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To address any concerns students had with PCC, President-Superintendent Rajen Vurdien held his 23rd monthly open student forum  at the Creveling Lounge on Monday, May 22.

Accompanied by Richard Storti, Vice President of Human Resources  Lisa Norman and Vice President of Student Services Cynthia Olivo, students were free to ask anyone on staff any questions about the campus, while the panel, in return, reported upcoming news and projects that administrators are currently working on.  

  • Graduation
    • Social activist and former Goldman Sachs Vice President Julissa Arce will be 2017’s commencement speaker
  • Employment 
    • PCC is hiring 26 full-time faculty members and counselors, along with 2 deans and several executive directors
    • Beginning July 1, 2018, PCC will discontinue employing College Assistants
    • 22 employees approved since January
    • Staffing is moving forward a more diversified field, according to Storti
    • STEM students coordinator is vacant
  • Board of Trustees
    • Board will be providing services to Rosemead and surrounding areas
    • Will try to make possible to make second board meeting in September at Arcadia
    • PCC wants to expand their classes and programs, such as the ones they have in John Muir High School and Rosemead Campus
  • Enrollment
    • 3,000 students currently enrolled for summer intersession 
    • Fall schedule available June 19
    • Students will be able to enroll for 2 years (4 full semesters) beginning the Fall of 2018
    • This will be open for all students taking 9 classes or more
    • Starfish retention will be fixed to help students that self-sabotage (drop or fail classes)
    • Counselors will reach out more often for students that procrastinate with class predicaments
  • Ed Plans
    • According to Olivo, only 13,500 students currently have an Ed Plan, and 11,000 do not
    • Finding ways to reach out for all students to create an Ed Plan so they graduate / transfer on their expected date
    • There are 11 counselors located outside of the L-Building to reach out to other students
  • Pathways and Promise
    • The applications for current high school students to apply for the Pathways and Promise programs opens May 31st
    • Pathways student registrations will be mid-July. These students get priority registration.
  • International Students
    • 1,100 international students currently enrolled
    • School is looking at capacity to maintain level or increase
    • Issue with these students is that many arrive a week before classes; which doesn’t guarantee full 12 units
    • 60% come from Taiwan and China, 15% come from Latin America
  • Budgets
    • Some declines in areas of budget are health services and general government operations
    • For CC’s specifically, high budgets were in operation allocations
    • PCC’s expenses will grow about $7 million over the next four years
    • Health insurance is also a concern as it is $15 million per year for employees
  • Internships
    • Because the STEM students coordinator position is vacant, the academic internships provided for STEM students at PCC have yet to be organized
    • $5,000-7,000 given to those internships in the summer
    • There is funding set aside to assist and develop internships, and without the coordinator, it must be organized for the experience of the students
Bryan Hernandez
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