Q4: APRIL ďšş OCTOBER, 2018 ISSUE #150
CW’S MISSION The College of Westchester graduates individuals who have completed transformative and purposeful educational experiences that provide the foundation for successful, relevant professional careers. As an academically student-centered, culturally diverse college, CW is committed to providing the highest quality of education for all career and entrepreneurial-minded students through the delivery of a carefully constructed and focused curriculum, informed by regional employers. The College supports and encourages academic excellence, career advancement, professional integrity, financial responsibility, and good citizenship through a distinctive and highly personal campus environment.
Inside The President Corner Page 2
Networking/IT Students Tour Cohere Communications Data Center Page 4
Welcome New Employees Page 9
Halloween Drawing is Here Page 12
President’s Corner September 2018 Mary Beth Del Balzo
Fall is upon us, and just like the seasons, things are changing, for the positive here at CW. I recently announced our consolidating CW’s academic programs into three Schools -- the School of Health Professions, the School of Business, and the School of Information Technology. We are excited about these changes, and we are equally excited about some of the other things that have been happening: • We are moving ahead with the pursuit of both a Registered Nursing Degree and Licensed Practicing Nursing Certificate, which will be covered in more detail at our October 17 Quarterly Meeting. • The onerous GE regulations, recently revised by the US Department of Education are now even-handed toward all sectors of higher education, including proprietary colleges. This frees us up to spend even more time on what truly matters, giving our students a quality education. 1 | Q4 REVIEW
• We had a strong Fall Day Start with 204 new students versus last year’s 183, and strong Fall Adult on campus and online groups totaling 78 versus last year’s 75. • Our strong student support efforts including advisement, student concierge and student services team, as well as Library, The Learning Center and Student Financial Services group are making it happen.
All of this is great news, and I thank each of you for “Making it Happen”. With the fall being our biggest Day class, I always like to remind everyone, myself included, that the most important thing we need to do for our new students is build their trust, comfort and confidence because those are the things that truly help one succeed. Our small college environment is the perfect place to foster a student’s growth and adhering to the CW Way is a guaranteed way “to
make it happen.” It’s also a good time to be reminded of The CW Way and our Customer Service Standards for All Employees: CW is dedicated to providing courteous, professional customer service at all times. A customer is defined as any individual with whom we come in contact, including students, employers of graduates, parents, alumni, vendors, visitors, and fellow faculty and staff members. A customer’s perceptions of CW as an institution are affected by their daily interactions with faculty and staff. Excellent customer service should be the goal of every employee. In All Interactions, We…
• Make a reasonable effort to provide needed information in that first interaction, as appropriate, or make sure any needed follow-up is handled in a timely fashion. Deliver on what you promise in terms of timeline. • Demonstrate understanding if customer is anxious or upset. • Respect customers’ opinions and expectations. • Always show teamwork and cohesion among fellow employees. • Respond knowledgably and give accurate and clear information. • Avoid interrupting or interfering with other employees while they are assisting customers.
• Treat customers with courtesy,
• Don’t guess. Be honest if you need to
respect and professionalism at all
get back to the person with an answer.
times.
• All student issues should be
• Give an open and eager offer of help.
acknowledged and resolved using
An employee’s voice and attitude
CW’s 24/48 rule (see policy for
should always send the message of “I
details).
would like to help you.” • Display an attitude that conveys enthusiasm, confidence, professionalism and friendliness. • Acknowledge the customer by name. • Focus on the customer by listening,
So thank you for all you do each and every day for our students. Your commitment is second to none and I am truly appreciative for all you do. Best wishes to all for a fantastic Fall!
asking for clarification as necessary, and avoiding other distractions while assisting the customer.
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NETWORKING/IT STUDENTS TOUR COHERE COMMUNICATIONS DATA CENTER by: Grace Bonanno
n Thursday, July 28, 2018, five (four BS in IT and one AAS in CNA) day students, visited Cohere Communications data center in Tarrytown, NY. Cohere Communications provides managed services and information technology solutions to various companies. Companies house their servers and network devices at Coheres’ Tarrytown facility where Cohere provides support to those devices. They monitor, and if given permission by the company, provide maintenance of those devices. As stated on Coheres’ website: “Our mission is to simplify complex technology requirements from the network core to the desktop to the mobile device, facilitated over a highly scalable next-generation IP infrastructure, delivering maximum uptime. Our Unified Communications solution enables employees to
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seamlessly connect and collaborate, whether located in remote branch offices or on other continents. Our other managed services, including Cyber Security, Disaster Recovery and Colocation, are designed and deployed to ensure that in the event of fail-over, there is little to no impact on the organization. Whether residing in our cloud or at one of our Class 4 data centers, our Priority One services provide for both on-site and/or remote 'White Glove' support ranging from the desk-top to your core servers.” The students learned how multiple products and services are deployed in global enterprise infrastructures. The students learned about the following emerging technologies: Unified Communications System – which combines compelling, integrated user experiences with device, application, and deployment flexibility. UC gives the ability to: • Provide transparent intercompany collaboration with business-to-business communications • Extend unified communications experiences across a wide range of desk phones, software-based clients, and mobile devices
Virtualization Services – which offers end-to-end virtualization that lets you host and access applications anywhere across server, network, and storage infrastructures. In addition to learning about different technologies, the students were strongly encouraged to pursue industry certifications (CompTIA, Microsoft and Cisco). Cohere employees encouraged the students to do well in their classes and to make every effort to learn as much as they could, stressing to the students how CW’s CNA/IT programs offer them an opportunity to learn IT skills and obtain certifications that other college programs do not. The Cohere employees that guided CW students through the data center were so impressed with all five students that they have expressed their interest in offering internship opportunities to CW CNA/IT students. In addition, Cohere has begun a continued relationship with CW; they participated in the recent Career Services Business CafÊ and they are interested in partnering with CW to participate in future career fairs and events. Q4 REVIEW | 4
WANT TO CHANGE THE WORLD ONE STUDENT AT A TIME? TEACH THEM ABOUT INFORMATION BIAS BY: K. Walsh, CIO
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have written several pieces over the last year or so sharing my concerns about the ways in which digital media are being exploited to manipulate people and the importance of educators looking for opportunities to raise student awareness of this. Here are a few of these posts: •“Peeling Back the Layers to Get to the Truth Behind News Sources” •“Digging Down to Find the Truth Behind “News” – an Example” •“One More Disturbing Way the Web is Used to Manipulate the Masses: Astroturfing” One reason it can be pretty easy for those who wish to do so to manipulate or influence others is an element of human nature known as confirmation bias. I truly believe that making students aware of confirmation bias can open their minds to the realization that other people's opinions (and facts) are essential to the thorough understanding of an idea. Only when we are willing to purposely try and see the ‘other side' of an argument are we ready to raise our learning to a new level.
CONFIRMATION BIAS – WE WANT TO BELIEVE WHAT WE WANT TO BELIEVE Wikipedia describes Confirmation Bias as follows: “Confirmation bias, also called confirmatory bias or myside bias, is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one's preexisting beliefs or hypotheses. It is a type of cognitive bias and a systematic error of inductive reasoning. People display this bias when they gather or remember information selectively, or when they interpret it in a biased way. The effect is stronger for emotionally charged issues and for deeply entrenched beliefs.” Confirmation bias can affect us in small ways, like when a student thinks they already understand something so they are likely to pay less attention. We explored this in this article a few years back: “Do Video Lessons Reinforce Learning, or Just Reinforce Pre-existing (Incorrect) Understanding?” A far more insidious implication of confirmation bias is the tendency we have to look at the title of a media piece and instantly agree with the perspective we believe the piece reflects. Too often, people will go to the next step and share these pieces via social media (at times without even having explored the content), creating this echo chamber of seeming “grassroots support” for an idea. Here in the U.S. we have been embroiled in the issue of Russian meddling in the 2016 Presidential election (highlighted
again recently by President Trump's meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin). This is a disturbing story that illustrates the realities of astroturfing and plays on our confirmation bias. It seems that many U.S. voters may very well have fallen victims to their own confirmation bias as they were successfully astroturfed by Russian operatives. As I wrote recently in this Medium piece, “The Death of the Open Mind“, today’s caustic media environment is focused far too much on the extremes — we’ve forgotten the importance of seeking out and appreciating other points of view to inform and balance our thinking. A lot of people seem proud of the way they can shout their (often uninformed) perspective from the digital mountain top. “Look! This guy says what I said! I told ya so!” Being “right” seems far more important than being informed. Let's help our students understand this mental mind trap that we are all subject to. Let's help them open their minds and keep them open and responsive, seeking out the wider perspective that will enable them to navigate the influx of media in a more informed and learned way. In today's digitally-drenched world, this has never been more important.
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It’s Open Enrollment Time Again for Employee Benefits By Anna Bravo, Human Resources Manager s many of you know, this is the time of year when our employee benefit plans renew and we offer open enrollment to all eligible employees. During the months of November and December informational open enrollment meetings will be held to cover all of the benefits available to you, your plan options and any important changes that you need to be aware of. Please pay close attention to the announcements that will be coming out soon via email and please take the time to come to one of the open enrollment meetings. Please do not hesitate to contact me at ext. 353 with any questions.
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t’s that time of year again! We will soon be asking for Employee of the Year and Faculty of the Year nominations, so it’s time to start thinking about which of your colleagues are deserving of this prestigious award! This is a peer-nominated award and a special honor for any CW employee to receive. So, your input is critical to this process! The Employee of the Year Award is presented each year to one staff member and one faculty member who have truly demonstrated The CW Way by their outstanding dedication to CW and through significant contributions to the well-being of CW students, prospective students, graduates, employers and fellow employees. They are CW employees who truly exemplify all of the facets of The CW Way philosophy, as outlined in the four CW Way statements. This year’s Employee of the Year Awards will be presented at the Employee Appreciation Event being held on campus at CW on Friday, December 7th. We look forward to celebrating with everyone that day! Q8 REVIEW | 4
Please join us in welcoming the following new employees to the CW Family: Emilie Enciso, Javier Izquierdo and Zara Lynch . Emilie has joined CW as one
returned to Dobbs Ferry and bought a house with her of our Admissions Counselors. Prior to joining CW, she worked husband, whom she married this past February. Emilie comes from with various nonprofits in fundraising. Her last position was a close-knit family who, for the with a consulting company that most part, all still live in Dobbs Ferry. She is the oldest of four worked with nonprofits in the children. She loves all types of tristate area to plan and music, going to concerts and implement successful peer-to Broadway shows. peer fundraising events. Emilie earned her Bachelor of Science When we asked Emilie about her Degree in Psychology from experience so far at CW, she said, Sacred Heart University in “It’s been great so far! I really Fairfield, CT. enjoy prospective students, getting to know them and their Emilie is from Dobbs Ferry and families while helping them spent a few years living in achieve one of their goals!” Connecticut. She has since
Javier has joined CW as one of
Javier is originally from Miami, our Admissions Counselors. Prior FL. He relocated with his wife to Astoria, Queens in 2016 and to joining CW, Javier worked at recently bought a house in Plaza College in Forest Hills, Greenburg, NY. Javier enjoys the Queens as an Admissions Counselor. Prior to relocating the outdoors, reading, sampling new foods and studying different NYC, he worked at the Art cultures and world religions. He Institute in Miami as an is also an avid dog lover; he Admissions Counselor. Javier owns a 3 ½ year old Belgian earned his Associate of Liberal Malinois named Athena. Arts Degree from Miami-Dade Community College, a Bachelor When we asked Javier about his of Science Degree from Nova experience so far at the college, Southeastern University in he said, “I enjoy working at CW. I Professions Management and a like working in a college Master of Science Degree in environment, my team is Human Resource Management fantastic, and the organizational from Argosy University . culture is wonderful.” 9 | Q4 REVIEW
Javier would also like to share that although he now lives in New York, he has not converted to being a Jets or Giants fan. He is still, and will forever be, a Miami Dolphins fan. PERIOD!
Zara has joined CW as the new
and out of foster care in Ireland, which made her very Administrative Assistant to the Provost. Prior to joining CW, she determined to exceed in life and worked as an international move make her family proud. She is coordinator and office manager the first and only one of all of her siblings and cousins to attend in Manhattan from 2010-2017. and graduate college. She loves This role allowed her to gain going to school and improving administrative experience as well as experience in accounting, her skills and knowledge. She believes an education is a marketing, sales, custom rules fundamental need and an and regulations, and insurance attribute that nobody can take requirements. She also worked away from you. in a local childcare as a consultant for an au pair agency. Zara graduated from CW with an Zara enjoys reading biographies, learning the history of her home Associate in Business Degree (2015) and a Bachelor in Business country, Ireland, and the U.S. She loves to make arts and crafts and Administration Degree, has her own Facebook business Marketing and Management making personalized gifts, such (2017). as shadowbox frames and Zara is originally from Co. Mayo one-of-a kind pieces. She also on the west coast of Ireland and enjoys riding her motorcycle, which she learned to ride in moved to New York nine years 2014, and loves to travel and ago. She lived in Yonkers for many years with her partner and follows national sports such as just this past July they purchased Gaelic football and Hurling. One a new home in Rockland County of her newly found passions is the desire to become more with their 13-month-old son, advanced in her native Irish Aiden, and two fur babies, Phoebe and Bonnie. Zara comes language, Gaelic, and to see the language reintroduced as a first from a large family of six and language someday. spent some of her early life in
Please also join me in welcoming Nancy Samwell, Keturah Reid, Patricia Dykes, Tara Foley, Elena Vlad and welcome back to Daishia Howard and Tony Santana.
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Amazon is Amazing: Help Support the College of Westchester Charitable Foundation Do you like to shop online? If so, chances are you’ve done shopping on www.amazon.com once or twice, or a hundred. Amazon really is amazing. Not only can you find virtually anything you are looking for on this site, but if you’re a Prime Member, you can also have your stuff on your doorstep in two days. Can’t beat it! Another amazing thing about Amazon is that through their AmazonSmile program, they will donate .05% of your purchase to the charity of your choice. This is a great way to donate to our very own College of Westchester Charitable Foundation. It’s very easy to do. To register your charity, go to www.smile.amazon.com, and you will be prompted to select the charitable organization from almost one million eligible organizations, and College of Westchester Charitable Foundation is one of those organizations. From then on, for all eligible purchases, AmazonSmile will donate .05% to the charity. AmazonSmile is a website operated by Amazon that lets customers enjoy the same wide selection of products, low prices, and convenient shopping features as on Amazon.com. Thanks in advance for your support of the CWCF Foundation! 11 | Q4 REVIEW
Halloween
Drawing is Here Basket Drawing, sponsored by CW, benefiting: St Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Visit the Admissions Office lobby and the Student Services to see the two baskets on display. Six tickets for $5.00 or $1.00 each Return the tickets and money to: Admissions, Career Services, Student Services, or the Bookstore Please make checks payable to: St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Winners will be announced at the Halloween Party in the Student Center Wednesday, October 31st at 2:30 PM No need to be present to win.
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Q3 Highlights 1
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Students vs. Faculty/Staff Softball Game & BBQ Grab & Go Adult College BBQ Business Career Café Day College Ice Cream Day
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Road Grub Mobile Food Truck Sisters United Backpack to School Drive Art Expo Portfolio Review Day Summer Time Luau