SBCTC NEWS LINKS | Articles about – and of interest to – Washington state community and technical colleges
SYSTEM NEWS | OPINIONS
Pierce College joins ranks of national nonprofit
The Pierce College District, which comprises Pierce College Puyallup and Pierce College Fort Steilacoom, recently was inducted into the ranks of the Achieving the Dream nonprofit organization — a compendium of 200 colleges nationwide dedicated to closing the achievement gap at colleges and increasing student success.
The Puyallup Herald, May 9, 2012
http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/05/09/2138045/pierce-college-joins-ranks-of.html#storylink=cpy
7-foot-5 lizard sculpture part of CBC art show
Ulf Lanekoff is 6 feet 6 inches tall and decided to create a sculpture even taller than he is for the upcoming juried student art show at Columbia Basin College. The piece is a giant 7-foot-5-inch lizard -- his first journey into sculpture -- and made from a mix of car, motorcycle and bicycle tires.
Atomic Town (Tri-City Herald), May 11, 2012
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2012/05/11/1935568/7-foot-5-lizard-sculpture-part.html
EDITORIAL: Tuition hikes necessary evil
The Columbian, May 14, 2012
http://www.columbian.com/news/2012/may/14/tuition-hikes-necessary-evil/
EDITORIAL: State help for higher education dwindling, needs stabilizing
The Olympian, May 16, 2012
http://www.theolympian.com/2012/05/16/2107098/state-help-for-higher-education.html
Local college student encourages old fashioned bartering in a modern way
[Connor] Simpson is a Lewis and Clark High School graduate and now attends Spokane Community College. Two weeks ago, Simpson and his partners entered into Startup Weekend Spokane. It’s an event that allows entrepreneurs to come together to find out if their startups are viable. Barters Closet walked away with the Best User Interface distinction, as well as one for design.
KREM.com May 18, 2012
http://www.krem.com/news/local/Local-college-student-151871555.html
Longview man describes how he thrives despite mental illness
For his intellectual needs, [James] Markey takes Adult Basic Ed classes at Lower Columbia College and hopes to get a two-year degree one day. He has a math tutor at the public library. "He's another one who helps me with structure. Math is so helpful to me, I can't tell you. It helps you mentally. And my tutoring got me into the college. Now I feel a lot more accepted. ... "I would love to take a speech course at LCC," he said. "It's not in my nature to express myself. I really have to work on communication skills."
Longview Daily News, May 14, 2012
http://tdn.com/lifestyles/markey-s-path-longview-man-describes-how-he-thrives-despite/article_6239189a-9e08-11e1-9481-001a4bcf887a.html
Programs open world of medicine to Kitsap students
SKHS's instructor Cheri Svensson also once taught at West Sound Tech. "Long-term care is looking for staff frequently, and some of the programs have been discontinued," such as Olympic College's nursing assistant program, she said.
Kitsap Sun, May 14, 2012
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2012/may/14/cna/
Could rising costs put community college out of reach?
It used to be if you can't go to a four year school, go to community college. Now, it's like what are you supposed to do if you can't go to community college? ~ Daniel Jean Baptiste, South Seattle Community College student. Tuition will go up at the state's public two-year colleges by an average of 12 percent this fall. For a full-time student, tuition will go from $3,542 to $4,000--a 13 percent increase. The State Board for Community and Technical Colleges voted on the increase to help offset $110 million in state cuts to the community and technical colleges.
KPLU News, May 15, 2012
http://www.kplu.org/post/could-rising-costs-put-community-college-out-reach
SCC offers alternative to the brown bag lunch or drive-thru
The Main building on the Spokane Community College campus looks a lot like every other classroom building. You pass by plain walls, under florescent lights, until you reach your class. … Then a hole in the wall turns out to be a hallway leading to the bakery and a restaurant. Orlando’s Restaurant is run by the SCC Inland Northwest Culinary Academy. … faculty and students refer to Orlando’s as ‘one of the best kept secrets.' While some students sit in science Lab for hours staring at bones, the culinary students run Orlando’s. They learn every aspect of the industry, from a million ways to fold a napkin to serving a four-course meal to over 10 people. From the artisan rolls delivered when you first sit down, to the chocolate art too pretty to scarf down with the raspberry tart in front of you, they do it all.
KXLY Spokane, May 15, 2012
http://downtownspokane.kxly.com/news/restaurants/83479-scc-offers-alternative-brown-bag-lunch-or-drive-thru
Aero-tech firms struggle to find workers
This past legislative session, the state took steps to expand capacity for engineering students at public universities, including Washington State University, which will begin offering engineering courses at the Everett Community College campus this fall.
The Herald, May 15, 2012
http://heraldnet.com/article/20120515/BIZ/705159920/-1/NEWS03
Hundreds line up for aerospace job fair
Nearly 300 people showed up during the first hour of a job fair held Wednesday at the Washington Aerospace Training and Research Center near Paine Field. Job seekers were lining up around 7 a.m., long before the three-hour event began at 10, said Raphael Madison, a marketing director for Edmonds Community College, which coordinates training at the aerospace center.
The Herald, May 16, 2012
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20120516/BIZ/705169791
Part-time professors get unemployment advice from the pros
More than half the faculty members at Washington colleges are now part-time, as full-time professors have been replaced because of budget cuts, and those part-timers don't always know from semester to semester whether they'll have jobs. Annette Stofer, an adjunct professor at South Seattle Community College and a member of the teachers' union AFT Seattle, says some don't try to get unemployment even though they are eligible.
Lake Stevens Journal, May 16, 2012
http://www.lakestevensjournal.com/county-state/article.exm/2012-05-16_part_time_professors_get_unemployment_advice_from_the_pros
Time to look beyond tuition to balance college budgets
State taxpayers don't pay a share of higher education costs just to be nice. It's a good investment. Washington's economic future depends on providing a work force that is prepared to compete in a global market. There is plenty to celebrate, particularly in the Tri-Cities. Columbia Basin College still makes higher education accessible to virtually anyone in the community. WSU Tri-Cities is surpassing expectations. Enrollment has increased 45 percent over five years, reaching a record 1,553 students this academic year. But the latest round of tuition increases makes it clear that more has to be done -- more support from the Legislature, more partnerships with business and industry and more cost control on state campuses.
Tri City Herald, May 16, 2012
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2012/05/16/1941280/time-to-look-beyond-tuition-to.html
State help for higher education dwindling, needs stabilizing
No one should be surprised that Washington State University recently announced a 16 percent tuition increase for fall 2012. Washington’s public colleges and universities are responding to a 2011-13 legislative budget that cut higher education funding by $685.5 million. Locally that will mean tuition increases of 14 percent this fall at The Evergreen State College and 12 percent at South Puget Sound Community College.
The Olympian, May 16, 2012
http://www.theolympian.com/2012/05/16/2107098/state-help-for-higher-education.html
OUR VIEW | Responding to the need for nurses
With aging baby boomers and an ongoing need for medical care, there's an increasing demand for health care workers. … Correspondingly, Olympic College provides an entry into nursing through its highly regarded — and highly competitive — Associate Degree in Nursing program, making students eligible to take an exam for licensing as a Registered Nurse. … Also offered at OC is a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, with a class schedule aimed at making a baccalaureate degree accessible to RNs while they're employed.
Kitsap Sun, May 16, 2012
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2012/may/16/our-view-responding-to-the-need-for-nurses/
Folks at Skagit Valley College – San Juan Center honored…
The San Juan Center was well represented at the annual Skagit Valley College Spring Celebration held on May 15th in McIntyre Hall at the Mount Vernon Campus. San Juan Center was pleased to have several prominent staff members recognized for milestone years of service to the College and our local community: Angie Atwell (Road Scholar, 5 years); Emily Reed (Road Scholar, 15 years), and Dr. Barbara Fry (History, 20 years)...
San Juan Island Update, May 17, 2012
http://sanjuanupdate.com/2012/05/folks-at-skagit-valley-college-san-juan-center-honored/
Coupeville senior gets off to a running start
June promises to be a big month for Grayson Akins. As editor of Coupeville High School’s yearbook, she’ll see her artistic and editorial compilation of the past year’s events distributed among her classmates. And she’ll participate in not one, but two graduations. Akins, 18, is a Running Start student who divides her time between classes at Coupeville High School and Skagit Valley College. In June, she’ll receive her high school diploma and her Associate of Arts University College Transfer degree from Skagit Valley College.
The Whidbey Examiner, May 17, 2012
http://www.whidbeyexaminer.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=4&ArticleID=7731
Washington Small Business Development Center awards Green River Community College small business advisors
Deanna Burnett-Keener and Kirk Davis, advisors with the Green River Community College Small Business Assistance Center, were named to the Washington Small Business Development Center’s Million Dollar Club at its April meeting.
Maple Valley Reporter, May 16, 2012
http://www.maplevalleyreporter.com/community/151737945.html
WWCC carpentry program shelved
Walla Walla Community College will suspend its carpentry program next year due to low enrollment and instability in the construction market.
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, May 17, 2012
http://union-bulletin.com/stories/2012/05/17/wwcc-carpentry-program-shelved
Tuition heads up at WWCC
Tuition is set to increase this fall at Walla Walla Community College and all other state community and technical colleges.
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, May 17, 2012
http://union-bulletin.com/stories/2012/05/17/tuition-heads-up-at-wwcc
Wenatchee Valley College looks at way to avoid tuition increases
Frustrated over continuing tuition increases, the Wenatchee Valley College board of trustees on Wednesday began looking for a way not to impose another state-ordered tuition hike. … The State Board last week voted to impose that tuition increase. But Wenatchee Valley College doesn’t want to go along with it. “We just can’t tolerate that anymore,” Wenatchee Valley College board chairwoman Darlene Wilder said this morning. “There has to be something different we can do, other than charging students.” She said the she recognizes that the state has had to make budget cuts, but somehow, education always seems to get the brunt of those cuts.
The Wenatchee World, May 17, 2012
http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2012/may/17/wenatchee-valley-college-looks-at-way-to-avoid/
Centralia College to Raise Tuition 12 Percent
Full-time students at Centralia College will pay about $458 more, for a total bill of about $4000 yearly.
Centralia Chronicle, May 17, 2012
http://www.chronline.com/news/article_9c24ddbe-a038-11e1-8b86-0019bb2963f4.html
Green River engineering instructor inspires her students
As a kid, Janet Ash listened to Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, played Chopin nocturnes on the piano, read anything she could get her hands on. The very crucible into which nerds are poured, you say? Yep. And Ash is proud of her lineage. Nerds, she insists, flock to her. … Perhaps tops among her many gifts is that of getting across to her students concepts of mind-bending computer programming complexity. She does it so well that in 2008, 2009 and now 2012, former students nominated her as a University of Washington Inspirational Teacher. Every year, the UWs Computer Science and Engineering department asks its undergraduate students to nominate their most inspirational high school or community college teacher for the award. … She fell deeply in love with teaching at Tacoma Community College and at Highline. "When I came here, Bob Christianson, an engineering teacher here for 35 years, said 'I'd love to work with you,' so that's how I got here," Ash said of her introduction to Green River CC. "He's a mechanical engineer, and a lot of the engineering courses here are mechanical courses, so I just taught some of the beginning courses. I thought I'd better learn computer science, too. So in 2000 I started studying computer science. I'm completely self-taught. I know how to teach. I don't think I'm a natural programmer, but I think it helps me teach because I remember learning everything that I taught myself."
Auburn Reporter, May 18, 2012
http://www.auburn-reporter.com/news/151805035.html
Avennia Winery is Born From Harmonius Pairing
Committed to start a winery, [Marty] Taucher set out to learn as much as he could. He enrolled in the Northwest Wine Academy at South Seattle Community College in the fall of 2009 but it was too late to start the wine making curriculum. Instead, he enrolled in the wine marketing and sales program and volunteered at DeLille to learn as much as he could about wine making. [Chris] Peterson earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Washington. He would go on to become the first graduate of Walla Walla Community College’s Enology and Viticulture program in 2003..
Bellevue Patch, May 18, 2012
http://bellevue.patch.com/articles/avennia-winery-is-born-from-harmonius-pairing
Tri-City skygazers stymied in quest to view eclipse
Arlene Henriques was bummed the weather never cleared up Sunday evening so she could see the partial solar eclipse. The Columbia Basin College student arrived on campus at 4 p.m. to stake out her spot at the Robert & Elisabeth Moore Observatory. She had four cameras fitted with solar filters and a cardboard solar viewer or "pinhole camera," but the specialized equipment wasn't needed because those pesky rain clouds just wouldn't budge.
Tri-City Herald, May 21, 2012
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2012/05/21/1947201/tri-city-skygazers-stymied-in.html
Sunday's solar eclipse comes with caution
There are safe ways to view Sunday’s partial solar eclipse. One is to drive to the Robert & Elisabeth Moore Observatory on the campus of Columbia Basin College in Pasco. Starting about 5 p.m. Sunday, CBC instructors, members of the Tri-City Astronomy Club and staff from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) at Hanford will set up telescopes for safe eclipse viewing in a family environment.
Tri-City Herald, May 20, 2012
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2012/05/19/1945497/sundays-solar-eclipse-comes-with.html
Recession Generation hit hard in struggle to adulthood
As a group, young adults who entered the job market when the economy collapsed have remained resilient despite a unique set of challenges: often beset by student debt and unable to launch careers in their chosen fields, many juggle low-paying jobs that have delayed their dreams of homeownership, marriage and other rites of adulthood. … Danny Nguyen had a job interview in three days, and he was nervous. … An awkward, stocky loner who studied at South Seattle Community College through the Running Start program, he graduated high school confident his intelligence would propel him to a good job. Two years of retail work later, he went to college, eventually earning a political-science degree. It was there that he landed a legislative internship, which led to his full-time gig with Santos. Losing that job stung, Nguyen said. … For Tony Washington, the recession has triggered a different type of wariness. … The 24-year-old is back in school, at Edmonds Community College, where he's hoping to learn more Web skills. But after seeing countless news stories about mass layoffs at large companies, he said he will never consider working for one himself.
The Seattle Times, May 20, 2012
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2018245788_youth20m.html
UW, WSU expand enrollment in schools' engineering programs
The money is not a new appropriation. Both schools have had to cut from other programs in order to boost the engineering colleges. … WSU will use some of the money to grow a mechanical engineering program at Bremerton-based Olympic College, and to launch a similar program at Everett Community College in August. Both of those degrees are offered through the university centers located at each college, allowing students in Western Washington to earn their degrees without having to move to Pullman.
Seattle Times, May 21, 2012
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2018251983_admissions21m.html
TRENDS| HORIZONS | EDUCATION
Online Classes. Low Prices. Every Day.
Walmart is paying to send employees to the American Public University System, where they earn credits for on-the-job learning. The partnership has a big upside, but makes prior learning experts nervous.
Inside Higher Ed, May 8, 2012
The Right Questions: Confessions of a Community College Dean
Yesterday’s post about adjuncts on food stamps had as its subtext a sense that the current economic models for higher ed are unsustainable. To my mind, the right questions are not “how do we restore a Golden Age?” or “how do we create hundreds of thousands of new faculty positions without raising tuition?” Those simply aren’t going to happen. The right questions involve finding new economic models for higher education that could actually survive.
Inside Higher Ed, May 10, 2012
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/confessions-community-college-dean/right-questions
EDITORIAL: State's students need a break from unending tuition increases
The Seattle Times, May 11, 2012
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorials/2018184535_edit11tuition.html
Why investing in faculty is the best method to promote innovation
We care about innovation at our institutions. We are determined to invest our scarce resources in areas that will improve quality, increase access, and lower costs. Where should we be investing?
Inside Higher Ed, May 11, 2012
Presidential First Steps - I
Patrick Sanaghan and Kimberly Eberbach suggest the questions a new campus leader should ask, and offer advice on listening skills.
Inside Higher Ed, May 12, 2012
http://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2012/05/21/essay-how-campus-leaders-should-start-their-tenures
Paying to Learn (to Program)
With the proliferation of free educational resources, why pay for school? Why pay to learn? Sure, there's the argument about college credits and certification. There's the argument too that "you get what you pay for." I'm particularly interested in the question of free learn-to-program resources (along with what works and what doesn't work -- paid or free -- for learners) in part due to the pivot that the folks at the startup Bloc have made.
Inside Higher Ed, May 14, 2012
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/hack-higher-education/paying-learn-program
Less of the Same: Confessions of a Community College Dean
In my state, as in many, there’s a move afoot at the state level to impose greater “accountability” throughout public higher education, but especially on community colleges. (In the words of Spider-Man’s uncle, “with small appropriations come great responsibility.” No, wait...) A few legislators heard a few anecdotes, and bad ideas are starting to snowball.
Inside Higher Ed, May 14, 2012
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/confessions-community-college-dean/less-same
What Mark Cuban would do if he really cared about higher ed
Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and technology and media investor, is getting some buzz around the web for his blog post "The Coming Meltdown in College Education & Why the Economy Won't Get Better Any Time Soon." … What I find most interesting, and disturbing, about Mark Cuban's take on higher ed is not what he says, but what he does not say. At no time does he bother to take on his home state's systematic disinvestment in higher education.
Inside Higher Ed, May 16, 2012
COLUMN: Brace for online revolution in higher education
Seattle Times, May 17, 2012
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2018232100_friedman18.html
Planting seeds for higher education
The idea behind Kent’s Kinder-to-College program is to plant the seed early for higher education. The South King County kindergarteners have been visiting college campuses throughout the Puget Sound area. By the time the school year ends, nearly 900 kindergarteners and 200 parents will have taken part in the tours.
The News Tribune, May 18, 2012
http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/05/18/2149100/planting-seeds-for-higher-education.html
What We Don't Know About Debt
Despite growing concern over loan burdens, some key data points remain completely unclear -- including how much students borrow, on average, at specific colleges.
Inside Higher Ed, May 18, 2012
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/05/18/what-we-dont-know-about-college-student-debt
POLITICS | LOCAL, STATE, NATIONAL
Wylie tapped for joint higher education panel
The Columbian, May 18, 2012
http://www.columbian.com/news/2012/may/18/wylie-tapped-joint-higher-education-panel/
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