Vol. XXXVII, No. 23, June 30, 2008

This Week at Valencia

There are no meeting posted on the web calendar for this week

College will be closed Friday, July 4

DBOT Meeting Summary Correction

The board summary in the last issue of the Bulletin misidentified the staff person who will be retiring following the next District Board of Trustees meeting. The retiring staff member is Donna Harrison, executive assistant to the president--not Donna Haskins, who works in the provost's office on Osceola Campus.

Important Information for all 10-Month Faculty

There are 26 pay periods in academic year 2008-2009. All 10-month faculty have the option of having their base salary disbursed in 22 payments over ten months, based on academic appointment, or in 26 payments over twelve months. Once the first payroll for the academic year is processed, this option may not be changed until the next academic year. 

Several times each summer, Human Resources will be posting this notice in the Bulletin in lieu of a mailing to faculty home addresses. All 10-month faculty will continue to have the June/July window to revise their salary payment option for the coming academic year.  No action is necessary unless a change is being requested.

Faculty wishing to make a change will be required to complete a Payment Option Form for 10-Month Faculty. The form is available online at Valencia Forms and can be accessed through Atlas. To make a change, a faculty member must complete the form and submit it to Human Resources no later than July 31. Changes are then effective for the first payday in the new academic year.

Please contact Vicki Nelson at ext.8031 if you have any questions.   

Procurement News

New Promotional & Marketing Suppliers - Our current contract with American Ads Specialty expired in April 2008. A new Request for Proposals (RFP) was solicited to find the best vendor(s) to meet the colleges growing needs. The new contract was awarded to five qualified suppliers. 

The following departments were represented on the committee that structured and agreed to the new contract: Student Development, Marketing & Media Relations, College & Community Relations, College Bookstore, Valencia Enterprises, Workforce Development, Office of the Provost, and Tech Prep. An exclusive contract has been signed by the below suppliers to provide promotional & marketing items and services. In order for the college to honor our contractual obligations to these suppliers, we need to give them first right on any and all promotional items that the college requires. These suppliers will help you with all of your promotional needs. In alphabetical order they are:

• American Ads Specialties, contact: Tammy Lamm, phone: 407-649-7784, fax: 407-649-4772, e-mail: tammy@americanadspec.com
• Carpe Diem Sales & Marketing, contact: Ben Johnson. phone: 407-682-1400, fax: 407-682-4707, e-mail: bjohnson@carpedieminc.com
• Mad Max Promotions, contact: Sam Gotlib, phone: 407-359-1333, fax: 407-386-3223, e-mail: sam@madmaxpromo.com
• Metropolis Graphics, phone: 407-740-5455, fax: 407-740-5537, e-mail: info@metrogreek.com
• Promotional Products Solutions, contact: Jocelyn Azada, phone: 800-218-4350, fax: 414-258-4617, e-mail: jazada@ppsolutionsllc.com

The new contract requires that departments get written quotes for all purchases greater than $3,500 from each of the five suppliers listed above. The evaluation committee decided to structure the agreement in this fashion to ensure that all of the suppliers receive an equal opportunity to participate. This method ensures that the college receives the most competitive pricing available at any given point in time. Other advantages include the ability to make awards based on delivery requirements, quality and creativity as well as pricing.

Please feel free to contact Procurement if you have any questions on how to utilize the new Promotional Items Contract.

Multi-Functional Units - These are the Panasonic machines located in your area that can copy, print, scan, fax, and scan to e-mail. They are purchased or leased through the collegewide account, along with the service contracts for these units. Toner for these units are included in the service contract. Paper and staples are paid out of the collegewide account. Any freight charges that may occur are also paid out of the collegewide account. The only cost to the departments is overage copies based on the unit model you have. Should you have any questions or concerns, please contact Mary Ellen Davies at ext. 5527.

PCard Transactions at Year-End - You may use your PCard throughout the year-end process. The transaction date is what will decide what budget the charge will go against. Procurement card transactions included in the July 2nd and July 9th download with a June transaction date will be charged to the 2007-2008 budget year. Transactions with a July date will be charged to the 2008-2009 budget year. Transactions posted to PaymentNet after the July 9th download will be charged to the 2008-09 fiscal year budgets regardless of the transaction date.

Good health begins with you!

Here are some more great health tips from Dr. Roizen and Dr. Oz These tips and more can be found on the Real Age website at www.RealAge.com.  

Pay attention better: drink tea! Feel a bit scatterbrained now and then? Make yourself a big jug of sun tea. Not for the caffeine, but for one heck of a potent compound that could fine-tune your focus - theanine. When people in a study consumed theanine (an amino acid) and then performed a challenging mental task that required both looking and listening skills, their brains became quite active. Specifically, the right parietooccipital cortex lit up. That's a part of the brain's circuit system tied to attention span. So if you feel more alert and focused after a tea break, it’s no wonder!

Burning the midnight oil? Big mistake. Still skimping on sleep? You'll never learn - literally. It appears that too little sleep can take a big toll on the part of your brain that's wired to help you learn from mistakes. Brain scans of sleep-deprived people performing gambling tasks showed something quite revealing: The orbitofrontal cortex, an area that aids in learning from a loss or a bad decision, was less active. Researchers suspect that poor sleep, besides prompting risky behaviors, hinders the brain's ability to process emotions, such as regret. The result? You're less likely to think about the consequences of a decision.

Making a conscious effort - meditation could pave the pathway to a more organized mind. People who have practiced meditation for many years exhibited increased gamma brain wave activity in a recent study. Gamma waves represent brain activity involved in attention, learning, and memory. Help your mind stay nimble by taking a meditation course or boning up on meditation with a book. There are many schools of meditation. Beginners may want to learn about meditation through classes, DVDs, or books. For a quick start on your own, try sitting quietly and focusing on a soothing thought, word, or image while you remain still and breathe deeply. Whenever your mind strays, note the thought or sound that drew your attention, but then gently bring your mind back to your original focus. After 20 minutes, you may begin to feel some of the benefits of meditation. Studies show that regular meditation may reduce heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, depression, stress, and anxiety.

The vitamin that could add years to your life. If there were an Olympics for anti-aging nutrients, vitamin D would have a good shot at the gold medal. Here's why: Scientists recently examined how blood levels of vitamin D affect aging on a cellular level. High intake was associated with as much as five fewer years of chromosome aging. Vitamin D seems to be particularly relevant to a cellular yardstick of aging called a telomere. These "end caps" on your chromosomes get shorter and shorter with age, but having high blood levels of vitamin D seems to help ensure longer telomeres. That's a good thing, because when telomeres get really short and disappear, cells stop dividing and start to die. Translation: You age and become more vulnerable to disease.

Leadership Valencia

Making Sense of Your Data with Excel - Overwhelmed with data? Learn how to make sense of your spreadsheets with Excel tools. This hands-on workshop will cover Excel topics including filtering, sorting, conditional formatting, charts and graphs, pivot tables, mail merge, and more. Choose from one of the following date:

• July 1, 1:30-3:30 p.m., East Campus, Room 4-133, Registration Code: TMSWE-1
• July 16, 1:30-3:30 p.m., West Campus, Room 6-326A, Registration Code: TMSWE-1
• July 23, 1:30-3:30 p.m., Osceola Campus, Room 2-116, Registration Code: TMSWE-3

Second Life Series: Virtual Worlds in Education - Online Workshop. This course requires a Second Life account (free sign-up at www.secondlife.com) and will be using the Second Life application. This course is a series of virtual field trips within Second Life. We will visit an education-themed area for each major field of study offered by Valencia. A minimum of two locations will be scheduled for each session. During the trip, you will have the opportunity to take pictures, write your reactions, and even create your own plan for using Second Life in your class. Online every Thursday from 3-5 p.m. and repeated again from 5-7 p.m., beginning July 10 and ending August 14, Registration Code: LSLF

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Training, Part I - Planning to conduct a study involving Valencia students or employees? Not sure if your study needs to comply with Valencia's new mandatory Institutional Review Board (IRB) process for research projects? The Valencia IRB process is designed to encourage faculty, staff and student research while protecting the participants, the college, and even the researcher. Part I will provide an overview of human search protection, and how our IRB works with an aim to be as unintrusive as possible while complying with Federal regulations. (Note: Completion of this workshop satisfies the IRB training requirement for investigators of Valencia projects that have been approved through expedited or full review.) July 17, 9-11 a.m., East Campus, Room 3-113, Registration Code: PIRB1-1

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Training, Part II - Planning to conduct a research project that will require completing the application for Valencia's new Institutional Review Board (IRB) process? Part II will walk through the Valencia IRB application process through interactive discussions, including questions and discussion of examples. (Recommended pre-requisite: IRB Training, Part I) July 17, 11 a.m.-12 p.m., East Campus, Room 3-113, Registration Code: PIRB2-1

Session IV of IV - Wrapping Up - Complete an analysis based on your personal income and expense information that we have compiled throughout this series of workshops. You will know if you need to save a little more to reach your perfect retirement or if you can actually retire earlier than thought. Sponsored by the Valencia Chapter of American Association for Women in Community Colleges.  A box lunch and beverage will be provided. July 23, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., East Campus, Room 5-112, Registration Code: GWUI

Are You The Sandwich Generation - Do You Need Help? - An informational workshop to explore the both sides of the sandwich - college planning for your children and elder planning for your parents. We will discuss the differences in college funding vehicles - FL Prepaid, 529 Plans, Educational IRAs, and what are the features and benefits of each plan. Additionally we will try to discover the secrets of the Expected Family Contribution calculation and how this effects your financial aid application. Then we will travel into the dark and mysterious realm of Elder Law - a subject that most adult children don't seek information about until it is too late to do proper planning. Let's explore it together in the bright sunlight! We will discuss real estate benefits for "Mother-in-Law" additions, Veterans Administration financial assistance for wartime veterans or their Widows, Medicaid requirements and any possible planning you should consider on behalf of your parents. Sponsored by the Valencia Chapter of American Association for Women in Community Colleges. A box lunch will be provided. August 13, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., East Campus, Room 5-112, Registration Code: GSG

How To Say It: Difficult Conversations - Part 3 - These are the conversations that we all find so difficult. Conversations about discipline or correction, complaints, and disagreements with a co-worker or student all tend to leave us looking for places to hide. This workshop will offer sound and appropriate advice on how to have these sensitive conversations. August 14, 2:30-4:30 p.m., East Campus, Room 5-112, Registration Code: LHTSI-3

To register for any workshop, go to http://valenciacc. edu/ leadership/regstr.cfm. If a workshop is canceled, only those registered can be sent a cancellation e-mail. To view the status of a particular workshop, check the online Leadership Valencia calendar.

Student Affairs Summer Institute Schedule

(Registration is through Leadership Valencia)

Monday, July 14

Tuesday, July 15

Wednesday, July 16

Thursday, July 17

Friday, July 18

Submissions to the Bulletin are encouraged, so please e-mail your achievements, awards, recognitions and relevant information for the college community to Mary Jane Jones in the Marketing and Media Relations office. Deadline for submission is 5 p.m. on Tuesday to be included in the following Monday’s publication. Mary Jane can be reached at ext.1017, mc 4-34 or mjjones@valenciacc.edu