Community College Week articles from February 2003

Community College Week archives from February 2003

Colo. College officials splurge on parties, retreat amid budget crisis. (around the nation).
February 3, 2003... DENVER -- The Colorado Community College System spent almost $12,000 on two holiday parties and $14,000 for a retreat last summer when state agencies were cutting hundreds of millions of dollars. College system officials told the Rocky...

Proposed deep budget cuts rile Calif. colleges. (around the nation).
February 3, 2003... SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Community colleges in California are reeling from Gov. Gray Davis' Jan. 10 proposal to slash $403 million from their budgets next year. California is lacing a $35 billion budget deficit, for 2003-2004, and all parts...

California colleges cancelling dubious `bridge' programs. (around the nation).(college enrollment falsification)
February 3, 2003... SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- After a California newspaper revealed that at least 77 of the state's 108 community colleges were artificially boosting enrollment, colleges are moving to halt their "high-school physical education outreach courses." ...

Utah college's asst. V.P. fired after audit. (around the nation).(assistant vice president )(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... SALT LAKE CITY -- Kimble Blackburn, Snow College South assistant vice president for finance and facilities, has been fired following a state audit. Snow College President Mike Benson said in a release that Blackburn was fired Jan. 2 after...

Give peace a chance. Start in your classroom. (point of view).(Letter to the Editor)
February 3, 2003... Between the irresponsible rhetoric and hyperbolic media coverage that have swayed public opinion and dominated the airwaves since 9/11, the job of running a multicultural classroom has not been any easier. Most of my students share a common...

`Bridge' into troubled water. (point of view).(Letter to the Editor)
February 3, 2003... The Scandalous "phantom classes" uncovered at California's community colleges recently by three Orange County Register reporters will be an interesting one to follow. But, as they slipped by unnoticed before, let's hope this doesn't happen a...

Get serious about community college faculty. (point of view).(college teachers' salaries)
February 3, 2003... "Get serious," one of my academic colleagues exclaims whenever rhetoric and hype over-reach common sense or empirical knowledge. Most discussions and published opinions about community college faculty also qualify for an exclamatory, "Get...

Learning and teaching.(teacher education in community colleges)(Cover Story)
February 3, 2003... NEVADA, Texas -- Community Middle School technology teacher Aimee Bartis was selected last June by her colleagues as teacher of the year. That Bartis received the honor was no surprise to those who observed her classroom skill and her...

Colleges breed new teachers with class.
February 3, 2003... TUCSON, Ariz. -- Annie Lamparzyk doesn't start her fifth-grade class each morning until each student does one of "The 4 H's." The 25 students, 10 and 11 years old, line up outside the door of her Homer Davis Elementary School classroom and...

Bush's economic plan could release new money. (dateline Washington).(Pres. George W. Bush)
February 3, 2003... President Bush's new economic stimulus plan may serve as a starting point for debate on a new, multi-billion dollar infusion of funds for postsecondary education and job training, some college leaders say. As part of a comprehensive...

Congress to decide education budget soon. (Capitol briefs).(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... There is at least a faint glimmer of hope for federal funding increases on education for the fiscal year 2003, based on recent action in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Education and job training programs have operated with...

College leaders support Univ. of Michigan on affirmative action. (Capitol briefs).(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Community college leaders are expressing support for the University of Michigan's stance on affirmative action, a controversial admissions policy now before the U.S. Supreme Court. Both the American Association of Community Colleges and...

Md. tuition rises as colleges predict slump in aid.
February 3, 2003... ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- creasing enrollment and possible cuts in state and county aid are forcing many community colleges in Maryland to raise tuition. Carroll and Howard Community Colleges, as well as the Community College of Baltimore County,...

Appeals court tosses Ark. professor's race discrimination suit.(Howard Lockridge)
February 3, 2003... LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- A professor at Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas who wanted to be a dean but didn't apply for the job when it came open can't claim racial discrimination, a federal appeals court has ruled. ...

Court reinstates sexual harassment suit by former Massachusetts college athletes.(Northern Essex Community College)
February 3, 2003... HAVERHILL, Mass. -- The Massachusetts Appeals Court has reinstated a suit by two former athletes who are seeking damages from Northern Essex Community College based on sexual harassment by their former basketball coach. The three-judge...

Ohio court revives reverse discrimination suit against Cleveland college.(Cuyahoga County Community College)
February 3, 2003... CLEVELAND -- A federal appeals court has revived a reverse race discrimination suit by a white campus police officer who was passed over three times for a full-time post at Cuyahoga County Community College. The unanimous ruling sends Todd...

L.A. Colleges try to float $980 million more in bonds.(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Community College District approved a May ballot measure calling for a $980 million bond measure to finance campus renovations and cope with expected state funding cuts. It would be the district's second bond...

Former college spokesman convicted of identity theft.(Ludlow Dawes)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... HARTFORD, Conn. -- A Jamaican national who became a public relations official for Manchester Community College has been convicted of stealing the identity of a New York man. Ludlow Dawes admitted he lived under the name of Marvin Stewart...

Writing instructor pens government thrillers. (faculty louge).(Mike Basford)
February 3, 2003... SUN CITY, Ariz. -- Mike Basford's love for espionage and thrillers has led him to write several books, win a prize, contribute to breast cancer research--and to teach a community college course on writing. His first novel, "America First,"...

Honors & awards. (faculty lounge).
February 3, 2003... Kathy Davis, a counselor and senior professor of health and wellness at Daytona Beach Community College in Daytona Beach, Fla., recently received the Outstanding Achievement of a Blind Person Award from the Association of Education and...

Critics call Texas College's huge athletic program too far afield.(Ranger College)
February 3, 2003... FORT WORTH, Texas -- Nearly a third of the fulltime students at Ranger College are varsity athletes, more than double the proportion at 39 other two-year schools in Texas, a newspaper has reported. Using athletics to increase enrollment has...

Green eggs and spam. (A Tech Perspective).(e-mail spam)
February 3, 2003... What if, every time the phone rang you had to listen to half a dozen ads before talking? A similarly irritating scenario has become commonplace with e-mail. Spam--unsolicited commercial e-mail messages--bombards us everyday, sapping both...

College's crash Spanish course helps companies communicate.(Aims Community College)
February 3, 2003... GREELEY, Colo. -- Steve Guynes speaks English, and only English, so communicating with his Spanish-speaking employees can be tough. But thanks to "Survival Spanish" classes offered at a community college, Guynes has learned enough of the...

Downtown digs still up in the air for Conn. College. (around campus).(Gateway Community College)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- State community college trustees have unanimously approved plans to move Gateway Community College to a downtown site formerly occupied by department stores, the New Haven Register reported. But the plan is hardly set in...

And that's the way it is. (around campus).(Walter Cronkite involved in college fund raising)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Walter Cronkite, the anchor of CBS Evening News for nearly two decades, Is serving as the voice of a fund-raising campaign for the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. Cronkite recently taped a video narrative in which he highlights...

Grants & gifts. (around campus).
February 3, 2003... Cedar Valley College in Lancaster, Texas, has received a $508,000 Texas Infrastructure Fund grant to purchase teleconferencing classrooms for three local high schools. The project, called the Southern Dallas County Distance Learning Initiative,...

Student goes the distance to honor king.(Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.)
February 3, 2003... MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- California student Adele Mena wasn't about to let 1,750 miles get in the way of volunteering at the National Civil Rights Museum here. The 22-year-old student at Yuba Community College in Marysville, Calif., learned of...

N.M. nursing program could close if licensing test scores don't rise.(New Mexico Junior College )(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... HOBBS, N.M. -- The nursing program at New Mexico Junior College could be closed next year if student scores on the national licensing exam don't improve. The state requires that 80 percent of nursing students within a program pass the...

Theresa L. Smith, an administrator with more than a decade of service to New Jersey's Camden County College, has been appointed the new assistant dean of enrollment and student services for the college's Camden City Campus. (Appointments).(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Theresa L. Smith, an administrator with more than a decade of service to New Jersey's Camden County College, has been appointed the new assistant dean of enrollment and student services for the college's Camden City Campus. Prior to coming to...

Pensacola Junior College (Appointments).(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Dr. Isaac Brigham has been named senior vice president of planning and administration at Pensacola Junior College in Pensacola, Fla. He was previously the vice president of student affairs. He earned a bachelor's degree, a master's degree and a...

Martin selected president of Southwestern Indian Polytechnic. (Presidents).(Joseph Martin)(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... An education professor at Northern Arizona University has been appointed president of the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque, N.M. Dr. Joseph Martin has been a professor at Northern Arizona since 1997 and served more than...

Dr. Sandra Acebo, president of the Butte-Glenn Community College District in Oroville, Calif., has announced that she will retire in June of this year. (Retirements).(Brief Article)
February 3, 2003... Dr. Sandra Acebo, president of the Butte-Glenn Community College District in Oroville, Calif., has announced that she will retire in June of this year. Acebo, who has been president since 1998, had previously been the vice president of...

Dr. Bobby Galvin, a former president of Mississippi Delta Community College, has died. (Deaths).(Brief Article)(Obituary)
February 3, 2003... Dr. Bobby Galvin, a former president of Mississippi Delta Community College, has died. A memorial service was held at the community college in Moorehead to allow administrators and students to pay their respects. Garvin, 62, died in Green Cove...

Coming events. (Career Connections).(Calendar)
February 3, 2003... February 14-16, Black Studies. "Representing Blackness: From the Black Arts Movement of the Sixties to the Present," annual conference, Macalester College's program in African-American studies, in St. Paul, MN. Contact: Anthony Pinn, Professor...

Colleges say foreign-student tracking system needs work. (around the nation).
February 17, 2003... WASHINGTON -- Technical problems with an electronic tracking system for foreign students recently prompted the U.S. government to give colleges and universities an extra two weeks to register with the system. But some colleges and higher...

Report: college workforce-training programs making progress. (around the nation).
February 17, 2003... NEW YORK -- Community colleges are beginning to make progress in retooling basic-skills education to make it more effective in preparing students for a quick transition into careers or further education, but even model programs have a long way...

Former Calif. college officials suspected of fraud.(Brief Article)
February 17, 2003... APPLE VALLEY, Calif. -- Police here served search warrants on at least two former Victor Valley Community College administrators suspected of colluding with others to defraud the state of an estimated $700,000 the college must now return. ...

Audit: Louisiana colleges flout pay laws.(community colleges don't follow employee pay laws)
February 17, 2003... BATON ROUGE, La. -- Some of the state's community and technical colleges aren't following certain employee pay laws, and the college system turned in a flawed financial report for the second year, according to an audit released earlier this...

Why we're not retaining Hispanic students. (point of view).
February 17, 2003... Hispanics may be entering the doors of community colleges in greater numbers, but retention rates show that, too frequently, they're walking right out the door without the degree or education for which they came to college. Although...

Humor 101.
February 17, 2003... HIGHER ED, GREECE, 450 B.C. HERE'S A GOAT AND A BASKET OF EGGS, CORN, AND FRUIT. AND HERE'S TO THE DIALECTIC OF TRUTH! HIGHER ED, THE UNITED STATES, 2002 A.D. HERE'S MY CREDIT CARD. GREAT! THANKS! AND HERE'S TO THE...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
February 17, 2003... An opinion piece that appeared in the Feb. 3, 2003 issue erroneously referred on page 13 to the location of Machu Picchu. It is in Peru, not Chile. Community College Week regrets the error.

How much is too much? What happens when the least expensive college education becomes too expensive?
February 17, 2003... NEW YORK -- When Baruch College senior Lidija Markes launched her college career three years ago, one of her biggest concerns was how she could afford it. So rather than enrolling immediately at the four-year school she now attends, she spent...

Penny pinching 101: hard up for cash, students skimp on textbooks.(high cost of textbooks)
February 17, 2003... ST. LOUIS -- At St. Louis Community College, Ron Mozelewski has found many of his students less than businesslike when it comes to getting the textbook for his introductory economics class. Now more than a week into a new semester, only...

Bush budget would freeze Pell ceiling. (Capitol briefs).(President George W. Bush)(Pell grant budgets)(Brief Article)
February 17, 2003... The Bush administration's student aid budget for 2004 would freeze the maximum Pell grant at its current level but provide money to help pay off the program's growing shortfall. The plan would keep the maximum grant at $4,000, about $500...

Commission rejects sweeping Title IX proposals. (Capitol briefs).(gender equity in college sports)(Brief Article)
February 17, 2003... A sharply divided Bush administration advisory commission voted for only modest changes to a landmark gender-equity law that substantially increased the number of female athletes. Women's sports advocates had feared the Commission on...

Bush plan proposes cutting $1 billion from Perkins Act funds. (dateline Washington).(President George W. Bush)(Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act)
February 17, 2003... The Bush administration wants to cut funding of the Carl Perkins Act next year, part of a major restructuring of the career and technical education law that also includes killing a small grant program dedicated solely to tech-prep activities....

For Florida faculty, teaching goes South.(teacher exchange program in the Dominican Republic)
February 17, 2003... MIAMI -- A select group of faculty members from Miami-Dade Community College will spend their summer vacation teaching technology and other courses to students in the Dominican Republic under an agreement with an economic development...

California adjuncts pinched by budget cuts.(reduced state aid to higher education will result in fewer classes, teacher layoffs)
February 17, 2003... SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Part-time faculty at colleges around California are brushing up their resumes, checking their bank accounts and lobbying for better unemployment insurance in the wake of a state budget crisis that is leaving many of them...

Wash. high court rules against adjuncts in $40 million overtime suit.(part time college teachers' salaries)
February 17, 2003... OLYMPIA, Wash. -- In a ruling that will save the state an estimated $40 million in back pay, the Washington Supreme Court has ruled that part-time community college instructors are salaried professionals who aren't entitled to overtime pay...

Judge green-lights class action against Hawaii professors' union.(teachers' union unlawfully collects dues from non-members)
February 17, 2003... HONOLULU -- A federal judge has opened the way for more than 600 professors and instructors at the University of Hawaii's 10 campuses to sue the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly for improperly collecting money from nonmembers. ...

A thousand words and 60 cents.(picture of Acadia National Park to be on new postage stamp)(Brief Article)
February 17, 2003... A photo of Maine's Acadia National Park by Colorado Mountain College professional photography graduate Carr Clifton has recently been selected for use as a postage stamp. "Pretty much I Just go to these beautiful places, "Clifton said. "I just...

Texas colleges scramble to absorb budget cuts.
February 17, 2003... AUSTIN, Texas -- No summer classes. Professors and staff laid off. Higher tuition costs or taxes. The state's community colleges say those are the potential consequences of the 7 percent state budget cut ordered by Gov. Rick Perry, Lt....

Florida instructor files discrimination charge against TV show. (faculty lounge).(age discrimination)('American Idol')
February 17, 2003... MIAMI -- The Fox network's television series "American Idol" violated anti-discrimination laws when its producers wouldn't let a 50-year-old college professor audition because he was too old, his attorney said. "I find it hard to believe...

Flying colors.(Brief Article)
February 17, 2003... Brookdale Community College patrol officer Alastair Sweeney and marketing services administrator Mary Christian prepare an African American Heritage flag for ceremonial raising. The flag will fly under the American flag throughout February,...

Honors & awards.
February 17, 2003... Alicia Juarrero, professor of philosophy at Prince George's Community College in Largo, Md., has been chosen as Outstanding Community College Professor by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the...

When the bits hit the fan. (technology today).
February 17, 2003... What's the worst thing that could happen to your computer? It could crash, destroy your data, and--if the computer plays a key role in your business--plunge you into bankruptcy. This may sound unrealistically bleak and sensational, but it...

Gateway helps Ill. college fight cyber crime. (Bits & Bytes).(Brief Article)
February 17, 2003... GLEN ELLYN, Ill. -- In helping law enforcement combat identity theft, cyber-stalking and other computer crimes. Gateway Inc., has donated a mobile wireless computer lab to the College of DuPage's Suburban Law Enforcement Academy for training...

Pa. college developing technology tool kit. (Bits & Bytes).(Brief Article)
February 17, 2003... BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- A $30,000 grant from the Verizon Foundation will enable Northampton Community College to create a technology tool kit that will help unemployed adults in Monroe, Northampton, Pike and Wayne counties acquire basic computer...

Need to buy a computer? Use a computer to buy it. (technology today).
February 17, 2003... Tuition paid? Check. Books bought? Check. Now it's time to go shopping for that other classroom sine qua non: computer equipment. Except you probably don't have much money left for a big purchase like a computer. With the economy in the...

No smoking, please. (around campus).
February 17, 2003... RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- Smoking bans recently implemented on several community college campuses are getting mixed reviews. Riverside Community College has approved a plan to ban all tobacco use on its three campuses, making it one of...

Grants & gifts.(Brief Article)
February 17, 2003... Baltimore City Community College in Baltimore has received a grant for $89,000 funded by the U.S. Department of Education to support BCCC's Liberty Campus child-care center known as Kiddie Kollege. Cincinnati State Technical and Community...

Mettle for metals--and medals. (around campus).(Brief Article)
February 17, 2003... ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Miles Tilley is a step away from representing the United States in an international welding competition in Switzerland. The 18-year-old has placed in six welding competitions and has earned a place among the most...

Cy-Fair College. (Appointments).(Brief Article)
February 17, 2003... Cy-Fair College in Houston recently named three individuals as deans. Wendy McDonald Lamb, previously a director of marketing and community relations at Tomball College in Tomball, Texas, has been named dean of instruction. She earned a...

Stoll interim head at Lord Fairfax. (Presidents).(Brief Article)
February 17, 2003... Dr. Marsal P. Stoll is the interim president at Lord Fairfax Community College in Richmond, Va. Most recently vice president for instruction and student services at Piedmont Virginia Community College in Charlottesville, Va., Stoll will serve...

Northampton picks new president. (Presidents).(Brief Article)
February 17, 2003... Dr. Arthur L. Scott has been named president of Northampton Community College in Bethlehem, Pa. Previously provost of the college, Scott has a bachelor's degree from Gettysburg College, and a master's degree and a doctorate from Lehigh...

Coming events.(Calendar)
February 17, 2003... February 17-22, Ethnic Studies. National conference, the National Association of African American Studies and others, in Houston, TX. Contact: naaasconference@earthlink.net, http://www.naaas.org February 19-22, Arts. Annual conference,...