Vol. XXXV, No. 39

October 9, 2006

This Week at Valencia

Tuesday, October 10

Student Affairs Leadership Team, 3 p.m., Winter Park Campus, 108

Wednesday, October 11

College Curriculum Committee, 2 p.m., West Campus, 6-202

Learning Evidence Team, 2:30 p.m., West Campus, HSB 211

Thursday, October 12

Faculty Council
• East Campus, 1 p.m., 3-113
• West Campus, 1:15 p.m., 6-202
• Osceola Campus, 1:30 p.m., 2-237
• Winter Park Campus, 2:30 p.m., 143

Sick Leave Pool Enrollment

Enrollment materials for the sick leave pool were sent out October 4 to eligible full-time employees.

A full-time employee is eligible to join the sick leave pool if he or she:

• has been employed full-time with the college for 12 months, and

• has accumulated at least 10 days of unused personal sick leave as of September 30, 2006, and

• has not declined a previous enrollment opportunity as a regular employee of the college.

If you are eligible and elect to join, your letter of authorization must be received in Human Resources by the close of business on Friday, October 13. Three days of sick leave will be transferred from each new member's personal balance on October 20. Membership in the pool is voluntary and will be effective October 23, 2006. If you are eligible to join and elect NOT to, you may not receive another opportunity, but PLEASE RETURN THE FORM to MC 3-33 with the waiver information completed.

SLP enrollment packets are not sent to those employees who are current members of the SLP or to employees who have declined a previous enrollment opportunity.

Contact Sue Bouchard, ext 8080, if you did not receive your materials or if you have any questions.

Banner Upgrade

Valencia's Banner Student Information System will undergo a planned major upgrade to a new version of the software starting at 10 p.m. on October 10. The system upgrade will be complete and the Banner system will again be available at 8 a.m. on October 16.

The following is a complete list of the services that will and will not be available during the upgrade time period.

Services that WILL be available during the upgrade:

• Atlas Web Portal

• Atlas Email and Groups

• WebCT

• LifeMap Tools, except for My Education Plan

• Credit Class Schedule http://valenciacc.edu/schedule

Services that WILL NOT be available during the upgrade:

• Atlas Banner Registration, Financial Aid and Fee Payment Services

• Atlas Faculty & Advisor Services, including Class Rolls

• My Education Plan Application

Thank you for your patience as we upgrade Valencia's Banner systems to the current software release level.

Don’t Miss Out on Your Opportunity to Participate in Valencia’s Focus on the Workplace Program

We are currently accepting applications for Spring Term and Summer Term A 2007. Don’t miss out on your opportunity to participate in this unique program which allows you to work in an exciting business environment and see “first hand” what employers expect from Valencia’s college graduates! Learn how to improve the teaching and learning that takes place in your classroom through incorporating real world applications.

All full-time, tenure or tenure-track faculty, full-time counselors, advisors and professional staff are eligible to apply with your supervisor’s approval. Eligible faculty are released from two 3 credit hour classes to participate. Advisors, counselors and professional staff are released for 40-80 hours (one-two weeks) and can participate any time during the year.

The deadline to apply is October 18. For more information and to get an application, go to: valenciacc.edu/focus/ or call LeSena Jones at ext. 3344.

Energy Wise from the Valencia Energy Team

The Energy Conservation Department would like to use this opportunity to welcome all new and returning students, faculty and staff to our campuses. A similar greeting is extended to the UCF team.

You may be aware that Valencia has an aggressive energy plan and has teamed up with Siemens Building Technologies, Inc. to strategically implement energy saving processes. As the team moves forward we encourage our faculty and staff to assist us by turning off lights in unoccupied spaces and turning off personal computers at the end of the work day. Valencia is also in the process of developing a collegewide recycling program. We ask the Valencia family to consciously support our energy conservation efforts.

Energy Myth: It is better to keep computers and monitors running all the time, to avoid surge failure and startup inconvenience.

Energy Fact: Most buildings are empty for 6,000 hours a year. Computers, monitors and office equipment get left on and that uses significant energy. Hard drives and monitors wear out when left on. Always turn monitors off if you are away for 15 minutes. Log out and shut down computers when you leave for the day. The on/off switch is there for a reason!

News from Valencia Foundation

Valencia Foundation welcomes its newest board members: Timothy Baker of Baker Barrios Architects, Inc.; Cecelia Bonifay, Akerman Senterfitt; Robert F. Evans, Jr.; Justine Jenkins, president of Valencia Alumni Association; Sarah Kelly, Wayne Automatic Fire Sprinklers; Jonni Kimberly, Rosen Hotels & Resorts; Deb Mears; and Valencia's own Amy Bosley.

Please visit our brand new website, www.valencia.org to see all of our board members, as well as many other new links about the Foundation and how you can get involved.

News from Procurement

The Procurement Card provides a quick and easy method for purchasing your needed departmental items. The P-Card allows departments to make transactions based on their departmental budgets without having to submit a purchase requisition or the completion of Supplier Profiles and W-9 Forms. The intent of the procurement card program is to provide college departments with a streamlined method of purchasing small dollar items, thereby reducing the volume of individual payments to suppliers Use of the procurement card is intended to achieve the following:

• Reduce the cost of processing routine transactions

• Reduce the volume of paperwork involved when making a small dollar purchase

• Decentralize purchasing authority for routine small dollar transactions

Visit the Procurement Web site for complete P-Card information and application:
http://www.valenciacc.edu/procurement/ProcurementCard.asp

For additional questions or concerns regarding the Valencia Procurement Card, please contact Ms. Kacy Weekes at 407-582-1974.

Strategic Equipment List - the 2006/2007 strategic equipment list has been approved!! The list of approved equipment was sent to all Vice Presidents and Provosts for distribution. Procurement and Finance are working on all requests submitted through the Strategic Equipment Request GroupWise E-mail address set up specifically for this process. Instructions and Form B can be found on the Procurement web-site: http://valenciacc.edu/procurement/facultystaff_FAQs.asp.

Annual Hiring Freeze

The annual hiring freeze for new full-time employees will soon be in effect. To hire an employee before the freeze becomes effective, the employee must begin work on or before November 13, 2006. After that date, recruitment activities may be conducted through Human Resources department and offers of employment may be extended, however, the employee may not begin work until January 8, 2007.

Osceola Campus Learning Center

The Osceola Campus Learning Center, located in 3-100, is offering free workshops for students every Tuesday and Thursday from 1:20-2:20 p.m.: WebCT 6 - Oct. 24, Online Tutoring - Oct. 10, Atlas/e-mail - Oct. 17, Power Point - Oct. 26, MS Excel - Oct. 12 and MS Word - Oct. 19. Also being offered is free on-line tutoring. To sign up for this program go to one to the following training sessions: Oct 9, 10, 11 or 12, 10 a.m., 1:20 p.m., 3:30 p.m. or 5 p.m.

Kudos

Jeannette Coronado, originally from El Salvador, was official sworn in as an American citizen, scoring a 100% test score, on September 23. Way to go Jeannette!

Hats off to all the volunteers and supporters who assisted with the Osceola Campus's college night --It was a huge success. Many people and departments assisted with this major event which would not have been possible without all their support and hard work. Special thanks to our community partners, the Education Foundation-Osceola County and the Valencia College Night Committee. We look forward to a bigger and better event next year!