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College Named 'Best Of' in SD Union Tribune
Reader's Poll
In the Union-Tribune’s annual readers’ poll,
Grossmont College has been named “Best of” our
category for schools. We received a plaque and are
entitled to use the “Best of” logo during the
coming year. Congratulations to the entire
Grossmont College faculty and staff for achieving
this recognition. |
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Community College Week Reports GC One of Top
100
Associate Degree Producers |
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Each year, one of the major community college trade
publications, Community College Week publishes
its list of “Top 100 Associate Degree Producers” based
on data from the U.S. Department of Education. Out of
more than 1,600 community colleges nationwide, Grossmont
College ranks 81st in total number of associate degrees
awarded. There is more impressive news: Grossmont
College ranks 43rd nationally in number of
Administration of Justice associate degrees awarded, and
34th nationally in number of Associate Degrees/Nursing
awarded. I would like to thank everyone in the Grossmont
College community for their part in helping so many
students meet their educational goals and complete the
requirements for graduation. |
Accelerated ADN Program
Welcomes First Class |
 The welcoming ceremony for the first class of 35
international medical graduates who have been selected
to participate in the new accelerated nursing program
recently approved by the State was held August 20. This
project, part of the Regional Health Occupations Center,
is a pilot curriculum developed by Dr. Elisabeth Hamel.
Each student in the program is supported by Sharp Health
Care. |
Fall 2003 Enrollment |
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I am happy to report that with the guidance of the
Enrollment Strategies Committee chaired by Dr. Dean
Colli, our enrollment goals for fall, 2003, have been
met. We reduced class sections by almost 5 percent,
compared with fall, 2003. The story behind the figures
below, however, is that there is a huge demand for our
classes and services. KFMB-TV Channel 8 visited our
campus September 3 and aired a comprehensive report the
next day, showing that Grossmont College is doing an
excellent job meeting student needs in a time of reduced
funding compounded by great inequities in the FTES
funding formula.
The following provides comparison of enrollment as of
the census date Fall 2002 and Fall 2003 for Grossmont
College: |
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Fall 2003 |
Fall 2002 |
Count Variance |
% Variance |
| Headcount |
17,894 |
18,241 |
-347 |
-1.90% |
| Continuing |
10,362 |
10,241 |
121 |
1.18% |
| Units |
158,051 |
160,180.50 |
-2,159.50 |
-1.33% |
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Art Faculty Exhibition Reception September 30 |
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Please join us Tuesday, September 30 for the opening
reception of the Grossmont College Art Faculty
Exhibition in the Hyde Art Gallery. The reception
begins at 7 p.m.
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GC Open-Air Marketplace
Debuts October 12 |
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The Grossmont College Foundation has been working with
Newport Diversified Inc., for more than a year to gain
the necessary permits and make plans to hold a weekly
open-air marketplace on the college campus. Opening
day for this revenue-generating activity will be
Sunday, October 12. Vendors, who will be open from 8
a.m. to 3:30 p.m. will be located in parking lot 5. |
Academic Senate Presidents
to Author Article for FACCC News |
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Beth Smith, president of the Grossmont College
Academic Senate, and her counterpart at Cuyamaca
College, Patrick Setzer, will collaborate on an
article for the statewide FACCC (Faculty Association
of California Community Colleges) newsletter to
describe the unfair effects of the inequity in the
state funding formula for California Community
Colleges. |
A New Look for Campus Scene |
 As
a cost-savings measure, and with the help of our
webmaster Andrea Garzanelli, we have begun electronic
distribution of our Campus Scene newsletter to our
internal campus community. A benefit of this
distribution process is that now everyone is able to see
the great photos in living color. You can access Campus
Scene at
www.grossmont.edu/campus_scene
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Awards |
In athletics this past spring semester, Grossmont
College received three Coach of the Year Awards: Rick
Trestrail in softball; Brian Harvey in Men’s Water Polo,
and Larry Larsen in Women’s Water polo; won the state
championship in Women’s Tennis for the second straight
year under Coach Lowery’s leadership; and 81 student
athletes transferred to four-year universities.
On
August 10, our team of chefs from the culinary
department competed in a major cooking competition held
at the Western Food Show Expo at the Convention Center
in Los Angeles. We won the following:
- Los Angeles Western Expo Culinary Competition:
- 1st Runner Up - Team Hot Food Competition
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Letter to the President |
Dear Dr. Martinez:
I am currently a senior at San Diego State University
expecting to graduate this December with a Bachelor’s
Degree in Business Management. During this busy time of
finishing my classes and making the transition from
being a college student to career professional, I am
finding that this is also a time of reflection.
I had such a great learning experience at Grossmont
College and would like to take a moment to thank those
who had a positive impact on my life. I must first point
out that I returned to Grossmont College in the spring
of 1998 nearly 20 years after I graduated from high
school.
My first contact at Grossmont College was with counselor
Virginia Steinbeck (retired) who asked me what my goals
were. I told her that I wanted to acquire skills that
would help me to obtain a good paying job and also
enable me to carry on an intelligent conversation in
social gatherings. I told her that I felt like Joey from
the Friends episode where he could not afford to buy an
entire encyclopedia collection form the door-to-door
salesman; instead, he only had enough money to purchase
one book - the letter “R”. It follows, later in the show
during conversations with the other “friends” he could
only talk about subjects that began with the letter R.
If the subject were about any other letter, Joey would
have a blank look on his face. That was how I felt with
my limited education.
To begin, my math skills were so inadequate that I was
placed in the lowest math level Grossmont had to offer:
Math 088. From there, I stepped up to Math 090, then
finally I made it to college level Algebra where I met
Ann Kmet and math tutor Kim Clark. Between these two
other wonderful people, I was able to build up my
confidence and math skills enough to conquer both
Statistics and Calculus. I was so proud of my
achievements, and I want my mentors to know that I could
not have done it without them.
I thought I was pretty good in English until I met Janet
Grande who promptly gave me an “F” on my very first
assignment. Several students who received similar grades
dropped out, but that only made me more determined to
conquer this class. She was honest, fair and opened my
world to the fine arts by making it mandatory for us to
study and see a Shakespeare play at the Olde Globe
Theater. I can still hear her voice admonishing me for
my run-on sentences and only hope that I am not doing so
now. By the way, I still have the “gold sheet of
transitions” she gave us.
Likewise, I want to thank Dr. Will Cummings
(Microeconomics) and Sid Herzig (retired, Political
Science) for expecting so much from their students and
in return, getting it. I sincerely thought that I was
going to fail both of these classes because I did so
poorly on their tests – thank goodness for extra credit!
I’m very proud of those hard-earned C’s.
In Tina Perez’s Communication class I learned about
difference races and cultures from her “Perceptions”
exercise and her astonishing Forensics team, whose
members would paint an image with their words. I was
especially moved by the young man who recited “The Prism
of Light” A powerful description of how a black man was
falsely accused of a crime against a white woman.
I found out that school could be a lot of fun, too.
Fitness extraordinaire Joyce Sake instilled the benefits
of being a life long exerciser. I have kept my weight
off for three years now and I thank Joyce for showing me
the proper way of doing it. I found out through my
classes with Gordon Dudley, Mike Matherly and Tim Cliffe
that I have a true passion for Earth Sciences. In
Professor Dudley’s Environmental Biology class we
learned about the native Coastal Sage Scrub Community as
well as flora and fauna in our local mountains. I never
knew that San Diego had a unique plant community. Until
then I thought those were just dead, brown weeds.
My absolute favorite college classes were those taught
by Professor Matherly and Professor Cliffe. I’m surely
they got sick of seeing my face around their offices.
The classes were not easy by any stretch of the
imagination; however, I found the Physical Geography
class, the California class, and Geography of San Diego
field-trip classes to be the ones I most fondly
remember. Tim’s California class intrigued me not only
by his enthusiasm for his subject, but the urgency of
our ever-increasing water problem in Southern
California. The “build now, worry about it later”
mentality of developers is very disconcerting to me.
After graduation, I am seeking an executive position
with the County of San Diego where I will have some
power to make decisions that are both environmentally
responsible and fiscally appropriate for the County.
Ultimately, this December I will be the proud recipient
of a Bachelor of Science degree from San Diego State
University. I just wanted to take this time to remember
those who gave the foundation to become who I am today.
Even though you may not remember me, I will never forget
you! You have inspired me, taught me and given me
confidence and knowledge to last a lifetime. Thank you
one and all for making me a more astute person, a more
confident person, a person who has put the letter “R”
away and is delighted to be able to discuss the entire
alphabet. Pick a letter, any letter. I am ready!
Sincerely,
Glenda Golojuch
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