Dr. Chris McDonald captured these photos of a doe and her young along the back side of the LLCC Springfield Campus last week. Thanks for sharing!
Top 10 Tips for a Successful First Week by Dr. Claire Gordon
Dr. Claire Gordon, professor of communication, presented her top 10 success tips at the New Student Lunch held Aug. 21, sponsored by the LLCC Student Life office. Faculty and staff are encouraged to review Dr. Gordon’s great advice and share it with students.
- Find classrooms: As soon as possible. Maps are available at the Information Desk and Student Life and were in folders at the New Student Lunch; also posted on walls in classroom buildings. Ask for help if you need it!
- Arrive early! Parking lots are busiest at 9 & 10 on Monday, Wednesday & Friday
- Front row Sitting in the front row makes a good impression on the instructor. The reverse is also true (sitting in the back row may create a poor impression.)
- No texting! Avoid “electronic rudeness” created by your electronic devices during class. Cell phones: do not text in class because most instructors find this annoying. Laptops: Ask instructor if you can use it during class, then only use it for taking notes or other academic purposes (don’t play games or visit social media sites.)
- Don’t skip Go to class every day even if attendance is not required
- Study wisely Don’t get behind in your homework assignments. Read the course syllabus carefully; it’s full of valuable information. Use the student planner to keep track of assignments & due dates. Plan on 2 hours of preparation outside of class for every hour you spend in class. If you are struggling, don’t wait – contact the Learning Lab for tutoring help immediately
- Check email and Blackboard daily LLCC and your individual instructors may send you important messages
- Get involved! There are 40 clubs & organizations at LLCC. Go to Loggerpalooza on Sept. 18 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. to learn more.
- “Be comfortable with yourself wherever you are right now.” Developmental courses are recommended/required for some students to help you succeed. If you fear public speaking, there is help at LLCC (CMN-101-CIS sections). If you are a high-ability student and you want to meet other students with similar interests, explore the Honors Program, Phi Theta Kappa, & Quiz Bowl Team.
- Ask questions – when in doubt, ASK! All of these people will be happy to help you: Professors, Fellow students. Employees/staff members
New entrance sign installed
As we welcome students back to campus for the fall semester, a new front entrance sign was completed over the weekend on the Springfield campus. Smaller, 
complementary signs will be added soon on the front boulevard, and at the entrance to campus near the Workforce Career Center.
Welcome to the new academic year – new signage, banners, plaques and LincIn!
Today we debut our new employee e-newsletter, LincIn. We hope you enjoy its new features, including a permanent list of events on the right, along with Shared Governance news. Tabs at the top allow you to explore items by category, and to submit items for inclusion. LincIn is also mobile friendly. You will continue to receive an email each weekday morning with a link to LincIn, and it will pop up on your work desktop. Please read it daily for important information about LLCC and your colleagues.
ALSO NEW ON CAMPUS: new boulevard banners; interactive, digital signage in A. Lincoln Commons, Menard and Sangamon Halls, and the Workforce Careers Center
Other projects nearing completion include a new display in Menard Hall featuring the college’s mission/vision/values/goals, our 2013 faculty/staff and student award winners, and the Board of Trustees.
Position Vacancies Announcement
Applications are currently being accepted for the maintenance operations supervisor. This position is being advertised internally-only. Interested applicants must apply using this link: http://llcc.peopleadmin.com/postings/428. The systems administrator I position will be advertised this weekend in the SJ-R. Please see the HR Portal page for additional information on these positions.
In the News
Mary Beth Ray, director, Career Development Services, was interviewed by the Springfield Business Journal for an article in the September edition on co-op education.
Lisa Collier, assistant vice president, Financial Aid, was interviewed by WICS Aug. 21 on financial aid options for students.
Brad Gentry, police chief, was interviewed by WICS Aug. 21 about a new policy regarding children on campus.
ITDE introduces Blackboard Support Center
The Instructional Technology and Distance Education department invites you to visit the newly developed Blackboard Support Center, located online at www.llcc.edu/bbsupport. The Blackboard support center has been developed to provide students and faculty with on-demand instruction and support on the use of Blackboard at LLCC.
A link to the LLCC Blackboard Support Center has been added to the Blackboard login page, the Blackboard institutional announcements frame, and Faculty are also encouraged to link to the LLCC Blackboard support center within their Blackboard course shells, to provide students with quick access to the site from within their courses.
As this is a newly designed service, we encourage your feedback to assist in the maintenance, update, and redevelopment of the site in the future.
Thank you,
Becky Parton, associate dean, Instructional Technology & Distance Education
LLCC will be discontinuing use of Turnitin
The college has access to SafeAssign (a similar plagiarism detection system) through our Blackboard Learn system. SafeAssign will now become the single plagiarism detection system available for use at LLCC.
A SafeAssign video tutorial can be found online, as part of the new Blackboard Support Center. Workshops on the use of SafeAssign have been scheduled for Friday, Sept. 6 and Tuesday, Sept. 17. Watch for the ITDE workshop schedule for detailed workshop information.
The Turnitin system will remain available through Blackboard through the end of the day on Monday, Sept. 2 to allow faculty members the ability to access and save any documents that need to be retained.Even though the Turnitin system will be available the first week of the fall semester, do not use the Turnitin system as part of any fall 2013 course work. The system’s availability during this time period is for backup purposes only.
This document provides you with step-by-step instructions on how to access and save documents from the Turnitin system.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions,
Becky Parton, associate dean, Instructional Technology & Distance Education
New LLCC inbox for students
Student email accounts are currently being migrated to Office365 in the Cloud. Students will notice an updated interface and several enhancements, such as 25GB of storage and the ability to send larger file attachments. More information about the new LLCC inbox on Office 365 can be found HERE. While accounts are being migrated there is a temporary three-step log-in. Once the mailboxes are migrated, which is expected to be completed by today, the login process will be simplified.
LLCC Murray Gallery opens fall season with “Additions” by artist Jeff Robinson
The Lincoln Land Community College James S. Murray Gallery opens the fall season with an exhibit entitled “Additions” by artist and educator Jeff Robinson. The show will run from Aug. 26-Sept. 19 and is open to the public from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays. The gallery is located on the upper level of Menard Hall on the Springfield campus.
Jeff Robinson, a central Illinois native, earned an MFA degree from Illinois State University in 2011 and has exhibited locally, regionally and nationally at venues in Illinois, Ohio, Massachusetts and New York. His work has been published in “New American Paintings” and “Manifest Gallery’s International Painting Annual.” In addition to his studio practice, he is a full-time instructor of art at the University of Illinois-Springfield and serves as gallery director for the UIS Visual Arts Gallery.
“I think of my works as assembled paintings, but they are perhaps more properly identified as sculptures born of a planar understanding,” said the artist. “There is a lineage of artists that have long established the interconnection between two-dimensional art forms and the material world. I am interested in extending this conversation. I suggest that a world exists between surface and space. My paintings inhabit this world.”