Title of the proposal
Accelerate completion: a weekend college in 18 months
Bio
Carlos Morales, PhD, President
Carlos R. Morales, Ph.D.
Carlos R. Morales is the founding President of TCC Connect at Tarrant County College District, a comprehensive two-year institution providing education to more than 100,000 students annually. As president he manages, directs, and implements TCC policies, programs, and operating strategies for eLearning, Dual Credit and Weekend College initiatives for the College serving 19,000 students. TCC Connect is the sixth campus of Tarrant County College District.
Dr. Morales has extensive online and classroom teaching experience in the areas of Biology, Science Teaching, Education and Instructional Technology. Dr. Morales has published internationally peer-reviewed journal articles on the topics of instructional technology. Morales graduated from the Inter American University of Puerto Rico, with bachelors and masters degrees in Biology and Science Education, and received his doctorate, with a dissertation titled “Constructivist Learning Environments in Online Course Design”, from Capella University. He was a Frye fellow in 2009 and in 2012 the American Association of State Colleges and Universities named him a Millennium Leadership Fellow.
Candy Center, M.A.
Candy Center is Dean of Academic Affairs for TCC Connect at Tarrant County College. Ms. Center has served as a full time faculty member and taught in all modalities. Ms. Center has served in various roles in online and academic administration and has developed innovative faculty professional development models. Ms. Center served as a founding member and Academic Programming Administrator for Massachusetts Colleges Online, a consortium including the fifteen public community colleges and nine state colleges. Ms. Center received the Contributor of Distinction Award for her service, innovation and contributions to Massachusetts Colleges Online.
David Pearse, M.A.
David Pearse serves as Director of the Weekend College for TCC Connect at Tarrant County College. Mr. Pearse has over 23 years of community college experience beginning as an adjunct instructor. He has served as Dean of Health and Public Services in New Mexico, and Dean of Students in Colorado. He has worked in the medical field for over 29 years and was awarded Texas EMS Educator or the Year award in 1996. Mr. Pearse’s major focus is on student engagement and student retention.
General description of the initiative or project
In the last decade dedicated efforts have been made to increase student completion as part of the Completion Agenda. At Tarrant County College, a new campus named TCC Connect has been established. TCC Connect delivers eLearning, Dual Credit and Weekend College programs in order to address the needs of students with non-traditional backgrounds. The campus is the sixth for the district with a special focus on increasing completion rates through an accelerated Weekend College program. A perennial problem of students in Community Colleges is the one where they graduate with 90+ credits when the degree only requires them to complete 60 credits. TCC Connect’s new accelerated Weekend College program affords the student the opportunity to earn an Associates of Arts degree in 18 months or less by just attending one day during the weekend.