Texas Border Business
By Amanda Sotelo
South Texas College introduced its Emerging Technologies Academy in 2023 with the goal of increasing awareness and usage of technologies that are provided and supported by the college. Now, two years later, the academy has grown exponentially in popularity among faculty and staff, earning a 2024-2025 Innovation of the Year Award from the League for Innovation in the Community College.
The League of Innovation in the Community College is an international nonprofit organization that serves as a catalyst for introducing and sustaining deep, transformational innovation within and across colleges and international orders to increase student success and institutional excellence.
“I nominated this STC initiative for the League’s Innovation of the Year Award because the cross-divisional team working on this project has developed a collaboration in which our own faculty and staff serve as ambassadors to their departments on how to integrate technology into their work and classrooms,” said Jesus Campos, Ed.D., interim vice president of Information Services, Planning, Performance and Strategic Initiatives and dean of Library and Learning Support Services. “At the end of the day it is our students who benefit most from our efforts as this program enhances their learning experience.”
The academy led by the college’s Educational Technologies department in collaboration with Human Resources and the Teaching and Learning Center includes a six-member facilitation team: Janet Cortez, Educational Technology project coordinator; Jessica Galloso, associate dean for Professional and Organizational Development; Aaron Guajardo, director of Dual Credit Academic Pathways; Crista Hirmas, instructional coach for the Teaching and Learning Center; Yolanda Martinez, director of Educational Technologies; and Humberto Zuniga Perez, talent and learning coach for Human Resources.
Martinez said the idea behind implementing this initiative was to build bridges cross-divisionally among those who supported faculty and staff to address and provide support for the ongoing challenges of integrating emerging technologies into the higher education environment.
“This allowed to become more holistic, break down barriers and collaborate more with others to increase usage of software and hardware, awareness and innovation in the classroom and within departments, which has been successful over the last few years,” said Martinez, who initiated the innovative project. “Nonetheless, when I learned about this award we had received, I was left speechless. It was unexpected. We’re simply just doing our job, we all agree, but it is still a huge honor, and we are grateful.”
The semester-long academy focuses on five core sessions beginning with the foundation of technology and what it means to adopt and integrate it and the introduction of the software to classrooms and labs visits, assistive technology such as artificial intelligence and a cumulative project to adopt, implement one tool for their classroom or department.
“When this format was suggested, everyone involved in designing this academy also agreed on faculty and staff having autonomy of choice, so we also created specialized electives, giving them the chance to choose part of their journey and what they will learn throughout this program,” said Galloso. “This has indeed increased collaboration and interest campuswide, allowing other departments such as Digital Learning, Information Technology (IT) and Open Labs to join as trainers. The growth we have seen is phenomenal.”
Sessions have doubled since the academy’s inception, now offering up to 12 sessions per semester, in-person and online.
At the start of this initiative, Guajardo was Talent and Learning manager for Human Resources and said in education or any large organization, the word “silos” is often a popular term because of the lack of collaboration or knowledge of work happening within other departments, but this initiative has resulted in more engagement across the college’s divisions and departments.
“This is what makes this academy such a strong program,” he said. “We’ve been very intentional with how this academy was created and what we offer. We’ve maximized the investment that STC has made into these programs. Overall, this initiative helps us continue to build on professional development across divisions. It aligns perfectly with HR’s goals of promoting the growth of our employees. It’s been a win-win for all, and we’re grateful for the support we’ve received from our college administration and Board of Trustees.”
STC President Ricardo J. Solis, Ph.D., expressed his pride in this group of innovators for their work and the recognition they have earned for the college.
“This is a prestigious distinction and on behalf of STC administration and the Board of Trustees, we are so proud of the growth and collaboration that has come of this initiative led by some of our college’s most notable leaders,” he said. “Innovation and bold solutions is what STC is built upon and STC’s Emerging Technologies Academy has fulfilled a need that is vital to our college – increased training and knowledge for the innovative technologies we have invested in. We know this group will continue to make us proud and we look forward to seeing this academy grow even more than it already has. Congratulations to our League of Innovation Award recipients.”
Information source: STC
