ACC celebrates 9th annual Riverbat Day
ACC students, staff, and faculty were encouraged to #GoPurple on November 20 to show their pride on Riverbat Day. Additionally, ACC's official mascot R.B. visited multiple ACC campuses to celebrate nine years of Riverbating by promoting student and community success. R.B. and the Riverbat logo serve as the symbols of ACC's values and mission by building a college-going culture.

ACC starts new partnership for Vet Tech pets
ACC launched a first-of-its-kind partnership with Bastrop County Animal Shelter and Austin Pets Alive! to place pets cared for by ACC Veterinarian Technology students during the semester in loving homes. Read more here.

ACC employees attend Texas Pathways Institute
Austin Community College officially joined the Texas Success Center in "Texas Pathways Round Two" in November. The college kicked off this work with the first in a series of Pathways Institutes alongside 50 other Texas community colleges on November 6 through 8. Twenty-one ACC faculty, staff, and administrators traveled to San Antonio as a team to reflect on Guided Pathways work at ACC, learn from peer institutions, and create a yearlong action plan to direct college engagement, implementation, and improvement. Dr. Gaye Lynn Scott, associate vice president of Academic Programs, spoke about the Equity in Faculty Hiring initiative, and Garrett Groves, vice president of Business and Industry, presented an interactive session focused on leadership theories and strategies for building healthy cultures for student populations with SOVA Solutions founder Alison Kadlec.

Educational partnerships reviewed in Superintendent's Breakfast
ACC hosted the annual President and Superintendent Breakfast Meeting on November 22. Superintendents from 25 school districts throughout the ACC service area come together each year to review the current educational partnerships. Superintendents discuss enhancements to support student success and program expansion based on increasing access. The President, along with his administrative team, provide updates on enrollment, college priorities, and workforce needs in the region and how K-12 partnerships provide increased opportunities for early college access and career preparation into high demand careers. For fall 2019, dual credit program enrollment has increased by 12 percent from the previous fall. Currently, approximately 20 percent of total headcount enrollment is from dual credit students. Eighty-six (86 percent) of high school students enrolled in dual credit programs are successful (grades of C or higher), 63 percent of ACC ECHS students complete an associate degree (national ECHS degree completion rate is 30 percent), and all race/ethnic groups in dual credit programs have a success rate over 80 percent.

ACC employees donate nearly $55,000 through SECC
ACC's faculty and staff donated a total of $54,948 this year through the 2019 State Employee Charitable Campaign. Of that total, employees contributed $13,466.20 to the ACC Foundation, which when matched will total over $26,000 for scholarships to our ACC students. The campus that raised the most combined funds was Highland Business Center with $12,915 followed by Northridge with $7,867 and South Austin with $5,900. In addition, Northridge raised $3,300 through campus fundraising events and activities with Round Rock and Cypress Creek each bringing in over $1,000 as well at $1,469 and $1,001, respectively.

ACC Foundation surpasses Giving Tuesday goal
The ACC Foundation participated in #GivingTuesday on December 3, raising $3,400 through online donations and surpassing this year's goal of $2,500, which is the amount of a one-year scholarship. This is the fourth year that the foundation has taken part in the national day of giving.

ACC donates games and puzzles to annual Brown Santa Program
ACC presented more than 400 puzzles and games to Travis County Sheriff's Office Brown Santa Program on Monday, December 9. The annual gift drive supports families in need this holiday season. The college's donation drive was sponsored by the ACC Student Government Association.

TAMU Information Session attracted dozens of potential engineering students
54 prospective students and their parents attended an information session at Highland Campus on Saturday, December 7, about the Texas A&M-Chevron Engineering Academy. Participants attended breakout sessions, learned about financial aid opportunities, and toured the engineering classroom. They received details concerning admission, rules, and transition to College Station to finish the bachelor's of science in any of 22 majors offered by the TAMU College of Engineering. This was the first of five planned recruiting events for the cohort who will begin in fall 2020. Additional sessions are tentatively scheduled for February, April, May and June 2020. For more information or to begin the application process, please visit the TAMU homepage.

ACC employees celebrated the holidays at the Nutcracker Holiday Party
More than 500 ACC employees celebrated the holiday at the Hyatt Regency Friday, December 6, for the ACC Holiday Party, The Nutcracker. Employees and their guests enjoyed the food, casino games, karaoke, temporary tattoos, and music, and almost everyone stayed until midnight with hopes of winning one of the fantastic door prizes. Community Programs decorated the ballroom and foyer and Sharrion Jenkins arranged the performance of the "Sugar Plum Fairy" by ballerinas Erika Doyle and Skye Raiborn from Head to Toe Dance.