NEWS & EVENTS

Fall 2017 Colloquium

The Fall 2017 Colloquium will begin at 8:00 a.m. on Thursday, August 31, 2017, with a continental breakfast, followed by my State-of-the-College address at 9:00 a.m.  The Colloquium theme is “A New Era of Innovation at Ocean County College.”

Five workshops will run concurrently from 10:15 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and again from 11:45 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., all of which will be held in Bartlett Hall.  They include:

1. The Performing Arts Academy/Early College High School presented by Ms. Karin Gargone, Ms. Heidi Sheridan, and Mr. Mark Wilson
2. Collaborations with K-12 School Districts presented by Dr. Angel Camilo, Mr. Tom Gialanella, Dr. Henry Jackson, and Mr. Anthony Trump
3. The Ocean Way:  Focus on Faculty presented by Mr. Jason Ghibesi, Mr. Jack Kelnhofer, and Ms. Jan Kirsten
4. New Degree Programs presented by Dr. Rosann Bar, Mr. Paul Chalakani, Dr. Lisa DiBisceglie, Mr. Paul Silberquit, and Ms. Tracy Walsh
5. Managing Title IX in the Classroom presented by Ms. Eileen Buckle, Dr. Toni Clay, Ms. Ilene Cohen, Ms. Tracey Donaldson, and Dr. Kate Pandolpho

An Adjunct Faculty Evening Colloquium will be held in Bartlett Hall at 5:30 p.m., beginning with refreshments and followed by my address, and mini-presentations on Classroom Management and New Degree Programs.

Please join us in the Grunin Center Theatre on Thursday, August 31, at 9 a.m.

Ocean County College Military History Institute

The OCC Military History Institute now has a formal presence on campus, having opened the last week in May in the Library.  Former History Associate Professor Richard Trimble developed the Institute and is now its Director.  He built a collection of books and artifacts during his tenure at the College; in 2015, he donated his book collection to the Library to establish the Military History Collection.

Mr. Trimble will attend Thursday’s Board meeting to share with the trustees the activities being planned and the ways in which the Military History Institute is coordinating with the OCC Veterans Club and History Club.

Academic Affairs

Academic Affairs has been working toward developing partnerships with William Paterson University and Robert Wood Johnson Barnabas Health.  William Paterson University is interested in offering degree completion programs on the OCC campus in a variety of disciplines, including a B.S. degree in Exercise Science, B.A. degree in Media Studies/Media Production, B.A. degree in Broadcast Journalism, B.A. degree in Theater and Comedy, and B.S. degree in Health Studies.

Follow-up conversations have taken place with representatives from Robert Wood Johnson Barnabas Health to further discuss its operation of a Wellness Center that will be located in the new Health Sciences Building.  The conversations are quite positive, and there is great interest in partnering with Ocean County College in this endeavor.  Additional information will be forthcoming in the next month.

• School of Arts and Humanities
  • Dr. Beth Willets-Brierley, Associate Professor in Communications/Theatre, taught a musical theatre summer camp for Continuing Education and Professional Education, at which the students performed a showcase.
    • Applied Music Facilitator Brian Gilmore held a student recital on Wednesday, August 16, 2017, for the music students.  It featured a combination of children (Daniel DeJuana and Danielle Lee), OCC graduates, and students.
    • Ms. Diana McEntee, who graduated from OCC this spring, performed solo piano works by Beethoven and Rachmaninoff.  She also performed music by Brahms for piano with four hands with 2016 OCC graduate Benjamin Burnham as well as music for two pianos by Rachmaninoff with Mr. Gilmore.
    • Adjunct Faculty Member Lucian Rinando’s college flute students, Judy Tabit, Hilda Howlett, and Chris Kustka, all non-traditional, non-degree students, performed a variety of works for flute and piano by composers, such as Telemann, Debussy, Pergolesi, and living composers Shao Ying Low and Gary Shocker.  The show also featured some flute trios.
  • Dr. Jennifer Dellner, Professor of English/Literature, attended the Digital Humanities Summer Institute at the University of Victoria, BC, and completed two courses, Feminist Digital Humanities: Theoretical, Social, and Material Engagements; and Digital Public Humanities.  She also attended the annual Electronic Literature Organization conference at the University Fernando Pessoa in Porto, Portugal, where she presented a paper, “You Can’t Go Back: Representations of the Forgotten.”  Meanwhile, she completed, with co-authors Ms. Tami Carmichael and Mr. Rick Szostak, a short article, “Report from the Field: Interdisciplinary General Education,” based on the workshop they presented at the Association of American Colleges and Universities conference in February.  The article will be published in the 2017 volume of Issues in Interdisciplinary Studies.

• School of Business and Social Sciences
  • Ocean County College will be hosting a 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony on September 11, 2017, at 11:30 a.m. in front of the Gateway Building.  The ceremony has been coordinated by Mr. Jason Ghibesi, College Lecturer II of Political Science and History; Ms. Lynn Kenneally, Professor of Social Sciences; Mr. Ed Kissling, Professor of Business Studies; and Mr. Steve Gerding, Assistant Dean for the School of Business and Social Sciences.  Ocean County victims of the September 11^th terrorist attacks will be remembered at the event, which is open to the public.
  • Dr. Rosann Bar, Dean of Business and Social Sciences, and Dr. Maureen Reustle, former Dean of the Center for Student Success, traveled with 18 students to the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland for a course taught by Professor Reustle on the “History and Culture of Ireland.”  Students toured such famous places as Trinity College, Dublin Castle, Kilmainham Gaol, and the UNESCO sites of Newgrange/Knowth and the Giant’s Causeway.  They visited the International Peace Wall and toured the murals of Northern Ireland in their extensive study of “The Troubles.”
• Library
  
  The Library staff is looking forward to welcoming Ms. Quinn Morris-Pearson as a new College Lecturer II.  Ms. Morris-Pearson will be the Library’s STEM/Outreach Liaison.  She will be working closely with Ms. Caitlyn Cook, Reference Services Librarian, to learn the nuances of being the STEM Liaison at the College, a role that Ms. Cook has performed with great skill, enthusiasm, and creativity.  Ms. Cook will be shifting her focus more to working with the College Archives materials, the Government Documents Collection, and taking on the Law and Business Law Liaison responsibilities. Behind the scenes, Library staff have enjoyed performing their summer projects to help organize and present the Library resources to patrons in the most accessible ways.  The collection has been shifted to provide a more logical path through the stacks, and the Government Documents Collection and the Legal Collection were swapped to give the Government Documents Collection room to grow. The Legal Collection resources are now largely available online through the Library’s Ocean Connect tab.

School of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

• OCC hosted the annual New York/New Jersey Computer Science Chairs meeting that was organized by Dr. Gerald Cohen, College Lecturer II in Computer Science.  The annual summer meetings have been spearheaded by Dr. James Geller, Computer Science Professor and Associate Dean for Research at NJIT.  In addition to Dr. Larson’s welcome, presentations were made by:
  • Ms. Deidre Richardson, New Jersey Department of Education – Practical Ideas for Advancing K-12 Computer Science
  • Mr. James Priestley III, Microsoft – Cloud Computing in Education
  • Assistant Professor of Science Eric Antonelli and Science College Lecturer II Angel Camillo – Using QR Codes and Chatbots in the Classroom.
• Five officers from OCC’s Tau Iota Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa attended the 2017 International Honors Institute in Chicago, Illinois, from June 5 to 10, 2017.  The following week, they attended the Middle States Region Honors Institute held in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The officers are continuing this momentum with weekly Thursday afternoon meetings to plan the upcoming year’s events.  Advisors to Phi Theta Kappa are Dr. William Rickert, Professor of Mathematics; Ms. Carolyn Showalter, Assistant Professor of Mathematics; Dr. Jennifer Dellner; and Mr. David Rickert, Adjunct Faculty Member of Mathematics.
• Led by Dr. Henry Jackson, Executive Director of Academic Success, the College Readiness Now III program has tested 830 eleventh and twelfth grade high school students; of those, 417 students have applied to OCC, and there are currently 112 students registered as freshmen for the Fall 2017 semester. The College Academy Program with Lacey Township High School is moving ahead, with 31 students enrolled for the Fall 2017 semester. The College has submitted a College Readiness Now IV proposal and is awaiting approval from the New Jersey Council of County Colleges’ Center for Student Success. Dr. Jackson met with district leaders from Toms River Schools and Point Pleasant Beach Schools to discuss crafting a College Academy for each district to begin a Liberal Arts degree in the Fall 2018 semester.  Additional meetings have taken place with Brick Township Schools and Pinelands Regional Schools to discuss increasing their OCC-embedded course offerings beginning in Spring 2018.
• School of Nursing
  • Nursing students will return to campus the week of August 28, 2017, to practice skills in preparation for the Fall 2017 semester.  All returning students are required to demonstrate competency in skills prior to entering clinical agencies.
  • Nursing faculty completed training for implementation of Accudemia, a scheduling system that will be utilized within the Skills Labs.  This system will allow faculty to schedule remediation for students requiring additional support in demonstrating clinical skills competently.  Faculty can also track the amount of time students spend practicing clinical skills in the lab.  The amount of time students spend perfecting their clinical skills is associated with educational success, as theoretical knowledge is applied to the practice of nursing.
  • New Nursing student orientation will be held on August 30, 2017, and 106 students are scheduled to attend.  During the orientation program, students are introduced to the program’s faculty, policies, procedures, electronic textbooks, and strategies to enhance learning.  The Student Nurse Organization also meets with the students and provides a luncheon to welcome them to the School of Nursing.
  • An orientation program for four new clinical instructors is scheduled for September 5, 2017.  The orientation program provides information on program policies and procedures, clinical agencies, teaching strategies within the clinical area, and student evaluation methods and documentation.
  • A meeting for all clinical instructors is scheduled for September 5, 2017.  Information presented during this meeting focuses on faculty assignments, simulation and skills lab initiatives, and a discussion of policies and procedures. The faculty also meet with clinical instructors to discuss semester plans and schedules. This semester there are 34 clinical rotations with 32 instructors assisting faculty within various clinical agencies.
  • Two Holistic Health and Wellness courses are scheduled this semester, Environmental Harmony and Principles of Energy Movement.
  • OCC continues to actively partner with Rutgers University to provide students with the opportunity to complete the Dental Hygiene, Occupational Therapy Assistant, and Psychosocial Rehabilitation programs.

Student Affairs

• Registration and Records
  
  In its effort to move toward a paperless office, Registration and Records has implemented a new process for document intake and handling through Perceptive Content. All documents, emails, and faxes are imaged and processed within the Perceptive Content system, rather than being passed from desk to desk.  Once imaged, all documents are sorted and prepared for shredding; after State-approved holding requirements are met, the documents are destroyed. This new process increases accuracy of records, decreases processing time, reduces the risk of lost documents, ensures records are disposed of in a timely manner, and promotes a sustainable environment, all of which bring greater technological advancement to the office.

• Counseling and Student Development Services
  • Ms. Eileen Burdge, Community Services Specialist, passed the National Counselor Examination, which is required to be a Licensed Associate Counselor in New Jersey.
  • Counseling and Student Development Services is co-sponsoring training on grief and grieving with the Ocean County Department of Human Services and the Ocean County Traumatic Loss Coalition, which will be held on Friday, September 22, 2017.
  • September is Suicide Awareness Month.  On Tuesday, September 12, 2017, an exhibit will be held in the Larson Student Center, “In Their Shoes,” a powerful visual display of 269 pairs of shoes representing the individuals, ages 10 through 24, who ended their lives from 2013–2015 in New Jersey.  Additionally, awareness and prevention seminars will be held on Wednesday, September 27, and Thursday, September 28, 2017.
• Student Services Operations
  
  Ms. Sheenah Hartigan, Director of Student Services Operations, presented at the NJ RUG Conference held at Monmouth University on Thursday, July 27, 2017. The presentation, “Generation Z: How Ocean is Using Technology to Connect with our Students through the One-Stop Model,” was extremely well received by those in attendance.

Finance and Administration

Ms. Sara Winchester, Executive Vice President of Finance and Administration, and Mr. Donald Norris, President of Strategic Initiatives, presented at the National Association of College and University Business Officers Annual Meeting, which took place from July 30 to August 1, 2017, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.   The presentation focused on reinventing the higher education business model and applying a business model innovation tool to strengthen enrollment and financial sustainability.  Along with the presentation, an article, “New Models in the Making,” featuring Ocean County College, appeared in the July/August edition of Business Officer Magazine.

• Continuing and Professional Education Continuing and Professional Education held an Open House on Saturday, August 19, 2017, from 9 a.m. to 12 noon.  The Open House was announced in the Fall 2017 brochure, highlighted in many social media outlets, and emailed to potential participants. Over 45 people attended the morning seminar.  The Allied Health courses and programs were highlighted, especially the fact that the Continuing and Professional Education Office assists in job placement following the completion of the programs.  As a result of the Open House, 15 registrations were processed, adding new revenue to the College. Additional information sessions are planned in the future, beginning in September 2017.
  • Customized Training/Workforce Development
    • Civil Service Commission Correctional testing was completed on August 5, 2017.  This testing brings revenue to the College and provides exposure for CPE programs.
    • The first class of ESL Basic training of SS White Dental employees graduated on August 11, 2017, and Class 2 ESL Intermediate training will soon begin.  This will represent the first time back-to-back trainings have been completed.  The popularity of the program required a Class 3 of ESL Basic training.
    • Urgent Care Now completed its first course in Customer Service, which is being provided to all company employees.  The plan is to expand this training to other Urgent Care facilities and physician offices.
  • Technology and Business Careers
    • The 2017 Advanced Placement summer program was recently completed.  Over 100 students and instructors attended ten Advanced Placement Test Training sessions.  Students came from across the United States and from other countries, including Mexico and Italy.
    • Allied Health Fall registration for CPE’s health programs has begun.  The partnership with Prestige Medical to offer Certified Nursing Assistant programs has been initiated.  Additionally, a partnership has been established with the New Jersey Talent Development Center for Health Careers, housed at Rutgers, for a class that will be funded by a grant.
  • Camps/Youth/Community Programs Sensitivity Super Powers (SSP) Autism program postcards were mailed to over 2,000 businesses; the program was also marketed on television and the OCC website.  Coordination is continuing with the SSP Lead Teacher on special guests, specialized trips, and adaptive parenting classes.  SSP is an enrichment-based program for high functioning Autistic children created to align sensory sensitive kids with their “super powers” and become the heroes of their own stories.
• Human Resources
  • Leadership Academy Update
    • Members of Leadership Academy Cohort #2 will present their project to the President’s Leadership Team at its August 29, 2017, meeting.
    • Panel interviewers have selected their candidate recommendations for Cohort #3 of the Leadership Academy, which will be presented for review and final approval by the President’s Leadership Team.  The panel consisted of Mr. Hatem Akl, CIO; Ms. Connie Bello, Assistant to the President; Dr. Toni Clay, Assistant Vice President of Academic Affairs; Dr. Lisa DiBisceglie, Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs; and Ms. Jan Kirsten, Executive Director of College Relations.  Selections will be finalized and announced at the Fall Colloquium.  A two-day kick-off event, facilitated by Mr. John DiNapoli of Spencer-Ryan LLC, is scheduled for October 26 and 27, 2017.
  • Training and Development The Ocean Way customer service program was offered on August 14 and 15, 2017, to approximately 40 employees.  This was the third group of employees to be trained on the new program that was developed by the first cohort of the Leadership Academy.
• College Relations Ms. Jan Kirsten and Ms. Heather Barberi, Executive Director of the Foundation, worked collaboratively on a new recruitment video showcasing the College.  Produced collaboratively by the College and the Foundation, this video targets affordability, quality, campus life, and community involvement.  The production will be used for grassroots initiatives in enrollment, fundraising, and awareness as OCC representatives are out and about in the county.  The video will be presented at the Board meeting.
  • TV Studio New and exciting commercials have been filmed related to Continuing and Professional Education programs.  They will air on Ocean TV 20 and, as the new school year begins, they will be shared with local high school stations. The Ocean County Prosecutor and OCC are working on the next in the series of “Did You Know,” the Prosecutor’s program to address the opioid epidemic in Ocean County.  In addition, OCC has been asked to participate in a joint project to produce a training video for the Manchester Police Department.  The video tells the heartbreaking story from a mother’s point of view on addiction and the death of her son.
• Security In accordance with New Jersey Public Law 2015, Chapter 220, and College Policy #2332, Reporting of On-Campus Criminal and Fire Events, attached is the monthly statistics report of crimes, fires, and other emergencies on campus for the reporting period July 19, 2017, through August 16, 2017.

e-Learning and Learning Enterprises

• Domestic U. S. Partnerships
  • Hudson County Community College The Hudson County Community College partnership is progressing nicely.  The e-Learning team is currently working on exporting numerous courses to Hudson; the project is 50% completed.  In addition, the online instructor training for faculty is in progress and will be completed by August 28, 2017.  Ms. Melissa Bova, e-Learning Instructional Designer, and Ms. Rachel Doss, Interim Associate Director of e-Learning, will be traveling to Hudson County Community College on August 30, 2017, to conduct an on-site training session for the faculty.
  • Kaiser Permanente Ben Hudnall Memorial Trust Ms. Kathleen Mohr, Supervisor of e-Learning, Advising, and Mr. Fahad Khan, Director of Domestic Online Business, reported that the Kaiser Permanente Ben Hudnall Memorial Trust Leadership Team has expressed interest in degree completion programs for their employees.  Ms. Jeannette Maass, from Ben Hudnall, is reviewing OCC degrees to determine the best fit for their staff.  Spring 2018 was given as a general timeline to begin offering degrees. Dr. Joseph Konopka, Senior Aide to the President, and Ms. Mohr will provide an update on Thursday and share with you the new brochure produced for the Ben Hudnall partnership.
• International Partnerships
  • Egypt Several representatives from Ain Shams University visited Ocean County College from August 9 to 17, 2017:
    • Dr. Abd El Wahab Ezzat, President of Ain Shams University
    • Dr. Hussein Eissa, Former President of Ain Shams University and Egyptian Parliament Member
    • Dr. Rasha Ihab, Egyptian Coordinator of the Kean/Ocean Ain Shams Program. The purpose of the visit was to discuss new and revised collaborative programs.  Several initiatives were proposed by the Ain Shams visitors:
    • Refinements to the existing Ocean/Kean/Ain Shams business program
    • Two newly requested IT programs with Kean and NJIT
    • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
    • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Digital Media
    • A plan for an extension of OCC in Cairo, the Community University
    • The Private Universities initiative for Egypt
    • A partnership with Festo Didactic to offer technical education and training in the field of mechatronics
    • The College Academy program where students earn associate degrees along with their high school diplomas
    • An extension of the Network for School Success program to Egypt On August 10 and 11, 2017, I traveled with to Washington, D.C., with Dr. Ezzat; Dr. Ihab; Dr. Eissa; Dr. Konopka; Dr. Maysa Hayward, Dean of Instructional Outreach; and Mr. Salim Hussien, Director of International Partnerships.  We met with Mr. Oliver John from the Egyptian Desk of the U.S. Department of State; Dr. Tarek Shawqi, Egyptian Minister of Higher Education; and Dr. Mohamed Hamda, Egyptian Cultural Attaché.  OCC’s efforts in Egypt were presented at the meetings and advice and collaboration were sought for moving forward.  On August 11, 2017, we met with the New Jersey Secretary of Higher Education, Rochelle Hendricks, to inform her of OCC’s current plans. On August 14, 2017, the ASU team traveled to Festo Didactic in Eatontown with Mr. Akl; Dr. Angel Camilo, Lecturer II in Biology; and Mr. Paul Silberquit, Dean of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.  They were greeted by Festo Didactic’s CEO from Germany, toured the facility, and visited the mechatronics lab. On August 15, 2017, the ASU and OCC teams traveled to Kean University to meet with President Dawood Farahi and sign an articulation agreement for three business programs. The teams also traveled to NJIT and William Patterson University to discuss new programs and partnerships with Egypt.
  • Dominican Republic On August 16, 2017, Dr. Konopka, Dr. Hayward, and Mr. Hussien met with Mr. Jaime Vargas, representative from the Instituto Tecnico Superior Comunitario (ITSC).  The team discussed the articulation agreement for dual degree programs in Hospitality Management between OCC and ITSC.  Students will start the program by studying English as a Second Language in September 2018. Mr. Vargas will follow up with the Universidad Católica Santo Domingo to determine if it is still interested in establishing a dual degree program in Marketing. Mr. Vargas shared with us a proposal for the Cyber Park Call Center, which could serve as a valuable resource for recruiting Hispanic students to OCC.