SBCTC NEWS LINKS | Articles about – and of interest to – Washington state community and technical colleges
SYSTEM NEWS | OPINIONS
Centralia College Tops Comprehensive Community College List
Centralia College president Dr. Jim Walton congratulates a graduate during the college's commencement Friday evening.
Centralia College is stacking up well against its peers. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education’s College Completion report Centralia College ranks first in graduation rates in the state among two-year comprehensive community colleges, and third when technical colleges are added to the ranking. Centralia College President Jim Walton noted that technical schools focus primarily on training for a profession and do not offer basic skills classes or academic transfers like comprehensive community colleges do. “And that’s why they have such high success rates,” he said.
The Chronicle, June 19, 2012
http://www.centralia.edu/news/chronicle/CC_Tops_Comprehensive_Community_College_List_06-19-12.pdf
Gregoire promotes training for aerospace jobs in WA
At her Renton Technical College stop, Gregoire praised students and took part in a riveting and drilling course. "Every student in there is going to get a certificate that's going to show they have the skill to get right online and help build the next 737 right here in Renton," she said. The governor's office says training programs and engineering colleges help provide the workforce for 700 aerospace companies in the state.
KOMO TV News, June 20, 2012
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Gov-promotes-training-for-aerospace-jobs-in-WA-159826275.html
Writing center hopes to give Tacoma all the right words
A new community center hopes to get Tacoma writing. … Write@253, a non-profit writing center intends to serve as a resource for high school students, college applicants, aspiring adult creative writers and any experience in between. Mary Fox, a writing teacher at Tacoma Community College and one of the Write@253 founders, said she felt writing education has become too test-oriented.
The News Tribune, June 20, 2012
Highline College receives sculpture for 50th anniversary
Highline Community College has received a generous gift to commemorate its 50th anniversary and to conclude the year of celebrations. Highline alumni, Junki and Linda Yoshida, of Yoshida’s Gourmet Sauce, donated the bronze sculpture entitled Spirits Will Protect Me. The 8-foot tall sculpture depicts a Native American warrior and represents pride, perseverance and overcoming obstacles.
Highline Times, June 20, 2012
http://www.highlinetimes.com/2012/06/20/news/highline-college-receives-sculpture-50th-annivers
Washington Aerospace Training and Research Center expands facility; adds tooling certificate
The Washington Aerospace Training and Research Center (WATR) Everett operated by Edmonds Community College has added 9,000 square feet to its facility. Edmonds Community College renovated half of a 30,000-square-foot building at Paine Field Airport leased by Snohomish County to the Aerospace Futures Alliance. The renovated area is used for classrooms and training labs. To assist in WATR’s efforts, The Boeing Company donated $2.5 million in tools, equipment, and materials. Since it opened, 793 students have completed programs at WATR. Of the center’s graduates, 75 percent of those who have obtained job interviews are now working.
Mukilteo Beacon, June 21, 2012
http://mukilteobeacon.villagesoup.com/news/story/washington-aerospace-training-and-research-center-expands-facility-adds-tooling-certificate/842199
Wenatchee Valley College ups tuition, reluctantly
Students at Wenatchee Valley College will pay an average of 12 percent more in tuition next year after the college board voted “reluctantly” to adopt the state’s mandated tuition increases on Wednesday. That means a student taking 15 credits will pay $4,000 in tuition for the 2012-2013 school year, compared to $3,542 tuition that students paid for the year that ends after the summer quarter. “We did it with much reluctance,” said Wenatchee Valley College Board Chairwoman Darlene Wilder. “It’s a state mandate that we increase tuition, and if we don’t, we’re in violation of the law,” she said.
The Wenatchee World, June 21, 2012
http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2012/jun/21/wenatchee-valley-college-ups-tuition-reluctantly/
Clark College graduates its largest class yet
Thursday's Clark College graduation ceremony carried the themes of perseverance, generosity and hope. … At the start of the college's 76th commencement, college President Bob Knight asked the sea of blue caps and gowns how many of them had worked at least one job while going to school. Almost every one of the students raised a hand. Then he asked how many of them raised families while working on their degrees. Nearly half of the students showed they had. … Nearly 670 graduates packed the Sleep Country Amphitheater in Ridgefield. They were a portion of the largest class in college history. More than 1,700 students earned degrees and certificates at Clark College in the 2011-12 school year.
The Columbian, June 21, 2012
http://www.columbian.com/news/2012/jun/21/clark-college-graduates-largest-class-yet/
CBC’s [Columbia Basin College] groundbreaking for the planetarium project
KNDU TV, June 21, 2012
http://www.kndu.com/category/189473/video-center?clipId=7425587&topVideoCatNo=76094&autoStart=true
CBC, donors kick off planetarium project
Columbia Basin College's new planetarium will be the school's "what if" tool. "If a kid says he wonders what it looks like to stand on Mars and look back at Earth, you can do it," said Mike Durst, director of CBC's Moore Observatory. The same will go for if a student wants to stand in the rings of Saturn or the inside a human cell. About two dozen people congregated in a parking lot on the eastern edge of the college's Pasco campus Thursday morning as school officials, donors and others ceremonially broke ground on the $1.2 million facility.
Tri-City Herald, June 22, 2012
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2012/06/22/1996320/cbc-donors-kick-off-planetarium.html
USDA Selects 2012 Class of E. Kika De La Garza Fellows
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics Dr. Catherine Woteki announced the 27 members of the 2012 class of the E. Kika De La Garza Fellowship Program. … The 27 fellows, from Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) from across the nation, were selected based on the compatibility of their interests with USDA mission areas, as well as the value their experiences will add to their institutions' educational capacities. … Executive Fellows include Martin Valadez, Columbia Basin College, Pasco, WA
PoliticalNews.me, June 22, 2012
http://politicalnews.me/?id=15125&keys=GARZA-FELLOWSHIP-PROGRAM-MEMBERS
Grays Harbor College announces “Top 11” graduates for 2012
Grays Harbor Daily World, June 22, 2012
http://www.thedailyworld.com/sections/news/local/grays-harbor-college-announces-%E2%80%9Ctop-11%E2%80%9D-graduates-2012.html
Rare Book From Centralia College Sells for $110,500
Centralia College’s newly established student book loan program is off to a great start. A 200-year-old book sitting on a shelf unused for years in the college library was auctioned at Christie’s Auction House in New York today (Friday, June 22) going for $110,500.
The amount the college will net from the auction is uncertain at this time. The Pomona Britannica, A Collection of The Most Esteemed Fruits, is an annotated compilation of etchings of fruits that were grown primarily in England’s Royal Gardens at Hampton Court. It contains 90 pages that depict fruit still in rich, mouthwatering colors. This edition still has Centralia College library tags on it. A similar book, without library tags, sold at auction for nearly double what the Centralia College book sold for. “This is simply amazing,” Dr. Jim Walton, college president said. “A book that we were going to give away will now fund a program that will provide a great benefit to our students. All because it wouldn’t fit in the box.”
Centralia Chronicle, June 22, 2012
http://www.chronline.com/news/article_28962614-bc8f-11e1-93ae-0019bb2963f4.html (subscription required)
More: http://news.centraliacollege.net/2012/182-rare-book-sells-for-110k-at-new-york-auction.aspx
Gregoire Visits RTC, Participates In Basic Riveting Class
Governor Gregoire tours Renton Technical College and Boeing Plant in support of aerospace jobs, will visit Ireland this summer to promote aerospace programs in WA state. Christine Gregoire went from Governor to student this week as she toured the Renton Technical College campus and participated in a basic drilling and riveting course. The Governor assisted students by laying out locations of rivets, drilling holes and measuring hole diameters. The technical college developed the course after Gregoire made significant investments in workforce training through her Workforce Investment Act funds, according to a statement from the Governor’s office.
Renton Patch, June 22, 2012
http://renton.patch.com/articles/gregoire-visits-rtc-participates-in-basic-riveting-class
TRENDS| HORIZONS | EDUCATION
Conflicted: Faculty and Online Education, 2012
Professors fear the growth (and question the outcomes) of online education more than academic technology administrators do, but many see promise in the medium -- especially if they have taught an online course.
Inside Higher Ed, June 21, 2012
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/survey/conflicted-faculty-and-online-education-2012
COLUMN: College for all: a contrived issue, a phony debate
America went through another time of sneering about expectations and capacities for those people. June 22 is the 68th anniversary of the signing of The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, better known as the GI Bill. The legislation signed by President Franklin Roosevelt was a mixture of gratitude and economic precaution. The act included money for low-interest home loans, business loans, unemployment payments and education. Money for school was intended, in part, to avoid a crush of returning veterans into the labor market. … GIs in college? Good grief. Howls of protest echoed from the Ivy League on down. The vets had skimpy high-school educations at best. Why pollute the socially sacred environs of academia? Surprise, surprise. America got generations of engineers, educators, accountants, lawyers, scientists and some Nobel Prize winners. … America took its educated workforce and jumped on the opportunity to thrive in a world still digging out from the rubble of a world war. … College for all is meant to be provocative generalization. Students seek higher education at different times and rates. Maturity and economic reality have their roles. The key word and value is opportunity, as in "land of ... " The community-college student honing technical skills may well discover a passion for engineering. Remember, those who dismiss college for all are talking about your kids, not theirs.
The Seattle Times, June 22, 2012
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/2018495250_lance22.html
Transparency, or Redundancy? [financial aid]
This month, Vice President Joe Biden led a round-table discussion with a group of college and university presidents from some of our nation’s largest institutions of higher education. The outcome of that meeting was an agreement by the leaders of 10 institutions or higher education systems to include a standardized “shopping sheet” in the financial aid packets sent to incoming students, beginning in the fall of 2013. … First, this seems to be an attempt to repackage something that many colleges and universities are already doing. … Second, the “shopping sheet” fails to address one of the hidden issues in the college-cost discussion -- time to degree. … Third, doing this sort of reporting through the “shopping sheet” or VSA or some other government-imposed mechanism, whether state or federal, forces colleges and universities to expend resources.
Inside Higher Ed, June 22, 2012
POLITICS | LOCAL, STATE, NATIONAL
State revenue forecast sees modest increase for coffers
The Herald, June 21, 2012
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20120620/NEWS01/706209793
Attention Wonky Map Nerds!
The Washington State Redistricting Commission will mail you a totally free map of our state's brand new Congressional and legislative district lines …
The Seattle Weekly, June 21, 2012
http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/06/21/attention-wonky-map-nerds
FRIDAY LITE NEWS
International Philosophy
The German and Greek philosophers go head to head in soccer in Monty Python's classic skit of the Greeks vs. the Germans. [In re Greece takes on Germany in the quarterfinals of the European soccer championship today.]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2kAnTZBnTg
My class loves pi! Pierce College
Melonie Rasmussen and David Lippman created the Open Course Library Precalculus course in Phase 1 of the Open Course Library. Their 560-page open textbook is being used all over Washington and the US. It’s free as a digital download and $15 for a print copy. Peak into Melonie’s class.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EpvtnMMtwQ
Compiled by the Washington State Board for Community & Technical Colleges
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