IVC's new "Student Success Center"; CAFÉ (Library iteration) opening Wednesday

Pics of IVC "Student Success Center," taken today

     The President of the Irvine Valley College Academic Senate, Lisa Davis Allen, has long dreamed of a special facility for faculty—a center for “excellence.”
     I’m on the Senate. Maybe it’s just me, but it always seemed that one could hear crickets whenever she mentioned this idea at senate meetings.
     But she persevered, and, by late last spring, goshdarnit, her dream of a CAFÉ—i.e., a “Center for the Advancement of Faculty Excellence”—started gettin’ real. As it turned out, at about that time, administration was playing yet another round of facilities musical chairs—that never seems to end—and, by summer, it appeared that the Media Resource Center (MRC)—inside the fancy new BSTIC building—would be sent packing, to be replaced by, well, the faculty CAFÉ.
     Now, you’ve got to understand that the space then occupied by the MRC was seriously cool. It had (and has) lots of sleek Mac computers, an ultra-modern transparent wall, a wrap-around view, and so on. It is surely the coolest space at the college.

The internal entrance to the "Student Success Center."

     Naturally, the MRC/CAFÉ switcheroo was done very badly. People are never told what’s going on at IVC—they’ve pretty much only got rumors and after-the-fact reports. (Name any issue. Ask people what they know about it. A: nothing.)
     In this informational vacuum, people knew only that the MRC was getting evicted from the super-cool space in BSTIC, and faculty would take its place with something called a “CAFÉ.” Naturally, people took umbrage, aghast at the very idea of replacing student-in-cool-space with faculty-in-cool-space. Some of these employees even seemed to think that the CAFÉ was gonna be, well, a café!

     In the absence of info, people draw those kinds of conclusions. Why wouldn't they?
     To make matters worse, the Senate held a CAFÉ grand (or semi-grand or sub-grand) opening during Fall Flex Week, and the flier for the event made clear that only full-timers were invited! It all sounded kinda elite.
     We at DtB noted all of this, of course. No effort to clarify matters for us was ever made. We heard nothing from anybody.
     Pretty soon, there was yet another reshuffling of the IVC facilities deck. The plan to move the CAFÉ into the BSTIC space was nixed. All the computers remained there, but, for an entire semester, that space remained empty and unused! No explanation was given for any of this.
     Typical.
     When I returned from my sabbatical (early January), I was told that the CAFÉ has at long last found a home, namely, the former Student Learning Center in the IVC Library (see earlier post: CAFÉ BIBLIOTHÈQUE).
     The Grand Opening is Wednesday. (See flier at left)
     Meanwhile, after an entire semester of disuse, that cool space in BSTIC has been given over to something now called the “Student Success Center.”
     Let’s hope that idea sticks.
     I dropped by the SSC today and spoke briefly with the person in charge, namely, Dr. Brooke Choo. I know her; she’s good.
     Looks like the SSC is in good hands.

This, of course, is BSTIC. The Student Success Center is on the bottom floor, at left.
Naturally, BSTIC is not used in ways originally intended, owing to program shrinkage
and other fortuities. They should rename it MISC.

SEE ALSO:

• Really? Adjuncts not invited?
• Visiting the MRC
• "This is so f-ed up”
• The MRC, CAFÉ, and IVC Ac. Senate

The unfortunate (i.e., bungled) August "launch" of the CAFE. Redolent of elitism most foul.

The CAFÉ BIBLIOTHÈQUE

     CAFÉ BIBLIOTHÈQUE. I've just returned from sabbatical, and so I was a little surprised to discover—yesterday, at a senate meeting—that the IVC Academic Senate's so-called CAFÉ concept is alive and well. You'll recall that the Academic Senate's President, Lisa Davis Allen, has long championed this idea, which, a year or so ago, was explained during Senate meetings as follows:

[Academic Senate President] Lisa [Davis Allen] had an idea and has full support from [VPI] Craig [Justice]. The concept is a space, a home, for faculty to gather, to be trained, with cabinets [to] house text books, journals, a place for colleagues to talk, a place to explore and test new software and technology, a place to do grant writing, – all things that relate to excellence in ... teaching – a place to house people, technology, and support all in one place. We would be able to go into a space/place and meet with peers, discuss teaching, problems, strategies. It would be wide open. A morale booster of sorts.

     Later, the planned facility took on the acronym "CAFÉ" (i.e., the "Center for the Advancement of Faculty Éxcellence")—an unfortunate moniker, since it inspired the notion among some non-faculty that the faculty, and only faculty, would soon have their own, well, café!
     But it's not a café. OK? It's a "faculty excellence" center. No waitresses or waiters. No goofy little round tables and awnings. Maybe a coffee machine. A Mr. Coffee.
     Slightly better informed non-faculty were put out, not by the notion that faculty would soon have their own restaurant, but by the apparent fact that the CAFÉ, whatever its nature, was to replace a seriously nice space (in the fancy BSTIC building) that had for years been devoted to students (namely, the MRC). Now, as far as I know, in fact, the elimination/move of the MRC was a development independent of the appearance of the Senate's CAFÉ — it had more to do, I think, with disastrous irregularities that had been discovered in the manner in which faculty ran labs in certain areas on campus. Or perhaps it reflected simply an effort to bring back that space to the use for which it was intended (Craig Justice). Whatever the cause, the move to eliminate or move the MRC did not come about simply because faculty insisted on having some goofy faculty center.
     The anti-CAFÉ (or anti-CAFÉ at MRC) backlash in August was so strong, I guess, that the decision to locate the dang thing in that seriously cool space in BSTIC was reversed. From afar, it seemed that the "faculty space" or  CAFÉ  idea had been killed.
     But no. Yesterday, during the semester's first Academic Senate meeting, I learned that the CAFÉ idea is alive and well and the facility will in fact be located on the first floor of the IVC Library, where the old "Learning Center" used to be. (Gosh, I wonder where that operation has gone to?)
     Check out the pics above and below.

The Academic Senate crew hasn't had a chance to rearrange the deck chairs yet.

One of two offices in the CAFÉ space. I call this the "Captain's Quarters."

Another office in the space. I'm guessing this will be the office of the sommelier. 

     Yesterday, I asked LDA if the Senate had hired waitresses yet. She seemed to take that in good humor. Yuk, yuk, yuk.
     I also asked if some effort would be made to provide space for part-timers. As on previous occasions, LDA answered that the CAFÉ is for faculty, and part-time faculty are, of course, faculty. QED.
     Part-timers, are you reading this? I've got just one thing to say.
     OCCUPY. 
     Are you feelin' me?

     WHAT'S SMALL, DREARY, AND PACKED WITH VAST EMPTINESS? Also today I had occasion to visit IVC's Administration Building. Oddly, inside, it is a vast empty space surrounded by (mostly) enclosed offices.
     I don't get it. Is this vast empty space a dancehall or something? Is it a space reserved for those dang "Amazing Invention" kids? Maybe it's where Glenn plans to land the next time he jumps out of an airplane, dunno.

     COLD, METALLIC & INDECISIVE. Another interesting new feature of our campus is new signage. The new signs are everywhere, and I bet they're pricey.
     I haven't yet decided whether I like these signs. The style is a tad cold and even lurid. Encountering one of these signs is like finding a wedge of titanium in one's organic ramen.

     LANG'S HOBBY. Upon visiting the IVC Library, I noticed a display in the entrance area. Evidently, Trustee (and vicious backstabber) David Lang is a baseball fan, or maybe more specifically a fan of the old Negro Leagues. Check out these pics.

     It's a pretty cool collection, I guess, even if Lang is the worst kind of back-stabbing opportunist.

     GREAT LAWN. Here's another IVC construction project—something called the "Great Lawn." This looks pretty cool. I hope they're not payin' too much for it. My dad coulda done it for 'em cheap.

     ADMINISTRATIVE POSIES. I happened upon Dean of Academic Programs Kathleen Werle, who was holding a small planter of proto-flowers. —Something about some kind of Chinese or Vietnamese festival coming up. Not sure.
     These bulbs haven't sprouted yet. But it's always good to see people who are into posies and such and who are willing to spruce up the campus.

The former Media Resource Center (MRC) in BSTIC. No CAFÉ here