Governing Board Meeting Highlights

At the April 17 meeting of the GCCCD Governing Board:

  • The Board approved the submission of a Substantive Change Proposal in Distance Education Mode of Delivery to the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC). Grossmont currently offers 39 degrees and 32 certificates of which 50% or more can be taken online.
  • The Board approved Grossmont’s Vocational Training Program review, which is required every two years. The review focused on the purpose of the program, program description, labor market demand, regional factors, and employment and completion data.
  • The Board approved the 2012-2017 District Technology Plan which can be found online at http://www.gcccd.edu/governing-board/documents/dockets/2012/april/308a.pdf 
  • In reports of Governing Board members, the Board expressed appreciation for Grossmont’s 50th anniversary Community Open House. Board President Bill Garrett encouraged additional opportunities to bring the community on campus. Trustee Mary Kay Rosinski, after attending event on both Friday and Saturday, said the Open House was well managed. Trustee Ewin Hiel said he toured the nursing sim lab, and trustee Greg Barr said he toured the Sculpture Building during Saturday’s Department Fair. Mary Kay also expressed sympathy for the family of the Grossmont student who passed away in his car in Parking Lot 4A on Thursday, April 12.
  • President Garrett announced that Pat Murray, Health Science Lab Technician at Grossmont, had been selected for the Community College Classified Employee of the Year award. Community colleges throughout the state submitted nominees for this inaugural award to the Chancellor’s Office. Pat will receive her award in Sacramento on May 8.
  • In her report, Chancellor Miles announced the recipient of the Chancellor/Classified Senate Quarterly Award was David Steinmetz, Instructional Media Services Coordinator at Grossmont. Speaking for Dave was Wendy Corbin of CSEA and Kerry Kilber, Dean, Learning & Technology Resources, who nominated Dave. Kerry discussed the importance of Dave’s behind-the-scenes work at Grossmont and his positive attitude, including his frequent, calming “piece of cake” responses.
  • Chancellor Miles said she attended a recent statewide CEO meeting where state officials predicted it would be four-to-six years before the statewide recession subsides, and the current recession is greater than when Prop. 13 was passed. She also said the increase in student fees from $26 to $36 per unit resulted in an increase in student eligibility for BOG waivers. She said roughly 70 percent of California community college students currently attend classes on BOG waivers.
  • In her report, President Cooke said Grossmont’s Community Open House was successful despite budget and weather challenges. The current Guinness World’s Record for number of most individual signatures and greetings to a birthday card was exceeded. She also mentioned recent awards received by three honors students, the Speech and Debate students, as well as former student Isaac Zamora who received a U-T San Diego San Diego Latino Champions award. She also invited all to attend the College Recognition Awards ceremony on May 10.
  • In the District Services report, Vice Chancellor Business Services Sue Rearic said the District is continuing to work on balancing the budget for the next year (currently at a $1.358 million remaining shortfall). To help balance the tentative budget, there will be no 4 percent cushion for mid-year cuts, she said. She also discussed Re-development Successor Agencies and a possible new cell phone tower for the Grossmont campus.

Other Governing Board highlights will appear in the Courier which is distributed electronically from the District Office. 

Community Open House

Dr. Cooke celebrating our new world record!

Thank you again for your time and energy this past weekend with our Community Open House. A 50-year anniversary doesn’t happen every day, and we had a wonderful golden moment in our history. It was an unprecedented, family-oriented educational opportunity to experience college, plus lots of fun. We dedicated our two new buildings and danced to classic oldies tunes from the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s. The food trucks provided plenty of variety. Our faculty and staff were extraordinaire with our Department Fair featuring dozens of hands-on, interactive demonstrations and exhibits. Members of the community, students, faculty and alumni contributed birthday greetings and messages to a gigantic birthday card measuring 4 feet wide by 4 feet tall. It will be a couple of months before we receive confirmation from Guinness about the attempted world record for the most individual contributions to a birthday card. In addition, those who were not able to attend the Open House signed the card via the Grossmont College Facebook page and had their name and birthday greeting transcribed directly into the card. Your support and participation of the Community Open House made our college proud.

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Recent Honors

    Three of our honors students have received awards from the Honors Transfer Council of California (HTCC)
  • Three of our honors students have received awards from the Honors Transfer Council of California (HTCC). They were recognized at the recent HTCC convention in Irvine. Ralf Schuster received the Director’s Award, the top award given to honors students attending California community colleges. Ralf conducted research on smells. He determined that women are better than men at identifying smells, and women are better smellers using their right nostrils, while there’s little difference for men when it comes to smelling with the right or left nostrils. Daniel McKay and Heather Roth also were honored. Daniel conducted research about establishing a peer counseling club to help students with their four highest ranked stressors: relationships, financial, school-related and work-related. Heather wrote a paper for her Henrietta Lacks essay that included ideas from Kierkegaard.
  • Isaac Zamora, Class President of our Respiratory Therapy Program from 2007 to 2009, has been honored with the Volunteer of the Year Award for the inaugural U-T San Diego San Diego Latino Champions Awards. Isaac is now a respiratory therapist at UC San Diego Medical Center in La Jolla. According to Lorenda Seibold-Phalan, Isaac comes back to class every fall semester to talk with our students about doing and “being” more than just a student – to get involved. He is a real inspiration. UCSD Medical Center has put him in charge of community outreach for the RT department and he has gotten fellow therapists to participate in all kinds of community events and causes.
  • Two of our guitar instructors, Fred Benedetti and Robert Wetzel, have received a “Certificate of Authenticity” from NASA after their “Forgotten Romance” CD was flown aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on its final trip last year to the International Space Station. Fred and Robert are collectively known as the “Odeum Guitar Duo.” Odeum refers to a small building in ancient Greece or Rome that was used for public performances of music.
  • Micah Jendian, English, will co-facilitate a breakout at the Spring 2012 Academic Senate of the California Community Colleges (ASCCC) Plenary Session, this Thursday, April 19. His breakout session is titled “Increasing College Readiness: A Collaborative Endeavor.” In addition, Micah co-wrote an article on Expository Reading and Writing Course (ERWC) that was published in the February 2012 Senate Rostrum, the ASCCC journal. His article was called “The ERWC: An Additional Approach to Increasing College Readiness.” He also amended a co-wrote Resolution 13.10, “Coordinating a Model of Basic Skills Instruction through Implementation of the ERWC,” which was passed at the Fall 2011 ASCCC Plenary in November.
  • Donald H. Harrison, creator and editor of San Diego Jewish World, an online newspaper, and an adjunct instructor for the class that produces the student newspaper called The Summit, has written a story about Tate Hurvitz, Assistant Professor, Department of English, and Tate’s work on the Henrietta Lacks Project. Here is a link to the article. http://bit.ly/hurvitzarticle .
  • Our marketing and graphics staff has been honored with six awards from the statewide organization representing community college professionals in marketing, public information, media relations and graphics. The Community College Public Relations Organization (CCPRO) has notified us that we won awards for radio advertising and “Celebrating 50 Years,” our the 50th Anniversary Book, as well as logo design, design of the college’s 2011-2012 catalog and photography. Awards will be presented at the CCPRO conference later this month.
    • Speech and Debate team celebrating their big win!
  • Congratulations to Speech and Debate Team Advisor, Roxanne Tuscany, and the team of students she took to the National Phi Rho Pi Speech/Debate tournament, held April 9-14, 2012 in Illinois. Six students competed against 58 Community Colleges, from 11 different states, and approximately 350 students and took home 10 National awards.
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Upcoming Campus Events

  • As part of the Spring 2012 Master Class Series, the Dance Department will present two classes on ballet with guest instructor Xavier Hicks on Saturday, April 21 at the college’s main dance studio, Building #24, Room #271. A class for beginners will be taught from 1 to 2:30 p.m., followed by a class for intermediate and advanced students from 2:30 to 4 p.m. For more information, visit www.grossmont.edu/dance.
  • The Grossmont College Dance Department will present “Entrances and Exits,” a faculty-choreographed dance concert featuring performances by Grossmont College dance students demonstrating various genres of dance. Performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, April 26, 27 and 28. All performances will be held at the Joan B. Kroc Theatre, and feature dance performances in salsa, tap, ballet, contemporary, modern and hip hop. Admission is $12 per person. Tickets are available at the door. For more information, phone the Grossmont College Dance Dept. at (619) 644-7766, or visit www.grossmont.edu/dance.
  • The 50th annual Associated Students of Grossmont College, Inc. and Inter-Club Council Scholarship and Service Awards Ceremony will be held at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 25 in Griffin Gate. A pre-reception will be held outside of the Griffin Gate at 5:30 p.m. Our student leaders are honored at this event. All are invited to attend. Outstanding student leaders will be recognized for their academic, service, and student life achievements during the 2011-2012 academic years. For more information, contact Barbara Bender, ASGC, Inc. secretary, at Barbara_Bender@gcccd.edu.
  • The Grossmont College Creative Writing Program and The World Arts and Cultures Committee are thrilled to present the 16th Annual Literary Arts Festival to be held April 24-May 3. The festival will feature award-winning authors as well as showcase talent from the campus and community. Highlights of this year's festival include an engagement with internationally renowned author Sandra Cisneros, an American novelist, short-story writer, essayist and poet. She will read and sign books on Thursday, April 26 at 7 p.m. in Griffin Gate. Additionally, Grossmont College welcomes Tim O'Brien's highly anticipated engagement in Week 2 of the Festival. O'Brien, considered one of our greatest living American authors and inspirational speakers, is best known for his novel The Things They Carried, a National Book Award Winner and Pulitzer Prize Finalist. O’Brien will lecture and read from his work on Thursday, May 3 at 2 p.m. in Griffin Gate. All events are free and open to the public. Professional Development credit is available for faculty. For additional information, contact Sydney Brown at (619) 644-7523 or visit the campus website at www.grossmont.edu/english/Festival.
  • In the Music Department: the Grossmont College Concert Band will perform with concert bands from Cuyamaca, Pt. Loma Nazarene University and SDSU at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 19 at Cuyamaca. The Grossmont College Symphony String Quartet will perform chamber music at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 19 in Room #220. Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors, $5 for students and children ages 12 and under are free with a paid adult admission. Another performance for the String Quartet will be held at 8 p.m. on Friday, April 20, at All Saints Episcopal Church (admission is free). The Grossmont College Guitar Guild will present a guitar duo performance by Grossmont guitar instructors Fred Benedetti and George Svoboda at 8 p.m. on Friday, April 20, in Room #220 on campus. The performance is a fund-raiser for the Grossmont College Guitar Guild. Admission is $10 per person, and $8 for seniors and students. The Grossmont College Guitar Guild will present a solo performance by Grossmont College Music Dept. guitar instructor Robert Wetzel at 8 p.m. on Friday, April 27, in Building #26, Room 221 on campus. Admission is $10 per person, and $8 for seniors and students. For more information, phone (619) 644-7254.
  • The Grossmont College Friends of Music will host its second annual Friends of Music gala to benefit the Grossmont College Symphony and Master Chorale on Saturday, April 28, from 5:30 to 9 p.m. at the Griffin Center, Grossmont College's new student center. The event will feature live music, dinner, and a silent auction, along with an opportunity drawing. Admission is $50 per person, and corporate sponsorships are available for $750 for a table of eight. For more information, call Lisa Oberndorfer at (619) 743-2010 or by email at lisakay@gmail.com. To purchase tickets, go to www.grossmontsymphony.tix.com.
  • The Hyde Art Gallery’s “Art Student Exhibition,” featuring student artwork, runs from May 7 to 17, with an opening reception from 7 to 9 p.m. on May 15. This exhibition highlights the most exciting and innovative art and design that Grossmont College’s students have produced over the course of a year. On display will be our finest examples of ceramics, digital media, painting, drawing, jewelry, photography, sculpture 2-D and three-dimensional design.
  • Our College Recognition Awards ceremony will be held at 3 p.m. on Thursday, May 10 in Griffin Gate. This is one of the important ways that our college community applauds and celebrates the good work of our peers. It’s an opportunity to give faculty and staff a well-deserved recognition. All are invited to attend.
  • The Career Center’s Adult Reentry program will present “Now That You’ve Been Laid Off,” a seminar presented by Tony Desylvester, management trainer, from 2 to 4 p.m., Wednesday, May 9. To register, visit www.grossmont.edu/adultreentry. The college’s Adult Reentry program serves adults who are interested in returning to school to reenter the workforce, learn a new career, earn a college diploma or upgrade their skills for a job promotion.
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Sports Report

  • Men’s Baseball recently had a 8-10 record and was four games back in the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference (PCAC) race.
  • Women’s Softball was recently 5-6 in PCAC play, and in 4th place.
  • The Men’s Tennis team is in a rebuilding year with a recent 6-3 conference record, which is 3rd place in the PCAC.
  • The Women’s Tennis team was recently tied for second place in the PCAC going into the conference championship tournament.
  • The Men’s Swim and Dive team was recently in first place in the conference going into the conference championship tournament.
  • The Men’s Volleyball team was recently ranked 8th in the state and tied for third place in a very tough PCAC. The team was recently seeking two wins to secure a playoff spot.
  • The Grossmont Badminton team has been very competitive, but has yet to gain its first victory of the young season. Player’s Yuki Abe and Kimberly Arebalo have played well individually and in doubles play and are expected to qualify for the state finals.