Insider Newsletter Home Students Faculty & Staff Visitors Home > FacultyStaff > PublicRelations > Insider Newsletter BELOW/INSIDE The Newsletter for Faculty and Staff at College of the Desert Week of May 8, 2006 Volume 17 Number 19 Nursing Students Graduate, Etner Work Force COD Retirees Will Be Honored at Dinner Friday Intensive 3-Week Classes Offered For Summer Alumni Will Induct 12 Into Hall of Fame Graduation Grows Too Big, Venue Changed Best & Brightest Awards Close On Monday, May 15 Math Lecture Promises To Be 'Globs' of Fun Sunday, Monday Recitals Feature Faculty Talent 'Guys and Dolls' Opens Friday at the McCallum Summer Starts May 30 House Honored For His 20 Standing Tall at the Nurse's Pinning Ceremony Years Among the 19 new Registered Nurses about to take their place in the Coachella Valley healthcare job market are recent graduates from College of Tennis Team On Verge Of the Desert's popular nursing program (evenings/weekends sequence). Title They've completed a rigorous 16-month 'fast-track' program which they COD Softball Players entered after completing their general education requirements. They Named All-American graduated with an Associate Degree in Nursing. Some of the nurses are shown here, at the May 1 ceremony, from left: Christine Eminike, Kari Gaskins, Robin Ferres, Michelle Tingley, Lisa McDonald. See more photos, below President's Games: Best Ever? See photos, story below See team pictures http://www2.collegeofthedesert.edu:85/FacultyStaff/PublicRelations/Insider/newsletter.asp?id=1860[3/24/2009 1:09:08 PM] Insider Newsletter Campus News Amid Laughter, Tears, Nursing Students Celebrate Rite of Passage: the second graduating class in the "fast-track" Evenings and Weekends RN program were honored at a recent pinning ceremony at the Annenberg Center for Health Sciences at Eisenhower Medical Center. The 19 graduating nursing students will be joined by the regular daytime program graduates - more than 40 of them - when they hold their own pinning ceremony on May 26 at the McCallum Theatre. http://www2.collegeofthedesert.edu:85/FacultyStaff/PublicRelations/Insider/newsletter.asp?id=1860[3/24/2009 1:09:08 PM] Insider Newsletter Top Photo: Nurses burst into applause, including, from left, Arthur Dominquez Jr., Jennifer Haas, Shonna Hottinger. Middle Photo: Haas, Hottinger react with tears. Above: Pensive and proud are Michelle Tingley, Lisa McDonald. Right: Sandi Emerson, Dean, Health Sciences/ECE Division, addresses the new RNs. Retirees Will Be Honored at Dinner: A Retirement Celebration is planned for Friday, May 12, at the Marriott Rancho Las Palmas in Rancho Mirage at 6 p.m. An evening to honor dedicated colleagues Paul Bowie, Judy Brae, Dee Gerken, Eileen Hackett, William Kohl, Ken LaMont, Matteo Monica, Terry Nicholson, and Rose Rallo, Tickets are $15. and include the Retirement Celebration Program and a chicken entrée accompanied by salad, rolls, vegetables, desert and coffee. Alumni Hall of Fame Gala is May 13: The COD Alumni Association will honor inductees into the Hall of Fame at a gala awards dinner and ceremony May 13 at 5:30 p.m. at the Marriott Rancho Las Palmas. The twelve people being inducted into the Alumni Association Hall of Fame are: Outstanding Faculty, Eileen Hackett; Outstanding Adjunct Faculty, Cheryl Houston; Outstanding Classified Staff, Florante Roa and Blanca Montenegro; Outstanding Alumni, Anndee Laskoe, Dave Ison, Nancy Svoboda and Antonio “Tony” Arredondo; Outstanding Institutional Commitment To College of the Desert, Carol Benford and Pat Ross; Outstanding Community Leader, Lisa and Jim Houston. For more information, contact the Alumni Association at Ext. 1311. 'Best and Brightest' Employee Awards Nominations Close on Monday, May 15: The annual classified employee recognition awards, COD's Best and Brightest, will be determined soon. Nominations in five separate categories close on Monday, May 15, at 5 p.m. Judging will take place late next week and the awards will be announced during or just prior to California Classified School Employees Week, May 21-27. As the Insider went to "bed," a total of 31 nomination had been received. Nominations can be made online at http://www.collegeofthedesert.edu/FacultyStaff/PublicRelations/awards.asp The nomination forms will be online, along with the rules and criteria, and awards will again http://www2.collegeofthedesert.edu:85/FacultyStaff/PublicRelations/Insider/newsletter.asp?id=1860[3/24/2009 1:09:08 PM] Insider Newsletter be made in five categories. The winners will be announced during California Classified Employees Week, May 21-27. Each awardee will receive a framed certificate and a $75 gift certificate to the restaurant of his or her choice. Last year's winners are not eligible this year; they are: Nori Bambusch, Chris Bohn, Margaret Foat-Koenig, Sharon Bentzen and Terri Alm. Only COD classified employees may be nominated. There are five categories, each with specific criteria that must be met by the awardee; the criteria are set out in the rules on the nomination form. The categories are: Professional Development; Attendance and Dependability; Customer Service; Team Building; and Process Improvement and Productivity. Technology Institute Draws Crowd: An estimated 46 COD classified employees attended a series of hour-long technology workshops on a recent Friday. Above, right, Michael Harlow instructs a class in Microsoft Outlook while Tanya Bogarin (above, left) listens intently. There were a total of 12 classes offered in the one-day Technology Institute, part of a series of opportunities for professional growth provided by the college. And the Winners Are: Gene Marchu, left, Executive Director of the COD Alumni Association, dropped by the Technology Learning Center to draw names of the winners of door prizes. COD personnel got a ticket to a drawing for each workshop they attended, thus sharpening their skills and also improving their chances of winning a prize. Michael Warrington, standing next to Marchu, attended two workshops, entered two tickets in the drawing, and won two prizes! Other prizes won were: Linda Costagliola, IPOD Shuffle; Lynda Scott , 7” Portable DVD; Michael Warrington, MINI HI-FI; Lorraine Hawking , MP3 Portable; Pam Chapman, Sports CD Player; Micheline Morena, DVD Player; Roger Bell, DVD Player; Michael Warrington, Undercabinet CD Player; Diane Abdelhamid, USB HUB; Ana Yepiz, Mouse Pad/Movie Tickets; Margaret Eckland, Mouse Pad/Movie Tickets. http://www2.collegeofthedesert.edu:85/FacultyStaff/PublicRelations/Insider/newsletter.asp?id=1860[3/24/2009 1:09:08 PM] Insider Newsletter Math Lecture Should Be 'Globs' of Fun: The faculty of the Division of Math and Science would like to invite you to a talk by Geoff Hagopian. The title of the Instructor's talk is, From Splines & Catalan Numbers to Glob Numbers: Recreational Counting for the Millions. A synthesis of splines and Catalan numbers will be developed to render and count globs. What are globs? Come and find out! This is your mathematics in recreation, scheduled for May 11 at 5 p.m. in Classroom B-9. Facilities Master Planning Committee Meeting Set for May 16: The next Facilities Master Planning Committee Meeting scheduled for Tuesday, May 16, at 1 p.m. in the Library Community Room.The agenda includes:discussion of the upcoming Summer projects, a presentation of current projects in their various stages of development, and a presentation of conceptual drawings for upcoming projects. ACES, UB Plans Graduation and Transfer Celebration: ACES will hold its annual Graduation and Transfer Dinner on Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 6 p.m. in the TRIO Classroom. Upward Bound will have its own Awards and Student Recognition Banquet on Friday, May 19, 2006 at 6 p.m. in the Fantasy Springs Convention Center. For more information on either event, contact Patricia Reyes at Ext. 7347. Alumni, Rotary Club Reward Student Achievers: An annual event that this year recognized some 60 COD students for athletic and scholastic accomplishment drew a crowd of more than 100 persons to the Hilb Student Center on a recent evening. Above, Athletic Director Terry Schukart announces one of the student winners, while ASCOD President Yessica Morales yields the lectern. At right are members of the sponsoring organizations who were on hand to congratulate each student. The three are: Frank Marra, President Elect, Palm Desert Rotary; Gene Marchu, Executive Director, COD Alumni Association; and John Marman, Palms to Pines Rotary, retired Athletic Director and current member of the Alumni Board. Right: Guest speaker for the event was Jonas http://www2.collegeofthedesert.edu:85/FacultyStaff/PublicRelations/Insider/newsletter.asp?id=1860[3/24/2009 1:09:08 PM] Insider Newsletter Udcoff, an executive with CBS-TV2. Bill Bailey, Director of Student Activities at COD, gave the welcoming address. The two service clubs who help sponsor the event are the Palm Desert and the Palms to Pine Rotary Clubs. Board Minutes Released: Minutes from the most recent meeting of the DCCD Board of Trustees meeting are now on the web, at http://www.collegeofthedesert.edu/uploadedFiles/Board%20Minutes%2004-19-06.pdf Five Intensive 3-Week Courses Offered at COD in Summer: Short courses that cover a semester's worth of work and last just three weeks promise a very intensive learning experience at COD this summer. Four courses will be offered at the Palm Desert main campus; they are Elementary Spanish, English Composition and Literature, Myth and Legend, Public Speaking. A fifth course, African-American Literature, will be offered at Eastern Valley Center. Students who enroll in one of these courses can earn three college credits. All four begin May 30, after which their schedules each vary slightly, and end no later than June 15. See the summer class schedule for specifics. Students who sign up for Spanish 1A will meet four days a week, Tuesday through Friday the first week, then Monday through Thursday, from 8 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.