3/04/2002 • Issue #67

News & Views

New Childcare Center Nears Opening
The wheels are in motion to open the new Early Learning, Family, and Childcare Center any day now. The Center received a temporary occupancy permit from the City of Bellevue, and staff are in the final licensing process. In the meantime, furniture is being delivered, and several campus employees are busy setting up the rooms. Parents are even pitching in to help. Several fathers with children at the Center volunteered to move boxes and assemble furniture. The new Center has room for almost 200 children, ages three months to six years. To accommodate a larger number of children, new teachers and a family advocate have been hired for the Early Childhood and Parent Education programs. You will have a chance to tour the facility during an Open House at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, March 13. Join President Floten to recognize the work of the many employees who made this project possible, and get a first-hand look at the Early Learning, Family, and Childcare Center’s brand-new classrooms and play areas.

New Scholarship Opportunities for Students
The BCC Foundation has made scholarships available to even more BCC students seeking financial assistance. Foundation general scholarships are now open to part-time as well as full-time students. Students must take 5 credits or more and earn a 2.5 grade point average to be eligible for Foundation scholarship consideration. Several scholarship listings, requirements and applications are available on the Web at http://www.bcc.ctc.edu/scholarships. Scholarship applications are due to the Foundation office, A102, at 4 p.m. on March 27. For more details, contact Mary Conrow at 564-5074 or via campus e-mail.

Employee Generosity Aids Students and Campus Projects
College employees gave generously to the Annual Fund Kick-off sponsored by the BCC Foundation on Valentine’s Day. Several employees stopped by to donate - and a take a “shot” at some of their favorite college administrators and faculty members. The Foundation received over $3,000 on that day alone, which will help to continue funding student scholarships, faculty awards, the new Childcare Center and many other educational projects. This quarter, the Foundation donated $12,000 to working parents in professional and technical programs through BCC’s WorkFirst program. There’s still time to send in your donation. Contact Director of Development Faisal Jaswal at 564-2942 or via campus e-mail for more details.

Educational Resources for Parents and Grandparents
The Parent Education Cooperative Preschools and one-day parent and child classes are currently accepting registration for families with infants or children up to six years of age. Join a Parent Education class that consists of a child-centered pre-school setting and adult-centered lecture and discussion group. Classes are geared for new parents or grandparents who want help understanding this new relationship, or for experienced parents searching for new techniques to enhance their relationships with their children. Programs are located on campus and in neighborhoods from Fall City to Mercer Island. Lottery selection for these popular classes begins on March 14. For a registration packet or more details about upcoming classes or summer Kids Camp, call the Parent Education office at 564-2366.

Keeping Up with the Capitol
Are you looking for a way to keep up with governmental changes that affect community colleges and state resources? The State Board for Community and Technical Colleges publishes “Legislative News,” a weekly newsletter that brings you updates on budgets, bill status reports, college events, legislative calendars and more. The current issue is available online at http://www.sbctc.ctc.edu/Leg/Legnews.htm.

Movers & Shakers
Two thumbs up for:

Nancy Gonlin, anthropology instructor, has organized a symposium for a Society for American Archaeology conference in Denver this month. The symposium, "Commoner Ritual, Commoner Ideology: Evidence from Households and Beyond Across Mesoameria," will focus on advances that have been made in the excavation and interpretation of low-status sites of the Aztecs, Maya and other Mesoamerican groups with respect to religion, ideology and worldview. Gonlin will present one of the papers that focuses on a Maya site in Copan, Honduras.

Peggy Day, program assistant in the Assessment and GED office, was named the “Employee of the Month” for February by the classified staff association. From co-worker reports, Peggy’s friendliness, humor and enthusiasm put students at ease and have endeared her to many people on campus. Colleagues note, “Peggy is one of the reasons BCC is such a success,” and “Her positive attitude is infectious.”

Serve, Learn and Lead program assistant and AmeriCorps volunteer Christina Petty made the most of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service. She spent the day with a team of volunteers - including Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels - on a clean-up project in Seattle’s U-District sponsored by the United Way and University of Washington.

Superb Students
Congratulations to BCC students for these recent achievements:

Les Feistel was named as BCC’s representative to the All-Washington Academic Team. Feistel recently completed coursework at BCC, then transferred to the University of Washington. He hopes to become an attorney specializing in intellectual property rights and is also interested in running for public office one day. The annual All-Academic Team awards recognize community and technical college students for outstanding academic and community service achievements. Students will be honored by Governor Gary Locke in a ceremony in Olympia on Thursday.

Three math students recently received $250 Hoffman Math Scholarships, in honor of math faculty member Dale Hoffman. Congratulations to Paul Gilmore, W. Dean Runolfson III and Ripsome Guyumdzhyan.

Coming Attractions

Off the Vine
There was a baby boom in Campus Operations last week! On February 25, campus security officers Terrie and Paul Graham welcomed their son Blake (7 pounds, 8 ounces). On February 27, Ed Biggers, maintenance utility worker, became a father when his wife Karen gave birth to their son Brennan Scott (just over 9 pounds). Both families are doing well. Congratulations to the expanding Campus Operations gang!

With the advent of spring comes the return of the ducks! Two of our favorite feathered friends returned to their playground in the campus fountain a few weeks ago. Karen Godfrey, budget analyst supervisor, suggested a “name the ducks” contest. Do you have a great name for the two campus mallards? Send your best duck names to esteemed judges Karen Godfrey, Elise Erickson or Jean Sasaki.

Welcome & Farewell

Welcome to new BCC staff and faculty:

Congratulations on recent promotions or changes:

A fond farewell to departing BCC employees: