FCS FLASH ISSUE 112

FCS FLASH ISSUE 112: November 10, 2009

Link to Complete FCS Calendar (Color-coded by discipline for easy reference)
Don’t Miss these Highlighted Events!
October – November: Various Dates and locations: CCCECE Regional Fall Meetings

November 18: NISOD Webinar 11:00 a.m.: “Service Learning: Taking Education Beyond the Classroom”

March 5, 2010: Downey: FCS Fashion and Interior Design Student Event,"Your Design Career: Color it Green"
March 19, 2010: Santa Ana: FCS Fashion Professional Development Workshop: Save the Date!

New for You on FCS!
To start off, we want to welcome a new contributor, Sylvia Rubin, Fashion Writer, San Francisco Chronicle, and her feature on unique San Francisco area retailer, Modern Appealing Clothing, (MAC). Dolores Robles, Mt. San Antonio College, reveals the finer details of student loans, a good primer for your students and your own college-bound family members. Roger Gerard, Shasta College, offers some helpful strategies for hospitality students in this tough economy. Carol Lamkins', CMKBD, CID, latest contribution, Aging in Place, breaks down the 7 principles of universal design established by a group of advocates from North Carolina State University. Finally, read this editorial from the Los Angeles Times, by Jeff Bleich, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the California State University system. He reflects on the state of higher education and if the “California Dream” is still attainable.

FCS FLASH: Everyone has a Customer to Serve!
Experts estimate that 15% of career success depends on a person’s skills and knowledge, while 85% comes from his/her ability to get along with people. That is why employers rank good interpersonal skills as the number one quality they seek in the people they hire and promote. Employers know that employees who cooperate and collaborate well with others are more successful in their work and in their professional lives. The bottom line is really this…great people skills equal career success!

Great interpersonal skills include working effectively with one’s internal and external customers. In fact, in today’s tough economy customer service skills have never been more important in securing and keeping a good job. To help raise student awareness about the importance of customer service we wanted to encourage you to keep using FCS’s booklet, Everyone Has a Customer to Serve. This booklet has 10 quick and easy activities with specific “how tos” and printable activity sheets. These activities are perfect to open or close a class as they provide students with information and insights they can immediately apply. You can download and use activities in any order. Best of all, Everyone has a Customer to Serve, is available on the home page of our FCS site.

Try this...
Review Everyone has a Customer to Serve: Handy Activities for Student Success
Choose one activity to try with your students
Download and print one copy of the instructor information and directions.
Download and print copies of the student activity for each person in your class.
Try it and let us know how it goes!

FYI: Everyone must speak and relate to customers and potential customers as if each person were their paycheck. Because, in fact, they are.

This newsletter was brought to you by the California Community College Chancellor's Office Family and Consumer Sciences Collaborative Grant (#09-0160). Please contact Joann Driggers (jdriggers@mtsac.edu) or 909/594-5611 x5203 with any questions.