Faculty and staff at the South Arkansas Community College worked together this week to prepare for the start of fall semester, which begins this Monday, building camaraderie and classroom skills at the school’s Convocation.
“Convocation is an opportunity for the entire college – all employees – to get together to celebrate the start of a new semester and to do several things: [build] camaraderie, highlight accomplishments, recognize new employees from all campuses, hear about the state of the college and various updates and provide training opportunities for faculty and staff,” said Dr. Michael Murders, vice president of academic affairs.
SouthArk employees gathered Tuesday morning to celebrate the start of the school with a breakfast and welcoming ceremony, also receiving updates on school initiatives and the college as a whole.
“The first day with a big breakfast and the camaraderie is by far the best part,” Murders said.
Murders gave an update on the college’s Guided Pathways program, which helps define a student’s college career with specific schedules, goals and guidance from the school.
“As a true community college, we have embraced Guided Pathways, implemented advising technologies and redefined what it means for students to be college and career ready,” he said.
On Wednesday, faculty and staff began participating in a break-out sessions on a wide-range of topics. Murders said SouthArk employees were able to choose for themselves which sessions to attend based on which would be the most beneficial to their jobs.
“One of the biggest things about Convocation that I like is just that time you have to interact with your colleagues. We’re so stuck in our little areas, we don’t often get to sit down and chat about things,” said Susan Spicher, education and early childhood program director at SouthArk. “You start sharing those techniques that you’ve been using in your classroom … I think that’s something that’s really good.”
Spicher said she attended break-out sessions on topics like the college’s “shared governance” model, incorporating “soft skills” into one’s curriculum and offering “open educational resources” to students. Murders said the shared governance initiative brings in all areas of the college, including all employees.
“It does give the little guy his voice,” Spicher said. “It takes the leadership away from being just centered into the higher-up administration and it spreads it across the campus at all levels of your participation.”
Open educational resources help to lower the college student’s financial burden by providing materials at a discount, or sometimes for free. Soft skills are those life skills that help a person function as an adult, such as good time management and effective communication.
“I stayed for an afternoon section, where you would actually take your syllabus and the topics that you’re teaching and now let’s look at these specific characteristics employers are looking for and how are you going to incorporate them,” Spicher said, describing the workshop. “It was a very good seminar and I’m hoping they’ll do a couple of other ones. They had a lot of research that was backing up what they were doing.”
SouthArk also offered a workshop to help staff and faculty prepare in the case of an active shooting situation. Chief of campus police James Virden said the basis of his curriculum is “developing a warrior mindset” in those who attend the break-out session.
“We’re here on Saturday’s, when there’s no one here,” said Barbara Howell, Upward Bound Director. Howell attended the session with her colleague Roy Williams, the Upward Bound Student Success Coach and said she hopes to pass along what she learned. “We have anywhere from 30 to 50 kids and we need to make sure they know this.”
The workshop included lessons from the ALICE civilian training program (alert, lockdown, inform, counter, evacuate) and the CRASE course (community response to active shooter events). There was a practicum to the workshop as well – attendees fended off would-be attackers with makeshift weapons and barricaded doors with classroom furniture.
“Probably the best session is one that I hope I never have to implement was Active Shooter Training. Unfortunately, it goes with the times and it was very well done,” said Gary Hall, director of SouthArk’s entertainment and media arts program. “I hope I never have to put that in practice. I did learn how to use basic tools in the classroom for defense and offense.”
Faculty and staff agreed that interacting with their colleagues and between disciplines is one of their favorite parts of Convocation.
“One of the best things about Convocation is seeing your colleagues after the summer break,” Hall said. “It’s a great time to make connections and take some of the information you’ve gleaned and consult with co-workers on how to put that into practice.”
School starts Monday at SouthArk. Murders said students will still be able to enroll throughout the week.
“We do all we can to accommodate our students and give them the best chances to succeed,” he said.
SouthArk is also introducing two new course tracks to their secondary technical center, the dual enrollment program allowing high school students to earn college credit. Culinary arts and process technology will now be available to high schoolers, in addition to automotive technology, criminal justice, health science, industrial technology and welding. Culinary arts is new at all levels of the college.
“Our new Culinary program has a great initial enrollment. … The plan is to open our new Culinary commercial-grade kitchen in January, 2020 to enhance and support the needs of the Culinary program, as well as provide commercial kitchen and maker-space for the community,” Murders said. “The Process Technology program recently received a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant that will allow the program to be re-engineered to allow students more accessibility and flexibility in completing course work in order to allow students to work and attend college.”
To learn more about attending SouthArk, visit southark.edu.com/admissions.
Caitlan Butler can be reached at 870-862-6611 or [email protected].