Professional Learning Programs and Workshops

October | November | December

Fall 2026

October 2026 Sessions

GWC FUNDAMENTALS TRAINING

Thursday, October 15, 2026
1:30 pm – 3:30 pm
Presenters: Alyssa Brown, Kezia Baten-Sangkay, Uyen Tran
Intended Audience: All GWC Employees
Location: LASS 101

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This training is designed for employees who want to strengthen their understanding of how our institution operates. This interactive session reconnects participants with the mission, vision, and values that guide our work while providing a deeper look at the structures, processes, and people that shape decision-making at both the college and District level. The training will also include an overview of essential student support programs available on campus.

Note: This session is not paid for part-time faculty.

Nuventive SLO Entry Workshop

Thursday, Oct 15, 2026 
3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Presenters: Amy Thach and C.J. Bishop
Intended Audience: GWC Faculty
Location: Zoom

Zoom link: https://cccd-edu.zoom.us/j/6173560904

Note: This session does not qualify for part-time faculty compensation.

EXCEL ESSENTIALS: LOOKUPS & INDEX + MATCH

Monday, October 19, 2026
10:00 am – 12:00 am
Presenter: Uyen Tran
Intended Audience: All GWC Employees
Location: LRC 251

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Intermediate users. Ready to stop copying and pasting data between sheets? In this 2-hour session you will learn how to effortlessly connect, search, and manage data across multiple spreadsheets. We will break down the mechanics of lookups—VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, XLOOKUP to the ultimate flexibility of INDEX + MATCH matrix searching. You will walk away with the exact tools you need to smarter spreadsheets.

Note: This session is paid for part-time faculty.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Fall Institute

Friday, Oct 16 & Friday, Oct 23, 2026 
9:00 am – 2:00 pm
Presenters: GWC AI Institute Team
Intended Audience: All GWC Employees
Location: MS 155

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• Engage in two days of AI learning, discussion, and analysis in ways that relate to their roles at GWC.
• Vision and plan which type of work to focus on.
• Transform a module, assignment, task, or project that relates to their role at GWC.
• Complete and submit a complete artifact as measured by the rubric by Monday, November 2nd.

• Duration: Friday October 16th, and Friday October 23rd, 9 am - 2 pm
• Location: The Institute will be hosted in person at GWC on both days.
• Faculty Stipends: $750 for full participation and submission of the artifact by Monday, November 2nd.
• If faculty attended the Summer AI Institute, they can still attend the Fall AI Institute, but only be compensated once.

November 2026 Sessions

EXCEL ESSENTIALS: PIVOTTABLES & PIVOTCHARTS

Tuesday, November 3, 2026
1:30 pm – 3:30 pm
Presenter: Uyen Tran
Intended Audience: All GWC Employees
Location: LRC 251

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Data is only valuable when you can turn it into meaningful insights. In this 2-hour session, you'll learn how to transform raw data into powerful PivotTables and PivotCharts that make analysis faster, easier, and more impactful. We'll cover data preparation and cleaning best practices, then explore how to summarize, filter, group, and visualize data using Excel's PivotTable features.  You'll leave with the skills to quickly summarize large datasets, spot trends, and create compelling visualizations that bring your data to life.

Notes: Paid for part-time faculty. Participants using Mac computers are asked to bring their own laptops.

AI in Practice: Managing Artificial Intelligence in the GWC Classroom

Friday, Nov, 6 2026 
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Presenters: Erin Craig and Sacha Moore
Intended Audience: Part-Time Faculty and Full-Time Faculty
Location: Zoom

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Building on the momentum of the Fall AI Institute, this focused, two-hour workshop is designed for faculty to tackle the practical realities of managing AI in the classroom. We will translate the broad concepts of generative AI into concrete, equity-minded teaching practices through collaborative discussion and hands-on application. Together, we will focus on crafting clear, humanizing syllabus policies that set transparent expectations and redesigning assessments to encourage authentic, critical thinking. The session also features a facilitated exchange to share diverse viewpoints, successes, and challenges with colleagues across disciplines. Come ready to collaborate and leave with actionable updates for your courses by registering today!

Note: This session is paid for part-time faculty.

December 2026 Sessions

QPR Suicide Prevention Training

Tuesday, Dec 1, 2026 
11:00 am – 1:00 pm
Presenter: Dr. Joan Fishman
Intended Audience: All GWC Employees
Location: Zoom

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GWC Student Health Center presents QPR Suicide Prevention Training. Suicide is far too common. Know the warning signs and become more comfortable helping suicidal students, co-workers or loved ones. Become more aware of the college protocol for at-risk students.

Note: This session does not qualify for part-time faculty compensation. 

For questions, please contact Dr. Fishman at jmoss31@gwc.cccd.edu.

Nuventive SLO Entry Workshop

Friday, Dec 11, 2026 
10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Presenters: Amy Thach and C.J. Bishop
Intended Audience: GWC Faculty
Location: Zoom

Zoom link: https://cccd-edu.zoom.us/j/6173560904

Note: This session does not qualify for part-time faculty compensation.

Are you ready to dive deep into your classroom data and turn insights into actionable student success? Join us for a year-long collaborative journey designed to help you analyze your course outcomes, identify equity gaps, and implement targeted practices to close them.

This cohort requires a full academic year commitment, moving from data discovery in the fall to strategy implementation, data collection, and analysis in the spring.

Fall Kickoff: Knowing Where We Stand

Friday, October 9, 2026 
9:00 am - 11:00 am 

Presenters: Dr. Lauren Sosenko & Dr. Erin Craig
Intended Audience: GWC Part-Time and Full-Time Faculty
Location: Math Science 155

During our first interactive session, every participant will receive a customized data file for their courses. Together, you will:

• Analyze your individual course success data, both overall and disaggregated by race/ethnicity, gender, and age.
• Learn how to easily filter and pivot your data to uncover hidden trends.
• Identify your classroom successes and pinpoint disproportionate impact (DI) gaps.
• Briefly connect your specific classroom data to our broader program review goals.
• Answer the "Now what?" by drafting a concrete plan for next semester.

The Year-Long Journey

After our October kickoff, we will continue working together through the Center for Innovation and Learning to put our data into practice:

• Winter: Attend a CIL session (date TBD) that provides a sampling of instructional practices to consider for your spring 2027 implementation
• February 5th, 9 - 11 am: Action planning, measurement, and development of the instructional practices.
• March 19th, 9 - 11 am: Individual check-ins and personalized feedback.
• April 16th, 9 - 11 am: A post-spring break reconvene, data analysis, discussion, and preparation for the knowledge exchange.
• May 4th 3-5 pm, The Knowledge Exchange 

Compensation: Full-time and part-time faculty will be compensated $500 upon completion of the Knowledge Exchange in May. 

Because this is a continuous cohort, we ask that faculty only register if they can commit to the full year's progression.

Registration Deadline: Thursday, October 1^st. This is a firm deadline for participation to ensure personal data is available by the session start date on Oct 9^th.

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Intended Audience: All GWC Employee Groups

In partnership, the Center for Innovation and Learning, and Office of Research, Planning, and Institutional Effectiveness facilitate an annual Data Coach Program where employees are trained and complete a Data Exploration for Equitable Programs (DEEP) Project. Each DEEP Project is related to program review in their respective areas and includes: equity-gap data analysis, writing of research questions, inquiry plan development, data collection, analysis of findings, and campus sharing.

The role of the GWC Data Coach is to:

• Access available data metrics and outcomes
• Establish campus-wide data awareness and understanding of terminology and metrics in context
• Support departments and programs with meaningful data analysis and interpretation
• Collaborate with stakeholders to share inquiry findings and uncover root-causes
• Develop data-informed action plans for program/department improvement

The next call for applications will be in March 2027!

Data Coach Projects from the Past:

• Prevalence of Hispanic/Latinx STEM Majors Enrolling in non-STEM courses
• Digital Literacy at GWC in ELL Courses
• Student Persistence in the Chemistry Course Sequence

Intended Audience: Coast Community College District Classified Professionals

The Classified Leadership Development Academy (CLDA) is a program designed to support Classified Professionals in advancing their careers, strengthening their current roles, and building leadership skills. Participants gain valuable knowledge, practical tools, and insights from experienced leaders across the field.

Program Highlights:

• Small cohort for open discussions, meaningful connections, and valuable networking opportunities.
• Strengthen personal and professional skills.
• Site-based project; project that impacts your department or campus.
• Access to support and mentorship from an experienced leader.
• Build meaningful, career-focused connections.
• Learn how community colleges operate behind the scenes.

Why Should You Join:

• Develop essential leadership skills over 10 transformative months.
• Collaborate with a small cohort of peers in a supportive, dynamic environment.
• Gain valuable insights from college and district leaders and experts.
• Enhance your leadership abilities for both current and future roles.
• Earn a certificate of completion to showcase your commitment to growth.
• Proven track record—past participants have increase their visibility and impact, significantly contributed to their site, accessed unique opportunities, secured higher-paying positions, or advanced into management roles.

Requirements:

1. Attend all workshop sessions*
2. Complete a site-based project.

*Make-up sessions are available with advance notice.

Workshop Sessions and Topics

• August - Orientation
• September - Assessment
• October - Leadership
• November - Emotional Intelligence
• December - Committee Structure
• January - Budget Overview
• February - Conflict Management
• March - Public Speaking
• April - DEIA
• May - Gratitude
• June - Celebration

The next call for applications will be in June 2027!