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From the President
Reflecting on 2013
The hectic nature of our work often prevents us from taking the time to reflect on all that we have accomplished together. Fortunately, a new year and a new semester bring an opportunity to look back over the past year of our life together as a learning community. And what a year it was! Here is a quick listing of just some of the highlights from 2013:
- Community College Week once again named Hocking College
 the top Natural Resources and Conservation Associate Degree producer in the country; - Hocking College was ranked as one of "America's Top 50 Community Colleges" in the Washington Monthly September/October 2013 edition. Hocking was the only two-year college in Ohio on the list;
- Associate Professor Sue Fletcher was awarded the Ohio Council of Teachers of English Language Arts (OCTELA) Outstanding English Educator Award;
- Hocking College was awarded the Military Friendly SchoolsŪ title from Victory Media Inc. for the fourth year in a row. The 2014 Military Friendly SchoolsŪ list honors the top 20 percent of colleges, universities and trade schools that are embracing America's military service members and veterans as students.
- The final report of a Focused Visit by peer reviewers from the Higher Learning Commission recommended full and continuing accreditation until our next regular visit in 2016;
- Hocking College student, Ndeye Penda Leye of Senegal, was
 named one of the 20 international winners of the Global Dialogues National Narrative contest; - PTA faculty member Tobe Gillogly received the highest award a physical therapist assistant can receive: Recognition of Advanced Proficiency;
- A very favorable credit rating from Moody's facilitated the transfer of ownership of Downhour and North Halls from the Hocking College Foundation to the college;
- An exciting eTextbook pilot program was launched through a partnership between the the college and EdMap, a national distributor of educational content located here in Nelsonville;
- American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) appointed nursing faculty member Sue Erlewine MSN RN, as a content expert to assist in the development of a new national Faith Community Nursing certification;
- Hocking College Foundation hosted its inaugural Hocktoberfest, an autumn celebration of alumni and community that attracted hundreds to campus;
- Contextualized learning course developed by Scott Mong,
 Public Safety Commander, and Kathy Pittman, Associate Professor, was recognized as a best practice in developmental education by the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) and Ohio Association of Community Colleges (OACC); and - New external signage was installed as part of a long term effort to improve pedestrian navigation across our various campuses.
These are just a few of the outstanding achievements we enjoyed celebrating over the course of the last year, as we faithfully continued to carry out our critical mission to the learners of southeastern Ohio and beyond. Next week, we'll look ahead to 2014, and consider several important initiatives, challenges and goals that lie ahead.
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From the Provost:
Adventures in Education
 The Three R's
For our January installment of Adventures in Education I wanted to share some tips/ reminders to keep in mind. So I say to you: REFRESH, REPLENISH and REMEMBER to: - Greet students at the door the first day...and everyday.
- Start class on time.
- Share information about yourself and your experiences.
- Thoroughly discuss the syllabus, class policies, assessment methods, etc.
- State your expectations of the students (do you know what they are?)
- Give the students the opportunity to state their expectations.
- Establish expectations and standards of behavior.
- Be prepared.
- Show students that you care about their success.
- Maintain eye contact with your students.
- Move about the room; do not sit behind a desk.
- Control your temper.
- Apologize if necessary.
- Be generous with praise and constructive with criticism.
- Keep students in thought or activity.
- Do not make idle threats.
- Do not play favorites.
- Use variety in your instructional methods.
- Always make sure the students know "what's in it for them."
- Be prepared to ask yourself - is the student the problem or am I the problem?
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 Senator Visits Hocking College
U.S. Senator Rob Portman, R-Cincinnati, visited the area last Friday and stopped by Hocking College to speak to college leadership and some culinary students.
The Hocking College Culinary Competition team created appetizers to serve during Portman's visit, then talked to the senator about the college and the upcoming American Culinary Federation state competition.
Portman also visited Ohio University's Innovation Center and met with OU President Roderick McDavis during the trip.
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 Buck to Present National Webinar
Dr. Roger Buck, Director of the Counseling Center, will present an upcoming webinar for Innovative Educators entitled, "Understanding Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: How to Improve the Academic Success of Student Veterans on Your Campus."
The seminar will explore the scope of mental health, neuro-cognitive, and readjustment problems that previously deployed military veteran students face as they return to our college campuses. It will also explore some unique issues military veterans who have not been deployed to a war zone may bring to college campuses.
Dr. Buck is a retired Navy veteran with 22 years active duty serving during the Vietnam War era. Dr. Buck is a licensed professional Clinical Counselor, a Doctoral Addictions Counselor and a retired U.S. Navy Veteran. He has extensive advanced training and research in human responses to Trauma and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Dr. Buck also has extensive experience as a counselor, teacher, consultant and administrator spanning a 25-year career.
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Efficiency Report Submitted
House Bill 59 (also known as the Budget Bill) effective July 1, 2013, contains a provision requiring the establishment of an Efficiency Advisory Committee. This committee, established by the Chancellor of the Board of Regents, has the purpose of generating optimal efficiency plans for campuses, identifying shared services opportunities, sharing best practices and exploring methods for reducing the costs for students for textbooks and other education resource materials.
The committee is required to meet quarterly and Gina Fetty, Vice President of Financial Services, is the Hocking College Efficiency Officer for the purpose of serving on that committee and being responsible for the evaluation and improvement of operational efficiencies on campus.
By December 31 of each year, the Efficiency Advisory Committee is required to submit a report to the Office of Budget and Management, the Governor, and the General Assembly compiling the operational efficiency plans for all institutions of higher education and benchmarking efficiency gains realized over the preceding year and progress in implementing the prior year's efficiency plan. In response to charge of the committee, the college was required to submit a report to the State outlining its operational efficiencies for the reporting period. Hocking College's report can be found here. Once the statewide report is available to the public on the Ohio Board of Regents web site, we will inform you of its availability.
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 Kappa Beta Delta Spreads Christmas Cheer
During the holiday season, members of Kappa Beta Delta (KBD), a business honor society at Hocking College, helped spread holiday cheer by providing Christmas gifts for a local family in need.
The members sold poinsettias to raise funds for the Kappa Beta Delta members to perform this and other service projects. Thank you to everyone for your support of Kappa Beta Delta.
Any Accounting or Business Management student that wants to learn more about Kappa Beta Delta should contact Melissa Atkins at 740.753.7219.
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 Sociology Class Visits Historical Society
In December, students from Julie Cohara's Sociology of Family Living class visited the Ohio Historical Society in Columbus, Ohio. They toured the museum's "1950s: Building the American Dream" exhibit, which features a full sized Lustron prefabricated home. The home is fully furnished with artifacts from the era and is authentically decorated for the holidays.
As the 1950s are often associated with nostalgia as the pinnacle era for families that have since socially eroded, each student was challenged to find an exhibit reference that supported this family decline perspective. Students were also challenged to discover an exhibit illustrating that 1950's families were very diverse and adapting to the modernization of society.
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 TRIO Performance Success
Highlights for each program include:
Talent Search (serving Tri-County, Trimble and Miller schools):
- 100% of the students served persisted to the next grade
- 97.22% of the seniors served graduated from High School on time
- 64.29% of the graduating seniors enrolled in an institution of higher education for the fall term immediately following graduation. Of the 90 students, 48 enrolled at Hocking College.
Student Support Services:
- 85.26% of TLC students persisted to fall term 2013
- 91.57% of TLC students remained in good academic standing at Hocking College
- 35.78% of TLC participants from the 2009/2010 cohort graduated within four years
- 12.63% of TLC graduates transferred to a four-year college
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 Involvement Fair This Week
The spring semester Involvement Fair will be Thursday, January 16 from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. in the Student Center. The Involvement Fair provides students the opportunity meet the leaders of clubs, organizations and societies, ask questions and get involved. Any campus club or organization that would like to participate should contact Giles Lee. |
Reminder: Get Your W-2 Form Electronically
Employees may opt to receive their Form W-2 electronically. To opt in, go to the employee section of WebAdvisor and click on "W-2 Electronic Consent" under "Employee Profile" and select the first option which is the electronic consent. You'll get your W-2 a few days earlier this way. If no electronic consent is given, a printed form will be mailed to your home address on file. This also applies to student employees.
Students may also opt to get their Form 1098-T electronically. Form 1098-T, an IRS form entitled, "Tuition Statement" is provided annually to qualifying students. The form provides the documentation necessary for students or parents to claim an education tax credit, depending on the taxpayer's own tax situation. Students may opt in to receive this form electronically through their WebAdvisor account.
Electing for electronic form delivery will assist in our efforts to reduce waste, protect our environment and preserve our natural resources.
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 Alumna Earns Chief Nursing Officer Position
Hocking College graduate Janelle Hicks (1994), began serving as the Interim Chief Nursing Officer in early December at the Hocking Valley Community Hospital.
As Interim Chief Nursing Officer, Hicks supervises four nursing directors and four full-time nursing supervisors, focusing on staffing, operations, patient outcomes and budgeting matters. Those eight individuals are responsible for more than 150 staff members.
"I'm excited about this new role and honored that Julie asked me to step in," Hicks said. "I'm up for the challenge and am willing to do anything I can to assist Julie and be there for the nursing directors."
Hicks earned her Registered Nursing degree from Hocking College and her Bachelor's of Science from Ohio University in 2003.
Read more about Hicks' success in the Logan Daily News.
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Mission
Hocking College provides a unique, innovative, and quality education in a supportive experience- based learning environment, preparing students for employment and transfer education opportunities, while teaching the value of lifelong learning, promoting diversity and developing citizens who are engaged in their local and global communities.
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Fall Book Drive Results
The fall book drive for Better World Books "Literacy for Africa" collected 1,176 books, filling 41 boxes, a whopping 2,050 pounds of books! Better World Books is a literacy book drive that transports the collected books to various worldwide and nationwide literacy projects as well as selling other books donated to fund the transportation of the books they actually use in literacy work. Many special thanks to the following who helped make this book drive successful both in donating books and/or help in allowing the collection bins and help in shipping: Allied Health, Nursing, the Library (Jeff and Karen), and the Bookstore (Katie and Chuck); Academic Affairs Office; ABIT Office; the Warehouse (especially Jenny Adams); Judy Bowie and everyone who donated books. A very big thank you to the packing crew: Judy Bowie, Murtadha Al-Bahrani, Badar Al-Mashaifari, Tom Hirst, Yilong Hu, Fahad Almas, Boyu Liu and Reem Al-Saleem.
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