A painting by Marc Trujillo
Joy Fritschle's new OER textbook
EOPS Specialist Fabio Prieto
Fashion alum Channel Guice and Jayne Kennedy
EPI Division and EpiCenter staff at the ECHO Conference
"Middle-Earth Cusco, Peru," prize-winning photo by SMC student Farsheed Shomloo
Sheila Laffey's "Earth Day" panel
Broadcast media instructor Mike Carlucci
Alexandra Tower's Botany 3 Class on a field trip to the Sierras
New nonprofit vet clinic founded by Peyvand Silverman & Emeritus Dean Scott Silverman
Scott Silverman's 2026 Impact Education Award, recognition from the Ethos Film Awards
Greg Schreiner & his troupe at the Greystone Mansion
- Art professor Marc Trujillo announced that The Fresno Museum of Art is excited to present "Nowhereland: Paintings by Marc Trujillo", which will also include working drawings and sketch books that helped him compose his finished studio paintings. The show will run from August 1, 2026, through January 10, 2027. Regular museum hours are Thursday to Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The opening reception is July 31, 2026, starting at 5:00 p.m. An excerpt from a press statement posted on the museum’s website reads: “Starting with sketches and also working from photographs, artist Marc Trujillo creates exquisitely detailed paintings of the unexceptional elements of our daily lives. From lights reflecting off of cold steel and glass high-rises . . . to the flickering neon signs of the local gas station or fast-food restaurant, his paintings redefine the tradition of American landscape painting by examining how consumerism and capitalism have literally shaped our landscape.”
- SMC Career Services Advisor Ann Marie Leahy presented at the California Community Colleges Association for Occupational Education Spring 2026 Conference on “Practical and Ethical Applications of AI in the Job Search Process.” Drawing from her book AI-Enhanced Job Search, she shared strategies for AI-supported resumes, skill building, and career exploration, emphasizing ethical use and critical thinking. The session engaged statewide educators focused on strengthening student career pathways in an evolving AI-driven workforce.
- Earth Sciences instructor Joy Fritschle has completed an OER textbook now available as a free, online resource for SMC's ENVRN/GEOG 7: Introduction to Environmental Studies course. With contributing chapters by Victoria Charles and Gillian Grebler, People, Place, and Planet: An Introduction to Environmental Studies and Environmental Geography connects today's big environmental problems—climate change, biodiversity loss, environmental racism, to name a few—with actionable solutions through the lens of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This work was supported by the SMC OER Committee and the 2025–26 OER/ZTC Stipend award.
- Anthropology instructors Eric Minzenberg and Gillian Grebler co-chaired a panel presentation, “Where Anthropology Meets Design: Teaching Ethnographic Methods to Interaction Design (IxD) Students,” at the Southwestern Anthropological Association Conference on March 27, 2026. Two IxD students, Rommell McKenzie and Sandi Piorek, presented their final semester projects from the Anthro 300 fall 2025 course.
- Career Services Counselor Deanna Gurrola is thrilled to highlight student Nicole Khojastegan, who has been accepted to UCLA to pursue a B.A. in Psychology. A nine-year violinist and SMC Symphony Orchestra member, Nicole credits part of her success to the SMC Career Center and the Writing Center. She shares: “Keep your hobbies and passions close alongside your academics. Stay multifaceted like a prism because when you have multiple sides, you truly shine.”
- EOPS Specialist Fabio Prieto has proudly served at SMC for over 10 years, supporting student success through various
programs. He continues to grow professionally, having started an MA program in Religious
Studies at Cal State Long Beach. During his first year in the program, Fabio worked as a graduate instructor and
was awarded the Outstanding Graduate Instructor Award in May 2026. His commitment to education and student advocacy allowed him the opportunity
to serve as a guest lecturer at CSULB, lecturing on indigenous culture and postcolonial
theory.
- Fashion instructor La Tanya Louis provided an exciting update about SMC Fashion Design alum, Channel Guice’s completion of a project for entertainment celebrity icon, Jayne Kennedy (Channel was featured in the Aug. 2023 issue of SMC in Focus). Kennedy wore the suit, constructed by Channel and designed by Disney costume designer, Ida Muldrow, at her special book promotion at Saks Fifth Avenue, Beverly Hills on March 27 while promoting her book "Plain Jayne". Check this out: Instagram Reel of Jayne Kennedy Wearing the Suit at Book Event. We are so proud of Channel’s accomplishments!
- Dean of Equity, Pathways, and Inclusion Llanet Martin reported that Santa Monica College has been awarded a $250,000 Institutional Effectiveness and Partnership Initiative (IEPI) grant, building on the success of the college’s 2020 IEPI award. Through a partnership
between the Equity, Pathways, and Inclusion (EPI) Division and the EpiCenter, the college will design an integrated, innovative, and equity-centered professional
learning ecosystem to support sustainable professional learning across the campus
community.
Beginning in Fall 2026, Santa Monica College will partner with an IEPI Partnership Resource Team (PRT), chaired by Dr. Char Perlas, President of College of the Siskiyous. The PRT will engage with the college to learn from our previous efforts and support the development of a coordinated, sustainable professional learning framework aligned with the Student Equity Plan and Vision 2030 priorities focused on equity in access, success, and support. - Earth Sciences professor Jing Liu reports that SMC has officially launched its own on-campus weather sensor, located
atop the Math and Science building. This initiative provides students and the community
with real-time microclimate data:
- Public Access: Users can track live conditions via Weather Underground (Station ID: KCASANTA5146) or the SMC Weather Station Webpage
- Academic Impact: This resource offers invaluable, hands-on opportunities for student meteorology research, local weather tracking, and microclimate monitoring.
Jing also shared that since last year, SMC geography students have collaborated on fire recovery and emergency preparedness projects with the Canyon Alliance, which included three specific phases:
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- Project Kick-off: A group of geography students visited the Canyon Alliance Gallery 169 to establish the project aimed at aiding Rustic and Santa Monica Canyon residents with wildfire preparedness.
- Ground Survey: Students conducted a detailed field survey to track and analyze each canyon's geography, mapping narrow roads, intermittent staircases, and other unique features critical for emergency response.
- 3D Spatial Modeling:The group synthesized these survey results to develop a 3D map of the canyons to assist with local hazard mitigation.
And this semester, Jing and her student Daria partnered with the Palisades Forestry Committee on an active project to identify environmentally suitable locations for replanting native trees within the El Medio community in the Pacific Palisades. This project is currently in progress.
- Spanish instructor Alejandro Lee is delighted to share that his student Farsheed Shomloo’s photograph, “Middle-Earth Cusco, Peru,” was the winner in the “Places” category of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP) 2026 Photography Contest. Farsheed’s submission was sponsored by Alejandro. Congratulations, Farsheed!
- Emeritus instructor Sheila Laffey opened her film class for an Earth Day event at Emeritus, in collaboration with Anabelle Munro, founder of Ethos Film Awards who screened curated films and moderated the panel on impactful storytelling. Sheila screened her Walden documentary “We All Need the Forest.” Joseph Rosando, Nidhin Patel and thirteen-year-old Dylan Langendorf also screened their work. In this digital age, Sheila held up the 16-film strip of Walden to showcase the wonders of that format. The inspiring panel discussion considered how impact films are often built through partnerships among communities, educators, nonprofits, and corporations, and how filmmakers can find pathways to finance and distribution while maintaining purpose-driven storytelling. Sheila communicated that she loved teaching at the Center for Media & Design—and now at Emeritus.
- Mike Carlucci, broadcast media instructor, did not get to go to Italy for the 2026 Winter Olympics—but he did consult for the hockey competition via Zoom! Mike announced hockey in the last two Winter Games: 2022 in Beijing and 2018 in PyeongChang, Korea. While living in Southern California, Mike joined the Pepperdine Waves Baseball team and ESPN+ calling play-by-play for selected games. He also did a few national voiceover spots (Wells Fargo and Toyota NASCAR), while teaching 3 classes at SMC. Mike jokes that it might be time to come up for air soon…
- Life Sciences professor Alexandra Tower shared that she took her Botany 3 class on a field trip to the western Sierras. This photo of the students in front of a Giant Sequoia (at the McKinley Grove; see slideshow) is dramatic!
- Scott Silverman, Dean of Noncredit and External Programs, and his wife, Peyvand Silverman, DVM (SMC alum, Class of 2004) announced the opening of a non-profit veterinary clinic,
Community Animal Treatment Center (CATC) in Burbank, offering ultra-low-cost veterinary services for owned pets (at substantial savings
over many other locations), and high quality, high-volume spay/neuter services for
community cats, as well as dogs and cats from rescue organizations. The Grand opening
and ribbon-cutting was held on May 9, with Burbank mayor Tamala Takahashi, the Chamber of Commerce, and actor Danny Trejo in attendance. For more information, check out catcburbank.org and @catcburbank on social media.
- On a separate note, in late April, Scott was also recognized by The Ethos Film Festival—a Santa Monica festival celebrating international short-form, purpose-driven films—with the 2026 Impact Education Award on behalf of and for his work with the Emeritus Program of Santa Monica College. The award was a recognition of the impact of Emeritus on the community—and for Scott’s role as Dean of Noncredit and External Programs in supporting a thriving Emeritus community, and working to connect Emeritus to many programs, services, resources and prospective students within our community.
- Greg Schreiner, Music department instructor, performed his show, Hollywood Revisited, at the Greystone Mansion, April 11, 2026, to a sold-out crowd. Before the show, the audience was treated to a dinner at the mansion catered by Wolfgang Puck.
- Campus Counsel Robert Myers and co-author David DiBiase published a research article in Transactions in GIS, an international, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to original research in the spatial sciences. The article, titled "Enlisting AI to Mainstream Ethics in Spatial Data Science Education," examines the integration of ethics education within Penn State's online spatial data science programs and explores how artificial intelligence can be leveraged to address existing gaps in that curriculum. Penn State supported open-access publication of the article, making it freely and widely available to researchers, educators, and practitioners around the world.
- SMC journalism program instructor Sharyn Obsatz shared that she has been elected president of the Journalism Association of Community Colleges, an organization providing conferences, competitions and networking for 40+ community
college student newsrooms in California.
And, on a related note, Sharyn also highlighted that The Corsair student newsroom received recognitions for their 2025 coverage from the Society of Professional Journalists Region 11 Mark of Excellence competition, winning Best All-Around Student Newspaper for large campuses with 10,000 + students. The newsroom was led by Spring 2025 Editor in Chief Adriana Brady (graduated and now at USC) and Fall 2025/Spring 2026 Editor in Chief Katie Easterson ( who graduated this June). Additionally, SMC Journalism students also were finalists in these categories, competing with students from USC, LMU, Chapman, Pepperdine, Arizona State and other colleges/universities:
- Best Affiliated Website: The Corsair
- Feature Photography: Dance energy, by Elizabeth Bacher
- Sports Photography: “El Clásico Femenil : Club América vs. Chivas de Guadalajara”, by A.S.V.
- Food/Restaurant Journalism: Fighting food waste through the Santa Monica College Bodega, by Jenna Tibby.
- STEM Counselor Sheridan McArthur, expressed admiration for the remarkable accomplishments of her student Kevin Davidson, including the following:
- Transferring to UC Irvine for Applied and Computational Mathematics with a concentration in Data Science.
- Former SI for CS20A (Data Structures with C++).
- Developed an interactive digital twin of the SMC campus that visualizes real-time classroom occupancy and study room availability.
- Conducted formal college research with Professor Greenfield to develop TALOS, the first computer vision bicycle safety system.
- Future-in-Tech Vice President
- Presented TALOS at: 1. Bay Honors Research Symposium @ Stanford (Helset Scholar Finalist), 2. CCSC Southwest 2026 @ UCR (2nd Place), 3. IEEE SusTech 2026 (Honorable Mention), 4. Quebrando Barreras - Breaking Barriers in STEM @ UCLA (a non-competitive showcase for top-tier research).
- Kevin also presented at the SMC Global Citizenship Symposium and the SMC STEM Student Poster Symposium.
- Communications and Media Studies instructor Roxanne Messina Captor highlights that the CA Arts Council celebrated its 50thAnniversary April 20, 2026. Roxanne, who is faculty for Media 21 and Chair of the Arts Council, organized the event. Thanks to Roxanne’s longstanding
friendship with Governor Newsom, the Governor loaned her his mansion for the reception, and he and First Partner
Jennifer Siebel Newsom Ten artists from the state were awarded the CAC Award. This illustrious group included Luis Valdez, Cheech Marin, and David Geffen. Founding council members were also honored, including Peter Coyote, Ruth Asawa, and Gary Snyder.
- Chemistry professor Timothy Dong reported that three SMC students, Ghazal Azhdari Mamooreh, Shannon M., and Tony Fan, presented their chemistry research at the 2025 Southern California Conference for Undergraduate Research (SCCUR) held at CSU Channel Islands on November 22, 2025. The students synthesized derivatives of vanillin and studied their antibacterial properties. The research was done together with other Organic Chemistry students in the Science 10 Principles and Practice of Scientific Research course taught by Timothy.
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