cONTRIBUTORS Office of The President College Operations Office Communication Services Continuing Education Dean of Health Sciences Student Services Trustee
IN THIS
ISSUE
02
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
03
C O L L E G E O P E R AT I O N S O F F I C E
05
C O M M U N I C AT I O N S E RV I C E S
06
C O N T I N U I N G E D U C AT I O N
07
D E A N O F H E A LT H S C I E N C E S
10
S T U D E N T S E RV I C E S
12
TRUSTEE
A Time of Excitement
HCC Resiliency: What does it mean to us?
But wait... there’s more!
Center for Healthcare Professionals
Accomplishments, Accreditation & Appreciation
A Catalyst for Change
Effecting Change and Moving Beyond Barriers
VOL. 02, ISSUE 04 | JUNE 2022
C O L L E G E F O R H E A LT H S C I E N C E S
Office Of The President A Time of Excitement by Dr. Phillip Nicotera, M.D., M.S.Ed. President
As we approach the end of the academic year and graduation is imminent, it is a time of excitement for staff and students. We get to see our students move from the learner to the professional ranks. We can feel a sense of accomplishment as we send well-prepared graduates into the workforce to become the new generation of professionals. My compliments to all the Coleman staff. This is our primary work and it’s a job well done. As we approached the late winter, we started to see COVID-19 begin to wane. It seems like relief is here and we hope it stays.
mean for students when they enter college. For us as a community college and more importantly as health programs, these findings suggest that future students will not be as well-prepared as prior cohorts. Students will likely need more help as they enroll in our programs. How will our prospective students fare in the pre-requisite courses for our programs? How will this affect admissions and how will this affect our teaching? Furthermore, how will this affect our outcomes?
What is the effect COVID-19 has had on our future learners? Studies from the Community College Research Center at Columbia University show that 67% of students learned online and 16% through distance education. Interestingly, 24% had classes canceled. What does this mean for us? The disruption to the learning process resulted in many students spending less time on educational activities. We don’t know exactly what these disruptions and lost learning time will
As more research becomes available, we will know more of what our future students will look like, but based on these initial studies, it is incumbent upon us to begin to think differently. What will our instruction look like in the next two to three years? What methods will we use to reach our students? We now have the time to begin planning for the post-COVID generation. I will always remain committed to assisting all our staff as we move forward.
02 | JUNE 2022
College Oper ations HCC Resiliency: What does it mean to us? by Dr. Diana Castillo, Ed.D. College Operations Officer
In post pandemic HCC is tasked to forge ahead
By now,
with resiliency. By now, most faculty and staff
we have
have adjusted to the ebbs of the pandemic and
and
operate under a new normal as Houston’s threat
continue
level reflects a yellow status. The constant for
to spend
HCC is that we are tasked as a district to remain
federal dollars on
focused on ensuring that our college students
equipping our classrooms with
are prepared and able to adapt, just as we have,
hyflex technology, but we need to focus on
to multiple challenges. This will continue to be
the ongoing and additional technical support,
a focus for all of us as we move forward and
instructional design support and support needed
beyond 2022 and change will continue to be
by faculty to improve teaching so that students
inevitable.
are the ultimate benefactors. While it is true that we must be ready for anything, it is equally
Our efforts as a district propel us to reposition
true that as we continue to create more flexible
ourselves through our one college-one
learning environments, we must really rev up our
community approach. This is a time when we
focus on what students tell us they need. They
must learn to leverage all our resources and
are the most important asset—without students
create a footprint so that every student in our
and without student success, everything is
service areas is able to take advantage of some
meaningless.
of the excellent opportunities HCC offers. This will force us to continue the work we began
Likewise, we must all support one another as
during the pandemic so we strengthen our
we continue to be ready for the unknown. We
learning platforms and maximize the use of
had to learn this during the pandemic because
technology beyond Zoom and virtual lobbies of
we do not know when we will be asked to
services.
again pivot from in-person, to hybrid to fully03 | JUNE 2022
COLLEGE OPERATIONS [CONTINUED]
remote learning environments. I.T. will continue
that the reality is many colleges, including ours,
to play a fundamental role in this. And, it is
have suffered real declines in enrollment. This
clear as colleges continue to recover from lost
has created a shortfall in our revenues. And while
enrollments during the pandemic, we must find
we have enjoyed recovery emergency funds
new ways of supporting our students, faculty
from HEERF, it has not been enough to help us
and staff and create more models where we
recover the costs of maintaining open campuses
collaborate and share what at times feels like
and we have also lagged in recuperating
limited resources. If we remain optimist and look
revenues from auxiliary activities, rentals, external
for the silver lining, we will find the answers we
events, etc. Do not fret, and always remember
need; there is a way to conquer the future and
the Robert Frost poem Stopping by Woods on a
continue to assess the effectiveness of our work
Snowy Evening.
by using data to truly analyze and have deep discussions about what worked and what didn’t
“The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
and improve upon those platforms.
But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep.”
As we approach the summer and fall terms, we hope you will be prepared to do more for
Once again, we are called upon to be resilient,
student success—expect more disruption and a
to be tough, and spring back into shape.
louder call to more innovation. Please remember
Together, we can do it!
04 | JUNE 2022
©Image Courtesy of Vivian Mineker, Illustrator
Comm unication Services But wait... t h e r e ’s m o r e ! by Adrena Dow Director of Communications Summer is just around the corner and Coleman Communications is moving full speed ahead with our continued targeted marketing efforts. But first, let’s take a look back at what we’ve accomplished so far. This spring semester was loaded with a full spectrum of marketing promotions for Coleman programs. More than two dozen tactics were implemented to help showcase our allied health programs and share what the college has to offer potential students. These remarkable efforts were presented during the HCC Coleman Town Hall with President Nicotera and executive leadership in April. Everything from digital, print and social media ads to advertorials, commercials and everything in between was highlighted to provide an overview of marketing for this fiscal year. If you missed the captivating display of Coleman Communication’s extensive work and would like to see it, here’s your chance to take a look.
As we embark upon the summer months ahead, Coleman Communications has even more to come! For those programs with rolling admission, extended deadlines and brand-new courses beginning in the fall, we’ve got you covered. Here are just a few of the targeted marketing efforts scheduled to launch in the coming weeks. • Mall marketing (five Houston-area malls) • OTT streaming TV commercial ads • Magazine ad publications • Advertorials • Social media lead-generated ads • Paid digital ads... and more!
Follow Us
Don’t forget to follow us on social media. We’re always posting the latest information about Coleman programs, events and campus updates. www.facebook.com/hcccoleman www.instagram.com/hcccoleman www.linkedin.com/in/adrena-dow-
Click here to preview the full video presentation.
226793184
05 | JUNE 2022
Continuing E ducation Center for Healthcare Professionals by Prashant Harjai Program Manager
The Center for Healthcare Professionals (CHP) at Coleman College offers health continuing education (CE) to students and professionals working in the health care field. Our partnerships with credit programs are created to offer mirror courses and professional readiness courses that assist students in their educational goals. We also partner with organizations to develop and deliver education to meet health care continuing education needs of learners and organizations. Here are just a few of the classes we offer that you can refer to health care professionals: Differential Diagnosis for Physical Therapists and Physical Therapy Assistants (click here) If you’ve been approached by physical therapists or physical therapy assistants inquiring about approved continuing education, we can help. We offer two courses focusing on differential diagnosis that provide 16 hours and 17.5 hours of TPTA approved CCUs at $159 per course. Both are 100% online, anytime, self-paced courses that professionals can register for throughout the semester. This meets the educational requirement 06 | JUNE 2022
for physical therapists to treat without referral as outlined in House Bill 29 signed by Texas governor on June 14, 2019. These courses are offered to all physical therapists or physical therapy assistants across Texas and can be used to renew licensing for each occupation. Sterile Compounding and Aseptic Technique Training Course (click here) Have you been approached by pharmacists or pharmacy technicians inquiring about sterile compounding and aseptic technique training/ ACPE IV training? Refer them to our course! For the low tuition fee of $335, this course provides 22 hours of training with hands-on practice, validation, and TSHP examination at the HCC Coleman campus.
Contact Us
Visit us online at www.hccs.edu/chp. Or, for inquiries or referrals, please email hcc-chp@hccs.edu, or call us at 713.718.7796.
Dean Of Health Sciences Accomplishments Accreditation & Appreciation by Dr. Jeff Gricar, Ed.D., CPhT, PhTR. Dean of Health Sciences
Dean’s Message
Greetings, Coleman community. I hope that everyone had a wonderful Spring 2022 semester. May is always a special month because it’s time for graduation and our program pinning ceremonies. It’s a time to celebrate our students and all the hard work they have put in to successfully complete their programs. As we celebrate our students, we also must take the time to recognize our faculty and staff, especially all the hours that they have put in to helping their students over the finish line. So, thank you to everyone for all your hard work during the spring semester!
Enrollment Growth
Coleman continues to grow to meet the demand of our health care community. We have been approved by the Board of Trustees for expansion of the Dental Assisting, Medical Assistant and Pharmacy Technician programs. Dental Assisting has added an additional cohort that started in Spring 2022 and has hired two faculty members to support this initiative. Medical Assistant will increase enrollment by adding students to both
Alief and Coleman and are slated to have a new lab built at the Missouri City campus. This program will also hire two additional faculty to support their growth. Lastly, the Pharmacy Technician program will be offering their Retail OSA at the Southeast Campus in Fall 2022.
Partnerships
Coleman is currently working on strengthening our relationships with several of our health care partners. Both Memorial Herman and HCA Houston Healthcare have been very active in recruiting students for employment. Both groups have visited several classrooms and their human resources departments have held special events at the campus to recruit. The Computed Tomography program is offering a special fast-track,10-week cohort exclusively for HCA radiography employees. With Harris Health, we are discussing the opportunity to upscale their employees to become certified medical assistants. Lastly, we are working with Memorial Hermann at their request to restart our mammography program. 07 | JUNE 2022
DEAN OF HEALTH SCIENCES [CONTINUED]
Accreditation
of the Student Occupational Therapy Association
accreditation self-studies and site visits over
Therapy Association Conference in San Antonio.
Our programs have been very busy with the last year. We have recently received our official notifications and the following Coleman programs have been given the maximum number of re-accreditation years for their efforts: •
Radiography (eight years)
•
Health Information Technology (six years)
•
Pharmacy Technician (six years)
•
Respiratory Therapy (10 years)
•
Dental Assisting (seven years)
were able to attend the American Occupational They were able to meet and network with many of the influential people of the profession as well as advance their knowledge of scholarly practice. Students hosted OT Day to educate members of Coleman about OT. There were snacks, trivia, games, as well as friendly competition with the ADL Olympics. For the community service component, a toiletry drive was held, and students were able to provide needed supplies
Great work everyone!
to a local homeless shelter.
Program Spotlight
The program is embarking on a new
Contributor: Angela Shepherd, COTA, M.Ed.
participated in a workshop designed to increase
Occupational Therapy Assistant
partnership with TWU. OTA and OT students
The Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA)
intraprofessionalism and promote collaboration
department has been very busy this quarter. April was National Occupational Therapy Month and students had opportunities to advocate for their
at TWU. Student volunteers from each program are compiling the data and will conduct a poster presentation along with their faculty sponsors at the Texas Occupational Therapy Association state conference this fall. The second-year students wrapped up their fieldwork experiences at some unique and challenging sites. They graduated in May. The first-year students are getting ready to test their therapeutic use of self-skills by providing interventions to a group of one- to 11-year-olds. Wish them luck! Simulation Center
Contributor: Daniel Guzman Jr., BSCS, AES, profession and give back to the community. The program was also featured on HCCTV. Members 08 | JUNE 2022
AAS, LPN, CHSOS, CHSE
The Simulation Center has been operational on
the 10th floor in the Coleman tower for almost five years. During the peak of the pandemic, the Simulation Center remained open, but was limited to the simulation technician, manikins and tele-simulations via Zoom sessions. Since last summer, students were again allowed on campus and have been using the Simulation Center due to the pandemic being manageable because of COVID vaccines and safety precautions enforced at the college. The current goal for the Simulation Center is to improve the capabilities we already have available. We have redefined two open areas to be multipurpose areas that can be used for debriefing with large, movable monitors, a patient waiting area, or an area for students to practice with task trainers prior to performing their simulations with the manikins. Most of the medical supplies that were in the storage room were relocated to the nursing
During the summer and fall, the video recording system will be upgraded with new cameras and microphones and videos securely stored in the cloud. The new audio/video infrastructure will be more versatile and will also allow audio paging and broadcast messaging within the Simulation Center to simulate a code blue or a medical emergency. The Body Interact product that enhances critical reasoning by having student interact with simulated virtual patients is now accessible online and not limited to two tables in the collaboratorium room, thus allowing more students to use the product and freeing up space with no additional cost. Additionally, to accommodate more students from different programs at the same time, two extra tables with chairs were added in the lounge area. This change allows students the ability to complete their simulation pre-brief in an open and relaxing area.
patient rooms to be used for other health care
Currently, the Simulation Center is open seven days a week for faculty and students to use. Informative and entertaining tours are available upon request. Please consider adding simulation to your curriculum to engage your students and enhance learning as the next step to knowledge already obtained in the classroom and skills lab, and to foster critical thinking, self-reflection and
events.
teamwork.
station to make supplies readily available and create more space. Two tables in the back can now be used as a work area for simulation technicians to create moulage or to repair any broken equipment. The added space can also store several beds, manikins and chairs to allow
09 | JUNE 2022
Student Services A Catalyst for Change by Dr. Patricia Ugwu, Ph.D. Dean of Student Success & Engagement
Dean’s Message
For all those impatient reformers, myself included, who want HCC to put more action behind its various change concepts – Mosaic & Me, Culture Lab, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Shared Governance, etc. – these are challenging times. However, we must stay engaged in the conversations to make sure that our voices are heard regardless of how uncomfortable it might be at times to keep striving for change. Whatever committee, council or task force that you serve on, please stay engaged and look for ways to collaborate with others who are committed to doing what must be done to remove systemic barriers against scalable
It may be difficult to see, but perspectives are shifting at HCC. So, all impatient reformers are encouraged to persist as the quotes below advise: “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” Calvin Coolidge
organizational improvement and action at HCC. “A little more persistence, a little more effort, “Change starts when perspectives begin to shift. We begin to see problems differently, and in some cases, redefine problems altogether. We begin to see ourselves differently and reconceive our role in making change happen. Old assumptions begin to erode, and hope energizes us as we imagine new solutions to what we once saw as intractable problems.” Yolanda Watson Spiva, Ph.D., President, Complete College America 10 | JUNE 2022
and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success.” Elbert Hubbard “Patience, persistence, and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.” Napoleon Hill
Students Gain Leadership Skills
all six HCC SGA delegations were elected to
curricular activities for students to gain
year out of 19 colleges. Coleman College holds
Student Life offers several meaningful co-
valuable leadership skills. Students are able to participate with national and college leadership organizations that help develop characteristics for engaged, civicresponsible and
Region V officer positions for the 2022-2023 the TJCSGA president position. Ana Alvarado, Coleman’s 2022-2023 SGA president, will be the representative. Coleman also holds the Region V advisor position. Student Life Coordinator Jana Vise will be the
knowledgeable students.
representative.
Local leadership
Career Fairs & Recruitment
organizations at HCC are United Student
We’re setting up our
Council (USC), which is
students for success! Take
comprised of student
a look at some of our
leaders from each
recent career fairs and
college and has advisory
recruitment events:
jurisdiction on matters of concern regarding all HCC locations, and Student Government Associations (SGA) that
• Imaging Career Fair, April 7 • Healthcare Fair, April 21 • Houston Academy
are housed at each
of International
college and responsible
Studies Recruiting
for managing concerns
Event, April 22
at the college level.
• Pharmacy Tech Hiring Event, May 18
As a college, our six SGAs and USC belong to the Texas Junior College Student Government Association (TJCSGA) Region V and state. Twenty-one SGA officers and seven advisors attended the TJCSGA Convention on March 24-27 in Dallas, TX. While at the conference,
Welcome New Staff
Please join us in welcoming
Junior Garcia, Recreational Sports specialist, to our team. To learn more about fitness opportunities at Coleman, visit the Fitness Center on campus, or email junior.garcia@hccs.edu. 11 | JUNE 2022
Trustee Effecting Change and Moving Beyond Barriers by Dr. Reagan Flowers, Ph.D. District IV Trustee In higher education, we continue to have conversations that we could not have fathomed we would be having two years ago. Faculty have not stopped exploring how to deliver the best integrated online and in-person instruction to achieve desired student outcomes. As we continue to hover in the realm of COVID-19 that has remained with us, some students have found that they like the flexibility of online and in-person learning. Before the pandemic, researchers were studying online education and its effectiveness. Then, in 2020, there was a published review in BMC Medical Education on studies evaluating online learning in the health sciences. The examination revealed many positives with online learning, from increased opportunities for collaboration to improved systems that support moving from simple to complex. However, there are barriers to online learning in the health sciences and delivering care experiences that remain with many of us. One is that faculty cannot effectively teach specific health science courses in a virtual space. The effects of these barriers rear their ugly head when it is time for students to sit for state exams. 12 | JUNE 2022
As we do the work to respond to what data tells us, we find ourselves looking at how we can advance equity to achieve completion rates and ensure the wellbeing of all. The appropriate development of learning strategies to support online and in-person learning can improve options for traditional and non-traditional students in the health sciences. Thanks to our faculty and staff at Coleman College, we are not just looking at online learning as a stopgap for social distancing. We are looking at: • Supporting flexible learning environments that address disparities and completion rates • Removing bias built into everyday decisions • Correcting practices that have disparate effects on racial and ethnic minorities and other marginalized identity groups’ successful matriculation through health science degree and certificate programs. I could not be prouder of the faculty, staff, students and community partners who work day in and day out to help the John B. Coleman College for Health Sciences be the institution that meets students where they are and moves them to where they want to be.
Inside Coleman Internal Quarterly Newsletter Publication HCC Coleman College for Health Sciences Produced by Communication Services Summer, June 2022 Vol. 02, Issue 04