Message from Dr. Belinda S. Miles – Voices Matter
November 10, 2017
Colleagues,
Thanks to everyone who helped encourage recent voter registration and participation. This form of civic engagement is important to all of us and especially to many of our students who voted for the first time this Election Day. Your voice and vote, and your encouragement of the participation of others in this process, truly matter.
Tomorrow is Veteran’s Day, a time to thank our veterans and their families for their selfless dedication to our country. Westchester Community College enrolls about 180 veterans, and more than 100 veterans have graduated in the past two terms. The Veterans Resource Office and Veterans Club, led by Program Administrator Joshua Gaccione, collaborated with VFW Post 2285 and American Legion Post 979 to raise $1,300.00 and more than 1,700 pounds of non-perishable goods for the Montrose Veterans Food Pantry on the Montrose VA Campus. Our student-veterans will celebrate Veterans Day with a ceremony at Parkway Oval with the Eastchester Veterans Association followed by a brunch. All are welcome.
Many of you participated in our two-day National Science Foundation workshop on STEM pathways. Through a great collaboration between STEM faculty and institutional advancement, Westchester Community College has developed several grant-funded programs to increase participation of women and underrepresented students in STEM programs and improve student success rates across the board. This week’s program focused on a range of recruitment and retention strategies as well as project-based learning techniques. There was broad involvement from units across the college, so thanks to Dr. Laurie Miller McNeill and the organizers of the workshop and everyone who made time to learn about some new approaches to student success.
I appreciated the opportunity to address Faculty Senate this week and answer questions about the completion ceremony planned for December 14. Presiding Officer Ostman circulated the full text of my letter to Faculty Senate regarding this matter. I am heartened by the ongoing and growing efforts to improve shared governance at the college, a process in which the Board of Trustees took serious interest by creating a collective decision making policy.
Stay warm as colder temperatures descend upon Westchester County!
Dr. Belinda S. Miles
President