16 Pullman Community Update
COMMUNITY COLLEGES OF SPOKANE AT PULLMAN
SEPTEMBER 2020
Fall classes start
ABE, GED, & HS Completion
Pullman Campus Matters Sept. 21! All Pullman programs remain online for the remainder of the calendar year. While we had prepared for a return to partially classroom-based instruction, we decided to follow WSU Pullman’s example and move our classes to online instruction in order to minimize the health risk to our students, faculty, and staff. We want to do our part in keeping everyone healthy on the WSU campus and across the broader Palouse community. We are grateful that students and families responded overwhelmingly positive, including this comment from one of our students:
I really appreciate all that the SFCC staff and faculty have been doing to keep us safe and informed these past months. Any issues that have come up for me have all been quickly resolved, and the staff have been extremely helpful and communicative as always. I fully support the decision to stay online and all of the measures currently being taken to make sure classes are still accessible to students. I have had a great experience with taking online courses overall. Keep up the great work! The shift to online allows us to maintain all Pullman programs, including our Adult Basic Education and High School Completion programs (see adjacent box) and our brand-new additions of STEM courses. For the first time ever, we are offering the foundational course sequence for biology majors with labs at Pullman. With the addition of STEM pre-calculus or calculus and a humanities or English requirement, students will complete a full first year of college study for a variety of college majors in the biological, environmental, and life sciences.
Tyler Engebretson
Congratulations to Tyler Engebretson of Moscow and Pullman, who just completed his high school degree with us. In fact, he is our very first graduate to complete the program entirely online. Complete your high school diploma with us now! High school completion is a competencybased program for adults 18 years or older, which credits you for previous education, work experience, and a GED score. Our high school completion courses are available online, each student has an individualized plan with one-on one-support, and with our open enrollment you can start today. Call us 509.279.6458.
We are pleased to welcome Dr. Punam Dalai to our faculty group. Dr. Dalai has held senior biochemistry research positions and has over twelve years of teaching experience at the high school and, primarily, college level. She has degrees in Biological Science and Education (BSc and BEd) from the Regional Institute of Education, Ajmer, India, and in Analytical and Bioinorganic Chemistry (MSc and PhD) from the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India, and the University of Hohenheim, Germany. Dr. Dalai will teach molecular and cellular biology in our fall program. What do you love about teaching? Dalai: “I enjoy teaching because sharing knowledge with others is very rewarding. I consider myself a teacher and a learner. I love interacting with students, learning from them, and helping them understand the course content. My favorite part of teaching is helping struggling students learn challenging material by altering my approach to meet their needs and setting up victories. I evaluate my success by the success of my students.” What can students look forward to in your classes? Dalai: “Environment is an important factor when it comes to learning. Classrooms should be the place where students look forward to coming each day, feel enthusiastic and motivated. My goal of individualized learning is to create an open and comfortable classroom environment where students feel free to ask questions, make mistakes, and challenge themselves. I let students know that mistakes are productive because we learn from our failures. I have a vision where people learn to respect, accept, and embrace the differences between each other.” To read the entire Q&A and to post your own question, please check bit.ly/34ft2Eq.
185 Veterans Way, Pullman WA, 99164; just east of WSU’s Daggy Hall Email pullman@sfcc.spokane.edu; Phone 509.322.2706; Web pullman.sfcc.spokane.edu
