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President's Updates
Skyline Shines

May 12, 2006

New Classified Council Board:  Donna Elliott, outgoing President of the Classified Council, has announced the members of the new Classified Council Board for 2006 — 2008, assuming their duties June 1:

Linda Allen, President
Linda Herda, Vice President
Barbara Lamson, Secretary
Theresa Tentes, Treasurer
Pablo Gonzalez, Parliamentarian

Please join me in congratulating all of these people.

Find out what our students had to say about Skyline:  As you know, we conducted a survey of our students this spring and the data are now in, and will be presented by Cathy Hasson, Director of Planning, Research and Institutional Effectiveness at a college-wide meeting next week:

Wed., May 17
1:45 pm
Room 5132B

Cathy presented these data to the Institutional Planning Committee earlier this week, and will do the same for the Accreditation writing teams in other meetings.  But this May 17 event will be an opportunity for all of us together to hear some fascinating information and begin to think about what it means for us.  Students are welcome to attend this event as well.

Educational and Facilities Plan (EFMP) update:  Yesterday afternoon, Steinberg Architects met with the college in an Open Forum to present and discuss with us the two Facilities Master Plan approaches they have drafted for Skyline College.  The same presentation was provided to our college Educational And Facilities Master Plan Task Force last week.  Discussion was lively and productive and provided the architects with a great deal of valuable information to help shape their ultimate recommendation of a single approach.  You can review their presentation at this link on the district website: http://www.smccd.net/accounts/facilities/planconstruct/20060505_SKY_Task-ForcePrsnt_16/img14.html  (the route is through the district front page, to Facilities, and then to 2006 Master Plan).  If you have ideas to want to be sure get considered, please give them to Cathy Hasson.  The Board of Trustees will hear the same presentation next Wednesday evening.  We will be adding a link directly from our website as well.

Skyline Student wins Pister scholarship to UC Santa Cruz:  I am delighted to announce that student Daniel Tostado has been selected to receive a $20,000 per year Karl Pister scholarship to UC Santa Cruz.

Logo redesign process:  Get ready for the second annual spring online poll on an important symbol for the college.  Last spring we selected the inscription for the new Student Center.  This spring we are going to use a similar process to select the college’s new logo.  We learned from the Focus Groups on two sample logos that there was discomfort with the process used to narrow down to those two logos.  To accommodate that concern, and to broaden participation in the selection process, we are rolling the process back to the point in time at which we had over 30 potential logos.  Last Monday the Fresh Look Advisory Group and the College Council met together to participate in culling them down.  In addition, Mission Minded, the consultant which has been assisting us with this redesign, is creating an additional logo option based on the current logo to include in the discussion by the same group next Monday.  So by then we will have a short list of 4 or 5 logos ready for an online poll such as we used in selecting the inscription for Building 6.  That online poll will probably take place starting in the middle of next week, and it will be accompanied by a display of sample class schedules in the Cafeteria so that we can see the logos in context. I believe that we will end up with a great logo and we will have achieved excellent participation in its selection as well.  When the dates for the online poll are firm, I will let you know, and request your assistance in encouraging students to participate.  Their input will be critical.

Honors Transfer Program leadership:  Professor Katherine Harer of the English Department will be the new Honors Transfer Program coordinator, effective this summer.  Katherine brings a wealth of skill, experience, and enthusiasm to her new duties.  The Honors Transfer Program was initiated in 2000.  The program currently serves 338 academically talented students of diverse backgrounds. Connie Beringer is stepping down as coordinator after six years of fantabulous service to the program.   Please join me in thanking Connie for a job well done and in congratulating Katherine on her selection!

Two Skyline faculty have exhibitions:  I am pleased to share with you information on exhibitions currently under way by two of our faculty:

Student mural in the Theater lobby:  Take a look at the drawing mural in the Theater Lobby café.  It is the work of students in Paul Bridenbaugh's beginning drawing class.  The mural is based on a Mayan vase from about 750 C.E. and depicts the God L and 6 minor deities on the first day of creation.  The students who produced the mural were learning how to enlarge from small source materials to large scale.  By putting it together in this way, they produced a work that is both traditional and contemporary.  The class learned about similar techniques used by artists in Egypt, India, renaissance Europe, and Mexico as well as learning about Mayan culture.

Intramural tennis tournament:  Skyline held a successful intramural tennis tournament last week.  Twenty-nine Skyline students participated!  The winners of three different divisions were:

Women’s Division: Rayna Tam
Advanced Division: Eddie Estares
Beginning Division: Jose Paredes

A representative from the United States Tennis Association presented the awards to the students who participated, and was impressed with the event.  Please join me in thanking Mike Fitzgerald for his leadership for this event.

Student drop-off area and staff parking in Lot 1:  We have made an adjustment to the size of the student drop-off area at the loading dock of Building 1 in Staff Lot 1.  Based on what we have been observing relative to student use of it, we have cut the size in half, thus making available three additional staff parking spots there.  Thanks to Richard Inokuchi and his staff for the work to make this happen.

Coming up…

Friday, May 12:

Saturday, May 13:

Monday, May 15:

Wednesday, May 17:

Thursday, May 18:

Friday, May 19:

For more on this week’s events, see the event calendar at www.smccd.edu/accounts/skypio/calendar.html   
To add events to the calendar, visit www.smccd.edu/accounts/skypio/events.html   

Victoria P. Morrow, Ph.D.
President, Skyline College
650-738-4111
morrowv@smccd.net
3300 College Drive
San Bruno, CA 94066