Henry was quite an entertaining MC, Peter was a great stand-in for Tom Torlakson (busy voting for the state budget....), and Richard Livingston was incredibly inspiring with his comments about other higher education schools suffering with an "Edifice Complex" where for us, these new facilities are all about education and our students. Lindy Wille outdid herself with planning many of the details, not to forget the great food!

The family of Stanley H. Chin, LMC President 94-95, joined us for a memorial recognition and hanging of a memorial plaque in the science building lobby. If you haven't already seen the photo gallery of the experience, here you go.....

Update on LMC Employees

NEW and PROMOTED CLASSIFIED STAFF
Kendra Carr, Student Services & Instructional Support Coordinator, EOP&S
Jeffrey Biles, Grounds Worker/Gardener II
Andre White, Grounds Worker/Gardener II
Yvette Simmons, Grounds Worker/Gardener II
Greg Ericson, Grounds Worker/Gardener II
Kathy Cullar, Administrative Assistant/Outreach

CLASSIFIED TEMPORARY OUT-OF-CLASS ASSIGNMENTS
Linda Maniscalco, Senior Acount Clerk-Cashier

MANAGERS
Newin Orante, Interim Dean of Student Development
Tawny Beal, Senior Academic/Student Services Manager

LMC Football Alum, Brandon Washington, Making His Mark in Tennessee
Brandon Washington has gone on to the University of Memphis and is making himself known to the fans. Last year, he was one of our star football players. A recent article in the Memphis Commercial Appeal highlighted Brandon and his talents. Click here to read more... And to check out his profile on the University of Memphis website, click here....

email: bcella@losmedanos.edu

web: http://www.losmedanos.edu