President’s Message Dear Colleagues, In October 1957, the Soviet Union made headlines with the launch of Sputnik, the very first manmade satellite to orbit the Earth.   In that same month, the voters of San Mateo County approved a $5,900,000 bond measure to acquire land, build our current campus and to purchase the Skyline College site.     I have thought about the absolute magnitude of change since that time.  Fifty years ago, the launch of Sputnik generated worldwide headlines; the simple “beep, beep beep” of its radio signal was replayed amid a backdrop of worry and fear on our national radio and TV news broadcasts.  Today, the Soviet Union no longer exists.  With Google Earth or similar tools, we can view a satellite image of any city block in the world at a click of the mouse.  President/Superintendent Julio BortoIazzo is quoted in the 1961-1971 San Mateo Junior College Master Plan as follows: “Our technical society places increasing emphasis on the abilities which require a college education.  Not only will the absolute number of young people of college age increase sharply in the next two decades, but the proportion enrolling in college will continue to rise.  As college educational opportunities are democratized, the junior college will become the key institution for lower division education”.   I believe that Dr. Bortolazzo’s statement has stood the test of time.  It seems to me that we are saying more or less the same thing fifty years later and indeed, community colleges are widely acknowledged as “democracy’s college”. As we enter our final phase of capital improvement planning, my hope is that we reflect on the vision, the courage, and the foresight of those who came before us.  We have a once-in-a-career opportunity to completely transform our institution. Our campus has served us extremely well over the last fifty years.  Going forward, we have a responsibility to build a campus that not only works for us today, but that will serve our students and our community for the next fifty years.   Mike Claire

Ralph’s relationship with CSM began in 1990, following his retirement from University of San Francisco where he had spent 30 years as a sociology professor, department chair and founder of the sociology department. He enrolled in Gerry Frassetti’s literature course which provided the motivation to take a series of language arts classes including those taught by Linda Scholer, Susan Petit and Bernard Gershenson. It was in Gershenson’s creative writing classes where Ralph found his voice for writing. Although his original goal was to focus on writing a memoir, he discovered a new-found interest: poetry, especially the pantoum, a 15th century Malayan form which features quatrains in which the second and fourth line of every stanza became the first and third line of the subsequent stanza. According to Gershenson, Ralph went on to write many pantoums. Writing poetry soon became Ralph’s retirement vocation. In 2004, when he was in his 80’s, he published the first of his two volumes of poetry, “Do I Grow Old,” which he dedicated to Gershenson. The follow-up collection, “Peripeteia,” was published in 2007.  Ralph Lane was quite simply the quintessential life-long learner.

Gershenson recollected, “Ralph was impressed by what we did at CSM, embracing the diversity of our student body, the range of our students. CSM in general and the creative writing class in particular, became a habit of mind for Ralph. He would sometimes joke that he needed some place to go. ‘Joan accepted me for better or worse, but not for lunch.’ He clearly enjoyed the faculty and students, an affection which led to his gifts to the college.”

At the October 30 presentation of the President’s Lecture Series, Gershenson paid eloquent tribute to Ralph, which included a reading of one of his poems. In addition, a collection of Ralph Lane’s poetry is on display on the Bulldog –
the Wall bulletin boards on the 200 level of Building 18; the Wall is another gift to the college, funded by the Lanes.

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning @ CSM
By Jean Mach

As part of a nascent effort to establish the SoTL Center as a useful resource for the support, improvement, and documentation of successful and innovative teaching practices, a small library, like slow-growing ivy, has been taking hold in the salvaged bookcases against the east wall of 12-170. 

Even as SoTL @ CSM forges ahead into the virtual world of online documentation with ePortfolios, Sharepoints, and podcasts, it needs an anchor in the world of real books and journals--books that you can curl up with in a comfortable chair or take outside, under a shady tree.  Those real pages allow another (perhaps old-fashioned) kind of engagement with ideas--away from your computer screen and its relentless email, the stacks of un-graded papers, and the daily pressures of your office.  Books and journals can be the source of inspiration to restructure a class next semester, of fresh ideas to replace the same old collaborative exercises you’ve always used, or of broader perspectives on knotty issues like declining literacy, the assessment movement, and articulation difficulties between the different levels of our educational system.  Thoughtful, carefully researched books, divergent but respectful viewpoints expressed in established journals, and important reports published by serious educational associations can offer insight into the challenges we face in our own classrooms and on our own campus. The SoTL Center houses the beginning of a small collection of such resources for our use.

Although the shelves are still appallingly disorganized and the check-out system rudimentary (please write the name of the book, your name, and the date in the check-out binder), you may find something of interest if you just browse.  You may recognize the clear, precise voice of CSM’s dear benefactor, Ralph Lane, in his volumes of poetry.  You’ll be visually delighted if you page through one of the copies of Visual Relationships, a monograph that was the result of an extraordinary confluence model learning community that fused the work of photography, graphic design, and multimedia students in the spring of 2007.  There is a copy of the report that informs the Basic Skills Initiative (“the poppy copy’), AAC&U’s Greater Expectations and LEAP Reports, and a number of issues of Peer Review.  You’ll find books full of ideas about collaborative learning, classroom assessment strategies, learning communities, and writing across the curriculum. Several copies of Minding the Gap, published by Harvard Education Press, a fascinating book that considers our nation’s failures in guiding many high school students through the transition into college, will be arriving soon. Accordian folders will archive a range of short readings related to each of the various confluence model learning communities offered at CSM, so faculty wanting to explore the possibility of participating will not have to begin their preparation from scratch.

The doors to the SoTL Center must be kept locked, but I don’t want faculty to feel locked out.  I’m investigating solutions for easier access, but meanwhile call me (x6353) if you want to get in.  We even hope to find a few easy chairs and a coffee table should you want to curl up for a comfortable hour there, exploring ideas the wonderful, old-fashioned way, through reading.

CSM’s Award Winning Science Building and Planetarium

CSM’s Science Building and Planetarium were selected for an Award of Merit by California Construction magazine’s Best of 2007 awards program. The statewide competition annually recognizes construction and design excellence in Northern and Southern California and is judged by an independent jury of industry experts; CSM was among 41 winners out of 160 projects in a variety of categories that were nominated. CSM’s projects will be featured in the magazine’s December 2007 issue. McCarthy Building Company submitted the college’s nomination.  Submitting firms and project team are invited to attend the awards ceremony in December in Long Beach.

Preserving CSM’s History

Since Fall 2001, Bill Rundberg, professor emeritus, has spearheaded the Photographic Library Project (PHLIP). The project has involved identifying, preserving and providing access to photographs illustrating the history of the college district. The original collection was estimated to include 10,000 to 20,000 undocumented photographs and slides, dating back to CSM’s opening in 1922.

Over the past six years, Bill has contacted and met with dozens of current employees as well as retirees to assist in the identification process. While the project is considered a work in progress, it has produced a number of exhibits, including five that are located on the project’s web page: CSM from 1922-1963, CSM since 1963, Canada, Skyline and the District. Currently more than 4,000 photos appear on the web page. In addition, a new version of the PHLIP exhibit in the CSM Library is now in place.  Framed photos of students, staff members from the colleges and the District Office have been mounted to the columns throughout the Library.

Much of the volume of photos now available is the work of renowned district photographer Isago Tanaka. Given the
long and rich history of the college district, there are many more photos, from Isago and other sources, yet to be made available for viewing.  To view the current collections on-line go to collegeofsanmateo.edu/archives. If you have any information about any of the photographs in the exhibits, please note the object ID number and contact
Bill Rundberg by email at Rundberg@smccd.edu or at (650)574-6201.

Accomplishments

• The San Matean newspaper and website received top honors at the Northern California section of the Journalism Association of Community Colleges conference recently held at San Jose State University. The newspaper and its online publication each won General Excellence awards in competition among more than 22 community colleges throughout Northern California. The General Excellence awards recognize outstanding overall performance by student journalists. CSM journalism students also won several awards in individual categories. Spring 2007 editor Alex Terrazas received Honorable Mention for profile articles, staff writer Chris Godowski won Honorable Mention for sports writing and Fall 2007 editor Danny Castro was honored with a third place award in the Opinion Writing category in a contest held at the conference under deadline pressure. Professor of Journalism Ed Remitz is the journalism advisor.
  
  In addition, CSM’s journalism department and the San Francisco Peninsula Press Club co-hosted High School Bootcamp. Thirteen high schools and approximately 120 students from local schools attended the event. Students learned about a variety of journalism topics, including online publishing, digital photography, headline writing and staff motivation; 16 workshops were offered.
  
  
• Mike Burke, professor of mathematics and a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Foundation is the featured author in this month’s Carnegie Perspectives. His article, “A Mathematician’s Proposal,” on the topic of quantitative literacy, can be accessed at www.carnegiefoundation.org/perspectives/sub.asp?key=245&subkey=2451.
  
  
• Assistive Technology Specialist Carolyn Fiori is the 2007 recipient of the Rick Scuderi Service Award from the California Association on Postsecondary Education and Disability (CAPED).  The award recognizes exemplary service to CAPED and the students served by its membership.
  
  
• Congratulations to the following employees who recently participated on the latest district team to experience the Museum of Tolerance training program in Los Angeles: Marilyn Carter, Rudy Ramirez, Marilyn Lawrence, Helia Ying, Mario Mihelcic and Martha Menendez. Another group will attend the spring 2008 session.
  
  
• CSM’s student chapter of the American Institute of Floral Designers (SAIFD) participated in the California State Floral Association Student Design Competition in Oakland at the yearly convention. Students Bonnie Britton and Soo Shim were awarded first and second place honors, respectively.

Online schedule now has navigational features

The online version of the printed Spring 2008 Schedule of Classes now has point-and-click capability, allowing you to navigate the publication more easily. This new feature affords you the ability to go to a section you’re interested in by simply clicking on a subject in the table of contents. When you’re done, a quick click on the vertical bar on the right side of each page will bring you right back to the table of contents. Additionally, all of the Web addresses listed in the schedule are “live” and clickable. Please check it out at collegeofsanmateo.edu/schedule.

CSM has new, attractive, informational “View” brochure

CSM has produced a slickly-designed, attractive publication that offers an overview of the college for a wide-ranging audience. Called the view brochure, it’s promotional and informational and can be a particularly useful tool for outreach. It’s glossy CSM blue cover features a mosaic of photos of the school’s students and faculty, the logo and seal, along with the Web address and the tag line: “CSM—It’s a smart place to be.” Inside, readers are introduced to CSM one subject at a time—from Campus Environment, Excellent Faculty, Athletic Programs and Transfer Opportunities to Student Life, Career Programs, Concurrent Enrollment, Student Support Services and Study Abroad. The back cover highlights “CSM Quick Facts” and a map to the campus. The brochure is available as a PDF on the Public Relations & Marketing website.
For copies of the brochure, please contact Public Relations & Marketing at 6231.

Sports Update
Follow the success of CSM’s fall sports teams: football, cross country and water polo.

• Football Team Secures Bowl Berth with Big Victory
  CSM’s football team secured a bowl berth on November 3 by trouncing Feather River College, 54-24. With that victory an overall season winning record was ensured, and the Bulldogs qualified for a bowl—most likely, the Bulldog Bowl at CSM on November 17 at 1 pm. The team is ranked in the top 20 in the state, and in the top 10 in Northern California.
  
  
• Caitlin Roake Helps Women’s Cross Country Team Win First Conference Championship; Bulldogs Excel in Norcal Tournament on Way to State Finals
  Behind the strong running of Caitlin Roake, who is undefeated and top ranked in Northern California, CSM’s women cross country team won its first Coast Conference championship in the school’s history on October 24. Roake won the three-mile cross country race by nearly two minutes. Three other CSM runners—Kim Moyer and Stephanie Maher and Laura Woodall—finished in the top ten to help contribute to the team’s championship score. Continuing her winning ways, Roake raced to first place in the Northern California Championships on November 3 and qualified individually for the State Championships this weekend, along with Moyer. The runners helped the CSM team also qualify for the state finals.  
  

• Water Polo Team Reaches Final Four in Conference Championship Tournament
  With the program just fours year’s old, the steadily improving CSM women’s water polo team played in the Coast Conference tournament on November 2 and 3. In the first round, the Bulldogs upset Cabrillo College, 9-8, to advance to the final four of the tournament for the first time in fours years. "We lost this first round game the past three years; it feels great to come away with the win and move on in the tournament," said CSM Water Polo Coach Randy Wright in an post game email. The final round didn’t go as well for the Bulldogs, as the team’s season ended with two hard-played losses. But, as part of his long-range plan, the ever-optimistic Wright will use this season’s success to continue the Bulldogs’ upward progression.   

Alumni News
CSM alum Erika Paul Carlson, class of 1982 (A.A. in music theory and performance), won a prestigious National Parenting Publications Award (NAPPA) for an interactive CD learning trilogy. Carlson’s award-winning CD, “Scat’s My Bag,” was honored in the music category in the Children’s Products competition. This distinction recognizes her CD as a standout among toys, books, DVD, software and video games available for children today. Carlson continued her education as San Jose State University where she graduated from the first jazz studies program created in the Bay Area. For more than 10 years, she has performed interactive live jazz trio presentations to schools and conducts band and teacher training clinics in Jazz improvisation.