|
|
Suggestions and Comments |
Administrator Options | See Comments/Suggestions | Add a Comment/Suggestion
| Date Submitted: |
03/22/2010 |
| Department: |
Information Technology |
| Campus: |
Service Center |
| Comments: |
Suggestion: An ACC night at Dell Diamond to watch the Round Rock Express.
Information on group outings can be found at http//www.roundrockexpress.com/default.asp?pageId=10
The Memphis Redbirds will be in Round Rock to face the Round Rock Express July 5 - 7, 2010. That might be an excellent time frame to select a game for an ACC Night at the ballpark. |
| Response: |
|
| Date Submitted: |
02/12/2010 |
| Department: |
Psychology |
| Campus: |
Rio Grande |
| Comments: |
I was looking into something as it appears I will be moving to the new Round Rock campus after it opens. I did some investigation and found some older proposed maps from 2008, but couldn''''t find anything else (see the links at the bottom of the page) : http://www.roundrocktexas.gov/home/index.asp?page=1438 I am primarily looking at the map that goes from the Tech Ridge Park and Ride to the new RR transit center. Looking at the location of the transit center, it is ''''as the crow flies'''' the same distance from 1st street to 51st street in downtown Austin (it is a longer distance since there isn''''t a direct route from point A to point B in RR, and Austin streets are straighter). I have a draft proposal that would allow the bus to loop around to the new RR campus and return to I-35 while serving more of the Round Rock community. Please see Google Maps to see the route. What I propose: after leaving the new proposed transit center, the route continues North up I-35 to University Blvd., turns right (eastbound) on University Blvd. to County Road 112. After passing ACC turns right on FM 1460, then right on E. Old Settlers Blvd to I-35, where it can then turn back South to Austin. Does this sound workable? Is there someone else I should send this to for serious consideration? If you would like to forward this along please do so, or let me know who to email. Please give me a call at 223-3220 if you''''d like. Addendum: What would be a special plus is if the route also served the Pavilion Park and Ride prior to proceeding to the Tech Ridge Park and Ride (via 183 and I35) as it takes commuters from the Jollyville/Arboretum area 40 minutes on the 392 Braker bus route to get to Tech Ridge, and we have commuters from those other express routes who may need to access Round Rock (The 982, 983, 984, and 987 routes use the Pavilion Park and Ride/ Arboretum area stops, and come from Leander, Lago Vista, and Cedar Park). Since this may prove problematic logistically, an alternative would be to have a Pavilion P&R to Tech Ridge P&R feeder which would be a straight shot bridging these two access points. Below is the recent article on the upcoming opening of the Round Rock express routes. Thanks! -Tristan Mendoza Departmental Assistant, Behavioral Sciences --------------------------- In the News Transit center approved for downtown Round Rock Monday, February 01, 2010 - 05:45 PM Community Impact Newspaper By Rob Heidrick Friday, 29 January 2010 A new transit and parking facility approved Jan. 28 will connect downtown Round Rock to Austin''''s Capital Metro bus network in north Austin. The Round Rock City Council approved a $2.53 million bid from Flintco Inc. to build the facility, which will include bus lanes, a transit pavilion, bicycle racks and more than 100 parking spaces on two levels. The center will be built on Brown Street between Main Street and Bagdad Avenue, in place of the adult daycare facility that occupies the site. The daycare building will be demolished mid-February. Buses will run express on IH 35 to a Capital Metro transit center located south of Pflugerville on Tech Ridge Parkway, where riders will be able to connect to Austin-bound routes. The City of Round Rock plans to contract with a bus company rather than purchase its own vehicles, Councilman Joe Clifford said. The total cost of the project, including construction, land acquisition, engineering, design and other expenses, is $5.05 million. Construction is expected to begin by March 1 and is scheduled to be complete within eight months. --------------------------- |
| Response: |
The main buildings of the new Round Rock Campus are located very close to College Park Drive (recently known as County Road 122), and would be a logical destination for a bus route such as you suggest.
Accommodating potential transit service was one of the criteria which led to this aspect of the plans for the campus.
The District encourages the use of alternatives to the single occupant vehicle for commuting, and transit is a good option for many of our students, faculty and staff. The GreenPass program which the District has implemented with Capital Metro provides students, faculty and staff free access to Capital Metro services.
However, Round Rock is not in the Capital Metro service area. The article which you reference indicates that the City of Round Rock will operate the park and ride and the commuter bus routes associated with it. The City might consider operating a route such as the one which you have proposed. The City’s website has a comment form at http://www.roundrocktexas.gov/docs/generic_fillable_comment_form.pdf and indicates that David Bartels (218-5555) dbartels@round-rock.tx.us is the person to contact. |
| Date Submitted: |
10/01/2009 |
| Department: |
Campus Custodial |
| Campus: |
Rio Grande |
| Comments: |
To Whom It May Concern: First, I want to say thank you for keeping the building maintained. I know it''s a big job to upkeep an older building of that size and which is in continual use. Second, the reason why I am writing. I am writing to you about the condition of the women''s restrooms, specifically the restroom on the first floor. I used this restroom Wednesday evening, 9-30-09. I do not have high expectations of any public restroom but I do require a minimal level of cleanliness. I entered 3 stalls and settled on the 4th. Upon leaving, I noticed an unidentifiable goo on the commode (I''ll leave it at that but know that it was disgusting). And when I went to wash my hands, there were no paper towels. This incident brings to light the other problems that I overlook - each sink does not have a soap dispenser, some sinks do not even work, and there is no hot water. With the risk of H1N1 and increased student population, I would love to see these things remedied. I definitely support an increase in staff and/or new bathrooms. Best regards, Chrissy Campbell |
| Response: |
Dear Ms. Campbell,On behalf of ACC, we sincerely regret the unpleasant conditions you recently encountered in the women’s first-floor restroom of the Rio Grande Campus. Our expected standards for cleanliness clearly were not met.
Upon receipt of your message, the Rio Grande Campus Manager and the Building Service Supervisor took the following actions:
1. Added another paper towel dispenser.
2. Added two soap dispensers (one for each sink).
3. Added two new trash cans.
4. Dusted all the walls and cleaned all of the partitions.
5. Cleaned all the commodes, paper towel dispensers, and soap dispensers.
6. Scrubbed the floor.
7. Submitted a work order request to replace all toilet seats.
8. Increased the restroom check schedule to ensure desired cleanliness standards are met.
Thank you for calling this problem to our attention. If we can provide additional assistance in the future, please contact Rio Grande Campus Manager Marilyn Taylor at 223-3002 or mlee@austincc.edu.
Sincerely,
Mary Hensley, Ed.D.
Executive Vice President
College Operations
Austin Community College District
5930 Middle Fiskville Road
Austin, TX 78752
Telephone: (512) 223-7618
Cellular Telephone: (512) 431-9677
FAX: (512) 223-7895
E-Mail: mhensley@austincc.edu |
| Date Submitted: |
09/25/2009 |
| Department: |
Library Services |
| Campus: |
Rio Grande |
| Comments: |
I am enjoying the new parking garage at RGC. One problem: when I leave at 9:00 pm some evenings I dread the walk to the garage. The sidewalk on 12th Street from West Avenue to the garage is uneven and not lit. Is there any chance we could get at least one street lamp in between West Avenue and the garage on 12th Street? |
| Response: |
Thank you for alerting us to this situation. Lighting of the streets and sidewalks is the responsibility of the City of Austin. We will contact the appropriate parties at the City to ensure that adequate lighting is provided along this portion of 12th Street. We will do everything we can to provide for the safety of our students, faculty and staff. |
| Date Submitted: |
07/27/2009 |
| Department: |
Information Technology |
| Campus: |
Service Center |
| Comments: |
I think it would be great if we could get the hand activated automatic paper towel dispensers in the bathrooms. The ones we currently have don't work very well because we are always having to turn the wheel to get another sheet. This encourages the spread of germs. The hand activated ones would work better and eliminate cross contamination. |
| Response: |
We have ordered new dispensers that are the pull type. We have asked about the battery ones, but they are not “green”. So we are getting a better quality of the ones you don’t have to touch other than the towel itself. |
| Date Submitted: |
06/25/2009 |
| Department: |
Computer Science |
| Campus: |
Pinnacle |
| Comments: |
When a faculty member retires instead of canceling the email account, bounce it to faculty.name@g.austincc.edu so that past students can still contact that faculty member. Faculty members are often contacted for references, etc. from past students. |
| Response: |
Thank you for your suggestion regarding the redirection of retired faculty email to a Gmail account. Unfortunately, our current contract with Google only allows student accounts to be created. Also, IT does not have a system in place to redirect emails on a large scale.
Neither of these problems is insurmountable, however. There are no serious technical challenges to bouncing emails to a new address, and we can look at extending our contract with Google or soliciting personal email addresses when faculty retire. In the next 12-18 months IT will be working with the rest of the ACC community to come up with a set of recommendations for upgrading the college’s email system. We will make sure this suggestion is incorporated in the plan. |
| Date Submitted: |
01/23/2009 |
| Department: |
INEF |
| Campus: |
HBC |
| Comments: |
Walking from my car this morning I noticed quite a few of the cars in the parking lot do not have parking hang tags. Seems unfair that many of us are paying for parking (via hang tag) and many are not. Shouldn't hang-tag-less cars receive a ticket? I is an admin rule about this, but I cannot open it on-line (the red star is not a live link). |
| Response: |
ACC has developed regulations, including the purchase of parking permits, to control parking by students and employees on ACC property. On our academic campuses, enforcement actions are taken by our Campus Police in an effort to cause students and faculty to park only in the designated parking areas for each category. Visitors are encouraged to park in designated visitor parking spaces.
In addition to ACC employees and students utilizing the parking lot at the Highland Business Center (HBC), there are a significant number of visitors who are not employees or students. Because the volume of visitors exceeds the number of designated visitor spaces at the HBC, the visitors are parking in any available space. Unfortunately, it would not be practicable to determine each day which cars belong to employees or students and which cars belong to visitors in order to issue administrative parking citations to the employees and students who are not displaying parking permits. |
| Date Submitted: |
12/08/2008 |
| Department: |
HUSE |
| Campus: |
HBC |
| Comments: |
Originally submitted 12-08-08, I wish that ACC would offer more ASL classes/related classes (ex: SLNG 1307 Intra-lingual Skills Development for Interpreters, PSYT 1313 Psychology of Personal Adjustment, SLNG 1317 Introduction to the Deaf Community, SLNG 1391 Special Topics in Sign Language Interpreter) at HBC or any other campus. I think it is a little crazy to only offer classes for this major at one campus.
Thank you for your consideration. |
| Response: |
Thank you for your suggestion. We appreciate that you would like us to expand our American Sign Language offerings to additional campuses. In some cases, we are already doing that. For example, the two introductory courses (ASL I and ASL II) are offered at several campuses. However, for the more advanced courses that you reference, we are only able to offer one, or sometimes two sections per semester. The offerings are limited by overall student demand, difficulty in finding qualified faculty, the need for a dedicated specialty lab, and other factors. Given the current small size of the program, we believe that offering most of the courses at a central location is the best approach. However, as the program grows, as we expect it to do, we anticipate that it will be duplicated at another campus. |
| Date Submitted: |
11/07/2008 |
| Department: |
ACSU |
| Campus: |
OTH |
| Comments: |
Hi, I would like to thank you for maintaining the resource at library.austincc.edu/w3/CRJ as it has been of help to me in my studies.
I don't know if you are interested in suggestions or not, but I came across a really useful resource while searching for criminal justice information, and thought I might pass it on.
The website address is academicinfo.net/crimjust.html and it contains both criminal justice degree information and subject resources (books, articles, journals, links etc). It's apparently created and maintained by a librarian.
I think professionals and students alike might find good use for it. What do you think?
Regards,
Arianne Smith |
| Response: |
Thank you for your thoughtful suggestion to our web environment. We are pleased that you like the resources the library provides, but we are always pleased to receive recommendations on additional sources to assist ACC students and faculty!
I shared this with Library Services and our Criminal Justice bibliographer, Linda Clement, assessed the guide:
"This is a very content rich website full of information criminal justice students might be looking for. After looking at this website, the Chair of the Collection Development Team, the Head of Technical Services, and the Bibliographer for Criminal Justice all agree that it would be an excellent addition to the ACC LibGuide for Criminal Justice. Linda Clement, the Criminal Justice Bibliographer, will be meeting with G. W. Hildebrand, Criminal Justice department head, next week to review the content for the Criminal Justice LibGuide and will include the AcademicInfo website on Online Criminal Justice Degree Programs. Linda indicates that the Criminal Justice LibGuide will also have an input tab for students and faculty to make suggestions for other useful websites that could be added to the LibGuide.
Thank you again. |
| Date Submitted: |
11/06/2008 |
| Department: |
HEKI |
| Campus: |
EVC |
| Comments: |
I wondered why there aren't more food service choices. Where is the healthy choices? Simons is okay, but when I eat there I am usually sick afterwards. Where is the hot food section- fish, corn, mash potatoes, rolls, green beans, a salad for goodness sake. There should be more options available to faculty, staff and students. The bistro is a great addition but needs a more variety of a menu. Thanks |
| Response: |
As ACC developed with limited resources, very limited space has been allocated for food services; thus, the selections are limited. Simon's was not designed to provide full-service meals due to these space limitations, therefore, many people bring meals from home, and/or select other nearby food choices in addition to occasional use of Simon's. Purchasing has recently begun to add vending machines with healthier choices and will continue to expand these on each campus. |
| Date Submitted: |
10/13/2008 |
| Department: |
GROU |
| Campus: |
RGC |
| Comments: |
When I look up the website to see how the parking is going at RGC this is what I get Status: The parking garage is currently being designed and the architect and engineers
are meeting with the city and utility providers as necessary. This doesnt say much, when is parking going to really improve at RGC? Thanks |
| Response: |
Please see updated information at: http://www.austincc.edu/rgc/parking2.php |
| Date Submitted: |
03/19/2008 |
| Department: |
English |
| Campus: |
Rio Grande |
| Comments: |
My students often spend more time driving than they do studying. Even with the best students, time spent driving subtracts from class benefits.
Why not build dormitories? ACC is spending a lot of money on parking, and dorms would help that logistical nightmare as well. Dorms would also make ACC more attractive to prospective students (although growth does not seem to be much of a problem).
Even if land is not available adjacent to a campus, could nearby locations be considered for dorms, perhaps with a shuttle bus?
The lack of dorm life is the chief drawbacks to ACC for my own son. While teaching at ACC, I have met many instructors whom I would like my own son to have. But I do not want him to spend time driving and parking instead of developing a sense of community on-campus.
Community colleges do not necessarily have to be commuter colleges. |
| Response: |
The community college mission/experience is different from traditional four-year institutions. Urban community colleges are typically without dorms due to the facts that students are typically part-time, often married and/or have children, working and are slightly older. ACC does not have the land or funds to create dorms, nor a demand for them. |
|
|
