Tag: Daniel Montano

Student government elects new officer team

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By: Daniel Montano, Staff Reporter

The Executive Council of Students has a new officer team ready to take the reins in the fall 2013 semester, said Stephen Martos, current president of ECOS.

ECOS held elections Friday, May 31 and all officer positions were filled except for that of vice president, the vote for which was postponed until Friday, June 7 because one of the candidates was unable to attend, Martos said.

Emily Sarvis was elected president and said that she will draw on her experience as a member of ECOS to establish an active council.

“Helping students is important and we have taken steps as a group toward doing that, but I feel like we could do more. We’re here for the students and we are students so I think that should be one of our main goals: to get out there and talk to students to see what they need so that CNM and its students can be more successful,” she said.

Despite the lack of a vice president selection just yet, Martos said that as president he has worked with the people who have been elected for a year and he is confident that the team selected so far will work hard for CNM students.

“I’m very happy that we have all these great people coming up into our positions and I really look forward to seeing ECOS grow. It’s been a process to bring this group up to where it can really help the students the most,” he said.

Ana Martinez was elected treasurer and said that she is excited to start her position.

She will make use of her experience in her father’s store, where she helped to manage money, in order to be an effective treasurer, she said.

“I’m good with numbers and I’m very organized. I hate to see money unorganized,” Martinez said.

Bianca Cowboy was elected into two officer positions, Public Relations and Administrative, and she is also running for vice president.

Cowboy will choose which position she will accept after the vice presidential elections are concluded, she said.

No matter which position she ends up in, Cowboy said that she will apply her experience working with students as a work study in enrollment services to help establish strong relationships between ECOS and students, faculty and staff.

“That’s just something that ECOS needs to move forward with. We need to build relationships with administration faculty and staff so that we can organize more events that will have their support as well,” she said.

The current officer team will continue to serve for the summer semester, Martos said.

Looking back over his presidency, Martos said that he is going to miss ECOS, because it has grown to be a large part of his life ever since he joined two years ago.

“Moving on is something that is part of growing and beginning new chapters, but this is always something that I’m going to look back on fondly,” Martos said.

For more information on the Executive Council of Students or to apply for membership, pick up and submit an ECOS application at Room SSC 201, Student Life Office at Main campus.

Getting involved is easy as Phi

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By: Daniel Montano, Staff Reporter

Alpha Upsilon Chi, CNM’s chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa international honor society, is laying out a plan for the next year as well as a welcome mat for anyone who wants to get involved, said Gabriel Roybal, Paralegal Studies major and vice president of PTK.

Phi Theta Kappa is an honor society for two-year college students who maintain a 3.5 or better GPA. PTK provides scholarship opportunities for its members and helps communities through service and charity. The first general meeting will be held on Friday, June 7, Roybal said.

Although there are hundreds of PTK members, Roybal said that there has been poor participation in PTK recently, with only about 10 members participating on a regular basis. The newly elected officer board wants to change that in the upcoming year by spreading the word about what PTK does at CNM.

“I think a lot of students just don’t know what it actually is. There hasn’t been a lot of outreach on getting people to know what it is until now,” he said.

From a scholastic standpoint, PTK gives its members recognition for their hard work by inviting students to enter the honor society and rewarding them by giving them the opportunity to apply for scholarships, he said.

PTK also works with charities such as Roadrunner Food Bank and St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, to give its members the chance to make a positive impact on their community, he said.

“So basically it’s two things: it’s an honor society that rewards your hard work in school and it’s also a community service organization that pools the honor students together so that they can really give back,” he said.

The honor society’s meetings and events are open to any student looking to participate, he said.

PTK will also be offering a CNM bookstore scholarship for $100 that will be granted to any non-members who participate in community service events, he said.

“A community is not just members of an honor society, whoever that is. If you’re a student at CNM and you’re interested in participating in community service activities, if you think that you can improve your community by volunteering, I encourage you to join the meetings and to participate,” he said.

Although there is a membership fee of $75, Roybal said that there is a hardship scholarship that waives the fee. The scholarship can be granted to students who want to be a part of the society and participate in the events, but don’t have the funds to pay the membership fee.

If a non-member who meets the GPA requirements participates in a few community service activities and goes to the meetings, it’s possible to qualify for the hardship scholarship, he said.

“It’s an incentive for people who don’t have the ability to pay. If you still have the merit and the will to do it and the desire to serve, then we’ll waive the fee for you,” he said.

PTK meets every other Friday starting June 7. For more information e-mail Vice President Gabriel Roybal at groybal23@cnm.edu, President Tracy LaForteza at Tlaforteza@cnm.edu, or visit http://www.PTK.org.

Phi Theta Kappa

Meetings are held every other Friday starting June 7.

For more information email:

President Tracy LaForteza 

tlaforteza@cnm.edu

Vice President Gabriel Roybal 

groybal23@cnm.edu

Distance Learning’s new deal: Online courses roll out revamp

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By: Daniel Montano, Staff Reporter

Starting in the fall 2014 semester, students taking online classes can expect to see some changes to the familiar distance learning website, Blackboard, said Audrey Gramstad, Administrative Director of distance learning.

The new Blackboard will include two new software packages and a standardized distance learning classroom intended to allow students to focus on learning course material rather than on how to navigate through it, she said.

“A lot of students have called me about distance learning, having an issue with the fact that every course looks different. If you take five online courses, all five of them look and navigate differently, so my staff and I came up with something called the distance learning classroom,” she said.

The new DL classroom, which is being tested this semester in two online courses that are part of a pilot program, will look very similar to the current Blackboard site but will be designed to be more user friendly, she said.

The DL classroom will have a taskbar on the left hand side that will include direct links to assignments, discussions, technical help and a ‘start here’ portion that will include syllabus, course and instructor information, said Gramstad.

“That helps simplify the navigation so that instead of hunting for ‘How do I contact my instructor?’ or ‘Where do I get tech support?’ It’s always in the same place for every course,” she said.

The new software packages will expand on the current Blackboard login page by including different channels and modules, much like myCNM, which is a profile-based platform that is personalized to the individual user, she said.

Blackboard will also include new file sharing capabilities which, in conjunction with Blackboard’s current instant messaging system, students can use for study and discussion groups, or accessing library, counseling and other student services, she said.

“We’re trying to get all services online so that distance learning students have same access as face-to-face students. If a student asked for a button where they could access health services or veteran’s services, we would add it,” Gramstad said.

The new software will allow instructors to share information common from one course to another, she said.

“So instead of each faculty person creating their own little discussion board or their own little tutorial, they can put it in a repository from which they can share it with any other faculty members that would use that same kind of material,” Gramstad said.

Brahm Woody, Liberal Arts major and instructional technician for SAGE, is currently taking an online class and said he hopes the new Blackboard will be more stable.

“We had someone taking finals last fall and Blackboard crapped out. I contacted the Blackboard supervisor at the SRC and I was told it was a vendor issue. So there was nothing we could do on our end,” Woody said.

Gramstad said that most of the problems associated with Blackboard’s stability have to do with issues unrelated to Blackboard errors, but that the new content sharing ability will help to clear clutter from Blackboard, which should contribute to a more smoothly running site.

Margaret Segura, Business Administration major, has taken three classes online and said that she hopes CNM makes communication with online instructors easier and that she is happy more resources will be available through Blackboard.

“I work with disability resources and I have had a lot of issues, so if everything is put into one place there will be less confusion and more success.” Segura said.

Alyssa Monet- Winters, Diagnostic Medical Stenography major, has taken six courses online and said she hopes that the new Blackboard will be more reliable and she hopes contacting instructors will be easier.

“Being able to contact your instructors better would be nice, because email doesn’t get through to the teachers and you end up being unable to talk to them,” Monet- Winters said.

Although the basic changes have already been chosen, the new Blackboard is only in its beginning stages and things might be added or changed depending on the feedback the distance learning staff receives from students and faculty, Gramstad said.

Upcoming changes: Blackboard courses

  • All online classes will have the same format.
  • The toolbar on left hand side will have direct links to all important course information.
  • All courses will now have a quick and easy “Start here” module.
  • The blackboard calendar will have all assignments and due dates for all online classes being in assignments.
  • Student support will be located in the bottom left-hand side of courses.
  • Allows faculty to focus on content of courses instead of building from scratch

Campus Security: More than just badges

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By: Daniel Montano, Staff Reporter

The first step to personal security for anyone, in any situation, begins with constant alertness, said CNM interim Director of Security Steve English.

While CNM’s Security department uses a number of approaches to maintain a safe environment, there are several guidelines everyone in the CNM community should follow to stop crime before it starts, English said.

“It’s important for anybody, in general, to be aware of their surrounding at all times,” he said.

Awareness can help to identify a potentially dangerous situation, but having a plan for those situations is also essential to remaining safe and secure, English said.

Keep the plan simple and stay committed to it in every situation, but keep in mind that if flight is an option, it is always the best option, he said.

It’s also important be aware of where the closest emergency telephone is, according to the latest campus safety report.

There are emergency ‘code blue’ telephone poles and yellow emergency call boxes placed across all campuses, English said.

“Both systems provide one button speed dialing for instant communication with campus security 24-7,” according to the report.

Campus security offers services that help to deal with potentially dangerous situations before they start, English said.

Anyone in the CNM community may request an escort from a security officer to and from anywhere on campus anytime, he said.

Security officers also offer motorist assistance, including attempting to get into locked out vehicles, English said.

“We also offer jump starts if someone is having trouble with their vehicle and has a dead battery, we’ll take care of it for you folks,” he said.

According to the latest campus safety report, incidents of theft have been steadily climbing over recent years. In 2008 there were 67 reported thefts across all campuses but in 2011 those numbers increased to 210, according to the report.

“Of course, theft happens everywhere, unfortunately. So again, be aware, use common sense; lock your vehicle, secure your personal belongings, don’t leave anything in the open, keep an eye on your personal items,” English said.

If a crime does occur it is important to remain calm and call the police/security with a description of the aggressor if available, need for medical assistance and the location of the crime as soon as it is safe to do so, according to the safety report.

Dialing 911 or ext. 3001 from any campus phone will ring security’s emergency dispatch line and the dispatcher will send security, police or any other needed emergency services, according to CNM’s security webpage.

For more information, visit cnm. edu/depts./security or call 224-3002.

Bridging the gap: APS @ CNM

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By: Daniel Montano, Staff Reporter

A new dual-credit high school, aiming to have graduates leave with both a high school diploma and a college certificate or associate degree, will open on CNM’s main campus fall 2013, Katherine Winograd, CNM president, said.

Winograd held a joint press conference with the heads of APS and the New Mexico Public Education Department on Friday May 10, announcing the yet to be named high school, saying the school will be the first of its kind in Albuquerque.

The 5050 model of this new program will require students to attend classes taught by APS teachers for half of the school day and spend the other half in college-level courses, according to APS’s website.

“It’s going to allow more students to get on a faster, cost-effective track to achieving their college and career dreams. We’re going to help them pursue their passions by providing educational pathways that lead to higher educational credentials and high quality careers,” Winograd said.

The school will operate on CNM property and follow CNM’s trimester schedule, but will provide free textbooks and tuition for college classes, according to APS’s website.

Three years of tuition and books at CNM for a typical 18-year-old living with parents adds up to about $6,800, according to CNM’s cost of attendance calculator.

“Because there is no cost to students and their families, this system puts students ahead financially as well as academically. It makes success in education that much more accessible, we will be changing the lives of students and building a community,” Winograd said.

The new school will work closely with a local business advisory board which will help identify proper educational paths in order to help students get jobs that are needed in the Albuquerque community, she said.

“The businesses are going to provide mentorship. They are going to provide internships and co-ops for the students, and they’re also going to help teach the classes,” Winograd said.

CNM will keep its existing dual-credit program, which is currently available for any APS high school student, but the new school will provide a framework for students seeking success, Winograd said.

Gov. Susana Martinez, who spoke at the press conference, said, “These students will be able to take positive steps on their journey to gain a quality education and realize their dreams,” Martinez said.

It is important that high school graduates are properly prepared for the career world and life in college and this new school will provide students with the experience they need to become accomplished, she said.

The school, located in S building on Main campus, will consist of 10 classrooms and one auditorium for up to 400 students from tenth through twelfth-grade, according to APS’s website.

For more information, including how to enroll, go to aps. edu/aps-cnm or call 855-9040.