Registration updates or information

January 2026 – Superintendent/President’s Blog

Posted by lminor on
Taft College Cougar Connections

Welcome to your monthly newsletter for January!

WELCOME BACK and Happy New Year!

Welcome back after our winter break! It’s great to see the parking lot full again. We are welcoming students back with a “welcome week” booth and some fun activities. Faculty and staff, please join in!

Information tables set up at Taft College with staff attending the tables to hand out information and a snack bag. A sandwich board sign says Welcome Week.
Students playing pool and relaxing in the Student Center. A sandwich sign board says Welcome Week Events with a schedule of events.

Enrollment Updates

Enrollment for the spring semester has increased over last spring, but this is before the census date drops and before final registration for late start and second-half classes, so it is not our final count for spring. We are still below our target of pre-pandemic enrollment, but we are headed in the right direction.

A line graph detailing student enrollment numbers for credit FTES by years 2020-21 to 2025-26.
FTES
2019-202020-212021-222022-232023-242024-252025-26
Summer347 344248211244292333
Fall118310648258128779561005
Spring1075928708665799895965
Total 26052336178116891920214323030

SERP: Still Available Through Today, Friday Jan. 23

As a reminder, the deadline to elect participation in the Supplemental Employee Retirement Plan (SERP) is Friday, January 23.  If you have questions on the plan or need assistance with the form, please contact Heather del Rosario (x 7809) or Trudi Blanco (x 7727).

New “MyTC” Landing Page

The MyTC landing page will launch a new interface next week. As many of you may have already heard, this new MyTC landing page is designed to provide more information and a more user-friendly experience.

We encourage you to preview the new page here https://experience.elluciancloud.com/tc549/ and share your feedback. If anything is missing on the landing page, please send your feedback directly to ir@taftcollege.edu or xli@taftcollege.edu.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! For ACCJC Self-Study Report

It’s time to begin gathering evidence for our next ACCJC Institutional Self-Evaluation Report, and we need your help! The Accreditation Taskforce held its first meeting last week and formed subcommittees aligned with the four ACCJC standards:

  • Standard I – Institutional Mission and Effectiveness: Co-Chairs: Dr. Rashitta Brown Elize and Dr. Xiaohong Li
  • Standard II – Student Success: Chair: Greg Bormann
  • Standard III – Infrastructure and Resources: Co-Chairs: Mike Giacomini and Heather de Rosario
  • Standard IV – Governance and Decision-Making: Chair: Dr. Leslie Minor

Faculty and staff are encouraged to volunteer to serve on one or more subcommittees. Please reach out directly to the chair(s) of the standard you are interested in supporting.  Your participation is essential to a successful self-study, and we appreciate your willingness to contribute to this important work.

Update from CCC Chancellor, Sonya Christian, on DEI Legal Status

A federal court has invalidated the February 2025 U.S. Department of Education “Dear Colleague Letter” on DEI and its related certification requirement, and the Trump administration has withdrawn its appeal, leaving both unenforceable. This resolves a year of legal uncertainty for colleges by reaffirming that the guidance violated the First Amendment and federal rulemaking procedures, reducing immediate compliance or funding risk. No action is required at this time; institutions should continue their existing commitments to equity and inclusion. If anything changes, we will hear from the CCCCO.

Resilient by Design: A Report from the American Association of Community Colleges

The National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) has prepared a thoughtful and thorough report for the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) on the future of community colleges, stating community colleges “face an uncertain and rapidly changing future that will require resilience from both colleges and their students.” Read the full report here: https://www.aacc.nche.edu/programs/resilient-by-design/ and let’s discuss ideas that will work for us!

Written in the sand on a beach: Goodbye 2025 Hello 2026

Cougar Connections

Posted by lminor on

Dear TC Community,

Welcome to the inaugural edition of Cougar Connections, a monthly newsletter from the Office of the President designed to inform, inspire, and strengthen the ties that unite our students, staff, faculty, and broader community. Each month, you’ll find:

  • College Updates – Brief messages highlighting our priorities, progress, and vision.
  • Student Spotlights – Celebrating student achievements and activities.
  • Campus Highlights – News from academic programs, events, and initiatives shaping our college.
  • Community Connections – Stories of collaboration and outreach beyond our campus.
  • What’s Ahead – A look at event dates and opportunities coming up at TC.

At Taft College, we believe leadership isn’t just about direction — it’s about connection. This newsletter reflects that belief and our commitment to communication and celebration. Thank you for being part of the journey. I look forward to building this connection with you — one story at a time. Let me know if there are issues or events you would like to see included.

Leslie Minor, Interim Superintendent/President, Taft College

It’s Halloween Season!

Group photo with children and adults dressed in Halloween costumes.

Pint-sized jack-o-lanterns, superheroes, ghosts, goblins, and more will invade campus on October 31 for the annual Children’s Center trick-or-treating event. Please RSVP to Myisha and ASO if you would like to participate: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfql7zBLJ8FVnWowKiM4f-jNxfLOU5UXlm9n6acTOjgb8uadA/viewform

ASO will sponsor Dia de los Muertos events for TC students and staff on October 30th. ASO also sponsored a number of fun, delicious, and well-attended events for Hispanic Heritage month: tamale making, mariachi band, line dancing, and pinata livened up the quad the Student Center.

Link to ASO events calendar for October https://www.taftcollege.edu/student-campus-life/clubs-organizations/calendar/index.php and for November https://www.taftcollege.edu/student-campus-life/clubs-organizations/calendar/index.php

Budget Challenges

The West Kern Community College District, Taft College, created a budget with a deficit going into fiscal year 2025-26 based upon revenue assumptions aligned with the Governor’s 2025-26 budget. Changes to the budget may occur as additional funding information becomes available. Some of the factors creating our current budget issues include slow enrollment growth, state funding deferrals, the student centered funding formula (SCFF), and deficit spending, resulting in a deficit of $803,000. Look for more detailed discussion on the budget in our November newsletter. Expect regular updates from our VPAS, Mike Giacomini, throughout the year.

Enrollment Updates

Enrollments are ticking up from our lowest point in 2022, but we are not fully caught up from the losses during covid. We are up more than 6% in FTES (full time equivalent students) from this time last year and finally broke 1,000 in FTES, for the first time since 2020. We have nearly the same number of sections as we did pre-covid. Let’s keep up the momentum — we’re moving in the right direction!

Priority Registration

Priority registration for Spring 2026 begins on Monday, October 27th, 2025 for the first group. Registration dates and times for each student are automatically assigned by the registration system and are set approximately 2 weeks before registration. Students may enter the registration system any time beginning on or after the assigned registration date and time. Students can log into their online student account via MyTC to check registration status, and assigned registration date and time, by clicking on Students > Registration > Registration Status. If students miss their day and time, they may log into MyTC and register. Link to priority group registration dates here: https://www.taftcollege.edu/admissions/accepted-students/register/priority-registration.php

Taft College Employee of the Month

In case you missed it… the entire Taft College Facilities, Maintenance and Operations team was honored as the September Employee of the Month. Manny Aguire, Keith Stearman, Shawn Tofte, Carlos Sillas, Chris Miller, and Ivan Almanza were recognized for their problem-solving, skill, positive attitude, and collaboration. Congratulations M&O!

Oildorado!

Another Oildorado celebration has wrapped up. This 10-day celebration of Taft’s history and the impact of the oil industry includes dozens of events from a grand parade, concerts, gala, casino, oil field skills competition, civic luncheon, vendor fair, melodrama, and so much more. Our Board of Trustees President, Kathy Orrin, played a “bad guy” in the melodrama performance. Meanwhile, Trustee Billy White was a “good guy” among the roaming sheriff’s posse arresting hooligans to toss in the hoosegow. Three of the 12 Maids of Petroleum are current TC students. Two of the oil field skills competitors are dual enrollment students at TC. Several of our employees met with interested community members at our TC outreach table at the vendor fair. Our own TC baseball team took home parade honors for best community group.

Baseball players from Taft College marching in a parade.

Who’s New at TC

This semester we welcomed two new full-time tenure-track faculty members. Jonathon Over is the new Engineering instructor, and Becki Dodson joins the Dental Hygiene faculty. Welcome to new adjunct instructors Stacie Horton, Sukhraj Mehat, Karin Navarro, Hunter Perry, Katrina Price, Brittany Villagran, Stephanie Webster, and Andy Wu.

Job Fest

The Kern County Job Fest 2025 will be held at Taft College on Thursday, Oct. 23, 9-noon. Connect with local employers and learn about available jobs. Get help with applications and resumes. Admission and parking are free. All are welcome!

ACCJC Workshop — Everyone Welcome

Officials from our accreditors, ACCJC (Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges), will hold a workshop on Thursday, Oct. 30, 9-12, in the Cougar Room, to familiarize us with the new standards we will use to prepare our ISER (Institutional Self-Evaluation Report). All are welcome to attend. The work of continuous quality improvement includes all of us! Watch for a newsletter from IR to keep us up to date on the work that begins now toward renewing our accreditation in 2028. Let’s all be involved!

Presidential Search

The search for a permanent Superintendent/President is underway. Progress updates will be provided by HR, with the search process expected to take the next several months and the position filled July 1.

Happy Haunting!