PRESIDENT’S NEWSBURST
JUNE 2013
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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
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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 52nd
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.
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…”
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.
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RECENT EVENTS
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·
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.
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KUDOS
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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.
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.
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SUMMERTIME SUMMERTIME
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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 25th, TThurs, 1:15-2:15; Zumba – June 10th-July
3rd, M&W, 6-7PM; and Lap Swimming – June 10th-July
31st, 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.
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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.”
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EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
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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.
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.
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LOOKING AHEAD TO THE FALL 2013
SEMESTER
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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 37th 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.
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 37th 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.
