College Updates

Fall 2012

Welcome back to all of the members of the Community & Technical College (CTC)! It is wonderful to hear about all of the interesting summer trips and activities that our faculty, staff, and students have taken part in to enjoy Alaska (and destinations beyond) this summer. Campus activities are quickly picking up again for the fall 2012 semester. New student orientation sessions have been going on over the summer, and CTC welcomed more than 100 newly-admitted program majors at the Howl Days orientation.

During the 2011-12 academic year, more than 400 students completed a CTC certificate or degree program, and 1,456 students pursued CTC majors. This fall, more than 730 new students have been admitted to our programs. See the list below for a snapshot of the top-ten majors and the number of new students enrolled.

CTC Top 10 Majors

1.  Aviation Technology - 130
2.  Culinary Arts - 71
3.  Computer & Networking Technology - 54
4.  Construction Management - 49
5.  Automotive Technology - 42
6.  Physical Education - 37
7.  Air Traffic Control - 37
8.  Welding & NonDestructive Technology - 36
9.  Pre-Major Dietetics - 35
10. Aviation Maintenance Technology - 34

We're looking forward to a great 2012-13 academic year, and we are excited by CTC's work to help train Alaska's workforce and enhance our state's economic development!

May 2012

As we wrap up the spring semester and being our summer activities, I wanted to say thank you to everyone for another great academic year at CTC and UAA. Best wishes for a restful and enjoyable summer, wherever your travels may take you.

See you in the fall!

December 2011

Fall semester 2011 wraps up this week, final exams are completed and grades are being posted. Last Thursday, many in the college came together for a flavorful feast with a potluck luncheon to celebrate the end of the term at the Holiday Open House at Lucy’s in Cuddy Hall. Many thanks to Tina Rhodes and Jessica Rivera in the dean’s office, and the faculty and staff in the Culinary Arts, Hospitality, Dietetics & Nutrition Division, for the great organization and warm hospitality of this annual holiday event!

As we end the calendar year and reflect back on 2011, I would recommend reading through UAA’s Performance ’11 report published by the Office of Institutional Effectiveness. This is an excellent overview of UAA’s accomplishments, outcomes and contributions over the academic year 2010-2011 (AY11). Notable AY11 achievements for CTC include: a record of 427 graduates, 391 grads were in “High Demand Job Area” programs; a record 75,281 student credit hours (SCH), which was 6% above AY10; CTC’s SCH have grown 13% over the past five years; CTC added 1,436 SCH in distance-delivered course instruction, the third largest increase for distance instruction in UAA colleges.

Looking forward to 2012, UAA’s Year One Report: Mission, Core Themes, and Expectations was reviewed by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities this fall. The report lays out the core theme framework for evaluating UAA’s institutional effectiveness over the next seven year accreditation cycle. The Year One Report will be a guiding document for the College Council’s work this spring as we begin to evaluate CTC’s planning, assessment, and resource allocation processes in order to better align them within the institution’s core theme framework. The next institutional report for the accreditation process is due to the Commission in September 2013, followed by a site evaluation visit in October-November. More information on UAA’s Accreditation 2017 is now available on the UAA website.

It has been a great year, and we have much to look forward to in 2012. Best wishes for the end-of-semester wrap-up; enjoy the holiday break at home, or wherever your travels may take you!

August 2011

Welcome back to all of the Community & Technical College (CTC) faculty returning this week! I trust that everyone had an enjoyable and productive summer; the campus is starting to buzz with fall semester 2011 activities. Yesterday I had the pleasure of sharing breakfast and introductions with over 40 new UAA faculty members at their orientation sponsored by the UAA Center for Advancing Faculty Excellence (CAFE). Special thanks go out to CTC College Preparatory and Developmental Studies (CPDS) faculty members Shannon Gramse and Don Rearden for their presentation on Alaska Native & Rural Students in one of CAFE's new faculty orientation sessions.

CTC All-College Meeting, Thursday, August 18

UAA Fall Convocation Activities in August and September

Convocation is the traditional "calling together" of the UAA community at the beginning of a new academic year and I would like to encourage all CTC faculty and staff to participate in these campus events:

• UAA Freshman Convocation invites all faculty to attend on Saturday, August 27, from 3:30 PM to 4:30 p.m. in the Wendy Williamson Auditorium. The speakers will include UAA Chancellor Tom Case and distinguished keynote speaker Dr. Michael Dirda. This UAA event is an outstanding opportunity to hear from Dr. Dirda who is a Pulitzer Prize winning critic, author, and writer for the Washington Post.
• UAA Campus Kick-Off follows the Freshman Convocation at 5:00 p.m. on August 27 on the Cuddy quad. UAA Campus Kick-Off welcomes new and returning students, parents, staff and faculty who want to learn more about what UAA and the Anchorage community has to offer. There is a full slate of student activities including food, music, comedy and movies!
• UAA Faculty and Staff Convocation on Friday, September 16 in the Wendy Williamson Auditorium. This is the annual campus-wide celebration to usher in the new academic year and to honor the achievement and service of our faculty and staff. The event will recognize faculty members who were promoted and received tenure; Longevity Awards and Chancellor's Awards for Excellence will also be presented.

CTC by the Numbers

As of August 15, UAA Office of Institutional Research reports that overall CTC student credit hours (SCH) are down (-6.9%), as is the enrollment headcount (HC; -6.3%) from where they were last year two weeks before classes start. In contrast, CTC developmental courses in the 050-099 level were up 8.9% in SCH, and 7.9% in HC. To compare, the UAA Anchorage campus is up 2.6% in SCH and 2.5% in HC; region-wide the UAA MAU is up 6.8% in both SCH and HC. This date-to-date comparison of numbers by campus, college and discipline for UAA are updated weekly on the Institutional Research (IR) dashboard; additional enrollment reports for fall 2011 are available on the weekly enrollment reports.

These early SCH and HC numbers are indicators that CTC's CPDS department continues to be challenged to meet the Anchorage campus enrollment needs of first-year students for developmental courses. With the date-to-date comparison of SCH and HC being down in other CTC academic units, we can anticipate a significant number of returning students will be seeking enrollment in the next two weeks. If so, expect that things will be getting even busier as we approach the first day of classes.

Thank you all for your dedication to our students and programs, it is going to be another great year for CTC!

All-College PowerPoint presentation