Dear Lincoln Land Community College Faculty and Staff:

On Professional Development Day, I will take the opportunity for 15-20 minutes to fill you in on some brainstorming efforts that have been taking place for the past three months considering how we might better organize our team/committee structure on campus.

It was clear from our systems portfolio feedback in the fall that our current methodology has resulted in gaps in some of the areas that we need to address. After taking some time to examine that report, and analyzing our current structure from a quality initiative lens, I asked representatives from Shared Governance Council, the Faculty Senate, and the AQIP Steering Team to assist in rethinking how we might be more effective while making good use of faculty/staff time.

I plan to do a brief roll out of the outcome of that work at 1 p.m. immediately following the LEAGUE activities. I will repeat this presentation at the beginning of the faculty meeting later in the day, just prior to Dr. Lindquist’s comments. This roll out will briefly introduce the group’s work in preparation for opportunities for campus wide feedback later this week.

Dr. Charlotte Warren
President, Lincoln Land Community College

LLCC is mid-cycle in our Reaffirmation of Accreditation with the Higher Learning Commission (HLC). For an AQIP pathway institution, this means submitting a Systems Portfolio for review. The year-three portfolio is formative for the college, designed to provide feedback on which of our improvement efforts have been effective and which need more attention prior to submitting the year-seven portfolio. Feedback on our Systems Portfolio comes to us in the form of a Systems Appraisal Feedback Report, a byproduct of the Systems Appraisal process. In the appraisal, a peer review team (1) looks for evidence that the Criteria for Accreditation and the core components are met and (2) verifies the continuing improvement efforts at the College via review of the six AQIP Pathway Categories. A copy of our portfolio and the appraisal feedback report can be found on the LLCC Employee Portal.

Overall, the College received strong remarks for all the core components of Criterion One – Mission and Criterion Two – Integrity. Our response to Criterion Three – Teaching and Learning: Evaluation and Improvement was found to be a mix of strong and sufficient ratings. The peer review team did express concern with our response to one specific core component of Criterion Four – Teaching and Learning: Evaluation and Improvement, and this finding led to an unclear rating for one core component of Criterion Five – Resources, Planning and Institutional Effectiveness. This means that college wide we need to give more attention to making data informed decisions and systematically documenting that process. It also means that we need to greatly speed up implementation of the academic assessment program, and we must have more faculty and programs involved in that process. These concerns are highlighted in the Strategic Challenges sections of the Systems Appraisal Feedback Report with additional comments provided in Appendices B and C.

The Systems Appraisal process is intended to foster institutional improvement, but it is not prescriptive about what actions we take. We will begin our next steps on Institutional Improvement Day, Friday, October 6. It is important that each member of the college community spend some time reviewing both the Systems Portfolio and the Appraisal Feedback Report. The entire college community will need to work together over the next four years to insure we are prepared for our next Systems Portfolio in 2021 and Reaffirmation of Accreditation in 2022.

Charlotte Warren, Ph.D., president of LLCC, was recently honored with the Shirley B. Gordon Award of Distinction by Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society.

Phi Theta Kappa is the leading academic honor society for students at two-year colleges. LLCC’s Alpha Epsilon Kappa chapter of Phi Theta Kappa consistently maintains a five-star status, the highest a chapter can achieve. LLCC students with grade point averages of 3.5 or above are eligible for membership.

Dr. Warren received the award at Phi Theta Kappa’s 99^th Annual Convention April 7 in Nashville, Tenn., which was also attended by LLCC Phi Theta Kappa student officers and advisors.

College presidents and chief executive officers are selected for the award based on outstanding efforts in promoting the goals of Phi Theta Kappa.

Dr. Warren, president of LLCC since 2006, is a Colonel, Retired and Honorary Brigadier General from the Georgia Army National Guard. She represents LLCC in impressive leadership positions within the community, state and nation. She has served as a national spokesperson on the subject of nursing education and is a member of the Reserve Forces Policy Board, an advising committee within the office of the Secretary of Defense, along with several boards of the American Association of Community Colleges. She is past president of the Illinois Council of Community College Presidents. Locally, she serves on the board of the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce and chairs the Mid-Illinois Medical District. She is past chair of United Way of Central Illinois.

Dr. Charlotte Warren, president, was recently honored with a Trustee Education Award from the Illinois Community College Trustees Association, in recognition of outstanding achievement in the area of professional development. Dr. Warren also received a plaque in recognition of outstanding leadership as president of the Illinois Council of Community College Presidents, 2015-2016. Congratulations!

Dr. Mario Masvidal Saavedra, a distinguished professor at the University of the Arts in Havana, Cuba as well as a popular Cuban radio and TV host, will speak on the Lincoln Land Community College campus Monday, Nov. 16.

At 10 a.m., Dr. Masvidal will speak to students and faculty on Ernest Hemingway’s connection to Cuba. His 10 a.m. presentation is entitled “Hemingway and Cuba.”

At 6 p.m., Dr. Masvidal will speak on “USA vs. Cuba? A Love Story,” taking an in-depth look at Cuban/American relations before and after U.S. involvement, and through the Castro regime, along with his outlook for future relations. The public is invited to attend his evening presentation in the Trutter Center, focusing on Cuban/American relations since the 1940s.

LLCC Board Chair Craig Findley extended an invitation to the public to the evening presentation. “Dr. Masvidal is a dynamic, engaging and entertaining speaker with a depth of knowledge to share on the very timely topic of Cuban/American relations. His subject is of particular interest to Americans as we look toward a new, more open era of relations with Cuba,” said Findley. “We look forward to welcoming the community to campus to meet and learn from our distinguished visitor. Also, his expert perspective on Hemingway, one of America’s most beloved authors with strong connections to Cuba, will be an exciting learning opportunity for our students and faculty.”

Currently, Dr. Masvidal is a full professor in the Linguistics Department, University of the Arts in Havana, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in semiotics, communication theory and other related disciplines. He also teaches courses at University of Havana (foreign languages, social communication, arts and letters), “Jose Marti” International Institute of Journalism, and The Center for TV and Radio Studies, all in Havana; as well as the International Film and TV School in San Antonio de los Banos,

Dr. Masvidal has also taught courses and workshops on the history of the English speaking countries, English as a second language, linguistics, English and Spanish stylistics and professional communication at the Enrique J. Varona Teachers Training College and the Paul Lafargue Foreign Language Teachers Training College, both in Havana.

He currently hosts the talk show “Catalejo” at Habana Radio Station and participates in four TV programs: “Cuerda Viva,” in which he interviews musicians; “X-Distante,” an animated show for adults in which he presents and comments on the cartoons; ”Ritmoclip,” a music video program where he presents and comments on artistic music videos; and “Banda Sonora,” where he is a script writer.

Dr. Masvidal is a full member of both the Ph.D. National Board of Examiners in the fields of linguistics, arts and social communication, and the Scientific Council at The University of the Arts in Havana. He holds a Ph.D. in linguistic studies from the University of Havana, where his thesis explored Hemingway’s literary prose.

He has served as adviser to the rector, vice-rector, dean, vice-dean and department chair at several universities and colleges, and written and co-authored academic books, as well as essays and scripts.  He is a founding member of both the Cuban Linguists Association and the Teachers Association of Cuba.

Dr. Masvidal’s visit is at the invitation of LLCC president Dr. Charlotte Warren and other Illinois community college presidents who met with him and several other Cuban academics last February. LLCC is his first U.S. speaking engagement before traveling to several other community colleges in the state.

As you all know, a Quality Checkup team affiliated with the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) visited our campus on Nov. 6 and 7. During their visit, the team held conversations with several groups in order to affirm the accuracy of our Systems Portfolio; gauge the impact of Action Projects at LLCC; understand our commitment to continuous quality improvement; and confirm compliance with accreditation expectations. And while the Quality Checkup team does not make any official recommendation for reaffirming our accreditation, they did share their observations of LLCC during the closing sessions. The comments were favorable, and the team offered recommendations that were generally consistent with the Systems Appraisal Feedback Report. We anticipate receiving our Quality Checkup Report in January and will update everyone as additional information from the HLC is shared.

Please remember that reaffirmation of our accreditation in AQIP is not a separate, standalone procedure. Rather, it is a summative review of our work with AQIP core processes (i.e., Systems Portfolio, Action Projects, and Quality Checkup) as well as demonstrating that we meet the Commission’s Criteria for Accreditation. We anticipate that the HLC’s AQIP Review Panel will examine that larger body of evidence for LLCC in March of 2014. The Institutional Action Council (IAC) would then take action regarding our accreditation status in May of 2014.

Dr. Charlotte Warren, president