2011 Updates

• April 2011
• August 2011
• December 2011
• February 2011
• January 2011
• July 2011
• June 2011
• March 2011
• May 2011
• November 2011
• October 2011
• September 2011

• 2011 Updates
• First Wednesday Updates
• Executive Team
• About Seminole State
• Seminole State Homepage

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Seminole State College
100 Weldon Boulevard
Sanford, Florida 32773-6199
407.708.4722

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First Wednesday Update: Feb. 2, 2011

Emergency Preparedness/Notifications

As 2011 began, our Emergency Response Team (ERT) was already planning increased activities, simulations and notification tests throughout the year regarding Seminole State's emergency operations. Then came the events in Tucson, followed by two emergency situations at Seminole State last week — one weather related and the other crime related. With these emergency-type incidents occurring back-to-back in such a short span of time, the ERT is quickly moving ahead with implementing the following:

Emergency Quick Reference Materials

Over the next four weeks, the ERT will be posting an "Emergency Response Quick Reference Guide" in each classroom, lab and office space in every building on all College sites. Attached is an advance copy of this guide for your personal reference. This guide provides a quick synopsis of suggested actions to be taken in a situation involving any of the following:

• Suspicious person, incident or object
• Fire/smoke/fire alarms
• Sick/injured person(s)
• Disturbance
• Evacuation
• Theft/vandalism
• Chemical spill
• Active shooter/hostile intruder
• Weather emergency

Emergency Preparedness

On Feb. 24, the ERT will participate in a table-top exercise that will be conducted by the Seminole County Emergency Operations Center.  Participation in this exercise will give ERT members increased training in dealing with and reacting to real-time emergency scenarios.

Emergency Text Messaging

If you have not already done so, please register to receive emergency alert messages via text message and/or e-mail. This service — in conjunction with Seminole County's Emergency Operation Center — can be utilized in an emergency situation to communicate with Seminole State's students, employees and interested community constituents. Here's how to sign up:  

• Go online to https://www.alertseminole.org.
• Click the "Register" button.
• Complete the requested information, including how you wish to be notified (select phone for text messaging) and what you wish to be notified about (weather and/or other emergency).
• Be sure to select Seminole State College as the group near the bottom of the page.
• Click "continue" to select additional options or to complete the enrollment process.

Bachelor's Degrees Update

Last week, it was determined that SACS will review the paperwork for the four new Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degrees sometime this summer. Therefore, the upper-level courses associated with these four upcoming B.S. programs are expected to be offered beginning January 2012, pending SACS approval. (This does not affect Seminole State’s current Bachelor of Applied Science in Interior Design Program, which is already under way.) It is important to note that current and prospective students can continue to take prerequisites, general education courses and required electives toward the four new bachelor's degrees at Seminole State during the Summer 2011 and Fall 2011 terms, in order to be prepared when upper-division courses are expected to become available in January 2012.  

PeopleSoft Upgrade March 3-13

While the College is closed over Spring Break, a number of Seminole State employees will be working to implement a major upgrade to our PeopleSoft infrastructure. In order to upgrade the system, PeopleSoft functions will not be available from 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, March, through Sunday evening, March 13. All Seminole State employees should be aware of the following:

• The academic scheduling component in PeopleSoft will be locked at noon on Thursday, March 3.
• Faculty, please ensure that grades for Term A are posted by 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, March 3. Grades not posted will necessitate the completion of Grade Change Cards by faculty.
• From March 3-13, the online application for admission on our website will be unavailable to prospective students.
• From March 3-13, MySeminoleState and its functions will be unavailable to students and employees.
• From March 3-13, internal PeopleSoft functions such as job postings, position applications, employee appraisals and the TIM system will be unavailable to current and prospective employees.

Please begin to plan now — and throughout the month of February — to accommodate the temporary unavailability of the PeopleSoft system in March.

Non-Instructional Employee Appraisals

The 2010 non-instructional employee performance appraisal cycle is under way, and the online appraisal system in TIM is now available for every non-instructional employee who worked at the College during 2010. Please see the attached e-mail from our HR Department with deadline dates and comprehensive information on the entire process. Please note that the appraisal system will not be available to employees March 3-13, due to the PeopleSoft system upgrade. If you have any questions, please contact Bill Fowler at extension 2053 or fowlerb@seminolestate.edu.

Student Survey Preparation

Seminole State's Institutional Research Department will be administering the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) to our students beginning in late March. Approximately 70 randomly-selected classes will be involved in the survey, each for approximately one hour. Instructors whose classes are selected for the survey administration will be contacted this month with specific information from the Institutional Research office.