Reclaiming the American Dream, Community Colleges and the Nation’s Future.

The 24th Annual Student Success Conference will include opportunities for faculty, staff, and administrators to engage in meaningful and collaborative conversations about practices and strategies that positively impact student retention, persistence, and success.

The conference will include breakout sessions focused on the following tracks:

• Early Connections: Sessions will describe strategies and best practices for creating strong, early connections that promote student success (i.e., learning communities, advising, counseling, orientations, and building connections to the college and community).
• High Expectations & Aspirations: Sessions will describe strategies and best practices for promoting behaviors that promote achievement and student success (i.e., preparing for college, time management, organization, first year success strategies, identifying short-term and long-term goals).
• Engaged Learning: Sessions will describe strategies intentionally designed to actively engage students in the learning and assessment process (i.e., active learning, inquiry-based learning, collaborative learning, service learning, and peer mentoring).
• Clear Academic Plan & Pathway: Sessions will describe resources and strategies for helping students create pathways for achieving identified academic and career aspirations (i.e., advisement, counseling, transfer, first year success strategies, and goal setting).
• Academic & Social Support Network: Sessions will describe resources and strategies for creating academic and social support networks that promote student success (i.e., connecting with student support services, transitioning to college, military veterans, and building community).
• Effective Track to College Readiness: Sessions will describe resources and strategies for promoting the success of underprepared students (i.e., assessment and placement, study skills, understanding academic strengths and areas in need of strengthening, and test taking).

Agenda

8:00 a.m. Registration/Coffee/Exhibits

9:00 a.m. Welcome and Introductions

Dr. Maria Harper-Marinick, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Maricopa Community Colleges
Mr. Doyle Burke, President Governing Board, Maricopa Community Colleges
Dr. Rufus Glasper, Chancellor Maricopa Community Colleges

9:15 a.m. Keynote Presentation: The Maricopa Way: Reclaiming the American Dream

Dr. Kay McClenney, Co-Chair, 21st Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges and Director of the Center for Community College Student Engagement, University of Texas at Austin

10:00 a.m. Break/Exhibits

10:15 a.m. Breakout Session I (session descriptions)

Salon A: What Sense Has to Do with Completion
Salon B: SMCC Minority Male Summer Bridge Program
Salon C: Connect 4 Success: Success for Developmental Education through Mentoring iConnect: How a Vision for Student Success Evolved into a Campus-Wide Intitiative
Salon D: Financial Aid and Student Success: There is a Method to the Madness
Salon G: Got Math Problems? Helping Math Students Understand What They Read
Salon H: Open Educational Resource (OER) to the Max
Salon I Building a Path Between Homework and Real Work
Salon J: One Stop Enrollment: 9 Months In, What We Would Do Differently, and What is Working for Students

11:00 a.m. Break/Exhibits

11:15 a.m. Breakout Session II (session descriptions)

Salon A: Checking in with ASU, NAU, and U of A: Information Your Students Need to Know
Salon B: Seamless Student Experience 101
Salon C: Defenders of the American Dream: Supporting Soldiers on Our Campus and in Our Classrooms
Salon D: Serving Traditionally Under-Represented Populations Through Honors Programming
Salon G: Developmental Mathematics in Maricopa: An Ambitious Plan
Salon H: Student Discipline: An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure
Salon I: Engaging Students in Career Planning Equals Fostering Student Success
Salon J: Student-Created Prompts and Rubrics: Increasing Student Investment in the Community College Classroom

12:00 p.m. Lunch: Student Voices Video, Maricopa Graduates 2012

12:30 p.m. Keynote/Panel Conversation; Interactive Q & A with audience participation

Facilitator: Dr. Maria Harper-Marinick
Panel Members: Felicia L. Ganther, J.D., Associate Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Maricopa Community CollegesDr. Tanisha Johnson-Maxwell, Faculty Senate President Estrella Mountain Community College
Dr. James Mabry, Vice President for Academic Affairs Mesa Community College
Maria Reyes, M.P.A, M.S.E., Dean of Career and Technical Education Chandler-Gilbert Community College

1:15 p.m. Break/Exhibits

1:30 p.m. Breakout Session III (session descriptions)

Salon A: Informed Improvement Across the District
Salon B: iStartSmart Five Years Later: Original Research on Maricopa Success Courses
Salon C: On-Time Registration: Best Practices, Implementation, and Lesssons Learned
Salon D: Revitalizing and Energizing Instruction: Engaging and Retaining Developmental Students
Salon G: LINC and STAR: Two Peer Mentor Programs at GateWay Community College
Salon H: The Invisible Student: Engagement and Retention Strategies for Students of Color
Salon H: Shaping Student Success: Best Practices for Recruitment and Retention of African American Students
Salon I: Undergraduate Research in the Community College: You Can Do It!
Salon J: Engaging Student Success in Math and Other GateWay Classes: Lessons Learned from Collaboration and Integration

2:15 p.m. Break/Exhibits

2:30 p.m. College Team Discussions
salon a Chandler-Gilbert
salon b GateWay
salon c Glendale
salon d Mesa
salon e/f District Office, Estrella, Rio Salado, and High School/College/University Guests
salon g Paradise Valley
salon h Phoenix
salon i Scottsdale
salon j South Mountain

About the Keynote Presenter

Dr. Kay McClenney is director of the Center for Community College Student Engagement and a faculty member in the Community College Leadership Program (CCLP) at the University of Texas at Austin. The Center conducts the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) and the Survey of Entering Student Engagement (SENSE), and has now surveyed nearly two million community college students at over 800 colleges in 50 states. Dr. McClenney also directs the Center’s Initiative on Student Success, a long-term student focus group research initiative supported by the MetLife Foundation and Houston Endowment Inc.

Also, within the CCLP, she is senior consultant to the UT/CCLP work on the national Achieving the Dream initiative and co-director of Student Success BY THE NUMBERS, funded by the Greater Texas Foundation. She was co-director of CLASS ─ the California Leadership Alliance for Student Success and of the national Bridges to Opportunity initiative. She previously served for 10 years as vice president and chief operating officer of the Education Commission of the States.

Dr. McClenney has served as a consultant to education institutions, state higher education systems, state government, and professional associations in 47 states and internationally. In addition, she served for a number of years as a community college educator, during which time she was a faculty member, program director, system administrator, and interim CEO.

A frequent keynote speaker, Dr. McClenney has authored numerous publications on education issues, strategic planning, accountability, student success, and leadership. She earned her Ph.D. in Educational Administration from the Community College Leadership Program at the University of Texas at Austin. Her previous degrees are a B.A. from Trinity University and an M.A. in Psychology from Texas Christian University.

Dr. McClenney has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) and the Executive Board of the American Association of Women in Community Colleges (AAWCC). She received the 2002 PBS O’Banion Prize for contributions to teaching and learning in America, the 2009 Mildred Bulpitt Woman of the Year Award from the American Association of Women in Community Colleges, the 2009 International Leadership Award from NISOD, and the 2011 National Leadership Award from AACC. Dr. McClenney co-chairs AACC’s 21st Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges.