Stories
Dance@CSM
Family Science Day
CSM Library Makerspace
- 3-D printing, tools for loan and a helpful staff encourage all to tinker, create, innovate, and learn
![A Makerspace Dia de los Muertos altar memorializes longtime CSM Communications Professor George Kramm,](/100/images/Makerspace_1_699.jpg)
Dr. Jennifer Taylor-Mendoza
- CSM’s 10th president aims for the college’s second century to be even more transformational than its first
![President Jennifer Taylor-Mendoza speaks at College of San Mateo’s Centennial Gala on March 31, 2022](/100/images/Taylor-Mendoza_1_699.jpg)
Janis Wisherop and CSM Nursing
- While other nursing schools had to pause during COVID, CSM’s stayed open and provided care to thousands of people
![Janis Wisherop and CSM Nursing Students group shot](/100/images/Nursing_1_699.jpg)
100 Years of Making Dreams Come Through
Veterans Resource and Opportunity Center
Masterworks Chorale
Saving CSM's History
- How four unlikely preservationists rescued priceless records so future Bulldogs may know on whose shoulders they stand
![Mohsen Janatpour, Professor of physics and astronomy at CSM](/100/images/SavingCSMsHistory_1_699.jpg)
Helen Souranoff (Class of 1984)
In for the Long Haul
CSM as a Hispanic Serving Institution
- These federal grants fund innovative centers and programs that benefit all students
![CSM Puente graduates](/100/images/CSMasHSI_1_699.jpg)
‘One and Done’ Math
Registration Then and Now
Nicole Quigley-Borg and Softball Champions
Eleanore Druehl Nettle (Class of 1933)
How We Learned before the Internet
- Suitcase-sized ‘portables’ and harried AV runners brought data and images to students
![CSM students demonstrate portable microfiche readers in the 1960s](/100/images/HowWeLearned_1_699.jpg)
Mohsen Janatpour
Luke (Bob) Block (CSM Student 1965-68)
John Noce (CSM Class of 1951)
- Bulldog baseball coach with 772 career wins, 1962–1992
- Three-time Olympic baseball coach
![John Noce, CSM Class of 1951](/100/images/JohnNoce_1_699.jpg)
Allan R. Brown (CSM Class of 1954)
- Astute and trusted listener to all persons during 1968 Uprising
CSM’s top student service award honors his legacy
![Allan Brown, then CSM Dean of Students, presents an award in the 1980s to student Lenny Vogt](/100/images/AllanBrown_1_699.jpg)
Dieter Dengler (CSM Class of 1963)
- Awarded the Navy Cross for his odds-defying escape
CSM Aeronautics Student of the Semester, 1962
![Dieter Dengler re-enacts his captivity for Werner Herzog’s 1997 documentary ‘Little Dieter Needs to Fly.’](/100/images/DieterDengler_1_699.jpg)
Monday Morning Blues
Cathy Kennedy
- Developer of CSM’s Networking Technology Lab & curriculum
- 1998 U.S. Community College Professor of the Year
![Cathy Kennedy in 2021](/100/images/CathyKennedy_1_699.jpg)
J. Craig Venter (CSM Class of 1972)
- First to sequence the genome of a free-living organism
- Led team that sequenced the human genome
![J. Craig Venter](/100/images/J.CraigVenter_1_699.jpg)
Warren Furutani (Student in 1968)
- Expelled from CSM for protest activity during 1968 Uprising
- First Asian-American elected to the Los Angeles city school board
![Then-Assemblyman Warren Furutani, booted from CSM in 1968 for his activism, delivers CSM’s 2009 commencement address](/100/images/WarrenFurutani_1_699.jpg)
The Kohl Mansion
- SMJC’s first building of its own was a once-grand Victorian in today’s San Mateo Central
Park
![SMJC’s first building of its own was a once-grand Victorian in today’s San Mateo Central Park](/100/images/Kohl1_699.jpg)
CSM Centennial Gala
- College leaders, alumni, students and community members gathered at Burlingame's Kohl Mansion to celebrate 100 years of academic excellence
![College leaders, alumni, students and community members at Burlingame's Kohl Mansion](/100/images/Gala1_699.jpg)
CSM at 75
Michael Chriss
KCSM-TV
Baldwin Avenue
- Kodachrome movies preserve pre-World War II life at San Mateo Junior College’s first (and also third) campus
![SMJC’s main Baldwin Avenue building as seen from above](/100/images/BaldwinAvenue_1_699.jpg)
Dan Odum
Life Comes to Burlingame
Tom Martinez
The Brawl
Radio's Rooftop Roots
- CSM’s nationally acclaimed broadcast program began as a 1920s nerd haven on Baldwin campus roof
![Current KCSM-FM general manager Dante Betteo shows off the station’s music library](/100/images/Radio_3_699.jpg)
Claire Mack
Steinway Stories
- Synergies between CSM’s music and broadcasting departments yielded one of KCSM-FM manager Dan Odum’s favorite moments: a 1966 radio interview with John H. Steinway of the piano-making clan.
![KCSM-FM manager Dan Odum, left, interviews John H. Steinway](/100/images/Steinway_2_699.png)
Building College Heights
San Mateo County History Museum
Julio Bortolazzo
Isago Isao Tanaka
Washington Kingsby (CSM Class of 1962)
Robin Heyeck
- Fine-art letterpress printer and paper marbler
- CSM professor of English, 1965-2001
- Instructor in CSM’s feminist Re-Entry Center for women
![CSM emeritus Professor Robin Heyeck and the Chandler-Price platen press on which she prints fine-art limited editions of poetry and prose](/100/images/robin1_640.jpg)
Arnett Caviel
- CSM counselor and professor of counseling and life skills
- Former EOPS director, dean of Special Programs and Services and interim chancellor, among many other roles
![Arnett Caviel, right, with Skyline College students in the 1970s](/100/images/arnett1_640.jpg)
Vince Rascon
- CSM professor of art; Champion of Mexican culture and of U.S.-Mexican cross-cultural
understanding
![Vince Rascon with some of his work in the 1960s](/100/images/vince1_640.png)
Asian Pacific American Film Festival
Merv Griffin (1943)
Spring Fever
Espresso comes to CSM
- Student-run Café International poured the campus’ first espresso in 1989 and served up coffee and community for more than 25 years
![Café International circa 1990 in the former CSM student center, near where today’s Health and Wellness Building now stands](/100/images/espresso1_640.jpg)
Coyote Point
Jacqueline Grossman Massing (Class of 1976)
- Holocaust survivor and escapee from Nazi-occupied France
- Student body president, 1975
- Activist for affordable child care on campus
![Jackie Massing campaigns for Associated Students of CSM president in December 1974](/100/images/jackie1_640.jpg)
Mary Meta Lazarus Child Development Center
- CSM’s onsite child development center celebrates 40 years of affordable, high‑quality care
![CSM Child Development Center Coordinator Maggie Barrientos interacting with young students](/100/images/cdc3_640.jpg)
College Readiness Program
- A College of San Mateo program founded for Black learners in the idealistic 1960s changed the lives not just of its students but also of its teachers and supporters
![CRP Students in 1968](/100/images/CRP2_640.jpg)
CRP Becomes EOPS
- Students’ frustration at losing a valued program for learners of color spurred lawmakers in 1969 to create today’s EOPS
![CSM’s College Readiness Program Flier](/100/images/CRPtoEOPS_640.png)
EOPS: "Above and Beyond" Support
- CSM’s Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS) goes the extra mile to help students overcome steep barriers to success
![EOPS coordinator with former students](/100/images/EOPS_640.jpg)
The Soccer Wars of 1931
- Nine-year-old San Mateo Junior College made a bold statement of identity in bucking convention to vote soccer a major sport
![Coach Sam Francis is at far left in this 1931 yearbook photo](/100/images/SoccerWars_640.jpg)
CSM’s Solidarity Statement of Equity
- In a season of pain, the campus community resolves to create a culture that is antiracist
and equity-advancing
![Kristi Ridgway and Jeremiah Sims](/100/images/SolidarityStatement_640.jpg)
George H. W. Bush Visits CSM
CSM Centennial Logo
- Ryan Kelley’s winning design for digital media class is top vote-getter among four finalists
![CSM Centennial Logo](/100/images/CentennialLogo_640.jpg)
Charles S. “Jum” Morris
SMJC Becomes CSM
Delaware
- Depression-era San Mateo Junior College learned that while new buildings are important, what’s more important is the community they hold
![Front entrance of the Delaware science building in the 1940s](/100/images/DelawareBuilding_640.jpg)
Whiskerinos, Daisy Dukes and Smokers
Sotero Rivera Avilés (CSM Class of 1959)
What’s Cooking on the Hill
- Two iron chefs dominate CSM’s 1994 faculty/staff cookbook: Trustee Tullio Bertini and language arts Professor Jim Bell. We share some recipes.
![Jim Bell in class at CSM](/100/images/JimBell_640.jpg)
Carlena Cushing “Ma” Morris
- Wife of college President Charles S. “Jum” Morris
- Founder/director of CSM residence halls and volunteer initiatives
![CSM Centennial Carlena Cushing “Ma” Morris](/100/images/CarlenaMorrisCollegeHeights_640.jpg)
CSM in World War II
- The first thing San Mateo Junior College did after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, was to hold an air-raid drill on its Baldwin and Delaware campuses.
![“Dry Martini” B-17 Flying Fortress](/100/images/WWII-dry-martini_640.jpg)
Promise Scholars
Awesome Astronomy
- CSM’s AA/AS degree programs in astronomy cap a long record of student success and community outreach in the field
![Astronomy Professor Darryl Stanford](/100/images/DarrylStanford_640.jpg)
Clovis the Library Crow
The Original Bulldog
Marjorie Brace Landrum (CSM Class of 1924)
- First student to register at then-San Mateo Junior College
- Longtime secretary at Mills Memorial Hospital
![Marjorie Brace Landrum](/100/images/MarjorieBrace_640.jpg)
Louise Glenn Breedlove (CSM Class of 1974)
Jean Wirth
Ed Roberts (CSM Class of 1962)
- Disability rights pioneer
- First quadriplegic to graduate from CSM and UC Berkeley
- Founder of America’s first disabled-students program
- First severely disabled MacArthur “genius grant” recipient
![Ed Roberts (CSM Class of 1962)](/100/images/EdRoberts_640.jpg)
Les Williams (CSM Class of 1939)
- First African-American twin-engine bomber pilot
- Member of World War II-era Tuskegee Airmen
- Entrepreneur, dancer and dance-studio owner
- Attorney in San Mateo County for 30 years
![Les Williams (CSM Class of 1939)](/100/images/LesWilliams_640.jpg)
Archie Williams (CSM Class of 1935)
- 1936 Olympic champion, 400 meter run
- Pilot, flight instructor and trainer of Tuskegee Airmen
- Meteorologist with the Army Air Weather Service
- Math and computer science teacher for 22 years
![Archie Williams (CSM Class of 1935)](/100/images/ArchieWilliams_track_640.jpg)
The day it snowed on College Heights
- Snow sometimes dusts the Bay Area’s highest peaks, such as 4,000-foot Mount Diablo. On the morning of Feb. 5, 1976, the College of San Mateo community woke to much more snow, much closer to home.
![The day it snowed on College Heights](/100/images/SnowDay_640.jpg)
![Celebrating 100 Years of Academic Excellence](/100/images/celebrating2c.jpg)