2023 Pueblo Community College - Quality Highlights

Dr. Patty Erjavec President

Amanda Corum Pueblo Corporate College Executive Director

Bryan Crawford Information Technology Services Senior Director

RaeAnn Gutierrez Exec. Dir. of HSI Initiatives; APT Employee Representative

Dana Moss Vice President of Human Resources

Stuart M. Kurtz, CPA Vice President of Administration and Finance

Ray Marquez Classified Employee Representative

Dr. Andrew Miller Dean of Health Professions and Public Safety

Travis Parkhurst Faculty Representative

Dr. Heather Speed Vice President of Student Services

Dr. Lisa Snyder PCC Southwest Executive Dean

Shanda Vidmar Faculty Council Chair

Erin Hergert Tafoya Marketing and Communications Senior Director

Dr. Mike Verderaime Fremont Campus Executive Dean

Jennifer Sherman Dean of Business and Advanced Technology

Pueblo Community College (PCC) is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) and operates under the strictest of standards. Customarily, PCC provides an annual compilation of performance constructs that align with the five criteria set forth by the HLC as evidence of our commitment to academic excellence and student success.

This 2023 edition of the Quality Highlights exemplifies to all of our stakeholders that innovation, access, valuing people, diversity, inclusion, equity, safety, and quality are the principles by which this institution is guided. Enclosed in this publication is but a small sampling of the quality initiatives fostered by the administration, faculty, staff, and students at PCC over the past year.

Without a doubt, the value proposition of a PCC education is one that will yield a good-paying job and the ability to contribute to a healthy lifestyle in the community in which you live.

Thank you for taking the time to peruse this document and to celebrate with us the great institution that is, yes, your community college!

With warm regards,

Patricia A. Erjavec, Ph.D. President, Pueblo Community College

Pueblo Community College is a member of and accredited by The Higher Learning Commission, 230 South LaSalle Street, Suite 7-500, Chicago, IL 60604. Website: www.hlcommission.org. Phone: (800) 6217440. In addition, several programs hold approval or accreditation from national and state level associations and agencies.

Pueblo Community College will create an inclusive culture dedicated to continuous improvement, shared governance and a shared devotion to student learning and support.

The grand opening of PCC’s Nursing and Allied Health Teaching and Learning Center at St. Mary-Corwin Hospital took place Jan. 26, the culmination of a four-year project. The TLC occupies approximately 60,000 square feet on four floors of the hospital’s east tower and includes a simulation center, learning labs, classrooms, offices and student spaces for nine of PCC’s health programs. Several hundred community members toured the center and attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

PCC’s 2023 graduating class had 1,627 students who earned 2,355 degrees and/or certificates. Ceremonies took place on May 11 for the Pueblo and Fremont campuses and May 13 for the Southwest campus. Twenty-five bachelor degrees were awarded this year. In addition, 70 of the 320 concurrent enrollment students recognized earned an associate degree.

• The Panther Student Pantry has a new, larger location on the Pueblo campus and supporters celebrated its re-opening Feb. 13. Thanks to ongoing generous donations from the PCC Foundation, Care and Share Food Bank of Southern Colorado, the Educational Credit Management Corporation and others, current PCC students have access to a variety of fresh, frozen and shelf-stable food, as well as toiletry items, throughout the school year. Students can select up to six free food items and one hygiene product per week.

• PCC’s Center for New Media presented the live broadcast of the annual Pueblo Parade of Lights on Nov. 26. Pueblo Water and Black Hills Energy sponsored the broadcast. PCC students and staff members created a steel mill-themed float and walked in the parade. They carried a banner honoring the late CNM director, Scott Richards, who passed away in June.

• PCC was designated by the Colorado Department of Higher Education as a Healthy Minds Campus. Schools with this designation must implement four core programs and six focused initiatives to ensure that students have access to a broad range of services to support their mental health. PCC was designated a Hunger Free Campus in January 2022.

Students from Montezuma-Cortez, Dolores, and Mancos high schools, Southwest Open School and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe can get a head start on their college education thanks to the PCC Southwest Friday Academy. The program offers classes in areas such as construction, automotive technology and health care, giving students a chance to earn credentials in a short time while exploring different career possibilities.

CRITERION 2: Integrity

Pueblo Community College ensures faculty, staff, and students adhere to fair and ethical behavior in the pursuit of academic freedom, intellectual inquiry, and operational excellence.

PCC’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing program received notification of its accreditation from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education in late May. The CCNE found that PCC’s program met all accreditation standards and had no compliance concerns. The accreditation extends through June 30, 2028.

PCC pursued the additional discipline-specific accreditation from the CCNE to ensure the highest standards for its students and the communities served by program graduates.

PCC’s 2022 employees of the year were honored at the Spring Kickoff event Jan. 11. The college also recognized colleagues who reached service milestones. The employees of the year were Tim Brotherton, part-time instructor; Alejandra de Anda, administrative professional-technical (APT); Kari Monack, classified; and Johanna Parkhurst, faculty.

Tim Brotherton Alejandra de Anda Kari Monack Johanna Parkhurst

PCC President Dr. Patty Erjavec traveled to South Korea in September 2022 with representatives of Seoul-based CS Wind and Pueblo city officials to learn more about opportunities to collaborate on education and workforce development. Erjavec signed a memorandum of understanding with Lee Jang-ho, president of Kunsan National University, to provide exchange opportunities for students and faculty.

CS Wind recently purchased from Vestas its Pueblo wind tower production facility. The company plans to significantly expand its tower production and is committed to collaborating with PCC to strengthen the pipeline of welders and other skilled workers for the Pueblo plant.

In April, representatives from the university and CS Wind headquarters visited the Pueblo campus to discuss how to further the growing relationships among the institutions.

Ideas that are being explored with KNSU include classes that could be offered to students at both schools and exchange programs for students and faculty. Talks with CS Wind focused on increased collaboration and customized training for the hundreds of new employees that will be needed for the company’s 900,000 square-foot expansion of its Pueblo facility.

Representatives from Tabora (E.A.) Polytechnic College in Tabora, Tanzania, met with PCC leadership in April to learn about ways the schools may be able to partner for shared instruction or curriculum and student and faculty exchange programs. The groups were connected through the efforts of Dr. Sylvester Kalevela, an engineering professor at Colorado State University Pueblo.

CRITERION 3: Teaching and Learning:

Quality, Resources, Support

Pueblo Community College will implement bold initiatives that expand state-of-the-art teaching and learning resources, supporting equitable avenues for exceptional educational experiences to meet workforce needs.

PCC’s fall 2022 enrollment increased 12% over 2021. High school students who took advantage of concurrent enrollment were a key reason for the jump.

In addition, by the end of October more than 500 students had taken noncredit courses through Pueblo Corporate College, a division of PCC.

The Colorado Space Grant Consortium brought its space research symposium to the PCC campus April 22. This was the first time the event was held outside CU Boulder. Undergraduates from more than a dozen two- and four-year schools presented research and projects they worked on over the past year, competing for cash prizes in paper, poster and video categories.

The Colorado Court of Appeals brought its Courts in the Community program to PCC April 25. The court heard two real cases; students and community members were able to watch the proceedings and take part in a question-and-answer session with the judges afterward. PCC was the first college in the state to host the event.

Pueblo Corporate College, a division of PCC, received more than $417,000 to begin a construction skills training program as part of the Colorado Partnership for Education and Rural Revitalization (COPERR) grant, which was established by the office of Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser. Through the grant, Pueblo Corporate College will start new construction skills training program and collaborate with local nonprofit organizations to provide students with on-the-job training.

PCC students coached by faculty member Tim Gama ranked 46th overall nationwide in the National Cyber League’s spring 2023 cyber power rankings. PCC’s team ranking (36th) and participation ranking (42nd) place it in the top 10% among 450 competing 2and 4-year colleges and universities. Among all western colleges, PCC ranked 16th overall and was fourth among Colorado schools – earning a higher ranking than both Colorado School of Mines and CU-Boulder. NCL participants test their abilities in nine cybersecurity categories that enable them to identify their own strengths and weaknesses and receive a scouting report that summarizes their performance in each task.

Dr. Lisa Snyder became the new executive dean for the PCC Southwest campus and sites on Feb. 1. Prior to joining PCC Southwest, Snyder was the dean of the School of Humanities at San Juan College. She also worked as the associate vice president for academic affairs at Fort Lewis College in Durango.

Dr. Michael Verderaime is the new executive dean at the PCC Fremont campus in Cañon City. He has more than 20 years of experience in K-12 and higher education. Before joining PCC, he was the director of student pathways for the South Central Colorado Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) and served as department chair and professor of world language and communications for the Colorado Community College System.

CRITERION 4: Teaching and Learning:

Evaluation, Improvement

Pueblo Community College creates a culture of innovation and support to ensure students will acquire the knowledge, skills, and experience necessary for advanced education, successful careers, and personal growth.

PCC welcomed then-Chancellor Venkat Reddy of the University of Colorado Colorado Springs and a large group of UCCS and PCC staff and supporters to campus Feb. 3 for the announcement of our new partnership. Chancellor Reddy and President Erjavec signed a memorandum of understanding for a pre-engineering program that will enable students to receive an associate degree from PCC and transfer easily to UCCS to complete a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. We also welcomed the members of UCCS’ pre-collegiate program, whose office is now located on the PCC campus.

PCC welcomed Drive Clean Colorado to the Pueblo campus for its February Drive Clean Connection. James Cordova, chair of the automotive service technology department, spoke about PCC’s new electric vehicle program that starts this fall and took participants on a tour of the department.

The PCC STEM Club members adapted toys for children whose motor skill issues don’t allow them to push small buttons. The plan came from PCC pre-engineering student Sarah Ahlstrom (left, with fellow student Mason Evans), whose 7-year-old daughter has Rett Syndrome, a neurological disorder. Club members are adapting bubble blowers and disco balls with large, responsive buttons that enable kids with Rett’s to use them without assistance. The toys will be given to the Rett Clinic at Children’s Hospital Colorado.

PCC’s Panther Student Pantry received $45,000 from Project Success, a collaboration between the Federal Student Aid program and Educational Credit Management Corporation (ECMC) that focuses on strengthening student outcomes and institutional performance at Minority Serving Institutions. The money will benefit the pantries on all PCC campuses.

Life Center Academy-PCC is open in PCC’s Teaching and Learning Center at St. Mary-Corwin Hospital. The center will serve PCC students and employees, St. Mary-Corwin employees and – if openings remain – the surrounding community. The center can accept up to 30 children ages 3-5 with plans to increase capacity in future phases. Hours are 6 a.m.-9 p.m. specifically to accommodate class schedules, removing a significant education barrier for students with young children.

Institutional Effectiveness, Resources and Planning

PCC’s leadership facilitates a transparent environment to evaluate operational effectiveness and stewardship in providing the framework for continuous improvement.

Brian Estrada, executive director of the Southern Colorado Small Business Development Center, was named the Colorado SBDC Network’s 2022 State Star Award recipient. The award is the organization’s highest recognition for individual achievement, acknowledging and celebrating exemplary performance that has a significant and positive impact on advancing small business efforts. In addition, the SBDC received the 2023 Colorado and Region 8 SBDC Innovation and Excellence Award. It recognizes the Southern Colorado office as the top SBDC in Colorado and one of the top 10 in the United States.

PCC’s Pueblo Corporate College was honored by the Economic Development Council of Colorado for economic development partnership of the year for its 17-year workforce development partnership with EVRAZ (North America) in Pueblo. In addition, PCC’s apprenticeship programs with EVRAZ were highlighted in a story by the Colorado Community College System.

PCC co-sponsored and participated in the first City and County of Pueblo Economic Outlook Forum held Nov. 18 on the college campus. The event discussed the work being done to best position Pueblo for economic growth. PCC President Patty Erjavec spoke about the many ways PCC can help businesses and industries address all of their workforce needs.

Our Vision:

• Pueblo Community College is the choice for personal and community success.

Our Mission:

• Pueblo Community College transforms lives of students, enriches communities, and strengthens regional economies. We empower individual achievement by providing inclusive, personalized support and innovative educational opportunities.

Our Values:

• Achievement:

We engage a diverse student body and support all individuals in attaining high-quality learning outcomes to meet the demands of a global economy.

• Excellence:

We foster continuous quality improvement and innovation by responding to the needs of the communities we serve.

• Integrity:

We advance our mission ethically and equitably, through a culture of shared governance that demands accountability and excellence.

• Respect:

We foster an open and inclusive environment that welcomes diverse backgrounds and opinions, recognizes individual talents, encourages personal and professional growth, and celebrates accomplishments.

• Inclusive Teaching & Learning: We value the exchange of knowledge and encourage lifelong learning for students, faculty and staff.

• Leadership & Teamwork: We create collaborative opportunities to advance the communities we serve through innovative actions, strategic partnerships, and informed planning.

Our Guiding Principles:

• Innovation:

Encourage divergent thinking and intentional execution to drive continuous improvement.

• Access: Create educational opportunities for everyone.

• Valuing People: Cultivate growth opportunities so individuals can meet their full potential.

• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Sustain a community respectful of cultures, backgrounds, and ideas.

• Safety: Commit to the safety and well-being of others.

• Quality: Add value and relevance through environmental scanning.

To always recognize and greet you with a smile

To listen to you

To respond to your needs

To respect & value you

To celebrate your accomplishments and successes

To care for your health and safety in everything we do

This is Our Promise to you!