The Second Annual North Texas Community College
“Write to Work” Conference:
Preparing Students for Graduation and Meaningful Jobs in Chosen Careers

Conference Purpose:
The purpose of this “Write to Work” Conference is to continue ongoing professional dialogue between the colleges of the North Texas Community College Consortium and specifically between teaching colleagues and administrators who support them in preparing our students to graduate and, afterwards, to find meaningful jobs or to begin their chosen careers.

Through these annual conversations we hope to assist community college teachers in exploring how we may better align what and how we teach across disciplines with the present and on-going employment needs of our respective college service areas.

Conference Context:
This effort supports plans like the DCCCD’s “You're Hired” emphasis, “Guided Pathways” and similar degree planning approaches, and the four goals of the Texas “60X30TX” initiative.

The first and primary goal of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s “60X30TX” initiative is for 60% of Texas citizens between 25-34 years old to attain a college degree or certificate by year 2030. However, the latest data published in the 2016-17 THECB “60X30TX” Report suggests that trends in college degree completion rates between 2005 and 2015 pose serious challenges to meeting this goal. Failure to do so, however, will mean that fewer and fewer people entering the burgeoning Texas population will be able to secure long-term gainful employment, and, according to former Texas state demographer Dr. Steve Murdock, the overall quality of life in Texas will decline proportionately.

Lorena Knight, of the Texas Workforce Commission, has identified 20 soft skill failures that restrict or threatened people’s opportunities to find and maintain better than entry-level jobs. According to Knight, the most significant factor is their inability to communicate effectively both orally and in writing.

The Conference Program:

The Morning Session:
Heather A. Marsh, the opening plenary speaker is best poised to address progress toward the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s “60x30TX” initiative.  Ms. Marsh is the Senior Director of Development for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Executive Director for the Texas Higher Education Foundation. In these dual roles, she oversees coordinated efforts to raise awareness and financial support for the state’s higher education plan – 60x30TX.

Lorena (Lori) Knight, Education Specialist at the Texas Workforce Commission, presents on "Understanding Job and Skill Demands for the Future" in our second morning plenary.

The Lunch Presentation:
Dr. Paul Benson, a “pioneer” faculty member at Mountain View College, is one of the most highly sought after speakers in North Texas. Knowledgeable on all things serious or otherwise, Paul will share with us his humorous remarks on the “whoopee war,” the continuous and often cantankerous cultural skirmishes between Dallas and Fort Worth.

The Afternoon Session:
The objective of the afternoon breakout sessions will be, in part, to introduce strategies for teaching writing that can help lead to gainful employment upon graduation. While the principles of good writing and critical thinking are fundamental to all clear communication, in many ways “writing to work” suggests that there are alternative approaches and strategies to teaching composition apart from how we typically prepare students for traditional, discipline-oriented academic writing activities.

Who should attend the “Write to Work” Conference:

• Discipline-centered community college professors teaching courses across the curriculum
• Directors of “Guided Pathways” initiatives at local campuses
• Directors of Writing Centers
• Composition and technical writing instructors
• Writing Center specialists
• Regional and statewide administrators addressing local and regional workforce needs
• Representatives of businesses and corporations who are pairing with area colleges and universities to support certificate programs related to their workforce needs
• Experienced writers and communicators in the workforce who are willing to mentor initiatives in our colleges to help prepare our students to become better writers
• Career and Workforce college counselors
• College and university academic advisors

This conference is funded, in part, by Mountain View College and facilitated by members of the Mountain View College Academic Center for Writing—The “Write to Work” Advisory Committee. This conference is only one of many initiatives serving our goal “to nurture a culture of writing” and helps us to fulfill our mission “to empower people and to transform communities.”

Conference Costs:

Registration: $90.00 Consortium Members/$120 Non-Consortium Members

Mountain View College staff and faculty: $0.00
[Note: Mountain View College staff and faculty must register for the conference in order to earn professional development credit.)

This fee covers conference expenses and lunch on site. Please notify office staff of the North Texas Community College Consortium if you have specific dietary restrictions. You may also mail this information to Dr. Hubbard at christine.hubbard@unt.edu.

REGISTER FOR THE CONFERENCE

When and Where:
Friday, June 21, 2019
Mountain View College
B-149
4849 West Illinois Avenue
Dallas, TX 75211

Mountain View College contact: Dr. Geoffrey Grimes, Conference Coordinator, at (972) 740-3125 (text or voice mail) or by email at gagrimes@dcccd.edu.