Latest news with #MaricopaCommunityColleges
Business Journals
3 days ago
- Health
- Business Journals
Glendale Community College offers solutions for Arizona's nursing shortage
Quick take: Arizona is experiencing a nursing shortage, with a projected need for 14,200 more registered nurses by 2030 to bridge the workforce gap. Glendale Community College is taking proactive steps by offering affordable and accessible pathways to nursing careers. The college offers a comprehensive education that blends classroom instruction with hands-on clinical training, ensuring students are well-prepared for their nursing careers. Nursing, the largest health care profession in the U.S., is projected to have 197,200 job openings from 2023 to 2033. The industry continues to attract new students who can specialize in one of the numerous pathways, such as emergency, labor and delivery, oncology, psychiatry or surgery. By 2030, Arizona will require an additional 14,291 nurses to care for the state's aging population and those with chronic conditions. Maricopa Community Colleges educates nearly one-third of Arizona's nurses at its 10 colleges, producing the highest number in the state. Nursing students at Glendale Community College (GCC) benefit from faculty and staff with extensive industry experience, ensuring a high-quality education. Graduates enter the workforce confident in their abilities to provide vital hands-on patient care to Arizonans. Aspen Charles, a senior nursing student and president of the Glendale Association of Student Nurses Club, chose the profession to combine her passion for service to others with her interest in health sciences. 'I believe that nurses are the heart of health care and have the opportunity to touch lives through compassionate care like no other profession can.' Accessible nursing pathways for career growth GCC's nursing program offers affordable, structured pathways for aspiring health care professionals. Students who have completed prerequisites can quickly enter the program, as there are no waitlists. GCC expanded its nursing education offerings with funding from the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust and the Maricopa Community Colleges Foundation. The new Fast Track Practical Nursing program aims to increase the number of licensed practical nurses, and graduates are eligible to take the licensing exam. Students can advance their nursing careers by progressing from Practical Nursing or Nurse Assisting to the Associate of Applied Science in Nursing. Those earning an associate degree in nursing at GCC or its nine sister colleges can easily transfer to GateWay Community College to complete their Registered Nurse to Bachelor of Science in Nursing (RN-BSN). Preparing students for the nursing profession GCC students receive comprehensive training to meet varied community health care needs, combining classroom instruction with hands-on clinical experience. On campus, they have access to a simulation lab replicating clinical environments, allowing students to practice real-life care scenarios to hone their skills. 'Before entering clinical settings, students learn safety and skills in our nursing and simulation labs, practicing procedures like IV placement and medication administration in controlled environments,' said Sheri Tharp DNP, RN nursing faculty and assistant department chair at GCC. 'In the health care setting, they perform patient care, as well as develop clinical judgment skills by combining these hands-on experiences with critical thinking, and classroom content' Practical training builds a highly qualified nursing workforce Hands-on, real-world experience is crucial for building a pipeline of highly qualified nurses. Nursing students must complete 697.5 hours of clinical work required to earn their associate degree and qualify for the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX). In 2024, GCC achieved a 98.92% pass rate for the NCLEX, surpassing Arizona's rate of 93.71% and the national average of 91.16%. To provide student nurses with high-quality, practical training, GCC partners with medical centers throughout the Valley, including Abrazo, Banner Health, Common Spirit, Ensign, Honor Health, Mayo Clinic and Phoenix Children's Hospital, allowing them to hone their skills and readiness for professional practice. 'Through my clinical rotations, I've witnessed medical procedures, including pacemaker surgery, esophagogastroduodenoscopy and cesarean section surgery,' said Charles. 'Attending these procedures has allowed me to gain an appreciation for members of the health care team working together to deliver patient care. Collaborating with nursing staff and providers has shown me outstanding examples of bedside manners, leadership skills and value for patient care. Through these experiences, I've developed my own nursing philosophy and vision for my future as a nurse.' The Maricopa County Community College District includes 10 individually accredited colleges — Chandler-Gilbert, Estrella Mountain, GateWay, Glendale, Mesa, Paradise Valley, Phoenix, Rio Salado, Scottsdale and South Mountain — and the Maricopa Corporate College, serving approximately 140,000 students with bachelor's degrees, two-year degrees, certificates and university transfer programs.
USA Today
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
A drama professor encouraged his students to strip. The college shrugged.
A drama professor encouraged his students to strip. The college shrugged. | Opinion A Mesa Community College instructor encourages his female drama students to strip for a class assignment. Two months later, he was still teaching and the school is playing duck and cover. Show Caption Hide Caption Blake Lively files legal complaint against Justin Baldoni Blake Lively says "It Ends with Us" co-star Justin Baldoni sexually harassed her and tried to destroy her reputation in a California legal filing. A Mesa Community College drama teacher in Arizona encouraged his young female students to strip on stage for their midterm exam. The rest of the class was forced to watch. Students complained and not for the first time. For two months, Mace Archer was still teaching the class. And college officials? They get an A in performance art – a farcical piece entitled "How to Look Like You're Doing Something Without Doing Anything At All." "Because this is an active personnel matter, we cannot provide specific details to protect the privacy of those involved," Lindsey Wilson, spokeswoman for Maricopa Community Colleges, assured Arizona Republic reporter Robert Anglen in a May 19 email. "Our colleges," Wilson said, "take any allegations of misconduct seriously and are committed to fostering a safe, respectful, and supportive environment for students, faculty, and staff." So seriously, in fact, that Archer was allowed to finish out the semester, fully two months after the strip show, and was slotted in for fall classes. 'I ... sometimes can't muster up the courage to go' The lights should have come on in February, when a student in Archer's modern drama class warned college officials that he was sexualizing her performances and touching females inappropriately. Thea Moore, a musical theater major, told an administrator she dreaded going to class. "I get severe anxiety everyday before attending and sometimes can't muster up the courage to go," she wrote in a Feb. 20 email to Puvana Ganesan, who chair's the communication, theater and film arts department. "A lot of his classes are requirements for our degree, which is difficult." Opinion: Four fifth-graders planned to kill their classmate. What does that say about us? Ganesan replied the next day, saying she was "truly sorry" and asking for examples of Archer's behavior. So Moore sent a five-point list and never heard back. Eventually, she dropped the class, prompting another email from Ganesan, saying she was 'truly so sorry.' "I completely understand that sometimes, we experience discomfort that can be too great to continue," Ganesan wrote March 6. Take off your clothes for a grade Apparently, Archer's female students experience a fair amount of discomfort – enough that they've compiled a shared file of complaints, ranging from sexual harassment to rude behavior to disturbing assignments. Speaking of disturbing assignments, students in Archer's Acting 2 class this spring were required to offer a performance in which they had to face a fear. One student, Gabrielle Monroe, said the teacher steered some of the younger females toward taking off their clothes on stage to complete the March midterm assignment. "I have heard from other women that their initial idea was not enough of a fear risk, and he suggested that they remove articles of clothing," Monroe told Anglen. Two young women stripped to their underwear under the glow of the theater's stage lights, as Archer and their classmates watched. One got buck naked. Opinion: Gen Z has been priced out of a future, so we invest in the present I guess if you've got to suffer for your art, you might as well do it for your 56-year-old teacher's viewing pleasure. Hopefully, they scored an A. College officials ducked Anglen's questions about the three strip shows, saying only that they launched a 'formal investigation' in March after 'receiving concerns.' They offered no explanation for why Archer was allowed to continue teaching, finish the spring semester and was even listed as an instructor in the fall course catalogue until Anglen asked about it. (The catalogue was then changed, with the instructor listed as "staff".) My guess is Mesa Community College's "formal investigation' commenced with Anglen's phone call. My recommendation is the people who run the community colleges consider a career in comedy. "Our colleges take any allegations of misconduct seriously and are committed to fostering a safe, respectful, and supportive environment for students, faculty, and staff,' they say? Yeah, I'm still laughing at that one. Laurie Roberts is a columnist for The Arizona Republic, where this column originally appeared. Reach Roberts at or follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @LaurieRobertsaz, on Threads at @LaurieRobertsaz and on BlueSky at @
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Colleges cancel Native convocations to comply with Trump order, disappointing students
Zach Thomas was eager to participate in the Native American Convocation in May, a celebration of his achievements and time at Mesa Community College. But Thomas and Native American students from MCC and the nine other Maricopa County Community Colleges got the news that because of actions by President Donald Trump, their Native American Convocation be canceled and Native American clubs — likely including MCC's Inter-Tribal Student Organization and many others — would be dissolved. "It really pisses me off," said Thomas, a Navajo student now in his first semester at Arizona State University. "The whole DEI situation, especially with ISO and what we stand for, our foundation is community and bringing in a sense of family, and trying to involve everyone into this group. So it doesn't exclude white students, because that's the letters we are getting, that we are being racist towards white students. But our spaces are open to everyone." It's been a rough week for Thomas, who also found out he will be losing his job. "It was kind of like my peak points of bad news within 24 hours," Thomas said. "It really doesn't make sense to me." Maricopa Community Colleges have in past years held a smaller ceremony to celebrate the academic achievements of its graduating Native American students from all 10 community colleges. Those, with similar convocations for other diverse student groups, will not take place this year. Neither Maricopa Community Colleges nor the county community collegel district responded to The Arizona Republic's request for comment. Native regalia: New Mexico school confiscates a Native student's beaded graduation cap, sparking protests Trump has only been in office for a short time, but the effects of his executive orders have already been deeply felt, particularly by people of color. Maricopa Community Colleges have begun taking steps to comply with the president's order to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, programs, including the Native American Convocation. "I am incredibly disappointed to learn that the 2025 Maricopa County Community College District's American Indian Convocation has been canceled," Gila River Indian Community Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis said in a news release. "This decision concerns me deeply, because it shows fundamental misunderstanding of the federal-tribal relationship which is based on political, not racial status. Today I am calling on MCCCD to immediately correct this error in interpreting the federal Executive Order and to allow the convocation to proceed." The issue of racial and political classification among Native Americans came into focus after Trump's Education Department issued a memo on Feb. 14 asserting that Supreme Court decisions forbid treating students differently based on race to achieve "vague objectives" such as diversity, racial balancing, social justice, or equity. The memo raised concerns among Navajo leaders and their attorneys. "The letter doesn't mention federal funds that are provided to Indian tribes and tribal organizations are not based on race," said Chris Schneider, principal attorney for the Navajo Department of Justice. "It's longstanding, its federal case law, you have Morton v. Mancari, which is a United States Supreme Court case ... that determine that Indian isn't always per se going to be a classification according to race. Instead, based upon the history of the United States and Indian tribes, it's more political classification." But many legal experts say that, under the Trump administration, legality, precedent, the Constitution and treaties with tribal nations don't seem to stand in the way of a vision reportedly outlined in a document called Project 2025, according to Mel Wilson, Senior Policy Advisor of National Association of Social Workers. The sudden dismantling of DEI efforts is a stark reversal from a time when colleges and institutions attempted to honor the First Peoples through gestures like land acknowledgments. It also comes at a time when young Native students continue to face institutional barriers that attempt to suppress their culture and heritage, whether through bans on wearing regalia at graduations, prohibitions on beaded graduation caps, or, in some cases, even forcing students to cut their long hair. "This threat by the current U.S. presidential administration to eliminate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and 'race-based programs' will hurt all students' educational knowledge at all our universities and tribal colleges," Wendy Greyeyes, associate professor of Native American Studies at the University of New Mexico and the chairwoman for the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission, told The Arizona Republic in emailed comments. "DEI and programs that bring representation to historically marginalized peoples are integral to student success and achievement. We must push back against the mindset that DEI or race-based programs are harmful or discriminatory." The Maricopa County Community College District is home to 10 colleges, and just last year, Mesa Community College proudly claimed the largest Native American student population of any college in Arizona. Across these colleges, Native American students make up approximately 1.92% of the over 100,000 students enrolled. Notably, Mesa Community College ranks 8th in the nation for Native American student graduation rates among 1,057 two-year colleges, according to MCC. Arizona State University, University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University have not announced plans to cancel their Native American Convocations. "We always say American Indian Institution and Inter-trbal Student Organization is how students find home away from home ," said Leora Smith, MCC Inter-Tribal Student Organization Advisor. "So out of all the Maricopa Community Colleges ... Mesa is the largest with the most Native students on campus. We are also one of three community colleges that have the American Indian Institute. South Mountain Community College and Scottsdale Community College are the other two." A day after a much-needed downpour in the Valley, MCC's Inter-Tribal Student Organization hosted its third annual Thunderbird Pow Wow. Thomas, Smith and Raegen Ellis, who serves as Miss Native Mesa Community College, spent their Saturday volunteering and celebrating an event that is entirely student-organized and -led, one they feared might not happen due to the recent Maricopa Community College policy changes. Before the Grand Entry, an emotional Smith shared how deeply the end of DEI had impacted not only the student but faculty and staff. She an adviser for for the inter-tribal student organization and also serves as the president of the United Tribal Employee Council, an affinity group for Indigenous staff and faculty within the Maricopa County Community College District, one of many similar groups now facing uncertainty. "We have affinity groups ... MCBAA (Maricopa Council on Black American Affairs), our LGBTQIA, we have all these different groups," said Smith. "I was president for two years for the United Tribal Employee Council ... and to see that be dismantled overnight it makes me emotional." Smith, who is Navajo and attended University of Arizona, understands firsthand the importance of organizations like like the Inter-Tribal Student Organization, the American Indian Institute and other support groups for minorities and students of color. She recalled feeling isolated during her time at the UA, which ultimately led her to drop out. Later, she found a fresh start at South Mountain Community College, where her mother served as an adviser for the school's Native American student club, an influence that would shape Smith's own journey. "When I went to UA, I knew nobody," said Smith. "I felt so alone, and I actually dropped out because of it, because I felt like, 'Nobody cares. Nobody cares if I go to class.'" As she grew into herself and realized she wanted to follow in her mother's footsteps by working with Indigenous students, she found a sense of belonging among her Indigenous colleagues and coworkers. But now, she says, "to know that we're not allowed to even have that here on campus ... it's really tragic and horrible." Trump's attack on DEI, along with Maricopa Community College's swift dismantling of its DEI programs and cancellation of Native American Convocations, comes at an especially devastating time. Fourteen-year-old Emily Pike, a young San Carlos Apache girl, was found dead and dismembered near Globe, nearly three weeks after she was reported missing from her group home in Mesa. In honor of Emily Pike and to raise awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, Ellis painted a red handprint on her face while representing her school as Miss Native MCC at the pow wow. Ellis, who is Navajo and from Page, is also a member of the Inter-Tribal Student Organization. Planning for the pow wow had been underway for several months, she said, and when news broke that MCCD would be dismantling DEI programs, they had to prepare an alternative plan in case the powwow was canceled. "It was definitely a lot when we first found out," said Ellis about the dismantling of DEI. "It doesn't make any sense. I think everyone is just like 'what the heck is going on?' Many are confused, but it's not unexpected at the same time. We just have to keep pushing what we want to do for our community and what to do for the future." Arizona students: ASU attracts Arizona's largest Indigenous population as Native students seek community For Ellis and Thomas, being involved with the student organization has been incredibly helpful, especially during times when both students faced personal losses. Ellis lost both of her grandparents while away at school, a time when she admitted feeling "pretty lost" herself. When she joined the student organization, she found a supportive community that helped her navigate through the difficult times and continue to thrive in her studies. Thomas, who identifies as Two-Spirit, served last year as the first Two-Spirit president of the inter-tribal group. The Trump administration has also targeted the LGBTQI community, and Thomas said it's just another attack on him, in addition to being Native American. "We are still here. I am here," said Thomas. "As a Two-Spirit person, it's not fair. I'm not a threat to masculinity. I have really strong words for these people." Thomas recently lost his sister and was the last person to talk to her. She left Thomas with some encouraging words about his pursuit of education. "She said 'your education is for you. You're not doing it for anyone else, this is for you,'" said Thomas. "With her passing, I was really lost but I had to re-register myself with her words and that's when I found ISO and it was reassuring to find that sense of home and family far from the reservation." Being one of the first people to graduate college in Thomas' family, he said he was looking forward to celebrating in the Native American Convocation but will most likely take part in the regular graduation ceremony. "I worked really hard during those semesters," said Thomas. "Not being able to celebrate it as a Native American or Two-Spirit person, feels like I am being pushed away." This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Mesa Community College Indigenous students not happy with end to DEI
