Inside this issue: Arts blossom in new Rose Center... 2, 3 Commencement caps the year........... 4 Play golf to help students? Yes!........... 4 Joel Schaaf goes boldly into retirement................................... 5 Ernie Cadman made a career of helping people................................ 6 Lady Devils nail 10th championship............................... 7
FALL 2008
2
FALL 2008
Roses in Bloom One of the great things about Lower Columbia College is our beautiful campus. Something is in bloom almost any time of the year, but in the summertime, dozens of rose bushes make our campus a truly wonderful place. This year, our centerpiece is the new Rose Center for the Arts. The Rose Center for the Arts is open and getting rave reviews. We celebrated its completion with a grand opening on June 28, and about 1,000 people joined us for beautiful music, drama, an art exhibit, refreshments, demonstrations and workshops. What a great day! It was wonderful to see how beautifully this new building turned out, and to see so many of you here, enjoying it. The Rose Center for the Arts is gorgeous inside and out, with natural woods and terrazzo tile, gracious spaces, plenty of light and a real Northwest feel. Much of what makes it so special isn’t obvious to the eye, though. The latest and best equipment assures regional bragging rights and a remarkable experience for the students and community members who use the building. Our donors made much of that possible, and we’d like to thank them again. Over and over, visitors commented on how important this building will be to our community’s cultural life. Our Symphonic Band and choral groups now have their own performance hall with fantastic acoustics, plus a new rehearsal hall. LCC Center Stage moves into an intimate new theatre with the latest equipment. The Art Gallery staged a stunning Connecting Waters exhibit in its new space. Upstairs, the practice rooms, recording studio and lab hum (and rock) with the energy of the next generation of contemporary musicians. Our ace Forensics Team has a great space to prepare for (and host) public speaking tournaments. Arts instructors get spacious, light-filled new offices. We have more to celebrate this year: the Lady Red Devil Softball Team’s ninth NWAACC championship in ten years; a successful Golf Marathon; joyful Commencement; and much more. Enjoy the photos and stories about these and other events in this issue of Catalyst.
Please visit us when you can. Whether you’re attending an arts or sports event, visiting a favorite instructor, signing up for classes, or just enjoying a stroll across campus, we’ll be glad to see you.
Dr. Jim McLaughlin President Lower Columbia College
Catalyst is published by Lower Columbia College in coordination with the LCC Foundation. Please contact editor JoAnne Booth with your comments and information at:
On The Cover:
Lower Columbia College PO Box 3010, Longview, WA 98632 360.442.2111, jbooth@lowercolumbia.edu We like to feature our alumni in Catalyst and help you stay in touch with your friends at LCC. Please let us know what you’ve been doing. Contact JoAnne Booth.
Graduate Vy Nguyen, from Vietnam, celebrates with her host father, LCC Trustee Thuy Vo. Nguyen will transfer this fall to the University of New England, on scholarship, majoring in Pharmacy.
(Clockwise from top left)
Would you prefer to receive the Catalyst electronically? Are you receiving more than one copy? Are you changing your mailing address? If so, please contact Marcy Gilchrist at 360.442.2132 or mgilchrist@lowercolumbia.edu
All Americans Carri O’Neil and Jessi Hanna revel in the Lady Red Devils’ 10th NWAACC Softball championship with their coach, Tim Mackin, NWAACC’s winningest softball coach ever.
Visit the LCC Foundation’s Web site at lowercolumbia.edu/foundation
Honored guests Betsy and Anne Minthorn and June Rose enjoyed the new Rose Center for the Arts.
The Catalyst
lowercolumbia.edu/foundation
3
FALL 2008
Rose Center
Takes Arts to
New Heights
The Lower Columbia College Rose Center for the Arts opened in grand style the end of June, with special performances, workshops, an art exhibit and more.
(Above) The Kelso-Longview Chamber of Commerce officially opened the building with a ribbon-cutting June 28. Pictured are Carrie Medack of National City Mortgage, LCC Vice President for Administrative Services Ellen Peres, Vice President for Instruction Laura Brener, LCC President Jim McLaughlin, Vice President for Student Success Mary Harding, Foundation Executive Director Margit Brumbaugh, Pam Fierst of Red Lion Hotel and Conference Center, and Walt Naze, retired. (Top Right) Director Dr. Gary Nyberg conducts the LCC Symphonic Band in its first performance in its new home. (Right) Our local legislators provided key support for funding of the Rose Center. From left, Brian Blake, Sid Snyder, Mark Doumit and Brian Hatfield joined the celebration.
TAKE A SEAT
You have a special opportunity to create a lasting legacy in the Lower Columbia College Rose Center for the Arts! Leave your own legacy or make a tribute or memorial gift in honor of someone special by engraving a name on a seat in the beautiful new auditorium for $1,000. Make a statement about your support for excellence in education.
Your name says it all! For information on other naming opportunities on campus, contact Margit Brumbaugh, Executive Director, Lower Columbia College Foundation 360.442.2131 mbrumbaugh@lowercolumbia.edu
lowercolumbia.edu/foundation
The Catalyst
4
FALL 2008
Graduates Celebrate, Look Ahead Commencement is the highlight of the year at Lower Columbia College. The graduates and their families are excited about their accomplishments and the future, and the faculty and staff get to share their joy. Commencement drew 166 graduates, plus families and friends, to Myklebust Gymnasium June 13 for a grand celebration, complete with speeches, Symphonic Band music, lots of hugs and handshakes, and a nice reception afterward at the Student Center. Axel Swanson, a 1999 LCC graduate who was elected Cowlitz County’s youngest-ever County Commissioner in 2006, gave this year’s commencement address. After LCC, Swanson earned his bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Gonzaga University and a law degree from Vermont Law School, and served six years in the Marine Corps Reserves. He encouraged the graduates to believe in themselves and follow their dreams. Three graduates shared top student honors. Rachel M. Shaddox, a Running Start student who earned a transfer degree, and Ashley Ann Yoder, a Nursing graduate, each earned a perfect 4.0 grade-point average. Yaroslav D. Mudryy finished his science transfer degree with a 3.97 GPA.
Tina L. Imdieke, new registered nurse, celebrates her graduation with her family.
For the 2007-08 academic year, the College awarded 258 transfer degrees and 165 professional/technical degrees, 91 one-year Certificates of Proficiency, and hundreds more Certificates of Completion. The graduates included 67 from the Nursing degree program, and 34 Running Start students
who graduated from both high school and LCC at the same time. The first eight graduates of the new Contemporary Musicianship and Audio Production professional-technical degree program were honored too.
Golfers play for fun and LCC student scholarships The 2008 LCC Foundation Golf Marathon took place on May 22nd at Three Rivers Golf Course. A fantastic group of dedicated golfers once again hacked, chipped, and putted their way through 100 holes of golf to raise money for student scholarships. The award for most money raised went to the team of Foundation staff members Rich Dolan and Marcy Gilchrist, who were followed closely by Golf Marathon Co-Chair Gregg Myklebust. Through pledges and sponsorships, this great event raised more than $32,000! Thank you to the hundreds of contributors who supported our golfers and invested in the future of LCC students!
The Catalyst
Many Golf Marathon players included family in the fun. Don Lemmons and his son Craig made a great team, while LCC Foundation Board member Jackie Davis and her brother, Ryan, formed another duo.
lowercolumbia.edu/foundation
5
FALL 2008
Schaaf Sets His Sights on New Explorations After teaching thousands of Physics and Engineering students, Dr. Schaaf reviews his legacy, tells favorite stories, clears out his office and teaches two last night classes. Joel Schaaf is curious: about what the world is made of, how it works, and how we know it works that way. He’s fascinated by optics, pipe organs, railroad photography, and what lies down the side roads he hasn’t had time to explore. Schaaf earned his bachelor’s in physics with departmental honors from Jamestown College, a master’s in applied science from Montana State, and PhD in physics education from Kansas State University. He joined LCC as Physics/Engineering Instructor in 1974 and retires this September. As a graduate student, he measured the infrared reflection spectrum of water ice, providing key research data for early space probes that confirmed the existence of ice clouds on Mars. His advisor at Kansas State was Dudley Williams, an international infrared physics expert who had directed infrared measurements of the first atomic bomb explosion in New Mexico. Williams’ connections with national research labs inspired Schaaf to apply for research appointments himself. He won DOE-sponsored Visiting Research Scientist appointments to do research with Battelle Pacific Northwest National Laboratories at Hanford for two summers and as a 1987–1988 sabbatical. At LCC, Schaaf developed Engineering classes in thermodynamics, electric circuits and the mechanics of metals, so LCC offered them long before most other community colleges, giving his students an edge. He created a popular multidisciplinary class in the environmental physics of energy, has studied and written about energy use and supplies, and conducted citizen’s workshops on energy/environment. He is proud of his students. One young man has been doing undergraduate research at WSU Vancouver in microelectro-mechanical systems (MEMS). He will present a paper this fall at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ international conference.
Joel Schaaf shows off some mementoes, including his t-shirt designed by a former student. The “Take a Number” plaque is a science geek’s inside joke. The bottom “now serving” number is Pi. The top “Take a Number” is Avogadro’s Number, suggesting a very long wait.
class instead. “As I went over the syllabus and what they’d be doing in class, I could see the panic in their eyes.” He chuckles. “After it happened a couple times, I started announcing that any students looking for that class needed to go over to Physical Science.” This summer, Schaaf taught an evening section of Physics for Non-Science Majors and his Astronomy telecourse. He’s a night person—still going strong when the rings of Saturn shine most brightly. For his retirement (other than no more alarm clocks) he’s looking forward to organizing his many railroad photos and exploring those “roads less traveled.”
Funny stories? One favorite: Students starting a
special driver education course sometimes came to the wrong building and wound up in his Introductory Physics
Chamber Awards On May 6, Sandy Junker, director of LCC’s Head Start program, received the Kelso/Longview Chamber of Commerce “Crystal Apple” award for school administrators. LCC’s Head Start program has received very high marks on its federal reviews and, with grant help, provided extra services to local children and their parents. LCC President Dr. Jim McLaughlin received the Chamber’s Workforce Education individual achievement award. lowercolumbia.edu/foundation
The Catalyst
6
FALL 2008
Cadman Focused Career On Helping Students After almost 36 years of helping people go to college, Ernie Cadman retired in July from Lower Columbia College. Over the years, he touched many thousands of lives. Ernie Cadman and LCC go way back. He was a student here in the early 1960s while working at Longview Fibre. After two years in the Army, he returned to LCC, where he met his future wife, Oriana, a native of Chilé who was studying English at LCC. They will celebrate their 39th anniversary in September. Ernie also attended Western Washington University, and earned his bachelor’s degree, master’s in counseling and did doctoral work in community college administration at Portland State University. A Vietnam veteran, he joined LCC in November of 1972 as Director of Veterans Affairs, helping the 75–80 vets then attending LCC to get their GI Bill benefits and succeed in college. He worked at the state and national level to improve services and benefits, and literally went the extra mile. Cadman worked with activists at the University of Washington and George Washington University to get honorable discharges and benefits for two-dozen wounded or gay veterans. LCC’s veteran contingent had grown to 1,160 students by the time Cadman moved to a position as Counselor, establishing LCC’s first office for disabled students. He became Director of Counseling in 1982, then Associate Dean for Students, Associate Dean for Educational Services and, finally, director of LCC’s federally-funded Student Support Services program. In 2004, he slowed to 1/2-time,
Ernie Cadman helps a student plan her class schedule.
guiding students who needed developmental English and math courses, and those receiving WorkFirst (welfare) benefits while building agency partnerships with DSHS and Employment Security, who shared responsibility for those students. His colleagues at LCC value him as an outspoken advocate for diversity and students who need extra help; tireless enemy of unnecessary barriers; and fine cook who amps up the quality at potlucks. Oriana Cadman, who taught English and Spanish at Mark Morris High School (and Spanish at nights for the past 37 years at LCC), retired a year ago. The Cadmans love to travel and are looking forward to longer stays at their favorite spots.
Gift Highlights These gifts were received by the LCC Foundation between March 1 and June 30, 2008 Scholarships Cal and Kim Miller Cameron Family Glass Packaging LLC Kelso Longview Chamber of Commerce
The D. Margaret Studley Foundation
Dan Evans
In-Kind
Evans-Kelly Family Foundation
Untouchables Car Club
William Bauer
Georgia-Pacific
Women’s Affaire
Dallas Dale
GL Booth, JG Davis & Associates, PLLC
Sean and Kris Kibbee
Longview Monticello Lions Club
Program and Equipment Support
Marcella Mashinter
Baker Lumber Company Inc.
Interstate Wood Products, Inc.
Mark and Mindy Doumit
Bob and Ann Beal
Signature Transport
P. J. Peterson and Stephen Jones
Arlys Clark
The Legacy Group, Ltd.
PEO Sisterhood, Chapter BN
Community Foundation for SW Washington
The Wollenberg Foundation
PEO Sisterhood, Chapter FV
H & R Block
Patricia Meyer Pacific Power Products
Halton Foundation
R. D. Olson Manufacturing Joe Ray Kitty Ross Ralph and Marval Webb
Every effort is made to list names correctly. If you have any comments on the listing, please contact Marcy Gilchrist at 360.442.2132 The Catalyst
lowercolumbia.edu/foundation
7
FALL 2008
Red Devils burn Mount Hood for 10th NWAACC Softball championship No “oops” about it: they did it again! The Red Devils Softball Team won the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges championship for the ninth time in 10 years—their third straight title. They nailed down the championship May 18th in dramatic fashion. LCC was down 5–3 in the bottom of the ninth inning, with two outs and bases loaded, when Hayley Ridout parked the ball over the left fence. The walk-off grand slam gave LCC an NWAACC–record 10th team championship. Three Devils were named National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-American: pitcher Carri O’Neil, who was also tournament MVP; Jessi Hanna, who finished the regular season with a .401 average and 56 RBIs; and Samantha Petrich, who had a .510 average and 50 RBIs. Hanna will play next year for Boise State, and O’Neil for Portland State.
Mackin sets NWAACC record for most wins Red Devils Coach Tim Mackin set a record of his own on May 3—before the season was even over—by notching his 576th win as an NWAACC coach, making him its winningest softball coach ever. Over 16 years as LCC’s head coach, Mackin posted a 577– 135 record (.810 winning percentage), surpassing former record holder Paul Fiskum of Clackamas College, who went 575–213 (.730) and won eight conference titles in 19 seasons (1987–97, 1999–2006). Fiskum earned his mark over 788 games, while Mackin took just 710.
Red Devils top division, place 2nd in NWAACC The Red Devils Baseball Team was one strike away from winning yet another NWAACC crown but instead saw Edmonds rally to beat LCC 4–3 in 13 innings to force a second championship game. The Tritons then captured the crown with a 6–4 victory in front of a capacity crowd at Story Field. The Devils won the Western Regional title for the 14th time in the last 17 seasons, with a final record of 39–11.
The Lady Red Devil softball team celebrates its 10th NWAACC championship May 18.
Several Red Devils will be moving up next year: The San Francisco Giants picked Red Devil shortstop Brooks Lindsley in the 18th round of the 2008 MLB Draft. Brooks has signed with the Giants and is playing at A Salem–Keizer. The Chicago White Sox selected former Red Devil pitcher Jorden Merry in the 14th round. Merry just completed his junior season as the top pitcher for the Washington Huskies and has yet to decide to turn pro or return to the UW. Devils moving on to four–year colleges and universities include Shawn Peterson, De’Andre Wheeler and Rye Phillips to Western Oregon, Bas Nooij and Chad Wagner to Hawaii– Pacific, Ryan Graves to Central Washington, Brian Erickson to Lewis–Clark State, Ben Rosen to College of Idaho, and Luke Zirkle to Bellevue–Nebraska. Several other players have yet to decide which offer to accept.
Cool new LCC website features: Visit LCC’s new online photo album at: flickr.com/photos/lowercolumbiacollege Check out coming events on the new LCC homepage: lowercolumbia.edu To receive periodic notices of updates to the events calendar, sign up for an RSS feed by clicking on the orange RSS icon on the events calendar. It’s easy, and we WON’T send you a ton of emails! lowercolumbia.edu/foundation
The Catalyst
Fast Forward
Cowlitz County Commissioner Axel Swanson, a 1999 graduate of Lower Columbia College, addresses graduates during Commencement June 13. Swanson—flanked in the photo by LCC Trustees Mike Heuer, Lyle Lovingfoss and Max Anderson, and President Dr. James McLaughlin— encouraged them to pursue their dreams.
Lower Columbia College 1600 Maple Street PO Box 3010 Longview, WA 98632-0310 RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED
NON-PROFIT U.S. POSTAGE PAID RIDGEFIELD, WA PERMIT NO. 94