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IN THIS ISSUE Left Brain, Right Brain To Protect and To Serve Online Biology Taking to the Streets Chancellor’s Page Development News Factoids NewsMakers |
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Brain, Right Brain
Herald Kane, a City College chemistry professor, faculty leader and tireless advocate for students for more than 30 years, grew up in that small town, and developed values built to last. “It was a blue collar neighborhood, with interesting people from many countries,” Kane said. “I had a truly wonderful childhood. Early on, I assumed a kinship with people, including them in my consideration rather than excluding them. I became a very accepting individual, and assume we are all doing the best we can.” From the age of six, Kane studied violin. On summer days he played baseball on a local field and, when he wasn’t playing, gazed in the distance and wonder what was past the majestic Rockies. “I always knew there was more to life than immediate, basic experiences. I always felt there was something deeper about life’s purposes,” he said. Kane’s world expanded when he ventured out of his small hometown to attend the University of Alberta. It was his first foray from home, but not his last. “I was accepted at UCLA in the fall of 1964,” Kane said. “Los Angeles was an absolute awakening. It was a paradise of opportunity and variety. I loved the academic environment and how bright, motivated and witty the people were. I played violin in the UCLA symphony, was active in athletics and also learned how to scuba dive. I really started to love California. I was immersed in a new culture that was immensely exciting, also unnerving.” In 1970, he was sought by a recruiter from City College to teach. “When they offered me the position, I assumed it would be for a year, and then I would go back to UCLA, finish my doctorate, then return home to Canada to work,” Kane said. It didn’t
happen that way. Kane did return to UCLA to finish his degree, then went
back to City College and stayed. With the job came changes. “The rigorous academic thinking and planning became so pervasive,” Kane said. “My sense of being a Renaissance person, experiencing some of life’s spontaneity, a lot of that left with the demands of the work. It was sort of a reluctant lesson.” Kane made another huge personal decision, to replace the focus that had been on himself with the channeling of his energies into students. “I had gone as far as I could go, and now I wanted to commit myself to others,” he said. “I took on the role of championing City College, and I grew to love the institution. I realized this was my family. I saw City College as a place for the transformation of people. I took cues on this from so many outstanding faculty mentors that were at the college when I arrived, and with whom I’ve worked since.” Kane took two years off in the early ’80s to travel the world with a friend, and again formed new impressions. “I found that the more difficult places people lived in, the more wonderful those people could be,” he says. “I developed a certain disillusionment about how all the citizens of the world were not on the same page. I had always approached things idealistically, and always believed that in my lifetime, the world would be healed. But I saw cruelty, poverty and misery as much as I saw friendliness, productivity and beauty. The experience was sobering.” The
journey had used up Kane’s savings, but he had a job, and was starting
over at age 40. Kane helped lead the formation of the College Tutorial Program during the ’70s. In 1985, Kane and others started the successful, still-flourishing Honors Program, where students engage in in-depth exploration of topics, critical thinking and extensive reading. “It became my all-consuming interest,” Kane said. “I loved working with people on all three campuses. I was absolutely delighted to see how creative our faculty was. We started to develop specializations and a core curriculum. “We were all appropriately anxious about how Honors would be seen, and we discovered who honors students really were. Our discovery was that honors students were not found but made. The honors student is just a regular student with the potential of being developed.” The honors faculty forged transfer incentives with four-year colleges. “Putting the agreements in place was visionary, because we set up a pathway for students, a great way to get into a four-year institution,” Kane said. Along came the Transfer Alliance program, where students followed a particular pattern of study and were more easily admitted to highly competitive four-year universities. “Honors has taken on a life of its own,” Kane said of the program he established with several others, including longtime friend and colleague Candace Waltz. “It brought a measure of belief, and creates pride that spreads. It’s the best thing I’ve been involved in –– extremely satisfying.” In the early ’90s, Kane was involved in the formation of the district’s auxiliary organization, and recently rotated off its board after 12 years. “We were able to set in motion some grand projects, such as the training of employees for companies, and contracting to provide educational services for government agencies,” Kane said. Over the years, Kane has often blended logic and intuition to be at the nucleus of innovative projects. For example, the Cross Enrollment Program allows students to take one course a quarter at UCSD or SDSU to acquaint them with the university experience. Meanwhile, education students at UCSD and elsewhere began teaching in area high schools and community colleges. Kane is also co-director of the Bio-Link Southwest Regional Center at City College, managing industry internships for faculty in community college biotechnician education programs. “A very important aspect of one’s self is self-identification,” Kane said. “It’s a principle about not only seeing who a person is, but helping them see themselves. It’s a central theme that needs to be impressed. I help push things along. When you begin to see obstacles as bridges, then man, the future is yours.” Kane keeps busy as chair of the physical and earth sciences department, goes to as many graduations of former students as possible, and enjoyed his recent stint in a team-teaching project. “That helped me find out a lot about myself as a teacher,” Kane said. “I still have the passion to challenge myself, to formulate new thoughts about subjects, I love to think about philosophy and how it relates to science. I can’t stop myself from creating metaphors with music and dance into my own teaching.” Kane says he will likely retire in a year, then divest himself of his extracurricular activities and teach part-time. He says he hopes to get back to some of his other pursuits, such as travel and music. He will not forget the students or the passion he finds teaching. “I love working, talking and laughing together with colleagues and students,” Kane said. “If we can continue developing and realizing our potential as we go through life, we are pretty close to living as our purpose was meant to be. I am blessed to have been in this field, and I pinch myself everyday. I am humbled by life, and determined to live life to its fullest.” |
THE JUGGLER. Being involved in so many activities –– teaching, department chair, Honors Program, Bio-Link and more –– is quite a juggling act for Herald Kane, but he says he's committed to all the projects and wouldn't have it any other way. |
