November 2021 Volume 5 Issue 4

Advising Chat is a chance for students to ask quick questions of faculty and staff while logged into D2L. Here is what the Advising Chat widget looks like.

Advising Chat is staffed by real people: faculty and staff volunteers. This fall we had 19 volunteers. Thank you!

• The newbies (8): Bir Bohara, Jennifer Knapp, Phillip Lee, Brian Curtis, Luke Horsley, Katherine Sorenson, Julie Williams, Maria Smith.
• The veterans (11): Emily Bush, Sharley Ross, Jaclen Christian, Lindsay Hager, Dawne Moore, Eric Limbird, Jessica Rabb, Miranda Inman, Desiree Genter, Mary Womack, and Eli Nettles.

Advising Chat ran Monday to Thursday 9am to 12pm and 1pm to 4pm (6 hours a day), for five weeks: Monday, October 18 to Thursday, November 18. We had about 100 chats, on average 5-6 per day.

Here is an example of a chat that I had. See the picture and the transcript below.

Advisor (Jessica): Have you spoken to your advisor especially since you are close to finishing?

Student: I have reached out but she has not returned any of my emails. So, at this point, I don’t know what to do.

Advisor (Jessica): Who is your advisor? (FYI I ask this question so I can give the student accurate contact information, I promise.)

Student: Jessica W Rabb

So….I think of myself as a pretty good advisor and yet I had missed this student and this student did not think of me as a good advisor! I share this so you can have a laugh and recognize that our system of contact/communication is not perfect. This is why I think Advising Chat can serve a role in our efforts to be a Student Ready College. The commitment you need to staff Advising Chat is an hour a week when you would be at your computer. We averaged just one chat per hour, and yet, that student that gets a question answered is grateful. We made over 100 connections to students with Advising Chat in a low- stakes yet helpful platform.

I expect I will need Advising Chat volunteers in the future, consider joining the ranks of our veterans.

Dear Jolly Librarian: I have met the love of my life. However, he is from a French-speaking country. I don’t speak French, and I think they will make fun of me when I travel there to be on the reality show, “Married in Another Language.”   Signed, The Course of True Love

Dear Course: French is the language of amour, and although I have my doubts about your finding true love on reality television, I can help you with the vocabulary. Through the Tennessee Electronic Library (free to all Tennesseans), the library offers Transparent Language with plenty of French lessons. It’s under ‘T’ on the library database page. Also, if a man named Big Ed asks you out, say no in every language.

Dear Jolly Librarian:   I have seven siblings. We are all in school, and we are all taking tests to go to our next level. We need help with the GRE, ACT, SAT, CLEP, NCLEX, and Praxis. We can’t agree in which order we should buy the practice books so that we’ll all have an equal chance of succeeding. Signed, The Fighting Acronyms

Dear Fighting: Take a deep breath. Let there be peace in your family. There is a perfect database for you: Petersen’s Test and Career Prep. There are practice tests for just about everything: College, Graduate School, Nursing, Education, Vocational Programs, etc. There are also tips on career planning. You’ll find on the database list under ‘P.’ This is another TEL database, so you have access even if you leave NSCC.

Saturday October 30, Nashville State sponsored a Flood Cleanup Event in Waverly.  We had three volunteers in the field assisting with debris removal and one volunteer that assisted with spiritual care and oversaw the emotional support K9’s at the Command Center.   

While our team of four was small don’t let that fool you…our work was mighty!  It was a day full of emotions and lots of manual labor.  I’m not sure about the others but that night I was smelling like a big ole tube of Bio Freeze but my heart was full knowing that to someone our work that day made a difference in their lives.

Volunteers:

Audrey Cross, Reading Faculty, WBR
Jeani Rice-Cranford, Science Lab Tech, Waverly
Dondi Sanders, Student Service Specialist, Waverly

Thank you for your continued support of Waverly and the Humphrey’s County Campus.

To continue meeting the needs of the Clarksville-Montgomery County area, Nashville State Community College has been working on a proposed plan to expand its campus located on Wilma Rudolph Blvd. The expansion project is a collaboration between the College and TCAT Clarksville.

A significant milestone has been reached in the process for expansion. The Tennessee Higher Education Commission recently placed the project among its top capital funding requests after the Tennessee Board of Regents submitted it as one of its top three priorities.

The requests will be sent to the Governor for possible inclusion in his proposed budget to Tennessee General Assembly for consideration and approval. This step follows Mayors Durrett and Pitts announcement that it’s the number two priority for Clarksville-Montgomery County.

Nashville State has been a dedicated member of the Clarksville-Montgomery County community since 2012. The campus opened with 257 students and enrollment has grown to more than 900. By 2017, the campus exceeded its capacity for serving students; and a four-classroom modular was installed to accommodate demand. With expansion, an additional 800 students could be served.

The expansion will allow for the addition of new academic programs, like Nursing A.S.N, Licensed Practical Nurse, Secondary Education A.S.T, Computer Programming A.A.S., Industrial Process Control A.A.S., and workforce training. Expanded resources to support student success, such as a dedicated veterans’ lounge, welcome center, new bookstore, Campus Cupboard food pantry, testing space for industry certifications, ADA testing center, library and study area, and tutoring support rooms. Nashville State’s ability to offer Licensed Practical Nursing would free up much needed space at the TCAT.

The proposed expansion will create a community-based Center for Higher Education that will allow strategic partnerships with TCAT, CMCSS, Ft. Campbell, and APSU to better meet the needs of the area. This joint project will open up space for more technical and workforce programs at the TCAT.

To foster great collaboration, communications, and support within the community, the College has established a Clarksville Advisory Committee.

“Nashville GRAD data shows personalized support for full-time students is making a difference in persistence,” said Dr. Shanna L. Jackson, president of Nashville State. “Nashville Flex is an exciting opportunity for part-time students to receive the same program benefits of GRAD.  Both programs expand access for Davidson County residents to become economically mobile while increasing the talent pipeline for the region. We are proud to partner with Kresge, Tennessee College Access and Success Network, the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, and Vanderbilt University.”

The Nashville Talent Hub’s Reconnect Ambassador Program, led by the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, will oversee outreach to increase higher education enrollment among students and families living in Nashville Promise Zone neighborhoods. The Chamber will train an additional 100 Reconnect Ambassadors to work with potential students to ensure they are connected to individuals and resources they need to succeed. Reconnect Ambassadors live and work in the same neighborhoods as the potential students and are trusted sources. Many students and families in these neighborhoods are unaware of the programs that can help them succeed in higher education – such as Nashville GRAD and now Flex.

“The Chamber is thrilled to be part of this team. Building local talent pipelines is part of the Chamber’s long-term strategy for prosperity in the region,” said Laura Ward, Senior Vice President, Talent Development at the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. “Building on systems of support that already exist, Nashville Flex ensures students attending Nashville State Community College have the opportunity to attend part-time and receive the additional support needed to persist while also building a community of support at a grassroots level in Nashville.”

Additional outreach efforts will include virtual trainings with school counselors and nonprofit professionals; printed materials to be shared at employers, faith-based organizations, and schools; direct student outreach; and social media campaigns.

Driven by the mission to increase the number of Tennesseans completing postsecondary opportunities, the TCASN aims to establish a college-going culture in communities across the state. www.tncollegeaccess.org, 615-983-6909.

The full Nashville Flex team includes TCASN, Nashville State Community College, the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, and Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development, who will serve as the project’s evaluator.

“Our early analyses of the effectiveness of Nashville GRAD in providing essential supports for community college students suggest the program is making important contributions to students’ persistence toward their college degrees,” said Carolyn Heinrich, Patricia and Rodes Hart Professor of Public Policy, Education and Economics at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College. “We are excited about this partnership that will facilitate a crucial extension of program supports to part-time students, who face even greater barriers to college completion.”

TCASN is one of five CoPro2.0 programming grant recipients. Two research grants and four implementation grants were also awarded.

Driven by the mission to increase the number of Tennesseans completing postsecondary opportunities, the TCASN aims to establish a college-going culture in communities across the state. www.tncollegeaccess.org, 615-983-6909.

The Kresge Foundation was founded in 1924 to promote human progress. Today, Kresge fulfills that mission by building and strengthening pathways to opportunity for low-income people in America’s cities, seeking to dismantle structural and systemic barriers to equality and justice. Using a full array of grant, loan, and other investment tools, Kresge invests more than $160 million annually to foster economic and social change. For more information visit kresge.org.