Good morning Bakersfield.  It is Saturday, April 24th. A good day to be a Renegade.

Feels great to be back home after being on the road for two weeks – Berkeley, Washington DC, San Diego.  Looking forward to my exercise class at 9:30 a.m. which I have missed for several weeks.  Besides my class in the morning, I plan on catching up on emails etc at home, two faculty interviews on skype and an event this evening.  Talking about faculty interviews, I am excited that BC will be hiring a total of 39 faculty to start in August 2016.  What an amazing opportunity.  It is indeed a good time to be at BC!

In my blog last week, I shared with you about the Guided Pathways work that a team from BC was doing in Washington DC.  You can find it at http://tinyurl.com/zq24br5

Jubilant in San Diego after my presentation

Earlier this week, I was in San Diego presenting at the ASU GSV summit.  This was my very first non-education conference in a long time, and I learned a lot from the different sessions.  The conference focused on the intersection of technology, entrepreneurship and education.  I found myself walking the waterfront wrestling with the ideas presented at the conference.  Just wonderful.  Mostly what became clear to me is that Bakersfield College has the right ingredients to accomplish the goal for all students to have equal opportunities to advance their learning and engagement. Talented faculty and staff, who are hard working, passionate and dedicated to the students and the college.

The keynotes (excerpted from the conference website):

Bill Gates: He revolutionized global computing as we know it and is now a philanthropist investing in health globally and education in the United States.

Condoleezza Rice: Former Secretary of State and currently the Denning Professor in Global Business and the Economy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business

Common:  Common is one of Hollywood’s most sought after leading men and is a world­-renowned lyricist, actor and entertainment icon.

Jim Collins: Legendary author of the book from “Good to Great”. An influential expert on leadership and how to build great, enduring businesses.

Anant Agarwal is the CEO of edX, an online learning destination founded by Harvard and MIT. Anant taught the first edX course on circuits and electronics from MIT, which drew 155,000 students from 162 countries. He has served as the director of CSAIL, MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, and is a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT.

Rick Levin is the Chief Executive Officer of Coursera. In 2013, he completed a twenty-year term as President of Yale University, during which time he played an integral role in growing the University’s programs, resources and reputation internationally.

Sal khan: Salman Khan is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Khan Academy, a not-for-profit with the mission of providing a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere. Khan Academy is a learning platform which is comprised of instructional videos, practice exercises, dashboard analytics and teacher tools which empower learners in and outside of the classroom to study at their own pace.

Stanley McChrystal: Described by former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates as “perhaps the finest leader in combat” he has ever seen, four-star general (retired) Stanley McChrystal is the former commander of U.S. and International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) in Afghanistan and the former commander of the premier military counter-terrorism force, Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC).

Michael M. Crow is an academic leader and educator, designer of knowledge enterprises, and science and technology policy scholar. He has been the sixteenth president of Arizona State University since July, 2002. He is guiding the transformation of ASU into one of the nation’s leading public metropolitan research universities, an institution that combines the highest levels of academic excellence, inclusiveness to a broad demographic, and maximum societal impact—a model he designed known as the “New American University.”

Ted Mitchell is the Undersecretary of Education. He has served in this post since his confirmation by the U.S. Senate on May 8, 2014, following his nomination by President Barack Obama on Oct. 31, 2013. Mitchell reports to Acting Secretary of Education John King and oversees policies, programs, and activities related to postsecondary education, adult, career and technical education, federal student aid, five White House Initiatives — Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Educational Excellence for Hispanics, Educational Excellence for African Americans, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and American Indian and Alaska Native Education— and the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

I was part of a panel (Jim Shelton-President of 2U; Susan Cates-COO of 2U; Bror Saxberg-Chief Learning Officer of Kaplan) that presented on the Value of Higher Edcuation: Outcomes that Matter.  Here is the program blurb.

Free higher education via MOOCs or government programs are dominating higher education conversations. Meanwhile, emerging transparency and accountability regimes and the rapidly evolving expectations of students, faculty, institutions and employers are forcing post secondary institutions to demonstrate and in cases defend their value. How will the value of education be measured? How will providers prove their worth and to whom? If it is still the responsibility of universities to deliver the fundamentals that enable students to succeed and society to advance, which outcomes matter most?

I had the opportunity to brag about our faculty, staff and administrators at BC.  An easy task since there is so much that is being accomplished across the 153-acre stretch of the campus on Panorama Drive as well as at our Delano Campus, locations at the Weill downtown, Fresno Pacific in the southwest, at Arvin High as well as across our online course and program offerings.  There are so many accomplishments by our approximately 26,000 students and approximately 1000 employees.  Did I already tell you that it is a good time to be at BC?

Remembering Caren Floyd

Caren Floyd on Bakersfield College Equity TV

Bakersfield College lost a truly inspirational alum on April 2nd when Caren Floyd died of Ovarian Cancer at 71.

But she packed a lot of life into her years, and made the most of her time on Earth.

On the April 4 episode of “Success and Equity on BCTV”, host Francis Mayer remembered Floyd’s visit to the show a little over a year ago, and shared memories of Caren with guest Karen Goh.

Karen Goh on Bakersfield College Success and Equity TV

In 1980, Caren was working as an attendance clerk at Highland High School, when she decided to pursue a teaching career. But first she met with a guidance counselor at BC who was stunned by the transferable credits she’d piled up while raising her family.

She was quick to praise the mentors and folks who invested energy in her, like the guidance counselor at BC who urged her to transfer to CSUB, and Dr. Carl Miller who guided her through to the next level and wouldn’t give up until she got her Doctorate of Philosophy in Education from Claremont McKenna!

Floyd started her educational journey at BC in 1967, and got her P.h.D in 1995. She did it one class per semester for many years, and important to her success, she allowed others to help her along the way.

Karen Goh pointed out that Floyd was honored more than once for giving back to the community that educated and invested in her, and that those investments we make in others are what change lives and improve our society.

Goh worked with community-based non-profit Garden Pathways before being appointed to serve as Fifth District Supervisor by then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. After completing that term of service, she returned to Garden Pathways where she currently serves as President and CEO.  Karen Goh is a great friend of education and Bakersfield College.

You can watch our EquityTV segments online. Karen Goh’s segment is at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-jNggke2Ek, and Caren Floyd’s is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3adYlajKkmA.

Financial Empowerment

This week, Achieving the Dream and Bakersfield College announced that BC will receive $25,000 over a two-year period to expand and strengthen financial empowerment activities designed to strengthen students’ money management skills and knowledge. Bakersfield College is one of the five community colleges in the ATD network that are receiving grants to expand student financial empowerment efforts.

Thank you so much to Jennifer Achan, Connie Garza, Claudio Felix, and the rest of our amazing Financial Aid team for bringing this fabulous opportunity to our students!

Connie Garza, Claudio Felix, Jennifer Achan

Alpha Phi Alpha Black honors Paula Parks

BC Colleagues supporting Paula Parks

Earlier this month, BC English Professor Paula Parks was honored at the Alpha Phi Alpha Black and Gold Scholarship Banquet. She received the fraternity’s Community Service Award in part for her work with ASTEP (African-American Success Through Excellence and Persistence).

ASTEP is a program that integrates academics, support services and African-American culture. The program aims to develop students into leaders and role models in their college and larger community.

Kate Pluta, Harvey Warren, Josie Triplett, Sonya Christian, Jackie Fisher

Many from BC turned out to support Paula as she received her award. It was a pleasure to see retired colleagues Harvey Warren (Counseling), Jackie Fisher (BC Fire Tech & Dean and AVC President), and Josie Triplett (Child Development).  Harvey Warren was on the hiring committee in 1991 that hired me as a math faculty right out of graduate school.  What a memory.  I love BC!

For more on ASTEP at Bakersfield College, check out https://www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/student/astep.

Dream Builders

Mickie Hay and the 2016 Dream Builders

On April 7th I was invited by Chad Manning to be one of the judges at the Dream Builder’s program by the Ford Foundation.  What a treat!  Everything about the program is inspiring — the quality of the students, the program design by Mickie Hay, the efficiency with with the event on April 7th was conducted….all top notch.  In the end there was a surprise check of $32,000 presented, $1000 going to every student in this year-long program.  Jennifer Marden, one of my colleagues at Bakersfield College, told me that her son Connor was was in the program last year said that it was the best thing that happened to him. Mickie Hay, you totally rock!

Enjoyed hanging out with the judges for the program — Bryon Schaefer, Superintendent of Kern High; Kevin Charette of KGET, and Chris Frazier, Superintendent of KCSOS. I learned that Kevin is the co-founder of the “Thumbs-Up, Cancer-Down” non-profit that was established in 2014.  Pretty cool.

Judges–Bryon Schaefer, Sonya Christian, Kevin Charette, Chris Frazier

Check out these two pieces in The Bakersfield Californian about the Dream Builders Program and about Mickie Hay:

Dream Builders…Building a better Bakersfield. Nov 27, 2013: http://tinyurl.com/j4dwkgl

Bakersfield’s behind-the-scenes Dream Builder. May 31, 2014: http://tinyurl.com/zbfz4m5

with John Boydstun

Kern Kiwanis Club and the Boydstuns:

Earlier that afternoon on April 7th, I spoke to the Kern Kiwanis Club about What’s New at BC.  I really enjoyed the camaraderie in the club and was thrilled to connect with the Boydstuns — Jay, Midge and John.  Here I am with John Boydstun one of the biggest supporters of BC.

Check out the blog on December 19, 2015 that includes all the three Boydstuns. You are…BC! We are…BC!  http://tinyurl.com/hozrypd

Nursing students and BoyScouts

I wanted to share a photo that Jay Rosenlieb sent me this week. Our BC students joined the Boy Scouts to support Hoffmann Hospice at their Voices of Inspiration event held on April 20 at Rabobank Civic Center. Voice of Inspiration is an annual event to raise awareness about hospice services, and to raise funds for Hoffman’s patients & programs.

It’s so wonderful when we are able to go out and give support back to the community. Hopefully many of these Boy Scouts will be Renegades someday!

Tagged: Achieving the Dream, Bakersfield College, Caryn Floyd, Chad Manning, Claudio Felix, Connie Garza, Drean Builders, Ford Foundation, Jay Rosnlieb, Jennifer Achan, Karen Goh, Mickie Hay, Sonya Christian, students