Retirement System Information

Attend a Retirement Seminar 

The Retirement Systems of Alabama has scheduled retirement seminars for employees. If you are just beginning employment in the college system or if you have up to 19 years of service credit, there is a seminar for you. Also, members who are within 3 to 5 years of retirement eligibility can register for a retirement preparation seminar. The links to these seminars and others have been added to the Human Resources section of the Jefferson State home page. 

Links have also been added to TRS, PEEHIP and RSA Forms and Publications. The links provide address change forms, beneficiary change forms and more.

Please contact Karen Key at extension 7899 or kkey@jeffstateonline.com for additional information. The seminars can be found at:

www.jeffstateonline.com/about-jscc/human-resources/seminars 

 

Employee Health Fair

Health & Benefits Fair to Be Held For Employees

Please make plans to attend the Employee Health and Benefits Fair on both the Jefferson and Shelby campuses.

The Alabama Department of Public Health will be present to conduct wellness screenings for all employees, retirees, and adult dependents (18 and over) who are covered under PEEHIP.  As well, approved vendors will be available to speak with you about direct deposit, insurance, and investment options.

     

Vendors:                           

America’s First Credit Union

Axa Advisors

Alabama Education Association                  

Legacy Credit Union                            

First Educators Credit Union                   

CommuteSmart                             

Aflac                              

Wells Fargo                        

Collateral Benefits                            

Sam’s Club

Massy, Stotser and Nichols, Attorney at Law

Valic                              

PEEHIP Wellness Screenings*:

Total cholesterol

LDL (bad cholesterol)

HDL (good cholesterol)

Triglycerides

Blood Pressure

Pulse Glucose (blood sugar)

Calculation of body mass index (BMI)

Osteoporosis screening

Jefferson Campus

March 7, 2013

9:00 - 2:00

Fitzgerald Student Center

Room 400

*To participate in the Wellness Screenings you must present your insurance card (Blue Cross Blue Shield, Viva Health, Southland)

To make an appointment for the Health Screening or for further information, please contact Karen Key kkey@jeffstateonline.com 205-856-7899.

Outstanding Faculty

Nominees for Outstanding Faculty Announced

The following instructors have been nominated by students and/or colleagues to receive the 2013 Outstanding Faculty Award.

     Cindy Danley

     Justin Fisher

     Angela Ford

     Dianna Hyde

     Murray Jones

     Mildred Lanier

     Robert Wallace

The Outstanding Faculty Award is presented each year during the annual Honors Convocation. This year, the Honors Convocation will be held on April 18 at 2:00 p.m. in the HSB Multi-Purpose Room at the Shelby-Hoover Campus.

Congratulations to the nominees!

Nominate Someone for Outstanding Alumnus

Jefferson State Now Accepting Nominations for Outstanding Alumnus Award

The Office of Community Relations is now collecting nominations for Jefferson State’s 2013 Outstanding Alumnus Award.

If you know a worthy recipient, please email their name, occupation and a description of why they are deserving to dbobo@jeffstateonline.com. If you have their contact information, please include it in your email.

The deadline for nominations is Monday, March 11, 2013.

Let It Snow

Snow Pictures 

Below are a few snow photos from Cammie Hallmark's house in Hayden. This is her "Cabin at the Lodge" where Cammie offers a Bed and Breakfast and a venue for weddings. Enjoy the photos!

A Comparison

Community college grads out-earn bachelor's degree holders

By Jon Marcus at The Hechinger Institute @CNNMoney February 26, 2013

Nearly 30% of Americans with associate's degrees now make more than those with bachelor's degrees, according to Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce

Berevan Omer graduated on a Friday in February with an associate's degree from Nashville State Community College and started work the following Monday as a computer-networking engineer at a local television station, making about $50,000 a year.

That's 15% higher than the average starting salary for graduates -- not only from community colleges, but for bachelor's degree holders from four-year universities. 

"I have a buddy who got a four-year bachelor's degree in accounting who's making $10 an hour," Omer says. "I'm making two and a-half times more than he is." 

Omer, who is 24, is one of many newly minted graduates of community colleges defying history and stereotypes by proving that a bachelor's degree is not, as widely believed, the only ticket to a middle-class income. 

Nearly 30% of Americans with associate's degrees now make more than those with bachelor's degrees, according to Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce. In fact, other recent research in several states shows that, on average, community college graduates right out of school make more than graduates of four-year universities. 

The average wage for graduates of community colleges in Tennessee, for instance, is $38,948 -- more than $1,300 higher than the average salaries for graduates of the state's four-year institutions. 


In Virginia, recent graduates of occupational and technical degree programs at its community colleges make an average of $40,000. That's almost $2,500 more than recent bachelor's degree recipients. 

"There is that perception that the bachelor's degree is the default, and, quite frankly, before we started this work showing the value of a technical associate's degree, I would have said that, too," says Mark Schneider, vice president of the American Institutes for Research, which helped collect the earning numbers for some states. 

And while by mid-career, many bachelor's degree recipients have caught up in earnings to community college grads, "the other factor that has to be taken into account is that getting a four-year degree can be much more expensive than getting a two-year degree," Schneider says. 

A two-year community college degree, at present full rates, costs about $6,262, according to the College Board. A bachelor's degree from a four-year, private residential university goes for $158,072. 

The increase in wages for community college grads is being driven by a high demand for people with so-called "middle-skills" that often require no more than an associate's degree, such as lab technicians, teachers in early childhood programs, computer engineers, draftsmen, radiation therapists, paralegals, and machinists. 

With a two-year community college degree, air traffic controllers can make $113,547, radiation therapists $76,627, dental hygienists $70,408, nuclear medicine technologists $69,638, nuclear technicians $68,037, registered nurses $65,853, and fashion designers $63,170, CareerBuilder.com reported in January. 

"You come out with skills that people want immediately and not just theory," Omer says.
The Georgetown center estimates that 29 million jobs paying middle class wages today require only an associate's, and not a bachelor's, degree. 

"I would not suggest anyone look down their nose at the associate's degree," says Jeff Strohl, director of research at the Georgetown center. 

"People see those programs as tracking into something that's dead end," Strohl says. "It's very clear that that perception does not hold up." 

The bad news is that not enough associate's degree holders are being produced.
Only 10% of American workers have the sub-baccalaureate degrees needed for middle-skills jobs, compared with 24% of Canadians and 19% of Japanese, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reports. 

Over the last 20 years, the number of graduates with associate's degrees in the United States has increased by barely 3%. And while the Obama administration has pushed community colleges to increase their numbers, enrollment at these schools fell 3.1% this year, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center reports. Graduation rates also remain abysmally low. 


Meanwhile, many people with bachelor's degrees are working in fields other than the ones in which they majored, according to a new report by the Center for College Affordability and Productivity. 

"We have a lot of bartenders and taxi drivers with bachelor's degrees," says Christopher Denhart, one of the report's coauthors. 

Still, the salary advantage for associate's degree holders narrows over time, as bachelor's degree recipients eventually catch up, says Schneider. 

Although these figures vary widely by profession, associate's degree recipients, on average, end up making about $500,000 more over their careers than people with only high school diplomas, but $500,000 less than people with bachelor's degrees, the Georgetown center calculates. 

As for Omer, he's already working toward a bachelor's degree. 

"Down the road a little further, I may want to become a director or a manager," he says. "A bachelor's degree will get me to that point." 

This story was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, nonpartisan education-news outlet based at Teachers College, Columbia University. It's one of a series of reports about workforce development and higher education.

CSI For Kids

Jefferson State Police Provide CSI For Kids

The Jefferson State Police Department recently provided fifth grade students at Bryan Elementary School the opportunity to participate in a Crime Scene Investigators course.  

Students learn to develop latent prints, cast foot prints and tire impressions, collect DNA evidence, collect tool mark samples and a variety of other evidence collection techniques. The students learn about constitutional law and learn the basics of drafting a search warrant. 

"The kids also get a chance to use the newly acquired skills at a mock crime scene," said Jefferson State Police Chief Mark Bailey. "The class obtains a search warrant, collects evidence from the scene, identifies the offender and prepares the case for trial."

The students then get an overview of the criminal justice system from Judge Jill Ganus and Jefferson County District Attorney Brandon Fall. Judge Ganus and Mr. Fall then assist with a mock trial that allows each student to testify to a significant fact of the case. At the end of the forth day, the students have better understanding of the court system than the average citizen.

Jefferson State's Police Department provides this opportunity to fifth grade students every year.

 

Legislators Visit Jeff State

Alabama Legislators Visit the Shelby-Hoover Campus 

Alabama Representatives Kurt Wallace, Mary Sue McClurkin and Jay Love met with Jefferson State President Judy Merritt at the Shelby-Hoover Campus in January. The Representatives toured the campus and learned more about Jefferson State.

Pictured below are Rep. Kurt Wallace (L), JSCC President Judy Merritt, Rep. Mary Sue McClurkin and Rep. Jay Love (R).
 

Community College Article

Spending Money to Make Money

 

January 30, 2013
By Paul Fain

Inside Higher Ed 

An associate degree is typically a cost-effective investment, for both students and state governments, yet community colleges continue to draw the short straw during budget season.

That's the bottom line of a newly released report from the American Association of Community Colleges, which tries to bolster the sector’s case for its efficient use of state funding by estimating community college graduates' annual tax payments. The estimates show that workers earn bigger paychecks and pay more in taxes for each level of education they have completed, from high school graduates to bachelor’s degree-holders.

For example, associate-degree holders paid an average of $9,435 in taxes in 2011 (including federal income, Social Security, Medicare, state and local income, sale and property taxes), according to the report, which was 8 percent more than what certificate holders or those with some college credits but no degree paid, and 29 percent more than the average tax payment of workers whose highest degree is a high school diploma or its equivalent.

“Each level of educational attainment matters,” said Christopher M. Mullin, the association’s program director for policy analysis and the report’s coauthor. “There are real earnings both for the individual and for the society.”



Recent research has shown the relatively strong value of two-year degrees and certificates in the workforce, and the report pulls together some of those findings. For example, fully one-quarter of bachelor's-degree holders earn less than workers with associate degrees. However, state governments invest less money per student in the community college sector than in public, four-year institutions. Community colleges enroll 43 percent of all undergraduate students, according to the report, but receive only 20 percent of state tax appropriations for higher education.

Some of that funding disparity is offset by local government support. But Mullin said local taxes do not go to community colleges in roughly 25 states, and that even in states where they do, the funding does not fully cover the shortfall in comparison to four-year institutions.

The association’s report, however, is careful to note that public universities have also had their budgets slashed on a per-student basis, and that the overall disinvestment in higher education is bad for the economy.



Community colleges are also doing the most to control their costs, according to the report. The sector is on the only one in higher education where operating budgets per student are smaller than they were a decade ago. Mullin said that frugality should be factored in by state lawmakers during budget season.
“We could a better job placing investments where we get a better return,” he said.

The report breaks down community colleges’ private and public economic returns into three different categories:

• The community college as launching pad, or as a starting point for students in their educational progression.
• The community college as a (re)launching pad, providing knowledge and skills to career-changers, displaced workers and lifelong learners.
• The community college as a local commitment, which serves the needs and demands of local communities.

“In order to continue to provide these benefits and fill in where other opportunities for education and training once stood,” the report concludes, “public investments in the education and training community colleges provide need to equalize and stabilize, if not increase.”

Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/01/30/community-colleges-are-good-investment-students-and-taxpayers-report-finds#ixzz2JaWUEQjg

Inside Higher Ed

Remember When?

The Year Was 1972 at Jefferson State

Below are photos of Jefferson State students from 1972. The first photo is the 1972 Jefferson State Jeffersonettes and the second is the 1972 basketball team.

Jeffersonettes
Left to right are: Janice Moore, Tammy Spearman, Cindy Keith, Denise Lynch, Cathy Busby, Cheryl Holmes, Mary Fitzsimmons, Penny Otwell, Charlotte Shoemaker, Dara Watson, Darlene Lane, Theresa Goodsen.

Basketball Team
Back row (L to R) 
Alex Bethune, Terry Ballew, Ricky McCollough, Dennis Bailey, and Mike Eady.

Middle Row (L to R)
Coach Pharis, Greg Love, Joe Clifton, Barry Wright, Robert Adams, and Stanley Wilson.

Front Row (L to R)
Coach Lankford, Mike Colbert, Wilson Holley, Dan Henderson, Ricky Harrel, and Greg Russell.