El Camino College Compton Center

Transcription

1 El Camino College Compton Center News From the Provost April 30, 2008 Dr. Doris P. Givens That is always our problem, not how to get control of people but how all together we can get control of a situation. - Mary Parker Follett With commencement fast approaching, we are enjoying the last few months with our graduating students. We are proud of their accomplishments and excited to help them plan for commencement in anticipation of transferring or pursuing a career. Our dedication to student success continues as we strengthen our focus on planning, guided by our Master Plan. The faculty planning component is almost complete. The Academic Senate, in conjunction with Executive Dean of Academic Affairs, Mary Callahan, will take the lead with the academic master plan. We are already making progress toward our goals of building capacity, maximizing enrollment, and re-establishing credibility. Enrollment continues to climb, outreach efforts are expanding, and Compton Center representatives are meeting with key community groups to provide updates regarding the campus, while reiterating that Compton is Still the Place to Be! In addition, Friday breakfasts on campus with community organizations are taking place throughout April and May these informative meetings will also serve to spread the news about Compton Center. A Town Hall Meeting at Compton City Hall, and appearances on local cable shows have provided the opportunity to reinforce the message that we are open, accredited and ready to serve our community. Please plan to attend our commencement celebration, scheduled for June 5. We welcome Los Angeles Dodgers legend Tommy Lasorda as commencement speaker. Our graduates and the entire Compton Center community look forward to Mr. Lasorda s commencement message. There are still numerous activities and events planned for the rest of the spring semester. Our annual Academic Awards Tea is a wonderful way to join together and celebrate the academic success of our graduates; and our Athletic Department s open house will be a great showcase of Tartar pride. Please join us in these activities to celebrate our students and our accomplishments! We ll see you there, at Compton Center Still the Place to Be!

2 Board of Trustees Meetings The next Board of Trustees meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 20 in the Board Room. Board meetings begin at noon for anyone wishing to address the Board on Closed Session agenda items. The Open Session will resume at 4 p.m Commencement Speaker: Tommy Lasorda Please join us as we welcome Tommy Lasorda, former manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, as commencement speaker on June 5. Commencement begins at 5:30 p.m. Lasorda, long regarded as one of baseball s most well-known advocates, begins his 59th season in the Dodger organization. He served as the team s manager for 20 seasons, winning two World Championships, four National League pennants and eight division titles. Lasorda scouts, teaches and evaluates minor league players and acts as an adviser on all aspects of the Dodger organization. He is well known as a speaker for numerous charities, various organizations, and at military bases worldwide. We welcome Mr. Lasorda to Compton Center, and look forward to his words of congratulations and inspiration at our commencement exercises. Academic Awards Tea Congratulations to our graduates! The annual Academic Awards Tea is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. on May 18 in the Student Lounge. This awards ceremony celebrates the academic achievements of our Compton Center students who are graduating with honors. All faculty members are invited to attend. Participating faculty are asked to contact the Student Life Office by May 12 to RSVP. For more information, call Ext Best wishes to all of our graduates! Provost Luncheon Our Spring 2008 Provost Luncheon is scheduled for May 6. The Provost Luncheon is a great opportunity to showcase all of the outstanding academic programs and services offered at Compton Center. More than 70 community leaders and high school representatives are expected to attend this exciting event. We welcome keynote speaker Mildred Garcia, president of California State University, Dominguez Hills.

3 2008 ARCC Report Progress With the release of the 2008 Accountability Reporting for the Community Colleges (ARCC Report), we are able to review our status and set goals for the future at El Camino College Compton Center. The report for Compton Center included the period of time from loss of accreditation to the agreement with El Camino College. Despite enrollment losses during this period, which explains much of the decline in academic progress measures, Compton Center showed progress in the vocational education area. The vocational education course success rate (percentage of students receiving a C/CR or better) has improved for Compton Center during the three years of the report. Our commitment to improving instruction and services to ensure student success continues. Town Hall Meeting Dr. Givens was the featured speaker at a recent Town Hall meeting at Compton City Hall. The well-attended meeting served as an outstanding forum to present the history of the Compton Community College District, the accreditation process, and FCMAT legislation standards. Other issues discussed included course offerings at Compton Center; class cancellation policies; oversight on Measure Cg, the district s facilities bond; and the status of various facilities on campus. Classified Development Day Thank you to all who participated in the Third Annual Electric Cart Parade, part of the Classified Development Day festivities staged at El Camino College. Our colleagues at the CalWORKs department outdid themselves with Smart Car: Big Things Come in Little Packages CalWORKs: Smart Choice; and Compton Center Facilities delighted the audience with a two-cart entry: Lifting the Community and Keeping It Green, Keeping It Clean M & O Department.

4 The Electric Cart Parade had it all in whimsical proportions, with 16 carts decked out in everything from pirates to surfers, and golfers to wild animals. Of course, Elvis was there too, adding to the wacky celebration. The parade was a highlight of Classified Professional Development Day, Fun, Food, and Learning. A delicious barbeque lunch and an informative keynote speaker rounded out the event. Thank you to all who worked to make this day a success, with special kudos to our Compton Center parade entrants! Welcome New Employees! Please join us in welcoming Shirley Edwards as our permanent Director, Child Development! Tartar Athletics Open House: Everyone is welcome to stop by and visit our Athletic Department Open House from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. May 3 in the gym. This is a great opportunity for prospective athletes to hear presentations by coaches from all Compton Center athletic programs, and to meet student athletes. Football, basketball, track, cross county, baseball, soccer, badminton, cheerleading we are proud of all of our Tartar Athletics programs! For more information, contact Compton Center Athletic Director Lefty Olguin at Ext Coaches in the Community: Thank you to our Compton Center coaches, who are truly doing their best in reaching out to our communities. Baseball Coach Shannon Williams and his team organized a youth clinic in Lynwood; Football Coach Jason Brown was the keynote speaker at the Verbum Dei High School football banquet; and Basketball Coach Albert Turner was the keynote speaker at Gardena High School s basketball banquet. Our coaches are working in our community, making a difference and showing our Tartar pride. We applaud their efforts! WIT Industry Tour Participants in our Women in Industry and Technology (WIT) program recently participated in a tour to Kinder Morgan on April 22. The visit gave students a chance to learn about the company and find out about potential job opportunities such as plant mechanic, operations specialist, gas pipeline representative, hands-on training and many more. Kinder Morgan is one of the leading energy transportation storage and distribution companies in North America, with more than 4,000 miles of pipelines to transport natural gas, crude oil and petroleum products. For more information about the Compton Center WIT program, contact Alicia Zambrano at Ext

5 CalWORKs Update One of our greatest campus resources, CalWORKs, recently reported some great numbers, showing how CalWORKs serves the needs of students who truly need help meeting their academic and career goals. Particular success was seen in work study, with 46 students served on-campus and 49 off-campus. CalWORKs has assisted 170 students so far this year. CalWORKs also sponsors a mini conference each semester with CARE, including speakers and workshops for students. The annual Career Expo/Open House/Community Resource Fair each spring also reaches out to students and the community; more than 80 employers, 300 high school students, and more than 1,000 other students/community members seeking employment attended the recent event. Other services provided by CalWORKS: assist single parents on welfare to prepare for employment; often able to assist with obtaining part-time jobs provide a bridge between social services and academics assist women who have suffered from domestic abuse/violence, have low selfesteem help guide first-generation college students, many with serious budget concerns work closely with the EOP&S/CARE programs provide clothing vouchers, book vouchers, bus transportation vouchers provide child care services through the Child Development Center facilitate off-campus placements in collaboration with the South Bay Workforce Investment Corp. Transfer Services Instead of vacationing on the beach this past spring break, 26 Compton Center students toured a list of outstanding Northern California universities. The trip was absolutely free and was an excellent and enlightening experience for all, with students commenting that the tour showed them universities outside their experience, allowing them to dream big. Universities on the tour included: the University of California at Berkeley, Davis, and Santa Cruz; and California State University, San Francisco, San Jose, and Sacramento. Seeing a campus up close and personal is a terrific way to make informed decisions about which university would be best for transfer. Students learned about each university s academic programs, student life, financial aid opportunities and more! I never thought that I would apply to a Northern California university, but now this trip really has me thinking about what school to choose, said one motivated student. Another student wrote, I was inspired by my experience, I m grateful.

6 In Memoriam David Cobbs Many friends and family came to the Compton Center Student Lounge on April 12 to join in a musical tribute sponsored by the Music and Fine Arts Department, the Office of Student Life, family and friends to celebrate the life of longtime Compton Center music professor David Cobbs, who passed away April 2. A native of Tennessee, Mr. Cobbs graduated from Tennessee State University in 1961 with a bachelor s degree in music. He earned a master s degree in instrumental music education from the University of Michigan in 1962, in addition to earning a master s in musicology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in He is the only African-American student with this kind of degree to graduate from the University of Massachusetts. Mr. Cobbs married Margaret Alicia Porter, whom he met as an undergraduate student at Tennessee State University, in Mr. Cobbs only daughter, Amy, was born in Texas in His long and distinguished career in higher education began in 1962 as the band director at Edward Waters College in Jacksonville, Florida. He also served as band director and woodwind instructor at Prairie View A & M University in Texas from 1963 to In 1970, he moved to Los Angeles and joined the faculty of Compton College as band director and music professor. During his 35-year tenure, Mr. Cobbs was instrumental in establishing the Compton College Jazz Ensemble, the Saturday Music Conservatory and the All-District Band, and served in many leadership roles at the college and in the community. Mr. Cobbs was known as an impeccably dressed gentleman who brought the joy of music to countless students, instilling in them a deeper appreciation of music and a challenge to pursue excellence in every area of their lives. He made music technology a permanent program on our campus, and though he loved classical music and jazz, he was continually moving forward and embracing change in the same way he embraced life. Service Learning Conference Several Compton Center faculty members attended a very successful Service Learning Conference on the El Camino College campus last month. Titled, Connecting the Curriculum with the Community, the conference was genuinely inspiring and energizing, causing many enthusiastic participants to stay well after the event had ended to share insights and information. Compton Center faculty who attended include: Ella Stewart, Tom Norton, Jerome Evans, David Maruyama, Jose Bernaudo, Art Flemming, Carroll Fisher, and Toni Wasserberger;

7 along with other attendees from Marymount College, Cerritos College, California State University, Dominguez Hills, and El Camino College. This interactive conference had participants visiting various service learning sites, including: a daycare center for pre-schoolers in Alondra Park, a center for Alzheimer s patients, an art center for the disabled, a music center for the disabled, and a public library. Conference attendees were assigned to different sites, and given a specific assignment related to a class. Participants then spent two hours at the designated site, three hours in rotating discussion groups, and the speaker had everyone engaged in activities that helped to define service learning. The interactive, hands-on, and reflective emphasis of this conference set it apart from others, so that those involved were really reacting as students would in a service learning class. It was a great experience for all! Share your News! We want to keep you informed of the news in our campus community. We also want to hear from you! We know there is no shortage of good news at Compton Center and we would like to hear about it. Know a student who won a scholarship? A professor who just published an article or book? A staff member honored by a professional organization or someone recognized for work in the community? Help us spread the good news! Please your news items to Ann M. Garten, Director, Community Relations, at agarten@elcamino.edu. El Camino College Compton Center, 1111 East Artesia Boulevard, Compton, CA Telephone (310)