Office of Instruction and Student Development Update-Week 2 September 4, 2015
Welcome New Full-Time Faculty
Ending their second week of classes, the follow new tenure & non-tenure track faculty include:
Jennifer Burlison, Counseling; Nicole Bryant Lescher, English; Derek Glavich, Construction
Technology; Darius Kalvaitis, Early Childhood Education; Miguel-Angel Manrique,
Mathematics; Natalia Margulis, Art; Matthew McCann, Counseling, and; William Meriwether,
History/Political Science.
This is also a good time to thank Professor Kerry Mayer for leading the new faculty mentorship
program in providing training and support to new and mostly-new faculty.
Faculty Participation on Senate and College Committees
A critical part of good governance of any institution of higher education is the active
participation of its faculty. Faculty play an essential role is college planning committees (e.g.,
Education Master Plan), the Accreditation Self-Study, Academic Senate and its standing
committees, college governance committees such as College Council, and employment screening
committees. I want to thank all faculty who contribute to the wellbeing of the institution through
their committee membership and invite any faculty interested in committee participation to
contact the Academic Senate Co-presidents Mark Renner and Connie Wolfsen.
Student Development Staffing
The departments of student development have been very active in the first two weeks of classes.
Although the only recent manager/director addition has been Cathy Cox (.5 FTE), with her
oversight of the Learning Resource Center, we are approaching the late stages of a significant
administrative reorganization. Details will be forthcoming.
Student Discipline
As you may recall from the recent Convocation, Safe Workplace workshops include how to
manage the disruptive student. This topic is timely both on a local level with recent student code
of conduct violations as well as at the State and national level with high profile cases of sexual
assault and campus violence. To improve our Student Conduct policies and procedures, a recent
training session was provided to our College’s Conduct Review Committee by three attorneys
with the School and College Legal Services of California.
Among the information discussed was the recently passed law SB 186 which amends Education
Code to include among Student Conduct Code violations sexual assault regardless of the victim’s
affiliation with the College even if the offense in not related to college activity and the
distribution (e.g., use of social media) of sexual images by a student without the consent of the
person in the image. These two standards greatly expand the responsibility of College personnel
to protect their students from sexual assault and exploitation.
Spotlight on Associate Faculty
Michelle Hancock is an associate faculty member of the Early Childhood Education program.
Originally from Portland, Oregon, Michelle most recently moved to Los Angeles from Eureka
when her husband was transferred, yet continues to teach CR online courses from her LA home.
Michelle has a Bachelors Degree in Elementary Education and a Masters Degree in Early
Childhood Education. Prior to working as an associate faculty member, she worked as the
Director of the Child Development Center and Lab School on the Eureka Campus. Michelle has
four children - two attending Cal State Los Angeles (just 15 minutes from her home), and two
attending their local Jr/Sr High Schools. Teaching community college students and helping make
higher education accessible for child care providers already working in the field is a passion for
her.
Have a safe and relaxing holiday weekend!