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July 30, 2015
Vol. 1, Issue 17
Board of Trustees

Chairman of the Board
Anna U. Bustamante
District 3

Vice Chair
Dr. Yvonne Katz
District 7

Secretary
Joe Alderete, Jr.
District 1

Asst. Secretary
Clint Kingsbery
District 8

Denver McClendon
District 2

Marcelo S. Casillas
District 4

Roberto Zarate
District 5

Dr. Gene Sprague
District 6

James Rindfuss
District 9

Sami C. Adames
Student Trustee

Chancellor

Dr. Bruce Leslie
Alamo Colleges

Alamo Colleges Nets $8.9 Million State Appropriation To Build and Develop Veterans Centers 

 (l to r) Alamo Colleges' Trustees Dr. Gene Sprague, Roberto Zárate,
SAC President Dr. Robert Vela, State Senator José Menéndez,
SPC President Dr. Adena Williams Loston, Jose Ramirez, SAC student veteran, Chancellor Dr. Bruce Leslie and Trustee Clint Kingsbery
celebrate the $8.9 million state appropriation for veterans' centers.

 

 

At a press conference July 30, State Senator José Menéndez joined Dr. Bruce Leslie, chancellor of Alamo Colleges, Dr. Robert Vela, president of San Antonio College, Dr. Adena Williams Loston, president of St. Philip's College and the Alamo Colleges' Board of Trustees to announce a historic endeavor to assist more student veterans. Through Senator Menéndez's efforts, Alamo Colleges will receive nearly $9 million from state appropriations to build and enhance veterans' support and training centers at three different locations. The Alamo Colleges enrolls more veterans than any other community college in the state.

Alamo Colleges - San Antonio College will receive $7.6 million to construct a new Veterans Support and Care Center. The state-of-the-art facility will be fully integrated with VA services, physical and mental health needs, job training and education benefits. The Veterans Support and Care Center is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2017.

A total of $1 million will be allocated to Alamo Colleges - St. Philip's College to develop their innovative Good Samaritan Veteran's Outreach and Transition Center. The center, in partnership with the City of San Antonio, will assist any service member with housing, health and wellness and will provide a variety of services for veterans and their families. The renovation at St. Philip's is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2017.

Finally, the Alamo Colleges Westside Education and Training Center will receive $300,000 for strategic upgrades to accommodate veterans with disabilities. The training programs offered by the Westside Education and Training Center are crucial for service members, helping translate the skills learned in the military into civilian careers.

 

 

 

 

Alamo Colleges - St. Philip's College Program Engages Aspiring Scientists and Their Families
 
Prospective young scientists are eager to make their presentations
at the SPC Science and Math Summer Adacemy.

On July 23 at the Centers for Excellence at St. Philip's College Southwest Campus, 111 prospective young scientists and their families explored connections between an affordable college education and higher-demand, higher-pay employment during the last day of the college's three-week 2015 Science and Math Summer Academy. The final hands-on presentations for the aspiring scientists, ages 11-15, required them to have their parents learn by quickly operating the high tech projects in advanced labs at the college. 

 

The day included four rotations of 20-minute, hands-on kids-teaching-parents presentations in manufacturing, computer design, rocketry, ecology, and several other topics. Camp guest faculty included Dr. Ellen Quillen (Evolutionary Geneticist with Texas Biomedical Research Institute), Brent Doty (Aquifer Protection Supervisor with Edwards Aquifer Authority), Susan Chambers (Lab Manager with Stanbio), Dr. Matthew Blias (Director of Fire Technology with Southwest Research Institute), Derek Remund (Systems Engineering with Rackspace), Richard Hawk (CEO/Scientist with San Antonio Testing Labs), Jacob Aalf (Landscape Architect with San Antonio River Authority), Dr. Cheryl Washington (CEO/Mathematician with Shekinah Radiance Academy), and Kim Stoker (Director, Environmental Planning with CPS Energy). For a video of the event, click here.
 


 

 

The Mortuary Science program at San Antonio College
successfully increased the productive grade rate of its students.

Alamo Colleges - San Antonio College Mortuary Science Program Meets Goal

 

The Mortuary Science program at Alamo Colleges - San Antonio College recently presented a report to the Board of Trustees on their success in achieving their goal of increasing the productive grade rate of students in the program from 75.7% to 78.7% by January 2015. In order to achieve this goal, the program's team members engaged two students weekly outside of the classroom for six weeks on strategies to improve their course achievement. The effort was so successful that the productive grade rate increased to 80.76%, surpassing the original goal.

The Mortuary Science program at San Antonio College, established in 1961, is the first college-based funeral service education program to be offered in Texas. Students achieving the standards for the curriculum are conferred an associate in applied science in Mortuary Science degree by the college and are eligible for examination by the Texas Funeral Service Commission and the International Conference of Funeral Service Examining Boards and provisional licensure registration. Students in the program consistently achieve a pass rate on the national exam of more than 90%.




 


The Alamo Colleges is one district with five community colleges serving more than 90,000 students annually from Bexar County and seven other counties in our service area. We provide an affordable, quality college education that leads to associate degrees, certificates and transfers to four-year universities. Hundreds of thousands of Bexar County residents who have come through the Alamo Colleges education programs are major contributors to the economy and culture of San Antonio.