(LOCAL) New Mexico Higher Education Assessment and Retention Conference

When: Mon, Jan 21 2019 7:23am - Tue, Jan 22 2019 5:00pm 

Where: Hotel Albuquerque at Old Town

The 2019 NMHEAR Conference (February 21 and 22 at the Hotel Albuquerque) promises to be another fabulous conference. The pre- and post-conference workshops are particularly exciting. Our keynote speaker, Dr. Deborah Santiago, CEO of Excelencia in Education in Washington, D.C. will offer a keynote address at lunch and a pre-conference workshop Thursday morning. Both focus on what it means to actually serve Latino students in higher education. Other pre and post-conference workshops offer opportunities to engage with colleagues from around the state on a variety of topics, including Dual Credit, New Mexico State Authorization Network, improving retention through learning strategies, NMAIRP annual meeting, and HLC Accreditation. Below is a listing of the workshops with their abstracts:

8:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Pre-Conference Workshops – Thursday, February 21
  • Workshop 1: A Framework for Serving Latino Students: Deconstructing What that Means for You at Your Institution.
    Deborah Santiago, CEO, Excelencia in Education. Developing the ability to serve Latino students enhances the capacities of institutions to serve all students. This workshop will engage participants through a series of exercises to consider their institution’s data, evidence-based practice, and leadership strategies that can increase student success and degree completion.
  • Workshop 2 Retaining Learning, Retaining Students: Helping Students Plan for, Monitor, and Evaluate Their Learning
    New Mexico State University Faculty. Patti Wojahn, Department Head Interdisciplinary Studies and Professor, Rhetoric and Professional Communication; Muhammed Dawood, Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering; Karen Trujillo, Research Faculty, College of Education and Director of The Alliance of the Advancement of Teaching and Learning; and Melissa Guynn, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology. This workshop offers strategies for helping students “learn to learn” by increasing their metacognitive awareness and improving their approaches to studying. Participants will be introduced to (1) instruments for measuring metacognitive awareness and study skill practices and (2) strategies for helping students take responsibility for their own learning through specific practices shown to be effective for learning. After considering results from a 3-year study of instituting such practices in first-year engineering courses will be shared along with insights gained from querying students through reflective journals on their studying and preparation for exams, participants will work on plans to incorporate “learning to learn” strategies without compromising attention to content or other critical aspects of a selected course.
  • Workshop 3: Statewide Dual Credit Meeting 
    Amanda Vescovo, Assistant Director of Academic Advising, DACC, and Dee Dee Hatch Sanders, Dual Enrollment Coordinator, UNM. Attendees will have the opportunity to communicate with both NMPED and NMHED representatives regarding the future direction of dual credit in the state of New Mexico. This is an opportunity for secondary and post-secondary counselors, administrators, academic advisors, program coordinators, faculty and all other constituents working with the dual credit population to meet and discuss best practices for dual credit programs.
1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Post-Conference Workshops – Friday, February 22
  • Workshop 1 New Mexico State Authorization Network (SAN) Summit
    Ken Dvorak (NNMC) & Debby Knotts (UNM). This workshop is the organizational meeting for the New Mexico State Authorization Network (NM-SAN), and the second NM-SAN Annual Summit. Dr. John Lopez, Director of WICHE SARA, will attend and provide important updates regarding SARA. Attendees will discuss needs and concerns relating to state authorization and provide feedback about the first year of NM-SAN’s operation. There will be updates regarding NMHED processes and best practices for ensuring distance education compliance.
  • Workshop 2: Annual Meeting of the New Mexico Association for Institutional Research and Planning 
    Mindy Watson, Executive Director of Sponsored Projects, Clovis Community College. The New Mexico Association for Institutional Researchers and Planners (NMAIRP) will hold their annual meeting. One or two presenters will speak on current issues related to Institutional Research and Planning. All interested are welcome to attend.
  • Workshop 3: Pathways for HLC Accreditation: Are we on the right path for success, and if not, how do we “recalculate our route” to get us to our desired destination?
    Shelly Stovall, Executive Director of Accreditation, and Laura Grant, Program Specialist, New Mexico State University-Las Cruces. The Higher Learning Commission’s (relatively) new “Pathways” for reaffirmation of accreditation are not always clearly marked; and the existing markings are not always clearly understood by everyone at our own institutions. It is in the state’s best interest for all higher education institutions in New Mexico to navigate the HLC Pathways successfully; NM institutions can, and should, work collaboratively to support each other in this process. This workshop will focus on developing clarity about HLC expectations for accreditation, and specifically on preparing the Assurance Argument (including the Federal Compliance Report) and the campus community for a site visit. If you have an upcoming report or site visit, you may want to have a team of members from your institution attend.

Attached is an updated registration document with all workshops listed.

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