Vol. XXXIV, No. 17

May 9, 2005

This Week at Valencia.

Tuesday, May 10:

Faculty Senate, 1:15 p.m., West Campus, 1-151

Wednesday, May 11:

College Executive Council, 8:30 a.m., DTC

College wide Curriculum Committee, 2 p.m., West Campus, TBA

Thursday, May 12:

Faculty Senate, 1 p.m., East Campus, 3-113

Ongoing:

Annual Student Juried Exhibition, Anita S. Wooten Gallery, East Campus, through May 20

Abeer Abdalla Named Distinguished Graduate

The Valencia Community College Alumni Association selected Abeer Abdalla as the 2004-2005 Distinguished Graduate. Abdalla delivered the commencement speech at last Saturday's ceremony at Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee. The 23-year-old was selected for the award based on her academic success, campus and community service, youth activism and efforts to promote understanding between Muslim Americans and non-Muslims.

"In the tense post-911 world, Ms. Abdalla has taken many steps to promote camaraderie and healing, while demonstrating that religion, ethnicity, language or other factors need not separate us as Americans and caring human beings," said Anthony Beninati, East Campus interim provost.

Abdalla, who is of Egyptian descent, is currently active in the Islamic Society of Central Florida and the Arab-American Institute. She spoke on the topic of "Ethnic and Racial Acceptance in Post-9/11 America" at the Earth Summit Workshop in the Boston Research Center at Harvard Square in 2001. At Valencia, a class project on personal heroes led to a mini-documentary on the Buddha which she created using existing film clips and her own voice for narration.

In 2003 she co-authored and published Millennial Manifesto: A Youth Activist Handbook, that is now in its second printing following favorable coverage in Entrepreneur magazine and on the CBS Morning Show. Her experiences as a youth activist allowed her to rally fellow Valencia students around important causes and projects related to HIV/AIDS and domestic violence awareness, tsunami relief efforts, the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life and Project Vote Smart.

Graduating with a 3.74 GPA, Abdalla made the National Dean's List in 2004 and was nominated to the All-USA Academic Team. She has been recognized as one of the top ten distinguished Phi Theta Kappa members in Florida. She is the first Valencia student, and one of only 20 students in the nation, to be selected as a 2005 Guistwhite Scholar and will receive a $5,000 stipend toward her undergraduate education.

Abdalla aspires to be a documentary filmmaker and will pursue a bachelor's degree at the University of Central Florida in radio and television.

News from Procurement

Have Buyers - Will Travel! Too many seminars and training classes off site? Procurement will make "house" calls. Open discussion with Procurement is available anytime through Leadership Valencia. Procurement Staff will meet with your department at your location to discuss how policy and procedures affect purchasing goods/services at the college, review Oracle processes, Procurement Card guidelines, Invitation to Bids, RFP's and contracts. Let us help you become more efficient and work within the guidelines, all from the convenience of your own department.

Valuable Procurement Information on the Web! Did you know that there is tons of valuable information for you conveniently located on the Procurement Web Site? Visit http://www.valenciacc.edu/procurement. Procurement has also added a new link to their web-page for Mail Services, http://www.valenciacc.edu/procurement/mailServices.asp. In an effort to help the Mail Service Department deliver mail to the correct location, an updated list of departmental mail codes can be downloaded from this page. A list of Pick-up and Delivery Times is also available. Please notify your campus Mail Room when changes are made so the list we provide is always current.

Shown below is the front page of our site with all related links and information:

Blue Time Cards & Summer Schedule

A note for those employees who are required to complete a Blue Time Card: You are not required to record the 4 hrs (36-40) if you do not work those hours. If you do work those hours, you must record them on your time card and are entitled to compensatory time off on an hour-per-hour basis to be used within 180 days. Hours worked in excess of 40 hours should be paid as overtime or used as compensatory time.

Kudos

On April 14-16, the Phi Theta Kappa chapters of Valencia Community College attended the 87th International Convention at the Gaylord Resort in Dallas Texas. Three advisors from East, West and Osceola and 30 students were in attendance. During the convention, students and advisors attended leadership, service and scholarship workshops to enhance their skills. Gloria Hines, Advisor, presented a round table discussion on the use of Multi-Advisors for campus chapters. At the Hallmarks Awards Gala, two chapters came home with high honors and awards. The Alpha Gamma Omega Chapter, East Campus, was named Top 25 Chapters in the Nation and top 25 Chapters in Service. This is out of over 1,200 chapters internationally. The Chi Epsilon Chapter on West came away with many awards and honors also: Brian Macon, Professor of Math, West Campus, received the Paragon Award for new advisors that have been in service for less than 5 years. Only 25 advisors receive this award. Gloria Hines received the Advisors Continued Excellence Award for advisors
that have shown on-going excellence over many years of service to the society. The chapter received the Beta Continued Excellence Award for their third year as a top Chapter in the nation. Only 10 of these awards are given. They were also recognized as a Top 25 Chapter in Service.

Dr. Jennifer Taylor was awarded Phi Theta Kappa's Professor of the Term on Sunday, April 24 during their Induction ceremonies for new members.

Julie M. Phelps, Professor of Mathematics and Supplemental Instruction Faculty Liaison Winter Park Campus, recently presented a paper, "Supplemental Instruction: Helping students succeed in a learning-centered institution," at the 16th International Conference on Teaching and Learning in Jacksonville, Florida, held March 29-April 2, 2005.

Richard Sansone, Professor of EAP and Portuguese, West Campus, was awarded participation in the CIBER Professional Development in International Business Mercosur faculty tour in Brazil, Argentina and Chile this summer. Administered through Florida International University, the CIBER program represents a collaboration among five state universities which develops professional development opportunities specifically targeted for faculty who teach business and foreign languages .

Chanda Torres, Student Development Coordinator-East Campus, is co-author of "Issues affecting contemporary community colleges: Presidential perspectives," which will appear in the Fall 2005 issue of The Community College Enterprise. The article is based on a qualitative research study conducted by Ms. Torres, who also received the Florida Junior Community College Student Government Association District II Advisor of the Year at the FJCCSGA banquet on Saturday, April 30, 2005.

Dr. Shelby Morrison, adjunct Professor of Psychology on the Winter Park campus, has signed contracts for three articles which will appear in different issues of The Civil War Times.

Congratulations to the following Distinguished Professors, who are recipients of the 2005-2006 Category A Endowed Chairs for Instructional Leadership.

Grace Gillen Hanna Chair in Nursing: Susan Stone

John and Florence MacLeod Chair in Business: Jane G. Weise

Chesley G. Magruder Foundation Chair in Allied Health: Cheryl McConnell

Raymer F. Maguire, Jr. Chair in Mathematics: Melissa Pedone

Lester N. Mandell Chair in Natural and Physical Sciences: Susan Matthews

Lockheed Martin Chair in Mathematics: Deepankar Rick Pal

Howard L. Palmer Chair in Foreign Languages: Ana J. Caldero

University Club of Orlando Chair in Humanities: Samira Chater

Patricia Havill Whalen Chair in Social Sciences: Desmond Duncan, Jr.

Hello and Goodbye

A warm Valencia welcome is extended to Adela Buczynski, Coordinator, Staffing, Human Resources, mc 4-25, ext. 5534; Lori Gacey, Accounts Payable, mc DTC-3, ext. 3317, and Angel Valentin-Segarra, Custodian, mc 4-9, ext. 1217.

A fond farewell and best wishes are extended to Virginia Miller, who is retiring 5/31/05.

Year End Closing Guidelines

The 2004-05 fiscal year is nearing its close, and we would like to assist you in making all appropriate charges and encumbrances to the accounts in your budget. Planning is essential; we understand that all processes cannot stop due to end of the fiscal year, but some cut-off dates are required and must be enforced due to Florida Department of Education (DOE) requirements and audit guidelines. In order to provide an orderly close out of the college's accounting records, by June 30, 2005, it is important that we meet the following guidelines:

Cash Receipts: All funds (monies) received that are to be credited to the 2004-05 fiscal year must be receipted by the Business Office by the end of business Thursday, June 30, 2005.

General Requisitions: Only goods and services received by June 30, 2005 and invoices received in Accounts Payable by July 8th, will be charged to your 2004-05 budget. Any items received after June 30th, or invoices received in Accounts Payable after July 8th, will be charged to the new fiscal year budget. Therefore, the timing of when you create your general requisitions is very important. This year we will not establish a specific cut-off date, but to provide sufficient time for goods and services to be received and invoiced by June 30, we do suggest that requisitions be input in Oracle by Monday, May 30. This is especially critical for grants with a June 30 closing date. Submit completed budget amendment forms to the Budget Office (mail code DTC-3). Please address related questions to Pedro Rivera at extension 3350.

Input of general requisitions for fiscal year 2005-06 purchases may begin Friday, July 1, 2005.

Outstanding PO's: In order to perform some internal maintenance on the Purchasing Module in Oracle, we will cancel all General Operating-Fund 1 and Restricted-Fund 2 purchase orders as of June 30, 2005. This will actually occur after the cut off of the invoice process against the old year on or about July 8th.

Procurement will re-encumber on a "new" purchase order any items previously encumbered in a 700000 general ledger code and notify the departments of those new numbers. We will carry forward the funds associated with those 700000 encumbrances to the new fiscal period. Invoices for materials for 600000 general ledger code items received on or after July 1, 2005 should be forwarded to Accounts Payable on a General Requisition indicating the prior purchase order number that was canceled, such as: "Ordered on P.O. # 343434 canceled as of June 30, 2005." These items will be charged to the new budget year. We would suggest that departments run the VCC Encumbrance Detail Report for your department and analyze all PO's showing a balance, especially those thirty days or older, to determine their status and cancel any outstanding items not needed. Contact the Procurement Office at extension 5532 should you have any questions in reference to General Operating Fund 1 purchase orders and Sherri Dixon at extension 3306 for Grant-related purchase orders.

Vendor Invoices: Invoices must be received in Accounts Payable (mail code DTC-3) by Friday, July 8, 2005 for old year obligations to be charged to the 2004-05 budget year. *Please forward invoices immediately to Accounts Payable for processing*

Petty Cash: The last day to request reimbursement from the Business Office is Friday, June 24, 2005. Please do not accumulate numerous Petty Cash transactions, as reimbursements will be limited to $75 per receipt. Petty Cash processing for 2005-06 will resume Friday, July 1; please plan accordingly.

College Bookstore: The Bookstore will remain open to accommodate the Summer Registration schedule. Bookstore orders received by June 30, 2005 will be charged to the 2004-05 fiscal period. All outstanding orders will be closed and/or charged to the 2005-06 fiscal period. Travel Reimbursement: Requests for travel reimbursement must be received in Accounts Payable (mail code DTC-3) by Friday, June 24, 2005. Requests received after this date will be charged to the 2005-06 fiscal year budgets. Travel occurring June 27 through June 30 will be handled on an exception- only basis.

Personnel Pay Forms: Time sheets for part-time hourly and student employees for hours worked the period of June 26th through June 30th are due in Payroll Services no later than Friday, July 1, 2005. Time sheets received after this date will be charged to the 2005-06 fiscal year budgets.

Procurement Cards: Procurement card encumbrances will close as of June 30, 2005. Prior to July 6th, all transactions posted by Master Card will be charged to the applicable fiscal period based on the transaction date posted in the system. Any transaction posted to MasterCard on or after July 6th will be expensed to the 2005-06 fiscal year budgets, regardless of the transaction date. Please review your new budgets and initiate a new encumbrance for Procurement Card purchases. Contact the Procurement Office at extension 1974 should you have any questions.

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, Staff Assistant in Marketing and Media Relations. Deadline for submission is 5 p.m. on the Tuesday preceding each Friday's distribution. Mary Jane can be reached at ext.1017, or mjjones@valenciacc.edu.