College News - Week of May 15

James Reddan, center left, and the college a cappella groups.

James Reddan, music faculty member and director of choral activities, will be leaving the college at the end of the school year for a position as assistant professor and director of Choral Activities and Choral Music Education at Frostburg State University in Maryland. James is well known not only on campus but in our local communities through his work with high school and community music programs. Since starting in the fall of 2008, James has taken LBCC's music program from six declared music majors and two choirs with 38 students, to 40 students pursuing music degrees, four choirs with about 140 students participating each term, and approximately 300 students total participating in the music program in some form (classes, ensembles, or lessons) each term. In addition, the choirs, under James’ direction, have earned numerous awards and have traveled all over the world for competitions and performances including Seattle, New York City, San Diego, London and Latvia - where the students performed with some of the world's great choral directors and music performers. James will direct his final "farewell" concert, “Singing From the Heart,” on Thursday, June 4, at 7:30 p.m. in the Russell Tripp Performance Center, a show that's sure to be standing-room-only. Thank you, Dr. Reddan, and best of luck to you!

Javier Cervantes, director of the Department of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, was selected to participate in the National Community College Hispanic Council Leadership Fellows Program. Established more than 20 years ago through the University of San Diego, the 10-day NCCHC Fellows Program provides training, preparation and support of Hispanic leaders in America's community colleges, providing an opportunity to continue in their professional growth. Javier works to prepare students, staff, faculty and local communities to live in an increasingly diverse society and workforce, including working on issues of equity, cultural fluency, capacity and competency, as well as increasing access and retention of underrepresented and diverse populations at the college level. He currently serves as the co-chair of the Inclusion and Diversity Consortium of Oregon Community Colleges, and was recently appointed chair of the Albany Human Relations Commission. 


First came the clucking of chickens and now, the buzzing of bees, all of which are part of the Horticulture Program’s Profitable Small Farms course on campus. Students in the program, along with horticulture faculty member Stefan Seiter, moved the swarming bees last week from their starter hives, known as nucleus hives, to permanent beehive homes inside the fence by the facilities barn, not far from the egg-laying chickens. The four hives, complete with a queen bee and the hardware, were donated to the program by Queen Bee Honey Company of Corvallis. During winter term, students learned about bee biology and how to care for the bees. In addition to being used for education, the bees will provide pollination to the organic garden and fruit trees around the college farm. And don’t forget the bonus bees provide – honey!

 

Living Our Values: LBCC Nursing has largest team, raises most funds for CARDV

Opportunity, Excellence & Engagement

Nursing faculty member Sherrilyn Systma & 
LBCC nursing student.

For the second year in a row, LBCC nursing students, along team coordinator and nursing faculty member Sherrilyn Systma, had the largest team and raised the most funds for the Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence at the CARDV Mother’s Day Walk/Run held Saturday, May 9, in Corvallis. The 48-member team, consisting of students, faculty, staff and friends, raised $1,126 for the center, with several students registering their whole family. Besides benefiting CARDV, the event connects our students with a local organization that provides support for community members who have been affected by sexual abuse and domestic violence – something that the students will most likely encounter in their nursing work. Over the years, the CARDV program has directly helped many of our own students and staff, said Sherrilyn, and she hopes to have more students from other disciplines join their team next year. As a side note: Seven LBCC nursing students, along with Sherrilyn, are heading to Camp Billings in Lake Fairlee, Vermont this summer to help with first aid for camp attendees, who range in age from 6 to 16. Besides having fun at camp, the students will learn about medications, first aid, assessment and pediatrics.

College Values
Opportunity
Excellence
Inclusiveness
Learning
Engagement

Core Themes
Economic Vitality
Cultural Richness
Educational Attainment





Insider published by: LBCC College Advancement Marketing Office
Writer/Editor: Lori Fluge-Brunker, Communications Specialist, College Advancement 

Summer Update, July 31

After a first place showing at the World Choir Games in Riga, Latvia, LBCC's Re-Choired Element Chamber Choir learned it has advanced to the finalist round of the American Prize in Choral Performance, the fifth year in a row it has done so. LBCC’s choir, under the direction of James Reddan, is the only community college choir on the American Prize finalist list, which includes 10 choral groups from around the country. LBCCs Concert Choir also advanced to the semi-finalist round in the competition for a third year. The Chamber Choir will compete for the American Prize against university choirs from California, Utah, North and South Dakota, Georgia, New Jersey, Texas Virginia, Illinois and Ohio. Winners will be announced in September. Read more about the choirs' World Games performance in the Democrat Herald article: http://democratherald.com/news/local/lbcc-choir-wins-gold-certificates-at-world-choir-games-in/article_0d223b44-110a-11e4-bec3-0019bb2963f4.html

For those wondering why we have so many weeds growing around campus, LBCC grounds manager George Van Keulen would like to shed some light on the subject. Conventional ways of spraying chemicals to kill weeds and insects on our college campuses have not been used for a few years, says George. Instead, the college implemented a statewide Integrated Pest Management system, which incorporates using little or no spray and rather hand weeding, using ground cover techniques such as chip mulch, and working to keep the soil healthy to prevent plant diseases. To help build soil health, George is working with Soilsmith Services, a local company specializing in soil amendment and conditioning using different types of compost and compost teas to reduce disease and insect problems. Although great for the environment, no-spray techniques are more labor-intensive, and George and his limited staff have a lot of ground to cover. So maybe take a moment and pull a weed or two when you’re out and about. Your effort is sure to be appreciated, and will go a long way to help our college image.

George Van Keulen discuses soil treatments with
Shep Smith of Soilsmith Services.

Transfer Solution Groups Work on Mechanics, Structure of Transfer Curriculum

By Katie Winder, Dean, Liberal Arts, Social Systems & Human Performance

Below is an update of the work being done by the Transfer Solutions groups.

Transfer Fluidity: Angie Klampe, chair
This group is working on ways to improve the mechanics of the transfer experience. They are working right now on designing a plan to track our articulations with our partner schools consistently, and to advocate for our classes and curricula at our partner schools.  They are also working on ways to improve how we market our Degree Partnership Program.

Curriculum: Alice Sperling, Dana Emerson, and Katie Winder, co-chairs
We are working on structuring program curricula so that students build the right skills at the right time (also called "scaffolding"). This is key to maintaining rigor while increasing completion. Right now the group is starting to work on identifying entry expectations in our current classes, as a way to begin thinking about how we either modify these expectations, arrange our curricula so that these expectations can be met within the program, or add resources so that students can meet these expectations on their own.

An example of this work would be this: when I teach an introductory economics course, I implicitly expect that students will be able to interpret a simple line graph. This expectation isn't in the course description or anywhere that students would be able to see it prior to entering the class on the first day. It's always just been something I expected a college-level student could do. So, once I've identified this as an entry expectation, which of the following makes the most sense to do:

• Somehow share this with students, either via the course description or somewhere else
• Add a pre-requisite of a 10-week course that includes interpreting graphs (even if the rest of the skills taught in the course aren't needed in my class)
• Provide students with a link to a Kahn Academy video explaining how to read a simple line graph.
• Add understanding graphs to my course curriculum

Next year, this group will be working on how to schedule classes strategically given our conclusions from this year's scaffolding work.

General Education: James Reddan, Dana Emerson, and Katie Winder, co-chairs
This group is re-thinking how the general education curriculum meets the needs of our transfer-bound students. We will work on scaffolding, on tying general education to the institutional mission, and on assessment. General education is our biggest program on campus.