Governing Board Address 05/28/24

I am Ramona Goth, and it is my privilege to represent the Residential faculty as the 2024-2025 Faculty Executive Council President.

I don’t speak Spanish or Latin, and while I enjoy music, I have a difficult time recalling song titles. However, I do appreciate a good turn of phrase, so tonight I’d like to begin with a quotation from H. E. Luccock: “No one can whistle a symphony.”

At Scottsdale Community College’s 2024 commencement ceremony, Chancellor Gonzalez exhorted graduates to “honor the power of community.” Tonight, I would like to spotlight faculty who did just this and worked across departments, across disciplines, across colleges, and across the District to provide enriched learning experiences for students.

Literary journals are not new in the District, but it was not until a group of Scottsdale Community College English teachers met for happy hour that the idea for an academic journal for community college students was born. Anyone can have a good idea, especially at happy hour, but two dedicated English professors, Dr. Jaraed Aragona and Professor Matthew Bloom, made that idea a reality. They collaborated with English faculty to curate quality student essays and worked together to edit and publish an online journal– the Two Waters Review. Next year, the Two Waters Review will be expanded outside the English department to include essays from students in the life and physical sciences departments.

This spring, Dr. Aragona and Professor Bloom partnered with Graphic Arts Professors Peggy Deal and Bernie Fritts to involve visual arts students in the creation of a print version of the Two Waters Review. SCC has provided each of the members of the Governing Board with a copy of our literary journal, Vortex, and our academic journal, Two Waters Review–publications that through cross-disciplinary collaboration are entirely written by students, designed by students, and printed by students.

In fall of 2023 and spring of 2024, faculty from Paradise Valley Community College and Scottsdale Community College engaged in a cross-campus collaboration to host community dialogues on race, gender and class. Led by Dr. Michael Noschka, Dr. Kaitlin Southerly, and Dr. Jeff Butcher, these dialogue days were designed to sharpen learner’s critical thinking and communication skills while strengthening civic engagement and building more inclusive communities.

The Literacy Partners Program, led by Stacy Wilson and Alex Arreguin, reached across disciplines and campuses to promote student success through reflective teaching, continuous learning, and collaboration among faculty. The Literacy Partners Program begins with a summer workshop introducing faculty from across the District to high-impact practices for addressing student success challenges in their disciplines. Faculty then design projects to address these challenges while. The program provides wrap-around support for these projects, and it fosters community connections through networking opportunities and social gatherings. On May 23, Mesa Community College hosted the Literacy Partners Project Showcase that spotlighted projects from Nursing, Exercise Science, Communications, Chemistry, Biology, English, Dental Hygiene, and Theater. Each project was designed to foster a deeper engagement with course materials and to create a more inclusive learning environment for students across the District.

MCC District Service Learning is a shining example of the power of community. In 2023-2024, service-learning projects across the District engaged a total of 2857 student participants in service experiences that positively impacted their campuses and communities. Students, staff, and faculty performed a total of 16,540 service hours during the academic year. Recently the volunteer investment rate estimated that each volunteer hour invested in a community was valued at $33 an hour. This would mean that a total of $545, 820 dollars was invested in the community by District Service Learning.

From Glendale Community College where students, staff, and faculty created 300+ coloring packets for children waiting in the Phoenix Children’s Hospital ER…

To Gateway Community College where students, staff, and faculty worked with the Center for Native and Urban Wildlife to collect and package native seeds for distribution to community members…

To Mesa Community College where the Random Acts of Kindness Week and Pay It Forward campaigns were successful student-led initiatives…

faculty are helping to foster active citizenship, promote community well-being, and prepare students to be compassionate and responsible members of society.