Tag Archives: Downtown Rotary

Life at Bakersfield College

 

This past week has been crazy with a lot of time spent on the road, heading down to southern California for the Board of Governors (BOG) meeting and then back up to northern California for the CCLC Convention. I got back home late yesterday and am enjoying a quiet Sunday morning.  Weather.com says that the high is going to be 72 today. Yes! Time for a long relaxed walk.  Maybe to the Farmer’s market.

Thought I would share with you through pictures some of the highlights from last week.  And I am certain that this list does not even scratch the surface of the happenings at BC. As we get into the Thanksgiving week let me just thank you my dear colleagues for all that you do for BC and our students.  I am so thankful to have the best job in the world.  I come to work, just delighted to hang out and work hard with you. We are….BC!

Where do i begin……. Maybe Delano.

If you are on twitter just #BCDelano or @RichMcCrown and you will catch up with the activities on our campus in North Kern.  And btw, if you are not on twitter, go ahead and get an account.  This will give you an opportunity to participate in another community virtually and follow the back channel conversations through hashtags.

#BCDelano

Liz Morris: “You are the future of Delano. You are the change.”

Ricardo Chavez: “You need to decide if Delano is worth it.”

Janet Rananal: “There is something happening in the community that I want to be a part of …..”

 

Jonathan Hernandez:

Jonathan Hernandez

Jonathan Hernandez

 

 

So proud to see one of our own make headlines.

Jonathan Hernandez, a communication professor from central California, recently gained national attention for being ranked fifth highest-rated university professor in the country during the 2014-2015 academic year on the instructor-ranking site RateMyProfessor.com. The site has collected over 16 million student ratings and the most recent installment of their “Annual Top Lists” report combined weighted professors’ scores from this year and previous years to create their ranking.

Check out the website at: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/what-ive-learned-top-rated-college-professor-jonathan-hernandez-n458021

 

Communication Department Showcase:

 

Mark Staller Communication Dept Showcase Nov 2015

 

I briefly attended the Communication Department Showcase and enjoyed seeing Forum East packed with students, faculty, and community members.  There was great energy in the room.

And the student speech I heard was phenomenal. Thank you communication faculty, and thank you Denise Norris for the fabulous reception.

Looks like I need to replace my old iphone to take better pictures.  Here is Prof. Mark Staller, department chair, introducing the program.

 

Redesigning America’s Community Colleges Book Discussion:

Student Panel on Redesigning America's CC Nov 19 2015

Our student panels have been just great.  If you did not have an opportunity to listen to our students, Manny De Los Santos has the videos posted on the website.  Check it out.

https://www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/employees/professional-development/book-discussion

Thank you Kimberly Bligh, Odella Johnson, Nicky Damania, and Lesley Bonds for pulling together the 5 student panels.

Btw, as I was writing this blog, I got an email from both Kate Pluta and Janet Fulk with a link to this report by Rob Johnstone: Guided Pathways Demystified: Exploring Ten Commonly Asked Questions about Implementing Pathways. Check it out at http://www.inquiry2improvement.com/publications-resources

BC Political Science at Rotary, Nov 19, 2015:

BC’s Political Science professor emeritus and Congressman Bill Thomas was scheduled to speak at downtown Rotary on November 19th on the Presidential election.  I invited 5 members of the Political Science faculty and students to be my guests–Steven Holmes, Faculty, Political Science and Academic Senate President; Charles Kim, Faculty, Political Science, Advisor for the Pre-Law Club, and Advisor for Phi Theta Kappa; Clayton Fowler, President of SGA; Robbie Burke, Political Science Student; Bailey Bryson, Pre-Law Student.  As it turned out Bill Thomas had to attend a funeral service and Cathy Abernathy, former Chief of Staff for Bill Thomas and current Chief of Staff for Shannon Grove, stepped up and did an amazing job filling in for Bill Thomas.

Enjoy these pictures of the event taken by Karen Goh, CEO of Garden Pathways, a great organization that helps our community by reintegrating disenfranchised individuals back into our community.  You should check out what they do.  Just incredible transformative work.  http://www.gardenpathways.org/

 

Renegade Athletics:

Our Renegade Student Athletes were so inspiring. Enjoy these pictures. Particularly Alberto Perez who gives a thumbs up to Athletic Director Sandi Taylor after doing his personal best by shaving 1:50 off his best time for the 4.1-mile race.  I bet Coach Pam Kelley was proud.

Paramedic Accreditation Visit:

As I was heading back from my trip to Washington DC I had the opportunity to call in and listen to the exit remarks from the accreditation team for BC’s Paramedic Program.  They could not say enough good things and what I loved the most was when they said that our faculty, staff and students are happy.

A quick shout out to Hall ambulance for all their support.  And talking about Hall ambulance, Mayor Harvey Hall is the best mayor ever!

Now let’s hear from Cindy Collier, Dean of CTE and Allied Health.  This is an email she sent to the department after the site visit.

I just want to take a few moments to recognize our outstanding Paramedic Program! The Program just finished their 5-year national accreditation site visit today with flying colors. The reviewers commented that the strength of the Program was the faculty/staff and their ability to engage the community partners, as well as their support for our Program.

The reviewers also went on to say that they believe this is one of the best Program’s they’ve ever seen and more importantly they also said that we had the best students that they had seen in the state.

So congratulations to our Paramedic Faculty – you guys just rock!!! I am so proud of you!!!!

 

 

I agree with Cindy.  Our faculty and staff simply rock!

At CCLC. Nov 19-21, 2015

The conference was very good.  Got some ideas on the College Promise discussion to shape the Renegade Promise work that the college is doing.  Great opening speaker Josh Tickell on Gen Y–the Millenials.  He described the boomers as conservative, Gen X as frustrated and Gen Y as entitled 🙂 Actually, he was very good.  I’m thinking we should try to bring him to BC.  Also connected with Thomas Bailey author of Redesigning America’s Community Colleges.  He promoted the Guided Pathways Summit on February 18, 2016 at Bakersfield College. Yes! Davis Jenkins, one of the three authors, is our keynote for the summit.
I presented at the conference on a panel related to the Common Assessment Initiative (CAI).  My remarks were  from the standpoint of being a member of the Common Assessment Initiative Steering Committee member as well as a pilot college for both the CAI as well as the Multiple Measures Project.