ELAC President's Corner Spring 2007 - East Los Angeles College

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East Los Angeles CollegeAAs I begin my second semesterguiding the largest college in the largestcommunity college district in theworld, I am confident that East LosAngeles College will continue to bethe educational center of our community.Our excellent faculty andstaff have stepped up to assist me inassuring a quality educational experiencefor our students. Every segment of our campuscommunity has responded with dedication and loyaltyfor which I am very grateful. I am confident that theEast team will continue to answer the educational needsof those in our service area.Some good news for all potential students; tuition hasbeen lowered to $20 per unit! In addition, our FinancialAid Office offers a myriad of scholarship, grant and loanpackages which allow any community member to begintheir educational journey. That path may be vocational,remedial or transfer. Whatever the goal for any perspectivestudent, ELAC is the gateway to a secure future.Unfortunately there is some sad news to report concerningthe leadership of the Los Angeles CommunityCollege District. Chancellor Darroch “Rocky” Young willretire from his position in August. His guiding hand willbe missed. In addition, LACCD Board of Trustees president,Michael Waxman resigned his post in February. ABoard member for six years, Waxman will accept a positionin Washington D.C. During his six year tenure on theBoard, he introduced many fresh ideas to the governanceof the district. His energy and enthusiasm will be difficultto replace. I wish both of our departing leaders much successin their new endeavors.The spring is a time of renewal. Here at ELAC the newsemester holds promise of many changes. We will be offeringa variety of classes for the first time at our ROSE-MEAD EDUCATIONAL CENTER. Near the intersectionof Del Mar and Graves avenues in Rosemead, thecenter encompasses 5 1/2 acres and has 19 classrooms,parking, food services, an auditorium and an exercisetrack. It also will be the new home of the Administrationof Justice Department and several other disciplineswill begin offering classes immediately. We hope to expandofferings next fall to create a more convenient locationfor community members. We have instituted manyupgrades to make this a first-class facility. These includeexpansion of parking lots, conversions of rest rooms, andmaking the buildings Internet ready. We will begin ashuttle service between our main campus in MontereyPark and the Center that will run every quarter hour.This new Center is another example of the commitmentof the college to “reach into the community” to bring educationto our population where needed.Hopefully, the spring semester will also bring manychanges to our main campus. A number of bungalows onthe eastern edge of the campus are slated for demolition inMarch. This space will be used temporarily to ease parkingdifficulties for faculty and staff. Once we receive approvalto begin construction on our Performing and FineArts Complex, all of the bungalows will be removed.We have completed site preparation for our majormulti-level parking structure on the south side of campusnext to the E-1 building. As soon as the state of Californiaapproves our construction plans, work will begin. In addition,I am very pleased to report that bond measures wereapproved in last November’s election which will providefunding for the replacement of our E-3 and E-5 classroombuildings. Initial planning has begun for the developmentof these new structures.Those returning for the new semester will also see thecompletion of our state-of-the-art baseball facility. Manyalumni, staff and current players gathered for the openingceremony on Jan. 20. Improvements to the facility includethe construction of a new permanent building thathouses team dressing rooms, trainer’s room, coaches’ offices,storage rooms, announcer’s booth, snack bar and publicrestrooms. There are also new dugouts, stands and fencingsurrounding most of the field. The festivities were highlightedby excellent performances by our marching bandand cheerleaders. Six current and past baseball coachesparticipated in ribbon-cutting ceremonies. It was a greatday for athletics at East, for Athletic Director Al Coneand current baseball coach James Hines. All are invitedto attend a game this year at our outstanding facility towatch our highly-touted team.Besides athletics, East has activities scheduled for everyweek during the semester. From the arts (dance, theater, music)to poetry reading, to department presentations to campusspeakers, something is always going on at East. All are invitedto participate and be a part of the college experience. Oneparticularly significant and rewarding experience is our annualscholarship banquet. Sponsored by our ELAC Foundation,the banquet recognizes the best academic achievements byour students. I am proud to be a part of this annual event andcordially invite all to attend. This year’s event will be held onMay 17 at Steven’s Steak and Seafood House.As you can see, the spring promises to be an excitingtime on campus. I hope that you will be part of it nInterim President Robert G. Isomoto presents a packagecontaining an ELAC sweatshirt to Nancy Pearlman, memberof the Los Angeles Community College District Boardof Trustees, during her recent visit to the campus.EIn MemoriamPresident’s CornerSPRING 2007Retirees’LuncheonThe East Los AngelesCollege Foundation hosteda Christmas HolidayLuncheon for retired ELACadministrators, facultyand staff at Steven’s Steakand Seafood House inCommerce. Upper leftphoto, English instructorsHannah Ackerman andSafford Chamberlin ( farleft), and his wife, Sharon,and Norman Ackerman.Left photo, counselorCharlie Amezcua,Dean of AcademicAffairs Dave Fisher andmathematics instructorRichard Brudos. Far leftphoto, Pace ProgramDirector Paul Powers,mathematics instructorDavid Morin and SelinaChi, the present dean ofresource development andcommunity relations.Esther Renteria,an alumnus and formerpublic informationofficer of EastLos Angeles Collegewho worked hard toincrease the numberof Latinos in televisionnews and otherprograms, died Jan. 9of cancer. She was 67.Renteria formed advocacy groups, met with generalmanagers of stations, filed petitions with the Federal CommunicationsCommission and raised funds for scholarshipsfor Latino journalism students. She is credited withhelping change the face of local broadcast news and layinga foundation upon which many careers have been built.Since 1999, Renteria had been the driving force behindthe Hispanic for Fairness in Media’s annual dinner thatraises $70,000 for scholarships for underprivileged Latinostudents in Los Angeles County. Renteria, despite the nauseacaused by chemotherapy treatment, was working onarrangements for this year’s event right up until the timeof her death.Renteria was born in East Los Angeles andgraduated from Montebello High School. She attendedELAC and wrote for the Campus News, the college’s studentnewspaper. She earned a bachelor’s degree from CalState L.A. and began a career in newspapers in 1959, as areporter for the Alhambra Post-Advocate. Later she joinedthe staff of the East Los Angeles Tribune and Gazette,where she worked as a reporter and editor until 1968. Sheleft the newspaper industry to appear in a nightly newscast,“Ahorra!” on KCET-TV, and also worked as an associateproducer on other shows.In 1970, Renteria returned to ELAC as public informationofficer and served in that capacity for 13 years.She left the college to start her own public relations agency,Esther Renteria Public Relations.Renteria is survived by her husband Martin Renteria,a former chief for the Montebello Unified School District’spolice department, and their four sons. She is alsosurvived by a sister n
East Los Angeles CollegePresident’s CornerSPRING 2007Al Cone, ELAC athletic director and former baseball coach, addressesthe audience during the ribbon-cutting ceremony as Coach James Hines,left, Richard Anderson, director of public affairs, Interim PresidentRobert G. Isomoto, and former assistant coach Jack Furin look on.Play Ball!Celebrating the completion of modernization projectsto improve the baseball field, East Los Angeles Collegecommemorated the event with a ribbon-cuttingceremony Jan. 20. ELAC Interim President Robert G.Isomoto was joined by college staff, former coaches andalumni in the ceremony. Immediately following the ceremony,ELAC hosted an alumni baseball game, utilizingthe new amenities of the field.The newly modernized facility, which was fundedby the Los Angeles Community College District’s $2.2billion Propositions A/AA Bond Programs, includes:dugouts, a barrier fence, a state-of-the-art trainingcenter that houses fully equipped team dressingrooms, a rehabilitation training room designed to preventand treat injuries, an announcer’s booth, a coach’soffice; a snack bar and public restrooms.“We want to be good neighbors so we installed 75-foot fences to protect street traffic, our Child DevelopmentCenter, and homes located on Bleakwood Avenue,”Isomoto said.The improved baseball field and new facilities will alsobe a huge attraction for student-athletes that are beingrecruited by ELAC Coach James Hines.“This new field will be a way to encourage talentedyoung players to continue their education and play baseballhere at East L.A. College,” Hines said.ELAC’s 2007 baseball season opened the followingweekend and the modernized field was promptly putto good use as the Huskies played four games in threedays, winning all four of them. Under Hines, ELAC haswon South Coast Conference titles in 2000, 2004 and2005. He has guided teams to the state playoffs fourtimes and to the State finals in 2000.ELAC has had a number of players that either transferredto four-year colleges and universities, or have goneon to sign with major league teams, and this year is no exception.Outfielder Eric Stephens has already signed a letterof intent with Cal State Fullerton. Stephens, who attendedMonrovia High School, was named to the All-South CoastConference and All Southern California regional team in2006. He will transfer to Fullerton after the 2007 season.As noted, the Los Angeles Community College District’sconstruction and modernization projects receivefunding from Propositions A and AA, two bond measuresoverwhelmingly approved by Los Angeles Votersin 2001 and 2003. ELAC projects nearing groundbreakinginclude the Fine and Performing Arts Complex tobe located on the eastern end of the campus and a newmulti-level parking structure next to the E-1 building.For more information, visit the construction program’swebsite at www.PropositionA.org nFormer teammates Mike Espinoza, left, andEthan Katz were among the players that turnedout for ELAC’s annual alumni game that tookplace after the ceremony.EStudent PhotographersExplore Urban LandscapesELAC student photographer Marco Martinez roamedthe hills surrounding the Los Angeles Civic Center shootingnight scenes that transformed downtown into a fantasyof glowing lights and shadows. Norma Cardenas soughtout religious lawn-art featuring statues of the Virgin andsaints, flowers and candles. Manny Campos explored OlveraStreet and neighborhoods surrounding old Los Angelesin search of examples of how nature continues to assertitself in the city.They were among 10 East Los Angeles College photographystudents who participated in the Getty Project inspiredby their recent show, “Where We Live: Photographsof America from the Berman Collection.” Collegeof the Canyons, Los Angeles Valley and Santa Monicacolleges were also invited to send teams of 10 studentswho were paired with nationally-known photographersfeatured in the exhibit.The goal of the project is to capture “where we live” usingstudent photographers working with the professionalsto guide them. Camillo Jose Vergara, a featured photographerin the Getty exhibition, worked with the ELAC students.Vergara was trained as a sociologist and started takingphotographs to document his studies and observations.He introduced students to the history of urban landscapein photography and accompanied them on a day long photoshoot. The Getty Project is designed to inspire communitycollege students to photograph physical changes that reflectthe social evolution of their neighborhoods.The Getty’s Photographs Council will pay to frame thebest student photographs and arrange a traveling exhibitionat each of the participating colleges. The traveling showwill be featured in ELAC’s Vincent Price Gallery and Museumin fall 2007.Campos is a commercial photographer who enrolls inevening photo classes to keep his creative juices flowing.“Participating in the Getty project changed the way I lookChristopher Velasco, Hyperion PlantMarco Martinez, “L.A. at Nightat life,” Campos says. “I realized how to use everyday thingslike grass growing through the concrete in a sidewalk todemonstrate that nature always fights back. Even thoughwe try to subdue nature with concrete and asphalt, grass alwaysmanages to survive – even in the city.”Martinez also works during the day and is employed bythe city of South Gate taking photographs of various engineeringprojects. He began studying photography while attendingSouth Gate High School. His teacher Dean Larsonurged him to enroll at ELAC and major in photographyto build his skills. Participating in the Getty project madeMartinez more observant and now he views cityscapeswith an artist’s eye.“I became fascinated with the effects of light on buildingsand streets,” Martinez said. “A day light photographuses a 10-second exposure and movement is minimal. I hadto use 20-to-30-second exposures in the dark and movementbecomes a design element in my photographs.”Marilyn Montufar also began studying photographywhile a student at Schurr High School in Montebello. Shehopes to be a fine art photographer and plans to transfer toa university program after graduating from ELAC.“I photographed abandoned buildings, street details andurban landscapes that describe poverty for the Getty Project,”Montufar said. “I learned that the title of a photographcan change a person’s perception of the image.”Mei Valenzuela, photography instructor and fine artists,taught an independent study course for the ELAC students participatingin the Getty Project. “We were confident our studentshave the technical skills to back up their ideas. Working withfine art photographers made them realize they can comment onsocial issues using their photographs,” she said.Other students who participated in the Getty Projectare: Joanne Aartman, Tommy Blanco, Jimmy Centeno,Maria Gonzalez, Michael Quinn and Chris Velasco.The students photographed East Los Angeles from the civiccenter to Alhambra, Highland Park, Monterey Park, SouthGate and El Sereno. Most live in the neighborhoods theyphotographed, and all submitted three photographs thatwill be juried for the final show.“The Getty Project treats photography as an art-formas well as social commentary,” said Velasco, speaking ofhis experience. “I started as a painter and transitionedto photography, but now I realize I can combine the twodisciplines” n
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