General Assembly 2019
ACC employees flooded the Austin Convention Center on September 6, 2019, for the college's annual General Assembly. Employees who attended were able to visit nearly 40 booths to learn more about various ACC departments, organizations, vendors, etc. and heard updates on the college from President/CEO Dr. Richard Rhodes and Provost Dr. Charles Cook. Congratulations to ACC Network Engineer I, Nelson Brites, who was recognized as Employee of the Year! Keynote speaker Joshua Wyner, founder and executive director of the College Excellence Program at the Aspen Institute, presented on the practices and habits of successful community colleges. After lunch, attendees broke out into sessions of their choice on topics ranging from change management at ACC to external partnerships. More than 500 employees tuned in to the day's events online. An online survey is now available to provide feedback. It is open until 5 p.m. Friday, September 13.

Facebook 'likes' ACC for new Digital Marketing courses
ACC and Facebook have partnered to offer new Digital Marketing courses at ACC to provide students with digital skills to build effective social media marketing and digital media strategies. The program is part of Facebook's pledge to train 1 million people and small businesses across the U.S. in digital skills by 2020. As part of its collaboration with ACC, Facebook pledged $60,000 to subsidize the cost for interested students. The classes are offered through the college's Continuing Education Division and start October 14. Learn more here.

ACC named Star Award finalist for Z-degree programs
ACC's Z-Degree Program is being recognized as one of the top-performing college programs in Texas. The program is a finalist for the prestigious 2019 Star Award by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Since its launch in 2016, Z-degree programs and classes have saved ACC students more than $3.5 million in textbook costs. The college launched two full Z-degree programs in fall 2018: the Associate of Science in General Studies and the Associate of Arts in General Studies. Read more here.

Pancakes and Police
ACC hosted its fourth annual Pancakes and Police breakfast at Cypress Creek Campus on August 27. The collaboration between Student Life and ACC Police provides an opportunity for students and officers to meet and interact informally. Officers baked and served pancakes to more than 100 students.

Workforce Development Report
ACC and the Austin Chamber of Commerce released the 2019 Workforce Development Report: Innovation, Collaboration & Transformation highlighting ACC's efforts to build the workforce in the region's most in-demand industries: IT, skilled trades and manufacturing, and health. Despite declining enrollment rates across the country in 2018, ACC's enrollment rates remained steady. The college also experienced solid growth in the number of completions. Over the past four years, completion rates doubled and transfer rates increased by nine percentage points. Read more here.

New Bastrop veterans scholarship
ACC veteran students at Elgin Campus now have an opportunity each semester to earn additional financial assistance for college with the new Bastrop County Veterans Educational Scholarship. The scholarship is a collaboration of Elgin Campus Student Affairs and two veteran organizations in Elgin — VFW Post-6115 and American Legion Post 295. The committee recently awarded its first scholarship to U.S. Army veteran Guadalope Lozano. Read more here.