VC Night at the Ballpark a hugesuccess for employees, students

Victoria College students and employees gathered at Riverside Stadium recently for an evening of food, fun, and baseball. The evening began with free pizza, drinks,and lots of raffled gift cards including Amazon, Burger King, Sonic, iTunes, and HEB. The evening’s big winner was Angelica Alvarado, who won a $50 gift card to Lowe’s. Festivities inside the stadium started with a “Best Argghh!” Contest. Members of the VC Pirates women’s volleyball team, women’s basketball team, and the men’s baseball team competed. Despite being a team of only two, the men won “Best Argghh!” Contest by popular acclaim. Prior to the game, graduates from VC’s first Physical Therapist Assistant class were introduced along with current PTA students and PTA Program Director Laura Crandall. Employees

and students also celebrated the PTA Program for its official accreditation at the end of the spring semester. Two of this year’s “What’s Your Story?” scholarship winners, Martha Montemayor Martin and David Petty, were introduced, and all VC Foundation donors were thanked for supporting VC’s scholarship programs. After VC alumni Andy Heger sang the national anthem and VC Foundation Board Member Elgin Jannsen threw the first pitch, the Generals began their game against the McKinney Marshals. Inning breaks featured games including the mascot race won by General Buckshot (Captain Vic wasn’t ready for the race and didn’t get to compete), a Rootbeer Chugging Contest, a Fitness Challenge, and the always hilarious Dizzy Bat Race. The Marshals beat the Generals 8 to 4.

Captain Vic high-fives a woman in the stands at VC Night at the Ballpark at Riverside Stadium.

July/August 2012

Colleagues: Last fall I let you know that Victoria College was examining how our staff positions are classified. You might recall that we engaged consultants from the Texas Association

of School Boards to assist us with a study of our positions. TASB completed its work and submitted a report to us a few months ago. The Administrative Council then reviewed and revised that report. The outcome of this work was recently shared in a workshop with the Victoria College Board of Trustees. It is my plan to submit it to them in August for their approval. Terri Kurtz will be sharing the details of the plan with you later, but I can give you a general outline now. We will categorize staff employees into two groups: professional/administrative and support services. The professional/administrative employees group will consist of our exempt employees, and the support

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From the President Dr. Tom Butler

Upcoming EventsConvocation Breakfast/Kick-offMonday, Aug. 137:30 a.m.Leo J. Welder Center for the Performing Arts214 N. Main Street

Beginning of the Year DinnerThursday, Aug. 166 p.m.Club Westerner1005 W. Constitution Street

When new students apply to Victoria College, their first stop is usually in VC’s Welcome Center. The Welcome Center is part of the Admissions & Records Office located in the Student Services Building.

Whether they’re on campus to apply as new students or need to obtain a copy of their transcripts, students are greeted with the friendly faces of Miros Gonzales and Illiana Rodriguez. Missy Klimitchek serves as VC’s Registrar, overseeing all of VC’s state reporting and matriculation requirements In addition, she works with VC’s various academic departments to help develop academic calendars and conduct registration, along with auditing student records for degree and certificate requirements. The admissions staff also includes admissions analysts Betty Ramirez, Kaye Shook, Michelle Washington, and new part-time admissions analyst Christina Vargas.

The friendly Admissions & Records Office is always willing to help students get a great start at VC.

Sue Prudhomme has been the Director of the Museum of the Coastal Bend on campus at Victoria College since April 2007. Victoria College’s recent acquisition of the Leo J. Welder Center for the Performing Arts has resulted in a new title and a new job description for her—she is now VC’s Director of Cultural Affairs. Along with continuing to serve as the Director of the Museum of the Coastal Bend, her duties have expanded to include serving as operations manager for the Welder Center facility. Additionally, she’ll be working to develop fundraising opportunities and work with Theater Victoria and community users to maximize usage of the Welder Center. Just after VC took over operation of the Welder Center in early June, Sue started by learning about the facility’s daily operations, as well as daily operations, technical needs, and front-of-house operations during events. “We’ve revamped rental rates and usage policies, revised the website, and spent a lot of time ensuring that we can meet the needs of Welder Center users,” she said. With these details now complete, Prudhomme is looking forward to the

many benefits she expects will result from VC’s acquisition of the Welder Center. “I think it’s important that VC now has a presence downtown, and in addition to offering the facility for public use, VC now has a state-of-the-art venue in which to present lectures, concerts, and other events that serve the cultural needs of our community,” said Prudhomme. VC’s new facility has already seen its first big event. On Saturday, July 14, the Welder Center hosted the 2011-2012 Adult Education Graduation and U.S. Naturalization Recognition Ceremony. The Welder Center will also be home to this year’s Fall Convocation.

Employee spotlight: Sue Prudhomme

Sue Prudhomme has been promoted to VC’s Director of Cultural Affairs.

Department highlight: Admissions & Records

Employee News If you have not already completed the SANS “Securing the Human” security awareness training video, please note that it is still available for you to access online. The training consists of 27 modules, each averaging three to four minutes in length. The topics include items such as:• UsingEmailSecurity• UsingYourBrowserSafely• Passwords• SmartphoneSecurity• WirelessActivity• SocialNetworking

Workforce & Continuing Education, Sherri Pall, Van Advertising Wrap ($3,300)

Financial Literacy Committee, Kim Obsta, “Money Management 101” for EDUC 1300 classes ($1,100)

Academic Foundations, Babette Lowe,Summer Math Refresher Program ($3,630)

Instruction, Melanie Yosko & Catherine Heath, Creating/Hosting a Professional Development Conference ($5,000)

Adult Education, Tiffany Johnson, attend COABE National Conference ($2,500)

Respiratory Care, Chris Kallus,2 Apple iPad’s ($2,000)

VC Calhoun County Center, Sherre Clegg, WiFi Access Point ($980)

AHEC, Jody Sanders, The Health Career Academy and The Health Career Exploration program supplies and materials ($1,350)

The following recipients also applied for Faculty & Staff Grants, but were funded by additional Perkins funds.

Allied Health, Barbara Sanderson,Stretcher for the Vocational Nursing Program in Hallettsville

VC Gonzales Center, Jackie Mikesh,Science Lab Equipment for Gonzales Center

Biology, Sharon Hyak, Science Lab Equipment for Health Sciences Center

EMS and Respiratory Care Programs, Carl Voskamp, Basic Manual Ventilation Trainer

VC Foundation Faculty & Staff Grant Recipients

Employee News HR Benefits Update

United HealthCare Services will replace the current third party administrator for HealthSelect – Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, starting September 1, 2012. New insurance ID cards will be sent out before September 1, 2012. Please review the questions and answers email from March 8, 2012. Contact HR for more information.

Employees make a difference

Daryl Smolik, David Martin, and Ed Perez make up VC’s HVAC/Electrical Department, and they are a very dedicated crew. I recently found out that their efforts are also held in high regard by Schneider Electrical, a renowned energy consulting firm. In November 2010, Schneider Electric prepared a Preliminary Energy Audit Report for VC, and said: “Finally, I wanted to tell you that after performing Victoria College’s audit, your campus has pretty much become our benchmark for how a community college can/should operate. We constantly perform these audits at other higher education facilities, and

Compliments from one VC employee to another

“I received a phone call from a nursing student over at the Health Sciences Center. She said that she came out from her class in the heat and her car had a flat tire. She said that she started working on it and Rudy Maldenado and David Dunham came out of nowhere and changed the tire for her. She was very surprised at the generosity of these two guys and wanted someone to know what they had done. Great job!”

- from Keith Blundell

Victoria College is the gold standard by which we judge whether there is opportunity for savings or not. Your efforts to keep your energy usage at such a low amount is a benefit to the students, faculty, and most importantly to the taxpayers. I just wanted to let you know my perspective after studying your facilities and many others around the state.” Such praise from an energy efficiency expert is the highest praise that I can think of for a job well done. Daryl, David, and Ed certainly deserve the accolades for this job well done.”

- by Robert Duffie

Employees have fun at VC Night at the Ballpark!

New Employees

Keith Carter Campus Security

Officer

Lorenzo Garcia Groundskeeper

Terri Kurtz, EditorKaty Long, Copy EditorJulian Cavazos, Graphic Designer

VC Campus Connection is a publication of Victoria College.

©Victoria College

Birthdays

August2—Heath Giesbrecht

4—Sarah Cavazos

5—Monica Medina

7—Anita Brunsting

7—Jackie Mikesh

7—Vince Ortiz

7—Diana Pagel

10—Bridgette Marshall

11—Eddy Boles

11—Konnie Prince

11—Dave Ticen

13—Jeremy Gould

14—Stacy Barth

14—Asalia Martinez

14—David White

15—Ricky De La Garza

15—Cameron Dedear

15—Betty East

15—Elizabeth Garza

16—Rebecca Holm

16—Ronnie Reese

18—Joyce Miller

18—Cynthia Vivian

20—Karen Duffie

20—Mary Nieto

20—Hank Pahmiyer

23—Ralph Beeman

23—Daryl Smolik

27—Heidi Ajrami

27—Keith Blundell

27—Babette Lowe

27—Gwen McDonald

27—Susie Terry

30—Shelly Ninke

September2—Karen Hagan

6—Melissa Chadd

6—Alyssa Hale

6—LeAnn Wagner

11—Satwik Dasgupta

11—Kristi Pfeil

12—Nathan Heuer

12—Danette Johnson

14—Renee Deaver

15—Daniel Robinson

16—Paula Crawford

19—Victoria Moreno

20—Lynda Rosenquest

22—Katy Long

23—Suanne Bolech

24—Carol Walters

28—Mary Stahoviak

Felix SantanaBuilding Maintenance

Technician

Brett ReichartDirector of Police Academy & Coordinator of Criminal

Justice Program

services group will consist of our nonexempt employees. Within each category we have placed positions into groups based on similar knowledge, skill, and ability requirements of the positions. In some cases we have renamed positions to reflect their similarity. For each group we established a minimum and maximum pay, based on the job market analysis completed by TASB. In a very few cases, an employee’s current salary was below the minimum for his or her group, and we plan to increase those salaries to the new minimum. I want to emphasize that this is not only a small number of employees, but a small increase as well. For the most part the groups we created matched up well with current compensation. I should also say that no one will have their pay reduced as a result of this new plan. We will implement the plan Sept.1, although we have already been using the new classification plan for new hires. After Terri provides all of the details of the plan, you may have questions. Please feel free to ask any questions, either of Terri or of me.

Thank you.

Tom Butler

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Ernest WilhelmGroundskeeper

Victor CavazosWelder Center Custodian

& Facilities Assistant

Photo Not Available

From the President