eGrossmont

Volume 13, May 2013 - Previous Editions

Governing Board Meeting Highlights

At the May 21 meeting of the GCCCD Governing Board:

• Trustees commented on the many awards and recognition ceremonies held at the college including the College Recognition ceremony and Students of Note.
• Trustee Garrett and Barr also shared that they had attended the play, An Ordinary Day, which marked by dark humor.

Other Governing Board highlights will appear in the Courier which is distributed electronically from the District Office.

Exciting News About Commencement

We received exciting news about this year's graduation on June 5. Grossmont College is awarding 529 more degrees and certificates than were awarded last year! That's an increase of 24.5% over last year. The number of degree and certificate completers totals 2,159 this year!

Our alumni speaker is Rev. Eric Smith, author of "From Crack to Clergy: Provoking Thoughts" as our keynote speaker. Rev. Smith served in the U.S. Navy for eight years and is currently a disabled veteran. After two years in Grossmont's Ethnic Studies program, he transferred to Christian Heritage College where he received his Bachelor's degree in Human Development. Rev. Smith entered the ministry in 1999 and founded the nonprofit Loving Care Outreach Church to serve the public and those in need, including addicts, alcoholics, inmates and troubled youth.

Our student speaker is Derrick Torrence, who will be graduating with an associate degree in University Studies - Social and Behavioral Sciences. Derrick retired from the Marine Corps in the spring of 2009 and started at Grossmont College in the fall. While a student, Derrick worked as a substance abuse counselor for the San Diego State University Center for Alcohol and Drug Studies, and as an addiction therapist and a homeless veteran outreach specialist with the Veterans Administration. Currently, he works for the San Diego Dads Corps of the nonprofit Social Advocates for Youth, as a case manager helping fathers become more positively engaged in their families. Communication Instructor, Victoria Curran, will be working to prepare Derrick to address his fellow graduates.

Commencement begins at 5:30 pm on Wednesday June 5 with a pre-commencement reception at 4:30 pm in the LTRC 2nd floor. Hope to see you there!

It's Here

The 2013 Self Evaluation Report was presented to the Governing Board in a workshop held earlier today. The draft report is nearing completion and is the collective work of nine writing teams involving over 80 people from the campus. The report cites the work done to date on previous recommendations made by the commission and evaluates the college against four established standards. After board action and final revisions, the document will be mailed to ACCJC by end of June. The next steps will include preparing for the October 14-17 site visit by our peers. Special thanks to Dr. Chris Hill for her leadership on this project!

Praise and Recognition

College Recognition: The Annual College Recognition Ceremony was held on May 9. Ten faculty rank awards, 3 classified staff awards, and 76 Kudos awards were all given to some of our exceptional faculty and staff. Twelve teaching excellence awards were presented to part-time and full-time faculty and the distinguished faculty member, Gary Jacobson was recognized. Tim Flood was honored for the President's Leadership award and finally Tate Hurvitz was awarded the Innovator of the Year award for developing a mini-series on embedding engaging teaching practices into the curriculum.

Students of Note: The 21st annual Students of Note Ceremony was held Saturday May 11th. This ceremony is a very touching one that honored 17 students this year for overcoming significant personal, health, financial or other hurdles on their way to graduation this June. The ceremony was a lovely recognition in honor of students who, as one student stated, normally do not receive such honors.

ASGC Awards: The 51st annual Academic/Service Awards ceremony in April honored our outstanding student leaders.

Literary Arts Festival

We have had some incredible theater, music, art, photography and other events this spring, but special recognition goes to the organizers of this year's Literary Arts Festival. Kudos to Sydney Brown, festival director, Karl Sherlock, Ryan Griffith, Juliana Cardenas, Rob Williams and Adam Deutsch for their tireless work in organizing the four-day event. Barry Wilson and Benetta Buell-Wilson, a former student of Stephanie Mood's and Sydney Brown's, donated $10,000 this year to assist in the effort to bring living writers to Grossmont College.

The Festival reached more than 2,000 students and community members and in addition to bringing internationally renowned authors Tobias Wolff (considered one of the greatest living short story writers) and Iraqi refugee poet, Dunya Mikhail, who told stories of her exile and shared poems in both English and Arabic, it featured a variety of ways for students to engage with literary arts.

Basic Skills students read Wolff's memoir, This Boy's Life, and wrote their own stories about their lives for a contest. First place went to Jenna Odenal, second to Mariah J. Boyd, and third to Pedro Dominguez. American Literature students presented papers on the works of Tobias Wolff, and Creative Writing Program students presented original works of fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry.

Recent Honors and Awards

The Department of Allied Health and Nursing was awarded a $221,000 grant from the State Chancellor's office for retention in nursing. The one-year grant, which begins in Fall 2013, will fund the student success advisor and allow the department to upgrade its simulators. Program attrition has gone from 35 percent to 10 percent, with a 100 percent pass rate on the licensure exam during four of the last five semesters. Dean Debbie Yaddow credits the success to the student success advisor and the "hard work by our faculty."

Dr. Carlos Contreras was one of 15 professors chosen to participate in the NEH Summer Institute June 9-21. The seminar titled, "African-American History & Culture in the Georgia Low country: Savannah & The Coastal Islands," will address the broad themes of race and slavery in American history by focusing on "site-specific experiences of communities in and around Savannah from the late eighteenth through the early twentieth centuries."

Grossmont student Darron DeVillez received the top statewide student award for California Community Colleges CalWorks. DeVillez is president of the college's Student Veterans Organization, a Student of Note and active on the Speech and Debate Team.

Larry Kline, director of the Hyde Art Gallery, and his wife and collaborator, Debby, are winners of the 2013 San Diego Art Prize. The Klines will select an emerging artist and their works will be exhibited at the San Diego Art Fair in Balboa Park Nov. 7-11 and in an exhibition at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library in La Jolla in 2014.

Lana Abdulrazzaq, a junior at El Cajon Valley High School, won the "First Female" Essay Contest. Sydney Brown created the contest three years ago in collaboration with the AAUW. Lana will receive a $500 prize and two tickets to the AAUW author's luncheon.

Grossmont was chosen as the site for San Diego's inaugural STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Summit May 3. The all-day event attracted 150 participants from colleges and universities in San Diego and Imperial counties and included Duane Roth of CONNECT, Ellen Peneski of the San Diego STEM Collaboratory and Chris Roe of the California STEM Learning Network. Issues discussed included linking academics with real-world STEM, public-private partnerships to support STEM education and next generation science standards. Thanks to Dean Mike Reese for bringing this event to Grossmont College!

Congratulations to the 2013-2014 ASGC, Inc. and Student Trustee election winners. The ASGC, Inc. board will meet at 8 a.m. May 28 in Room 60-207 for the last business meeting of the current semester and to swear in new executives and directors for the next academic year. Peg Marcus, current ASGC president, is the student trustee-elect; Esau Cortez is the ASGC, Inc. President; and Zack Gianino is Vice President.

Nine student leaders traveled to the Student Senate for California Community Colleges General Assembly, April 25-28, in San Francisco with the Associated Students of Grossmont College. General Assembly is an opportunity for student governments to represent their students in upcoming state-wide legislation, discuss and debate on state-wide issues and for sharing ideas about how to make the community college system a better place.

Evan Wirig and students from the Grossmont College Radio Station, Griffin Radio, have been invited for the fourth consecutive year to participate in the La Mesa Flag Day Parade as the Grand Stand Announcers along the La Mesa Boulevard parade route. This patriotic event is an annual tradition. Festivities will begin at 9 a.m. on June 1 with pre-parade concerts. The parade starts at 10 a.m., and will proceed along La Mesa Boulevard from Memorial Drive, through the downtown village to La Mesa City Hall.

Recent Campus Events

Martha Barnette, co-host of the public-radio show, "A Way with Words," heard each week by listeners in more than 230 cities across North America and around the world by podcast, spoke on campus April 18.

The Dance Department's annual fundraiser, "Entrances and Exits," a faculty choreographed dance concert, was held April 25, 26 and 27 at the Joan B. Kroc Theatre.

Grossmont College Theatre Arts' production of "An Ordinary Day," ended its two-week run May 18.

Stephanie Bedwell presented an exhibition of her sculptural works and gave an artist talk titled, "Leaning Into Dreams" May 17 at St. Peter's Church in Del Mar.

On May 11, Grossmont hosted Sea Perch underwater robotics tournaments for middle and high school students.

Grossmont College was one of 90 official pit stops across the county for the iCommute "Bike to Work Day" May 17.

Rabbi Caine of Ner Tamid Synagogue spoke on "What Does It Mean to be Religious?" at a May 7 event sponsored by the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies.

The Behavioral Sciences Department hosted Mental Health Awareness Day May 16. David Diamond, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst, was the keynote speaker.

Music Instructor Randall Tweed spearheaded another successful music program fundraiser. The 2013 Annual Friends of Music Gala was held Saturday, May 11, at the Cuyamaca College Student Center.

Associate Professor Paul Turounet spoke to the La Mesa Kiwanis Club on Friday, May 17, about the 10 years he spent photographing migrants along the U.S./Mexico border.

On May 15, Larry Kline, director of the Hyde Gallery, and his wife, Debby, lectured at the 2013 Qualcomm User Experience Symposium.

Rep. Susan Davis toured the Grossmont campus on May 2 and visited the Veterans Resource Center and the Health and Sciences complex.

Upcoming Campus Events

The Men in Nursing Workshop will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. June 1 in Griffin Gate. Chad O'Lynn, author of "A Man's Guide to a Nursing Career" is the guest speaker. Cost is $15 for students and $30 for licensed professionals. Contact Peter Brooks at peter.brooks@gcccd.edu for more information.

The Grossmont Symphony Orchestra will present its "International Concert," with director Randall Tweed and guest artist and flautist Suzanne Kennedy at 7:30 p.m. May 29 at St. John of the Cross Catholic Church, 8086 Broadway, Lemon Grove. Donations are requested.

The Hyde Gallery's current exhibition, "Student Art Exhibition 2013" runs through May 23. The gallery, located in Building 25 across from Caf� 200, is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. Admission is free.

The Photography Program will present an exhibition of photographic works from the Photographer's Portfolio class from 4 to 5:30 p.m. June 5, with a preview and a closing reception from 7:30 to 9 p.m. in the Digital Arts Building, Room 103. As the class is the program's capstone, many of the exhibiting students will be graduating and moving on to transfer institutions and into the professional world.

Javier F. Alonso, Chris Juracka, Mary Beth Klauer, Kalju, Kotka, Lacey Leonard, Jeanine Spraul and Debra Tatz, former and current Grossmont photography students, will present "Discovery Through Photography: The Photography of the f/45 Group" at Gallery 21 in Balboa Park's Spanish Village. The exhibit will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 22 through June 3. An artist reception will be held from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday, May 26.

Grossmont College will host the East County Chamber's First Friday Breakfast from 7 to 9 a.m. June 7.

Sports Report

Men's Swim and Dive won the Pacific Coast Conference Championship (PCAC) by scoring over 1,000 points at the conference championship meet, 300 more than the nearest competitor. Brian Harvey was named PCAC Swim and Dive coach of the year. Grossmont qualified many participants for the State Championships where the college team finished 10th overall.

Men's Volleyball also won the PCAC championship. They then went on to win their way through the state playoffs and eventually faced Golden West College for the state title. The Griffins came up short, settling for the state runner-up. Travis Lee was named PCAC men's volleyball coach of the year.

Badminton qualified a singles and doubles team for this year's state championships. Each made it through the first round, but was eliminated in the quarter finals.

Softball and baseball both had similar years, finishing just out of first place in the PCAC. Each team based on its strong win-loss records (softball 24-15 and baseball 26-12) garnered first round play-off berths; however, both teams were eliminated in the opening round of play.

Women's and Men's Tennis both qualified a full complement of singles and doubles players to this year's state championship individual tournament held in the tennis capital of the state, Ojai. All Griffin players made it through the first round of play, but were then eliminated in the semi-finals.