Mohsen Janatpour and Darryl Stanford looking up at the new science building

ABOUT US 

The Reach for the Stars Team

Reach for the Stars is a joint effort between College of San Mateo and the San Mateo County Community Colleges Foundation. Email: reachforthestars@smccd.net

Milla McConnell-Tuite
The Reach for the Stars project coordinator, she has more than 10 years experience assisting faculty seek external funding to develop innovative programs. She can be reached at (650) 574-6699 or mcconnell@smccd.net

Georgi La Berge
The San Mateo Community Colleges Foundation Executive Director, she can be reached at (650) 574-6229 or laberge@smccd.net

Ellen Leach
Providing additional support for the project, she is an administrative assistant. Ellen Leach can be reached at (650) 358-6794 or leach@smccd.net.

About this Site: The Reach for the Stars logos were designed by CSM graduate, Patricia López-Hurtado, who can be reached at patricia@plhdesign.com. The website was designed by Dennis Keane who can be reached at keane@smccd.net.

Astronomy Faculty

Mohsen Janatpour, Coordinator of the Astronomy Program and Professor of Astronomy, Mathematics & Physics at CSM, holds graduate degrees in all three disciplines.

He is the founder of CSM's broad community outreach program, Project Star Gaze, into local elementary schools as well as CSM's astronomy days now offered several times a year. He was one of the core faculty who developed physics curriculum for several National Science Foundation-supported initiatives and for CSM’s Integrated Science Center. He is also a successful artist whose work is frequently shown in exhibitions and who lectures on the subject of using art to foster students’ understanding of science. (Some of his work may be viewed at http://www.mohsensart.com)

Mohsen Janatpour can be reached at (650) 574-6272 and janatpour@smccd.net.
Office: Building 11, Room 140.
Website info: http://smccd.net/accounts/janatpour

Darryl Stanford, Associate Professor of Astronomy & Physics at CSM, holds graduate degrees in both physics and astronomy and has four years of direct observation experience as well as considerable experience managing an astronomy facility.

He served as chair of the astronomy program at City College of San Francisco and currently manages all of CSM’s astronomy program equipment and facilities. In addition to his appointment at CSM, he teaches physics at San Francisco State University and periodically lectures at Morrison Planetarium and Astronomical Society of the Pacific’s Project ASTRO (http://www.astrosociety.org ). Subject of a profile on African-American astronomers in Mercury (1995) and one of few African-American astronomy educators in the country, he is dedicated to making science meaningful for youngsters, college-age students, and the public at large, conducting dozens of star parties and star gazing events at CSM’s planetarium each year.

Darryl Stanford can be reached at (650) 574-6256 and stanfordd@smccd.net.
Office: Planetarium, Building 13.
Website info: http://smccd.net/accounts/stanfordd

Why College of San Mateo?

College of San Mateo is one of the most-respected community colleges in the 109-college system of the California Community Colleges. It is a statewide leader in transfer and degree completion rates: 2nd for combined measures of academic success; 16th for transfer rates; and 5th for the number of A.A./A.S. degrees and certificates awarded.

It provides educational opportunities for its students to earn associate degrees, transfer to baccalaureate institutions, develop basic and lifelong learning skills, and train or retrain for the workplace. It offers general education and major preparation in over 80 discipline areas as well as comprehensive remedial and developmental coursework.

CSM also offers numerous workplace preparation options through its certificate programs and through a self-supporting corporate and community education service. Today CSM maintains more than 50 primary occupational programs with most offering both degree and certificate options.

Student Demographic Profile

CSM's students are certainly more ethnically and racially diverse, older, and less affluent than students at local four-year universities. The average student age is 29; 45% are age 26 or older. What these diverse students have in common is the imperative to work, frequently at wages below the San Francisco Bay AreaÕs high ceiling for poverty level. Over 80% do work, with at least 10% of the employed population reporting that they work more than 40 hours a week.

Increasing numbers of ethnic minority students seek CSM's services, proportions expected to grow swiftly as they have in the San Francisco Bay Area at large. All demographic forecasts indicate that this trend will continue at an accelerated pace in the coming years. In Fall 2004, for example, college enrollment included: 26.7 %Asian, 3.6% African American, 20.3% Hispanic/Latino, 0.6% Native American, 40.7% White, and 7.8%% self-identified as other or unknown. Today 22% are immigrants, not all of whom possess permanent resident status. And more than 600 disabled students enroll each year, including those with identified psychological disabilities.