OCC votes for faculty and staff members of year

Eight full-time faculty members, 15 classified staffers and eight part-time instructors have been nominated for Orange Coast College’s 16th annual Outstanding Coast Colleagues of the Year Awards.

The 2005-06 recognition program is sponsored jointly by the academic senate and the staff development office.

Students and staffers nominated faculty and staff members in three categories. An election is being held on campus today and tomorrow. Faculty and staff are voting.

Full-time faculty nominees include Dan Adelmann, professor of allied health and respiratory care; Bill Barber, associate professor of culinary arts; Steve Gilbert, associate professor of computer science; Ken Hearlson, assistant professor of political science; Robin O’Connor, instructor of physical education and athletics; Leon Skeie, professor of physical education and athletics; Terry Timmins, professor of sociology and anthropology; and Donna Westerman, professor of art.

Part-time faculty nominees include Chauncey Bayes, photography instructor; Franca Hamber, Italian instructor; Bill Holder, geography instructor; Emily Hung, piano instructor; Mary Ann McCarthy, counselor; Pat Sparkuhl, art instructor; Sandra Stanich, business and computing instructor; and Frank Visco, biology instructor.

Staff members who were nominated include Lydia Arbizo, outreach specialist; Brock Cilley, theater events coordinator; Brian Corcoran, accounting coordinator; Cynthia Erger, catering steward; Blade Gillissen, coordinator of the photography lab; Vickie Hay, CalWORKs staff assistant coordinator; Claire Ippolito, evaluations and graduation; Shirley Macy, staff assistant; Lynanne Minton, executive secretary to the president; T.J. Nguyen, senior placement specialist; Eligio Ortiz, receiving clerk; Fannie Pastis, staff assistant; Betty Rodriguez; division office coordinator; Rini Sukaesih, food service worker; and Nancy Timmons, senior staff assistant.

A special awards ceremony will be held next spring. The faculty member of the year will offer a campus lecture in the spring and will be the featured speaker at the college’s 58th commencement ceremony, scheduled for May 25.

OCC’s 2004-05 faculty member of the year was professor of marine science Dennis Kelly. Luis Ortiz, a groundskeeper, was named the 2004-05 staff member of the year. Barbara Price, an education instructor, was named the college’s part-time faculty member of the year.

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OCC’s defending national champion dance and stunt teams have been seeded No. 1 in their respective divisions for the 2006 Universal Cheerleaders Assn. National Championships, scheduled for Jan. 13 to 15 in Florida.

The competition will be staged at Walt Disney World/MGM Resorts in Orlando.

The dance team captured an unprecedented seventh straight national title in January. The Pirate dancers have won eight of the last nine national crowns. Orange Coast’s stunt team grabbed its first national championship last January.

Both teams were seeded No. 1 for the 2006 competition based upon audition videos they submitted to the association earlier this fall. As a result of their top ranking, both squads are having their airfare to Florida paid for by the Universal Cheerleaders Assn. and will receive free hotel accommodations.

The teams are coached by Mike Reynolds and Dan Sapp.

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Recruiters from two dozen University of California and California State University campuses, as well as independent colleges and universities, will be at OCC on Thursday to take part in a transfer fair.

The representatives will talk with students about transferring to their campuses. High school students and community members are also invited to attend.

Last year, Orange Coast College ranked second out of California’s 109 community colleges in the total number of students it transferred to the 10-campus University of California and 23-campus California State University systems.

The recruiters will be stationed Thursday at tables in the quad from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

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A benefit lecture, “Unique Art and Architecture Around the World,” will be delivered Friday evening by art history professor Irini Vallera-Rickerson.

The 90-minute lecture, which is open to the public, begins at 8 p.m. in Robert B. Moore Theatre.

All proceeds will go to AIDS charities in memory of two local artists, David Torosian and P.J. Freeman. Admission is $10. Tickets will be available at the door or may be reserved in advance by calling (714) 432-5039.

Vallera-Rickerson will discuss architecture in Indonesia, Africa and Europe.

A member of OCC’s faculty for 27 years, Vallera-Rickerson is a native of Athens. She earned her doctoral degree in architecture from Florence University in Italy. Vallera-Rickerson was named Orange County’s Community College Teacher of the Year in 1994-95.

* JIM CARNETT is senior director of community relations at Orange Coast College. Reach him at jcarnettocc.cccd.edu.

20051115h2yyvsn1(LA)20051115ipyzzmkn(LA)20051115ipyzz3kn(LA)Orange Coast College’s dance squad, above, has been seeded first at national championships. Below, president Bob Dees, second from right, offers his congratulations to Orange Coast College’s Outstanding Coast Colleagues for 2004-05, Barbara Price, left, Luis Ortiz and Dennis Kelly. The college now is voting for this year’s winners.