Insider, November 2009 - College of the Desert

TheINSIDER
The Newsletter for Faculty and Staff at College of the Desert • Volume 21 Number 2 • November 2009
CSU, COD Working
Together in the
Classroom
Colleges Colleges Ent Enter Ent Ent er Ne New Ne w Phase Phase of of of Cooperation: Cooperation: COD students in a Fundamentals of Chemistry course attend
a lab at CSUSB’s Palm Desert Campus. The joint classroom venture began this semester and is taught
by COD Professor Joana Ciurash. See Math and Science Division feature on Page 5.
Student Services
Center On Schedule
Construction on the 48,132 sq. ft. Donald and Peggy
Cravens Student Services Center is on schedule to open
in late Spring 2010, according to Facilities Director
Steve Renew. Funded by Measure B, the center
will cost an estimated $22.4 million.

Education Made
America Great,
Is Key to Future
I’ve been recommending a column
entitled, “The Uneducated
American,” written for the New
York Times by Paul Krugman, a
Nobel Prize winning economist.
What he has to say is of interest
to everyone who attends, teaches
or works in a community college
in California.
Krugman explains that
America’s economic success can
be explained by one word, “education.”
Our country led the way
in universal basic education in
the 19 th century and has since
established “a commanding position
in higher education.”
Now he worries that the rise of
public education has been reversed
in an age of declining government
revenues and increasing
resistance to tax increases.
“Until now, the results of educational
neglect have been
gradual … but things are about
to get much worse, as the economic
crisis deals a severe blow
to education across the board.
America, which used to take the
lead in educating its young, has
been gradually falling behind
other advanced countries.”
Krugman says America was
“the great land of college education,
unique in the extent to
which higher learning is offered
2–COD Insider, November 2009
President’s President’s R RRepor
R epor eport epor
Jerry R. Patton, COD President
to the population at large.” However,
that image is no longer a
reality.
“These days, young Americans
are considerably less likely than
young people in many other countries
to graduate from college. In
fact, we have a college graduation
rate that’s slightly below the average
across all advanced economies.”
One reason is that financial
pressures make it more difficult
for students to advance their
educational goals.
“We make it so hard for those
with limited financial means to
stay in school. In America, with
its weak social safety net and limited
student aid, students are far
more likely to hold part-time jobs
while still attending classes.
“Given the financial pressures,
young Americans are also less
likely to stay in school and more
likely to become full-time workers
instead.”
The recession has added to the
stress. The U.S. economy has lost
hundreds of thousands of jobs. In
just five months, 143,000 of those
jobs were in state and local education.
“That may not sound like
much,” Krugman writes, “but
education is one of those areas
that should, and normally does,
keep growing even during a recession.
Markets may be
troubled, but that’s no reason to
stop teaching our children. Yet
that’s exactly what we’re doing.”
None of this is surprising, given
the state of the economy. Public
education is funded by state and
local governments, which are in
dire fiscal straits. Anticipated fed-
eral funds from the “stimulus
package” have so far not materialized.
The result is that, particularly
in California, “we’re shutting off
opportunities” that have historically
been provided by community
colleges.
“For generations, talented students
from less affluent families
have used those colleges as a stepping
stone to the state’s public
universities. But in the face of the
state’s budget crisis those universities
have been forced to slam
the door on this year’s potential
transfer students.” Krugman
says the result “will be lifetime
damage to many students’ prospects
– and a large, gratuitous
waste of human potential.”
This is precisely what we are
now seeing daily at College of the
Desert, despite earnest efforts to
cut costs and still try to welcome
and encourage every student who
wants to enroll.
As Krugman suggests, more
money needs to find its way into
the state coffers – not for the sake
of educational institutions’ budgets
– but to create or save thousands
of jobs across the state. It
would be a vital investment in our
future. It might well determine
whether or not we even have a
future.
“Education made America
great,” the economist says. “Neglect
of education can reverse the
process.”
Let your elected representatives
know, today, that neglecting
to fund education is the wrong
direction for America.

Scene On Campus
COD’s COD’s Annual Annual T TTransf
T ransf ransfer ransfer
er F FFair
F Fair
air brought 23 colleges to campus. They set
up information tables at the Hilb and met with about 300 interested
students, according to Counselor Khanh Hoang.
Int International Int ernational Education Education W WWeek:
W eek: Reading a proclamation in recognition
of International Students is Chui Mei Chan, right, from Hong Kong.
Following the reading, the Board of Trustees officially adopted Nov. 16-
20 as International Education Week at COD. At left is IEP Program
Director Christina Delgado. College of the Desert has 182 students
from 38 different countries in the IEP program this year. The Board also
proclaimed the same week, Nov. 16-20, as Phi Theta Kappa Week, and
recognized November as National Native American Heritage Month.
Dean’s Dean’s TT
Tea: TT
ea: Dr. Diane Ramirez,
VP, Student Affairs, hosted a
reception for students who made
last semester’s Dean’s List. Here,
Dr. Ramirez poses with student
Tim White who earned a 4.0 GPA.
Belo Below: Belo Returning student Rita
Maguire, who also excelled
academically, has a cup of tea.
Nearly 600 students who earned
a GPA of 3.5 or higher made the
most recent Dean’s List.
COD Insider, November 2009–3

Faculty in the News
Adjunct faculty member Gary
Walker, who teaches English
and Speech in his 24th year at
COD, has just received two
nominations for “Outstanding
Original Writing” from the
Desert Theatre League for two
productions of his Saturday Radio
Matinee. That’s a monthly
live radio show at the Arthur
Newman Theater, Joslyn Center,
Palm Desert, a tribute to the
Golden Age of Radio.
The nominated scripts were for
“The Irish on the Radio” and
“Immigrants on the Radio.”
Walker won last year for his
musical play at La Quinta Playhouse,
“Thanks for the Memories.”
His entire cast is made up
of professional actors, singers,
and musicians.
C.D. Jackson, Jr., Professor
of Adult Basic Education, has
just published a new book, “360
Fully Conjugated English Verbs
with English Essentials.” The
reference book, which Jackson
says is “a straightforward guide
to learning English basics,” is for
sale at the COD Bookstore. The
long-time ESL instructor got the
idea when he went searching for
such a guide in one volume. “I
couldn’t find one, so I wrote my
own.” Jackson is also the co-author
of a biography of John
Carlos, of ‘68 Olympics fame.
Chef Steve Beno, Professor,
Culinary Arts, will present
“Holiday Food Art” on Nov. 12
at the COD/Palm Desert Library,
in the Community Room
at 2 p.m. The live demonstration
will demonstrate the use of fruit,
vegetables, and other foods to
create holiday table settings.
4–COD Insider, November 2009
Homeless Homeless Homeless f ffor
f or a a Night: Night: St Steven St en A AAcree
A Acree
cree cree, cree English, and W WWendy
W endy Hinrichs
Hinrichs
Sander Sanders, Sander ECE, are faculty advisors to Phi Theta Kappa, the community
college honor society. They recently helped guide the students in a fundraising
event. About 35 students created a “cardboard village” and
camped out at Alumni Park on campus on a Friday night. The event was
to call attention to the plight of the homeless. Valley agencies that serve
local homeless populations came in Saturday for a series of workshops
to teach students and other attendees what they could do to help. The
COD chapter of PTK has adopted the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission as
its community service project for the next two years.
Sabbatical Report
Ruth uth Nolan, Nolan, Nolan, who teaches Creative
writing at COD, delivered her
sabbatical report in the form of a
PowerPoint presentation to the
Board of Trustees. Her project
included publication of her book,
“No Place for a Puritan: The
Literature of California’s Desert.”
Dr. Imes Draws
Crowd at Forum
on ‘Depression’
COD’s first Depression Awareness
Day was a big hit with students,
who packed the Pollock
Theatre for a presentation by
Anneli Hanna, M.D., and
Cheryl Imes, Ph. D.
Designed to help students
learn more about the symptoms
of depression and find help, the
presentation was followed by a
two-hour free depression screening.
Students were asked to complete
a brief questionnaire and
discuss the results with a professional.
A list of mental health
service resources was available.
Dr. Imes, COD’s Clinical Psychologist,
said 89 students completed
the screening forms. Her
office on campus can be reached
at 862-1304.

COD COD Students Students P PPay
PP
y A AAtt
A tt ttention tt ention to lab experiment instructions in a
Chemistry class being taught at CSU’s Palm Desert site this semester.
Moving COD Forward in
the Field of Education
Second in a series of Insider articles
about the planning, and expansion in
each of College of the Desert’s
Academic Divisions.
Working closely with area high
schools and other colleges is a
goal announced by Jerry Patton
when he became President of
COD in 2007. The college now
meets regularly with leaders of
the other five educational entities
in the Coachella Valley:
CSU, UCR, DSUSD, PSUSD,
and CVUSD.
In the Math and Science Division,
a number of initiatives have
been taken towards that goal,
according to Dr. Jim Parvizi, Academic
Dean.
Out of these meetings have
emerged several tangible results.
For example, a COD chemistry
class now meets on the CSU campus,
utilizing a classroom and lab
in the newly built Health Sciences
building on Cal State’s
Palm Desert Campus. A
Coachella Valley Math Professional
Learning Council is aligning
curricula between area high
schools and COD so that students
entering COD can go directly into
college-level Algebra courses
without having to take remedial
math. Assessment tools are also
being upgraded to help create a
seamless transition from high
school to college math courses.
In addition, the Math and Science
Division is upgrading its
teaching methods by utilizing
computers more effectively – including
creating what Dr. Parvizi
called “hybrid classes in which we
use computers as labs.” Parvizi
said this year they’ve doubled the
number of classes using the technology
and the new emphasis on
“active learning, not passive”
Math�Sci
Division
Series
shows great promise.
Last year, COD earned a National
Science Foundation grant
to support students expressing a
career choice in science, math
and engineering. This year the
college has awarded the first
scholarships under the program,
which provides up to $5,000 to
transfer students and up to
$4,000 to students already here
and preparing for transfer.
COD is not just working with
the local satellite branch of CSU
San Bernardino. Recently, the
college became an Educational
partner with Cal State Channel
Islands. This gives COD students
the ability to remotely operate
CSUCI’s state-of-the-art lab
equipment which instantly analyzes
experiments via computer.
Channel Islands provided the
software-loaded computer and
related supplies. COD agreed to
“participate in data collection on
the efficacy of remote instrumentation
operation in the teaching
of organic chemistry.” What this
means is that students get experience
using CSU’s expensive
equipment and can do so right
from the classroom or lab. “Remote
Instrumentation is used by
many colleges that don’t have the
money that four-year colleges
have in order to buy these,” said
Chemistry Professor Joana
Ciurash. “By having remote or
virtual access to these instruments,
we can teach organic
chemistry at the same level as all
other colleges and universities, so
See Page 6
COD Insider, November 2009–5

...Remote
Access
From Page 5
it is important for our students
to learn to work with them. These
are the same instruments used
in laboratories in industry and
major universities, and are used
to identify new and old compounds.
The equipment can work
with very small quantities of organic
material, often without destroying
it. This is important
when you have a small amount
of material to work with, as in a
crime lab for instance.” COD is
one of 10 California colleges in
the partnership with CSUCI.
Aligning Curriculum
Professor Geoff Hagopian said
COD has been meeting with
teachers from Valley high schools
to study the math curricula at
local K-12 schools to “identify inconsistencies
and to minimize
these so as to smooth the way for
students entering COD from
high school.”
CalPASS (Partnership for Student
Success) is a statewide initiative
to find out why the majority
of students entering community
college need remedial
study. “A recurring theme in our
discussion,” said Hagopian, “are
the myriad of mandated standardized
exams that have been
introduced and the disparate expectations
of these exams and the
resulting confusion this causes.”
Hagopian said high school and
college math curricula have “seen
a massive transformation in the
past 10 years or so. The revolution
in calculator technology has
transformed the way many
teachers teach and many students
learn.” Hagopian believes
this has been a mixed blessing.
He also believes that the transi-
6–COD Insider, November 2009
Community Community College College in in a a U UUniv
U niv niver niv er ersity er sity En Envir En vir vironment: vir onment: Professor Joana
Ciurash says COD students doing lab work on the CSU campus makes
the transition to a four year school “much smoother and less terrifying.”
tion of the role of teachers from
teaching and controlling the curriculum
to teaching to standardized
tests that do not affect a
student’s grade is nonsensical.
COD’s goal in studying what is
being taught, and how, is to “remove
gaps in teaching and create
a more seamless transition
for math students,” according to
Dean Parvizi. His assessment so
far: “High school algebra, for example,
covers more material but
goes shallower. We cover less
material but go deeper. We are
asking the high schools to align
with us on this.” The result will
be that students seeking careers
in science, technology, engineering
and math will get into college
level courses more quickly and be
better equipped to transfer after
two years.
All of this is going on now in
the Math and Science Division.
Dr. Parvizi is also excited about
improving and expanding engineering
courses at COD. “We
have three physics courses here,
and we are working with UCR to
improve our engineering curriculum.
We’ll be able to re-label
these courses to include ‘engineering’
in the title, which will
also reflect course content. It’s
the first step to having an engineering
program in our division.”
Chemistry Taught at CSU
The chemistry course taught at
CSU in Palm Desert by Professor
Ciurash is reflective of a col-
See Page 7

...Collegial
Partnership
From Page 6
legial partnership between COD
and CSUSB, which have a dual
admissions agreement. COD is
the number one “feeder school”
for CSUSB and the new satellite
site on Cook Street is just a few
miles from COD’s main campus.
CSU recently opened its Health
Sciences building there and now
offers training for nursing students
and working nurses earning
a Bachelor’s Degree.
While the class is open to students
from both colleges, all the
students in Ciurash’s class are
registered at COD. This is the
first semester the class has been
located at CSU. Ciurash said a
number of her students plan to
Students Invited to Join Honor Society
Alpha Mu Gamma, a Language Honor Society, now has a COD chapter
and inducted its first members in a ceremony at the Hilb Student
Center. Dean Tony DiSalvo welcomed the inductees, whose families
(seated at rear) also attended.
Watching atching Education Education W WWor
W or ork: or Dr. Jim Parvizi, Dean of the Mathematics
and Science Divison at COD (back of room wearing neck tie) sat in on a
class at CSU being taught by Professor Ciurash (photo at far left).
transfer to CSUSB or other universities
so the setting there is
important. “It can make their
transition to a four year school
much smoother,” she said.
“They’re less terrified.” In addition,
working in a brand new lab
with all new equipment “is fantastic.”
As well as reaching out to CSU
and introducing potential transfer
students to the site, the Math
and Science Division is also introducing
high school students to
the college experience. Ciurash
recently invited students from
Desert Mirage High School in
Thermal “to celebrate National
Chemistry Week with us” at College
of the Desert. Chemistry students
performed demonstrations
and then high school students got
a chance to work with chemicals
and create compounds. “They visited
our physics and geology labs
and Dr. (Carl) Farmer prepared
a barbecue for the students and
staff.”
NSF Scholarships
Programs already in place have
See Page 8
COD Insider, November 2009–7

...Collegial
Partnership
From Page 7
helped COD help students. One
good example is a $589,000 grant
from the National Science Foundation
earned last year. NSF
awarded the grant to COD in
part because of its existing
MESA (Math, Engineering, Science
Achievement) program. The
grant provided its first scholarships
to 13 students, including
four who transferred and were
awarded $5,000 each to help support
them during their first year
at the transfer college. Those colleges
were UC San Diego (two
students), UC Davis, and UC
Berkeley.
The other nine students are
still at COD and were awarded
scholarships at different levels.
Students are eligible for a $3,000
award, followed by a $4,000
grant at the next two levels, and
then a final $5,000 scholarship
when they transfer.
The nine current students each
has a mentor. Six faculty members
serve in that role: Jim
Matthews, who coordinates the
scholarship program, along with
Doug MacIntire, Joana Ciurash,
Carl Farmer, Dustin Culhan,
and Thang Le.
“It is our hope that the financial
help will decrease the time
the students need to work,
thereby increasing the time that
they can spend studying,’ said
Matthews.
“In addition, with the help of
the mentor contact and support
from the MESA program, we
hope that the students will receive
the support and guidance
needed to maximize their
chances of successfully achieving
their goals.”
8–COD Insider, November 2009
EOPS Month: October was proclaimed Extended Opportunities
and Services Program Month at COD. EOPS Secretary Kelly Blair,
right, introduced student Robert Sevilla, who read the proclamation
to the Board of Trustees. More proclamations, page 4.
40th 40th Anniv Anniver Anniv Anniv er ersar er sar sary: sar y: (Above)
Friends of the Library at College
of the Desert celebrated its 40th
anniversary in October at a
reception at the library. Millie Bird
became president in 1975 and
has chaired the annual book sale
since 1979. She was honored
with the Golden Quill Award for
35 years of service. The library
staff also presented a special
plaque From left: Millie Bird,
Stella Baker, Bill Kelly, Jon
Fernald, Mary Lynn Rose, and
COD President Jerry Patton.
TheINSIDER
This newsletter is published
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page. See the COD Facebook
page for more news, events, news
videos, and photographs. Contact
the Public Relations Office at
twixon@collegeofthedesert.edu,
or phone (760) 773-2589.