NewsMakers

Accomplishments by faculty and staff

Jan Ellis, Mesa College dance program director, is the 2000 State Community College Organization of Physical Educators (SCOPE) Dance Educator of the Year. She received the award in March at a SCOPE conference in Palm Springs for excellence in teaching as well as her involvement in curriculum development and leadership. Ellis is chair of the Mesa Academic Senate curriculum committee.

The KSDS “Jazz 2000” poster has won an international award for design and illustration for Candice Lopez and her husband, Rafael. The competition was sponsored by HOW magazine. The poster is available at Jazz Live concerts and to anyone who becomes a member of the district’s all-jazz radio station.

City College history/political science professors Susan Hasegawa and Don Estes joined Karen Seat and Jonnie Wilson from San Diego City Schools on a panel presenatation, “The American Roller Coaster: Public Space, Public Institutions and the Japanese Experience” at the 35th Annual Conference of the Congress of History of San Diego and Imperial Counties on March 3. Hasegawa will present her research on the post World War II resettlement of JapaneseAmericans to San Diego County at the Association of Asian American Studies’ annual conference in Scottsdale, AZ, in May.

Leroy Quintana, Mesa College English professor, is the 2000 recipient of the San Diego Public Library Local Author Lifetime Achievement Award. The award recognizes his distinguished writing career. A renowned poet, Quintana explores traditional Mexican folklore and storytelling devices in his discussion of themes such as war, self-discovery, village life and modern societal impact upon Chicano and Native American cultures.

James Romeo, Mesa College music professor, recently performed at the prestigious Lincoln Center in New York City. A saxophonist, he performed a piece composed by fellow Mesa music professor Igor Korneitchouck.

Betty Johnson, creative writing adjunct teacher at Centre City and Mid City centers, was given the Odin Award for her unique contributions to the San Diego writing community. Presented by the San Diego Writers/Editors Guild, it is the latest in her honors that include first place in a statewide competition and fourth in the nation for a public relations media kit. She is proud to announce that as a result of her classes, one of her students has gone from receiving payment in the form of copies of the magazine, to $3,000 for a lead article. Many of her older adult students, who write as much for historical and therapuetic reasons, are also beginning to sell their articles.

Joaquin Hernandez, district affirmative action manager, just completed a three-year term on the Department of Veteran Affairs Advisory Committee on Minority Veterans. This committee advises the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Congress on the needs and concerns of minority veterans. A former U.S. Marine, Hernandez is a disabled Vietnam war veteran.

Susan Simpson, City College nursing professor, presented a paper on the effects of music on the anxiety levels of patients undergoing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at the Society for Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology at the spring meeting in March in San Diego. Her paper was published in the official journal of the American Radiological Nurses Association quarterly, Images. Her study showed that music did not really affect the anxiety level of patients during an MRI.

Bill Armstrong, Continuing Education’s research director, received the Mertes Award for Excellence in Community College Research at the 25th Annual Conference of the Association of California Community College Administrators (ACCCA) held in Pasadena this past February. The award, first given in 1997, was established by ACCCA and David Mertes, longtime ACCCA member and former chancellor of the California Community Colleges, to honor well-crafted research that benefits the mission and goals of the California Community Colleges. Also Armstrong’s paper, “Student Success in Courses as an Artifact of Placement Test Scores and Student Background Data,” was published in the juried Community College Journal of Research and Practices. The study showed that the success or failure of students had less to do with their entering placement scores than with the academic standards imposed by the college.

Darius Cooper, Mesa College professor of English, is the author of a new book: The Cinema of Satyajit Ray, Between Tradition and Modernity, published by the Cambridge University Press.

Dorothy Berger, the Mesa College English professor who was instrumental is the 1999 visit of three Tibetan monks to the campus, was interviewed recently by Radio Free Asia.

City College’s Larry Forman, was a contributor to the recently published book Honored But Invisible: An Inside Look at Teaching in Community Colleges by W. Norton Grubb (of UC Berkeley).

Beverly Joseph, senior student services assistant at Miramar, was selected as one of two statewide winners of a scholarship to attend the Classified Leadership Institute in Tahoe City this spring. Joseph was active in student government at City College while a student there, and served a term as the district’s student member of the board of trustees. Now the Miramar College Classified Senate vice president, she was also active in the Classified Senate at Mesa when working there.

Ken Fawson, assistant chancellor for Instructional Services and Economic Development, led a presentation of the new CurricUNET system, which the district is currently testing, at the Chancellor’s MegaConference at Palm Springs on April 4. CurricUNET is an online curriculum development, review and approval system that the district has developed in collaboration with Governet, a consulting firm. Also participating were George Tamas, CEO of Governet; Jan Ellis, Mesa College curriculum chair; Diane Glow, Miramar College curriculum chair; Ray McFarlane, Miramar College fire technology department chair; Diane Thornton, curriculum analyst and Bonnie Burns Price, manager of Curriculum and Instructional Services.

Leslie Johnson-Leech, an adjunct instructor of Tai Chi and physical fitness for Older Adults through West City Center, discovered she had a talent for singing at a City College musical theatre class. Joining with two fellow students from that class, Joan Isenberner and Betty Moss, they have formed a trio, The Triple Tones, that entertains at senior centers, church groups, women’s groups and recreations centers with music from the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s.

Sid Forman, City College English professor, was selected by the California Association of Teachers of English to receive the Award for Classroom Excellence this year. Forman used to publish a regular column in the organization’s magazine, California English, and has made numerous presentations around the state on the use of computers in the classroom.

Constance Carroll, president of Mesa College, was a panelist for a national Public Broadcasting Service teleconference, “Emerging Issues in Accreditation,” held earlier this semester. Carroll is past chair of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges.

Peter Davis, former associate dean of advanced transportation at Miramar College, received one of six Faculty Leadership Awards at the California Community Colleges 11th Annual Economic Development Conference held in early April in San Francisco. Davis was commended for his outstanding accomplishments and partnerships in leading Miramar’s alternative transportation technology program. Taking the initiative to write innovative curriculum materials not only for community colleges, but also for high school and junior high school audiences, was among the many accomplishments cited in the award. He was also lauded for participation with Clean Cities Conferences, the board of Binational Air Quality Alliance and the San Diego Coalition of Clean Cities, and for being instrumental in the development and implementation of the electric vehicle programs throughout California. Davis left Miramar in March to take a new job as director for the Advanced Transportation Technology Initiative under a grant to the College of the Desert in Palm Desert from ED>Net. He will coordinate Advanced Transportation Center activities throughout the state for the next four years.