September 27, 2025

Hi Fam,

I want to thank you for taking care of everything while I was out of town for college business and vacation. Although I practice daily self-care, this was the first time that I have taken a vacation since I started as your President three years ago on January 2, 2023. I was able to pamper my mom and soak in all the stories she had to tell and retell as she has been in a house by herself since my dad passed back in April. She said she took total advantage of having someone to talk to for 24-hours straight for an entire week. It was a wonderful time for me to be able to be there with her while knowing that I had an incredible team here.

On October 26, I returned to Fresno 4 hours after my scheduled arrival time because of delays in Dallas due to major storms. I was thankful that I was able to get back home with the airline delays due to staffing issues caused by the weather and the federal government shut down. People were calm and understanding and it was nice to see us at our best.

My first day back was on Tuesday as I had doctors’ appointments scheduled all day on Monday.

On Tuesday, I joined Communications Council via Zoom. We discussed the concerns around the ICE trainings at the other colleges, especially as it pertained to the support from the District if faculty and classified professionals are detained. We also discussed the concerns with fraudulent students, the CBE resolution and budget. I then had President’s Cabinet, where we reviewed the Clovis ICE protocol, the Chancellor’s Cabinet meeting which Vice President Dr. James Ortez attended on my behalf, the District’s new employee onboarding program plans, and topics from Communications Council. We discussed the Foundation grant submissions and the Heritage Banquet where we will be honoring Jami de la Cerda for her additional financial support of our college athletics. We also developed a draft agenda for the Spring Opening Day based on the survey results from the fall and follow up conversations.

On Wednesday, I attended the Districtwide VP meeting at the District Office. There was a presentation on the Faculty Internship Program. We discussed the importance of this program and the opportunities for faculty not only in transfer areas but also in CTE. We discussed the partnerships with the HBCUs, the graduate programs across the southeastern United States, Fresno State University, UC Merced and Fresno Pacific as well as industry supporting our current CTE programs. We had updates on MFA, dual enrollment, Ad Astra and the budget.

After the Districtwide VP meeting, I had a FCCMA Board debrief meeting on the meeting I missed while I was out of town. Later in the afternoon, I attended a virtual regional CBE Advisory meeting where we continued to discuss future funding and transcription concerns.

After the CBE Advisory meeting, I had the opportunity to attend the Focus Forward Launch event where former students were recognized for their resilience and success. Our very own student, Lily Drinnon, was honored and featured in the Forward Focus magazine. Due to our surprise, when they unveiled the magazine cover, Lily was on the cover. Unfortunately, Lily, her dad and her best friend had to leave early because her daughter was ill. We were excited to text her dad to let him know that she was on the cover. We got the large magazine cover for her and as many physical magazines as possible for them to share with family and friends.

On Thursday morning, I started my early morning at the Herndon Campus starting with a virtual meeting with the Chancellor, Deputy Chancellor, Vice Chancellor Frost, and the other Presidents to discuss dual enrollment concerns at Fresno City College and how the other colleges are addressing dual enrollment concerns. After the meeting, I recorded a video in celebration of our 10 years anniversary as a college. The Mayor of Clovis also came to record his statement, and it was nice to see the continued community support for our college. I had my regularly scheduled meeting with Rico at the regarding the Foundation. We talked about our college foundation grant submission, Giving Tuesday and the Heritage Dinner honoring Jami de la Cerda.

After I finished at the Herndon Campus, I traveled over to the Willow Campus to begin my day there. Upon arrival I was made aware of issues and spent most of the afternoon on the phone with the District, the General Legal Counsel, and SCCCD PD. I want to thank all of you for taking the time to make me aware of any issues or concerns.

I attended a virtual meeting with the Deputy Chancellor, Vice Chancellor Miktarian, District Technology Chief Officer Lopez and President Whisenhunt regarding student names and preferred names and gender-neutral bathrooms vandalism at Fresno City College. District Technology Chief Officer Lopez will look at methods to streamline the changing of names in both Canvas and Self-Service. He will also research how to make the name change with regards to student email accounts. There may be some charges to Microsoft as well. He will use the existing District Student Communications committee to make decisions at a district level to assure consistency across the colleges. There will also be some improvements in the District’s frequency of communication of the process to change names in Canvas and Self-Service to students. Currently, the communication only occurs in the fall semester.

After, I had my monthly meeting with the Classified Senate, and we discussed the upcoming events and Boo Gram proceeds. We also discussed the ICE protocol and the updates to the students’ name.

I had the pleasure of watching the faculty art being placed on display in AC1. I must say it is all beautiful and our students are fortunate to be able to be taught and to learn from such talented, gifted, and compassionate artist. The beauty on the walls made for a calm to the day. For that I thank you.

I ended my day with several calls to and from the Chancellor regarding the ICE training concerns brought forth during Communications Council and the events on campus earlier in the day.

On Friday morning, I started my day with my regularly scheduled monthly meeting with Vice Chancellor Mosier. We discussed evaluations, process for requesting new positions, and any administrative determinations (Clovis has none). We also talked about the HBCU trip and the prospects for the Faculty Intern Training program.

I also met with our ASG president and his advisor Maricarmen. They updated me on their activities and were proud of the haunted house. They shared how they were able to fund clubs’ requests. We talked about the students’ name updates from the District, the concerns from the club event the day prior, and the ICE training and ICE protocol. They will be scheduling their student ICE training soon.

I left my meeting with ASG and I attended the Recruitment Process meeting held by Human Resources for our Vice Presidents and Deans. They laid out the best practice process to assure timely hiring of new instructional and non-instructional faculty. The goal is to implement a proactive approach to developing a timeline inclusive of all the many parts required to have a successful hire.

After, I met with Lily’s dad to give him the magazines and the large poster of her on the cover. It was a pleasure to meet with him and to see him beaming with pride.

After meeting with Lily’s dad, I attended the all-campus ICE on Campus training. In addition to those who attended in-person, we had several online attendees as well. I also saw that several student workers were in attendance. Those who were not able to attend will be able to access the training via the recording which will be available early to mid-November. I was impressed with the intentionality of the questions that you all asked. Thank you for taking this training seriously. We have developed a survey to solicit your feedback. I have asked that it be released to you (Clovis only) on Monday. I welcome your comments.

After the ICE training I had my monthly meeting with Academic Senate where we reviewed the ICE protocol and the students’ name update. We also talked about our land acknowledgement statement and the importance of it being inclusive of the voice of the communities in which this important statement will represent. Academic Senate will be careful and thoughtful in this process. We are looking forward to placing a long overdue statement on our website and looking to include other initiatives to further support this acknowledgment. Looking forward to seeing what is brought forward.

I left my meeting with Academic Senate leadership and went to the men’s soccer game. We tied 2-2. Nice job guys!

I ended my day with barely getting to pass out candy to my neighborhood kids. I didn’t make it home in time to change into my costume, but I still had fun. My house had the good candy. Real size too. I could hear them telling people that house has good candy.

It was a full week. This week will also be full, and I start Monday morning with a meeting with the Chancellor and the other Presidents to start discussing our faculty and classified professional positions. I want to thank you all for taking the time to take the staffing process seriously. I have been provided with the notes and rationales, and I am reviewing all documents in preparation for this meeting. The final discussions are scheduled to occur in December.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and enjoyed your extra hour of sleep.

Continue to take care of yourselves and each other as the semester comes to an end.

In service,

Kim E. Armstrong, Ph.D.