President's Newsburst - August 2013

PRESIDENT’S NEWSBURST

AUGUST 2013

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Welcome to the start of a new academic year! Our staff and flex week convocations were a fabulous success.  Thanks to both planning committees as well as Rochelle Weiser and Denise Schulmeyer for a job well done!

Thanks to the support of California voters and Prop 30, we were able to add a number of classes to our schedule, add critical replacement personnel and also continue our technology rollovers.  According to John Stevens, these new Dell computers are faster than the models we have now, yet use less power and take up less work space, despite the fact that they have bigger monitors…. Other kinds of equipment also are being installed on the Grossmont College campus.  

Tim Flood, vice president for facilities, tells us that the college is implementing a number of strategic planning initiatives designed to improve student success.  Besides updating the classroom and lab technology we have also purchased new student lab equipment for physics, biology, and ceramics.  We have also continued to upgrade student desks throughout campus.

2013/14 promises to be a great year for Grossmont College with many opportunities!  I wish you a smooth start to the semester, continued health and happiness.

CLASSIFIED CONVOCATION

I was on vacation during the Classified Employee’s second convocation, but I received very enthusiastic reports about everything that happened that morning.  Thanks to Sharon Vilarino, our wellness instructor, who not only got everyone str—etch—ing during the program, but whose Zumba class, under the tutelage of instructor Hope Zamichieli, inspired the enthusiastic  flash mob that preceded the gathering.  Thanks to Chris Hill for leading us through the accreditation process, and I hope everyone will pull the scroll from the secret compartments of their souvenir Grossmont pens to refresh their memories of our college’s mission and vision prior to the accreditation team’s visitation here in October.  I would like to thank the staff professional development committee for inviting Mary Carouba here as the keynote speaker.  Her presentation concerning the Women at Ground Zero is an inspiring story that our nation might have overlooked had it not been for the tenacity of Ms. Carouba and her co-author, Susan Hagen, in digging out these stories of courage and compassion.  Among attendees of this remarkable program was Edwin Hiel, a member of the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College Districts board of trustees and Chancellor Miles.

RECENT EVENTS

·         Rose and Max Schindler addressed incoming freshmen participating in the Summer Institute Program is designed to orient students from families that are either immigrants or economically disadvantaged or both.  Rose, a survivor of Auschwitz, and Max, who had been in several concentration camps and ghettos, are members of a generation that is dying off all too quickly.  By meeting them, the students—as well as faculty, staff and administrators who sat in on their presentation in Griffin Gate—had the opportunity to experience history face-to-face.  Congratulations to Mike Perez, Pearl Lopez and Joseph Lepetri for a successful program, which was followed up with a visit to the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles.

·         30 Nursing students participated in the annual Stand Down event July 12-14 which caters to homeless and underemployed military veterans in San Diego, offering them free legal services, medical and dental checkups, and employment services.  Among those participating were students Michelle Antunez, who took the patients vitals in the triage area, and Heather Airy, who helped arrange for the proper laboratory tests.  Community service is part of Grossmont College’s nursing school curriculum.  We saw another aspect of that on campus when student Tiffany Gans-Lewis offered fellow students in Griffin Center tips on how to stay healthy during the hottest times of summer.

·         They keynote speaker for flex week Convocation,  Brian Castner,  addressed the college August 12^th .  He is the author of The Long Walk, a book that covers some of the things that happen during the process of a military veteran’s reintegration into civilian society.  With 1,672 veterans enrolled at Grossmont College last semester, Castner’s presentation provided important insight into some of the issues faced by an important segment of our Grossmont College population.

·         Recently, the work of Gail Patterson, PhD, at the Welcome Back Center was the subject of a campus news release that was picked up in several publications.  With a growing need in our country for more and more medical professionals, the Welcome Back Center helps to get foreign-trained medical professionals ready to take their exams for re-licensing in the United States.  With the Affordable Care act going into effect on January 1, patients who previously could not afford medical insurance are expected to enroll in various programs.  This will swell the number of patients on the rolls, and will create a need to employ more and more health professionals.  In such an environment, hospitals, clinics and doctors’ offices are crying out for more and more well-trained professionals in the health field.

·         We have 20 new M3 spin bikes that will be used by participants in six different exercise science classes.  I'm told by Dean Mike Reese that the M3 not only is great for cardiovascular conditioning, but its built-in computers will give you readouts on practically everything.  According to Amazon's website, it "measures RPM, power output in watts, kilocalorie expenditure, heart rate (via wireless Polar monitor), trip time, gear (resistance), and trip distance."  Wow, all that and enjoyable exercise too!

·         The Emergency Training Exercise coordinated on campus by the Sheriff’s Department was a great success. Our Emergency Operations Committee became familiarized with law enforcement methods and procedures in the event of an emergency, such as that posed by an armed intruder on the campus.  At the same time, regional law enforcement, including Sheriff’s deputies, local police departments and the California Highway Patrol, in the course of their practice, became familiar with the layout of our campus—which can save critical time in an emergency response situation.   I want to thank Sheriff’s Lt. Jose Sanchez for all the work he did in coordinating this event. 

UPCOMING EVENTS

·         We're going to WOW our new students at the beginning of this semester as we have in past semesters. WOW stands for "Week of Welcome" and Interim Dean Sara Glasgow promises that three information booths will be staffed from 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday, Aug. 19 and 20.  They will be located on the east side of Building 36, the west side of Building 55 and on the Bookstore side of Griffin Center.  Knowledgeable volunteers are invited to sign up for one hour of information duties via sara.glasgow@gcccd.edu.  If you or your department has an interesting event during that week, be sure to let Sara know so she can put it on the special calendar.  And remember, on Wednesday, Aug. 21, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., we'll be having our traditional Week of Welcome Fair, at which your department or organization may arrange to have a table or to host an activity or a display.  For more information, Sara's campus extension is 7159 or click on this link: http://www.grossmont.edu/docs/Gmont%20WOW%20Calendar%20Fall%202013.pdf.   

·         The Associated Students of Grossmont College are planning an observance on campus in memory of the victims of the 9-11 terrorist attacks of 2001.  It will begin at 8 a.m. with a recitation of the names of the nearly 3,000 victims, interspersed with six special moments of silence corresponding with the times that the two planes hit the Twin Towers, when the two towers fell, and when two other commandeered planes crashed.  Following the reading, approximately at 1 p.m., there will be a ceremony to honor first responders, at which the first recipient of the ASGC, Inc.'s Spirit of 9/11 Award will be announced.  The Bloodmobile will be on campus accepting donations in memory of the 9/11 victims. Everyone is also invited to visit the 9-11 Memorial Tree  that was planted near building 53  in 2011 in memory of the Sept. 11 attacks, and to leave a remembrance. To volunteer to be a reader, or to obtain a nomination form for the 'Spirit of 9-11 ad, contact ASGC President Esau Cortez at cortezesau@gmail.com, or via Extension 7794.

·         ESL instructor Mimi Pollack is seeking American-born pen pals to correspond with her students on a weekly basis for six weeks. The students will ask their pen pals questions about American life and culture, their work, family, hobbies, and special interests. If you are interested in helping to mentor an international student, please contact her at mimi.pollack@gcccd.edu

OUR NEW ADJUNCT FACULTY

Welcome to our new adjunct faculty!  To date for the Fall Semester we have hired 53 new adjunct faculty in 22 Departments.  These departments range alphabetically from AOJ to theater and everything in between! 

President's Newsburst - July 2013

PRESIDENT’S NEWSBURST

JULY 2013

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

From 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Tuesday, July 16, and Thursday, July 18, law enforcement officers en masse will be on the Grossmont campus to simulate several emergency scenarios that will involve the firing of blanks from their weapons, running, shouting and other disruptions.  Drills will be conducted throughout the day practicing what sheriff’s deputies and other nearby law enforcement agencies would do if there were a hostage situation on campus, and if there were someone on campus shooting a weapon. While such scenarios are, of course, horrific to contemplate, we have seen all too often how school grounds – whether K-12 or colleges– are not immune to gun violence.  Drilling for an emergency that we all hope will never happen at Grossmont College will enable law enforcement to better respond to such an event if it should ever occur.   In preparation for these two days of practice, Parking Structure 5, the two surface lots on either side of the structure, as well as portions of the 500 buildings and part of the back of Griffin Center will all be blocked off.  Classes and other business that normally occur in these areas will be moved to other parts of the campus during the drills.  These measures are intended to minimize operational disruption of the drill or college functions.  Students, staff and faculty will receive emails and text messages and notices will be posted on campus and our website in advance of the law enforcement so that everyone will be informed and no one will panic.   Remember this will be a drill and only a drill.

From unhappy, but very necessary news, let me turn to happy and intellectually stimulating news.  There is growing excitement on campus about the forthcoming “One Campus, One Book” program that will feature many departments studying Siddhartha Mukherjee’s The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer throughout the next academic year. English Prof. Tate Hurvitz once again is coordinating Grossmont College’s interdisciplinary participation in this project, which also involves such local four-year institutions as UCSD, SDSU, Cal State San Marcos, USD and Point Loma Nazarene College.  Among activities planned so far are a faculty art show Sept.30-Oct.24 planned by Suda House, which will depict experiences with and perspectives on cancer.  Proceeds from the sale of exhibited art will go to cancer research.  Roxanne Tuscany is weighing the possibility of having Grossmont College’s debate team take cancer on as a subject. Nutritionist Christine Zoumas, who takes a special interest in cancer-fighting nutrition, will  help us understand why some foods are helpful and others harmful. And, Donald Harrison, interim director of college and community relations is collaborating with KNSD/Channel 7 in the planning of a “Jeopardy” style game show, in which teams from the different colleges and universities would compete at Grossmont to answer faculty-submitted questions based on The Emperor of All Maladies.  Derek Cannon has accepted a challenge to develop jazz variations on the popular “Jeopardy” theme song.  William Snead is inviting film students to form a working group to make a documentary about the many aspects of Grossmont’s participation.  This is just the beginning of collaborative projects; we are hoping other departments also will become involved. When various projects examine an important subject such as cancer from various perspectives, it creates a wonderful synergy on campus that underscores the excitement of learning!

Finally, I’m happy to report that the Summer Wellness Program is drawing active participation from administrators, faculty and staff.  Participants are learning through a biometrics examination about their body weight and mass; in nutrition class about healthy eating, and in exercise classes the joys of yoga, lap swimming, and zumba.  Organizer Sharon Vilarino says there will be a “scavenger hunt” later in the summer which will be a “fun, easy way to encourage healthy eating, more physical activity and time to de-stress.”

FACULTY AND STAFF

Ann Durham  has been selected by the state chancellor’s office to serve as a deputy sector navigator to coordinate the educational offerings on nine community college campuses in San Diego and Imperial Counties with needs of the health care industry.

Brice W. Harris, California Community Colleges Chancellor along with district and college faculty and staff, toured our Health Science Complex June 19 before announcing a new tool to help students to decide on their careers: Salary Surfer, a chart examining before-and-after salaries of students who enroll in the great variety of associate degree and certificate programs offered at the 112 college campuses.  Here is the website:  http://salarysurfer.cccco.edu/SalarySurfer.aspx  Allied Health and Nursing Dean Debbie Yaddow and Liz Barrow, cardiovascular technology instructor, and their students participated in the tour.

Avelina Mitchell, an assistant cashier at Cuyamaca College, has been selected president of the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District’s Classified Senate.  At each campus, a slate of officers has been elected to serve with her. At Grossmont College, they are vice president, Linda Daley; member at large, Tom Fox; and senators Mary Eden, Patty Sparks, Sharon Farley and Cindy Hall. 

GREETINGS AND FAREWELLS

Sara Ferguson has joined us as a full-time ESL instructor.  Sara has a TESOL certificate from UCSD and a master's in applied linguistics from SDSU.  She has taught ESL for over 15 years at various colleges, including part-time at Grossmont.  As the daughter of an anthropologist who lived on the island of Mauritius, Sara is aware of and empathizes with the struggle and difficulties that students have navigating a new culture with limited knowledge of the language.

Kerry Kilber Rebman, Dean of Learning and Technology Resources, is moving to Cuyamaca College July 29th to oversee the various learning support services.  Kerry has gained a breadth of experience at Grossmont College by managing the library, instructional technology, tutoring, distance education, professional development and creative services.  We thank her for her three years of service to Grossmont College and wish her well on this next endeavor. 

Biology Instructor Gail Lillis and English Ass’t Prof. Linda Mitchell have retired from Grossmont College, and our best wishes follow them wherever they may go.

Cathy Miller has been appointed as a full-time English instructor. Cathy received her B. A. in English at UC Santa Barbara and her M. A. in English-Comparative Literature at SDSU.  She has taught the full range of composition courses, from developmental/basic skills through advanced composition, and she moves with ease and fluency between levels, always being completely student-centered in her approaches and assignments.  Cathy was a Project Success adjunct for us from 2007-2009 and then gained a wealth of experience when she and her family moved to Michigan.  She taught both at the University of Michigan, Dearborn, and Washtenaw Community College, also serving as Writing Program Director at the University of Michigan. 

Katrina VanderWoude, our new Vice President for Academic Affairs, will be starting her new post on Monday, August 5^th, after driving cross country with daughter Elyse and dog Lazlo from Michigan, where she had served as vice provost of Rochester College.  I hope you will all join me in giving her a big Grossmont College welcome.

STUDENT SUCCESS STORIES

Middle College High School Graduation -- On Monday, June 10, thirty-six students in Grossmont’s Middle College High School graduated, and were they ever impressive.  They earned an aggregate of $287,000 in scholarships, grants and work study awards, while compiling an average of 255 internship hours over their course of study.  The average GPA of the class was 3.75, with three students including valedictorian Laila Syeda Hamzai earning perfect 4.0’s.  The average number of college credits earned by these highly motivated students was a fraction shy of 30, with Sarah Lynee Gehman earning 43.   It’s just breathtaking how well these high school students do both academically and in the work place.

San Diego County Fair Winners -- Four Grossmont College students who entered various competitions at the San Diego County Fair have won best-of-class and best-of-show awards.  In addition, a number of Grossmont students won “first place” in individual categories within each class. The winners were Cody Johnson, a student in Toni Renier’s digital painting and illustration class, who won best of class and best of show for his digital drawing.  Christopher Glenn, another of Toni’s students, who won best of class for his montage of faces and a boat.  Marianne Blessing in Amanda Quintenz-Fiedler’s creative photography class won best of class and best of show for a studio and nature digital composite. In the short documentary category, L.J. Clark, a student in William Snead’s media communications class, won best of class  for “Louis Rose: The Forgotten Father,” a short film about the life and legacy of  one of San Diego’s pioneers.   Other Grossmont College first-place winners from Toni’s classes included Carlos Garcia, Tommy Gomez, Kim Hyun Jung, Seth Rader, Allison Sedar, Taryn Seidel, Allora Shaw, Judy Tran and Naomi Woods.

Oceanside International Film Festival – Bring Me Home, a film about veterans by Grossmont students Robert Ramos, Christian Vega, Antonie Aaron and Nasser Gortani has been selected as an entry to be shown August 25^th at the Oceanside International Film Festival.  This was a project for William Snead’s class.

Scholarships  -- David Morales-Boroff, one of Derek Cannon’s Afro-Cuban Ensemble students, has been awarded a full-tuition “President’s Scholarship” at Berklee College in Boston, where he will transfer in the fall.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Classified Employees Convocation – The second convocation for Grossmont College’s classified employees will start with a breakfast at 7 a.m., Thursday, August 1.  The program will begin at 8:00 a.m. in Griffin Gate and will continue through approximately 11 a.m.  All staff are asked to report to that location no later than 8 a.m. as offices will not be open during staff convocation. The keynote speaker of the morning will be Mary Carouba, author of Women At Ground Zero: Stories of Courage and Compassion, who will relate some of the remarkable things that women did in the aftermath of the infamous terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in Manhattan.  Time has been allotted for Mary to sign books following her talk.  Raffle prizes will also be awarded.

Week of Welcome –Sara Glasgow, interim associate dean of student affairs, who did such a wonderful job on coordinating Commencement activities, will be showing her organizing abilities again August 19-23 during the campus-wide Week of Welcome for new students. Three information booths will be located at strategic spots around the campus on  Monday and Tuesday, August 19 and 20, and on Wednesday, August 21, numerous organizations will staff their specialized booths on the Main Quad from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.  If you’d like a booth, please contact Sara.

Dvorak’s New World Symphony – Music Instructor Randall Tweed and Humanities Instructor Gareth Davies-Morris are collaborating on a synchronized concert and power point presentation which, as envisioned, will have the Grossmont Symphony Orchestra perform Dvorak’s New World Symphony against a backdrop of projected images featuring such American minority groups as AmerIndians, Chinese-Americans, and African-Americans.  The performances are scheduled Thursday, October 3, at 7:30 p.m. at St. John of the Cross Catholic Church in Lemon Grove, and on Sunday, October 6, at 7 p.m. at Paradise Valley Seventh Day Adventist Church in National City.

REST IN PEACE

With sadness we learned about the death in a traffic accident of Grossmont College student Harold Oliver Wise IV, who had been a promising theatre arts major.  In campus productions in the 2010-2011 season, the talented Wise had appeared as Laerte in Hamlet and as Valere in The Miser.  Our prayers go out to his family.

President's Newsburst - June 2013

PRESIDENT’S NEWSBURST

JUNE 2013

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

This year Grossmont College awarded 2,179 degrees and certificates to 1,217 students. This is an increase of 32% over 2011/12!  Approximately 450 students walked through the 52^nd commencement ceremony.  Military veterans Derrick Torrence, the student speaker, and alumni Rev. Eric Smith, the keynote speaker, inspired graduates, family and friends with their personal tales of overcoming hardships on the road to success.  We also continued our year-long honoring of Distinguished Faculty Member, Gary Jacobson.  Among students savoring their achievements together were husband and wife Tyler and Monica Schacht, sisters Jessica and Julie Sampugnaro, and the student speaker and daughter Jacquelyn Torrence.  It was my privilege, after their names were called, to personally greet each of the graduates.  What an uplifting experience!  Their smiles of joy and their obvious pride in finally wearing the robes of a college graduate, left me feeling incredibly energized by the occasion.  That same sense of positive energy radiated from the audience of family and friends, who hooted and hollered with delight as “their” graduate’s name was called.  Everything went off according to schedule, and I offer a tip of my mortarboard to Sara Glasgow, who headed the very large and efficient planning committee, and to Pat Murray, who coordinated a wonderful corps of volunteers, for the smooth and delightful functioning of this event.  Additional thanks for our entire facilities, maintenance and operations area as well as public safety for ensuring a beautiful and safe experience.

On Tuesday, June 4, the nursing program had its traditional “pinning” ceremony, in which new RN’s receive an insignia that, by tradition, must be pinned on by either a current or retired nurse.  This year’s graduating class of 35 included seven men, more than ever before.  Dean Debbie Yaddow says “We have guys who are second-career folks.  They are not just out of high school. The medium age here is 35 and they have been former police, former firefighters—big tough kinds of jobs.  Now they want to become nurses primarily because they want to help people and they come from some kind of helping profession.”  Among the graduates welcomed to the profession by an active nurse was Jonathan Robbins, who was pinned by his wife, Cheryl Robbins, who is a post-partum nurse at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla.  Jonathan has been working as an Emergency Room Tech at Sharp’s Hospital Chula Vista.  Children Brady and Mallory were there for the special occasion.

I had the chance to tell the nursing graduates that “It's an end to your ADN program here with us, but we know it is just the beginning for you so many, many best wishes to you and thank you for making Grossmont a part of your life.”

Speaking on behalf of the graduating nurses, Noelle Sanchez painted a compelling portrait of what it means to be a nurse. “To be a nurse is to be self-motivated, dependable and willing.  A nurse is not just book-smart and knowledgeable but intuitive and sensitive.  A nurse assesses and monitors objective medical data but never discounts a hunch or gut feeling when it comes to a patient.  A nurse is well versed in the latest evidence-based practice and implements a patient's plan of care… A nurse investigates a problem, advocates for the patient and educates.  In its truest form, to be a nurse is the essence of humility, empathy and compassion.  A nurse shows kindness, promotes health and preserves the dignity of the ill…   A nurse has the ability to build trust with complete strangers. They do it several times a day with each and every one of their patients…” 

Twenty Office and Professional Training (OPT) students specializing in accounting, banking or insurance (or in some cases a mixture of these) received a total of more than $4,000 in scholarship awards at the OPT graduation on June 7th, including a $1000 AAUW scholarship for Therese Camoras; four Insurance Vocational Education Student Training (InVEST) Scholarships of $500 each for Theresa Luu, Corin Moreno, Joanna Gutierrez Pompa and Angel Pulido; and another $500 International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP) Scholarship for Trish Feeney.  Speakers at the ceremony were Monica Zech, public information director for the City of El Cajon, and Angel Pulido, who spoke on behalf of her classmates.

Sixty two cadets of the Corrections Academy were graduated in an evening ceremony May 24, including student speaker Tina Sylvas and honor graduate Dajeur Brucemalone.  The keynote speaker was Tommy Marquez, a Grossmont alumnus who is an aide to Congressman Duncan Hunter. He shared experiences he had in the military working with Navy SEALS. Administration of Justice lead instructor Larry Graham and Academy coordinator Tina Young also spoke.  Corrections graduates are eligible to take positions in private correctional facilities, which have been growing in number since the state and counties were required to lower the number of prisoners in public correctional facilities.  Many graduates also enroll, with the benefit of this experience, in government-run law enforcement academies.

RECENT EVENTS

·         Science-loving students from four schools in the Grossmont Union High School District rotated in groups around the campus on Friday, May 31, to participate in four different health-related simulations under the auspices of the Health and Science Pipeline Initiative (HASPI) -- a countywide program to better prepare students for careers in medicine and health sciences. One simulation in 52-522 led by high school teacher Judi Heitz involved diagnostic testing to assess hCG levels to determine pregnancy.  In Building 36-355, students put on surgical gowns and gloves to perform "surgery" on simulated patients made from yoga mats.  Under the supervision of high school teacher and HASPI curriculum coordinator Heather Peterson, they had to locate "organs" inside the bodies, remove them, and then suture the "yoga-people" back up.  In 31-375, Grossmont College pre-med student James Saelens had students work with clay and a skull model to reconstruct a "missing person's" face and to match their results with images.  And, in the Main Quad, Reserve Police Officer Dan Olsen supervised a simulated "drunk driving" test in which students wore goggles distorting their vision and had to drive vehicles around a set of cones and baby dolls.

·         Symbolic Table Set for One in Griffin Center: In the week leading up to Memorial Day, the Student Veteran Organization led by its president, Darron DeVillez and vice president Frankie Rojas, erected Memorial Walls on which students, staff and faculty could write notes of remembrance or praise for our veterans, and set up in Griffin Center a symbolic “Table for One” as a reminder that there still are Americans who are missing in action (MIA) or prisoners of war (POW).  “The table for one is small…It symbolizes the frailty of one prisoner against his oppressors.  The tablecloth is white—symbolizing the purity of their motives when answering the call to duty.  The single red rose, displayed in a vase, reminds us of the life of each of the missing and the loved ones and friends of these Americans who keep the faith, awaiting answers.  The vase is tied with a yellow ribbon, symbol of our continued determination to account for our missing.  A slice of lemon on the bread plate is to remind us of the bitter fate of those captured and missing in a foreign land.  A pinch of salt symbolized the tears endured by those missing and their families who seek answers.  The glass is inverted—to symbolize their inability to share this evening’s toast.  The chair is empty—they are missing…”

·         Bike to Work Day is celebrated the third Friday in May, and this year on May 16 Grossmont College served as a stop for bike riders in our vicinity. Thirty-seven riders who arrived at the stop at the corner of Lot 1 were rewarded with such swag as a free T-shirt, water, and snacks.  Among those who did Grossmont College proud was Administrative Assistant III, MaryAnn Landry, who rode and walked 5.7 miles from the corner of Navajo and Waring Roads to the campus.  Patrice Braswell Burris, interim director of student activities, coordinated the pit stop.

KUDOS

Mathematics Prof. Beth Smith will be elevated July 1 to president of the Academic Senate of the 112 California Community Colleges.  In that position she will represent approximately 50,000 faculty members serving 2.5 million students throughout the state.  Beth has been working with Academic Senate issues at the state level since 2007.  She is an excellent communicator and has been conveying information to and from our college throughout those years. She has served in several leadership roles culminating in the presidency.  We couldn’t be more proud of her and we know she will serve the faculty of the state and also the community college system very well.”

Child care development instructor Sheridan DeWolf, former interim dean of career technical education/work force development, will receive the Barbara Chernofsky Lifetime Achievemen t Award today (Friday, June 6) from the San Diego County Child Care and Development Planning Council.  Sheridan was nominated by the Grossmont Child Care Development Department for her lifetime “leadership, passion and commitment” in the child care community.

Exercise Science Instructor Allen Hazard has been inducted into the Southwestern College Hall of Fame for his stellar performance as a student miler.  He ran both track and cross country.

SUMMERTIME SUMMERTIME

·         There will be only a brief pause before Summer Session starts on Monday, June 10, with 150 classes.  That’s was a whopping 525 percent increase over budget-curtailed summer 2012 when only 24 classes were offered.  Still, it’s a far cry from summer 2008 when 497 classes were offered.  In these numbers, one can see a tale of state spending on education.

·         Wellness opportunities for employees will be provided again this summer.  Yoga – June 18-July 25^th, TThurs, 1:15-2:15; Zumba – June 10^th-July 3^rd, M&W, 6-7PM; and Lap Swimming – June 10^th-July 31^st, M&W, 12:30-1:30.  Information is provided on the website at www.grossmont.edu/wellness

·         For the fourth year, Grossmont College will participate in the eight-week Life Science Summer Institute.  This program brings high school students onto Grossmont's campus for  40 hours of intensive training in biotechnology protocols (e.g.,ELISA, PCR). Students are selected via a rigorous application process. Professors Craig Milgrim and Allison Shearer of the Grossmont Biology department will teach the biotech skills course (Bio 113). In addition to the biotechnology skills, students will receive training from outside professionals in the "soft skills" necessary for working in a research team.  After their week at Grossmont, the students will spend the next seven weeks of the program interning at such venues as the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the Scripps Research Institute.  The Life Science Summer Institute is conducted in partnership with the Southern California Biotechnology Center at Miramar College, the San Diego Workforce Partnership, and San Diego State University.

·         Among the activities we’ll be seeing on campus this summer will be a four-day basketball camp  for boys and girls ages 6-13 from June 17-20 with Coach Karen Caires, and a four day camp Aug. 5-8 for students entering grades 3 through 9 in the fall. Coach Doug Weber says that in the course, “we will teach skills needed to play basketball successfully. We emphasize the FUNdamentals in a positive and enthusiastic way. We also teach about teamwork, sportsmanship, communication, goal setting and more.”

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS

We hope it will never happen, but what should be done if a shooter comes onto our campus?  Denise Schulmeyer, our professional development coordinator, reports that five workshops have been scheduled "to assist staff, faculty and administrators increase their ability to identify potential hazardous situations prior to and during an active shooter situation, and protect themselves from the active shooter."   She adds the workshops are also designed "to explain what to expect from the police officers, once they have on the scene.  In an active shooter situation, your behavior and actions can have a tremendous impact on the outcome of an event."

Here are the dates of the workshops, all on campus:
Monday, June 17, 2-3:30 p.m., 51-575.
Tuesday, June 25, 9-10:30 a.m., 51-575.
Wednesday, July 10, 10:30 a.m.-Noon, 26-220
Monday, July 15, 3:30-5 p.m., 26-220
Thursday, July 25, 1-2:30 p.m., 26-220.

Faculty attending a July workshop may claim 1.5 hours of flex credit for Fall 2013.

LOOKING AHEAD TO THE FALL 2013 SEMESTER

English Prof. Tate Hurvitz next semester will again lead the campus in an interdisciplinary reading project.  This time faculty and students in numerous disciplines will read Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee.  Previously Tate led us in reading Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.  This year’s selection “gives a very broad perspective on cancer as a disease and its role in our society.”   The book also will be studied on five university campuses in San Diego County: UCSD, SDSU, Cal State San Marcos, USD and Point Loma Nazarene.

Theatre Arts Prof. Beth Duggan has announced that the line-up of plays and staged readings next season at the Stagehouse Theatre will be “family friendly.”   Here’s the line-up:
Sept. 6-7 readings of poetry by Edgar Allan Poe.
Oct. 3-12 Pygmalion, directed by Jeannette Thomas
Nov. 14-23 To Gillian on Her 37^th Birthday, directed by Beth Duggan
Dec. 6-7 Follow Me, directed by Jerry Hager
Feb. 7-8 Inside the Actors’ Process, directed by Jerry Hager
Feb. 21-22 Misbehaving Women, a new play written by Grossmont’s Jeannette Thomas
March 13-22 You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown, directed by Susan Jordan DeLeon
May 8-17 Alice in Wonderland, directed by Jerry Hager.
Alexis Popko reminds us that discounted season packages may be obtained online at www.grossmont.edu/theatrebrochure, or via the box office’s 24-hour message line at (619) 644-7234.

Linda Snider, Associate Professor of Business Office Technology, coordinates the San Diego Imperial County Community College Association (SDICCCA) faculty internship program for Grossmont College. For this coming semester, as in previous semesters, she says, Grossmont College is the most sought-after destination by students in their master's programs at area universities who want to participate in the internship program by working as an intern to a faculty member. There were 20 applicants for 2013-2014 positions at Grossmont College, of which matches could be made for 12, according to Linda. In Spring 2013 mentors were Israel Cardona, Tony Ding, Angela Feres, Robert Henry, Tate Hurvitz, Lisa Ledri-Aguilar, Scott McGann, Todd Myers, Amy Ramos and June Yang.  Next semester, Professors Cardona, Ding, Henry, Hurvitz, Ledri-Aguilar and Yang will repeat as mentors. They will be joined by Carlos Contreras (who has accepted two interns), Steve Davis (who will share an intern with Jenny VandenEynden) Sharon Giles, Gwyneth Mapes, and Michael Perez.