July/August 2023 Newsletter

Message from Dr. Michael D. Anthony

The fall semester is finally here, and I’m excited about the new school year! I hope you enjoyed some well-deserved rest and relaxation over the summer and are ready to dive into an exciting journey at Prairie State College this fall. 

A new year means a new look for us both on campus and virtually. Thanks to our facilities team and others, we will soon complete the initial phase of our renovation plan, which will breathe new life into our Atrium. This revitalized space will foster an environment conducive to learning and building community. Our renovated spaces will be a more inviting place for our students to feel right at home. While the initial phases are nearly complete, additional improvements are planned for the Atrium and entrances to campus. 

Continuing our commitment to progress and excellence, several things are happening all at once. We are thrilled to announce the upcoming launch of our brand-new website in early October. Our dedicated marketing and communications (MARCOM) team is diligently working to bring this new website to life, ensuring that it delivers an exceptional online experience for all stakeholders. This long-awaited redesign will feature a more user friendly, modern, visually appealing interface for our deserving students, faculty, staff, and community. Our Institutional Effectiveness and Accreditation team is rolling out our new data dashboard and implementation plans for our 2023-2027 Strategic Plan. Academic and Student Affairs leaders are working hard to ensure our academic program offerings, workforce development offerings, and our ever-expanding student supports are best in class and responsive to our diverse student and community needs. Institutional Advancement and the Foundation are seeking bigger and better funding streams to increase scholarship dollars and additional revenue for the college. Finally, our teams in ITR and Business and Finance are providing enhanced tools, resources, and practices to support the college's many initiatives. 

As we embark on this new chapter together, I encourage each of you to embrace the possibilities and opportunities that lie ahead. Find ways to connect with each other and with students in new ways. Join a committee, participate in campus and student events, have lunch or coffee with a new colleague, walk a student to class, join important strategic conversations, and maximize the resources and support available in person and through our digital platforms. Together, we are creating an unforgettable experience at Prairie State College!

Welcome to another academic year, and here’s to a great semester!

#WeArePSC

ACCT Government Leadership Institute in DC

Trustee Michelle Aldana, Executive Director of Marketing and Communications Jeri Bingham, and President Dr. Michael Anthony attended an intense 2-day workshop at the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) Government Leadership Institute in Washington, DC. Along with other trustees and college leaders, there were great insights, learning, and connections among some of the largest community colleges in the nation.

Fall 2023 Convocation

PSC employees gathered for the Fall 2023 Convocation on Tuesday, August 15, to enjoy breakfast, games, and an opportunity to connect and, for some, meet for the first time. Dr. Anthony gave highlights of the progress made at the college, along with introductions of new employees by Dr. Charmaine Sevier and an update on Employee Giving by Deb Havighorst. Check out the full recording below and the highlight reel to your left. #WeArePSC

Scholar Garden Walk

Professor Justin Pariseau led our Scholar Garden Walk on Wednesday, Aug. 22. He spoke about the Scholar Garden right outside of our library, sustainable gardening, the importance of native plants and the role of gardens in education. Students also learned about the Sustainability Club and were able to tour the garden at their leisure.

Please check out a few of our photos from the event.

Welcome Week

The Office of Student Affairs coordinated a welcome week where multiple tables were set up on the main campus to welcome students and provide resources and assistance as they navigated through their first week of classes at PSC. Raffles and snacks were provided as well. 

Face Mask Donations

We recognize that immunocompromised groups, such as children, have needed face coverings well before the COVID-19 pandemic and even now. As a gesture of care and concern, a donation of child-size face masks was provided to the Cancer Support Center in Homewood, Ronald McDonald House (5 locations), and Ronald McDonald Family Room (3 locations).  Thanks to Cristina Lazard and her team for taking the lead on this effort. 

WDCE Partners with PACE Bus

The WDCE Trades Center has been working with Pace Bus to secure a customized CDL training partnership whereby the Trades team prepares students to pass the CDL written exam. Those who successfully pass the exam are immediately hired with Pace for career pathway exploration and placement within Pace operations. The Trades team successfully started its first class on August 7 and is now preparing to host the next Pace cohort in October. Congratulations WDCE Trades for coordinating this fantastic training and employment gateway for the PSC district.

Fall Registration is Open!

There is still time to register for fall classes:  

16-week and first 8-week classes are underway!

14-week classes begin September 5, 2023

12-week classes begin September 15, 2023

Second 8-week classes begin October 16, 2023


Spring 2024 Semester: 

Priority registration (current students) begins October 23, 2023 

Open registration (all students) begins October 30, 2023 

Human Resources 

Anniversary Celebrations are back! 

Join us in the employee lounge for cupcakes on Thursday, August 31, at 2 p.m. to celebrate those who started at PSC in the months of July and August and have been with the college for a year or longer. The lounge is located on the second floor of the main campus. 

All are welcome! 

New Employees

Dr. Desiree Anderson

Dean, Equity and Inclusion

Dr. Katrina Washington

Assistant Professor, English

Dr. Aparna Palakodeti  

Assistant Professor, Biology

Pia Moore

Enrollment Services Specialist

Jordan Ferguson

Enrollment Services Specialist


Willie Brown

Technology Support Services Analyst

Ryan Williams

Technology Support Services Analyst

India Glasper

Benefits Manager

Dr. Ty Jiles

Program Manager, ECACE


Promotion and Title Change

Nicole Brassfield

Technology Support Services Analyst, ITR

Dr. Bernard Little

Vice President, Student Affairs and Diversity

Jeri Bingham

Vice President, External Affairs

Dr. Charmaine Sevier 

Vice President, Administrative Services 

Jessica Kielar

Assistant Professor/Clinical Coordinator C.N.A.

Congratulations to Ms. Monique Campbell, Assistant Professor/Clinical Coordinator, Surgical Technology,  and Ms. Kimberly Piña, Assistant Professor, Certified Nursing Assistant, on being appointed tenure at the August 29 regular board meeting.

Departing Employees 

Alysse Hansen

Student Success Center

Fred Ziems

ITR

Jack Mosher

Student Success Center

Stefanie Seeley

Student Affairs


Jessica Nastal

Associate Professor, English

Curtis Rempson

Campus Police Officer

Janice Kaushal

Dean, Career and Technical Education

Charles Young

Workforce Development and Community Education


EAP: Employee Assistance Program

Offered through Prairie State College, the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is a voluntary, work-based program offering free and confidential assessments, short-term counseling, referrals, and follow-up services to employees with personal and work-related problems.

Employee News

Congratulations, Yvette!

Yvette McGhee, assistant director, Financial Aid, earned the Cost of Attendance Credential from the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. This credential is nationally recognized and requires extensive knowledge regarding the cost of attendance and the required components by the Department of Education.

Employee Spotlight

Yesenia Garcia, ESL Student Services Specialist

Yesenia Garcia, fondly known as Jessie, embodies the Pioneer Spirit through a "work smarter" AND "work harder" ethic. As ESL Student Services Specialist, Yesenia recruits, retains, and tests students in the English as a Second Language program while also providing individualized assistance to the range of needs that ESL students present. Yesenia provides students with multiple means to communicate with her that work for their schedules; she is flexible and adjusts to their needs because she is 120 percent committed to student success. But what truly makes Yesenia stand out are her creativity and problem-solving skills in all aspects of our program, from recruiting students more effectively through data to training her student services colleagues in best practices. She is always adapting and developing her processes to be more efficient and effective and seeks professional development to get and build upon new ideas for program improvement. Above all, Yesenia is a tremendous colleague and leader within the adult education and literacy department. 

Student Hightlight

Outreach at Easter Seal

Kaylyn New, Kay McCorker, Alysia Quinn, and Jessica Muse, all second-year dental students, completed one of their outreach projects at Easter Seals in Joliet, including a presentation on dental care for autistic children. Below is an email from Easter Seals. 


Hello,

I had the pleasure of meeting some of your students at our therapy training days. I supervise just over 50 therapists inclusive of PT, OT, speech, social workers, and developmental therapists. We work with children ages birth through 18 with a wide variety of disabilities. Your students came and gave a presentation to our staff specific to children with special needs. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't sure if or how much information they would be able to share with us--but I wanted to share that I was absolutely blown away. Your students were so knowledgeable and shared a wealth of information! My staff all shared that they learned so much--people were taking pictures of the slides because there was just so much amazing information! Your students has originally reached out about presenting to our parent support group, but I shared with them by reaching our therapy staff will ultimately reach even further; as each of them carry a caseload.


Furthermore, I just have to share how amazing it is that future clinicians are being educated on children with disabilities! I, unfortunately, hear horror stories from parents who try to take their special needs child to the dentist, and the children are held down, and just have horrible experiences. I'm just so happy, that hopefully soon, fewer kids will have that experience.


I just wanted to share that I was just amazed by your students! They were so professional; their presentation was phenomenally tech save--truly just so impressive! I'm so grateful for their time and expertise! 


Thank you for sharing them with us! 

--

Kristin Kappel, MOT, OTR/L

Director of Pediatric Programs

Easterseals Joliet Region

Marketing and Communications

Welcome to Today at PSC! To reduce communication from PSC announcements, events will be selected from the calendar and sent in an email each morning. If no events are happening that day, no email will be sent. We will continue This Week at PSC on Mondays and schedule Today at PSC Tuesday - Friday. That way, we can share a preview of the week and use Today at PSC as a daily reminder. 


If you have an event approaching, please be sure it is added to the events calendar >> Calendar Listing Form. 

I AM A PIONEER: Fall Commercial

Check out the latest PSC commercial. The first campaign ran from Friday, July 14 through Sunday, August 20. It included select Cubs and Sox games along with 100,000 Effectv Streaming impressions targeting Adults 18-34 and the “single and starters” audience, typically younger adults either looking to go to college or starting a career, etc. The campaign also includes Fox Deportes, Gala, and ESPN Deportes. 

The next campaign started the week of August 21 and runs through September 17. Some football programming includes College Gameday on ESPN, Sunday NFL Countdown on ESPN, a Purdue football game, and an Indiana football game on Big Ten Network. This includes 100,000 Effectv Streaming impressions and Fox Deportes and ESPN Deportes networks. 

BRAND AWARENESS (Earned Media): 

Efforts to raise visibility and solicit recognition of the PSC brand through pitches to the media.

EMT Graduation: Chicago Heights Patch, 8/8/23 


Fall Registration open at PSC: Homewood-Flossmoor Chronicle, 8/8/23 


Prairie State College Announces Spring 2023 Dean’s List: eNews Park Forest, 8/8/23 


Prairie State College Announces Spring 2023 Part-Time Honor Students: eNews Park Forest, 8/8/23 


Janice Kaushal named dean of business and applied technology at College of DuPage: Daily Herald, 8/7/23 


Prairie State College Announces Spring 2023 Part-Time Honors List: Southland Journal, 8/3/23 


Joyce Applauds Funding for Four Local Libraries: Southland Journal, 8/1/23


From Books to Tech: Local Libraries Score $170k Boost to Thrive: Country Herald, 8/1/23 


United Soccer Coaches Releases Preseason Rankings for All Divisions of NCAA and Junior College Men’s and Women’s Soccer: United Soccer Coaches, 8/1/23


Janice Kaushal Named Dean of Business and Applied Technology at College of DuPage: Associated Press, 7/31/23


Obituary: Stanley John Sroczynski Jr. (1932-2023): Legacy.com, 7/21/23


Kids @ College Summer Camp: Homewood Patch, 7/4/23


Prairie State College’s Early Childhood Symposium: Homewood Patch, 7/3/23


Artists capture spirit of liberation in displays at HF Juneteenth fest: Homewood-Flossmoor Chronicle, 6/23/23


Prairie State College Board Chairman Monica Gordon Offers Special Congrats To 81-year-old PSC Graduate Lynn Chambers: South Suburban News, 6/17/23

BRAND AWARENESS (Paid Media): 

Efforts to raise visibility through paid advertising and sponsorship for the PSC brand.

Digital Media:



Print Advertising:


Out of Home (OOH)/Outdoor: 

-Halsted Street

-Vollmer Road

-Coolidge

-Jewel (Homewood (Halsted St), South Chicago Heights 

-CVS (Olympia Fields, Park Forest) 

Enrollment Guide: Fall 2023

The latest Enrollment Guide is published on the Prairie State College website, and a postcard will be sent to all in-district residents to direct them to the marketing piece. The publication highlights Prairie State College's services, programs, and important dates. 

Professional Development

PSCreative (Marketing and Communications) enjoyed a day of professional development and team building on August 10 at Farmhouse Academy in Mokena. 

Athletics

Connect with PSC Athletics on social media! 

Office of Institutional Advancement and PSC Foundation

Welcome Back! 

The Foundation was happy to greet students on the first day of classes with a table full of donated school supplies and other items to help them start the semester on the right track. 

Employee Giving 

It was an honor to celebrate the new academic year at convocation and to take a moment to give an update on employee giving. The new employee giving forms were distributed, and Deborah Havighorst, Executive Director, Institutional Advancement & Prairie State College Foundation explained College employee giving has dropped significantly since pre-COVID. Currently, giving is at approximately 25%. The Foundation challenges employees to raise that percentage to 50% by the end of the year and challenges administrators and managers to raise their giving to 100%.


It was emphasized that the Foundation is not pushing the amount of employee donations. The Foundation feels this is a personal decision and wants employees to give at a level that feels right to them. The goal is to tell donors what percentage of employees donate to the Foundation—not the amount they donate. If the Foundation can tell donors at the end of the year that 50% of all employees and 100% of our administrators and managers support student scholarships through the Foundation, that has a significant impact on donor confidence. This shows donors that College employees believe in Prairie State College. If we can get to a point where ALL of our employees are giving something, that would be a huge success and something for which the entire College can be very proud. 


Employees with questions are invited to stop by the Foundation offices, call ext. 7918, or email pscfoundation@prairiestate.edu.

Volunteer Scholarship Reviewers Needed

Deb Havighorst said the Foundation is looking for volunteer reviewers for spring semester scholarship applications. Anyone interested in participating must let Susan Sebastian know by November 1.

Scholarship Update 

The Scholarship Reviewers Committee of the PSC Foundation met in July to review changes to the scholarship application to ensure a unified and fair reviewing process for all applicants. The goal of the meeting was to make sure reviewers:



The Foundation awarded more than $23,000 in scholarship awards during the summer semester and loaned more than $5,000 in BookSHARE books to students. The fall application opened on July 17, and as of the beginning of the first day of classes, the Foundation has received 240 applications, with 314 attempted. This number is expected to grow by the end of the week, and, as always, Susan is responding to students in the order in which their applications are received. The Foundation is always grateful for all volunteers who dedicate their time to reviewing applications.

Flossmoor Chamber Night – Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO)

Wednesday, July 19, was the annual Flossmoor Chamber Night with the IPO, held outside the Flossmoor Public Library. Prairie State College sponsored the event, and President Dr. Michael Anthony was introduced to the residents of Flossmoor and nearby communities who had come to enjoy the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra Strings. 


A crowd gathered in downtown Flossmoor on the evening of Wednesday, July 19, 2023, for the second Chamber Night featuring a brass quintet from the IPO. (Bill Jones/H-F Chronicle)

Investment & Finance Committee Meeting

The committee met on Monday, July 31, for an update from Midland States Bank on the Foundation’s third-quarter investments. The committee agreed to move funds from the investments to the Foundation’s checking account to cover scholarship payments to the College. The committee is also developing a Gift Acceptance Policy for adoption by the Full Board.


Raiser’s Edge Integration

The Office of Institutional Advancement has been working with CampusWorks and Blackbaud to integrate records and data into the RE-NXT software.


Will County State of the County

Deb Havighorst attended the Will County Board meeting on Thursday, August 17, when Will County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant delivered the official State of the County address and presented the County’s proposed Fiscal Year 2024 Annual Budget to the County Board.  


“I’ve had the opportunity to witness first-hand the important role that county government plays in people’s lives,” said Bertino-Tarrant. “Over the past year, our departments have worked hard to find new ways to adapt to changes, respond to challenges, and, most importantly, prepare for the future.”


More information about the meeting can be found here.

Rotary Corn Roast

The Rotary Club of Chicago Heights-Park Forest held its annual Corn Roast fundraiser at Central Park in Park Forest on Thursday, August 17. Special thanks to Dr. Bernard Little for attending and donating to the event, and to Dr. Michael Anthony and Dean Melissa Hebert-Johnson for their donations.


Current and former members of the Rotary Club of Chicago Heights-Park Forest pictured by the park bench that commemorates the merging of the two clubs in 2018. 

Recent Tributes 


Cheri Taylor-Lawton: August 15, 2023

Cheri Taylor-Lawton, Director of Business Services, made several generous donations to the Foundation’s African American Women’s Scholarship in honor of Tatjana Dzombic, Accounting Clerk; Carmen Hernandez, Accounts Receivable Clerk; Colleen Moody, Accounts Receivable Clerk; Diana Moore, Accounts Receivable Clerk; Sandy Norfleet, Bursar; Cheron Ricks, Senior Accountant I; and Cassandra Turner, Manager of Accounting Services.


Susan Sebastian: August 21, 2023

Susan Sebastian, Manager of Scholarships and Alumni Relations, made a generous donation to the Foundation’s general scholarship fund in Honor of Michelle Guiliani’s new position, Program Manager of the Perkins Grant and PATH Grant.

Upcoming Foundation Events:


September 1       Executive Committee Meeting, 12:30 p.m., via Zoom

September 28   Annual Meeting, 5 p.m., PSC Board Room or via Zoom

Upcoming Events

Involvement Fest 2023

Join us for music, food, free giveaways, and more at the 2023 Involvement Fest. This is an opportunity for students to sign up for clubs, athletics, and volunteer opportunities, as well as learn about college resources. This event is free for PSC students and will be held on the main campus

Upcoming College Events:


October 31            Halloween Fun Fest

October 15 - 21     Homecoming 2023

November 11       Open House

Try one of these taco recipes!

Click the link below for 30 taco recipes to put on repeat. If you have a recipe you want to share in future newsletters, please send to calston@prairiestate.edu.

Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees' regular monthly meetings are held on the last Tuesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. To view information from the Board of Trustees, including meeting agendas, minutes. and audio/video recordings, visit Board Meetings. 

Request Intranet Updates

Please take a look at your page(s) on the Intranet and complete the Intranet Request Form below. Once received, the communications team will review your request and follow-up. 

If you have any questions, please contact
Allan Scarabello at ascarabello@prairiestate.edu.

Have an Announcement?

We love good news! If you have an announcement you want to share, submit the form below, and we'll publish it in the upcoming newsletter.

Request Website Updates

The college Intranet and website fall under the Marketing and Communications Department. Please complete the Website Request Form below for updates, changes, or to request a new page on the PSC website.


Once submitted, Mike Saldaña, content/website specialist, will review your request and follow up. Small changes, such as grammatical errors, can be sent directly to msaldana4@prairiestate.edu.