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| Volume II Issue III | July 2010 |
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President's Greeting
Can you believe that we are
more than halfway through the summer? It seemed that it was just
yesterday that we gathered at commencement, congratulating our students for a
job well done before starting up with summer classes and/or leaving for our
summer vacations. For many of you, vacation still awaits, but President Burnett and USMC Colonel Marano, Commanding Officer, Camp Pendleton
 | August will
be here before we know it. I look forward to seeing everyone as we gather
together again, this time for In-Service Week and as we work to welcome what is
sure to be a record number of students who will be starting classes here in the
fall semester. We have many exciting changes coming our way. As you know, our own Dr.
Don Busche has started as our Acting Vice President for Instruction. I
know all of us look forward to working with Don throughout the year and
we are fortunate to have such a knowledgeable and experienced professional
serve in this capacity for our college. We also look forward to welcoming
Dr. Juan Avalos, who will be serving as Vice President for Student Services
beginning July 19th. Dr. Avalos' background in student
services is most impressive and I am confident that he will be an extraordinary
addition to our Gaucho family. We also have a familiar face up
in our district offices. Dixie Bullock, our former president who
also recently served as the acting dean of fine arts, has taken the reins as Acting Chancellor. We are thrilled to have Dixie serve in this capacity
and look forward to continuing to work with her in her new role. College business continues to run smoothly, with our
accreditation self study complete and soon to be sent to the Accrediting Commission on Junior and
Community Colleges. We look forward to the Commission's visit that begins
on October 11th and are confident that it will lead to an
affirmation of the college's accreditation. We also continue to focus on
the strategic plan for 2010-2013, with implementation beginning when our
faculty return and our strategic planning groups resume meeting. Above all, our college is dealing with the budgeting challenges that are being felt around the state. We are no exception and out college and district will be forced to make difficult decisions over the coming years. I wish you all the best as we enjoy the rest of our summer
and look forward to seeing you at our fall semester In-Service Week! Sincerely, Tod A. Burnett, Ed.D. President |
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Dr. Raghu Mathur Retires as the Chancellor of the South Orange County Community College District
After more than 34 years of service at the South Orange County Community College District, Dr. Raghu Mathur retired as Chancellor. Mathur served as Chancellor for eight years, as President
of Irvine Valley College for five years, and as a professor for 21 years.
While serving as chancellor, Dr. Mathur led the launch of a third campus, the
Advanced Technology & Education Park (ATEP), and guided the district
through construction and renovation initiatives at the highest level in
district history since the first building phase of Saddleback College over 40
years ago. Under his leadership, online courses increased more than 200%
and over $40 million has been invested in technology initiatives for
students. Enrollment is also at its highest level in district history with
a total headcount exceeding 40,000 students. One of his hallmarks was sound
fiscal management as evidenced by the fact that the district is one of the
first in California to fully fund its retiree liability.
Chancellor
Mathur dedicated his professional career to the South Orange County
Community College District since 1976. He spent more than two decades on
the faculty of Irvine Valley College as a chemistry professor, chair of the
school of physical sciences and technologies and academic senate leader, before
ultimately becoming the college president in 1997.
"Education is
the most noble profession and we are all educators, each in our own way.
The education and learning at our three campuses is making a wonderful
difference for our students and enabling them to make changes in their lives so
they can make changes in our region, State, nation and the world.
In many ways, change that students make in the world is our greatest reward," said Mathur in an email to faculty and staff.
Board President Donald P. Wagner said, "On behalf of the
Board of Trustees, I would like to take this opportunity publicly to thank
Chancellor Mathur for his years of service to the district and its students. He
has been tireless in his efforts in the Chancellor's office and can take great
pride in the many accomplishments listed in his email. We on the board are
fortunate to have been able to work with him in pursuit of the district's
goals. We wish Chancellor Mathur all the best in his future professional
endeavors."
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Former Saddleback College President Named Acting
Chancellor
The Board of Trustees selected Dixie Bullock as
acting chancellor, beginning July 1. She brings a wealth of experience to
the position. Over the course of 28 years at Saddleback College, Ms. Acting Chancellor Dixie Bullock
 | Bullock
served as president for six years in addition to positions as vice president of
instruction, dean, department chair and professor of nursing. Since
retiring on 2004, she has served as acting deans of the Saddleback College
Division of Fine Arts and Media Technology and Irvine Valley College School of
Mathematics, Science and Engineering.
"I want to offer my
heartiest congratulations to Dixie Bullock personally and on behalf of the
Board," said Board President Donald P. Wagner. "We're excited that she
has agreed to serve as our interim chancellor and we think she will do a
wonderful job for the district at this time of transition. Dixie is well known
at both colleges in the district and has long been a well liked and respected
leader. The board and I look forward to working with her in the coming
months."
"I am pleased that our board of trustees has placed their
support in me. I hope to provide the stability for this district that I love
while the search for a permanent chancellor moves forward." Bullock
earned a B.S. in Nursing from California State University, Long Beach and a
Master's in Nursing from the University of California, Los Angeles. Bullock earned a B.S. in Nursing from California State University, Long Beach and
a Master's in Nursing from the University of California, Los Angeles.
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Deputy Chancellor Gary Poertner Retires
After more than eleven years of dedicated service to our
district, Deputy Chancellor Gary Poertner retired on June 30. His
retirement culminates over 40 years of administrative experience in California
public schools, including over 30 years as a district chief business
official.
Since 1999, Gary provided leadership to our district for all
business operations including fiscal services, payroll, accounting, purchasing,
and facilities planning. For many years he supervised the
operations of human resources and information technology and most recently he
led the complicated negotiations for the ATEP project. He has
overseen the growth of our total budget go from approximately $100 million to
over $400 million. He has served as the effective chair of the Board
Policy and Administrative Regulations Council, District Resources Allocation
Council and the 2006 Master Plan Advisory Council. During Gary's tenure
our district retired bond debt and became one of the first districts in the
state to fully fund its retiree liability. Notably, Gary still finds time
to serve the community as a member and past president of the Rotary Club of
Mission Viejo.
Gary stated in his retirement notification, "I want to
express my sincere appreciation to the Board of Trustees and to the Chancellor
for the opportunity to work at this wonderful district. I feel the same
appreciation for the many faculty, staff and administrators that helped me to
be successful. My years at South Orange County Community College District
have been the best of my professional life. It has truly been a privilege
to have been a part of this superb educational institution."
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Saddleback College Students Honored at Psi Beta Honor Society Undergraduate Research Conference
Last month two Saddleback College students were honored for the research at the 15th Annual Psi Beta Honor
Society in Psychology Undergraduate Research Conference for Southern California
Community Colleges.
Ryan Hitch (left) and Julia Elliott stand in front of their research poster
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Ryan Hitch and Julia Elliott received independent project honors for
research poster for their "A Qualitative Analysis of Leadership" presentation.
Julia Elliott, a Mission Viejo resident, is
a psychology major at Saddleback College and plans to transfer in spring 2011.
Ryan Hitch, a resident of Mission Viejo, is also a psychology major and will attend
California State University Fullerton this fall.
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VETS Center Student Worker Named AMVET of the Year
Saddleback College student
and Army veteran AAnn Reeder, AMVET of the Year.
Photo by Brooke Sauter
 | nn Reeder was named AMVET of the Year for her work at the
college's Veterans Education and Transition Services (VETS) Program along with
her advocacy for female veterans and volunteerism at the Los Angeles Veterans
Affairs Hospital. Reeder, a full-time student pursing Associate Degrees in Drug
and Alcohol Studies and Women's Studies, is the first African American Woman to
win this award.
"Saddleback College is
committed to supporting our student veterans and their families," said Dr. Tod
A. Burnett, President. "Ann Reeder is a wonderful example of how our students
and staff take pride in creating programs to help veterans transition from
military to higher education."
Reeder established the Saddleback
College Female Veterans Unity Group which meets each month to help ease
the transition to civilian life for female veterans, spouses of veterans, and
family members. She secured Talbots gift cards through Maria Schriver's
"We Support" program for female OIF/OEF veterans and distributed them to group
so they would be able to purchase new profession attire for entering the
civilian workforce.
"Reeder's passion is improving
services for all veterans but specifically female veterans," said Terence C Nelson, Acting Dean, Counseling
Services and Special Programs and VETS Center Director. "She is an
advocate for veterans issues and has made it her mission to bring educational
awareness, positive change, and solutions to all prior military, on and off campus."
The Saddleback College VETS
program provides current and prospective Saddleback College students who are
United States military veterans or active military, and their families with
access to educational opportunities and the necessary support services to reach
academic success, their career goals, and transition back into civilian life.
AMVETS is a veterans' service
organization that assists
veterans and sponsoring numerous programs that serve our country and its
citizens. The group is a major
donor of the VETS Program. The AMVET of the Year award is given to a veteran
who has gone above and beyond through leadership, achievements and carried the
mission of AMVETS. Reeder serves as AMVETS Post 116 as 2nd Vice
Commander, Women Veterans Coordinator and Founder/Director of the Women
Veterans Esteem. |
Saddleback College Strategic Plan Update
The Saddleback College strategic plan for 2010-2013 has been
finalized and implementation now begins. The four strategic planning
groups - Educational Development, Student Affairs, Operational Support and
Resources, and College Advancement - will begin meeting again at the end of the
summer to create plans and resource requests to implement the plan's goals and
strategies. To view the college's strategic plan visit http://www.saddleback.edu/gov/sp/index.html.
For information on participating in the plan's implementation, contact Gretchen
Bender, Director of Planning, Research, and Grants, at gbender@saddleback.edu or extension
4565.
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Search for SOCCCD Chancellor is Underway!
The search for a permanent
chancellor is underway.
While the position is open until filled, initial applications are due
August 11
and the search committee is scheduled to conduct first level interviews
September 2-3. The committee is composed of: Dr. Tod Burnett, Dr. Glenn Roquemore,
IVC President; Dr. Bob Bramucci, Vice Chancellor of Technology &
Learning Services; Jerilyn Chuman; Dr. Karima Feldhus, IVC Dean of Humanities &
Languages, Social Sciences & Library; Brandye D'Lena,
District Director of Facilities Planning & Purchasing; Mike
Merrifield, SC Faculty Senate representative; Dr. Dan Rivas, IVC
Faculty Senate representative; Lee Haggerty, Faculty Association
representative; Daune Main, CSEA Representative; Santos Garcia,
POA representative; and an administrator to be named. Dr. Jim Walker
of Community College Search Services serves as the committee chair and
is a
nonvoting member. Dr. David Bugay, Vice Chancellor of Human
Resources, is the designated representative of the board and a nonvoting
committee member.
Information
about the chancellor search and application procedures are posted on the
district website. Click here to view. |
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Faculty Spotlight: Rita Tamer
ASL Professor Dr. Rita Tamer
 | Dr. Rita Tamer joined Saddleback College in 2001 and serves as the
Department Chair of Administration, Teaching and Scheduling. She
received her
B.A. in Deaf Studies from CSU, Northridge in 1997 and her M.A. in
Linguistics
from CSU Northridge in 1999. Dr. Tamer received her Ed.D. in Community
College
Executive Leadership from Argosy University 2008.
Recently, Dr. Tamer was rewarded for her work in
creating American Sign Language (ASL) videos for Saddleback College's online education. She was
honored with a 2010 International Blackboard Catalyst Award in the area of
Staff Development. The BbWorld 2010 Client Program Committee selected Dr. Tamer
and her project to "join a select
group of e-Learning professionals...from around the world whose participation has
been recognized as a significant and exemplary contribution to our Blackboard
Community." Dr. Tod Burnett, President, said, "Saddleback College is always searching
for innovative ways to serve all student populations. Accolades are definitely
warranted for Dr. Tamer, who created a new way to enable ASL students to learn
anytime, anywhere." Professor Tamer took on the
project because she recognized a gap in ASL learning. "Creating my class online
was something that I realized I needed to do for my students. I created several
detailed videos that help students better understand not only the language, but
the culture in the deaf community." "This
achievement is highly significant, as it provides students with unlimited
opportunity for practice ASL using the expert modeling provided by Dr. Tamer in
these online videos," said Dr. Donna Rane-Szostak, Dean, Health Sciences &
Human Services Valerie Senior works in
Saddleback College's Center for Instructional Design and Distance Education and
assisted Dr. Tamer with the project and commended her for making online
education more dynamic. "While the technology exists to bring 'personality'
into online instruction, it's a huge commitment of time and energy to create
effective online course materials. Dr. Tamer painstakingly and methodically
bridged that gap and made a connection that many instructors are striving to
achieve." |
Saving the World (and our campus) One Cell Phone at a Time
Assistant Athletic Director and Sports Information Officer Jerry Hannula poses with some of the items recycled by the Athletic Department.
Photo Courtesy of the Saddleback College Athletic Department
 | Once again, the Athletic Department is going to be collecting old, used cell phones and spent inkjet
cartridges for recycling. The items can easily be sent to the department through inter-office mail.
Cell phones should be intact (with battery) but
adapters and chargers are not needed.
Inkjet cartridges are the small ones you would
have on a desktop printer or a home printer. Unfortunately, the department can no longer recycle the Laser cartridges for
your division printers. Those should be sent back directly to HP (or
whatever company manufactured them) in the box that the new cartridge came
in. |
Upcoming Events
July 16th-August
1st
Theatre Summer Series: Damn Yankees
McKinney
Theatre
July 22nd
Saddleback
College Foundation Executive Board Meeting
July 26th
SOCCCD
Board of Trustees Meeting
District Offices Building,
Ronald Reagan Board of Trustees Room
August 11th
College Picnic and
Chili Cook-off
11 a.m.- 2
p.m.
Details to Follow
August 13th-14th
Management Team Retreat
August 16th-20th
In-Service WeekAugust 23rd
Fall Semester Begins
September 13th-14th
California Board of Governors Meeting
Sacramento
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