THE TOP 5 MOST EXCITING THINGS ABOUT THIS BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING!

Walking into a room full of campus leaders is something I experience quite a bit at Adams State University, especially as the Student Trustee. Whether it be at an AS&F, Faculty Senate, or Board of Trustees’ meeting, I am always excited to learn more about how to better serve Adams State’s core purpose: to educate, serve, and inspire our diverse populations in the pursuit of their lifelong dreams and ambitions.

Being apart of this past Board of Trustees meeting, I witnessed that core purpose in action unlike I have ever seen before. I was greeted by a room packed to the brim with people that generally cared for this University and the direction it is headed. During the public comment, there was 16 different speakers that all had strong admiration towards the University and as we got further into the Agenda items, I felt as though we were making genuine steps towards that mission.

So here it goes! The Top 5 Most Exciting Things about this Board of Trustees Meeting!

1. Public Comment – Now I can write an entire blog post about these testimonies, though I felt like there was more to be said about the overall meeting. I can tell you guys that there was actually an entire Newspaper article devoted to these public comments and it was also featured on the Adams State Website. Julie Waechter, the author of the article, is the Assistant to the President for Communications and could probably tell you more about the situation than I can. Therefore, here’s a link to the article: http://www.adams.edu/news/aug1614.php
2. ASU by the Numbers – This was presented by Victor Soe, Senior Institutional Research Analyst, and Eric Carpio, Assistant VP for Student Services. This was extremely exciting to me because Dr. Soe has organized extensive data for Adams State enrollment and the general student population. He is still perfecting the presentation of this data and once it’s complete it should be available on the Adams State website. One of his most interesting bullet points was that the Class of 2020 is 48.07% Hispanic! Adams State being a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) only needs a 25% of undergraduates to be eligible and we are well above that mark.
3. HSI Week Programming Update – Speaking of HSI, Maria Mc Math, Caminos Grant Activity Director, presented on how September is Hispanic Heritage Month and that September 12th-17th, there will be a HSI week here at Adams! This week will include presentations from esteemed Hispanic people such as Dr. Jose Vigil and Norma Mendoza. I tried to find more information on our website, yet I couldn’t find anything. Hopefully they will have something there soon and I can share the link of when each event is.
4. Adams Pathways to Student Success – I am so excited for this idea. Presented by Beez and Ms. Guerrero-Murphy, this movement might just reform Adams State’s General  Curriculum forever. The group is called the Curriculum Innovation Team and is composed of faculty, administration, and even students all coming together to reform our curriculum. Right now, the group is still working on this reform, yet they want to have a full project to be approved by the Senate, VPAA, and the President by April of 2017. I am hoping that I can also be apart of this team so that I can tell future generations about why our curriculum is the way it is!
5. National Center for Historically Underserved – Last, but certainly not least,  Dr. Chris Gilmer, our new Vice President of Academic Affairs, presented on FUTURO (Families United To Unleash Rural Opportunities) Education. This program will engage families as the key catalysts of broad-based community empowerment and try to create an umbrella under which all of its related service programs to the San Luis Valley will be implemented. This could be pretty revolutionary because it has the potential to not just be directed towards Adams State, but to the entire National Higher Education System as well!

There you have it! The Top 5 Most Exciting Things about this Board of Trustees Meeting. I hope that you students will continue to read this blog and if any of you have any concerns or comments that you would like for me to share with the board, don’t hesitate to contact me! My email is owsleyja@grizzlies.adams.edu