President’s Message

Dear Colleagues,
Given our recent experience with accreditation, I felt that it was important to understand the accreditation process from the "other side."   As a result, I served as team chair on a recent accreditation visit.  Susan Estes served as the team assistant.

I had every intention of writing about what I had learned from the experience. However, I was reminded of something even more important while I was away: how lucky I am to have spent most of my career at CSM doing the work that I love. more>>

College Conducts Emergency Training
Over a two-day period in March, 36 college employees participated in emergency preparedness training. more>>

Commencement Speaker Announced
Assemblyperson Warren Furutani will serve as graduation speaker for CSM's 87th commencement ceremony on Friday, May 29.  more>>

Academic Senate News
By Diana Bennett, Academic Senate president more>>

CSM Faculty Mentor Stanford Fellows
Ten CSM faculty members recently participated as mentors in Stanford University's DARE (Diversifying Academic, Recruiting Excellence) Fellowship Program.  more>>

Where Have the Bells Gone?
If you think you haven't heard CSM's carillon system for the past few months, you are correct. more>>

Engineering Students Tour Campus Construction Projects more>>

Alumni Remembered: Jean Cloud, Jack McMills more>>

Accomplishments and Accolades: Alumni H.P. Mendoza, Rebecca Hare Cokley more>>

Bulldog Sports
Larry Owens, CSM's head football coach for 19 years, has stepped down from the helm of the gridiron program. more>>

Staff Spotlight:  Brooke McKinney more>>

Lecture Series Wraps Season With Paul Ehrlich
Paul Ehrlich, noted author of The Population Bomb and president of the Center for Conservation Biology and Bing professor of population studies at Stanford University, will make a return visit to CSM as speaker for the President's Lecture Series on April 22.  more>>

A Message from PR & Marketing
Outreach, New Publications, Web Site Progress, Events Calendar  more>>

District Hosts 25-Year Service Awards
On Wednesday, April 29, at 3pm, the district will host the annual 25 Year Service Awards Ceremony at Crystal Springs Golf Course in Burlingame.  more>>

Upcoming Events more>>

 

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Dear Colleagues,
Given our recent experience with accreditation, I felt that it was important to understand the accreditation process from the "other side."   As a result, I served as team chair on a recent accreditation visit.  Susan Estes served as the team assistant.

I had every intention of writing about what I had learned from the experience. However, I was reminded of something even more important while I was away: how lucky I am to have spent most of my career at CSM doing the work that I love.

My observation has nothing to do with the college that we visited, nor am I comparing CSM to any other institution.  Sometimes you need to get away from a place to appreciate what you have.

I recognize that we are under stress.  I know that everyone has more on their plate than ever before. Our construction activity has created piles of dirt and many of you have had to move to a new location in the middle of the semester.  While we have plenty of piles of dirt, we do not have piles of money due to the state budget crisis.

Like many, I believe that things will get worse before they get better.   However, in the midst of the uncertainly and turmoil we continue to work together to change lives and to make our community better.

As we enter the home stretch of another academic year, I want to pause and say thank you.  It's easy to get lost in the daily grind of emails, meetings, deadlines and to do lists. I do not say thank you nearly enough.  I have very high expectations of CSM and I have asked a lot of you over the last two years.  You continue to amaze and inspire me.  Thank you!!

College Conducts Emergency Training
Over a two-day period in March, 36 college employees participated in emergency preparedness training. It included four hours of classroom instruction about the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and was followed by a two and a half hour EOC exercise which was based on damages and injuries sustained from a 7.1 earthquake scenario. In the event of an actual emergency, the president or his designee will activate CSM's EOC, which will be physically located in Bldg. 12, Room 170 or in a backup site at KCSM. The model that the college has adopted follows the National and California Standardized Emergency Management Systems which incorporate the Incident Command System, an integrated structure with a common set of procedures and terminology capable of handling single or multiple incidents. A follow up exercise simulating a different emergency scenario will take place in the coming months. The training was provided by Emergency Management Consultants; Dean of Administrative Services Virgil Stanford and his staff coordinated the logistics for the activity. View Photos of the training session.

Commencement Speaker Announced

Assemblyperson Warren Furutani will serve as graduation speaker for CSM's 87th commencement ceremony on Friday, May 29. He is a CSM alum currently serving his first full term in the California Assembly. Assemblyperson Furutani represents California's 55th District, an area that includes Carson, Lakewood, Long Beach, Harbor City, the Harbor Gateway and Wilmington. His career includes 40 years of experience and involvement in education and public service, both as an elected official and a community organizer. As a member of the Assembly, he is the founder and chair of the Assembly Select Committee on Career Technical Education and Workforce Development and also serves as chair of the Committee on Elections and Redistricting; he also serves on a number of Assembly Standing Committees for Transportation; Utilities and Commerce; Labor and Employment; and Public Safety. Assemblyperson Furutani has the distinction of being the only person to have been elected and reelected to the boards of the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Los Angeles Community College District. He attended CSM in the late 1960's and holds a bachelor's degree from Antioch University.

Academic Senate News
By Diana Bennett, Academic Senate president

Welcome back from Spring Break!

Program Review
Thanks to all the departments and programs who submitted Program Reviews. ASGC will be asking for feedback from faculty
on the new process, so reporting forms can be tweaked to streamline the process even further.

Building 15 Faculty Swing to Building 12
Building15 faculty offices are in the process of moving to Building 12.
Please contact Michele Rudovsky at extension 7353 if you have any concerns regarding your move.

Faculty Retirement Celebration
The Faculty Retirement Celebration honorees as well as time and date of this event will be announced soon.

CSM Faculty Mentor Stanford Fellows
Ten CSM faculty members recently participated  as mentors in Stanford University's DARE (Diversifying Academic, Recruiting Excellence) Fellowship Program. CSM faculty participants were: Laura Demsetz (engineering, CIS), Kathy Diamond (biology), Huy Tran (biology), James Clifford (psychology), James Carranza (English), Yin Mei Lawrence (chemistry) Minu Mathur (sociology) Jeremy Ball (philosophy), Jeff Flowers (chemistry), and Barbara Uchida (physics).

The program serves graduate students in the final two years of their doctoral studies who are interested in pursuing academic careers and whose presence will help diversify the professorial ranks. DARE is designed to prepare Stanford Ph.D. students from diverse backgrounds for successful faculty careers and to contribute to the richness of the educational environment at Stanford.  A group of 12 Stanford fellows spent the day at CSM, meeting with President's Cabinet and Governing Council of the Academic Senate to learn about various aspects of teaching and learning in a community college. They had conversations with faculty, visited classes, toured the campus and heard a student panel.

Where Have the Bells Gone?
If you think you haven't heard CSM's carillon system for the past few months, you are correct. The system, which runs from the Administration Building to Building 14, South Hall, had its signal path severed during recent renovation work. ITS staff is working on repairing the system so that it will resume operation in the coming weeks. The current electronic system uses "miniature bells" rather than tones of metal to produce an authentic live bell sound projected through a set of speakers. Musical selections are played from compact discs which are randomly programmed at 8am, 1pm and 4:30pm. A new carillon system is scheduled to be installed in Building 10N as part of the Capital Improvement Project.

CSM Construction Sites Provide Living Lab for Engineering Students
Students in CSM's Engineering 210 (Engineering Graphics) got a first-hand demonstration of state-of-the-art engineering drawings and their implementation thanks to a field trip hosted by Andy Holst, project manager with McCarthy Building Companies. The class first went on a computer-based "walk-through" Buildings 10N and 5N using the 3-D Building Information Model(BIM) that McCarthy put together to coordinate the projects. BIM software is an extension of the more basic tools covered in ENGR 210. On a real walk-through of the site, Andy explained the foundation and utilities work in progress on Building 10N. At Building 5N, students got a close-up look at the building structure and mechanical systems that they had seen in software. "There's nothing like being on a construction site to make the architecture, engineering and construction process come to life," says Laura Demsetz, professor of engineering. Construction work on the CSM campus will continue to provide a living lab for engineering and architecture students through the next several semesters. Contributed by Laura Demsetz

Alumni Remembered: Jean Cloud, Jack McMills
CSM has lost one of its longest surviving graduates, Jean Cloud (photo), class of 1926, passed away March 19 in Redwood City at the age of 102. Mrs. Cloud was encouraged to attend CSM by Roy Cloud, who would become her husband (his father was San Mateo County's superintendent of schools). Her memories of CSM in the 1920's were documented in "Class Act," by Michael Svanevik and Shirley Burgett. Mrs. Cloud went on to San Jose State where she earned her bachelor's degree in education and taught elementary school for a number of years. She was active in school and community groups. In 1984, Mrs. Cloud became a member of Redwood City's Historic Resources Advisory Committee and spent two decades working on relocating the historic Lathrop House and as a founder of the city's library archives committee. She was also instrumental in saving Redwood City's historic Union Cemetery, the oldest cemetery in the County, by raising money to restore much of the cemetery grounds and monuments. Throughout the years, she participated in a number of CSM events, including the college's 75th anniversary celebration and helped to staff CSM information tables at events in the community.

CSM alum Jack McMills, who went on to become a brigadier general and earn three purple hearts in the Korean conflict, passed away last month at age 77. While a student as CSM, he won the Northern California Junior College Golf Championship in 1950 and 1951. After attending CSM, he enrolled at University of California, San Francisco and the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Benning, Georgia, majoring in logistics. He went on to serve in the U.S. Army for 33 years. After retiring from the Army, Brig. General McMills worked for the Sheriff's Department in five counties: San Mateo, Trinity, Glenn, Colusa and Lake.

Accomplishments and Accolades: Alumni H.P. Mendoza, Rebecca Hare Cokley

CSM graduate and independent filmmaker H.P. Mendoza scored a hit with his script and songwriting for the movie, "Colma: the Musical," in 2006. Now he returns with a second film, "Fruit Fly," which had its world premiere at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. Shot in San Francisco's Castro and Mission Districts, Mendoza directed and composed the film's 19 original musical numbers. "Fruit Fly" tells the story of a Filipina performance artist searching for her identity and struggling to establish her career. The story is told through conversations in the movie's songs.  Mendoza's next project is a non-musical satire about Proposition 8.

CSM graduate Rebecca Hare Cokley (photo), now a resident of Washington, D.C., shared with her friends at CSM a special photo taken with President Obama. She was invited to a meeting of the Obama administration by Kareem Dale, the special assistant to the president for disability policy. Rebecca currently works for a nonprofit organization that advocates for children with disabilities.

Bulldog Sports 
Larry Owens, CSM's head football coach for 19 years, has stepped down from the helm of the gridiron program.  Owens, along with Physical Education Division Dean Andreas Wolf, made the announcement at a press conference in the campus press box on March 20. Wolf also announced that longtime assistant head coach Bret Pollack is the new head coach. Owens, 53, said he made his decision because of personal issues in his life. He did say he's not retiring and will remain as a faculty member with the College. Wolf said "there is only one Larry Owens" and acknowledged the head coach's significant contribution to the football program over the last 24 years; Owens was an assistant coach for five years before taking over the team in 1990.

Under Owens, the football team had 11 winning seasons and a number of conference championships. The Bulldogs' best season was in 2003 when the they won the conference championship and a bowl game, finishing 10-1. The team also won bowl games in three successive years (2005-2007). Many of Owens' players went onto play at four-year colleges, several earning scholarships. Some like defensive end Ryan Boschetti of the Washington Redskins have played in the professional National Football League. Owens' players also received conference, state and all-America honors while at CSM.

Owens conveyed his decision a couple of days before the press conference to his players. He expressed how difficult that was,"looking in the kids' eyes," his voice cracking as he spoke. He said he encouraged the team to carry on the course they had set together and was gratified as they rallied around his request.  Contributed by Mike Habeeb

Staff Spotlight: Brooke McKinney
Brooke McKinney is a division assistant in the Physical Education, Athletics, and Dance Division. Starting last September, she handles the majority of the administrative duties for the division, including scheduling of classes and events, purchasing, and dealing with budget issues. Brooke previously worked as the assistant athletic director and girls basketball coach at Menlo School for 5 years, and was employed at Stanford University before that.  She possesses a master's degree in athletic administration and cultural studies of sport from the University of Iowa and a bachelor's degree in psychology from Knox College. During her free time, Brooke enjoys spending time with family and friends, watching athletic events, traveling, coaching, movies, and walking her dog.

 

 

Lecture Series Wraps Season With Paul Ehrlich
Paul Ehrlich, noted author of The Population Bomb and president of the Center for Conservation Biology and Bing professor of population studies at Stanford University, will make a return visit to CSM as speaker for the President's Lecture Series on April 22 at  noon. The topic of his presentation is "The Dominant Animal: Human Evolution and the Environment." Dr. Ehrlich is the co-founder of the field of co-evolution and he has pursued long-term studies of the structure, dynamics, and genetics of natural butterfly populations. He has also been a pioneer in alerting the public to the problems of overpopulation, and in raising issues of population, resources and the environment as matters of public policy. Professor Ehrlich is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

 

 

A Message from PR & Marketing

Outreach
Ignore rumors to the contrary. CSM will be at the San Mateo County Fair again this year, although our presence may be limited to two days. But we will make the most of our time there with a "CSM Presents" music stage, featuring bands associated with our college. One such group, our CSM Bulldawgs, will play. We will host an informational booth nearby, the Bulldog mascot will be greeting fairgoers and our balloons will once again be attached to strollers traveling throughout the fairgrounds. Besides the good music and informative materials, a free drawing will also entice fairgoers to our area. As we have said before, this is a great low or no-cost outreach/name branding opportunity, with a potential to reach the thousands of community members who attend this annual event. Do you want to participate as a volunteer? Please contact Bev Madden at extension 6538 or maddenb@smccd.edu.

While on the topic of outreach, our Connect to College event for high school seniors and their parents drew almost 300 people last year and we hope for as many if not more on April 23 in the campus theatre. The event starts at 6 pm and will offer information on transfer programs, financial aid and scholarships, career and vocational programs, academic, A.S./A.S., certificate programs and student life. The event will feature perspectives by students, presentations by faculty and university transfer reps, and refreshments. We see this event as an opportunity to highlight our programs and services. Does your instructional program or student services department want to take part? Please contact Alex Guiriba at (650) 574-6646 or guiribaj@smccd.edu.

New Publications
At the end of April, the Fall Schedule of Classes will appear on campus first and then be distributed to homes, libraries, and community centers. The schedule will include two new features:

• more than 60 ads about our programs and student services are strategically placed among the course listings
• a page listing many of CSM's events for the rest of the year

The President's Message, faculty profiles, transfer student spotlights, and a colorful and detailed campus map are also featured. On April 16, the schedule will be online in printable and interactive formats at collegeofsanmateo.edu/schedule. For now, the schedule classes can be viewed on WebSMART.

Web site Progress
Good news on the web site front, as the student services web pages are all complete. Please check it out at the student services portal at collegeofsanmateo.edu/studentservices. We're plowing forward on the instructional pages, presently updating and creating web sites in the math/science and business/technology divisions, and working on a new look for athletics. To benefit campus users and to become an even more effective resource, our webmaster attended an Omniupdate conference recently and brought back with her pertinent information about trends and applications being used on other community college sites that we've considered, evaluated or implemented. Please contact Val Tyler with any questions about the design software.

Events Calendar
Presently, we are creating a system that will allow participants to submit calendar events electronically to us in a standardized format ensured by "field-by-field" inputting. We will simply review the submission to make sure it complies with the College's policy and upload it. Until the new system is in place, we will continue to accept and post items using our traditional method as follows: If you would like an event on our calendar listing, please provide the following information by email (habeeb@smccd.edu), phone (extension 6442) or in person (Building 9, Room 161):

• Name/title, date and times of the event
• Location
• The event's cost, if any, and intended audience (e.g., free and open to public)
• Contact information (phone number, email address and/or web site URL)
• Additional information (please limit to 25 words)

District Hosts 25-Year Service Awards
On Wednesday, April 29, at 3pm, the district will host the annual 25 Year Service Awards Ceremony at Crystal Springs Golf Course in Burlingame. Included in this year's honorees are three CSM employees: Michael Clay, professor of chemistry; Juanita Celaya, promotions/web content coordinator, KCSM; and Kathy Chaika, senior accounting technician, Business Services.  If you would like to attend, please RSVP to  phemesterj@smccd.edu by Friday, April 17.

Upcoming Events

• On April 16, from 2-4 pm, CSM's art and music faculty are hosting an open house "Celebration of Art and Music," to showcase the renovation in Buildings 2 & 4. The event will feature live music and a display of student artwork.
• DSPS will sponsor its final Brown Bag Seminar of the spring 2009 semester on April 22, with "Americans with Disabilities Amendment Act: What does it mean for education?" The seminar will be presented by David LaDue, civil rights attorney with the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights in San Francisco. He will discuss the rights and responsibilities of individuals with disabilities and implications for the college environment. It will take place from 1-2 pm in Building 16-140.
• On Thursday, April 23 from 6-8:30 pm, in the Theatre, CSM hosts Connect to College, A Night of Information for High School Seniors and Parents. The event will feature presentations and perspectives by students, faculty and staff about transfer programs, financial aid and scholarships, career and vocational programs, academic, A.S./A.S., certificate programs and student life.
• CSM's annual Get Linked Career Fair has been rescheduled for Wednesday, April 29 from 9:30 am - 1 pm in Building 12, Room 170. The fair brings together job seekers and employees. Students are encouraged to bring their resumes, dress professionally and be prepared to talk to about qualifications with employers.
• On Thursday, April 30, from 2-6 pm, in 8-203, CSM's Performance Dance Ensemble presents A Day of Dance. The event includes modern, hip hop, break and jazz performances by students in the dance program.

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If you have comments or suggestions about articles and issues you would like to see in the President’s eNewsletter, send email to: prezenews@smccd.edu.