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Greetings! We're already well into the new semester and our students are deep into their studies. Although money is tight, there are many things to celebrate here at LMC along with lots of exciting things happening. Don't miss out on all the news!
Three Grants Just Announced Three new grants totaling $65,000 have been awarded to LMC Programs through our LMC Foundation! The Y&H Soda Foundation has awarded a $30,000 planning grant for exploration of improving the integration of our Career Technical Education Programs (CTE) with LMC Student Services. A leadership planning team, led by Dave Wahl and Consultant Randy Tillery will be meeting to identify existing gaps in the CTE/Student Services pipeline and recommending plans to complete the pipeline into a more seamless system; from outreach and orientation to job placement and tracking. We will be submitting an implementation plan to the Soda Foundation early in fall 2011 for a $170,000 grant to put this plan into action. (Leads: Kiran Kamath and Gail Newman) The East Bay Community Foundation (anonymous donor) is funding two programs at LMC in the fall:
Congratulations to these programs and thank you to the LMC Foundation for its support! To learn more about any of these grants, contact Ruth Goodin at rgoodin@losmedanos.edu
Reconstruction of the College Complex keeps moving us forward to make LMC a better place!
CUE Initiative Moving Forward A multi-disciplinary group of LMC faculty and staff is excited to be making progress on a national equity initiative designed to improve student retention and transfer rates. The team has been working hard to implement an intense, research-based approach called the Equity Scorecard developed by the Center for Urban Education (CUE), based at the University of Southern California's Rossier School of Education.
CUE's Equity Scorecard is a process that uses data, broken down by race and ethnicity, to identify campus-wide barriers to student success and pinpoint areas for improvement. Read more...... Drama Department News Drama Department Chair Nick Garcia is accompanying 18 of his students to a national acting competition sponsored by The Kennedy Center and hosted by Humboldt State University the week of February 14th. Nick's brilliant students will compete against students from major theatre schools from seven surrounding states. This is a proud moment for both the students and Nick. In addition the fall 2010 production of Larry Shue's "The Foreigner" received the Ensemble Award from The Kennedy Center while student Cesar Reyes received a certificate of merit for his technical work as the production's stage manager. In less than two short years, Nick and his dedicated students have brought The LMC Drama Department to national significance as the Department grows and develops into a top notch acting program. Congratulations Nick and LMC Drama students. Setting Your Program Apart - Travel Marketing on eHow LMC's Travel Marketing Program is almost completely online and attracts students from all over the country and even internationally. One way our students may learn about the program is the mention the program gets on the "eHow" webpage discussing how to get started as a travel agent. Click here to see the story. CalWORKS and CARE Updates The LMC CalWORKS and CARE programs have been quite busy supporting our students in many ways. Here's an update for the 2010/11 year so far.
LMC's CalWORKS Program
During spring 2011:
LMC's CARE Program
Library Donation Makes Its Way Overseas The LMC Library donated some leftover paperbacks to a local girl scout troop lead by our very own Denise Knowles. The troop boxed them up and shipped them to four service women deployed overseas. In January, the troop received a great thank you from the service women. Very heartfelt and a great lesson. To view the correspondence, click here (PDF). Financial Donations Help Our Challenged Students Cope Before the holidays, the LMC Foundation received an anonymous donation of $1000 from a family that chose to give rather than exchange gifts this year. Foundation Executive Director Lindy Maynes explained, "They wanted to help out their community and LMC IS THEIR COMMUNITY." Following an email request for recommendations of students in need from LMC employees, 12 folks responded with stories of students needing help. Twelve students each received $100 checks (the Foundation covered the difference.) Reportedly the students were quite stunned, thankful and tearful when they received the news. Way to work together, everyone. Bravo!
LMC Athletes Michelle Lopez and Chaz Vink Honored by Athletic Association We just received the announcement that two of last year's LMC athlete stars have received statewide acknowledgement from the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) for their great work. The CCCAA oversees intercollegiate competition at the 104 member colleges and nearly 27,000 student athletes of the CCCAA each year.
LMC Athletic Director Richard Villegas explained, "What a great accomplishment for both these student-athletes and Los Medanos College. Not only did we get two student-athletes recognized but to have the Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the whole state is a remarkable achievement". Michelle and Chaz, along with the other 2010 Honor Roll and Scholar Team award winners, will be honored at the Celebration of Scholar Athletes Luncheon at the 14th Annual CCCAA Convention on March 30th at the San Mateo Marriott Hotel, CA.
PTEC Program Wins Statewide Honor
Michael Zilber Receives Critics Choice Recognition Michael Zilber wears many hats and certainly keeps himself very busy in the world of jazz and jazz education. His great works are highlighted in this month's Monthly (Berkeley) - check out the article here.
Three New Fulltime Faculty Join Our Academic Team We are very enthusiastic to welcome our three new fulltime faculty members who have joined us this spring. Kasey Gardner, Anthony Hailey and Matthew Stricker have all joined us in critical academic areas at LMC.
Kasey loves teaching and believes that "communication is the essential skill in today's globalized world. We need to be efficient and flexible in the way we share information in order to be successful. Communication is even more important when applied to advocacy and debate. We have serious challenges ahead in our society and the next generation doesn't just need to think critically, they need to speak critically too." Kasey continued to share his thoughts about LMC and a debate team: "My most coveted goal here at LMC is to build the best community college debate team in the United States. That team will give elite transfer and scholarship opportunities to our students and prepare them for critical thinking in life and the workplace. It is going to take a lot of time, sacrifice, and community from other faculty and staff; but I think we can win the community college national championship in parliamentary debate in the next ten years." You go, Kasey!
Anthony had a twenty-year career in law enforcement in the military, New York and California. He began teaching as a training officer for new deputies and correctional officers for the criminal justice academy in San Jose. He went on to become a department chair for the criminal justice department at San Joaquin Valley College (Bakersfield), and also taught at Bakersfield Community College and ITT Technical College in Concord. When asked why he teaches, Anthony replied, "I really enjoy the opportunity to pass along the knowledge I have gained to others and help shape and promote a socially conscious criminal justice cadre. I get really excited when I see the light bulb light up above the head of a student who gets the concepts we are discussing in class, and yes, I really do see the bulb light up!" Pam Sheehan, part-time math instructor, sparked Anthony's curiousity and enthusiasm for LMC. "I told her that I was interested in teaching at a place where educators provided and/or facilitated programs that are relevant to the work place, and ones that promote life-long learning as well as assist students in reaching both their immediate and long-term goals. Where educators ensured an atmosphere of mutual respect, communication, and shared decision making with their students and fellow faculty members while providing a competent and relevant student centered curriculum along with quality instruction. A place where educators embraced diversity and individuality while maintaining order and structure benefiting both the staff and the students. She told me that my statement described LMC. When I saw the opening, I applied for it, and here I am."
Matt explains that "I was always very good at mathematics. My BS degree in electrical engineering was also math intensive. When I decided that I wanted to teach, it was only natural that I teach math." When asked why LMC, he remarked, "The LMC Brentwood Center is a phenomenal place to teach. The people that I work with and the atmosphere that has been created in Brentwood to help students succeed are both exceptional. I enjoy helping student from all backgrounds realize their educational goals. I look forward to working with my colleagues to help provide our students with an outstanding educational experience at LMC." Welcome, Welcome Back and Adieu A lot of changes have been going on! In addition to the new faculty mentioned above, be in the know regarding who's new, who's moved, and who's back -- here goes: Faculty Returning from Sabbatical
New Classified Employees
Classified Staff Changes
Continuing Temporary Out-of-Class Assignments
Fall 2010 Retirees
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bcella@losmedanos.edu
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Kasey Gardner will be teaching speech and communications courses, while developing a new LMC debate team. Kasey grew up in Cayucos (in San Luis Obispo County). A community college grad, he earned his AA in Liberal Arts at Moorpark College, BA's in Political Science and Communication at Western Kentucky University, and an MA in Political Communication at the University of the Pacific. Kasey has taught at Sierra College, the University of the Pacific, University of San Francisco, and San Joaquin Delta College. He also did a stint working for Defenders of Wildlife, a national environmental non-profit. 
Anthony Hailey is the new Chair of LMC's Administration of Justice Department. He was born and raised in New York. He earned his bachelor's degree in social science from SUNY (State University of New York), a master's degree in education administration at San Francisco State, a master's degree in criminal justice from San Jose State University, and is currently working on his doctorate in educational leadership at Walden University. 
Matthew Stricker will be the new fulltime mathematics faculty member at the Brentwood Center. Matt has taught part time at Brentwood for the past 2 1/2 years. His hometown is Manteca, and he earned his B.S. in Electrical Engineering and another in Engineering Management at the University of the Pacific. He went on to earn his M.S. in Mathematics at Texas A&M University. 