Classified Spotlight

We would like to introduce the college’s textbook buyer and bookstore coordinator, Julie Groner. Julie began working part time in 2002 and became full time in October 2008 when the bookstore was run and operated by Clackamas Community College.

In 2018 the college entered a partnership with Barnes & Noble. Part of that agreement included that all current CCC employees will stay, but once they leave the positions would be replaced with B&N employees. Julie is now the only CCC employee and is also the only full-time employee and is also the only full time employee left in the bookstore.

Julie is responsible for the execution of the textbook adoption timeline that includes setup and returns. She works closely with management to develop and elevate the customer service experience for all customers. She maintains information on the B&N website, posts to Facebook, and ensures that correct information is communicated with the college webmaster. Julie receives textbooks and merchandise, and coordinates the return of textbooks to the publishers. She also assists accounts receivable by providing efficient third-party sales. She performs backup accounts receivable duties by adding new students and updating information for returning students.

Some of her more recognized tasks around campus would be how well she works with staff to help ensure understanding of textbook stocking issues and working with CCC departments on charges to ensure that appropriate discounts are tendered. Julie communicates with faculty staff and students via phone, in-person, and online. Her presence on the sales floor greeting customers, answering questions, and assisting with textbooks or merchandise is stellar. She is responsible for ensuring the neatness of the retail floor with clear signage and shelf tags.

During the pandemic the services the bookstore provided had to adapt in order to support students and help them be successful. One of the effective things they have done is added a doorbell to the front door of the store. You may think this is a trivial fix but this invention helps Julie to assist a student if they come outside the bookstore’s open hours. While the campus was closed, Julie has been on campus daily to move product via UPS. The doorbell allowed Julie to easily assist students and maintain the needed social distancing. They also created a counter service to better meet the student's needs. The service initiates more communication with the student and reduces mistakes in purchasing the incorrect textbooks. Julie has been able to conduct bookstore business and many different ways. Julie says, "Being creative has been both fun and challenging." She firmly believes the bookstore has done an outstanding job meeting the campus and students’ expectations.

Talk about institutional knowledge! We are all very lucky to have Julie as our primary bookstore contact.

Each month we will highlight the work of the classified employees. Our highlights this month are TJ McDonough and Loretta Mills.

When the campus closed and classes were held remotely everyone scrambled. Leaving a lecture class­room empty for the unknown future was easier for some departments than others. The Horticulture program had already begun sowing their seeds which needed daily care. Two classified employees in Horticulture were instrumental in transitioning to be ready for the students. TJ McDonough and Loretta Mills are the classified highlights for this month.

TJ McDonough was in the nursery and gardening industry for more than six years when he gravitated to the Horticulture program to expand his horizons. Just as he was graduating from Clackamas, a position within the department opened up and he landed it. He started in January, 2011. The position, Horticulture Laboratory Assistant, was vacated and reduced to a part-time position. TJ worked part-time for six months until the position became full-time again, Once the position was full-time he had to apply with the other applicants. The college is lucky to have TJ!

When Covid changed everything the Horticulture department made a lot of changes and adjustments to keep the education flowing. TJ designed and laid out a widely spaced classroom in the Hoop House allowing a portion of lab activities to continue. What's horticulture if you're not getting your hands in the soil? The lack of instructors on campus (except during face-to-face class periods) required considerably more prep time to stage kits and ·units" so every student had their own supplies to use and their own zone when they were in class. TJ also helped Loretta with the kits that were handed out and/or mailed to students for the fully remote courses. By doing this they too could get that hands-on experience that makes the Horticulture program great.

There was definitely a hole in the community left by the cancelation of the annual plant sale for 2020. When the decision was made several classes had already planted a portion of the crops. Those crops that were in production still needed attention. TJ carried on with their development. By the second week in May 2020 the plants that would have been sold at the plant sale needed a home. The Horticulture department was able to reach out and donate these crops to assisted living facilities in the area and through the Equitable Giving Circle and in turn the BIPOC community, as well as faculty, staff, and students.

TJ said that his favorite adaptation was actually an improvement in disguise. The department began the liberal use of live documents. Creating a space online to share and update with a group has proved very useful in having ongoing conversations that would otherwise flood our inboxes and chat programs. Now that these are in place TJ doesn't see any reason to go back to the old, cluttered ways of communication.

The 'I dare you to go to college' scholarship was awarded to Loretta Mills when she graduated from Rainer High School. College was just a dream. Being the eldest of 10 children with a stay-at-home mom and mill worker father, college was not in the budget, so getting a $350 scholarship was a really big deal. It may seem like a small sum today, but that was big in the '80's. Loretta had family connections for housing and transportation so off to Oregon City and Clackamas she went!

Loretta's first job at CCC began 1986 as a Computer Operator. She then held several positions in the ITS department. Her last job in that department was as Computer/Network Operations Supervisor. In 1995 she left the college to raise her growing family. She returned to CCC in 2003 as the Horticulture Administrative Assistant.

Loretta Mills said that connecting with students has been the most missed and difficult part of the pandemic. That is obvious for our hands-on class activities, but also in other small ways. Sharing information regarding job announcements, scholarship opportunities and other industry/community activities was, pre-pandemic, posted on the bulletin boards in Clairmont Hall outside of her office. With no in-person contact an alternative was needed. As a response Loretta started an email group that students are invited to opt-in to that she sends notices to. It serves the Horticulture students but also the industry members that rely on Clackamas' programs to educate their future employees! Loretta will continue this practice after classes are back on campus full time.

T J and Loretta are dedicated not only to their jobs but most importantly to the students. They are indeed an "Ace in the Hole” and the college is lucky to have them.

Each month we will highlight the work of the classified employees. Our highlight this month is Aschlie Town.

If you have yet to meet our February highlight you're in for a treat! This month we are introducing Aschlie town. You will find her in the Welding Department located in the Training Center.

At the young age of 14, Aschlie was excelling in welding while taking classes in high school. She came to Clackamas Community College after realizing her prior job was not what she wanted to do long-term. She enrolled in the welding program in 2012 and during her first term was hired as a lab assistant. Soon, Aschlie would step in as a substitute for faculty. Aschlie became a classified employee in 2017 when she was hired as the Welding Lab Technician. Eventually, she would be offered a position teaching the CNC plasma class, which just happens to be her forte.

During the past five years in her position as lab technician, Aschlie has taught herself how to repair all the specialized equipment in the welding shop. She's always eager and happy to help and has offered her skills across campus by doing repairs for campus services (currently repairing a light bulb base for a streetlight), building steel easels for the art Department, creating doors for a Conex box in horticulture, and programming the CNC plasma machine to cut out the leaves for the ELC Giving Tree with the names of each donor.

Aschlie is a stellar representative of the welding Department throughout the college and in the community. In her spare time, she is part of a women in trades group and gives how-to information on welding, machining, DIY remodels, including electrical and plumbing. She helps oversee part of the student welding club and has helped them create yard art that is sold at the Horticulture plant sale and other events.

Among her many duties as the welding lab technician, Aschlie prepares materials, training aids, machine set ups to support laboratory instruction. She monitors student use of the shop area, maintenance shop equipment, and Order supplies for the tool room. She researches parts and supply vendors and coordinates closely with instructors regarding needed equipment. Finally, she inspects the lab and classroom areas to ensure the safety of the areas.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Aschlie has worked on campus 4 days a week. She says she has not had to change much for her position but what she has learned is to rethink how we see and understand body language. With half of our faces covered, it is hard to tell how a conversation is going or how to “read” a person just by their eyes. She has learned to consider everything from brow movements to The Stance of a person.

Aschlie Is fun, energetic, full of knowledge, and passionate about welding. She is indeed an ACE in the Hole and CCC is extremely lucky to have someone as committed as Aschlie.

Each month we will highlight the work of the classified employees. Our highlight this month is Laura Smith.

Laura Smith is the Classified Association Employee highlight for January. Since 2017 Laura has been the Administrative Coordinator for the Campus Services division. Laura has supported Grounds, Maintenance, Plant Engineering and Custodial teams in so many different ways, what doesn't change is her cheerful and positive attitude.

Most of the pandemic Laura has facilitated her division workflow by working on campus at her desk in Lewelling. Laura provides financial support to Campus Services ranging from budgetary research and reporting to procurement and accounts payables.

Her keen organizational skills have supported CCCs bond projects in a variety of ways including assistance in stakeholder meetings, procurement coordination. and payables. In addition, she participates in various committees and assists in interview panels as needed as well as supporting other work groups across campus.

She has not only worked for the college but has been a student in the Business Department. She has one class left to earn her AAS degree in Project Management. She has already completed an AAS in Business. Laura attributes a big part of her success to the Instructors in the Business Department. She said, "Their support and student centric education was phenomenal."

By the time you read this report Laura will have transitioned to her new position as the Project and Procurement Specialist for the Information Technology Services department. Fifty percent of her new position will draw heavily from her project management degree.

Laura's biggest take away from working in Campus Services is the ·comradery of co-workers and the sense of purpose in the 'behind the scenes' of keeping the college up and running." Laura believes as an employee the work culture at CCC really promotes education for all through our focus on the student’s success, excellence in teaching and our commitment to a healthy organization. “We are all students in life and CCC gets that.”

Laura is thankful and excited for her next chapter here at CCC.

Each month we will highlight the work of the classified employees. Our highlights this month is Megan Feagles and Breck Young.

Megan is a Scheduling and Curriculum Specialist, she began working at CCC In September 2013. She coordinates with College personnel on the planning, development, and organization of timelines for the preparation of the fall preview, fall, winter, spring and summer schedule of classes.

Megan communicates with the campus to explain processes and procedures of the Scheduling and Curriculum offices. She ensures that submitted class information matches what is approved by the state and notifies departments when issues arise with submitted information and facilitates changes to ensure data is correct for student registration and accurate reporting. Megan creates and enters all approved courses into Colleague, including ACTI codes, division codes, department codes, course type codes, CIP codes, instructional method codes, and course numbers. She facilitates the catalog editing process for courses and programs. She inputs all approved courses and programs into the catalog and maintains and updates all course outlines for campus in an outline database.

Breck is a Scheduling and Logistics Specialist who began working at CCC in September 2019. He provides confidential, administrative support to the Office of Educational Partnerships.

Breck acts as the functional administrator of the campus' room scheduling software. Breck conducts trainings of scheduling software for the campus and develops training manuals for processes related to using the scheduling software and requesting rooms. He coordinates classroom assignments for classes each term using scheduling software and database applications.

Breck edits, files, prepares, and runs scheduling software to produce preliminary room assignments for review, then he corrects room assignment errors. He works with Enrollment Services to facilitate registration and scheduling processes. Breck troubleshoots problems and issues such as registra­tion and schedule deadlines and timelines.

When the College needed to move to remote operations, the scheduling team quickly jumped in to help make the transition as smooth as possible for the students, faculty and staff. Together they have created and updated course types and instructional methods. Transitioned all processes to be electronic and assisted employees with the change. Breck and Megan have updated the Term Master, transitioned to Google apps for catalog edits. They are currently transition­ing the online catalog to Course Leaf. Both continually making behind-the-scene tweaks to simplify and improve processes and create efficiencies where possible.

Megan and Breck are also working on some exciting new projects and improvements, coming soon!

We hope this spotlight of a classified employee helps you get a better sense of the work that ACE do. ACE stands for the Association of Classified Employees. Megan and Breck are excellent examples of an ACE in the hole employees.

Respectfully submitted, Becky Fidler & Kelly White

Each month we will highlight the work of the classified employees. Our highlight this month is Greg Castañeda.

Greg has been working at Clackamas Community College In a part-time capacity since 2007 where he started his career at CCC with the ESL Department. In 2011 Greg moved over to Facility Reservations (now Events and Conference Services) and has been there ever since.

In the beginning of 2011 and prior, all event coordination was done on paper! Triple copies of requests: one for Campus Services, one for IT and one for Facility Reserva­tions. There was also an antiquated system for events called R25 which was a basic room scheduling system. In Summer 2011, the College purchased software to replace the paper requests and to better communicate with other entities at the college.

When COVID hit, it was inevitable that the world of events was going to change. Greg rose above and learned how to create effective events online. He supported many online events during COVID which required utilizing an online platform he had to learn from scratch, not just as a participant. but as an emcee. From multiple breakout rooms, creating participant registration, running attendance reports, managing multiple presentations to share, monitoring the chat and raised hands, Greg has stepped into a whole new realm of service not often expected from a part-time employee.

Greg also has stellar graphic design skills and he put those skills to use creating a brochure for Events and Conference Services Online Support. It was through this brochure the ECS was able to effectively communicate their skills and desire to move into the virtual event world. It also gave their CCC customers the confidence in utilizing ECS for helping coordinate their online events.

Over his years here, Greg has learned new software, provided exceptional customer service, learned all the intricacies of many policies and procedures and put them in action every day, all the while taking classes at CCC to improve his skillset.

Greg is known by the college community as helpful, skilled, accommodating, and friendly. He goes above and beyond daily and never falters in his commitment to our students, faculty, staff and community at large.

Greg often steps in when customers need last minute changes to a setup, as to not put more on custodial staff who may otherwise be busy during the day. He is also able to lift some of the burden off of IT by troubleshooting some tech issues that come up during events. His attention to detail and knowledge of our media carts, as well as setup issues regard­ing fire code, has been a much-needed asset to CCC events. Thankfully, the opportunity to combine all these skills has led Greg to become a full-time classified employee. The College is very lucky to have such a remarkable and dedicated employee.

We hope this spotlight of a classified employee helps you get a better sense of the work that ACE do. ACE stands for the Association of Classified Employees. Greg is an excellent example of an ACE in the hole employee.

Respectfully submitted, Becky Fidler & Kelly White

Each month we will highlight the work of the classified employees. Our highlight this month is on our Lead Custodians: Carl Graham, Claudia Fife, Jessica Cloud, and Mason Malchow.

Carl Graham began working at CCC as a custodian in 2001 and was promoted to Lead Custodian in 2018. Claudia Fife began working at CCC as a custodian In 2014 and was promoted to Lead Custodian in 2017. Jessica Cloud began working at CCC as a custodian in 2018 and was promoted to Lead Custodian In 2020. Mason Malchow began working at CCC as a custodian in 2004 and was promoted to Lead Custodian in 2020.

In addition. we have nine Custodlans that complete the team and they include: Jim Fife, Jay Chow, Brandon Keeler, Romelia Tellez Hernandez, Glen Armstrong, Ofelia Fernandez. Rodney Mankins, Francisco Carrlca, and Rosaura Hernandez.

During the pandemic, the custodial staff has added several new duties to their daily routine. They also ensure classrooms are locked as a double-check for Campus Safety. They assist with maintenance such as replacing batteries in flushometers and assisting with equipment removal and set-ups.

The lead custodian job duties have also changed during the pandemic. They received special training to learn how to clean properly after a COVID exposure, and are charged with disinfecting in those areas. They put on a full protective suit and an air respiratory unit (PAPR respirator) which supplies them with HEPA filtered oxygen. The full suit with the respiratory machine weighs about 8 pounds. It takes two people 6·8 hours to properly clean and sanitize a building that has been COVID contaminated. They can't remove their suit at all during these 6·8 hours. If they need to go to the bathroom, take a break, or get a drink of water, they have to exit the building, remove the suit, throw it away, and before they go back Into the building they have to put on all new PPE. Fortunately, there has only been a few times that an entire building needed to be disinfect­ed. Typically they are focused on a particular office, building floor, or a set of classrooms.

It Is our lead custodians that are willing to put on that suite and sanitize our buildings, that help keep our campus protected and safe for our community. Working extra hard to take care of the contaminated area while continuing to clean their normal building route. They go around every building a second time to disinfect all touch-points dally, which often leaves them behind. They have put themselves and their families at risk while working through the pandemic, cleaning known exposed areas.

Carl. Claudia, Mason and Jessica are excellent examples of ACE in the hole.

We hope this spotlight of a classified employee helps you get a better sense of the work that ACE do. ACE stands for the Association of Classified Employees.

Respectfully submitted, Becky Fidler & Kelly White

Each month we will highlight the work of the classified employees. Our highlight this month is on Jennifer Pope. Jennifer began working part-time for the college in September 2009. In August 2012 Jennifer applied for and was hired as a Science Lab Technician. Jennifer is one member of a small but very dedicated team of lab technicians. She works with Jackie Aguilera, Tre Siebert and Joan Harrison-Buckley is the Science Lab Coordinator.

Prior to the pandemic Jennifer’s duties were to prepare all chemicals and solutions needed for each lab; maintain potentially pathogenic microbiological cultures and prepare them for safe student use, as well as safely dispose of all pathogens, including biohazardous samples from students such as blood and urine; assist students in Majors Biology with the development and implementation of individual research projects; assist faculty in developing or altering lab curriculum as needed to maximize student learning; maintain introductory chemistry labs throughout the heavily used open chemistry tutorial lab; maintain inventory of all equipment and materials needed for each lab throughout the year and compile supply orders to ensure adequate preparation for every student’s lab needs; and prepare all necessary equipment and supplies for students in the General Biology series, Biology for Majors series, Microbiology, Aquatic Microbiology, Introductory Chemistry series, Environmental Science series, Integrated Science series, and Biology for Health Sciences.

Over the course of a school year, Jennifer has been responsible for doing the behind-the-scenes work necessary for an instructor and their students to walk into a well-prepared lab class for an average of 19 different courses spanning 87 sections serving over 2000 students each year, and clean up after each one, maintaining lab spaces and costly equipment and living specimens to ensure maximum and optimal use of department resources.

During the pandemic Jennifer’s job duties have been similar to her work on campus pre-pandemic. In some cases, it was virtually the same because some faculty requested to have their labs for each week set up as they normally would be so that they could record videos of themselves performing the work for their students to view online. However, it was the work of Jennifer and the other lab technicians converting hands-on science labs to a remote format that was extremely instrumental in the success of those labs/experiments. Jennifer reviewed the lab curriculum for several single-term courses and year-long lab series and worked with faculty to develop course-specific plans that would enable students to perform various lab sciences at home. In order to convert the labs to a remote format, Jennifer researched what supplies and equipment a student would need at home to complete each lab experiment, what materials could be readily obtained during the height of the pandemic, and the cost to convert each lab to determine which ones could be done within the department’s budget. It was this information that guided what labs could be converted for students to do at home. Her research also helped instructors to know which labs they would need to find alternatives to a hands-on lab.

In Spring term 2021 one of the lab courses Jennifer preps returned to campus. Jennifer was tasked to develop and implement the plan for how the students would safely perform those labs within COVID protocols that necessitated providing each student their own individual supplies and equipment to avoid common use, ensuring social distancing while working in the lab by spacing out large equipment, and cleaning and disinfecting or replacing all equipment between student uses. She is also developing similar plans for the biology and microbiology labs that are returning to campus with social distancing requirements for Fall term.

Faculty converted courses to an online format. Jennifer converted the lab experiments to a remote format. It was her parallel work that directly related to the success the students found while completing labs from home.

We hope this spotlight of a classified employee helps you get a better sense of the work that ACE do. ACE stands for the Association of Classified Employees. Jennifer is an excellent example of an ACE in the hole employee.

Respectfully submitted, Becky Fidler & Kelly White