Imprint by Chris Gray

Imprint Johnson County Community College

W i n t e r

2 0 1 1

Advancing JCCC

Contents

Imprint Imprint at JCCC is published four times a year by Johnson County Community College, 12345 College Blvd., Overland Park, KS 66210-1299; 913-469-8500, fax 913-469-2559. Imprint at JCCC is produced by College Information and Publications and the Office of Document Services. Imprint is located online at http://www.jccc.edu/Imprint.

Editor: Peggy Graham â&#x20AC;˘ Photographer: Bret Gustafson â&#x20AC;˘ Designer: Randy Breeden When planning your estate, remember Johnson County Community College. For more information, call the JCCC Foundation at 913-469-3835.

Cover

Staff

As executive director of institutional advancement, Kate Allen is responsible for alumni and community relations, grant writing, JCCC Foundation, and resource and funding development for scholarships, academic programs, capital projects, the Performing Arts Series at JCCC and the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art.

4 Allen provides a strong foundation

6 Christensen attends White House Summit Chris Christensen, director of financial aid at JCCC, attended the White House Summit on Community Colleges Oct. 5.

Kate Allen comes to Johnson County Community College with a law degree and a proven track record in the Blue Valley Educational Foundation.

New Class

Grant

Fine art goes digital

JCCC selected for national grant

Digital Imaging for Artists is a class where art meets technology, and the possibilities for expression are limitless.

Winter 2011 | Imprint

JCCC is one of only eight institutions to receive a $3,000 grant from the American Association of Community Colleges Horizons fund.

Notice of Nondiscrimination – Johnson County Community College does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin, disability, age, religion, marital status, veteran’s status, sexual orientation or other factors that cannot be lawfully considered in its programs and activities as required by all applicable laws and regulations. Inquiries concerning the college’s compliance with its nondiscrimination policies may be referred to the Dean of Student Services or Director of Human Resources, Johnson County Community College, 12345 College Blvd., Overland Park, KS 66210, 913-469-8500; or to Office for Civil Rights, 8930 Ward Parkway, Suite 2037, Kansas City, MO 64114, 816-268-0550.

JCCC College Scholar

Conference

Svojanovsky discusses bioinformatics, biomedical research

Faculty

11 New NARS director ready for challenge The new director for the National Academy of Railroad Sciences, Dr. Terry Murphy-Latta, is on track to provide workforce training locally as well as nationwide.

New Program

14 Solar classes are on the horizon Dan Eberle, assistant professor, energy performance and resource management, will develop JCCC’s proposed solar thermal and solar photovoltaic programs.

Back Cover

Mulcahy named Kansas Professor of the Year The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education have named Dr. Ellyn Mulcahy the 2010 Kansas Professor of the Year. Winter 2011 | Imprint

Allen provides a strong foundation Kate Allen and Dr. Terry Calaway, JCCC president, attend the book sale to benefit the Gene Jack and Jana Pinker scholarships.

comes to Johnson County Community College with a law degree and a proven track record with the Blue Valley Educational Foundation, where she more than doubled its endowment. As JCCC’s new executive director of institutional advancement, she is committed to the 2011-2015 strategic planning initiatives put forward by the Foundation executive board.

Kate Allen

In addition to an impressive list of accomplishments, Allen has a million-dollar smile and a handshake that makes one feel at ease immediately. She is passionate about taking on a role at an institution that has a countywide impact. At JCCC, Allen is responsible for alumni and community relations, grant writing, JCCC Foundation, and resource and funding development for scholarships, academic programs, capital projects, the Performing Arts Series at JCCC and the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art. While institutional advancement is a huge umbrella, she says it offers a lot of touch points where people can engage with the college. “Johnson County Community College has so many wonderful things going on. Because of that, we can offer a good menu of options so advocates and supporters can be

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engaged with the college in ways that are meaningful to them,” Allen said. “Kate Allen will continue to advance the excellence of JCCC through increased student scholarships; development of community leadership, business partnerships and financial support; and promotion of cultural activities to enrich the college and community,” said JCCC president Dr. Terry Calaway. “Kate is a very special talent, and all of us at JCCC are excited with the chance to work with her.” She is grateful for a well thought-out road map, the 20112015 initiatives, approved by the Foundation board in January 2010, before her arrival. Her goals align with the board’s. The first goal of the initiatives is student success – grow the fundraising capacity of the Foundation to maximize scholarship funds. Part of that is to continue the successful fundraising events for scholarships such as Some Enchanted Evening and Dollars for Scholars, identify new donors and target new sources for fundraising. Allen wants to work with financial aid to make sure every Foundation scholarship is matched with a student. She wants to increase awareness of the opportunity for faculty and staff to contribute to scholarships through voluntary payroll deductions.

The second goal is program support, developing partnerships that provide financial support to college programs and initiatives. Most immediately and with an August 2011 deadline, Allen is charged with completing a $3 million fundraising challenge from the board of trustees toward a hospitality and culinary academy, which will have a total cost of around $10 million. The third goal is to identify and develop relationships that promote the cultural arts and provide financial support to college cultural activities. “That includes assisting the Performing Arts Series and the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art with their memberships and donations,” Allen said. Goal four is to identify and foster leadership in the community, the college and the Foundation. She credits Dr. Joe Sopcich, director of institutional advancement for approximately 18 years and now executive vice president of Finance and Administrative Services, for building the Foundation membership to the level of community participation it has today. “Joe Sopcich primed the Foundation for continued growth,” Allen said. “Now I need to keep it going as well as to cultivate and identify new members.” Allen identifies community members as JCCC’s key supporters. “Community members and businesses understand the importance of the college. For every $1 the college brings in, it returns $2.70 to the community. That is a high ROI (return on investment). Community leaders understand that JCCC creates a smarter workforce and attracts businesses and families.” Allen credits co-workers in the Foundation for making her transition to the college easy, complimenting their experience and continued excitement. “I work with a great team,” she said. Allen earned her bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s of business administration degree from

Kate Allen is shown here with Cal and Lesa Kleinmann, co-chairs for the 24th Annual Some Enchanted Evening, a fundraiser for student scholarships.

the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, where she played varsity women’s basketball during her undergraduate years, 1995-99. She received a juris doctor from the University of Kansas School of Law, earning a University of Kansas Law Scholarship, NCAA Women’s Enhancement Postgraduate Scholarship and Big 12 Postgraduate Scholarship. Allen served as the executive director of the Blue Valley Educational Foundation for five years. She worked previously as the planned giving manager, Children’s Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, Mo., and in the law firm of Bond, Schoeneck & King. Allen is a member of the Centurions Leadership Program, Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, 2009-2011; chair, Philanthropy Midwest Conference, 2010; board of directors, Mid-America Planned Giving Council, 2006-present; and Nonprofit Connect, 2003-present.

“We are thrilled to welcome Kate Allen to our JCCC team,” Sopcich said. “She brings with her a terrific record of accomplishment as well as a strong commitment to student success. We’re very excited about the future of the JCCC Foundation.” “Kate has all the elements of a successful business person. She does an excellent job of building friends and relationships,” said Bob Regnier, Foundation executive committee member. “I have ultimate confidence in her work. She is very metered. She is positive but doesn’t over promise. Kate provides an opportunity to take an incredibly important element of the college that has done well in the past and ratchet it up in the next five to 10 years.”

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Staff

Christensen attends White House Summit Chris Christensen is seen here with Dr. Jill Biden at the White House Summit on Community Colleges.

When Chris Christensen, director of financial

aid at JCCC, received an invitation to the White House Summit on Community Colleges on Oct. 5, he was skpetical. After checking it out, he verified that JCCC president, Dr. Terry A. Calaway, had indeed recommended him as a delegate. More surprises were in store. Christensen discovered he was the only community college representative from Kansas and the conference’s only representative on financial aid. He found himself the primary speaker of the afternoon discussion session on Affordability: Financial Aid to Community College Students. While other people in the discussion were college presidents, lawyers and a legislative aid, Christensen was the man who had worked in the financial aid trenches. “I explained to them that we have seen an increase of 100 percent in the amount of financial aid awarded during the last two years,” Christensen said. While JCCC has a financial aid staff of 15 full-time and 10 part-time employees, Christensen, who serves as president of the Kansas Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, said he receives calls from financial aid officers from across Kansas who are overwhelmed with the increase in aid applications. “Right now JCCC has about 6,000 students receiving federal aid, and that figure will probably double by the end of

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summer 2011,” Christensen said. The JCCC financial aid office handles 9,000 financial aid applications a year, including 6,000 federal aid applications and others for scholarships and grants. Christensen says the economy and increased enrollment are the major reasons for the rise in aid requests. Bill Taggart, COO, Federal Student Aid, U.S. Department of Education, attended the financial aid breakout session and engaged Christensen in a 30-minute conversation at a Blair House reception after the summit. “I think he listened to the issues facing financial aid offices as the administration of aid becomes more cumbersome,” Christensen said. The broad goal of the summit was to focus on issues of community colleges – need for student completion, better remedial education and more workforce training. Attendees included college presidents, faculty members, students and business leaders. Christensen, who has been JCCC’s financial aid director since November 2007, has 13 years of previous financial aid experience at Kansas State University and Texas A&M University and experience in a private lending institution. He earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Idaho State University, and master’s degree in higher education administration from Texas A&M.

New Class

Fine art goes digital Student Katie Sullivan says digital imaging techniques offer “creative freedom.”

Digital Imaging for Artists is a class where

art meets technology, and the possibilities for expression are limitless. When JCCC’s fine arts department first offered the class in 1999, it was unique to the metropolitan area. The nearest school to offer a fine arts class in digital imaging was Missouri State University, Springfield, where it was a juniorlevel class. At JCCC, Digital Imaging for Artists, which uses a computer as its medium, became so popular that students were taking it a couple of times in order to learn Adobe Photoshop’s full potential for creating artwork. So this semester for the first time, Digital Imaging for Artists II is being offered, giving students advance knowledge of Photoshop’s tools, menus and panels and the opportunity to experiment with color management, a variety of printing surfaces and creation of 3-D and high-dynamic-range images. Projects and sketchbook assignments will be more difficult. Digital Imaging is not just about technical aspects of tools, layers and brushes. Like any fine arts class, students need to show effective expressive content and composition. “We want students to work off the same basic premise as any fine arts class: ‘Expressing yourself,’ ” said Larry Thomas, professor/chair, fine arts. “Students need to extend the use of the software for their artistic expression.” Looking around Thomas’ class, creative expression is abundant. Students working on the computers are manipulating brush sizes and shapes, applying filters,

working in layers, inputting scans for collages and even changing the flow, load and wetness of the digital “paint.” “I like being able to produce a work and change it freely as I go. With oil (paint), there is no going back,” said student Cassandra Sherman. “The possibilities with digital imaging are endless. I can print on paper, acetate or metal. It’s really interesting.” Katie Sullivan, who has a bachelor’s degree in psychology, needs 18 hours of studio art credit as a prerequisite for graduate school in art and music therapy. “This is my favorite art class. I like the creative freedom of this class. The software is huge, and you can do anything on it,” Sullivan said. Thomas developed the advanced class during his spring 2009 sabbatical and uses digital imaging techniques in his own portfolio. Digital Imaging I and II students have access to large scanners to input images, graphic tablets, and large-format printers that use pigmented inks and archival paper for quality long-lasting prints. Examples of student projects hang outside the class, room 135 of the Arts and Technology Building. Beautiful, shocking and how-did-someone-think-of-that images pique one’s sensibilities. Art based on binary digits looks so surreal.

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Grant

JCCC selected for national grant Students in Diana Hurst’s Early Childhood Education Curriculum II class planted a mum house during the fall semester as a place to teach children outside (photos top and bottom right). In addition to supporting the grant, the experience spoke to the topic “integrating math and science with young children.” Sunflowers in the warm weather will augment the area, west of the HCDC.

institutions to receive a $3,000 grant from the American Association of Community Colleges Horizons fund to promote community-based Service-Learning initiatives in environmental education.

JCCC is one of only eight

The money allows students in JCCC’s early childhood education program and children’s literature classes to take learning outdoors and reconnect children with nature at two sites – Olathe Head Start and the college’s Hiersteiner Child Development Center. With JCCC’s 15-year history of Service-Learning, facilitated by Marcia Shideler; a National Association for the Education of Young Children-accredited early childhood education program, headed by career program chair, Asiya FosterNelson; and a 13-year Children’s Literature class taught by English professor Marilyn Senter, JCCC was positioned to apply for the grant awarded in July and take action as soon as fall classes began. The national grant targets the No Child Left Inside Act to strengthen environmental education experiences for

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schoolchildren both inside and outside of the nation’s classrooms. Students in Children’s Literature plan to research books related to the environment – composting, gardening and caring for animals and birds; consult with library and early childhood professionals; create an annotated list of appropriate books and present the list to the Olathe Head Start faculty for their input. Using part of the grant money, students will then purchase the books and read them to children at the Olathe Head Start – outdoors. They will also purchase and read books to children outdoors at the HCDC. “This project allows Service-Learning students to participate in one of the most current emphases in education – the No Child Left Inside movement,” Senter said. “If this project of buying environmental-related books is successful, we hope to duplicate it at other developmental centers, pending funding.” Early childhood students will use monies to build friendly spaces to learn outdoors and implement lesson plans.

Children’s Literature student Elise Matters reads to HCDC children Ethan Bunce, Amira Ellakani, Allison Kneller and Caden Butler while students Jessica Brown (right) and Claire Tongier listen.

“The grant is seed money for our students to expand their understanding of the importance of outdoor learning and development of outdoor projects at our two early childhood education partner sites,” Foster-Nelson said. “There is so much for young children to learn outside the classroom windows. The grant is a spark for us to include in-depth teaching of outdoor environmental education activities as a regular part of our JCCC education curriculum and allow our students to put theoretical aspects of outdoor teaching into practice.” “With JCCC’s history of ServiceLearning and the college’s emphasis on sustainability, our students were well positioned to fulfill the Horizons’ goal of environmental education,” Shideler said. Winter 2011 | Imprint

JCCC College Scholar

Svojanovsky discusses bioinformatics, biomedical research one has to have all their genes doing the right thing at the right time. Disruption in gene expression is responsible for many diseases. And now new technology, microarrays, allows scientists to analyze gene expression as a way to understand diseases with underlying genetic causes and pinpoint possible therapies.

To be a healthy person

Dr. Stanislav Svojanovsky, adjunct professor, science, JCCC; research associate professor at the University of Kansas Medical Center; and instructor, department of electrical engineering and computer science, KU-Lawrence, will give two lectures related to his research – microarray genomic expression analysis and neural network drug design. His lectures, part of the JCCC College Scholars program, are free and open to the public. n His first lecture, Microarray Technology in Biomedical Research, will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 1, in the Hudson Auditorium on the second floor of the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art. A reception precedes the event at 6:30 p.m. in the Regnier Center Atrium. In this lecture, Svojanovsky will provide an overview of the microarray technology development and its application in current biomedical research, looking at its multiple steps from data acquisition through statistical analysis and biological interpretations. n His second lecture, Artificial Intelligence Application in Computer-Assisted Molecular Design, will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 2, in the Hudson Auditorium. This presentation will look at how Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), a computational system that can learn on its own, can be designed to process input data from High Throughput Screening (HTS) as a means to recover active compounds from a large data set. Identified active compounds can, in

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Dr. Stanislav Svojanovsky holds a model of the chemical structure of taxol (paclitaxel) – the anticancer drug currently used for patients with lung, ovarian, breast cancer, head and neck cancer and more advanced forms of Kaposi’s sarcoma. This model was used in the Neural Network project to improve overall efficacy and reduce the negative side effects of this drug.

turn, lead to the formulation of computer-assisted anticancer drugs. Svojanovsky has worked in the rapidly expanding bioinformatics field for the last 11 years with a focus on the microarray data analysis process, which includes experimental design, data standardization, image acquisition and analysis, data normalization, statistical significance inference, exploratory data analysis, class prediction and biological pathway analysis. His research activities include computer application in gene research such as the use of the neural network in computerassisted drug design, prediction of a subset of active compounds from HTS and information theory-based analysis of splicing mutations. Svojanovsky, who teaches chemistry at JCCC, has an undergraduate degree in chemical technology from the University of Pardubice, Czech Republic; master of science degree in applied statistics from Western Michigan University; and a doctorate in bioanalytical chemistry with honors from the University of Kansas. In a bonus lecture to faculty and staff, Svojanovsky will present Genomic Expression Analysis at KUMC: Bioinformatics, Microarrays and Biomedical Research from noon to 1 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 10, in Craig Community Auditorium. The JCCC College Scholars program showcases the research of four faculty each academic year. For more information, contact Karen Martley, director, Staff and Organizational Development, 913-469-8500, ext. 3467.

Faculty

New NARS director ready for challenge Dr. Terry Murphy-Latta, director, the National Academy of Railroad Sciences, is seen here at the BNSF caboose.

With a BNSF Railway intermodal railroad hub

located in Edgerton by 2013, projected to be the second largest rail yard in the country, and a new director for Johnson County Community’s National Academy of Railroad Sciences, Dr. Terry Murphy-Latta, is on track to provide workforce training locally as well as nationwide. JCCC and BNSF have modeled a successful partnership between business and education since 1988, when classes began in the National Academy of Railroad Sciences after completion of the Industrial Training Center. NARS serves as BNSF’s Technical Training Center and also trains entry-level workers for other railroads, allowing students to earn college credits toward an associate of arts degree or certificate. While training 25,000 students in 2007 during the railroad’s era of peak traffic level, NARS saw an enrollment decrease as railroad traffic declined during the Great Recession (December 2007-June 2009). But Matt Rose, BNSF CEO, predicts a “rail renaissance,” and Warren Buffett, who acquired BNSF for $44 billion in February 2010, says “this acquisition was a bet on the future of America.” In turn, JCCC planned for its future by hiring Murphy-Latta as NARS director in July 2010. Murphy-Latta, who has a doctorate in educational leadership and policy studies from the University of Kansas, has 21 years of experience in Missouri K-12 schools, most recently as an instructional supervisor developing and implementing district curriculum. She also developed a K-12 mentor program for new teachers and teaches Introduction to Teaching as an adjunct at

JCCC, matching JCCC students with classroom teachers. “As NARS director, I use my previous skills overseeing curriculum and working with students and teachers,” Murphy-Latta said. Her experience ensures that new NARS training meets standards for college credit – both by JCCC’s educational affairs committee and the Kansas Board of Regents. One example is new training in positive train control, the result of a 2008 congressional mandate that says railroads must implement GPS positioning units for railway safety by 2015. Murphy-Latta said NARS is considering packaging curriculum, like the PTC training, and sending it to other sites or “training trainers.” “It’s exciting as the railroad industry picks up. NARS is the leading provider of employee training and certification to the North American rail industry. It has the most advanced equipment and facilities of any site in the country with hands-on experience at two yards – the Argentine yard, Kansas City, Kan., and the BNSF yard, Lenexa,” she said.

“Transportation is vital. With the 443-acre BNSF Intermodal facility in Edgerton right in our own NARS associate degrees backyard, there will be more shipping Railroad Operations – Conductor of freight, meaning more jobs.” Option, AAS Railroad Operations – General Option, AAS Railroad Operations – Mechanical Option, AAS Railroad Operations – Welding Option, AAS NARS certificates Locomotive Electrical Certificate Locomotive Mechanical Certificate Railroad Freight Car Certificate Railroad Conductor Certificate

An avid runner who has completed two half-marathons, participated in triathlons and runs about 1,000 miles a year, Murphy-Latta applies her quote, “I love a challenge,” to work and fitness. She also lives on a 100-year-old family farm located next to a train track, the source of her longtime affinity for trains.

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Conference

Johnson County Community College is hosting an

academic conference, Sri Lanka: Post Civil War and Post Tsunami, Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 17-19, in the Hudson Auditorium of the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art on the JCCC campus. The conference is free and open to South Asian scholars, the JCCC community and the public. The panel of scholars includes Dr. Dennis McGilvray, professor of anthropology, the University of ColoradoBoulder; Dr. Patrick Peebles, professor emeritus of history, the University of Missouri-Kansas City; and Dr. Susan Reed, associate professor of anthropology, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pa. The topics of their presentations will range from religious identities to the challenges of democracy since independence to the politics of dance.

A PhD in anthropology, McGilvray’s most recent scholarship covers issues related to the long civil war in Sri Lanka as well as the impact of the tsunami that hit the country’s East coast in December 2004. A published photographer, his photos of the tsunami devastation will be shown at the opening reception.

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Peebles, who has a PhD in history, is a renowned scholar of Sri Lankan history, and his History of Sri Lanka (2006) is widely acclaimed within his field. His research and scholarship provides the historical context by which to understand the more contemporary issues of conflict, natural disaster and recent peace. Reed is a cultural anthropologist specializing in the study of dance and performance, gender, ethnicity and nationalism, religion and ritual, and South Asia. She lived for several years in Sri Lanka, where she conducted field research on dance, religion and politics. She teaches courses in anthropology, women’s and gender studies, and peace studies, and is the director of Bucknell’s Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity, and Gender. She recently published Dance and the Nation: Performance, Ritual, and Politics in Sri Lanka (2010).

2004 tsunami devastation

Kolavil Temple

Conference presentations will be:

Saturday, Feb. 19 Hudson Auditorium 8:30-9:30 a.m. coffee and light breakfast 9:30-11 a.m. McGilvray, Peebles, Reed, discussion on the Future of Sri Lanka: Caste, Ideology, Politics and Religion

Thursday, Feb. 17 Hudson Auditorium 6-7 p.m. reception 7-8:30 p.m. photo exhibit of 2004 Sri Lankan tsunami presented by McGilvray Friday, Feb. 18 Hudson Auditorium 8:30-9 a.m. coffee 9-10:30 a.m. presentation by Peebles, Challenges of Sri Lankan Democracy Since Independence 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. presentation by Reed Politics of Kandyan Dance 12:30-2 p.m. lunch, room 270 of the Regnier Center, $10 fee 2-3:30 p.m. presentation by McGilvray Religious Identities in Sri Lanka

The Sri Lanka conference is free except for the lunch, which costs $10. Make lunch reservations at www.jccc.edu/ShopJCCC (conferences). The Sri Lanka conference is sponsored by JCCC’s Scholar-inResidence program and the Office of International Education. Ed Bushéy, assistant professor, history, proposed and organized the conference. For more information, contact Bushéy at dbushey@jccc.edu, using the subject “Sri Lanka.”

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New Program

Solar classes are on the horizon

Dan Eberle displays consumer-grade solar modules students will install at JCCC.

solar technology operations module to be located on the outer campus road south of the Industrial Training Center in February. At first the module will look like a shipping container. After the addition of art and a rack of solar panels, it will become a billboard for JCCC’s proposed solar thermal and solar photovoltaic program, serving as both a lab for students and an applied research center for testing the latest in solar technology.

Plans call for a 40-foot

Dan Eberle, assistant professor, energy performance and resource management, joined the JCCC faculty in August after recent positions as director, Missouri Alternative and Renewable Energy Center, Crowder College, Neosho, Mo., 2008-2010, and president, Alternative Energy Consulting Firm, 1994-2010. Nationally and internationally, Eberle is known as a pioneer in solar car and solar bike racing. At JCCC, Eberle has been tasked with developing classes for the solar thermal and solar photovoltaic certificate program and shepherding them through JCCC’s educational affairs committee and the Kansas Board of Regents for a projected 2011 fall start date.

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An $82,000 grant from the Department of Commerce allows the college to purchase the most advanced photovoltaic equipment for student training. The solar thermal portion of equipment is funded by $20,000 from the $713,625 Department of Energy grant as part of the FY2009 omnibus appropriations bill. Solar thermal energy (STE) is technology that turns solar energy into heat. The idea is to collect solar radiation and transfer it directly or indirectly to its final destination through a medium like water or a metal plate. The most common home application is hot water heaters. STE differs from photovoltaic (PV) energy, which converts solar energy into electricity. According to Eberle, STE technology is cheaper, less complicated and more widely applicable than PV technology. Regardless, Eberle doesn’t look at the value of alternative energy in terms of paybacks. He has a preacher’s zeal for the intelligent reduction of fossil fuel use in favor of alternative energy sources. “I believe renewables are the thing people should invest in because it’s the right thing to do, not because they pay

back,” he said. “We need to look at the civilization payback not the payback to the wallet over the next five years. We have a finite amount of fossil fuel; and once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.” The government is starting to catch on. Since Kansas passed the Net Metering and Easy Connection Act in May 2009, customers of KCP&L, Westar and Empire District can generate their own electricity and sell back the extra they produce to their utility. With that incentive and the possible rise in electric rates, Eberle said the demand for installers will increase. Not only do certified installers have to pass a written exam, they also have to demonstrate hands-on skills by designing and installing 1 kilowatt of photovoltaic technology, a project that costs a home owner about $10,000. “Where is a student without a certificate going to find a home owner who will take a risk on a $10,000 installation project? It’s a Catch-22,” Eberle said. Eberle’s goal is to provide students with the opportunity to design and install a 1-kilowatt system on JCCC’s solar technology operations module using the latest materials on the market. His plan is to have students sit for the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners exam and complete their hands-on certification requirement while enrolled at JCCC. The interior of the solar technology operations module will contain the balance of system, all of the system components except for the photovoltaic panels. These BOS components consist of support racks, wiring, switches, inverter, batteries and indirect storage. JCCC will monitor its solar photovoltaic system performance and electrical production for research. “We want to provide a library of data and make it accessible on the Web,” Eberle said. “Our installation and collection of data will be comparable to that of a four-year university and provide applied research for business.” The Center for Sustainability is committed to developing green-collar

While Eberle’s office is in the Industrial Training Center, the lab and applied research center will be located south of the building,

credit classes and workforce development training. The STE and PV program may be tailored to fast-track training for workforce development, although the details are pending. In his experience at Crowder, Eberle saw two markets for the STE and PV technology classes: 1. citizens who want to be informed in order to make their own home or business sustainable or 2. technicians who want to add solar technology installation to their portfolio of skills. Eberle himself is among the former, the good citizen. He has lived off the grid for four years. “Everything you do has moral consequences, especially in the area of energy conservation,” he said. Eberle keeps his office lights off, finding the light from a small window adequate. “I don’t want to offend people, but they don’t stop and think what they are doing when they flip on the lights. In one hour, these 40-watt light bulbs (he had eight in two ceiling fixtures) would contribute a pound of CO2 to the atmosphere.” Eberle’s claim to sustainability fame is his role in solar racing. He was one of a six-member Crowder College team to build the first solar car and drive it from San Diego, Calif., to Jacksonville, Fla., in 1984. He served as co-faculty adviser on the construction and racing of STAR II in the GM Sunrayce USA, 1990; World Solar Challenge, Australia,

1990; and the Grand Solar Challenge, Japan, 1991. In 2001, when GM quit supporting the Sunrayce, Eberle took over management under a new name, American Solar Challenge, in which colleges and universities design, build and race solar-powered cars. Eberle would like to organize a solar bicycle race on the JCCC campus starting this spring. He was the sponsor and co-founder of Solar Bike Rayce USA, an annual international track race of solar electric bicycles from 1995-2010. “It’s a good experience in energy efficiency,” Eberle said of the bicycle races. Eberle, who has talked with people in countries like China and Japan, says bicycles are a means of transportation available in most places in the world, and solar-powered bicycles extend the range and age of people who use that mode of transportation. People can commute eight to 10 miles in one day without burning fossil fuel and without having to pedal. Eberle, who has a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, authored and initiated new curriculum for Crowder’s energy efficient and green buildings vocational program and was instrumental in planning the MARET Center. He served as a consultant for USAID in the Republic of Georgia on its national construction technology vocational education programs.

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JOHNSON COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE 12345 COLLEGE BLVD OVERLAND PARK KS 66210-1299

NONPROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE

PAID Johnson County Community College

Mulcahy named Kansas Professor of the Year The Carnegie Foundation for the

Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education have named Dr. Ellyn Mulcahy, associate professor, science, JCCC, the 2010 Kansas Professor of the Year. Mulcahy was selected from more than 300 top professors in the United States. As a faculty member at JCCC since 2005, Mulcahy has educated, supervised and mentored undergraduate students, laboratory staff and adjunct faculty. She has contributed to the development of JCCC’s biotechnology program through revision, design and implementation of curricula and developed and implemented online courses from existing traditional biology courses. She also developed curricula for two new classes – one in biology, one in biotechnology. She prepared and implemented bioscience grant proposals including Department of Commerce, WIRED, Perkins Leadership, National Science Foundation and Department of Agriculture grants. In continuing education, Mulcahy developed and implemented classes for health care professionals on the topics of antibiotic resistance, bioterrorism, cultural competency, epidemiology and infectious disease.

Mulcahy was named a JCCC College Scholar in 2008 and received a Burlington Northern Santa Fe Faculty Achievement Award in 2009. She currently teaches Cell and Molecular Biology, Microbiology, Introduction to Public Health, Introduction to Biotechnology, Methods in Biotechnology and Laboratory Safety. A native of Ireland, Mulcahy received her bachelor of science degree in microbiology with honors from the University College Cork, Ireland, and her doctorate in microbiology from Creighton University, Omaha. She completed postdoctoral research at the University of Kansas Medical Center on prion diseases and HIV neuroinvasion and a master’s of public health degree with honors. Her thesis was the Development and Evaluation of a Health Educational Intervention for Somali Bantu Women Refugees. She has continued her studies on ways to educate nonliterate female Somali refugees about maternal health and relevant chronic diseases. She has published numerous publications on prion proteins and HIV and on health education for Somali Bantu women refugees.