The Communications and Languages Department had their mid semester meeting to showcase the tentative programs that may be implemented on campus. The meeting was held on Nov. 12 from 1-2 p.m. in LR 128.

C & L Department Dean, Robert Holcomb reported on the successful accreditation visit.

Although the C & L Department did well, one of the areas of growths included Student Learning Outcomes (SLO’s). As the Accreditation team gave their preliminary report at the Wray Theatre, they suggested that the faculty does its best to provide their course SLO’s on their syllabi.

As an approach to fulfill this, Dean Holcomb will verify and collect SLO’s for every course section and make sure that they are provided on syllabi’s.

Receiving the syllabi will be recurring and he will begin collecting them for intercession.

Another topic that Dean Holcomb discussed was the transition toward a Two-Year Class Schedule.

At the moment a tentative schedule is being created, without any faculty names, but course titles and times.

Although he understands that it may be a lot of work for faculty, it was agreed that it is the best direction to head towards for all Rio Hondo students.

At the moment, it is expected for all divisions to have all tentative courses outlined until Spring 2017, by this upcoming January.

At the moment the C & L Department is finishing their Summer 2015.

Another topic of discussion was the C & L Division Academic Pathways Information Sessions. These informational sessions are provided to showcase majors within the C & L Department.

Dean Holcomb suggests that in the future they should created three free standing 30 minute sessions and go to Coun 101 and Coun 151 courses and present.

They are also interested in collaborating with the Career Center to create a power point where they will showcase different careers for Communication and Languages majors.

The main goal of these sessions is to promote the degrees offered by the C & L Department.

Creating a successful Student Equity plan has helped gain RHC over $800,000 to implement programs by September 2015.

Assistant Dean Barbara Salazar, who is also a member of the Student Equity Task Force, spoke about one of the programs that they would like to implement, which is the development of a Writer’s Resource Center (WRC).

The location of the center is to be further discussed. However they spoke about having a WRC Faculty Coordinator, Beverly Reilly offered her time and was unanimously supported.

This center is faculty driven to help students with their writing and will be open to all students regardless if they are taking a writing class or not.

While commenting on the Academic Senate meeting on Nov. 11, Michelle Bean mentioned how RHC submitted a few courses within the Social Sciences for the Online Education Initiative that will be available to all students within the community college system.

She also mentioned how, First Year students needed to have at a minimum an abbreviated Educational Plan which they were able to create in Counseling, Express Counseling, or during one of the various Counseling 105 courses to register for Spring 2015.

However, those students will need a comprehensive Ed Plan, which they should work on during Spring 2015, to be able to register for Fall 2015.

RHC is 1 of 15 California community colleges allowed to offer a Bachelors degree. At the moment, RHC is applying to be allowed to issue a B.A. for Automotive Technology.

The C & L Department continues to push the envelope through its achievement. For example, the Learning Assistance Center (LAC), plan to assign a tutor for every class for winter intercession. Mariano Zaro will be presenting at the largest International Book Fair in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico this winter.