Coahoma Community College News November 8, 2018 CCC Conducts ICAT Strategic Planning Café Recently, Coahoma Community College faculty and staff members met at the ICAT Strategic Planning Café to continue their mission of bringing transformative change to the CCC campus, through efforts aimed ultimately at elevating student success. In this phase of CCC's Student Success Initiative/Achieving the Dream (ATD) process, Coahoma employees dialogued in intensive sessions, where groups critically evaluated many internal processes within the institution's operations. The evaluations were documented and will be discussed in greater detail by Coahoma's ATD Core and Data teams. Guiding Coahoma through the entire process are two appointed ATD coaches. Dr. Steven Murray and Daryl Davis. Each coach brings firsthand experience to CCC, as they both hail from institutions that underwent the ATD process. Daryl Davis is the current AVP of Analytics & Reporting for Valencia College. Through his tenure at Valencia College, he has acquired the knowledge and understanding of the Achieving the Dream model, being that Valencia has participated in Achieving the Dream since 2004 and is now a leader college in the network. In his current role as AVP, he is responsible for leading an Institutional Research and Data Warehouse office that provides data and insight to the college to help foster the building of a culture of evidence and helping a multi-campus institution use data to make decisions. Dr. Steven Murray is the Chancellor Emeritus of Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas (PCCUA). Dr. Murray began working at PCCUA in 1980 and served as an English instructor, director of the academic advisement, division dean, vice chancellor for instruction, executive vice chancellor, and chancellor. His experience also includes faculty positions at Western Illinois University and Old Dominion University. Murray spoke on how the work of ATD and student success is important and how much the pursuit of transformative change at Coahoma can impact the Mississippi Delta. "You are in a region where students are affected by so many factors that can affect their outcomes. Many students here have to cope with poverty, issues at home, and many other factors," said Murray. So, in essence, Coahoma can be a beacon of hope in the lives of these students." Earlier this year, the Woodward Hines Education Foundation awarded Coahoma Community College a grant to participate in the Achieving the Dream (ATD) network. The Achieving the Dream network, an initiative devoted to achieving success among community college students, has a layout of ideas to strengthen problem areas in the higher education realm. ATD hopes to target aspects including leadership, teaching, learning, and technology. Dr. Melvin Newson, special populations coordinator and ATD co-chair, sees the information gained as a new focus for Coahoma's initiative. "My hopes are that we utilize the information to improve. I am confident that we will. Everyone was excited and provided very useful feedback," said Newson. "We saw some commonalities in the dialogue across all seven capacity areas and we have already begun processing this information. We cannot thank everyone enough for participating." In February, members of CCC's Data and Core teams will travel to Long Beach, CA to attend ATD's 2019 Dream Conference. There, they will join experts, policy-makers, & investors from throughout the U.S. to examine emerging strategies for critical issues facing two-year and four-year colleges and universities. For more information on Coahoma's Student Success Initiative/ATD process visit: http://www.coahomacc.edu/atd/index To access photos from the event visit: https://flic.kr/s/aHskLXTQsu SANDRA M. PHOENIX HBCU Library Alliance Executive Director Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library 111 James P. Brawley Drive SW Atlanta, GA 30314 404-978-2118 (office) 404-702-5854 (cell) http://www.hbculibraries.org/ sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org%3cmailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org>> Honor the ancestors, honor the children. Follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hbculibraryalliance1/ and Twitter https://twitter.com/HBCULibAlliance Check out "PULSE!" The HBCU Library Alliance's News Source! - https://hbculibraryalliance.wordpress.com/ Authenticity Project: Click here: https://www.diglib.org/opportunities/authenticity-project/ to apply. Applications accepted until Friday, November 16th.