President's Innovation Fund 2005/6 Grantees

Improving Access to Skyline College for ESL Students
In response to the goals for the Skyline College Equity Plan, the project will conduct a study to measure accessibility, retention and success of the ESL population and identify barriers facing this student population. Strategies will be developed to increase ESL student enrollment. An interdisciplinary discussion on how to begin moving towards a Hispanic Serving Institution may occur if large numbers of Spanish-speaking students are identified as having issues of accessibility, retention and success.

Disability Awareness Month Celebration: October 2005
Skyline College DSP&S and the Museum of Tolerance (MOT) Alumni Group will co-sponsor bringing a well-known Bay Area leader (to be announced upon confirmation) to Skyline College to address their personal experiences with learning disabilities and their path to success. The project goals are:

• To foster appreciation and respect for those who learn differently among the greater college community
• To promote the concept that persons who learn differently are intelligent and capable
• To model the role of an effective self-advocate that students with learning "disabilities"/differences can respect and follow

Presentation of "Kick" a one-person play from the National Coalition Center for Justice: October 2005
The Skyline College MOT Alumni Group continues to create a climate where tolerance and diversity topics are examined and discussed. "Kick" is the story of one high school student’s decision to confront the issue of stereotyping. The two-day event features facilitated discussions both prior to and at the conclusion of the performance. Four performances are planned, with one offered to high school students.

WOW! Speaker Series: October 6, 13, 10, 27, 2005
Three respected local authors will read and speak about their writing in conjunction with the Lit 166 Women on Writing course (.5 units CR/NC) scheduled for four Thursday evenings in October. The guest faculty will be two Bay Area authors who were featured at the past WOW! Conferences and one author who will present her work for the first time at WOW! 2006. The speaker series is open to the public with a modest registration fee of $15 per evening or $45 for the series.

Film Festival presented by the Museum of Tolerance (MOT) Alumni Group: February 2006
The film festival will present two films, Talking Roots and Mixed Feelings, on Feb 6 and 9, 2006 and feature the filmmakers who will be on hand to provide insight and a personal perspective about their films. This film festival focuses on issues of bi-cultural awareness, identity, and coming to terms with one’s heritage through a journey of self-discovery. The selected films reflect the mission of the MOT: Individually, MOT Alumni at Skyline College aim to foster tolerance by demonstrating model qualities, celebrating diversity, and speaking out when hearing or seeing examples of intolerance. Collectively, MOT Alumni aim to foster tolerance by endorsing activities that celebrate diversity, and by cultivating other related educational endeavors.

"Access to Higher Education Forum: Making the Connection" February 2006
The Minority Student Alliance, a new coalition of student organizations including the Pre-Med Club, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, the Latino America Student Organization, the Filipino Student Union, and the Black Student Union, will present a one-day conference for high-school students and their parents who are from communities that have been historically underrepresented in higher education. The sessions will be designed to educate, inform, and motivate potential Skyline students to enroll in college. In many instances, language is a barrier for parents therefore simultaneous bi-lingual sessions will be held.

National Library Week Celebration: April 2-8, 2006
The Skyline College Library will invite a prominent Bay Area writer (TBD) to speak during the observance of National Library Week to celebrate the magic of reading and the significance of free access to knowledge.

1906 Centennial Project: April 18, 2006
Involve Skyline College in an extensive regional commemoration of the great earthquake on the nearby San Andreas Fault and related fires in San Francisco with the development and installation of a permanent informational plaque for the campus. A guest speaker will provide a special presentation for the 1906 Earthquake Centennial Commemoration.

Skyline Stars
Transfer Student Hall of Fame contains photos, brief bios and words of wisdom from successful transfer students and provides inspiration to current and prospective Skyline College students. The "Hall of Fame" highlights the success of Skyline College students, many who have overcome significant life challenges, are from economically and educationally disadvantaged backgrounds and are the first in their families to go to college.

Learning Communities: Learning communities are powerful ways to deliver instruction that have been shown to significantly raise student success by helping students integrate their knowledge, making success in one cluster of classes more likely to lead to success in others. A variety of approaches are used to build these learning communities, with intention to restructure the student’s learning experiences to build community among students, between students and their teachers, and among faculty members and disciplines.

Adewole Project
Adewole means "The crown (head) is welcome into the house" in the Yoruba culture of West Africa. The Adewole Project will sponsor a series of for-credit lecture/media presentations featuring independent filmmakers, directors and authors who are connected to communities of color and offer perspectives on the impact of oppression and the resilient spirit that continues to overcome.

College Readership
USA Today will be provided to Skyline students Monday through Friday during the Fall 2005 semester. Each week, an online quiz on the past week’s news will be provided and prizes awarded for the highest score. The quizzes will be developed by Skyline’s Phi Theta Kappans for their fellow students and offered via the internet at skylinecollege.edu.

Kababayan Program — Mentorship and Community Support
Kababayan is a new transfer and support program with the goal of increasing proficiency in English skills in college, work and life. Kababayan focuses on the Filipino/Filipino-American student experience. This is the third and final year of funding from the President’s Innovation Fund. Program goals are:

• Establish a mentoring component linked to English classes
• Establish community support for the program.
• Link mentoring and community support to the instructional components
• Explore the feasibility of adding classes to the program.
• Enable program participants to travel to neighboring colleges.