Software project for students coming to completion New functions of the Student Information System to be available by Spring 2015

with the current SIS interface.

what they do,” Mata said.

buy one instead, prompting Pierce’s decision.

Peters thinks that the law, which was passed in 2012, will help students graduate at a quicker pace. He also thinks that students need an educational plan to succeed and move on to a four year school.

“The law is focused on making sure students are successful,” Peters said. “One of the issues that we have seen, and that research shows, is that students who do not have an educational plan, students

During the council, Paul Nieman also announced that construction might be finished on the performing arts building by this July.

“There is going to be new seating and there will be ADA compliance,” Niemann said. “There will be new lighting and sound equipment, a new stage floor and there will be an under-stage storing area and use it as a trap room. The lobby is bigger and different, there will be larger bathrooms, a whole lot has been done to it.”

Students and faculty across the entire LACCD can look forward to an entirely new Student Information System being completed in Spring 2015, according to Professor of Computer Applications, Joe Perret. The new renovation will streamline many functions currently available in the SIS and will be accessible through many mobile devices, said LACCD Chief Information Officer Jorge Mata.

“We’re going to improve and modernize the way students register, get their grades, pay their fees, check their financial aid, and to bring it into the internet world,” Mata said. “You’re going be able to do more things from any place and from any device.”

Distance Education Coordinator, Wendy Bass, said it will be able to do a few things that are not possible

“It’s going to be able to tell students if a class is full or not when you’re trying to register, what classes are open. It’s going to have a lot more information,” Bass said.

The project had a budgeted amount of $40 million according to Mata, who was heavily involved in overseeing the technological aspect of the upcoming SIS.

“When the project is done we’ll have a total amount and that includes hardware, consulting, planning, design, software, and finally the implementation,” Mata said.

The speculation for the project started as early as 2006 but preparations and cost projection began in 2007 with the passage of Measure J which provided the money to produce a new SIS.

“We still haven’t finished the project. There is always the possibility that the district wants to reduce what they do or increase

The project has been in development for five years because it had to be executed with a lot of thought and had to be of great quality, according to Mata.

“The SIS is the most important software that the students deal with.

It’s also the software that keeps track of all the grades, transcripts, really important stuff,” Mata said. So we needed to be very careful and do a lot of planning on it.”

Perret said the current SIS, which was built on a software called COBOL, can no longer be kept running and forcing the colleges collectively to make the decision to move on and use a newer system.

“It’s based upon old software that a lot of people don’t know how to program anymore,” Perret said. “It’s a collection of different programs put together rather that an integrated solution.”

UC Berkley made an attempt to create their own SIS and decided to

Students and faculty can rest assured that the upcoming SIS will be of high quality, but its planned time of arrival might be postponed.

“If something is wrong… we will move it to next fall, not this one but the following,” Mata said. “We’re not going to turn something on that’s not ready for the students.”

I honestly liked how Cheng would tell us the key to getting a job is making relationships,” said Samira Zamara, a Pierce student.

Cheng also described her typical day at work, beginning at 3 p.m. and ending at 11 p.m. She and her team would use most of the day to find stories, track down sources and put together the package for the 10 p.m. show. If she had to cover a breaking news story, the package would have to be done by the 6 p.m. show.

“I learned a lot about starting at the bottom and working your way up from this lecture,” said Aiman Lawwad, a Pierce student who heard of the event from his broadcasting class.

Cheng’s favorite stories to cover are breaking news. She tends to cover crime and fatalities earning her the nickname “Kim Reaper” among her friends in the KTLA newsroom.

“It’s really exciting,” Cheng said. “You don’t know what you’re going to do and you feel like you’re camping everyday. You have to have an extra bag with clothes, fire clothes, rain clothes, power bars, things like that.”

She began in the number 142 market in the United States, Palm Springs. Her second market was number 12, Phoenix, Arizona, and now she works in Los Angeles, the number two market.

Cheng cites networking with her producer as one of the most important steps to getting the job.

She said that her next goals are to focus on her personal life after working for six years to reach her position at KTLA.

“I want to have a baby and get married,” Cheng said.

To ask Cheng further questions about her work as a reporter or advice to get into the journalism field, tweet the question to @ KimberlyChengTV and use the hashtag #ChengPierce.

Wednesday, April 30

Alpha Gamma Sigma meets at 1 p.m. in BUS 3206.

The Psychology Club meets at 1 p.m. in the ASO Conference Room.

The Political Science Club meets at 1 p.m. in the ASO Office.

The Philosophy Society meets in the ASO Conference Room at