A 30% increase in student fees. Deep cuts in non-instructional programs. Borrowing to fund current operating costs. No funding for enrollment growth. No salary increases. Employment layoffs.
2003-04 will be a difficult year for the University of California.
That’s right, the University of California, one of the most prestigious and sought after public university systems in the world. “We have already taken deep cuts affecting nearly every part of the University,” reported UC President Richard C. Atkinson in a recent communication to the UC Regents. “What we are today is seriously threatened by this next state budget.”
The story is the same at the California State University system and at the California Community Colleges. California’s 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education, which promised a place in some college or university for every student who could take advantage of it—and which became a beacon to the world—is facing extraordinarily difficult questions of access, affordability, and quality because of State funding deficits.
Of the three systems of higher education in California, Community Colleges face the greatest volatility in terms of funding and student enrollment. We’ve never caught up to where we were before 1978 and Proposition 13. We begin to see improvements during good budget years, but fall behind during recessions and difficult budget years.
Santa Monica College is grateful to this community for its support and devotion to our educational mission. We have adopted a difficult budget for 2003-04. Unlike the State and Federal government budgets, there’s no borrowing in our operating budget. Our budget is built on realistic assumptions. It contains program reductions and layoffs of administrators, teachers, and staff. It preserves quality by providing salary increases for teachers, but no salary increases for administrators or staff. It reduces expenses across the board.
Throughout, we are sustained by our many community partners and their optimism. We are working with UCLA Medical Center and Cedars-Sinai Hospital in two innovative programs to train new nurses. We are working with the City of Santa Monica, our public schools, and our local youth providers to provide new programs in early childhood education. We are working with our local library by providing public access to our collection and database resources in our new library expansion. We are working with our local arts community and music faculty to support the new UC admissions requirement in performing arts. We are working with our seniors in designing new facilities to support Emeritus College.
We will be working with campus leadership this Fall to review what steps we can take locally to reduce our dependence on Sacramento’s boom-bust politics and we will be participating in state-wide hearings on the same question. We will continue to keep our community informed of our progress.
Construction will begin next spring on a new $19 million Liberal Arts Building unanimously approved Sept. 2 by the Santa Monica College Board of Trustees. The building will replace the current Liberal Arts Building, built in 1952 as part of the campus’ original quad that was damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. The new 53,000-square-foot structure—actually two units connected by walkways and pedestrian bridges—will be built in two phases, with Phase I expected to be completed in fall 2005. Phase II is projected to be finished in 2006.
The building will house classrooms, faculty offices, labs and space for tutoring, and will be fully wired for Internet access. The new structure will also be the first Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) building on campus, meaning it meets certain environmental requirements for energy efficiency, water recycling, use of recycled building materials, and indoor air quality.
Designed by Renzo Zecchetto Architects of Santa Monica, the project’s architect is the award-winning Santa Monica office of Gensler. Funding for the project comes from Santa Monica’s Earthquake Redevelopment Project ($10.2 million), Federal Emergency Management Agency ($3.1 million), the State of California ($4.5 million) and Measure U ($1.2 million).
Santa Monica College did it again. For the past 12 years, the college has transferred more students to the prestigious University of California system than any other college in the country. In the 2002-2003 school year, SMC sent 895 students to UC, compared to 589 transfers from number two school De Anza College and 564 for third-ranked Diablo Valley Community College.
SMC also ranked number one in transfers of African American students and number two in transfers of Latino students to the UC system. SMC earned second place in combined transfers to UC and CSU.
Top UC schools for SMC transfers remained UCLA, Irvine, and Berkeley. The most popular CSU schools are Northridge, Long Beach, Cal State LA, and Dominguez Hills. USC and Loyola are the top choices for students transferring to private schools.
“SMC attracts highly-qualified students and challenges them to meet high expectations,” says Dan Nannini, SMC Transfer Center Coordinator. “We have a good reputation.”
Nannini credits the college’s quality faculty, high school outreach programs and the clout of KCRW, the college’s public radio station, as draws for its high caliber students. The results speak for themselves, he says. “We don’t ask students at SMC on track for a four-year degree, ‘Are you going to transfer?’ Instead we ask them, ‘Where are you going to transfer?’”
Student support services are also key to the college’s success. SMC’s Transfer Center conducts workshops, hosts one of the largest college fairs in the state, holds weekly visits from four-year institutions, and has a close working relationship with the articulation offices of UC and CSU to make sure SMC students get credit for their classes.
Even with budget cuts threatening the number of transfer students universities can accept, SMC is poised to weather the storm and will continue to be a top destination for high school students looking for a quality institution to start their journey to a four-year degree.
Seventeen Santa Monica College students took home more than one-third of all the awards in the college division of the 2003 Los Angeles County Fair Photography Exhibit, the largest photo show in North America. First place winners were Jacquie Beaubien in the close-ups category and Thomas Feucht-Haviar in the scenic division. Raul Vasquez took second place awards in the life studies and black-and-white categories. Third place winners were Andrea Oliviera in the fine art category; and Tania Fallert, Ethan Pines, and Janice Yim in a three-way tie in the life studies division. Winning honorable mentions were Emily Baker, Marguerite Courtney, Alden Desoto, Richard Frinta, Sara Hakan, Martin Lingnau, Gloria Stenzel-Santamaria, Patty Wiliford, and Michael Witcher. In addition, three SMC alumni captured eight awards or honorable mentions in the open division.
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SMC alumnus Barry Gutierrez was part of a team of 20 Rocky Mountain News photojournalists and photo editors who won a Pulitzer Prize last April for their photography of the 2002 devastating Colorado wildfires. Six of the 20 photos submitted for the prestigious prize were his. “We spent seven or eight weeks shooting fires all over Colorado,” Gutierrez said. “It was a very taxing summer for everyone.” The devastating Colorado wildfires burned over a million acres, killing 10 people and destroying 350 structures.
Gutierrez attended SMC from 1991 to 1994 and worked for the student newspaper Corsair as a photographer and photo editor. “I loved SMC and I had a great time,” said Gutierrez. “More than anything at SMC, I learned I wanted to be a photojournalist.”
After serving 16 years as an SMC Trustee, board member Patrick Nichelson has resigned his post effective Sept. 30, citing personal reasons. During his tenure, Nichelson had earned a reputation as an intelligent and reasoned voice on the Board.
In his letter of resignation to Trustee Chair Herb Roney, Nichelson wrote, “Serving on the Board since 1987 has been a profoundly satisfying experience. Santa Monica College is an exceptional institution that continues to earn the appreciation, respect and unwavering support of the people of Santa Monica and Malibu.”
In an historic move, the SMC Board of Trustees unanimously voted in August to approve the 535-seat Madison Theater Project. The college will now proceed with getting the required state architectural approvals. Groundbreaking for the cultural arts project is expected in 2004.
Built to meet the demands of learning in an information-rich society, SMC’s $27 million renovated library opened its doors Aug. 25, the first day of class. The two-year construction project nearly doubled the size of the library, added twice as many new seats, quadrupled the number of computers, and wired the building for the Internet.
Already, students are raving about the new facility. “It’s very sophisticated, futuristic, modern, and up-to-date,” says Ahmad Mullick, a biology student. “It’s a big difference.” Jay Sim, an architecture student, appreciates the space. “It feels easy to get into—the old one used to be cramped and noisy. If you wanted to find a seat, you had to come at certain times. Now it’s easy to find a place to sit.”
The building itself is a clean marriage of concrete and glass, filled with natural light that falls in through skylights and sneaks in through sunshades along the exterior windows. The three story glass elevator is highlighted by the white oak panels.
While some students appreciate the form, others praise the function. “The library computers have access to a lot of databases with the full texts of articles—and even books—that you can search electronically. That’s really useful,” commented Sasha Lazarevich, a political science student.
The new library, which is expected to draw 4,000 students each day, boasts an additional 41,500 square feet of new space, as well as 220 student computers, a computer lab, data ports to link to the Internet at each study carrel, 21 group study rooms, new offices for librarians, a teaching classroom, an audio-visual lab and new professional development areas.
Funding for the new library was cobbled together from Prop. T (a local Santa Monica and Malibu bond measure passed in 1992), Federal Emergency Management Agency funds from the Northridge earthquake, plus state capital grant funding for construction and equipment received in the late 1990s. The project was designed by Anshen + Allen of Los Angeles, with significant input in both design and functionality from a team of library staff.
With “Information Competency” now an educational goal in the state of California, SMC librarians are working closely with faculty to help develop assignments that allow students to learn how to use research tools. And to introduce students to the many resources the library offers, SMC librarians will be conducting over 200 hands-on orientations for students this year.
“We teach students about the basics,” said Assistant Dean Mona Martin, who runs the library on a day-to-day basis. “We help them develop better search strategies, to evaluate different sources, to find the best resource. We get them to ask, ‘What’s the source? Where does this come from?’ Not all information is the same. We train students to ask, ‘Are we getting all the information, the right information?’”
The library is open to the public free of charge. Residents can get a library card to check out books for $20 a year and can use a number of the computers inside the library to gain access to the Internet and to the literature databases without needing to be registered as a student. “We’re very proud of our new library,” added Martin. “Thank you to the people who passed Prop. T. Please come in and see what you helped us build.”
The library’s official opening ceremony is slated for Oct. 14 and features Huell Howser, noted travel commentator and host of public television’s “California’s Gold.”
• Internet access and power at nearly every study carrel and table
• 21 controlled-access study rooms to support group study
• 220 computers, most available on demand
• Demonstration and training lab to teach electronic resources
• Two copy rooms
• Specialized media and research rooms
• Reference librarian service and materials
• College access to nearly 3,200 journals (2,000 with full-text capability)
• Public access to the databases available on site
• 1,300 seats, most with natural light
From the October 9, 2001, Groundbreaking Ceremony:
“John Donne, the 17th Century poet, said in one of his poems—[we] make this ‘room an everywhere.’ Well, this college, this library, is an everywhere. It’s the world; it’s the whole human adventure, that comes here. We librarians have insisted upon that. We insist that all forms of knowledge, from books to digital media to print to ephemera—the whole continuity of information—will be in this library. And we like to insist also, that our libraries are fun.”
In an ongoing effort to fight the California nursing shortage, UCLA Medical Center has contracted with Santa Monica College to train some 20 vocational nurses currently employed at UCLA to become registered nurses. The $102,000 UCLA contract comes on the heels of a $188,000 contract the college garnered just a few months ago for training nurses at Cedars-Sinai Hospital. Together, these contracts mark a major step forward for SMC’s nursing program, which until recently has only been able to serve some 80 students at any one time. The two-year program graduates some 40 nurses each year. With these two new contracts, SMC’s student nursing population is expected to grow substantially over the coming years.
“We’re very excited now that we have this second contract with UCLA,” said Marvin Martinez, Associate Vice President of Planning and Development for Santa Monica College. “This program really helps with the nursing shortage in the region.”
UCLA, like Cedars-Sinai, wants to bolster its nursing staff by offering SMC’s program to its vocational nurses and nursing assistants. These practitioners can fulfill some of the functions of nurses but, without the additional training, do not qualify as registered nurses able to assist in medical procedures.
SMC’s program is part of a concerted statewide effort between community colleges and hospitals to remedy the acute national shortage of nurses that has already graduated 20,000 new nurses over the past five years. Some 800 new slots, using $4 million in growth funds provided by the state, have been added to try and meet demand.
Vocational nurses from the two hospitals will be integrated into SMC’s regular nursing classes. According to faculty members, mixing new students together with vocational nurses who already have hands-on experience will create a dynamic that benefits all students.
But, Martinez said, SMC won’t stop there. Cedars-Sinai, for example, originally contracted with SMC to train 20 registered nurses, but actually needs over 100 to achieve its goals. They expect to expand the contract, he said.
“We now have two major hospitals counting on us,” added Martinez. “It’s our goal to bring in other hospitals such as Kaiser Permanente and Saint John’s to see if we can start a similar project with them.”
Over 3,600 years ago the Babylonians knew it as the god of death. In ancient India they described it as fire in the sky. Its red color symbolized the fire and blood of war to the Romans, who named it after their god of war. In the Middle Ages, unfavorable readings of the planet’s position signaled to the kings that great battles would be lost. Last century, astronomers saw its “face” and fantasized about its inhabitants. Recently, the world fell under Mars’ trance again, when on Aug. 28 the Red Planet passed closer to Earth than it had in 58,000 years. The sudden surge of interest gave SMC’s John Drescher Planetarium a chance to share the wonders of the skies with its “Roving Mars” presentation, which explores the mysteries of the Red Planet. Janet Planet, aka Shelley Bonus, who joined the planetarium staff two years ago to conduct shows, appears dressed in an elaborate red robe in honor of Mars. “Hello everybody!” she says to the crowd, as she readies the projector. In no time the audience is transported 35 million miles away—close by astronomical standards—to the planet that has enchanted us since prehistoric times.
The hour-long show covers much territory: the Olympus Mons—Mars’ tallest mountain, three times as high as Mt. Everest; the Vallus Marinus, a valley deeper than the Grand Canyon, stretching the distance from Los Angeles to Boston; the “Face of Mars”—really an optical illusion; the moons, Phobos and Demos; and the “canals” that have sparked so much science fiction.
Periodic choruses of “oohs” and “aahs” fill the room as Janet Planet keeps the children and adults enthralled with a discussion about the polar ice caps, the possibility there was once liquid water on Mars, and theories about whether life could have ever existed there. “I don’t have all the answers, but I will help you ask the questions,” she says.
Following the show, Jonathon Hodge, who has been creating shows and running the planetarium for 24 years, offers a telescope viewing of Mars from the lawn in front of Drescher Hall.
“It’s wonderful that Santa Monica College does these shows,” says Chris Rozé, who brought his young daughter Lucy to the planetarium. “Janet Planet is entertaining and exciting for the kids.” Lucy, who was excited by the constellations, says, “We saw the big dipper and the little dipper.”
The Gurney family gave the show a thumbs up, too. Hunter Gurney, 9, proclaims, “It was fun.” Grandma Jane Heyrick says, “It was really informative. I’ve seen Mars with my naked eye, but the show made me want to follow it more.” Adds Dad Daryl Gurney, “I think it’s absolutely great the college puts this on for the community.”
The Roving Mars shows were so popular, the planetarium had to add an additional show at 9 pm and extend the show’s run into September, says Hodge.
After 30 years and thousands of shows for the public and school children, SMC’s planetarium continues to share the wonders of the sky. “Always keep looking up,” says Hodge. “The universe is up in the sky just waiting for us to meet it.”
Santa Monica College President Piedad Robertson is taking on a new title this semester—professor, or, as the students in her Spanish Conversation class might say, maestra.
Robertson, along with 14 other administrators, is volunteering her time to teach one or more classes in order to help alleviate the pain of state budget cuts that are forcing community colleges across the state to trim course offerings. Having administrators return to the classroom, Robertson says, “means we can keep the doors open for our students.”
Vice President of Academic Affairs Randy Lawson, who is teaching a music appreciation class, explains, “It allows us to have an extra section we wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford while it saves money for the college.”
For many of the administrators, returning to the classroom has been a fun experience. Robertson, who has been teaching since she was 17 and has taught at the middle school, high school, and college levels, says, “I love the classroom. It’s the reason I got into education in the first place. It’s fun to be challenged, to see people eager for knowledge. It brings back the reality of what education is about.”
Roberston uses everyday topics like the recall to make her Spanish class come to life. “You want the students to be able to have a real conversation with someone they meet on the street, someone sitting next to them at a dinner party,” says Professor Robertson.
Lawson is another professor who feels comfortable in the classroom—even if his “classroom” is the Internet. The former Chair of SMC’s Music Department is teaching his Appreciation of Music class online. The students get musical samples on CD-ROMs, lectures are posted to the class website, and Lawson moderates an online class discussion.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity to have a new experience and it also gives me insight into the challenges and opportunities of this new medium,” he says. “It’s a different experience teaching a class online. I’m finding there’s lots of individual interaction with students through email.” He also believes an occasional stint in the classroom helps him do his job better as the administrator in charge of overseeing the college’s academic programs. “It’s a healthy thing from time to time to go back from whence you came. It allows you to get in touch with the reality of what we do and makes for better relations with my faculty colleagues.”
Robertson too believes the perspective from the classroom is invaluable, but after spending the rest of the week running the college, admits, “I hope the students enjoy my class as much as I do.”
Other administrators who are teaching or performing counseling or library services include: Bob Adams, Vice-President of Student Affairs, Brenda Benson, Dean of Counseling and Retention, Lee Finch, Dean of Student Services, Elena Garate, Dean of International Education, Deyna Hearn, Director of Extended Opportunity Programs & Service (EOPS), Mona Martin, Assistant Dean for Learning Resources, Marilyn McGrath, Program Manager for Early Childhood Education, Katharine Muller, Dean of External Programs, Darryl Keith Ogata, Director of International Programs, Judy Penchansky, Assistant Dean for Special Programs, Robert Sammis, Vice-President of Human Resources, and Jeff Shimizu, Dean of Instruction. Others will be chipping in during the Spring semester.
Popular chemistry professor Jamey Anderson has been named the recipient of the Marvin Elkin/Northrop Grumman Chair of Excellence. Anderson has chosen to use the grant—$5,000 a year for each of the next three years—to help maintain and upgrade the college’s Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Laboratory, one of his pet projects.
True to form, students, rather than research, will remain the focus of Anderson’s interest. The grant will allow chemistry students to run more complex experiments, he said. “Students normally wouldn’t get to touch a complicated instrument like the NMR until their second year of grad school,” said Anderson, who is known for his sophisticated projects with students. The NMR is used to scan the basic structure of organic compounds.
“I’m not asking students to research things to make me famous. Instead, I ask them: ‘What would you like to learn about today?’”
Anderson has trained his students on the NMR and is particularly pleased one of his students was sent to the National Institute of Standards and Technologies in Washington, DC to work with scientists there using the advanced piece of equipment.
Anderson is the second recipient of the Elkin award at SMC. The first was Richard Masada, who was named in 2000 and who used the award for robotics research.
As a teenager, music, not science was Anderson’s thing. Despite his natural aptitude in science, “I found high school chemistry really boring,” Anderson laughed. Instead, he focused on his love of music, learning to play piano and several woodwinds.
It wasn’t until college at Andrews University in Michigan that his love for science started to flourish. “The chemistry program was really well done and the faculty was made of decent, friendly people,” he recalled. But it was when he was exposed to lab work that Anderson was hooked. “That’s when I started thinking I could work in this field.”
At graduate school at UCLA, Anderson found a new love: teaching. “I was a really good teaching assistant. It was fun working with the students,” he said. He graduated in 1996 with a doctorate in organic chemistry.
Anderson, who has taught chemistry at SMC for five years, said SMC is a place where people are more interested in learning for learning’s sake, much like his original experience in undergraduate college science. “The department we have right now is unbelievable. SMC is one of the best places to work that I could possibly imagine.”
That’s not to say Anderson’s life is only about teaching organic chemistry. In his spare time, he still exercises the musical half of his brain, and has taken up piano again. “After dealing in a world that’s so concrete all day, it’s nice to have my music,” he said.
• The Santa Monica College Foundation currently funds 4 Chairs of Excellence—in Life Science, Physical Science, Earth Science, and Music.
• Each chair is privately endowed with a $100,000 contribution and provides $5,000 a year in support of faculty research.
• The Foundation’s long-term goal is to provide one chair in each of the College’s academic disciplines.
How do you create an intimate environment in a school with over 3,500 students? That is the question Santa Monica High School faculty and staff set out to answer when they undertook a radical reorganization plan this past September to divide the huge high school campus into six, smaller, more intimate schools.
Studies have shown that size does matter when it comes to education. Large, impersonal schools can’t offer the same quality education as smaller schools. “What educators have found nationally is when you look at a school with fewer than 600 students, attendance, achievement and morale is better and discipline is less of a problem,” said Santa Monica High School Principal Ilene Straus. “It’s just a different environment.”
Improving student achievement was the impetus behind the reorganization plan, which was the result of a decade-long project, headed by a 33-person committee comprised of teachers, parents and administrators. The committee looked at dozens of other high schools around the country which had redesigned their campuses into smaller schools and had seen positive results.
“Teachers will be able to work more closely and personally with individual students,” Straus explained. “At the same time we’re still able to offer the kind of diverse sports and specialized classes one would expect with a high school in a large, urban setting.”
The newly structured school assigns students to one of six school “houses.” In the old system students might have one class at one end of the school, and the next class clear across campus. The new setting keeps an entire grade on a single floor of the school. Students see the same group of teachers each day and classrooms are always in close proximity. “It creates more personalized communities,” said Straus.
But this is more than reshuffling, explained Straus. “We also hired 35 new teachers,” she said. Math and foreign language requirements have also been increased.
Each area of the school was assigned a different name, each representing a letter in the school’s nickname—S, A, M, O, H, I—to keep them distinct from one another. “We wanted it to be symbolic,” said Ruth Esseln, Samohi’s 10th grade principal, who has been instrumental in spearheading the redesign project.
Under the new structure, some programs, like physical education and science, have remained consolidated because labs and gymnasiums are too expensive to split up.
“We created six strong schools that are ethnically balanced,” Esseln said. “We wanted to make sure there are a variety of interests in each one, and we have done everything we could to keep that diversity.”
Each of the six schools will operate like any high school, each with its own curriculum, a principal, and teachers who work together. “Working as a team, you have the power to do problem solving so much better,” said Esseln. “And teachers will get to know the students better.”
Each of the six schools, or houses, will have individual student councils that will feed into the main student council. “We’re trying to get kids prepared for the world,” Straus explained.
“Parents are pretty excited about the chance to make the school better and trying to make large schools work better,” she added. And although the school year has just started, Straus said, attendance is already up and classroom behavior has improved. So far, so good!
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Students at Malibu’s Webster Elementary School are getting a chance to be stars on camera—while learning what could otherwise be dull subjects like history, weather and current events—thanks to a fun and creative video newscast program started by teacher Kris Stewart.
Students are creating 20- to 30-minute news shows complete with anchors, weather reports, cooking tips, interviews and commercials. “Each group is responsible for a week’s worth of news, every fourth week,” explained Stewart. “They have to base all newscasting stories on real events.”
Stewart, who wanted to make “current events interesting,” started the program as a fun way to learn. The news reports help kids understand deadly serious issues. For current events, children pretend to be reporting from places such as Afghanistan. They even built mock gas masks to report from the “front.” And to better understand the civil rights movement, they conduct imaginary interviews with historical figures such as Martin Luther King. A history segment may include an interview with a runaway slave.
Parents are delighted at how well it is working. “It’s fun for them. They don’t even realize how much they’re learning,” said Karen Follert, whose son Kipp is in Stewart’s fifth-grade class. “I think it’s really good for developing public speaking and public presentation skills.”
“It also builds confidence that they can get before a group and perform,” added Webster Elementary’s principal Phil Cott. “There are many adults who wouldn’t feel comfortable in front of 30 people telling these stories.”
There’s a light side to the shows as well. In one clip, kids explained to the news “audience” how to bake cookies. In another, music critics discussed the relative merits of singer Britney Spears and the rock band ‘N Sync.
To round out the curriculum, students also make commercials. For a laundry detergent ad, the children built a washing machine out of cardboard. Magically, the dirty shirt they threw into the machine came out perfectly clean. Teachers are on hand throughout the filming, standing by to fill the scenes with historical and scientific facts and ask questions of the children as they give their presentations.
The children, who work in groups of five or six to create the shows, enjoy the process as well. “We really like it when we can have props and do commercials,” said one fifth-grade boy. “I like that I can wear my ballerina outfit,” said another eight-year-old girl.
In response to a growing need, Santa Monica College and its partner groups recently were awarded a $1.6 million Prop. 10 grant to help train early childhood educators, particularly in the area of developmentally challenged youngsters. The innovative coalition won out against hundreds of other childcare organizations for the grant.
Together with the City of Santa Monica, Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, Connections for Children and other local child groups, SMC is establishing the Professional Development Institute of Early Childhood Educators. The institute will offer early education training through workshops, seminars, and more.
“Since the advent of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, schools are mandated to educate all children with disabilities with a free, appropriate education,” explained Wendy Parise, SMC education professor.
The program, which is aimed at pre-school teachers and paraprofessionals who work with challenged kids up to eight years old, is part of a nationwide push to deal with various developmental handicaps at an early age. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs for teachers with these skills are expected to grow by 50 percent by 2008 in California. The need is particularly great in Los Angeles.
Students at the Institute will be trained to work with children with disabilities at public and private schools, at child care centers, with families and at a wide range of early childhood education facilities. The program will instruct teachers on special techniques for dealing with various disorders, including physical, emotional, behavioral and learning disabilities.
Student teachers at SMC will take the regular early childhood education curriculum as well as three special ed classes, one of which includes 90 hours of hands-on internship. “The thing I try to get across is that they need to think of these children with special needs as children first,” said Parise.
There are a lot of complexities to working with disabilities children, noted student Laura Arreola-De La Torre. “Not only do you need to understand the special needs of the students, you need to know how to work with a wide range of adults, such as speech therapists, special education teachers and parents.”
Early childhood experts have long noted that caregivers and educators can have a huge impact on a child’s development, particularly up to the age of five. Yet current state law only requires 12 units of college courses. And for those who work at home, only CPR certification is required.
The Institute will help early educators learn new skills and more thorough training.
“We’re confident this new program at SMC will meet the training needs of early childhood professionals as they encounter an increasing diversity of needs in the classroom,” noted SMC education professor Sarita Santos.
How do you deal with such a huge and intractable problem like urban pollution? Each semester, some 150 Santa Monica College student volunteers are hard at work to answer just that question.
Volunteering at the Center for Sustainable Works, a City of Santa Monica-run agency located across from the SMC campus on Pearl Street, students help train Santa Monica residents and business owners on ways to make “greener” lifestyle choices through recycling, compositing, native garden planting, reducing energy consumption and changing consumer habits. For their efforts, students in certain disciplines receive extra credit.
Chantel Zimmerman, executive director of Sustainable Works, helps maintain the group’s headquarters—a small house owned by the college that’s used as a teaching center. The house contains displays and teaching tools to help illustrate how individuals can help minimize the environmental damage they do in their daily lives.
“Every single choice you make has an environmental impact,” said Zimmerman. “The question is, how intense is that impact going to be? And is it going to be adverse to the environment?”
Hamza Aljefri, a mechanical engineering student from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, became a member of Sustainable’s work crews after taking classes in environmental studies, including extra credit with the program. He developed a passion for protecting the environment after seeing first-hand just how bad environmental damage can be. “Obviously water is very precious in Saudi Arabia. During the first Gulf War, we had acid rain that contaminated the water.”
Students like Aljefri teach classes on simple ways to help the environment—turning off lights, driving a fuel-efficient car, or not pouring used motor oil down a storm drain. However, there are more subtle choices one can make, such as the chemical composition of certain household products, that also have a profound impact on the environment.
Zimmerman stresses that most pro-environmental choices are also good for the pocket book. She points to a display of different light bulbs—conventional, incandescent bulbs and compact fluorescent lights (CFLs). Switches allow students to light the different bulbs to compare their relative intensity and light quality, while stickers explain the relative price, energy consumption and average lifespan of the types of bulbs.
In the end, volunteers explain, CFLs may cost a little more, but use a fraction of the energy and last several times longer than conventional bulbs. The same is true for different types of paints, insecticides, solvents and other household products.
Small changes like these mean cleaner air and less trash, proving that everyone can do their part to help the environment, Zimmerman noted.
Through Oct. 4. Santa Monica College Faculty Art Exhibit. SMC’s Pete and Susan Barrett Art Gallery located at SMC’s Madison Campus (Santa Monica Blvd. & 11th St.). Original works by SMC faculty members. Free admission. Gallery closed Nov. 11 and Nov. 27-30. (310) 434-3434 or www.events.smc.edu.
Saturday, Oct. 11 – Thursday, Dec. 4. Sam Francis. SMC’s Pete and Susan Barrett Art Gallery located at SMC’s Madison Campus (Santa Monica Blvd. & 11th St.). Opening reception on Friday, Oct. 10, from 6 to 8pm. Free admission. (310) 434-3434 or www.events.smc.edu.
Tuesday, Dec. 9 - Wednesday, Dec. 10, 11 am to 9 pm. Holiday Art Sale. SMC’s Pete and Susan Barrett Art Gallery located at SMC’s Madison Campus (Santa Monica Blvd. & 11th St.). Here’s your chance to buy some truly unique works of art—prints, ceramics, jewelry, and more—for yourself or to give as gifts this holiday season. Free admission. (310) 434-3434 or www.events.smc.edu.
Tuesday, Oct. 7, 11:15 am. Michael Sellers. SMC Concert Hall. Piano recital by artist known for his exceptional virtuosity and poetic performance style, who recently returned from his 20th European tour. Free admission. Seating is on a first-arrival basis. Please call (310) 434-4323 or (310) 434-3000 for details.
Thursday, Oct. 9, 12 pm & 7 pm. Jeffrey Kahane & Members of The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Miles Memorial Playhouse Christine Reed Park (1130 Lincoln Blvd., Santa Monica). Join us for Conversation With…, a unique chamber recital featuring players who will take you into the intimate world of chamber music by sharing musical stories, humorous tales, and insights throughout the concert. This is an ideal way to be introduced to the wonderful world of chamber music or to continue your appreciation of it. The noon recital is a special arts education performance for students in grades K-12. Seating is very limited and reservations are required. Please call (310) 434-3412. Cosponsored by The Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, the SMC Foundation President’s Circle, and Alison & Richard Crowell. Free admission. (310) 434-3412 or www.smc.edu/madison.
Saturday, Oct. 11, 8 pm. Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Pepperdine University, Smothers Theatre. This ever-popular a cappella singing group of 10 was given its first international exposure on Paul Simon’s 1980’s album, Graceland. It is “one of South Africa’s musical treasures…[with] resonant, bass-heavy harmonies, which build from a cavernous hush to fervent, driving peaks” (The New York Times). More information: www.mambazo.com. Admission: $35. For tickets, call (310) 506-4522.
Friday, Oct. 24, 8 pm. Steve Tyrell. Pepperdine University, Smothers Theatre. Having achieved success over the course of four decades as a songwriter, producer and performer, this Houston native recently recorded his first solo CD to raves from the critics and public alike. His soulful, savvy, gravelly voice makes song standards hip and fresh all over again. More information: www.stevetyrell.com. Admission: $35. For tickets, call (310) 506-4522.
Sunday, Oct. 26, 2 pm. Oceana String Quartet, Stotsenberg Recital Series. Pepperdine University, Raitt Recital Hall. This recital features Pepperdine’s string quartet-in-residence, which includes Mitchell Newman, violin, Akiko Tarumoto, violin, Ingrid Hutman, viola, and Brent Samuel, cello. All are members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and some of our area’s finest musicians. Admission: $25. For tickets, call (310) 506-4522.
Tuesday, Oct. 28, 11:15 am. Liuba Sorochkina. SMC Concert Hall. Piano recital featuring works of Russian composers. Program highlights Rachmaninov and Skriabin. Free admission. Seating is on a first-arrival basis. (310) 434-4323 or (310) 434-3000.
Saturday, Nov. 1, 8 pm. SMC Opera Theatre Presents Suzie Hanks. SMC Concert Hall. Sue Ann Pinner, Artistic Director. Benefit Concert for the Emmy-winning SMC Opera Theatre features Soprano Suzie Hanks and Collaborative Artist Natalie Limonick. Miss Hanks performs in an Evening of Art Songs, including works of Faure, Debussy, Hahn, and Poulenc. Admission: $16. Discounts available for students and seniors. Seating is on a first-arrival basis. (310) 434-4323 or (310) 434-3000.
Sunday, Nov. 2, 4 pm. Leonid Smetannikov. SMC Concert Hall. Leading Russian baritone’s voice recital will delight audiences with a program ranging from arias and art songs to ever-pleasing Russian folk songs. Ticket prices vary. Discounts available for students and seniors. Seating is on a first-arrival basis. (310) 434-4323 or (310) 434-3000.
Saturday, Nov. 15, 8 pm. Soprano Jessica Jones. Doheny Mansion Mount St. Mary’s College Doheny Campus (10 Chester Pl., Los Angeles). Celebrate the birthday of legendary American mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne in a special evening recital by one of her protégés—soprano Jessica Jones—acclaimed for the beauty of her voice and her superb musicianship. A pre-concert interview with Ms. Horne will be held at 7:40 pm. Concert is funded by a grant from the Marilyn Horne Foundation and cosponsored by The Da Camera Society of Mount St. Mary’s College, presenters of the Chamber Music in Historic Sites® series. Artist accommodations provided by The Ambrose Hotel. For tickets, call (213) 477-2929.
Through Sunday, Oct. 19. I Just Stopped By to See the Man. UCLA Geffen Playhouse. Written by Stephen Jeffreys and directed by Randall Arney. West Coast Premiere. In a bare, shotgun house in the thick of the Mississippi Delta, the greatest living bluesman, long believed dead, lives out his simple life with his daughter. Stumbling into their solitude is a famous English rocker, living off the legend’s tunes, with a desperate and devilish deal. I Just Stopped By to See the Man is a passionate and political ode to the power and truth of the blues. Prices and times vary. For tickets, call 310-208-5454.
Friday, Oct. 3, 8 pm. The Reduced Shakespeare Company: All the Great Books (Abridged). Confused by Confucius? Thrown by Thoreau? Wish Swift were swifter? Tennyson tinier? Then hop aboard and buckle up as the three cultural guerrillas of the RSC zip through everything you didn’t get around to reading in school. More information: www.reducedshakespeare.com. Admission: $35. For tickets, call (310) 506-4522.
Tuesday – Saturday, Oct. 7-11. On the Verge or The Geography of Yearning. Pepperdine University, Helen E. Lindhurst Theatre. Stan Cahill, Guest Director. Eric Overmyer, one of today’s most imaginative playwrights, takes three prim yet intrepid Victorian ladies and casts them not only as world explorers but also as unwitting time-travelers. Hacking through forests and scaling Himalayan mountains, they eventually find themselves confronted by a gas station in 1955 America in this delightfully unmapped, whimsical adventure. Times and prices vary. To order tickets, call (310) 506-4522.
Wednesday, Oct. 29, 7 pm. Agapi Stassinopoulos. Miles Memorial Playhouse Christine Reed Park (1130 Lincoln Blvd., Santa Monica) Come share an evening of storytelling and drama as the author of the best-selling Conversations with the Goddesses brings classic Greek mythology into our modern day lives through a one-woman show that creates a humorous and poignant bridge between the ancient and modern worlds. A book signing and reception will be held after the show. Free admission. Seating is limited and reservations are required. Call (310) 434-3412. Cosponsored by the SMC Associates.
Thursdays – Saturdays, Nov. 6-15. Fiddler on the Roof. Pepperdine University, Smothers Theatre. Cathy Thomas-Grant, Director. Tradition! It is everything to Tevye, the hero of this beautifully written musical by Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick and Joseph Stein. The inspiring story—told with both humor and poignancy—follows Tevye, a hard-working dairyman, as he tries to steer his family unscathed through the encroaching anti-Semitism of Czarist Russia. Times and prices vary. For tickets, call (310) 506-4522.
Tuesday, Nov. 11 – Sunday, Dec. 21. Sugar Plum Fairy. UCLA Geffen Playhouse. Written and performed by Sandra Tsing Loh. Directed by David Schweizer. Sandra Tsing Loh, the well-known novelist, commentator and performer, presents a one woman show about a 12 year-old girl who dreams of dancing the lead in The Nutcracker. Instead, she ends up on the bottom row of a pyramid of rats, elbow to elbow with boys from Judo. It’s a hilarious coming-of-age story about the fickle finger of fate and the humbling experience of dreams not realized. A wonderfully offbeat and thoroughly original holiday treat. Prices and times vary. For tickets, call (310) 208-5454.
Wednesday, Nov. 19 – Sunday, Nov. 23. The American Clock. SMC The Hangar Stage, located at SMC’s Airport Campus, 2800 Airport Ave. Written by Arthur Miller, a brilliantly theatrical, kaleidoscopic study of America during the early years of the Great Depression. The play employs a series of vignettes and short scenes—some funny, some movingly poignant—to illustrate both a tortured time in American history and the indomitable spirit of the people who survived and prevailed in the face of unaccustomed adversity. Preview is on Nov. 18 at 7:30 pm. Prices and times vary. Discounts available for students and seniors. For tickets, call (310) 434-3000.
Wednesday, Dec. 3 – Sunday, Dec. 7. I Went to Clown College… Cirque de Commedia. SMC The Hangar Stage, located at SMC’s Airport Campus, 2800 Airport Ave. Written by Terrin Adair-Lynch. A fast-paced, spirited comedy that’s pure fun, with the farcical antics of all your favorite stock Commedia characters presented a la cirque. The hilarious scenarios and improvisational situations guarantee that no two performances will be alike! Preview is on Dec. 2 at 7:30 pm. Prices and times vary. Discounts available for students and seniors. For tickets, call (310) 434-3000.
Saturday, Oct. 4, 11 am & 1 pm. Very Eric Carle. Pepperdine University, Smothers Theatre. Popular children’s author Eric Carle is much loved for his charming paper-collage picture books. Now Mermaid Theatre, with its glow-in-the-dark puppets, returns to Malibu with three wonderful new Carle adaptations: Little Cloud, The Mixed-Up Chameleon, and Very Busy Spider. Ages four and up. More information: www.mermaidtheatre.ns.ca. Admission: $17.50. For tickets, call (310) 506-4522.
Friday, Dec. 5, 12 pm & 7 pm. Youth Opera Camp Production: Brundibár. Miles Memorial Playhouse Christine Reed Park (1130 Lincoln Blvd., Santa Monica). SMC’s Youth Opera Camp—a partnership with Los Angeles Opera now in its third season—presents an uplifting message of tolerance in a wonderful children’s opera composed by Hans Krása. The collaborative production features Los Angeles Opera professionals together with Youth Opera Camp students. The noon recital is a special arts education performance for students in grades K-12. The 7 pm performance is for general audiences. Seating is limited and reservations are required. Free admission. Production underwritten by The Dwight Stuart Youth Foundation, The Jewish Community Foundation and The Stratton-Petit Scholarship Fund. (310) 434-3431.
Monday, Oct. 20, 8 pm. Momix in Opus Cactus. Pepperdine University, Smothers Theatre. Deserts are usually places most people want to rush through to get somewhere else. Not so for Moses Pendleton, the genius behind the world-famous company of dancers/illusionists called Momix. Opus Cactus is his sensual celebration of the natural beauty and indigenous creatures of the Sonoran desert—from the cactus wren to the slithering Gila monster. More information: www.momix.com. Admission: $40. To order tickets, call (310) 506-4522.
Thursday, Nov. 20, 8 pm. The Umbilical Brothers in Thwak! Pepperdine University, Smothers Theatre. The London Observer called Australian bad boys Shane Dundas and David Collins “Tom and Jerry directed by Tarantino.” Shane—a dead-on mimic—provides sound effects, while mostly silent sidekick David reacts with his rubbery body. It’s “mindless entertainment of the first magnitude” (New York Daily News). More information: www.umbilicalbrothers.com. Admission: $35. For tickets, call (310) 506-4522.
Saturday, Nov. 22, 8 pm. Donna McKenzie. Pepperdine University, Smothers Theatre. She’s one singular sensation, this Tony Award-winning star of Michael Bennett’s A Chorus Line who is among Broadway’s foremost dancing and singing luminaries. Her many additional musical theatre triumphs include Follies and State Fair, for which she received the Fred Astaire Award for Best Female Dancer. More information: www.donnamckechnie.com. Admission: $40. For tickets, call (310) 506-4522.
CALENDAR offers a selection of events from area schools and cultural institutions. For a complete listing of Santa Monica College events, please go to events.smc.edu.
THE EDUCATION STANDARD is published five times a year, in winter, twice in spring, and twice in fall, providing information and comment about Santa Monica College, Santa Monica and Malibu schools and educational topics.
Santa Monica Community College District Board of Trustees: Herbert Roney, Chair; Dr. Margaret Quiñones, Vice Chair; Carole Currey; Dr. Dorothy Ehrhart-Morrison; Dr. Nancy Greenstein; Annette Shamey; Melvon George, Student Trustee; Dr. Piedad F. Robertson, Superintendent/President