ountthe M S Mount St. Mary’s College, Los Angeles Summer/Fall 2009 Role Models Mount students inspire L.A. youths to go beyond high school Catholic Identity S Gallery Turns 35 S Teaching With Heart 71807 themount.indd 1 7/16/09 4:39:00 PM from the president Dear Reader, s I reflect on our past academic year, I am reminded of how our Apartnerships with other colleges and universities enrich and expand the experiences of our students. Through academic collaboration, co-curricular activities, or mutual institutional support, these relationships broaden the resources we have available. Mount students engaged in research with Mount faculty have benefited from their professors’ relationships with both UCLA and Caltech. Professors Deniz Cizmeciyan-Papazyan and Julia Chang regularly accompany students to UCLA where they utilize both laboratories and equipment. Professor Eric Stemp travels with students to Caltech to conduct experimental research on DNA. Cross-registration between the Mount and both UCLA and American Jewish University is available to our baccalaureate students. One of our mathematics majors recently completed applied statistics at UCLA. American Jewish University students frequently enroll in foreign language courses at Mount St. Mary’s. Mount students have many opportunities to study at partner institutions both at home and abroad. Students may attend the Washington Semester program at American University in Washington, D.C. Our interchange with CSJ sister schools is also an attractive option. In recent years, Mount students have attended St. Catherine University in Minneapolis and The College of Saint Rose in Albany, N.Y. Last year, Mount St. Mary’s hosted a student from Fontbonne University in St. Louis, and this spring, we hosted two students from Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia. And through our affiliation with the American Institute for Foreign Study, students have spent a semester abroad studying in Spain, Australia and Korea. Locally, Loyola Marymount partners with the Mount in the Bridging Cultures: U.S. and China program. Together, we bring a visiting scholar from China’s Nanjing University to the U.S. each year to speak to our students about life in China. Recently, the Mount formed a transfer agreement with Santa Monica College to provide a guaranteed pathway to our baccalaureate program as well as to the master’s degree in nursing. A similar agreement has been established with Pasadena City College to help prepare students to transfer into a teacher preparation program. Pasadena City College and Mount St. Mary’s have also collaborated in a joint Title V grant to help improve graduation rates, with a specific focus on Hispanic and first-generation college attendees. Several institutions enlarge our co-curricular life at the College, including UCLA, USC, and Loyola Marymount. We enjoy an intramural sports program with UCLA and campus ministry activities and service projects with LMU. With support from a U.S. Department of Justice grant, the Mount and USC work alongside the nine colleges in the Los Angeles Community College District to help prevent violence against women by designing educational student programming and policy development. These partnerships provide valuable opportunities for learning, and strengthen our bonds with colleagues and students at other institutions, as we strive to enrich the hearts and minds of our students. With warm regards, Jacqueline Powers Doud President 71807 themount.indd 2 7/15/09 2:43:45 PM contents page 14 page 10 page 20 page 3 Role Models for College News Higher Learning page 3 Student ambassadors encourage local teens to attend college. From the Faculty page 10 page 7 In Brief page 19 Special Education: Advancement News Teaching From the Heart page 20 Mount St. Mary’s prepares compassionate educators for L.A.’s vulnerable students. Showcase page 14 page 22 Alum Community ON THE COVER: page 27 HIgh school student Erika Bryant (left) with Mount student ambassador Angela Larios (right). Reflections Photo by Glenn Marzano page 28 Calendar page 29 From the Archives Summer/Fall 2009 The Mount 1 71807 themount.indd 1 7/14/09 4:52:32 PM in the moment Mountthe Summer/Fall 2009 Vol. 25, No. 1 EDITOR Sarah Scopio EXECUTIVE EDITOR Debbie Ream ASSOCIATE EDITOR Joanna Banks CLASS NOTES EDITOR Barbara (Dummel) Brunner ’63 Photo: Wtin Jalanugraha DESIGN San Luis Design PHOTOGRAPHY Glenn Cratty, Wtin Jalanugraha, Glenn Marzano, Mel Melcon, Carlos Freshman Zully Garcia competes in the inner tube pull during the Athenian Day Puma, Sarah Scopio, MSMC Archives games held in February on the Chalon Campus. PRINTING Pace Lithographers Inc. EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Sister Annette Bower, CSJ, ’59 Lois Dunne Sister Joseph Adele Edwards, CSJ, ’58 Kimberly (Fine) Magruder ’01 Claire (Matranga) Noland ’87 Reverend George O’Brien Jeanne (Redell) Ruiz ’63 The Mount is published by Mount St. Mary’s College, division of Institutional Advancement. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Mount, 10 Chester Place, Los Angeles, CA 90007. To contact the editor or submit a story idea, write to Sarah Scopio, associate director of public relations, Mount St. Mary’s College, 10 Chester Place, Los Angeles, CA, 90007; email sscopio@msmc. la.edu; or call 213.477.2504. Class Notes news should be mailed to Alumnae Relations at the same address or emailed to [email protected]. MISSION STATEMENT For Information Mount St. Mary’s College offers a dynamic learning experience in the liberal arts and Alumnae Relations 213.477.2767 Business Office 310.954.4040 sciences to a diverse student body. As a Catholic college primarily for women, we are Chalon Campus 310.954.4000 dedicated to providing a superior education enhanced by an emphasis on building Doheny Campus 213.477.2500 Financial Aid 310.954.4190 leadership skills and fostering a spirit to serve others. Our measure of success is Graduate Admission 213.477.2800 Institutional Advancement graduates who are committed to using their knowledge and skills to better themselves, 213.477.2764 their environments, and the world. Undergraduate Admission 310.954.4250 Weekend College 213.477.2866 2 The Mount www.msmc.la.edu 71807 themount.indd 2 7/11/09 9:20:24 AM college news the Mount Named to President’s Honor Roll Mount for Community Service from ount St. Mary’s College was Mhonored in February with the faculty a place on the President’s Higher Margaret Avila, assistant Education Community Service Honor professor of nursing, co-authored Roll for exemplary service to the a chapter in “Community greater Los Angeles area. Health Nursing: Promoting and “Community service is a hallmark of Protecting the Public’s Health,” our students’ liberal arts education,” published in February. said President Jacqueline Powers Doud. “The Mount actively engages students Sylvia Bagley, assistant in service both through coursework professor and the Fritz Burns and programs outside of the classroom Endowed Chair of Education, that place them in mentoring and conducting oral histories with retired attended the 53rd Annual other service roles in the community.” Sisters of St. Joseph and other seniors, Comparative and International Launched in 2006 by the and hosting fundraisers for local Education Society Conference in Corporation for National and charities. Charleston, S.C., in March. Bagley Community Service, the Community “In this time of economic distress, recently co-authored a chapter, Service Honor Roll is the highest we need volunteers more than “Community-Based Folk High federal recognition a school can ever. College students represent an Schools in Norway, Sweden, and achieve for its commitment to service- enormous pool of idealism and energy Denmark,” which was published learning and civic engagement. to help tackle some of our toughest in “Community College Models: Mount St. Mary’s offers its students challenges,” says Stephen Goldsmith, Globalization and Higher an exceptional array of activities vice chair of the board of directors Education Reform” in March. throughout the greater Los Angeles of the Corporation for National area to enrich their college years. and Community Service. “We salute Deniz Cizmeciyan-Papazyan, Initiatives include mentoring and Mount St. Mary’s College for making associate professor of chemistry tutoring K-12 students, community aid community service a campus priority, and director of the MARC through service-learning coursework, and thank the millions of college program (Minority Access feeding the homeless, organizing students who are helping to renew to Research Careers), had a environmental clean-up projects, America through service to others.” paper accepted for publication in Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry. The paper, “Radical MSMC Signs First International Student Pairs with Rotational Fluidity in Exchange Agreement the Photochemical Reaction of Acetophenone and Cyclohexane in the Zeolite NaY: A 13C CPMAS resident Jacqueline Powers Doud recently signed an agreement with NMR and Product Analysis Professor Chen Jun, president of Nanjing University in Nanjing, China, to P Study,” is in collaboration establish the Mount’s first international student exchange program. The Mount with UCLA and features six currently offers study abroad opportunities for its students, but this is the first undergraduate Mount students. time the College will host international students on campus through a mutual exchange program. The program allows students from Nanjing University’s English Department in the School of Foreign Studies and Mount St. Mary’s to spend a semester at the other institution. The first semester of the exchange will be spring 2010. Summer/Fall 2009 The Mount 3 71807 themount.indd 3 7/11/09 9:20:24 AM college news Mount Celebrates Commencement 2009 from he Mount celebrated TCommencement 2009 on the faculty May 11 with more than 500 Robin Gordon, associate graduates of its associate, professor of education, had her bachelor’s, master’s essay, “Finding the Philosopher’s and doctoral degree Stone,” published in “Reimagining programs. Speaker Sister Education: Essays on Reviving the Helen Prejean, CSJ, who Soul of Learning” in April.