Month: November 2020

College Receives Three Silver Medals for Marketing and PR

November 11, 2020 | Campus News

East Central College received three silver medals in the National Council for Marketing & Public Relations (NCMPR) Medallion Awards.

The ECC communication and marketing team nabbed the second-place trophies, virtually, in the social media, brochure and crises communication categories. The award ceremony was held remotely on Oct. 16.

The NCMPR annually recognizes outstanding achievement in design and communication in each of its seven districts. The Medallion Awards are exclusive to marketing and public relations professionals at two-year colleges.

ECC is in NCMPR District 5, which includes Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, the Canadian province of Manitoba, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands.

“It was a strange year for many in higher education, and our team rose to the challenge to inform the community about East Central College and promote our programs and successes,” said Gregg Jones, director of communications and marketing.

ECC was presented the Medallion award in the print category for a brochure that explained the benefits, costs and advantages of the welding program.

The crisis communication Silver Cup was awarded to ECC for the college’s work in informing the public and media about the steps ECC was taking during the COVID-19 pandemic, including closures, requirements and its return to campus plan.

Finally, the college received a Silver Cup for its Facebook page in the overall Social Media category.

“It was great to see how well ECC’s Facebook page performed when compared to the many other two-year colleges in the region,” Jones said.

ECC’s communication and marketing team is comprised of Vice President of External Relations Joel Doepker, External Relations Executive Administrative Assistant Hannah Domino, Coordinator of Web Services Andy Kolb, Multimedia Specialists Sara Padgett and Amanda Studdard, and Jones.

The National Council for Marketing and Public Relations is the leading professional development association exclusively serving those working in communication at two-year community and technical colleges.

NCMPR provides professional development opportunities, advocates on behalf of the profession and the institutions it serves, and recognizes professional excellence. NCMPR has more than 1,700 members from nearly 650 colleges across the United States and Canada.

ECC-Rolla Helps Students Prepare for Success

November 9, 2020 | Campus News ECC Rolla

East Central College in Rolla is committed to providing students with ample resources to succeed. One resource in particular are the Student Success Sessions.

Created and led by Jessica Robart, Student Success Coordinator at ECC Rolla, the 30-minute workshops offer varying topic, ranging from logging into and navigating Canvas, to being successful in online classes, and creating study groups.

In addition to Robart, the sessions are by led qualified tutors Susan Donaldson and Kirby Moreland.

“When students attend success sessions, they are very engaged,” Robart said.

“These workshops give students a chance to network with other students they don’t know or with faculty members. It’s great to build those relationships.”

The tips students learn in these sessions not only help them in their coursework, but also in future careers.

“We do career exploration as well,” Robart said. “Sometimes we will have someone from Missouri Career Centers come and do different types of career assessments with the students.”

She noted that students learn interview skills, resume writing sessions to help them write a resume or look over their resumes.

“We try to offer a wide variety of options for our students,” she added.

The Student Success Sessions also cover specific topics that faculty members recommend. Robart visits each class at least once at the beginning of the year to let students know about the services that the Success Center provides.

Robart explained that faculty sometimes offer students extra credit for attending the sessions.

“That collaboration between faculty and staff has been so helpful,” she added.

Workshops take place at Rolla Technical Center Room 139 from 10-10:30 a.m. Tuesdays. The sessions will continue until the Thanksgiving break.

For more information on Student Success Sessions, or tutoring at the Rolla locations, visit www.eastcentral.edu/rolla/ or contact Robart at Jessica.Robart@EastCentral.edu.

Baseball Coach Taking the “Rains” at ECC

November 9, 2020 | Athletics Campus News

East Central College has hired an experienced skipper to lead the Falcons Baseball team when they take the field in the Spring 2022.

Coach Brandon Rains is ECC’s first baseball coach in 20 years. Last year, the sport was reinstated at ECC beginning the 2021-22 academic year.

Rains has been a head coach in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) since 2010 when he began managing the squad at Brookhaven College, Dallas, Texas.

Coach Rains has been a member of the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) for the 20 years. He was selected as ABCA Coach of the Year in 2013, 2017, 2018 and 2019. In 2013 and 2019 he also was part of the coaching staff of the Texas New Mexico Junior College Coaches Association All-Star Game.

Rains will begin his duties at ECC by recruiting the entire squad over the next year, and preparing them to take the diamond in fall of 2021.

The ECC Athletic Department and Foundation will be raising funds to renovate the baseball field through the winter of 2020 to have the field playable in the fall of 2021.

Rains’ Background

Coach Rains took over head coaching duties at NJCAA DIII Brookhaven College in Dallas, Texas, in the Fall of 2010.

During his staff’s first season, the Brookhaven Bears cracked the top 10 in the NJCAA polls for the first time in school history coming in at No. 9. Over the next nine seasons, Brookhaven remained in the NJCAA top 10 polls every year with the exception of one.

The Bears were ranked 3rd in the nation to start the 2020 season. During Coach Rains’ 10 seasons at Brookhaven College the Bears won Metro Athletic Conference (MAC) championships in 2013, 2014, 2017 and 2018.

Rains’ team was in the Final Four in 2013 and took third place in 2019.

The Bears set school records for wins in 2017 with 35 and topped that with 42 in 2019. Brookhaven College had seven straight 30-plus win seasons dating back to 2013.

While at Brookhaven Coach Rains recruited and coached over 60 players with all conference or other post season awards including six NJCAA All Americans.

A native of Rotan, Texas, Rains came to Brookhaven College after spending eight consecutive winning seasons as the lead assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of Texas at Dallas.

Coach Rains began his college baseball coaching career at the University of Saint Mary (NAIA) in Leavenworth, Kan. from 2000-2002

Coach Rains has coached summer travel teams in Italy, Amsterdam, Australia, Aruba, and the Dominican Republic.

Coach Rains has a bachelor’s degree from West Texas A&M University and attended graduate school at the University of Kansas and has a master’s degree from Nova Southeastern University.

Trustees Approve Simulation Lab Equipment Bids

November 5, 2020 | Campus News

The East Central College Board of Trustees Nov. 2 approved the bid for $132,610 in equipment for Nursing and EMT program simulation lab equipment.

Trustees unanimously approved the bids for new manikins, equipment and software for the lab. The state-of-the-art technology is funded through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Business Development grant program at no cost to ECC.

The USDA grant program is a competitive grant designed to support targeted technical assistance, training and other activities leading to the development or expansion of small and emerging private businesses in rural areas. ECC is receiving a total of $180,704 in grant funds from the USDA.

Nancy Mitchell, Dean of Health Sciences, told Trustees that the equipment comes at a time when simulation lab equipment is increasingly more important due to COVID-19 restrictions at ECC health care partners.

“During a time when clinical space can be a challenge for nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic, the simulation lab provides the ability to educate and train students,” Mitchell said.

She added that the eight manikins simulate real-life responses to the student’s medical intervention displaying symptoms and reactions to the care they receive from the students.

“Technology is advancing quickly, and we want to be sure we have the most up-to-date simulation equipment in our labs to prepare our students in the patient care setting,” Mitchell said.

Joel Doepker, Vice President of External Relations, said the college was awarded the grant based on evidence showing job creation at local businesses, economic need in the area to be served and consistency with local economic development priorities. During the grant application process, ECC received several letters of support for the project from local health care systems.

“This grant positions the college to expand our Nursing and EMT programs and address the regional skills gap,” said Doepker. “We appreciate the USDA’s program that recognizes East Central College as a good investment.”

According to Mitchell, the simulation will provide an excellent learning strategy to help prepare students to enter the workforce.

“Our clinical partners at the health care systems in our region provide excellent learning experiences for our students,” she said. “A high-fidelity simulation lab provides the students real-life scenarios in a safe place to hone their skills and potentially make mistakes without harm to an actual patient.”

ECC Launching Rolla Area Community Survey

November 2, 2020 | Campus News ECC Rolla

East Central College is reaching out to community members and stakeholders in the Rolla area with a community survey intended to influence the direction of the college for years to come.

The Rolla campus is an important part of ECC’S strategic plan — SOAR to 2024. A primary goal of the plan is to identify and define the experience ECC provides to its students. The survey is a key component of the strategic planning process.

According to ECC Rolla Director Christina Ayres, community input is an invaluable resource in creating the strategic plan.

“Expanding ECC’s presence and offerings in Rolla was identified as one of the five strategic priorities to enhance the college’s impact throughout our service region,” she said.

Ayres noted that ECC is reaching out to those in the region to assist the college in identifying opportunities for growth and expansion, and the feedback will be used to help guide ECC’s expansion initiatives in the Rolla area.

“To fulfill our mission of empowering students and enriching communities through education, we are developing a comprehensive plan for our Rolla operations and understanding the needs of our service region is essential to this process,” she added.

“This survey gives a voice to the communities we serve to provide invaluable perspective as we plan for ECC Rolla’s future.”

ECC has two locations in Rolla that offer a wide range of transfer, career-ready, and health care programs designed to meet the needs of Rolla and the surrounding communities.

College administrators, faculty and staff have made a concerted effort to expand and implement the offerings of the college in Rolla.

That includes two new Industrial Engineering Technology introductory courses slated to launch in the Spring 2021.

“We also realize that our community members may not be aware of the programming and services we are currently providing through our Rolla sites, and this survey will provide insights to enhance our course offerings and programs, services, and outreach,” Ayres said.

Learn more about ECC Rolla.

Industrial Engineering Tech Classes to be Offered in Rolla

November 2, 2020 | Campus News ECC Rolla

East Central College in Rolla is expanding its offerings to provide Introductory Manufacturing courses through the Industrial Engineering Technology (IET) program.

The two eight-week courses will be held in the Spring 2021 semester, that begins Tuesday, January 19.

According to Dr. Richard Hudanick, ECC’s dean of career and technical education, the manufacturing community in the Rolla area has expressed interest in IET training and the college is meeting their demand.

“It is exciting to push forward and help the manufacturers in the Rolla area. They companies have been asking for training and by offering these two courses — Intro to Manufacturing Processes and Maintenance Practices — sets the stage to support this community.”

The IET program teaches students to function as industrial machinery mechanics, maintenance technicians and engineering assistants — installing, maintaining and programming advanced manufacturing equipment.

Through the program, students receive training in machinery, maintenance and repair, basic electrical principles, motor controls, process controls, hydraulics, pneumatics, PLCs, robotics, computers, basic machinist skills and metallurgy.

Students also learn the problem solving, troubleshooting, teamwork, and self-management skills sought by business and industry.

Dr. Hudanick adds that “ECC’s Center for Workforce Development surveyed manufacturers in the Rolla area and there is a lot of enthusiasm about the College making a commitment to the area with technical manufacturing degree programming.”

The College also has an apprenticeship program where students will be able to attend the classes while they are working, and the apprenticeship program will cover the tuition costs for the eligible student.

“The IET program is a great pathway to support Apprenticeship opportunities and also provides area high school graduates who want to start a career in manufacturing.”

According to 2019 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average salary of an Industrial Machinery Mechanic is $53,800 and the field is estimated to grow by over 13% in the next eight years.

In the future, ECC could further expand IET class offerings and eventually offer a degree.

“ECC is hopeful to offer an Associate of Applied Science degree in Industrial Engineering Technology degree at the Rolla campus. This degree transfers to several known universities for those pursuing a bachelor’s degree in the industrial engineering field.”

The Intro to Manufacturing Processes class is scheduled from January 20 – March 10. That course is followed up by the Maintenance Practices course to be held March 21 -May 13. Both classes will be held Mondays and Wednesdays from 5-7 p.m.

For more information visit www.eastcentral.edu/