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Austin Community College
August 6, 2009
ACC Round Rock construction reaches milestone
The framework for the main structure at ACC’s new Round Rock campus has been completed, and a small tree was placed atop it Wednesday as part of a “topping out” ceremony.
ACC President and CEO Stephen Kinslow thanked the construction crews of SpawGlass Contractors Inc. for their hard work.
“The workers on this site aren’t just building a state-of-the-art campus,” Kinslow said. “They are helping build futures and paving the road for increased economic development in our community.”
Phase I of the project is scheduled to open in fall 2010, according to an ACC news release.
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July 13, 2009
Rivera stepping down from ACC board
Veronica Rivera has announced that she will resign from the Austin Community College Board of Trustees, effective in September.
Rivera, a lawyer, is taking a new job in Washington, D.C., as education and policy attorney and interim regional director for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, according to an ACC news release.
Rivera was elected to the ACC board in 2004 and is currently vice chairwoman. Her last board meeting will be Sept. 8, at which time trustees will decide whether to appoint someone to fill the remainder of her term or leave the position open until the next regular trustee election in May 2010.
“Her leadership has been invaluable, especially in the formulation of ACC’s sustainable practices policy,” said Stephen Kinslow, ACC president and CEO. “Through her commitment to making ACC a good steward of the environment, Veronica’s influence on the college will be long-lasting.”
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March 27, 2009
ACC to host forum on renewable energy prospects
Lawmakers and business leaders will participate in a forum Monday at Austin Community College’s Eastview campus on prospects for renewable energy and other aspects of the region’s developing “green economy.”
The forum will be from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. in Room 8100 of the campus, which is at 3401 Webberville Road.
Participants will include U.S. Sen. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin; state Rep. Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin; William Loiry, president of Equity International and a member of former President Bill Clinton’s Global Initiative; and Austin lawyer Pike Powers.
The goal of the forum is to develop a regional response to renewable energy initiatives in the federal economic stimulus package, according to an ACC statement.
“Central Texas is positioned to benefit from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 both through immediate job creation and through long-term support for the region’s developing green economy,’ ACC said.
“However, full realization of these benefits requires a well-planned, well-coordinated regional strategy involving many partners: colleges and universities, workforce investment boards, economic development entities, chambers of commerce, political subdivisions, and business and industry.”
For more information, contact Linda Young, special assistant to ACC’s president for external affairs, at lyoung@austincc.edu or 223-7889.
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March 26, 2009
ACC may allow controversial posters of President Obama
Austin Community College administrators today decided to back off from a recent controversial policy that bans posters of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.
ACC officials last month asked employees to take down copies of Ebony magazine covers that had been enlarged and framed to commemorate Obama’s election in celebration of Black History Month and posted administrative offices.
“ACC recognizes and shares the pride in having America’s first African American president. The administration’s concern is that … ACC cannot appear to endorse ideas and agendas of any political nature,” administrators said in a statement. “The college is in the process of scheduling forums to discuss this matter and has requested the issue be addressed through shared governance. The Administrative Services Council has been asked to discuss in April whether any existing Administrative Rule needs to be revised or developed to help guide future decisions. In the interim, the college has agreed to allow the posters to go back up.”
Native Austinite and cable access talk show host Michael Lofton (at right) says a meeting he has organized for today at 4 p.m. in Room 1 of the Carver Library, 1161 Angelina St., in East Austin is still on.
“We’ll still have the meeting, to put the community’s mind at rest,” Lofton said. “I was asked to pull the community together to make a public request that ACC revisit the original decision and that policy. The President of the United States should not be considered a partisan issue. It’s not like he’s running for office. He is the president. He’s not a candidate anymore.”
ACC President Steve Kinslow issued a memo dated March 13 that outlined the prohibition on posting pictures of the president in administrative offices. After the memo circulated, Lofton said he got dozens of phone calls and ACCPosterLtr.pdf">emails from ACC employees who were upset about the college’s decision.
On Feb. 24, an anonymous letter was sent to Kinslow and the ACC Board of Trustees questioning the legality of the posters and referencing Subsection 556.004c of the Texas Government Code, Kinslow wrote.
He said that the posters were removed on Feb. 26, based on the advice of legal counsel.
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February 18, 2009
Stimulus package could help ACC, other Texas schools
The economic stimulus package signed by President Barack Obama on Tuesday allocates about $32 billion to higher education nationwide, much of it in the form of Pell grants for low-income students and tuition tax credits.
That could prove to be quite a benefit in Texas, especially at community colleges with their large contingent of low-income students.
What’s more, the stimulus package could help schools in other ways depending on how funding, which is still a work in progress, plays out. I asked Brette Lea, executive director of public information and college marketing at Austin Community College, about the prospects, and she offered this e-mailed reply:
ACC is watching for opportunities to compete for additional training and higher ed dollars. And, anything that makes higher education more affordable and accessible for our students is a wonderful thing. It will help the college better meet its goals of closing the education gaps, training the local workforce and providing access to opportunity.
Here are some of the issues we’re most interested in:
The tuition tax credit and increase in Pell grant monies will help with affordability and access issues.
The state fiscal stabilization fund, which is intended to help states that are not able to meet their responsibilities, might restore budget cuts should that occur.
It appears that the stimulus package is going to include funding opportunities to train for the expansion of renewable energy programs. ACC is already expanding wind and solar energy programs and will be watching for additional opportunities.
There may also be funding opportunities for our first-responder programs, training police, firefighters and EMTs.
While the amount from the House version of the package has decreased, there are monies available to update facilities.
The recession has already led to a substantial increase in the number of students seeking an affordable, quality college education. ACC enrollments this spring jumped 13 percent. From year to year, that’s 4,200 additional students either being trained for a new career, working toward earning a degree/certificate, or beginning their college career with ACC’s university transfer program.
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February 8, 2008
ACC enrollment rising
Enrollment at Austin Community College is outpacing projections, a sign of continuing growth at the second-largest higher education institution in Central Texas.
ACC announced today that it enrolled 32,369 students for the spring semester, a 3.9 percent increase from this time last year. The college had projected a 2.5 percent increase.
“It was a very nice surprise to see it that high,” ACC President Steve Kinslow said.
He attributed the increase to elevated community awareness, minority student recruitment and economic uncertainty, as many people struggling with employment choose to return to school.
Although colleges look at fall enrollment, which is typically higher, to determine an official size of their student population, officials predict that the increase in spring enrollment at ACC will spill over into fall.
ACC is particularly interested in expanding in Round Rock. Residents of the Round Rock school district will vote on annexation into ACC’s taxing district in May.
According to spring enrollment statistics, the number of Round Rock students taking ACC classes rose 7.3 percent, from 2,110 students in spring 2007 to 2,263 this spring. ACC student enrollment at the Round Rock Higher Education Center, which ACC shares with Texas State University-San Marcos, also rose.
About one-third of the Round Rock school district, the portion within the City of Austin, is already in the ACC taxing district.
Property owners within the ACC district pay 9.65 cents per $100 in assessed value; in-district students pay $39 per semester hour compared with $118 per semester hour for students living outside the taxing area.
If Round Rock voters approve the annexation, ACC has pledged to build its largest campus in Round Rock along County Road 112 south of University Boulevard.
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