ELECTION RESULTS
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With results from 100 percent of the precincts,
Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District Governing Board President Bill
Garrett won reelection for Seat #3 with 81 percent of the vote over challenger
Moe Bakeer (90,872 to 20,769 votes), and teacher/career educator Mary Kay
Rosinksi, a 38-year resident of El Cajon,
defeated incumbent Timothy Caruthers (68.73 to 31.63 percent, 79,828 to 36,923
votes). Caruthers, a practicing chiropractor for 22 years, was first elected to
the board in 1996, and then reelected in 2000 and 2004. A former Grossmont
student, Caruthers served several times as a board officer, including board
president in 2003.
ACCJC ACCREDITATION
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Two members of the Western Association of Schools and
Colleges (WASC) accreditation team visited our campus this week. Dr. James
Hottois, Superintendent-President at Palo Verde College, and Dr. Ronald Harlan,
Dean of Instructional Services at Glendale Community College, had previously
been here on campus for another accreditation visit in 2007. During their
recent visit, they addressed four recommendations from the Accrediting
Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC). The recommendations that were
addressed: #1.
Diversity in hiring; #2. SLO progress; #3. Streamlining the institutional
planning process; and #4. Excellent working relationships across the District.
They expressed their appreciation for the enormous amount of work done by the
college and district to address the four areas. But given the current
climate for accreditation, they urged us to continue to make steady progress in
these areas. Their assessment will be sent to the commission for action at its
January 2009 meeting.
PARKING UPDATE
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A recent evaluation of available parking spaces on campus
has resulted in changing the afternoon start time when faculty and staff are
able to park on campus. Faculty and staff can now park in any student or staff
parking lot on campus after 2 p.m., Monday through Thursday, as well as all day
Friday. In addition, in order to encourage parking on the soccer field,
faculty and staff parking off-site will randomly be selected for soccer permits
as well as a $25 gift certificates in daily/weekly drawings. All faculty and staff can park on
campus from Dec. 19, 2008, through Jan. 23, 2009. Students are still encouraged
to park on campus instead of local surrounding neighborhood streets.
Unfortunately, some of our students who park on the residential streets have
not been as tidy as they should have been. So, members of ASGC, as well as a
crew of Grossmont instructors, have recently participated in several trash
pick-up trips through the nearby neighborhoods.
BUDGET UPDATE
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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has told state education leaders
that he will push for a tax hike and deep cuts to schools to help
close the state’s budget gap. Educators also have been told to prepare for
immediate cuts in the range of $5 billion. A special session has been called
this week to tackle the state’s rapidly developing budget crisis. The special
session will consider both revenue/tax increases and spending cuts.
Community College advocates are arguing that one of the most important strategies
the state can use is to keep the state’s job training engine moving by funding
the existing enrollment in community colleges. Few expect the lame-duck special
session will produce any miracles. Stay tuned.
CAREER EXPO
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Grossmont’s 30th annual Career Expo will be held from 10
a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 19.
The theme is “Take the Lead.” More than 120 exhibitors will be available to
network with job seekers, who are encouraged to dress up and bring copies of
their resume. For a complete listing of exhibitors, visit www.grossmont.edu/jobplacement.
Presenting sponsors include the ASGC, Grossmont College Foundation, Sharp
HealthCare, UPS and Wells Fargo. At 11 a.m., awards will be presented to
sponsors by Carol LeBeau and Kimberly Hunt of KGTV/10News. The Career Expo is
part of Career Week, which will feature free clinics on resume and cover letter
writing, interviewing tips and salary negotiations. For more event information,
call the Career Center at (619) 644-7614 or Student Employment Services at
(619) 644-7611.
ROCK THE PAGE
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The Creative Writing Department will host “Rock The Page,”
an all-day creative write-a-thon fundraiser from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. this
Saturday, Nov. 8, in Griffin Gate. The fundraiser is open to the public. Cost
to participate is a minimum donation of $50, which includes lunch, an “I Rocked
The Page” t-shirt and prize opportunities.
For pledge sheets and more information, phone Grossmont College English
instructors Sydney Brown at x7523, or Stephanie Mood at x7495. Attendees will
be invited to spend the day writing in four genres, including fiction, poetry,
creative non-fiction and drama. Proceeds from the event will be used to pay for
the college’s Literary Arts Festival, to be held April 20 to May 1, 2009.
Scheduled speakers at next year’s Literary Arts Festival include Dani Dodge,
East County bureau editor of the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper, and
Jimmy Santiago Baca, an award-winning poet and author who learned to read and
write while incarcerated in the Arizona prison system on drug charges.
GALA SUMMARY
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The Grossmont College Foundation reports 340 people attended
its recent seventh annual Dinner Auction and Gala, held Oct. 25 at the Hilton
San Diego Resort, and helped raised about $130,000. “Imagine the Possibilities”
was this year’s theme. Co-chairs were Judy Garrett and Beverly Wight. Speakers
discussed the outstanding ongoing charitable work by the Grossmont College
Foundation and the recently announced Osher Initiative for California Community
Colleges, which is a perpetual matching endowment fund for scholarships. Many
thanks to our corporate sponsors, college faculty, staff and volunteers.
PRESIDENT’S LEADERSHIP AWARD
NOMINATIONS DUE ON NOVEMBER 14
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Nominations for the President’s Leadership Award and
Chancellor’s Classified Senate Quarterly Award are both due on Friday,
Nov. 14. The Leadership Award will be announced during the Spring 2009 Flex
Week. Nominations of full-time administrative staff and other individuals in
leadership positions at Grossmont College may be submitted by any member of the
college community who has personal and direct knowledge of the nominee’s work,
and who can comment on the unique and outstanding characteristics in support of
the nominee’s excellent service to the students, faculty and staff. For the
Classified Senate Quarterly Award, anyone may nominate any classified employee.
The award celebrates a classified employee with recognition for outstanding
work.
SPIRIT WEEK
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ASGC will host a variety of activities during Spirit Week.
Activities will be held at various times on Tuesday, Wednesday and
Thursday, Nov. 11-13, leading up to the final regular season football game at 1
p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 15 on campus. The Nov. 15 game vs. Saddleback has
playoff implications. Spirit Week activities are expected to include pep
rallies with football players, cheerleaders and Gizmo the mascot, as well as
other events designed to generate enthusiasm and school pride among students,
including a root-beer drinking contest and wet t-shirt contest.
AOJ INTERN ON NATIONAL TV
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A Grossmont College Administration of Justice student with
dreams of becoming a real-life CSI recently had a turn on nationwide TV – not
on the popular CBS series, but on the NBC morning show,
Today, interviewed in studio by co-anchor Matt Lauer. Gabrielle Wimer, a
forensic technology student, was featured for her remarkable sleuthing as an
intern for the San Diego Police Department. Assigned to go through hundreds of
unsolved murder cases, her attention was drawn to one in particular: the brutal
1972 stabbing of Vietnam vet and postal worker Jerry Jackson. Detectives
recovered fingerprint evidence, but without a national database to check, no
match was made and the case eventually was shelved. When Wimer, 24, came across
the case, the sheer volume of evidence prompted her to wonder what hidden
information could be uncovered using modern-day technology. Her hunch paid off
some three or four months later, when the FBI made a match of the prints she
had requested to be sent through the agency’s database. In mid-October, a
60-year-old man was arrested as a suspect in the stabbing death.
RECENT HONORS AND RECOGNITION
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Following a site visit in late October, the
National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission has recommended an initial
accreditation for the Grossmont College School of Nursing. The initial
accreditation is the first step in the process toward securing a five-year
accreditation, which is expected to be announced in January 2009.
Grossmont’s Foster Adoptive and Kinship Care
Education Program is a partner with the County of San Diego Adoptions Agency.
The County recently was honored with the 2008 Adoptions Excellence Award from
the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services for its support of adoptive families.
Sunny Cooke has been named to the East
County YMCA board of directors. The East County YMCA operates the John A. Davis
Family YMCA in La Mesa, the Cameron Family YMCA in Santee, and the McGrath
Family YMCA Sports Complex in Rancho San Diego. The East County YMCA is
dedicated to improving the quality of human life and to helping all people
realize their fullest potential as children of God through the development of
spirit, mind and body.
Joe Orate, Culinary Arts, competed
against about 400 other individuals and earned an individual bronze medal in
the fruit and vegetable carving category at the recent International Culinary
Olympics in Erfurt, Germany. Four Grossmont students traveled to Germany with
Orate and Carrie Clay, Associate Dean/ROP, to assist in the preparation of the
entry. They included Ana Lilia Hernandez, Carmen Reyes, Susan Demers and Modie
Moore. Orate’s entry included turnip and radish flowers, squash, cucumbers,
melons and beets carved into grapes. The Culinary Olympics, held every four
years, drew about competitors from 52 countries.
James Foran, Culinary Arts, participated
for his fourth consecutive year at the recent “Celebrate the Craft” fundraiser
held at The Lodge in Torrey Pines. The event matches local growers with many of
San Diego’s most acclaimed chefs. Foran created a dessert using melons grown on
a Temecula farm. Proceeds benefit Slow Food, an international organization
dedicated to promoting ecologically sound food production.
Grossmont’s Office Professional Training (OPT)
program was highlighted in a San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper article
published on Monday, Nov. 3. The article discussed greater enrollment for
vocational programs at community colleges.
Rick Griffin, interim director of the
College and Community Relations Office, was a recipient of a business writing
award from the San Diego Press club at its recent Excellence in Journalism
Awards program. It was Griffin’s four consecutive year and seventh out of the
last eight for winning a San Diego Press Club writing award.