CAMPUSDIGEST

Looking Ahead President Taylor muses on this past year’s accomplishments and sets direction for the coming year. Page 2

Giving Tree MC students benefit from charitable acts of Student Services staff who collected food during November. Page 3

New Title Board of Trustees approves Classified Senate resolution to change nomenclature for classi-fied employees. Page 4

DECEMBER 2015A Merced College News Magazine Published by the Office of Institutional AdvancementVol. V Edition 5

In Memoriam

A photograph of Robin Calitri in Egypt, placed on the counter in the Learning Resources Center during a memorial ceremony on December 4, served as a reminder of the long-time English professor’s ‘joie de vivre.’ Several of Robin’s colleagues, friends, and loved ones, spoke about the enormous impact she had made on their lives and the lives of her students. Robin passed away earlier this year after a courageous fight against cancer. She will be missed by all who knew her.

Photo by Robin Shepard

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Thoughts on the Year Past and the Year Ahead2016 Promises to be Busy with Continuing Initiatives and New Plans

CAMPUS DIGEST DECEMBER 2015

By Dr. Ron TaylorSuperintendent/President

Dr. Taylor

See New Year, page 4.

The dark shadow of space leans over us . . . . .We are mindful that the darkness of greed, exploitation, and ha-tred also lengthens its shadow over our small planet Earth.As our ancestors feared death and evil and all the dark powers of winter, we fear that the darkness of war, discrimination, and selfishness may doom us and our planet to an eternal winter.May we find hope in the lights we have kindled on this sacred night, hope in one another and in all who form the web-work of peace and justice that spans the world.

—Edward Hayes, A Winter Solstice Prayer

As I write this, the win-ter solstice is just around the corner (Decem-ber 22). As this special celestial moment hits the campus, most of us will be gone, on our way home to celebrate the winter holidays with loved ones.

That’s as it should be. On the quiet campus, maintenance staff, groundskeep-ers, and IT technicians will be doing things they can’t do during the regular term—deep cleaning, special projects, etc. In other words, even for a campus that is very quiet, it is a special time—a time of transition.

As academics, we are heading into the second half of our year. Richard Heinberg described solstices as “times of danger and opportunity; times for special alertness and aliveness.” In Iran, families have kept fires burning all night during the solstice to assist the battle between the light and dark forces. In ancient Rome, where it was called Dies Natalis Invicti Solis, or the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun, masters even celebrated as equals with their slaves. Throughout history, celebrating the solstice has been a way to renew our connection with each other and with the numinous through acts of goodwill, special rituals, and heightened awareness (http://www.motherearthliving.com/).

What has the first half of our year in-volved? And what will the second half bring? Well, the first half has been full of much activity here at Merced College. While out there in the broader world there have been new fires of fear ignited, here in our college community we have come to-gether.

We have just finished celebrating the graduation of our Allied Health students,

including a special tribute to Jeremy Field-er, who got his nursing pin posthumously in a heartfelt moment. We have also come together to respond to accreditation needs and to compose the first draft of our ac-creditation self study, to build an Educa-tional Master Plan (in its final stages now), to select a new vice president, to conduct an assessment of our information technology services, and to welcome an Institutional Effectiveness team to the College to assist us with our needs.

We have continued to review our cur-riculum and to provide for the equipment needs of our instructional programs. We have continued to provide new kinds of instructional offerings at new times, and to build relationships with our area high schools.

We have kept track of progress on our strategic plan, and used program review findings to advocate for new faculty posi-tions. We have decided to call our classi-fied professionals just that—professionals. And in response to the terrible violence on other college campuses, we have organized exercises to help us respond when the need arises. In a word, a great deal has been ac-complished already this fall.

In the last few days, I have attended many of the celebrations our college com-munity holds to mark the transition into the new year. In each of them I have seen a

lot of good cheer—people believing in one another and enjoying each other’s company. It is quite a contrast with some of the news coming at us from the broader world.

Here at the College, the Jazz Ensemble is as skilled and energetic as ever, as are the Chorale and the Concert Band; and once again the Art Gallery has been busy show-ing wonderful pieces of faculty art. And in a great triumph, our Theatre program has been invited to the Kennedy Center to per-form “Suijin and the Kappa” in February.

What, then, does the second half of our year bring? What do we transition into? Some things continue, but in new phases, new versions: our website, for example, presents its new face to the world. And our work on emergency response will enter a new phase as we train managers to set up an “Emergency Operations Center” to deal with a disaster.

The work on institutional effective-ness will begin in earnest (we have just learned, as I write this, that we have se-cured $150,000 in one-time funds to assist our efforts). We will finalize our accredita-tion self study and our Educational Mas-ter Plan, and use them to guide us into the next few years. We will begin to formulate a new strategic plan. And we will welcome and orient Dr. Brian Ellison as our new vice president of Instruction.

CAMPUS DIGESTDECEMBER 2015

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During the month of November, staff in the Student Services Division participated in creating a ‘Thankful Giving Tree’ of foodstuffs for students who needed a helping hand. ‘Each week in November, staff brought canned and dry packaged food and we built our tree,’ said Registrar Sherry Elms. On November 25, staff took items from the tree and created 15 bags of food for Merced College students. The students assisted in this effort came from the EOPS, DSPS, CARE, CalWORKs, and Veterans Services programs. ‘This was a wonderful service project made possible by some great Student Services staff.’ Elms said. We say, ‘Well Done!’

Student Services Staffers Collect Food for Students

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CAMPUS DIGEST DECEMBER 2015

During the College’s Holiday Party on December 16, staff were recognized for their tenure with the District. Gathered to celebrate 25 years of service were (left to right) Carl Estrella, Sue Helfott, Charlie Brown, Seng Lee, Sharon Allred, Cheryl Eno, Gloriana Luna, and Ramona Shepard.

Name Change OK’d for Classified By Charlene ReedClassified Senate President

Classified Senate is proud to announce that on Tuesday, Dec. 8, after a year of hard work, Classified Senates first resolution was approved by the Board of Trustees.

Approval of this resolution will endeav-or to change the perception of classified employees by all members of the District.

All policies and procedures will now state Classified Professional instead of Classified Staff/Employee. This resolution does not include any financial increases, what it will do is update the terminol-ogy and create a forward moving vision for Classified Professionals.

LRC Gets in the Holiday Spirit New YearContinued from page 1.

We have moved some office assign-ments during the fall, and we will continue with other moves in the spring. We will also determine how best to use a significant amount of one-time funds coming to us from the state (about $5 million), balancing our various needs carefully.

We will prepare the 2016-2017 budget based on our projected enrollment level, and we will engage collectively in bargain-ing between the District and two of our employee groups, to address mutual inter-ests. We will also assess the many com-mittees we serve on to determine if we can eliminate those whose need has passed, and to adjust, realign, and streamline commit-tee work to enhance our effectiveness and produce better results.

My deep hope, as we transition into the brightness of the new year, is that we use these opportunities to build peace and good will among us and in the surrounding community. There is plenty of violence, big-otry and misunderstanding out there.

We, Merced College, in addition to be-ing a place of learning, are a beacon of hope and a haven of peace for many. Let us make the most of our role.

Have a warm, family-filled holiday!

Photo by Manuel Costa

Service Awards Given to Employees

Photo by Robin Shepard

Each Christmas, the Learning Resources Center celebrates by decorating the library with trees, boughs, and lights. This year, 12 trees were decorated. Steve Welch, library/media technician, began a new tradition about six years whereby he organizes a ‘find-an-ornament’ contest for LRC work-study students. The LRC also hosts a cookie and cider event in the Wendell Olson Forum for all the students in the building.