Endowment from Randy Weil’s Estate provides FREE Feldenkrais Classes to Emeritus College Students

A generous endowment from the estate of former Emeritus College instructor Randy Weil allows the college to offer FREE classes in Feldenkrais for the Mature Adult for Emeritus College students. The endowment provides enough funding to cover almost three years of FREE offerings of Feldenkrais for the Mature Adult.

Weil began teaching for Emeritus College in 1995. By the time she could no longer teach in 2005, she had taught 40 quarters with up to 50 students in each class. Weil is fondly remembered by many Emeritus College students for her years of dedication to making the lives of older adult learners easier and more pleasurable.

She was well-loved by her students, and taught with a rare dedication. Even while she battled cancer during the last years of her life, she worked towards being able to continue to teach her classes herself and, when she could not, she made every effort to make sure that the needs of her students were not forgotten and that excellent instructors were available to substitute for her.

Emeritus College was lucky to have Randy Weil on the faculty while she lived and, even now, continues to benefit from such a dedicated and valued instructor. For more information contact Karen Van Kriedt at 415-485-9368

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Volunteers are needed for the COM Marin County Fair Exhibit

Have fun at the Marin County Fair and help recruit new students! Volunteers are needed for two-hour or four-hour shifts from June 30 to July 4, 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. There are plenty of things to do and see at the fair and thousands of local residents are expected to attend.  From bigger-than-ever fireworks displays to big-name musical entertainment, the 62nd edition of the Fair promises to be fun for the whole family. If you are interested in participating, please send an email to Cathy Summa-Wolfe with “County Fair” in the subject area and include your available days and times.

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Kudos

Student Ashley Karrell was named COM’s Women’s Swimmer of the Year.  Karrell managed to win all the races she competed in throughout the swim season.  She also came in first place at all three events at the Bay Valley Conference Championships last week.  That’s when coaches made their decision to name her Swimmer of the Year.  Karrell, who is a children’s swim coach, plans on becoming a teacher after she graduates.

The COM Mariners finished off the regular season by beating Napa 11-7 on Saturday, clinching a third straight trip to the state tournament. After suffering a five-game losing skid, and a one-game lead for Yuba, Yuba lost last Saturday to Contra Costa preserving the Mariner's seven game winning streak and a chance to be in the state tournament. 

Last week 85 students were inducted into COM’s Beta Xi Kappa Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, the largest honor society in American higher education.  The organization provides students with opportunities for individual growth and development in honors, leadership, service, and fellowship programming.  In order to be a member, students must first achieve a 3.5 GPA and later maintain at 3.25 GPA.  As an inductee students have access to scholarship opportunities.  Also deserving of special recognition are the staff and administrators who worked hard to get the Beta Xi Kappa Chapter at COM: Arnulfo Cedillo, Administrator; Yolanda Bellisimo, Faculty Advisor; Vickie Lamke, Student Services Assistant.

Fred Brunton a part-time Automotive Technology Instructor was awarded the California Automotive Teachers Association Secondary Teacher of the Year Award.  He has been teaching at Petaluma High School for 30 years and has taught a variety of courses at COM for 20 years.  Brunton, who has been a trained mentor for new teachers, maintains high standards for his students.  He is known for rewarding his students by sponsoring a car club where he opens the auto lab for meetings once a week.

Jennifer Chang, a part time teacher in medical assisting, just passed her exams to become a registered pharmacist in California!  She teaches the medical assisting pharmacology course at COM as well as other courses.  Chang developed the original MEDA webpage which has been a great asset to the program.

Vice President of Student Learning Anita Martinez is one of ten Chief Instructional Officers invited to take part in the training and implementation of the Basic Skills Initiative. Ten teams will provide training for all California community colleges. The Initiative is being led by the Academic Senate for the California Community Colleges and is intended to improve outcomes for students who are placed in basic skills courses in math and English.  The initiative will affect ongoing enrollment for these students and success in other courses if students complete their basic skills courses with stronger reading, writing, math, critical thinking, and learning skills.

Professor Rowena Southerd’s short story “Translucence” has been published in the magazine Sybil’s Garage 4.  A recent review of the magazine singled out the story and praised Southerd for her “delightful” writing style.

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Upcoming

Transfer Student Celebration

For the first time, the Transfer and Career Center and the Office of Student Affairs will be partnering to host a celebration to recognize students who are transferring to four-year universities.  It is our hope that COM administrators, faculty and staff attend to show their support for these high achieving students.  The Transfer Recognition Reception takes place on May 10 at 6:30 p.m. in Olney Hall, Room 96.  Please RSVP by email to Janice Austin or call her at 415.485.9671 by May 1.

Latino College Parent Day

College of Marin will host an informational event in Spanish for Latino parents on Saturday, May 12, from 10:00 A.M. (9:30 A.M. registration) to 1:00 P.M. outside Olney Hall. This is the first year the Office of Outreach and School Relations is offering this informational event in Spanish for parents of students attending grades ranging from elementary school through high school.  The event will feature three workshops on: financial support for college, student advocacy and AB 540 legislation (permitting qualified undocumented students the opportunity to pay in-state tuition at California public colleges and universities).  The day will include parent registration, a morning snack, followed by a formal “welcome to the College” by administrators.  After the welcome, parents will be able to sit in on the workshops and then take a tour of the campus.  The event will conclude with a sit down lunch.  The event is free of charge; no childcare will be provided. 

Othello

The College of Marin Theatre Arts Department will present William Shakespeare’s OTHELLO, The Moor of Venice as the last offering of the theatrical season.  OTHELLO will be presented in the Studio Theatre on the Kentfield campus on May 11 and 12 at 8 p.m. The director for this production will be W. Allen Taylor, who directed the recent successful productions of FENCES and A RAISIN IN THE SUN for the College.  Taylor is also the recipient of the Bay Area Critics’ Circle award for the Best Solo Performance of 2006 for his one man show IN SEARCH OF MY FATHER – WALKIN’ TALKIN’ BILL HAWKINS.  Taylor will perform WALKIN’ TALKIN’ at the Cleveland Play House’s Dobama Theatre in Cleveland, Ohio next summer while on sabbatical.

Retiree Celebration

Please join the celebration honoring individuals who have contributed so much to the College of Marin’s success.  We will be honoring employees who have retired since January 1, 2006.  Everyone is welcome to attend.  Light refreshments will be served.

Wednesday, May 16, 4:00 to 6:00 p.m., Marin Art and Garden Center – Livermore Pavilion, 30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. in Ross.

      Retirees to be honored (updated list):

• Nancy Cavendar                     Peggy Danna                         Eric Ebert
• Amy Fearnley                         Carolyn Ferguson                   David Ferguson
• Elwanda Gammil                     Sandra Handsher                    Vilma Holmes
• Peter Kassebaum                    Minerva Limon                        Pru Lorenzi                
• Joyce Marks                            Jim Owen                              Sandy Roberts
• Frances Rouda                        Marti Sukoski                         Victoria Vieira
• Jim Webster                            Micki Wendt                           Sam Zuech

Grand Opening of the Marin Simulation Center

The College of Marin will host the grand opening of the Marin Simulation Center on Thursday, May 17, 2007, at the Indian Valley Campus, from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. The dedication ceremony will be at 1:45 p.m.  Please R.S.V.P. by email to Nanda Schorske or call her at 415.883.2211 ext. 8200.

Greening the North Bay

Come to the 2007 Marin Jobs Summit and learn about how to get a job in the booming green industry.  The Workforce Investment Board of Marin County is hosting the event scheduled for May 16, 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Embassy Suites Hotel, 101 McGinnis Parkway in San Rafael.  At the job fair you will hear from community and business leaders about the green transition making its way to the North Bay.  To register, email Richards@dsnetwork.org or for more information, call 415.473.3364.

Scholarship Awards Ceremony

College of Marin Foundation will hold its annual Scholarship Awards Ceremony on Friday, May 18 at 5:00 p.m. in the Cafeteria, Student Services Center, Kentfield.  Over 100 students will be honored.  A reception will follow the ceremony.  All are welcome to attend.

Picnic in the Grove

Please mark your calendar, Thursday, May 24, 12:00 to 1:30 p.m. for the Annual Faculty and Staff Appreciation Luncheon, Picnic in the Grove.  The event is sponsored by College Council and the Academic and Classified Senates.  Please stay tuned for more information as invitations will be distributed via campus mailboxes.

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College of Marin 80th Commencement Exercises

Friday, May 25, 2007

Physical Education Center, Kentfield Campus

For more information about Commencement go to the College homepage. Updates will be posted online after May 3.

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News Writing and Production SLO Report

Professors Michael Dougan and Bonnie Borenstein recognize students as a diverse group (in terms of race, ethnicity, and age), including adult students who hope to improve their basic writing abilities and develop public relations skills. Most, though, are transfer students in their late teens and early 20s. These students have taken these courses because of personal interest and/or because of plans to major in journalism or communications.

Therefore, our goals as a discipline are to help students majoring in the field to become integrated into the culture of journalism, to understand the social and ethical principles that underpin the practice of journalism, to develop the basic writing and newspaper production skills that will enable them to succeed at higher levels of academic training; and to help students learn to apply basic news writing skills to the preparation of press releases and promotional material; and to help all students better understand how our journalistic media operate so that they can make informed judgments about the news and better fulfill their role as citizens.

Stated simply, news writing skills enhance community by developing professional-level concepts of communication through the mass media.

Some of the methods we use to accomplish our goal(s) is (are):

• Create safe and supportive environment for students to discuss their relationship with the media as news consumers.
• Introduce students to the basic components of news stories, news photographs and newspaper graphics.
• Provide opportunities to practice new, journalistic forms of sentence and paragraph construction, verb and adjective usage, and attribution.
• Support students in writing full-length personality profiles and news feature stories.
• Encourage students to seek immediate publication in the student newspaper and other outlets.

Have a great week!

Sincerely,

Frances L. White, Ph.D.

Superintendent/President

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