President’s Newsletter — January 2020

Achieving the Dream Update

• ATD introduced a new self-assessment tool known as the Institutional Capacity Assessment Tool (ICAT). It is based upon the seven capacities that ATD has determined that a college needs to be successful to meet its goals of improving student success and building a student focused culture. The seven capacities are: 1) Leadership and Vision, 2) Data and Technology, 3) Equity, 4) Engagement and Communication, 5) Teaching and Learning, 6) Strategy and Planning, and 7) Policies and Practices. The self-assessment ICAT survey was sent out to faculty, staff, administrators, and external stakeholders on February 4 by April Hodson. Please complete the survey by February 25. The survey will provide a basis for developing action plans as we move forward with student success work.
• On January 31, the Equity Champions attended their first meeting. The group is formed of faculty and staff volunteers who want to find ways to dismantle the barriers facing underserved students and for each student to receive what they need to be successful. The meeting began with a hard look at the Achievement Gap and was followed by table discussions on equity and brainstorming on the first small changes we can make to lessen the gap.

Professional Development Focuses on Student Success

On January 31 at Professional Development Day, sponsored by CFT, Three Rivers faculty and staff benefited from two collaborative sessions on student engagement and crisis. Guest speaker Dr. Michael Reder is the Director of the Joy Shechtman Mankoff Faculty Center for Teaching & Learning at Connecticut College, where he teaches contemporary literature & culture. He led an interactive workshop, “Student Success: Student Engagement, High impact Experiences and their Relationships to Student Learning,” that encouraged participants to reflect upon what it means to effectively engage students at Three Rivers. The workshop included self-reflection and discussion with peers.

The second guest speaker, Jeffrey V. Nixon, has been involved with Emergency Management and Public Safety since 1985 and is currently an Instructor of Criminal Justice at Three Rivers. His seminar was adapted from his full-day interactive workshop (Effective Response to Emotional Crisis). Faculty and staff learned about interpersonal dynamics in communication and the idea that crisis is in the eyes of the individual. Nixon discussed how our own observations and understanding directly impact our ability to find calm and respond mindfully and with empathy to those in crisis.

Meghan La Casse shares her experience with Dr. Reder and the audience during the Student Engagement portion of the program.

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FOUNDATION NEWS

The TRC Foundation is off to a busy start in 2020 and has passed over $6 Million in assets as of December 31, 2019!

The Dominion Nuclear Scholarship Application DEADLINE is February 15.The ONLINE application can be found at www.threerivers.edu/dominion.

The ONLINE Scholarship Application for high school seniors, new, continuing, or graduating students can be found at www.threerivers.edu/scholarships.  The deadline is April 1, 2020.

KUDOS to Professor Diba Khan-Bureau! She coordinated grant funding from the Community Foundation to support Environmental Engineering Technology students.

• • Two students are receiving paid internships at the CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection in Hartford working with analysts at landfill sites to monitor leaking contaminates. They are working on the list of leaking underground storage tanks which help them learn about environmental law and regulations to protect our natural environment. They are also learning how to monitor and report environmental noncompliance issues and any potential factors that could impact the environment.
  • Another student works as a paid tutor for the environmental students as well as students in the Principals of Environmental Science, Environmental Engineering Technology program courses, which includes STEM courses. Students meet three times per week in the lab to go over homework assignments and to prepare for tests.
  • A fourth student is a paid teaching assistant who works along side Professor Diba Khan-Bureau.  She helps organize environmental activities including working in the vegetable and rain gardens and is currently working on installing bat houses at TRCC.
  • The funding also paid for a bee expert to give a lecture to the College and community.

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