Menlo College Magazine Winter 2020

Educating the Whole Student Modeling a Complete Life

Finding their (ME)NLO Orientation is an experience of many “firsts� in a student’s college career.

This fall, over 300 new Oaks met new roommates for the first time, engaged in discussions about college life for the first time, dove deep into the themes of the common book There There, a novel set in Oakland, and let loose with their peers on campus. Another first for our new students was to begin finding the ME in Menlo, or [ME]nlo, our theme for orientation.

Students entering college come to campus with a sense of who they are. We help them learn more about themselves and how they want to develop further as Menlo Oaks. Our activities engage new students with faculty, staff, peer mentors, and each other to set the tone around what it means to be a community member, best practices for living in a residence hall, tips for academic success, and the importance of building relationships with individuals across campus.

Students can be overwhelmed by the transition to college. We pride ourselves at Menlo on fostering community spirit and helping each student find the relationships that will help them grow. Together, we help our students find their ME in Menlo.

By Andrea Peeters, Ph.D., Dean of Student Affairs

Menlo College first year students help each other during Orientation.

Photo: Andrey Poliakov

MENLO COLLEGE M AG A ZINE | WIN TER 2020

Educating the Whole Student In this issue, we look at all the ways Menlo College educates students to succeed as thinkers, leaders, and as contented actors in their particular story.

In This Issue 1 Message from the President 3 Letters to the Editor 4 Campus Updates 5 New Trustees 7 Trustee Spotlight

Special Section—Mentorship at Menlo5 9 Mentoring: An Introduction 11 Change-Making Conversations 15 Learning to Learn 16 Learning to Launch 17 Resident Assistants 19 Healthy Minds and Bodies

Art 5

Internships 35 Internships—Year Five 39 Mock Interview Day 40 Study Abroad 41 International Home Away

Special Section—Curriculum Innovation 43 New Curriculae 45 Sports Management 46 Common Book There There 47 Persuasion 48 Negotiation

Student Life 48 OAKtoberFest 2019 63 Library Renovation On the Walls of our Halls

Faculty and Classroom 21 Rising Scholars 23 This is America TEDx 28 University Innovation Fellows 29 Ethics in Action 31 Faculty News 34 Virtual Island

Alumni 52 Menlo’s First Marriage 53 Electric Car Sparks Friendship 54 Menlo’s Champions 55 In Memoriam

Athletics 56 Sports Performance Mentors 57 Coach Mentors 59 Fall Athletics in Images 61 Hall of Fame

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Pamela Gullard SENIOR EDITOR Lisa Villarreal, Ph.D. STAFF WRITER Lauren John CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Erik Bakke Linda Bakke Kelly Davis Aaron Gillespie Mark Hager Dylan Houle Patty Lev Grande Lum Mike Palmieri Andrea Peeters Sean Pradhan Angela Schmiede Leslie Sekerka Jaagriti Sharma ’18 Annika Steiber Carmen Stockberger Rachel Turner Steven Weiner DESIGN Marsha Gilbert PHOTOGRAPHY Andrey Poliakov Brian Byllesby - Oakssports.com Miguel Lim Esteban Ramirez Lisa Villarreal EDITORS Lauren John Linda Teutschel MENLO COLLEGE PRESIDENT Steven Weiner CHAIR OF THE BOARD Micah Kane ’91 BOARD OF TRUSTEES Thomas (Tom) Byers Alma Clayton-Pedersen Andrea (Andy) Cunningham Howard (Howie) Dallmar ‘74 James (Jim) A. Davlin Chris Garrett ‘94 J. Michael (Mike) Gullard David C. Irmer, Sr. ’58 Helene Kim Jordan Long ’09 Larry Lopez ’84 Roxane Marenberg Zoanne Nelson Fran Schulz ’85 Shireen Udenka Benjamin (Ben) Wagner EMERITI TRUSTEES John Henry Felix ’49 Julie Filizetti Charles “Chop” J. Keenan III ’66 Thor Geir Ramleth ’87

Menlo College Magazine, published by the Menlo College Office of the President, brings news of the College and its community to alumni, parents, and friends. 1000 El Camino Real, Atherton, California 94027-4301 Tele: 800-55MENLO, editor@menlo.edu, www.menlo.edu

A Message from the President – Steven Weiner At Menlo College, we are as focused on the education we provide in the classrooms as we are on the environment in which that education takes place. The theme of this issue of the magazine, “Educating the Whole Student,” highlights the many ways that we support all aspects of our students’ lives.

The progress we’ve made in providing such deep support is built on the work of those who came before us. Many of the 2,200 people who attended our most recent OAKtoberFest celebration attested to the mentorship and other guidance they received as students as early as the 1950s and as recently as last year. One alumnus said he’s still impressed thirty years after his graduation that one of his professors patiently responded to his questions one night at 10:00 p.m. when he called to ask for help while studying for a test the next morning (yes, in the days before email). A woman who was one of our first female students in the 1970s spoke about the career guidance she received here at Menlo that changed the trajectory of her life, and still others spoke about their lifelong memories of the impossible basket, the astonishing field goal – and the coaches they credit with making them possible. Students from years past recognize that it was the totality of the Menlo experience that shaped them. That’s still the case today.

I look forward to hearing the stories of today’s graduates in the years ahead. They too will speak about the faculty who shaped their classroom experiences, as well as Menlo’s role in shaping their lives because of opportunities they embraced outside of the classroom.

They will also speak to the fact that they were part of Menlo when we achieved a record-high enrollment, when we held our firstever TEDxMenloCollege before a sold-out audience, and when our University Innovation Fellows program scaled new heights.

They’ll talk about their opportunity to witness the improvements we’ve recently made to the landscaping and walkways throughout campus, as well as the fact that they were students here when we announced a major capital gift that launched a feasibility study for the construction of a new residence hall on campus.

Tomorrow’s alumni will also speak with pride of the success of our athletic programs and our rise to be known as a powerhouse within the NAIA (with two recent national championships under our belt to bolster our claim!). They’ll reflect on the extent to which their postgraduate journey was enhanced by our internship program. Finally, their stories will reflect the fact that our doors are now open to students of all backgrounds, and they’ll recognize that our diversity has made us stronger.

If you’re an alumnus who has not been back to campus recently, I encourage you to rediscover Menlo College. While so much has changed in recent years, the very best of Menlo is still on display: we remain a small community that cares passionately about our students. Come discover all that we’re doing to make our students successful, and our alumni proud.

It’s a great time to be an Oak.

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President Steven Weiner is often seen in the gym and on the field cheering on Menlo College teams.

Here, he discusses prospects for the upcoming season with basketball guard Jeremiah Testa ’20.

Photo: Brian Byllesby

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Educating the Whole Student

By Pamela Gullard, Editor in Chief, Menlo College Magazine

The goal of the faculty and staff at Menlo College is twofold: 1. to give students a deep academic education drawn from both the classics and cutting-edge research; and 2. to provide them with an environment that is in some ways the opposite of an ivory tower. Instead of creating an oasis that’s separate from society’s complexities—its problems and confusion—we give students the tools to confront all aspects of contemporary life head-on. Our goal is to educate the whole student so that graduates can bring all their gifts to creating a satisfying life.

To do this, Menlo College deepens the classroom experience by bringing in professionals from Silicon Valley and elsewhere; providing mentors for students from faculty, academic advisors, outside experts, and coaches; developing clubs for specialty interests; and in other ways offering students a smorgasbord of experiences to learn about themselves and all their capabilities. In this issue we look at different aspects of educating the whole student, engaging each student in the intellectual, emotional, and spiritual enterprise that constitutes a complete education.

Letters to the Editor Much gratitude for the terrific article.

Humbled by it all. The topic is so important and I’m thrilled Menlo College is emphasizing ethics and values.

Tom Byers, Menlo College Trustee Stanford University

Wonderful! Love the layout [of the piece

by Tom Byers] and photo too. Thanks for sharing this important work on ethics for entrepreneurship educators.

Rachel Julkowski Director, Marketing & Editorial Stanford Technology Ventures Program

This is fantastic. Another amazing edition.

Thank you for sharing. Also, I love the cover, very cool!

Shireen Udenka, Menlo College Trustee Global Controller, Business for Social Responsibility San Francisco, California 3 WINTER 2020

A huge appreciation over your new

Summer 2019 issue, Beyond Graduation.

That magazine was beautiful and full of very strongly positive articles, notes on students and faculty. You did a beautiful job on that issue. I do really miss my time at Menlo.

Ed Huneke ’61 Spokane, Washington

Thank you! It’s a nice layout and form. I see a lot of college magazines and Menlo’s is by far a great read.

Congratulations!

Sher Ripley Assistant to David Irmer, Menlo College Trustee Sausalito, California

Good looking magazine!

Linda Hubbard Editor, InMenlo, an online magazine Menlo Park, California

C A M P U S U p d a t es Paving the Way Throughout this issue of the Menlo College Magazine, we speak to exciting progress we have underway as we close out the decade. Recent advancements have also extended to our facilities.

Through the generous support of alumni and other donors, we have made improvements in the last several years to every building on campus.

The renewal of our campus continued throughout last summer and well into the fall semester. Targeted donations we received allowed us to remove asphalt that once paved the way for vehicles and pedestrians alike and replace them with beautiful pavers. We started at the front entrance last spring, and by the end of the fall term, we had completed the circumnavigation of the main quadrangle. More than a mile of new walkways were laid — several in new locations — and new built-in benches and other gathering places were added.

The addition of over 90 new trees, new sod, and other landscaping combine to enhance the beauty of our campus.

And yet more is being planned.

We’ll be celebrating our 100th birthday looking better than ever. But don’t wait to see it. Contact our alumni office at alumni@menlo.edu to arrange your visit!

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C A M P U S U p d a t es New Trustees Will be Role Models for Students In welcoming three new trustees at the most recent Menlo College Board meeting, Board Chair Micah Kane ’91 said, “These exceptionally well-qualified individuals bring a wealth of expertise to the Board. They also bring a strong passion to further the College’s mission.

I look forward to working with them.” Helene Kim, Zoanne Nelson, and alumna Fran Schulz ’85 were all elected this past summer to initial three-year terms as trustees of the College. President Steven Weiner said, “All three of our new trustees are high-achieving professionals, and each of them has attributes that allow them to serve as an outstanding role model for our students. By virtue of their distinctive life experiences, Menlo College is now an even stronger organization due to the addition of these new trustees.”

Fran Schulz ’85, an assurance partner at Ernst & Young in the Life Sciences Practice, has over the course of her career played a key role in helping companies work through the details of collaboration agreements, corporate spin-offs, reorganizations, and mergers and acquisitions. Her involvement in over fifty public stock offerings has afforded her the opportunity to work extensively with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

Zoanne Nelson is the Chief Strategy Officer & Associate Vice President for Strategy

and Program Management at the University of California Office of the President. Early in her career, she spent ten years as a Senior Manager for PricewaterhouseCoopers, where she worked with USAID and HUD on international development projects.

Helene Kim (not shown) received her undergraduate degree from Harvard-Radcliffe College and her JD from Harvard Law School. She has worked as a management strategy consultant for McKinsey Asia and as a business lawyer for Morrison & Foerster, before becoming the founding Executive Director of International & Executive Education at the University of California Berkeley.

On the Walls of Our Halls The fall 2019 art exhibition sponsored by the Menlo College Art Committee featured paintings by Menlo College art professors Linda Covello and Robert DiMatteo. Robert DiMatteo’s textured abstracts reflect his contemplation of individual elements in the periodic table. Linda Covello’s portraits bring out the personalities of her subjects.

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This story has a nice ring to it.

In October 2019, the Menlo College Women’s Wrestling Team received championship rings for their stunning victory at the Women’s Collegiate Wrestling Association national tournament last February. Accomplishing a first in College history, these superb athletes lit the blaze for more national titles to follow. Indeed, the next month, they won the nationals in their league!

Photo by Shelley Avelino ’20, arranged by Precious Bell ’20.

At the art exhibit opening in October the Menlo College community and other visitors enjoyed meeting the artists and discussing the inspiration for their work.

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T R U S T E E S POTLIG H T

Focusing on the Similarities Rather than the Differences

By Jaagriti Sharma ’18, Marketing Manager, Admissions and Enrollment Management Alma Clayton-Pedersen has always had a passion for education. As the youngest of eight children, she watched with envy as her older siblings went off to school. Once her time arrived, there was no stopping her. In 1992, she earned a Ph.D. in Human and Organizational Development from Vanderbilt University.

Her passion for education informed her career. Her entire career has been dedicated to the field. After working six years as Community Services Director in a low income community in Nashville, she went to work for Vanderbilt University for sixteen years. She became the Vice President of Education and Institutional Renewal at the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) in 2000. She stayed with AAC&U for ten years before taking her current role as CEO of Emeritus Consulting Group where she works with higher education institutions and other non-profit organizations.

Extending her influence on higher education, Alma also serves on the boards of The Quality Assurance Commons, the Institute for Study Abroad and the National Association of Colleges and Employers. She shares that “All of it connects and informs my perspective in working with Menlo. It’s all about education. I live, breathe, and sleep education!”

Alma’s accomplishments also include scholarly studies and articles that address ways educational institutions can function better generally, and in particular, how to improve their engagement with underrepresented and underserved populations.

Her work is grounded in the idea that “All people need to see themselves and others unlike themselves as a part of diversity, while being aware that different people are treated differently in ways that have an impact on their outcomes. If you don’t see yourself as a part of the work of making excellence inclusive, you don’t feel any obligation to address disparities of those who are marginalized. Diversity means everybody, focusing on the similarities while recognizing that our differences should not determine if we succeed.”

She says that her passion for education is grounded in the opportunity to provide a lasting impact on every student in a personalized way. “Every student should hear that they have talent. It’s the task of educators to help students identify that talent and help them develop it. This pursuit requires the recognition that the makeup of any student will either enhance or detract from their educational experience This requires that we understand what motivates students to succeed and use this knowledge to foster their success. I’m convinced that Menlo College does well by persistently providing each student a personalized experience.” She said that everyone she’s encountered at Menlo is personally committed to the college in very significant ways.

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If you don’t see yourself as a part of the work of making excellence inclusive, you don’t feel any obligation to address disparities of those who are marginalized.

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MENtorship: An Introduction

By Mark Hager, Ph.D., Professor, Psychology

Dr. Hager has worked in the field of mentoring for many years, including as co-author of university guides to support faculty-mentoring relationships and as mentor to hundreds of students completing their senior thesis capstone projects in psychology at Menlo College. We asked him to introduce our special section on Mentoring at Menlo.

“What are you looking for in a mentoring relationship with a faculty member?” I recently asked several first-year psychology students. Their answers excited me because they are seeking experiences that square with the results of research in my field, such as engagement with role models on ways of being in the world. My student mentees said they were looking for “bonding, connections, advice, guidance and coaching,” especially support to “make the most of where we are . . . the opportunities at Menlo, in Psychology, and in life.” They went on to add the importance of peer-to-peer “self-help” among their mentoring group to “better themselves” and develop their individual talents while at Menlo.

The students also recognized the power of networking and had many practical questions about it. “How do you network? What do you do with a contact when you make it? What are the first steps to take when you get your foot in the door?” As mentors, faculty and staff can promote relationships, helping students explore the intersections of their interests and talents as they build their networks upon ours, and we help them to join professional communities of practice in psychology and business.One such opportunity is our annual “Psych Night” of alumni speakers discussing their careers and graduate school

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experiences. Another is our new model of faculty working with first-year students to help the newest members of our community connect to peers, alumni, staff and faculty.

Mentoring occurs in many ways at Menlo, including the connections psychology students form with their faculty and librarians as they progress through the curriculum to their Senior Thesis Capstone year; the informal mentoring that comes of faculty, staff and students connecting over common interests; and the special bonds our athletic coaches establish with their student athletes.

These opportunities and others help students learn about their strengths, explore new interests, and find others who share their aspirations. By actively seeking mentorship, students become responsible for those self-help moments that continue to help Menlo better itself for them and future generations.

References Burgos, Jr., A. & Hager, M. (1999). How to mentor graduate students: A guide for faculty at a diverse university (1st ed.). Ann Arbor, MI: The Rackham School of Graduate Studies, University of Michigan.

Crisp, G., Baker, V. L., Griffin, K. A., Lunsford, L. G., & Pifer, M. J. (2017). Mentoring Undergraduate Students: ASHE Higher Education Report, Volume 43, Number 1 (Vol. 43, No. 1). John Wiley & Sons.

Dominguez, N., & Hager, M. (2013). Mentoring frameworks: synthesis and critique. International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, 2(3), 171-188.

Lunsford, L. G., Crisp, G., Dolan, E. L., & Wuetherick, B. (2017). Mentoring in higher education. The SAGE handbook of mentoring, 316-334.

Subotnik, R. F., Edmiston, A. M., Cook, L., & Ross, M. D. (2010). Mentoring for talent development, creativity, social skills, and insider knowledge: The APA Catalyst Program. Journal of advanced academics, 21(4), 714-739.

Professor Mark Hager works with psychology student Giselle Martinez Collado ’20 on her senior capstone project.

Photo: Lisa Villarreal

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MENtorship

The Conversation That Can Change Your Life: Informal Mentorship on Campus

By Lauren John, Staff Writer

Menlo College is rightfully proud of its small classes and the close relationships that can develop between students, faculty and staff. Along with formal programs to match mentors with students, we consciously create an atmosphere that allows students to ask for guidance on the spur of the moment. Our faculty and staff are models of critical thinking applied to problems both inside and outside the classroom. Office doors are open and students expect to get holistic counsel about their studies and their life plans.

But students do not need to come to our offices to talk. Many in our community eat lunch at the same tables in the cafeteria, go to campus events together, and cheer on our sports teams. All these occasions allow for the kinds of conversations that range from life-enhancing to life-changing.

On the following pages, members of the Menlo community share the impact of some of those conversations— in their own words.

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Grande Lum, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Menlo College One of my favorite things is to sit down in the dining hall and talk with a group of students that I don’t know. I might not get the chance to do this at a larger university, but here the personal connections are so important.

I have worked as a law professor and for the Department of Justice and right now, I am talking with several students about law school. Others are interested in government careers and I share my experiences in Washington with them and help to identify opportunities. Just this week I invited students, faculty and staff to a screening of Chinatown Rising, an independent film about the self determination of Chinese Americans who fought for better housing and education. We were able to talk with the filmmakers and the students learned about the power of film to effect social change.

“Our vision is approachability rather than hierarchy.�

Grande Lum, Menlo College Provost

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MENtorship Brian Brownfield ’16, Menlo College Sports Information Coordinator I’ve gotten very close to my former boss and current supervisor, Aaron Gillespie. He was Sports Information Director when I was a student. We’ve gone to games, had dinner, and spent hours together outside of work. We have both dealt with the same struggles of finding our places in the sports information and broadcasting worlds, and he has been instrumental in helping me to get off the ground.

Today I have the chance to pass along what I learned. Ryan Barnett ’19, now a Menlo College admissions counselor, was my student intern and we met weekly to review our broadcasts. Ryan continues to pursue broadcasting outside of Menlo as a public address announcer. It is wonderful to see him succeed!

Axel Helmertz ’20, studying finance and entrepreneurship Three professors are strong mentors: Dr. Manish Tewari (Associate Professor of Corporate Finance), Dr. Annika Steiber (Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation), and Dr. Marianne Marar (Professor of Global Studies). I talked a lot with Tewari when we traveled to New York City for the Bloomberg Trading Competition. Annika comes from my mother’s hometown of Gothenburg, Sweden, so it was easy to connect. She gave me the confidence to create opportunities for myself in a new country. Professor Marar taught me a lot about race and gender issues— especially since Sweden has a more homogeneous society than the United States. She spoke with such passion and always had time to talk with me to the point where I have become more empathetic.

Usually, successful mentorship is when we reach over and say, “I got you.”

Marianne Marar Yacobian, Ed.D, Global Studies 13 W INT ER 2020

Sydney Richardson-Gorski ’19 Sydney was interviewed by phone as she rode the Washington D.C. Metro train after her first day as an intern at the Center for Human Progress. She focusses on race and equity at this nonpartisan public policy institute.

When I first came to Menlo, I wanted to be a talk show host.

Now I want to be President. And I have some mentors to thank for that! One is political science Professor Melissa Michelson, who met with me to talk about social justice issues before I was even in any of her classes.

When I became Student Government President, I went to Provost Grande Lum’s office to introduce myself. I thought it would be a brief conversation, but he suggested that we take a walk. We did a few laps around the campus that day talking about possibilities like law school and government careers—ultimately, he encouraged me to apply for this internship. When Grande (who had worked in the Obama administration) learned that I was headed to Washington, he gave me a notebook from the White House stamped in gold. I won’t ever write in it. I just like to look at it for inspiration.

What I found at Menlo is that if I had a goal and someone could make something happen for me, either personally or through a connection, they went all in to see it through. In business, it’s called networking; for me it felt like family.

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Learning how to Learn

Academic Advisors Give Students the Tools for Self-Sufficiency

By Patty Lev, Director of Academic Advising When you think of students learning, what image comes to your mind? You probably picture a classroom full of eager students listening with rapt attention to the teacher lecturing at the front of the room. But the learning that takes place outside of the classroom is just as important to a student’s success. Academic Advisors are a critical component of a student’s learning and success at Menlo College because advisors make sure that students are learning how to learn.

At Menlo College, students are paired with a professional advisor as soon as they are accepted. This advisor remains with them throughout their journey towards graduation. Our approach to advising is based on a developmental model that requires more responsibility of students as they progress through their course of study. Advising sessions include topics such as course planning, major selection, study skills, and collaboration with peers and faculty, just to name a few.

Learning how to be an effective student takes time. Even students who were successful in high school can feel lost and overwhelmed in a college setting, where the rules have changed and the expectations are different. Advisors provide answers, but more importantly, advisors empower students to find their own answers, and to ask questions that enable their academic and personal growth. Menlo College offers a plethora of resources and opportunities throughout a student’s college experience. Advisors ensure students know about the college’s resources and, more importantly, that they know how, and are motivated to access the resources at the right time in their college journey. In many ways, we teach students how to become their own advisors over time. Advisors are teachers too, and the lessons we teach last a lifetime.

Academic Advisor and Disability Services Specialist Mike Palmieri discusses options with a student registering for next semester’s classes.

Photo: Lisa Villarreal

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Learning how to Launch

Silicon Valley Experts Mentor Entrepreneurship Students

By Annika Steiber, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Management This Fall, Menlo College re-introduced its senior Capstone course ‘Launching a Venture’. The course was developed with input from several professional startup advisors working in the heart of Silicon Valley in order for Menlo College to provide a curriculum based on leading practices in entrepreneurship.

In the course, students work in teams to pitch business ideas, define a problem and a target user group, ideate and test solutions, as well as develop the business model for their startup. At every stage, the team might need to do a pivot based on the most recent lessons learned.

In addition to support from the professor, students receive guidance and feedback from successful entrepreneurs, investors, and active advisors to startups in the Valley. Each student team has a dedicated mentor who meets with the team weekly, or even multiple times per week, to guide them through each stage in the learning process. One student is also designated to act as an advisor and facilitator to the teams on a day-to-day basis. Moreover, I facilitate bi-weekly zoom calls with all mentors to receive feedback, discuss challenges and share advice between mentors. In the end, both mentors and students learn from this collaboration. It’s a chance for students to become a real part of the startup community in Silicon Valley.

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The Unexpected Roles of being an R.A. (hint: it may include goat wrangling)

By Carmen Stockberger, Director of Student Engagement

Resident assistants are often the first to respond when students need someone to turn to for advice or comfort. As Tamara Williams ’20 points out: “Being an active RA is important because not only do we keep residents safe by enforcing policies, we also create a community.” Right: Larissa Martinez ‘21, RA of O’Brien Hall, made a new friend at goat yoga. Opposite page, top to bottom: Tamara Williams ’20; RA Alexandra Christoforatos ‘20 organized a mini-basketball tournament to help her residents de-stress while studying for finals; Student Body President Ashlee Hunt ‘20 channeled her inner artist at a painting party organized by RA’s; and Jamie Linton ‘18 took prospective students on a tour of the campus and residence halls to introduce them to their new home.

Photos: Esteban Ramirez

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oC nfidante Leader

Living on campus can be a huge adjustment for students. Even students who come from a large family, or have shared a room with a sibling, often find that community-style living is vastly different from home. To aid students in that transition, and provide additional support, Menlo appoints 18 student leaders as Resident Assistants (RA). These leaders receive two full weeks of training before the school year begins. This includes basic health and safety protocol in our campus facilities, but also more serious topics like mental health concerns among their residents, and how to respond in crisis situations. Each of our Resident Assistants on campus oversees 35 students on average. The RA’s take turns “on-call” overnight to address any concerns that arise after hours, and maintain office hours in the Office of Student Affairs. Most importantly, these students serve as mentors, resources, and confidantes for all students who live on campus.

Tamara Williams ’20, a senior Marketing major from San Diego, is in her second year of being an RA on campus, and so far has found her experience to be incredibly rewarding. “My favorite part of being an RA is being able to meet so many students and creating an environment where my residents can trust me and consider me a friend,” she stated. As someone with over 12 siblings, you could say she was tailor-made for this position. “Nothing fazes me at this point,” she stated, thanking her large family growing up for helping her understand different dynamics and personalities.

Organizer

Advocate

Each spring, the Office of Student Affairs receives over 30 applications from students hoping to become Resident Assistants in the following academic year.

Just because it’s a highly sought-after role on campus, however, does not mean it’s without challenges. One of the biggest jobs of our RA team is keeping our students safe and creating a respectful, peaceful environment for all. For Tamara, one of the toughest parts of the job is having to confront students when they are being disruptive in the residence halls. She shared, “I understand, because I was once in their shoes, trying to make friends and figure out who I was. But the overall well-being of everyone and safety takes priority.”

Tamara sums up the RA position with this final thought, “Being an active RA is important because not only do we keep residents safe by enforcing policies, but we also create a community where students are able to meet people outside of class. That community offers a safe zone for students mentally, socially, physically, and personally and allows students to have fun while building healthy behaviors during their time at Menlo.”

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By Carmen Stockberger, Director of Student Engagement For years in American higher education, college and university officials served in loco parentis “in place of parents” for their students. This often meant regulating every aspect of a student’s academic and personal life while at school, setting strict curfews, codes of behavior, and restrictions on speech and socialization. However, advances in technology and the value now placed on innovation call for a new way of preparing students for life after college – one that emphasizes autonomous decision-making, critical thinking, social responsibility, and integrity. At Menlo, those ideals are summed up nicely in the phrase “Ignite Your Potential,” and in the Office of Student Affairs, we aim to do just that. Our mission is to provide transformational opportunities for students in the areas of student life, health and wellness, leadership and service, and diversity and inclusion.

For first-year students, the adjustment to a newfound sense of freedom can be exhilarating, but it can also be isolating and exhausting. Our first-year experience program, including the STS 100: Transition to College course covers the basics of being a student, and supports the overall learning environment by asking students to write reflective essays, complete a community service project, and learn more about all resources available on campus. For students who are the first in their families to attend college, our office coordinates lunches with a faculty or staff member of their choice. Additionally, over the last two years, the Office of Student Affairs has increased our mental health services and we now have full-time coverage on campus with a total of 5 mental health counselors. This provides a safe space for students to seek help for issues such as homesickness, anxiety, eating disorders, and other difficulties that can impact both academic performance and personal life while in college. These added support systems enable Menlo to retain a more diverse student body and ensure our students are set up for success from day one.

For first-year students, the adjustment to a newfound sense of freedom can be exhilarating, but it can also be isolating and exhausting.

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By fostering a campus culture that places a value on giving back and engagement in both the campus and local community, we help students develop into conscientious future leaders.

Student Affairs also oversees over 30 clubs on campus, ranging in emphasis from cultural, major-specific, activity-based, or special interest organizations. While each club has a faculty or staff advisor, officer boards are comprised of students, voting is restricted to students only, and all procedural forms and requests are to be completed by students, with minimal staff supervision. At monthly Programming Board meetings, club representatives decide where their student activities fees are spent, giving them a voice in where their money goes and what activities or events are supported across campus. In these ways, clubs not only provide a strong sense of community and belonging on campus, but they also mimic professional organizations and provide hands-on practice to strengthen personal and professional skills.

Service to others is yet one more way the Office of Student Affairs supports students’ interests and professional and personal growth. All students complete what we call “SERV� hours (Service, Education, and Resources for Volunteers) as a graduation requirement. Our office provides a number of on-campus opportunities to give back throughout the year, but also provides resources to off-campus sites as well. By fostering a campus culture that places a value on giving back and engagement in both the campus and local community, we help students develop into conscientious future leaders.

Student Affairs encourages learning by doing, and provides students with opportunities to apply what they are hearing in the classroom in real-world contexts, through leadership, service, and engagement. For students looking for ways to get more involved, our office is a great first-stop and we look forward to meeting you!

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Rising Scholars Program Prepares First-Year Students for Coursework and College Life

By Erik Bakke, Senior Director of Student Academic Support The summer of 2019 marked the fourth year of Menlo College’s Rising Scholars Program, a summer bridge program designed to prepare incoming first-year students for college life, with priority given to students who test into first level English and math. The program is designed to review important skills students will use in their future coursework, but also focuses on answering new students’ questions and helping them to understand the expectations of higher education. In a vote of confidence for the program, 2019 was the first year Rising Scholars was funded by a five-year Department of Education grant.

In the ten days prior to first-year orientation, the program allows students to acclimate to Menlo and become comfortable with college academics and the professors with whom they will soon have their first classes. Through a busy schedule that includes projects inside and outside the classroom and support from English and math professors as well as professional and peer tutors, students develop critical thinking and problem solving skills as they engage in work, and a little play, that integrates close reading, written expression, and quantitative reasoning.

As 2019 Rising Scholar Zidane Mili recently said after his first month of Menlo College classes, “The work given in the program was very similar to the work given by my professors now which allows me to feel more confident. Going to class feels like just another day of Rising Scholars.”

The program guided students through the process of research, writing, and data-analysis, as each Rising Scholar produced a short research paper—an investigation of “living wage” in the San Francisco Bay Area. The students looked at previous studies and researched cost of living across different communities while developing arguments that both defined a living wage and calculated its level. The participants also honed their public speaking skills; they presented their research findings to the Rising Scholars community, then went on to lead discussions of the 2019 common book, There There by Tommy Orange, at the first-year student retreat.

The Rising Scholars also had opportunities to interact with Menlo board members who shared their interests and professional experience. Chris Garrett ’94 led the students on a tour of his Devil’s Canyon Brewing Company and emphasized the work and projects he and his team pursue to make the business economically and ecologically sustainable. Jenae Pennywell ‘20 discussed with the Rising Scholars her summer internship at Devil’s Canyon as an Event Management Intern. Back on campus, the students had an evening discussion with Roxane Marenberg who shared her journey as a lawyer from the US Department of Justice west to her work in Silicon Valley. Board member Shireen Udenka also had an intimate conversation with the students with a focus on not only her professional activities but on overcoming adversity. These discussions resonated with the fourteen students who come from diverse backgrounds.

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art donated tickets to the Rising Scholars for this summer’s Andy Warhol retrospective. The Rising Scholars and supporting faculty and staff took a day trip to San Francisco and considered the social and cultural import and context of Warhol’s work and also considered Warhol as a business person who ran a successful studio as a “factory,” courted wealthy backers, and left a body of work valued at billions of dollars.

Each year the Rising Scholars program allows students to retake placement tests and each year some move on to higher level math and English classes. Rising Scholars of past years have gone on to be exceptionally active members of the college. For example, last year’s participant Megan Robinson was the president of the class of 2022 in 2018 and is currently Health & Wellness Representative of the Student Government Association. We look forward to chronicling the achievements of this year’s class.

This year the Rising Scholars program was organized and designed by Dr. Shilpa Dasgupta, former Math Center Director, and Erik Bakke, Senior Director of Student Academic Support.

Above: Chris Garrett ’94 explains how he built his business. Opposite page: Student mentor Brenna Francisco ’20 accompanies students on a tour of San Francisco, including the Museum of Modern Art and City Lights Bookstore. Photos: Erik Bakke 21 WINTER 2020

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This is

“

Be the person you needed when you were younger.

“

Dr. Kim Tran, Anti-Oppression Consultant

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Brought to You by Menlo College

By Lauren John, Staff Writer

On

September 21, 2019 Menlo College launched its first ever TEDx conference, centered on the theme This is America. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At these events, TED Talks, video and performances combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a smaller setting.

Menlo’s full-day event included speakers who expressed big ideas bolstered by moving personal experiences, and performers such as Royalty, a spoken word artist and poet who presented a powerful poem about racial inequality.

Royce Lovett, a hip-hop artist, singer and songwriter, closed out the program with an optimistic song about the power of love. He said, “We can’t wait for America to fix itself; we have to fix it. We have to know love, show love and teach love.”

By qualifying for a TEDx license, the student-led Menlo College team earned the opportunity to choose a theme, select speakers, invite attendees to campus, and produce talks to be posted on the TED platform. The theme “This is America” was open to many interpretations, said Executive Director and Curator Sachal Jogi ’20. He noted that for many, “America represents a strong economy, diversity, and creativity, while at the same time there is great uncertainty coming from the shifting social, political, and technological factors in society. There are two sides, our history and what’s happening next.” Jogi recalled that the topic of identity arose as the diverse team began to talk about their own American experiences. With a student body representing 38 countries and 29 states, Menlo College is a community that is enriched by many viewpoints each and every day. “Our students come from a broad array of circumstances and backgrounds,” said Menlo College President Steven Weiner in his welcoming remarks. “That diversity informs today’s talks.” Speaker topics included immigration, gender identity, privilege and structural inequality, mental health and teen entrepreneurship.

Several speakers addressed the challenges of growing up “other” in America—trying to fit into a society that wasn’t made for those who looked like you.

Singer-songwriter Royce Lovett performs for the TEDx audience.

Photo: Esteban Ramirez

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Many shared how they overcame overwhelming challenges.

Speaker Sarahi Espinoza Salamanca arrived as a child from Mexico, and excelled at school. But when she tried to apply for college, she discovered that she did not have a social security number—her family was undocumented. Today, Espinoza Salamanca, 29, is a graduate of Cañada College and founder of DREAMer’s Roadmap, a free mobile app that helps undocumented students across the country find college scholarship opportunities.

Mahmoud Khedr, who emigrated from Egypt to New York City as a child, is the Co-founder and CEO of FloraMind, a social-impact driven company that partners with high schools to provide mental health and well-being programs. He also holds a degree in Social Entrepreneurship from the City College of New York and is a Forbes Under-30 Scholar. But he faced personal crises before success. At one point, Khedr’s despair was so great that he attempted suicide; in his talk, he showed excerpts of his suicide note. Khedr’s topic: “toxic positivity,” a forced optimism that many in distress are encouraged to adopt, masking their deep depression. Calling out to an audience member in the second row, he said, “Imagine if, God forbid, you broke your arm and instead of taking you to the hospital to treat your pain, I told you.. Just be happy!!” For Mahmoud, that’s toxic positivity. Instead, he posted a list of ways to start constructive discussions with people to show true empathy.

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Lilliana Chisler ’22, a Menlo marketing and sports management major and soccer player who is also Vice President of the Social Justice Club, spoke about institutional racism and privilege. “Being silent (about a social justice issue) because it doesn’t affect you doesn’t make you neutral; it makes you complicit,” she said.

TEDxMenloCollege ended with an extended standing ovation. But what about the long-range impact as the online talks are shared across the state, the country and perhaps the world? Here’s what Menlo College political science professor Dr. Melissa Michelson suggested in her talk “How to be an Ally for Social Justice.”

“Imagine launching a boat across a body of water, sailing from prejudice to inclusion,” she said. “With each conversation, you’re giving that boat a little nudge toward the other shore.”

Partners of the event included Devil’s Canyon Brewing Company, GT’s Living Foods, Imperfect Produce, Sodexo, The White Oak Flower Shoppe, and Kahawa 1893.

Menlo students led the event both on- and offstage. Dezmond Frazier’ 22 (left) emceed, while Lilliana Chisler ‘22, Marketing and Sports Management Major (right) gave a presentation on social injustice in America.

Photos: Miguel Lim and Esteban Ramirez

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Another 1 st for Menlo Behind the scenes/birth of a conference It all began about a year ago with one of those “what if” conversations that permeate the Menlo campus and, indeed Silicon Valley itself. Junior Sachal Jogi ’20 was talking with his close friend, senior Ngozi Harrison ’19. They had watched TED talks both in and out of class and wondered if Menlo could host the kind of TED events more commonly held at larger colleges and institutions in the area. As they talked, their enthusiasm grew. No idea was out of bounds. “What if Michelle Obama came?” mused Jogi. “Colin Kaepernick?”

Obama and Kaepernick did not make it to Menlo— at least not this year. But that did not dampen the enthusiasm. Ultimately, the student-led team, with support from the Menlo College community, spent countless hours planning TEDxMenloCollege.

This included handling the TEDx application and compliance, securing partnerships, curating the program, and handling logistics. This team didn’t just include upperclassmen, but also first-years such as student photographer Esteban Ramirez ’23.

Ramirez said, “Even though I had just met a lot of the team, they interacted with me as if I had known them for a long time,” adding, “I’m a bit shy at first, but collaborating with everyone has been one of the best opportunities for my starting year at Menlo College. It’s amazing to see other young people with the heart to carry out this massive project.”

Photos: Miguel Lim and Esteban Ramirez 27 WINTER 2020

University Innovation Fellows: Change Agents at Menlo College Menlo College students chosen as University Innovation Fellows (UIF) mentor other students in the leadership skills they learn through the program. Begun in 2012 by Stanford University’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (d.school), the program directors lead UIF candidates through assessing the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem at their campuses and teach them design thinking skills, such as how to step back from a large problem and look at it anew. Menlo College fellows have helped nurture exciting new ideas on the campus. ..

For example, this year’s cohort of UIF Fellows, which includes Bianca Barros ’21, Rufus Pappy ’21, Christopher Overkamping ’21, and George Hofstetter ’22 , helped create TEDxMenloCollege with a theme of This is America: Exploring Visions of an America Built for Everyone. At this thought-provoking September 2019 event, the current fellows worked with other fellows, including Sachal Jogi ’20, Brenda Flores-Reyes ’20, Ethan Moengchaisong ’20, and Jessica Carlson ’19, to bring to the stage new perspectives on identity in a fast-changing America.

This year’s UIF Fellows have made an impact with their creativity and leadership across the globe. Bianca Barros led a Model United Nations team in Brazil in summer 2019, and Brenda Flores-Reyes and Ethan Moengchaisong facilitate design thinking workshops for corporations. George Hofstetter was a keynote speaker at a youth summit sponsored by Sonoma State in September, and he is the founder of a company that promotes social justice and inspires African American youth to become innovators. He recently traveled abroad to train South African youth on coding. We are proud of the influence that the College’s UIFs are already having on institutions and look forward to seeing how they make the planet a better place in the future.

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F a cu l t y News

Alumni Demonstrate their Commitment to

By Leslie E. Sekerka, Ph.D., Professor of Management/Director, Menlo Ethics in Action Center; Jiana Bowie ’15, Senior Customer Success Associate, Talentsky; Marilyn MacLellan ’13, Program Manager, Amazon; Taylor Morrow ’16, Social Media Associate, 23andMe As a part of the College’s strategic plan, faculty and staff are working together to create ways to welcome alumni back to campus, connect them with campus life, and provide opportunities to advance their professional development. Thanks to the help of Jiana Bowie, Menlo launched the Alumni Ethics in Action Panel Event in the spring of 2019. She describes how the program began:

‘‘

I reached out to Professor Sekerka to see if she could help me bring my idea of educating people on sustainability and ethics to life, and so she did. We now have our 3rd Ethics in Action Panel Event in the works! Now alumni have a place to talk about their experiences with ethics, as they relate to various topics in the real world, and share their stories and passions with students and Menlo stakeholders. I am so grateful and humbled by Professor Sekerka’s commitment to forging this program and to all the panel members for their amazing contributions. It is inspiring to see people do such great things when they come together around a common cause and purpose.

‘‘

The initial program included trustee Chris Garrett (Devil’s Canyon Brewery), Krista Kuehnhackl, and Christine Zaugg (Sustainable San Mateo County), who sparked students’ moral curiosity as they encouraged mindfulness toward the natural environment as citizens and business leaders.

Given the program’s appeal, Marilyn MacClellan stepped up to help lead the fall event. The topic of “ethics of entrepreneurship” was championed by trustees Tom Byers (Stanford University) and Roxane Marenberg (Marvell Semiconductor), along with Lon Allan (Silicon Valley attorney/ethics expert) and Jocelyn Tan (entrepreneurial leader). As described by MacClellan:

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Business Ethics and Ongoing Learning

‘‘

ecause Menlo is located in the hotbed of start-ups and motivated entrepreneurs flock here from all over the world, B I thought it was important to use this event to reach students interested in such a path. There is no better time for a business leader to set an ethical course for his or her company than from the first days it is open for business.

‘‘

Taylor Morrow is on deck to lead the fall 2020 event. While still in the planning phase, she describes her event as: One that will be helpful for students joining the workforce, looking at ethics in recruitment and hiring.

The panel event program, designed by Professor Leslie Sekerka, taps alumni to help produce and host an event that targets an area of ethical concern that’s important to them. By participating, alumni benefit from guided support to create an educational forum, an opportunity to return to campus to help students, ongoing professional development, and connections with Bay Area experts. Sponsored by Menlo’s Ethics in Action Center, the series is an example of how the Center works to build bridges between students and the Bay Area community to promote ethical strength in business and encourage the development of moral competency. MacLellan explains the connection:

‘‘

The series brings fresh perspective from business leaders who are working in the Silicon Valley to the Menlo campus.

Students are able to see what their futures may look like through the eyes of those who are living and working now.

Students who attend these panels are removed from classroom hypothetical exercises and thrust into the reality of what business leaders face every day. The result is a better-prepared and well-rounded ethical Menlo College graduate.

‘‘

We look forward to welcoming you to these campus events and participating in their creation. Contact Professor Sekerka if you are interested in attending the next event or playing a role in developing the series.

Photo: Miguel Lim

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F a cu l t y News Faculty Updates Management Professor Arthur Chait was invited to give the inaugural address for the incoming class at Universidad Francisco Marroquín in Guatemala City. While in residence in Guatemala as a visiting professor, Professor Chait will also teach a course on Technology, Innovation and Marketing.

Two papers written by Finance Professor Soumen De were recently published: “Has Higher Institutional Participation led to Lower Insider Participation and Superior Post- merger Performance in India?” was coauthored with Pradip Banerjee and Finance Professor Dima Leshchinskii, and appeared in the International Journal of Business; and “Alliances and Stock Market Response: A Comparative Analysis Across Industries,” was coauthored with Rajesh Kumar, Pradipkumar Ramanlal, and Finance Professor Manish Tewari, and appeared in Cogent Business and Management. Professor De was also the sole author for a book chapter that appeared in Indian Business, entitled “Improving Access to Finance in India: Three Recommendations.”

Management Professors Shalini Gopalkrishnan and Bruce Paton led Menlo students in a SOLVEATHON sponsored by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Their challenge was to use circular design thinking to devise solutions for issues faced by communities.

Last fall, over 70 students, faculty, alumni, and real estate professionals participated in “Real Estate by the Bay: Issues and Challenges,” the first symposium of the Real Estate Center @ Menlo College (TREC).

The symposium was led by TREC Director and Visiting Professor Margaret McFarland, and was sponsored by the Neighborhood Development Collaborative (NDC), a national nonprofit community development organization that finances, owns and manages affordable housing properties around the country. NDC also promotes education initiatives that support the next generation of real estate professionals. Panelists at the event included Menlo Professors Fabian Eggers, Dima Leshchinskii, Margaret McFarland, Melissa Michelson, and Leslie Sekerka; along with John Carlisi, President of NDC; Cari Pang Chen, Associate Director of Rebuilding Together Peninsula; David Cole, COO of NDC; Collin Forgey, Principal at Sun Archer Investments; Menlo Trustee David Irmer ’58, President, Founder and Owner of Innisfree Companies; Michael E. Johnson, President of Urban Core Development; Paul Kalill, Professor at Capella University; Sandy Marenberg, President of Marenberg Enterprises; Robert Nielsen, President of Shelter Properties and member of the San Francisco Home Loan Bank Advisory Board; and Heather Peters, Senior Policy Analyst for San Mateo County. The marquee speaker was Dr. Rodney Harrell, AARP Vice President for Livable Communities. Next year’s symposium will take place on November 9, 2020.

Rodney Harrell, PhD, Vice President, Livable Communities, AARP Public Policy Institute, Washington, DC

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Economics Professor Craig Medlen presented “Deficits for the Rich” at the Association for Evolutionary Economics Conference in San Diego. The presentation addressed the topic of government and private party deficits that serve to drive corporate cash in excess of new capital expenditures. Professor Medlen argues that excess corporate cash drives stock valuations upwards, contributing to wealth inequality and economic volatility.

Political Science Professor Melissa R. Michelson recently hosted two national convenings of political scientists in Washington, DC: The Women of Color in Political Science workshop, funded by a National Science Foundation grant; and the Latino Politics Workshop. The latter coincided with the end of her term as President of the Latino Caucus of the American Political Science Association. Professor Michelson’s article about the workshops, entitled “Building our Communities,” was subsequently published in PS: Political Science & Politics. Separately, Professor Michelson was invited to speak at the Latino Leadership Alliance 10th Anniversary Forum at Stanford University, and at the Redwood City Leadership’s Government Day. She was also invited to participate in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences meeting on Protecting Communities in Social Science Studies: Towards New Ethics. Finally, Professor Michelson’s sixth book, Transforming Prejudice: Fear, Identity, and Transgender Rights, will be released by Oxford University Press in April 2020. She is working under contract on her next book, LGBTQ Life in America, which is due to be published in 2021.

At the upcoming International Conference on Sport & Society hosted by the University of Granada in Spain, Sports Management Professor Sean Pradan will present the results of two research projects that investigated sports fans’ attitudes toward cannabis use and corporate sponsor response in fans of Major League Baseball and La Liga soccer. Separately, Professor Pradhan is overseeing student research in the Center for Sports Management Research Laboratory that will be submitted for presentation to professional conferences.

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F a cu l t y News The research of Management Professor Leslie Sekerka on moral strength, financial literacy, ethical consumption, respect in the workplace, and stakeholder capitalism has added rigor to Menlo’s business ethics programming. Her scholarship was selected for presentation in the U.S. at the Comparative and International Education Society and the American Psychological Association; and overseas at the International Convention of Psychological Science and Wellbeing at Work Conference, the Business Economics Society International, and the European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology.

Professor Sekerka also recently attended an international Worklab, where she was selected to share her Silicon Valley case study on “innovating organizational culture.”

Routledge of Oxfordshire invited Professor Sekerka to author a book entitled “Bringing Ethics to Work,” a practical reader for employees. Finally, in collaboration with student leaders of Menlo College’s Rotaract Club, a reading of Professor Sekerka’s “Being a Better Bear Story Hour” was held at Bowman Library. For that reading, children from the surrounding communities were invited to campus to read Being a Better Bear: The Ethics of Cheezee Pleazees. The professor’s children’s series is designed to help educators and parents teach children about the value of ethics and self-regulation (available on Amazon).

This semester Professor Sekerka arranged for a number of Silicon Valley leaders to visit campus to speak with students, including Andy Hinton, Vice-President and Chief Compliance Officer at Google.

Professor Annika Steiber was awarded the Rendanheyi Badge at the Haier International Forum. The Rendanheyi Badge is a management award jointly sponsored by mLab and Haier Group.

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Connections and Conversations

Virtual Island Hosts Real Tales of the Pacific Rim

By Lauren John, Staff Writer

“In the beginning . . . Papa (Earth Mother) and Wākea (Sky Father) created the Hawaiian Islands,” writes former student Mariah Paishon in an essay for Adjunct Professor Linda Bakke’s class on the Literature of Hawai’i and the Pacific. “Hawaiian mythology, like myths in most other cultures, have a lot to do with explaining the world around us,” Paishon says.

Now, her cultural observations have gained a wider audience on a new student-generated online magazine called Virtual Island, hosted on the site of Menlo College’s new eportfolio partner Digication. “This multimedia website offers an in-depth view of a wide part of the world that many Americans know best through tourism,” says student Jordyn Sanico ’21 in her Virtual Island essay, “Native Hawai’ian, Local, Haole.”

“What’s more, “she adds, “the rich indigenous oral, written and artistic voices have often been ‘watered down’ by colonialism.” Sanico notes that visitors often miss the great diversity of the people. Even within one family, members may trace their ancestors to a variety of nations, including Japan and the Philippines. Virtual Island aims to correct misperceptions, and give students a new medium of self-expression.

“We welcome the Menlo College community to engage with the many Pacific voices and cultures that are represented on campus,” says Professor Bakke, who founded the multimedia magazine. Currently, 72 students from the state of Hawaii are enrolled in Menlo College along with other Pacific Islanders.

All Menlo College students are welcome to submit writing, drawings and photography to Virtual Island, Bakke says. Student work appears along with writing by more established writers and professors so that students can view a wider range of subjects and skills, she explains. This, in turn, may inspire them to self-edit or expand their own work. In fact, adds Bakke, “Many of the students remarked that they had never written for publication before… I think they did a bang-up job!”

To date, students have explored themes of exclusion, inclusion and representation. They have written about multiculturalism and “wayfinding”—the time-honored process of navigating by the stars. Moving from the sky and the ocean to Atherton’s playing fields, Virtual Island also features a profile of Menlo College athletes from Hawai’i. Going forward, Professor Bakke hopes to establish more connections and conversations between Menlo College and the wider Pacific Rim community.

For more information on Virtual Island, go to: https://menlocollege.digication.com/virtualisland

Some of the writing and drawings on Virtual Island first appear in a print magazine (zine) that students create each semester. In Fall 2019, students produced a Halloween zine featuring tales of the supernatural. The Spring 2020 zine on conservation will be done in collaboration with Menlo student Russell Perkins ’20, CEO of Havet (ocean), a surf/ocean-themed clothing company. Art by Sara Aguilar ‘21, from the cover of the Halloween zine 2019.

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INT E R N S H IP S T H R O U G H M E NLO

Menlo Internship Program Expands and Innovates Each Year

By Dylan Houle, Director of Internships & Career Services, and the Career Services Staff

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M

enlo College recently celebrated the fifth anniversary of the Academic Internship Program. Since being formalized as a graduation requirement, more than 800 students have participated in the program, interning at more than 400 unique employer sites in a wide variety of industries and sectors throughout the Bay Area and Los Angeles. Impressed employers and proud alumni come back year after year to recruit, hire and mentor the next generation of leaders.

“We are proud to have over 20 Menlo College alumni on our Bay Area teams,” says Casey Porter, Talent Acquisition Manager for Enterprise Holdings, Inc. “Menlo students are competitive, driven, and ready to take on the world!” Proving Porter’s point, Enterprise intern Bruce Valdez ’20 won the best overall regional internship performance this summer.

Long-time partners like Enterprise are joined by new ones each year. Jonathan Nicolas, a Partner at Pettinelli Financial Partners in Continued on page 37

Michael Tomars ‘87 counsels Amanda Arena ‘20, Nathalie Vega ‘20, and Ashley Diamond ‘15 about entering professional life.

Photo: Andrey Poliakov

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INT E R N S H IP S T H R O U G H M E NLO Redwood City, recently found out about the program and wanted to get involved. “I believe that Menlo College is on the right path to preparing students to launch their careers,” Nicolas said after participating in the College’s Mock Interview Day. He’s already invited several students to begin the application process at his firm.

As students graduate from Menlo College and join the alumni network, they are eager to host a student-intern at their new place of employment. This is a high-impact way to give back to the College and “it keeps me up to date on all of the changes going on at Menlo,” explains Ashley Diamond ’15, Product Manager at Karmia.

Her intern, Nathalie Vega ’20, says, “Yes, we talk about Menlo and how it used to be when she was a student … working under her has motivated me to keep learning and pushing myself.”

Michael Tomars ’87, who recently won the 2019 Outstanding Alumni Award, supervised Amanda Arena ’20 at the Securities and Exchange Commission this past summer and shared that the experience “facilitated a re-connection with Menlo on so many levels. Through daily interactions with my intern, I was able to assess how Menlo was preparing students for successful careers in business.”

Recent graduate Kiyani Punzal ’17 completed her internship in 2016 at Sequoia Consulting Group and is now one of their People Operations Specialists. This past summer she co-supervised three Menlo College students: Keeley Hernandez ’20, Daniel Piazza ’20, and Solin Piearcy ’20.

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“I reminisced [on] what I wished to have accomplished during my time as an intern,” Punzal said. “I took those ideas and applied them to this year’s summer internship program.” Her interns reaped the benefits of her thoughtful approach.

“There are so many advantages to working with [alumni]… Menlo is a family,” says Piearcy.

Hernandez agreed: “It made me want to eventually do what Kiyani has done for the school by giving back to the future students that attend Menlo College after I graduate.”

But the benefits go both ways. Menlo College students are uniquely equipped to make meaningful contributions at their internship starting on day one. Alumnus Ilya Lipovich ’99, Co-Founder and CEO of Cider Corporation, offered a summer internship to Sambhab “Sam” Thapaliya ’20 and noted that “interns from Menlo, in many cases, already have massive ambitions.” Sam was no exception. He proved to “be a real asset to the company,” Lipovich said.

Over these past five years, the Academic Internship Program has evolved into a rallying point for the local community, with everyone—employers and alumni alike—cheering for the success of Menlo College and its students.

Ilya Lipovich ‘99 reconnects with his former intern, Sambhab “Sam” Thapilya ‘20 on a visit to campus this fall. Facing page: After driving an Enterprise client home to his ranch, Bruce Valdez ‘20 is introduced to the merits of alternative transportation.

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Mock Interviews Provide Real Practice

Mock Interview Day this October was a high-energy two-day event in the Russell Center on campus. To prepare students for success in their internship search, close to 60 employers and alumni from around the Bay Area volunteered to conduct panel-style interviews with more than 160 students.

Both volunteers and students left feeling empowered and encouraged.

“Menlo is such an untapped pool of talent,” one employer observed; another wrote, “[Menlo College] students are more prepared than many. This was a positive experience and I’d do it again.”

More than 90 percent of students who responded to the feedback survey said the experience increased their confidence in their interviewing skills. One student commented, “I think [mock interviews] reduce a lot of stress… It’s nice to get feedback and see how you will behave and present yourself. Overall, I think I am more confident and ready to go and try more interviews.”

Another student wrote, “The two interviews I had were with Menlo College alumni, and I believed this made the interview process all the more special. They provided me excellent feedback.”

Organizing this 200-plus person event was no small feat for the Internships & Career Services (ICS) team. In particular, Kacy Takamoto, ICS Coordinator, led the effort by securing corporate sponsorships, recruiting volunteers, managing student sign-ups, and responding to last minute changes and requests with unflappable bonhomie.

“This was the first year we conducted mock interviews as a full-blown event,” said Dylan Houle, ICS Director. “I’m very proud of the ICS team proposing a new way of doing things and executing the vision. This is definitely how we’ll be doing mock interviews going forward.”

Menlo College will be hosting Mock Interview Day again in fall 2020. If you or your company is interested in participating or sponsoring, please contact careerservices@menlo.edu.

Photo: Andrey Poliakov

“

I think [mock interviews] reduce a lot of stress…

It’s nice to get feedback and see how you will behave and present yourself.

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Study Abroad:

An Intense Learning Experience

By Kelly Davis, Assistant Director of Career Services and Study Abroad

When asked what advice she would give to students considering study abroad, Menlo Senior Ka’llihiwa (“Ili”) Kane ’20 responded without missing a beat, “Don’t consider – do it.” After spending the Spring semester of her Junior year in Rome, Italy with Menlo’s provider partner Cultural Experiences Abroad (CEA), study abroad has been one of Ili’s favorite experiences while attending Menlo College.

Studying abroad is no small feat for Menlo students, whether they are originally from the Bay Area, Hawaii, elsewhere in California and the U.S., or elsewhere in the world. The College community is tight-knit like a family and it can be difficult to travel far away even for one semester. I reassure students, however, that their Menlo family will always be here when they return. And even after just ten days of studying in a different country, they will bring back to Menlo an in-depth understanding of a different cultural perspective and a new sense of global context, among other gifts.

Ili has experienced the learning study abroad has to offer first-hand. While she studied in Italy, Ili took a course on Italian culture and wine where she not only made pasta and tried various fresh dishes, but she studied hard to learn about the origins of the food and recipes. She took her Business Ethics requirement abroad, where she studied the ethics of business through specific country case-studies.

Ili emphasized that she became “more open,” and more willing to ask questions. This openness, this curiosity, is something that Ili used immediately over the summer with the internship she completed for her Business degree.

Right now, Menlo sends between six and nine students abroad each year – semester and short-term programs included. But the interest is growing. More students are becoming aware of the opportunities to study abroad, and they want to make it happen.

The Office of Internships, Career Services and Study Abroad looks forward to helping more Menlo students access a truly life-changing opportunity: learning in another country.

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Student Life

Menlo Creates a Home Away from Home for International Students

By Rachel Turner, Adjunct Professor of English

Menlo has made its mark on the map, branching out to over 36 countries from our small, tree-lined campus. The transition to American college isn’t always easy for international students, so how does Menlo help these students feel at home?

Everyone’s Included Alan Àlvarez Orozco ’18 came to Menlo as an international student from Mexico, and after graduating with a B.S. in Business Management, he stayed on as Menlo’s International Recruiting and Events Coordinator. He explains how immediately upon coming to Menlo, international students are integrated into the student body: “I felt part of the whole student program. I never felt like they put me on the side … I felt I was part of the whole population.”

This inclusive atmosphere is enhanced by Menlo’s organizations.

Orozco points out, “the staff works very closely with clubs, making sure that they offer different events for all these populations that we have on campus.” International students often find a place to belong and a new community of friends in student organizations.

“It’s easier to make connections and have a good time,” said Bastien Grunenwald ’21, an international student from France.

“All the clubs—they help you to be included in a group and make friends.” Wanglei Du ’22, a second-year international student from China, added, “I like sports, so I joined the rowing team.

It really helps me. Most of them are local people, so I can learn more about the different culture.”

A Helping Hand Menlo has a robust Intensive English Program (IEP) that works with students in small class groups to adjust to taking classes entirely in English. “When I first came here, I didn’t know what the people said. The pronunciation is much different from what I learned in China,” Du said. “I was worried and nervous— especially [about] my listening. IEP could help me learn authentic American English and improve my English level.”

“All the teachers from the IEP program were very helpful,” Grunenwald seconded. “When you have a problem, you can still have help from all of them and see them in the Writing Center.” The Writing and Oral Communication Center (WOCC) is available to all students who need help with their written work and oral presentations. Du added, “It can help me to correct the grammar and structure the paper when I have no ideas.” It’s not uncommon to see American and international students alike in the WOCC getting help with the same assignments.

All for One “It’s really different from any country we come from because it’s another approach [to] classes, another way of teaching,” Grunenwald said. “It’s more focused on the well-being of the students.” As such, Menlo’s focus is truly student-first. “I felt part of a family. Everyone knows you and everyone is here to help you,” Alvarez Orozco sums up. “We don’t really target specific populations, so everyone’s there to help everyone, no matter where you’re coming from.”

Dima Leshchinskii, Associate Professor of Finance (left), and Rachel Turner (right) advise international students. Photos: Lisa Villarreal.

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Scholarships!

Eight Oaks Receive CalCPA Scholarships The Peninsula Silicon Valley chapter of CalCPA awarded scholarships to recognize academic achievement in accounting to eight Menlo students: Victoria Cervantes ’20, Alexandra Christoforatos ’20, Leana Darden ’20, Marilyn Garcia ’20, Lucyanna Herrera ’21, John Paine ’20, Tina Petelo ’20, and Katianne Walker ’21.

Professor Janis Zaima sponsored the Menlo students who were honored.

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2 1 S T C E NT U R Y C LA S S R OO M

Innovating our Curriculum fora Contemporary World

By Grande Lum, Menlo College Provost

It is my privilege to introduce the new Menlo College Magazine section “Curriculum Innovation.” Lately we have accelerated our efforts to expand our curriculum and make it more relevant to careers in fast-changing Silicon Valley and elsewhere. Our new classes are tailored to match the skills our graduates will need with the competencies employers seek.

The developed curriculum helps our students succeed no matter what changes take place in the workplace. Menlo College graduates are able to adjust and adapt, and so have historically done well in their careers over time. Zippia, a company that researches job markets, named Menlo College #1 on their list of 10 Best Colleges for Jobs in California for 2019, based on employment levels 10 years after the student graduated.

In this issue of Menlo College Magazine, you will find articles on new and revised classes to maintain the strengths of our graduates for the next ten years, including Professor Sean Pradhan’s renovation of the sports management curriculum, the new approach to using the common book in the English curriculum, Professor Marianne Neuwirth’s class on negotiation and persuasion and my class on strategic negotiation. In a future issue, we will focus on the latest curriculum news from the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program involving corporate innovation, sustainability and emerging technologies. We will also share more on the expansion and enhancement of the real estate curriculum.

Menlo College is committed to combining our curriculum with new ideas, new technologies, and the strong classical training in critical thinking that will carry graduates through whatever changes the new world brings.

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2 1 S T C E NT U R Y C LA S S R OO M

Innovations in Sports Management Curriculum Prepare Students For Careers in a Growing Industry

By Sean Pradhan, Assistant Professor of Sports Management, Director of Sports Management Program Menlo College’s Sports Management program has recently been revamped to not only provide an introduction to the field, but to also expose students to research methods, essential skills, and career paths in this expanding industry. With the North American sports market poised to reach over $80 billion by the year 2022, job opportunities have multiplied. In response, the number of sports management programs across the country has grown to over 500, with just over 20 of these programs at California schools, including 5 in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Menlo College’s Sports Management program provides a unique opportunity to learn about the field from a business perspective. The program features courses on organizational issues like marketing and advertising, managerial ethics, and historical developments in sports, as well as computational analysis in the ever-growing area of data analytics along with sports economics.

With its reputation for excellence in athletics and the diverse athletic program offerings, Menlo has always attracted students with a passion for sports. The Sports Management program enables students to turn that passion into a career path. Menlo alumni earning degrees in Sports Management have gone on to work in operations, marketing, sales, and communication for various organizations like the San Francisco Giants, San Francisco 49ers, Stanford University, and San José State University, among others. The variety of opportunities available has generated considerable enthusiasm among students; enrollment in Sports Management at Menlo College has increased by 28% in the past year alone.

Revenue (In billions of U.S. Dollars)

Some of my own research has inspired the program’s course structure. For instance, I have recently published articles examining team performance in eSports, marketing implications of league-wide initiatives (e.g., the National Basketball Association’s jersey sponsorship program), as well as sports fans’ motivations for drug use (e.g., marijuana and alcohol) and perceptions of such use by professional athletes. In an effort to expose students to research, I have also started the Center for Sports Management. Currently, my students are working on their own projects for possible publication. My hope is to expand students’ knowledge in the classroom and have them apply their skills to answer some of the most pertinent questions in sports today. Most importantly, the redeveloped sports management curriculum, paired with the additional research laboratory experience, will better prepare our students for careers in sports.

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

The Sports Industry North American Sports Market Size

48.73

49.99

52.01

53.47

56.45

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

60.23

2014

63.56

2015

67.29

69.28

2016

2017

71.86

74.09

2018

2019

76.51

78.53

2020

2021

Source: Statista (2018)

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There There

Common Book Forges Connections Among Incoming Students

By Erik Bakke, Senior Director of Student Academic Support

Incoming students at Menlo share a learning experience together even before they arrive. Each year, Menlo designates a “common book” that is sent to all first-year students; the book is required reading, ensuring that freshmen arrive on campus with some common ground and fodder for meaningful conversations. This year’s selection was There There by Tommy Orange, a novel set in Oakland about the “urban Indian” experience.

The selection process involved the entire College community, with the common book committee soliciting input from across Menlo on the theme of “Borders and Cross-Cultural Belonging;” the community then voted on a selection of books. Tellingly, for the last two years, the committee’s first choice and the Menlo community’s first choice have been in accord.

In a message to students, the heads of the common book committee, Dr. Melissa Poulsen of the English Department and Erik Bakke, Senior Director of Student Academic Support, explained the reasons for the selection: “This award-winning novel grapples with the effects of generational trauma as it follows the interconnected stories of ‘urban Indians’ whose lives converge in contemporary Oakland, California. The novel starts with searing commentary on the history of North American colonization and the loss of native lands, life, and culture and continues with stories from today. (...) The recent news of Joy Harjo being chosen as the U.S. Poet Laureate, the first Native American to have been chosen, and of Gavin Newsom apologizing to native peoples for the U.S. government’s role in ‘genocide’ in California make There There a timely choice. ” Incoming freshmen began examining the novel together in peer discussion groups led by participants in the Rising Scholars program during the first-year student retreat held prior to the first day of classes. These discussions were brought into the classroom in the first-year Transition to College course; students prepared responses to a series of questions, which then became the basis of class activities. Menlo sponsored events related to the book continue throughout the year; for example, in October, just after Indigenous Peoples’ Day, students attended a reading by Tommy Orange at the San Francisco Public Library.

Given the diversity of the Menlo College first-year student body that There There has proven a popular choice with this year’s students is not a surprise. Exploring the novel together provided students with an opportunity to begin to think through together how they can appreciate their differences, and yet still come together as a community. As Dr. Poulsen affirms, “Common books, which are assigned by many colleges across the United States, are a way to help incoming students connect with each other and the campus community at large. Ideally, common books can provide a sense of continuity across and outside of classes.”

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2 1 S T C E NT U R Y C LA S S R OO M

Course in Persuasion and Negotiation Skills Prepares Students for Professional Success

By Marianne Neuwirth, Ph.D., Director of the Oral Communication Program Most job descriptions cite “excellent oral and written communication skills” as desired criteria for prospective employees. But even beyond the professional world, studying communication styles and tactics is essential: with stronger communication skills, students can not only express themselves more effectively, but can also be more savvy consumers who identify faulty reasoning and unsubstantiated claims. I designed a course in Persuasion and Negotiation because teaching our students how to listen, ask questions, debate ideas, navigate potential conflict successfully, and persuade and negotiate ethically and with finesse gives them an edge in the world. The class, which was offered for the first time in Spring 2019, highlights the use of verbal and nonverbal channels to enact - and also decipher - persuasive attempts within the context of interpersonal and professional interactions, and cultivates critical assessment and consideration of cultural and gender variations in negotiation strategies.

During the course, several students expressed particular anxiety about the salary negotiations they would face after graduation, so I expanded our discussion of salary negotiation to include an interactive role-play with volunteer faculty and staff members.

I required each student to bring in a formal description of a job they wanted, and to use the skills learned in class of analyzing texts, identifying their own and the potential employer’s interests, values, and goals, and crafting persuasive arguments about their prospective worth to the company. After the exercise students received immediate feedback and recommendations for improvement from the volunteers. This exercise serves as the culmination of a demanding course that leaves students feeling confident and prepared for the work world when they graduate.

Menlo College’s mission includes creating an environment that fosters innovation, and persuasion and negotiation skills are essential for creating teams, convincing others to support ideas, and achieving success.

These skills can help students negotiate better salaries, create productive working environments, and develop more satisfying personal relationships.

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With stronger communication skills, students can not only express themselves more effectively, but can also be more savvy consumers who identify faulty reasoning and unsubstantiated claims.

Marianne Neuwirth

Provost Brings Real World Negotiating Power to Classroom

By Grande Lum, Menlo College Provost As we prepare our students for the 21st century, Menlo College focuses on instilling readiness, adaptability and innovation. While offering many benefits, Silicon Valley has disrupted our life paths. We can now connect instantly with each other around the globe 24/7. Markets and professions have gone through seismic changes, including the explosion of the gig economy that makes interrupted workweeks the norm. More and more people are starting companies, joining startups, working as contractors, and partnering with others.

All of these massive changes have meant that we are negotiating more and more frequently.

When considering another job, you are potentially negotiating salary, bonus, vacation, health care and more. If you are a manager you are negotiating salaries of your employees, an area fraught with ego and emotion. If you are working independently, you are potentially negotiating with customers, vendors, lawyers, and others. On the personal front, you must weigh the benefits of high cost items, such as a car or home, and engage in sometimes difficult interpersonal conversations with family and friends. Conversations may be fraught with emotion and history over such questions as where a child should go to school.

At Menlo Dr. Marianne Neuwirth teaches negotiation and persuasion, and I piloted a Strategic Negotiations class last fall to impart my academic and professional experience in strategic negotiation. This course includes classic negotiation theory exemplified by my time at the Harvard Negotiation Project and its spin-off Conflict Management Inc, where I worked with some of the giants of the field, including Roger Fisher and Bruce Patton, two of the co-authors of Getting to Yes, the best-selling negotiation book of all time. More recently I worked intensively on complex, multi-party conflict management with the faculty at Ohio State University’s Moritz College of the Law and, prior to coming to Menlo College, I taught negotiation courses at Stanford Law School and continue as a Research Fellow there.

The key concept for the Strategic Negotiations course was preparation for any encounter. As long as students prepared, they would improve their skills over time.

Grande Lum

The key concept for the Strategic Negotiations course was preparation for any encounter.

As long as students prepared, they would improve their skills over time. To that end, the class itself used an innovative style involving simulations, face to face negotiations, and cyber negotiations as well.

Taking a negotiation course changed my entire life, moving my career into mediation that ultimately led to my appointment as a Department of Justice appointee in the Obama administration and to Menlo College provost. I am glad that Menlo has a rich curriculum in persuasion skills to help students navigate their paths to their niches.

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OA K TO B E R F E S T 2 0 1 9

By Lauren John, Staff Writer On October 19, 2019 over 2,200 alumni and friends of Menlo College honored their connection to the school by playing hard-fought and sometimes hilarious alumni versus varsity games, dining at food trucks, watching student talent at an outdoor stage, and delighting in old and new friendships made through the College.

Featuring “connections across generations,” according to Dr. Marianne Neuwirth, Director of the College’s Oral Communication program, the event was a joyous scene. Baby strollers were parked next to the picnic tables where alumni, professors, students and staff introduced family members. Parents and grandparents of current students proudly took photos. There were ping-pong competitions, toss and pitch games, and a climbing wall.

The College showcased its sense of community across a beautifully renovated campus. “The pathways, landscaping and grounds are outstanding and welcoming,” said Alan Fernandez ’04, a music and arts promoter who is now in his second year on the Menlo College Alumni Council.

He made these observations at an elegant alumni brunch hosted at College President Steven Weiner’s campus home. Continued on Page 51

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Photos by Lisa Ann Villarreal and Miguel Lim

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OA K TO B E R F E S T 2 0 1 9 Fernandez, now 55, attended Menlo College as an older student and says that he continues to serve the College because “Menlo gave me dignity and a sense of accomplishment… especially since I had an academic journey that moved outside a traditional college path.”

John Rohrer ’89, now a strategic account manager at Dell Technologies, invited his wife to the alumni brunch. “She enjoys and attends more Menlo College events than those of her own college,” he said.

“The small campus creates a culture of community, and what is unique is that even graduates who live far away try to come to OAKtoberFest every year.” Rohrer, valedictorian of his class, was pleased to see Menlo Economics Professor Dr. Craig Medlen at the brunch. “He was an anchor person for me and I think about what he taught me even now 30 years after graduation.”

Menlo’s most recent valedictorian, Zacchaeus (Ziggy) Beatty ’19, now working in audit assurance at Big 4 accounting firm PwC, warmly greeted his accounting professor and mentor Dr. Janis Zaima. Beatty observed that “the study skills that I learned at Menlo have helped me greatly as I train to be an auditor.”

Afternoon events had a decidedly international and multicultural flavor, reflecting the tastes and talents of Menlo’s community. Food trucks served up Hawaiian, Asian and Mediterranean food, while an outdoor stage show, hosted

by Dylan Houle, Director of Internships, Career Services and Study Abroad, included students showing off Hawaiian and hip-hop dance moves. Chinese students Hongyu Luo ’21, Minchen Li ’21, and Qingyi Huang ’20 sang in English and Mandarin to the Chinese hip-hop hit, Made In China, and the Pacific Islander Club performed exuberant Hawaiian dance.

As the afternoon closed, senior Brenda Flores ’20 and her mother, Lilliana Reyes of Castro Valley, chatted with Menlo’s Provost Grande Lum. “I’ve been coming every single year to see Brenda on the dance team,” said Reyes. “Menlo is such a warm, welcoming place. I could not have found a better school for my daughter.”

Professor Melissa Michelson tries the climbing wall while students and alumni enjoy other events.

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Alumni Maya and Phil Sewald

Menlo’s First Marriage!

By Jaagriti Sharma ’18

Menlo College was an all-male college for the first 44 years of its existence. That changed in the fall of 1971, when Menlo opened its doors for the first time to female students. Maya Payne was among the first women to enroll, and she met her future husband Phil Sewald just a few months after the start of her first semester. They began dating shortly thereafter, and married a year later, becoming Menlo’s first married couple.

Their time at Menlo College was vibrant and exciting. Together, they won the first-place trophy in the road rally, walked to classes held in coffee shops, had keggers at Flood Park, took a test every day in Professor Holden Higbee’s accounting class, and danced the night away at toga parties. They credit the best part of their experiences to the people of Menlo College. In particular, they cite the support and attitude of Director of Admissions Philler Curtis, and Professors Patrick Tobin, John D. Russell, Raymond Spinelli, and Leon Loofbourow “in creating a quality of education that was unparalleled.”

In the early years of their marriage, Phil tried his hand at accounting, they carpooled to work at Bechtel in San Francisco, had twin boys, and in 1982, moved to Saudi Arabia. While based in the Mideast, they were able to travel for two months every year. They went on safaris and cruised the Nile, rode elephants in Nepal, and visited Australia, India, Singapore, and more. By the time their boys Jonathan and Jason were six years old, they’d been around the world as a family six times.

Phil summarized their whirlwind adventures: “Life is a journey, and it’s wonderful to do it with somebody you love. We’ve been through many adjustments in our careers, and we’ve always been there to support each other. We have our faith, and that keeps us strong. We have a lot of things we like to do together. But it isn’t just as husband and wife - she’s my best friend. We don’t compete. We simply face each day, and after all these years, we can look back at all the things we’ve done [with pride].”

Now in the Bay Area, they are surrounded by their ever-growing family, furthering their careers, and having even more adventures. They’ve also rediscovered their connection to Menlo College.

They’ve been back to campus to celebrate the graduation of their daughter-in-law, share their stories as guest speakers, mentor current students, contact old classmates, and attend campus events. To all of their fellow alumni, they ask, “Any good college is not going to survive without its wonderful alums, right?”

“andLifeti ’iss awonderful journey, to do t i wi t h someone you love.

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Electricity-Driven Alumni

One morning last July, Steve Pickford ’68 sat down to read the paper and saw a familiar face smiling back at him from the pages of his Wall Street Journal. The story featured fellow Menlo alumnus Kris Whitten ’68 and the first car he ever purchased—a 1968 Volkswagen Beetle that, fifty-one years later, still bears the remnant of a Menlo College parking decal in its rear window. The Journal reported that Whitten had engaged Reddingbased EV4U Custom Conversions last year to convert his 1968 classic to an all-electric vehicle. Whitten, now retired from his work as Deputy Attorney General in California, had been putting his “new” car through its paces, taking road trips around California and racking up 7,000 miles in the first year.

Pickford, a car buff himself, was tickled to read how Whitten “pulls up to a charging station next to a bunch of Teslas and the Beetle draws a crowd.

Twice I have pulled into Volkswagen dealerships to charge the car, and both times, the building emptied.” Though Pickford hadn’t seen his classmate since graduation, he decided to pick up the phone and renew an old friendship.

The two met back at the Menlo campus this Fall, with Whitten driving the Beetle in from his home in Kensington, California, so that Pickford could see the renowned vehicle in person. The two toured the campus, sharing news and reviving old memories. Pickford recalled his days as student manager of the Menlo College varsity soccer team under the direction of soccer coach and Professor of Humanities Dr. Carlos López, who went on to serve as President of Menlo College. At the time, Dr. López was a resident fellow, living in Michaels Hall alongside Pickford and his teammates.

Pickford described an “epic” water balloon fight with College Hall, where Dr. López was pacing the Michaels balcony “like Captain Bligh, as our Commander-in-Chief.” He said that they “had a catapult, a large pie plate bolted to a couple of bicycle inner tubes that were tied to the balcony railing, that literally fired balloons at the advancing enemy.”

For Whitten, too, the visit stirred up fond reminiscences. He recalled that he had been a budding musician and singer when he arrived at Menlo College in 1966, and the Kingston Trio was one of his strongest influences as a teenager. Arriving on campus for an admissions interview with Dean F. Philler Curtis, he had been startled to see “a portrait that looked exactly like one of the guys on the covers of the Kingston Trio albums. I apologized for staring at this picture, and said, ‘I’m sorry, but I have to ask you, is that a picture of Nick Reynolds?’ Mr. Curtis said, ‘Yes. The Kingston Trio started here at Menlo’. I was dumbfounded!” Whitten has been a performer ever since, and has a singing comedy act with fellow alumnus Joe Lerer ’66 that he’s kept going for the past thirty years. Though Whitten and Pickford had somewhat lost touch, the friendship they formed back at Menlo, and the impact their time at Menlo had on their lives, has never faded.

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Alumni Advocates

A record-breaking 35% rise in new students at Menlo College for the fall 2019 semester propelled enrollment to the highest enrollment ever. The most recent incoming class is a standout for more reasons than the sheer growth it represents: other milestone achievements include an all-time high of 17 students who were the valedictorians of

By Jaagriti Sharma ’18 their high schools, a 3.35 overall high school grade point average, 24% minority student representation, and 31% first-generation student representation. Students are attracted to Menlo College from far and wide; they represent 29 states in this country and 30 other countries around the globe.

Recent Menlo College alumni are propelling the growth. Our enrollment management team is now dominated by recent graduates. Working under the leadership of Dean of Enrollment Management Priscila de Souza ’07, admissions counselors Alan Alvarez ‘18, Ryan Barnett ’19, Jamie Linton ’18, and Celina Pagan ’18 are collaborating with marketing staff Saybah Biawogi ’19 and Jaagriti Sharma ’18 to guide applicants to envision life as future Menlo College students. The recruiting success of the team reflects their ability to speak directly to the meaning of being a Menlo College Oak. Every day, our recent graduates share their Menlo College experience. The fact that their stories were a key factor in increasing enrollment? That goes to show just how wonderful their Menlo College experiences were.

“Students from all over the world travel to learn here, and it’s amazing to see the ideas and perspectives that stem from so many different cultures.

I love that about Menlo. It just felt so exciting and natural to continue working here once I graduated.”

Saybah Biawogi ’19

“I wanted to help students get a great education at a great college. I want them to experience what I experienced here at Menlo.”

Celina Pagan ’18

“What better place to work than the place I call home?”

Alan Alvarez ’18

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IN M E M O R IA M Dwain Herbert McIntosh ’52 — This past October, Dwain McIntosh passed away, just shy of his 89 th birthday. He died in Lewiston, Idaho, which is where he was born and spent most of his adult life. After completing the two-year program at Menlo in 1952, Dwain went on to obtain a degree in agricultural economics from Washington State College, He was an athletic phenomenon during his Menlo years, lettering in four sports: basketball, football, golf and track. After college, Dwain served eight years in the Air Force, with two years of active duty. He was a lifelong farmer whose interest in sports continued throughout his adult life. Dwain is survived by his wife of 66 years, Marianne Troy McIntosh, and their four daughters.

John L. King, Jr. ’60 — Menlo College alumnus John King passed away earlier this year. He leveraged his dual degrees to pursue a varied career. He managed a boat yard and served in the Marine Corps Reserves before he eventually purchased and operated a convenience store—named Miller’s Store after his wife’s family—in Ozark County, Missouri.

Robert Downer ’49 — Founding principal of the Bio Clinic Company, a pioneering

medical business specializing in therapeutic foam products, Robert Downer spent much of his career in Philadelphia. Bob also devoted time to helping others, serving as president of the Aston-Middletown Little League Association and working with the Media Boys’ Club. He is survived by his wife Jody and his three sons.

David Tillson Bradford ’68 — Earlier this year, Dave Bradford passed away unexpectedly but peacefully as he was relaxing in a rooftop spa at a downtown San Diego hotel. He was 70 years old. Dave attended Menlo College for two years, after graduation from Grace Davis High School in Modesto. He then attended the United States Military Academy and served in the military for six years before joining his family’s company, the Modesto Lumber Company, founded in 1873. David was appointed president of the company in 1990. When the lumber company closed, David turned to baking artisan breads and pastries. He launched Word-of-Mouth Baking Company, and was soon distributing throughout the Central Valley. He also served as a bakery consultant and taught students to cook through the Junior Chef grant programs. David is survived by his wife, Marsha McCabe Bradford, their children, and grandchildren. For the celebration of his life, the notice from his family said that “Humor is encouraged, as Dave would have preferred.”

Kelly Blake ’19 — Our entire community was rocked by the tragic news that Kelly Anne Blake ’19 was killed in a boating accident only a few months after her graduation from Menlo College. Kelly was widely admired on campus for her adventurous, fun-loving spirit. Among her other activities, she was the president of the student Real Estate Club. Real Estate Center Director Margaret McFarland described Kelly as “a go getter,” adding that she “was key to reviving the interest of students in real estate here on campus. I was privileged to work with and support her efforts.”

Kelly was the beloved daughter of Rodney William Blake and Pamela Jean Ferguson-Gross. Those who knew her best note that she embraced life to the fullest, loving her friends, family, and the animals that were dear to her.

Besides her father and mother, she is survived by her mother’s husband Richard Gross; her aunt, Claire Anne Blake-Resor and her husband, James Resor; her brother Bryan Blake and his wife Jennifer Blake along with their two daughters, Sophia and Mckenzie Blake; and her fiancé Cameron Sperry. All of us will miss Kelly’s bright spirit.

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AT H L E TI C S A Sports Performance Specialist Helps Athletes Excel

By Lauren John, Staff Writer

As students make their selections for lunch in the Menlo College Dining Hall, they find nestled in serving trays between the pizza and the main entrees a daily menu item known as the “Performance Plate.” Consisting of a lean meat or poultry paired with a healthy grain like rice pilaf or couscous, the plate was developed by Menlo College’s sports performance coaches.

“We wanted healthy options for our athletes,” said sports performance coach, Karl Reyes, who is one of three full time trainers working with all of the College’s 300+ athletes. “This is an example of how our efforts benefited the whole community—the Performance Plate has been a popular lunchtime choice for two years now.”

Good nutrition is just one aspect of the training program. The primary goals of the performance coaches are to keep the athletes playing well, prevent injuries, and help with recovery from injuries, says Reyes, who holds a B.A. in kinesiology from University of La Verne in Southern California. Reyes emphasizes that the performance coaches use a team-based approach involving the athletes, their coaches, and when necessary, the sports medicine staff as they develop joint mobility, movement and strength training exercises. The trainers also travel with the teams, helping with warm ups and cool downs at the away games. All of Menlo’s athletes work with sports performance coaches for one to two hours a day, two to five days a week as needed.

“It is mandatory on top of practices, and we have one hundred percent buy in,” says Reyes. While the primary goals are to keep athletes healthy and injury free, sports performance coaches have also had success helping athletes get back into play after injuries. Reyes points to the success of Menlo graduate Destiny Bowie ’19, a basketball player who had a bad knee injury and very little cartilage. “Sports medicine and sports performance worked together and kept her on the court performing at top level,“ he said. “Last year she was All American.”

While the main focus of the sports performance coaches is physical health, there are mental health benefits, too. “The weight room is somewhere that you learn about yourself and have to move outside your comfort zone,” said Reyes. “It’s all about managing how hard you work and how you overcome obstacles. It’s about effort and attitude.”

The sports performance program helps student-athletes achieve the ideal of staying strong in body and mind.

Sports Performance trainer Karl Reyes supervises a weight training session with student athletes.

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AT H L E TI C S Truth and Consequences:

Lessons from Coach Mike Givens and Others

By Lauren John, Staff Writer The wind was fierce; the greens, punched for aeration, were rough; and the golf course was new to the team. But Menlo College Director of Golf, Mike Givens had faced these challenges before. He asked his players: “Can you control these things?” adding, “If you can’t, don’t waste your energy.”

Givens is one of Menlo’s many coaches who teach self-control, resilience and accountability. These life lessons not only help the students who go on to become professional athletes but also those who become entrepreneurs and community leaders.

Givens says that he helps players to develop their temperament, mindset and attitude, but perhaps the most important quality he looks for and fosters is accountability. “Show up late for the bus or the game . . . treat people incorrectly and there are consequences for the team as a whole,” he says—just like in business and academics and dayto-day life.

Anders Baumann ’22, a golf team member from Norway agrees.

One key lesson he’s learned from Coach Givens and his previous golf instructor in Norway is “always raise the standard.” He has applied that mantra to both his academic and golf careers.

While aiming for “great shots instead of simply good ones,” Baumann says that he has also raised the standard in his academic work. Facing the challenges of an international student, he also focused on turning in homework assignments, which went from good to great. “My GPA increased from 2.4 in high school to 3.52 in my freshman year at Menlo,” he says.

What’s more, when the golf team took a third-place finish this year in the Sonoma State Fall Invitational, Baumann was among the top-five scorers of the tournament.

All the coaches at Menlo College share the philosophy of looking at individual athletes and mentoring them as particular people, not just as part of a team.

For example, Solin Piearcy ’20, co-captain of Menlo College’s championship Women’s Wrestling Team, has learned a thing or two about control from her coaches Joey Bareng and Tim Hess. “If you are on the mat, and the ref makes a call that you don’t think is appropriate, you just have to get through it,” she says. What can be controlled is confidence, physical performance and accountability to teammates, she adds.

What do coaches advise when the team takes a loss? “Coach Hollenbeck told us to give ourselves a 24-hour cooling off period,” says junior Ian Martins ’21, who played for two years on Menlo College’s Men’s Volleyball team. “We learned the 3Rs: Reset, Reframe, Refocus.”

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‘‘[When perfecting skills], change the way you move through space. Once you have mastered that . . . change the way you move through time.‘‘ David A. Crynes Ph.D., Head Coach Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Track

And the results are in!

These coaches have brought home the victories in 2019 that show the impact of their wise words. In golf, the Oaks swept the competition at the 2019 Pacific Coast Highway Invitational, with both the men’s and women’s teams securing first place finishes. Their season will extend until May 2020.

This past November, the men’s soccer team won the Conference Championship. Now, on to nationals! In cross country, Coach David Crynes

led our men’s and women’s teams to third place finishes – the best-ever conference finishes in program history, and two of his runners earned the right to compete at nationals. Women’s Volleyball won the regular season championship, and will also compete at nationals.

Coaches often talk about how proud they are of their players. We at Menlo return the favor and applaud our coaches for all they do to encourage students in their best efforts.

Photo: Brian Byllesby

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Fall 2019 Sports

Left to right: Jacob Kipyego ‘22, Nicole DiMartino ‘20, Kori-Ann Koverman ‘21.

Facing page left to right: Noa Kerr ‘20, Tim Staerz ‘20, Naomy Lagat ‘21.

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AT H L E TI C S

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Distinguished Oaks Join Other Outstanding Student-Athletes in Hall of Fame

By Aaron Gillespie, Assistant Athletic Director of Communications and Marketing In its 92-year history, the Menlo College Athletics Hall of Fame has highlighted the broad cross section of the storied history of Oaks Athletics. The Hall of Fame covers nearly 20 sports and includes 178 Menlo greats who went on to become NBA coaches, Olympic competitors, an NFL owner, a sports broadcaster, USA World Team members, other legendary coaches and administrators and much, much more. The inductions over the years represent the evolving focus of Menlo’s athletic program, including judo experts, polo players and tennis greats from early eras and encompassing athletes of our more modern times, such as women’s wrestling.

Seven Menlo alumni were inducted in an October 2019 ceremony that included a host of firsts. Barbara Pavlick (Finger) ’80 and Howard Dallmar ’74 became the first two inductees to join their fathers, Bud Finger ’39 and Howard Dallmar ’41 as members of the Menlo College Hall of Fame. Ja’net Lawrence ’05 and Sara Bahoura (Fulp-Allen) ’04 became the first Women’s Soccer and Women’s Wrestlers inducted.

James Guizar ‘04 was the first men’s wrestling national champion and Ki’i Hanakeola Spencer ’04 was the first women’s basketball All-American in program history. Tom Utman ’68 joined teammate and Hall of Fame member Mike Bettega as the first two Oaks ever drafted by a Major League Baseball Team in the 1968 MLB draft.

In the years since their playing days, these successful alumni have gone on to diverse careers. Tom Utman currently owns the largest express car wash operation in Southern California. Barbara Pavlick is an award-winning administrator at Western Governors University and Ki’i Hanakeola Spencer also worked in education as a teacher in Hawai’i. Sara Bahoura continues to be an advocate for the sport as the State Women’s Director for the Virginia Wrestling Association while working full-time as a System Analyst Advisor for Anthem. James Guizar has over 10 years of experience working on high voltage power lines as a journeyman lineman. Howard Dallmar serves as a Menlo College Board of Trustees member and is currently the Vice Chairman of Newmark Knight Frank, a real estate company.

In her remarks, Sara Bahoura captured the warm celebratory spirit of all the inductions to the Hall of Fame, saying, “Thanks to everyone for the opportunity to be here tonight. It’s great to be back home with friends and family and near the sport that I love. It’s a great excuse to fly back to the Bay Area [and reunite with] so many people here tonight who I haven’t seen for years.”

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Check Out Our Revamped Library!

By Valeria Molteni, Ph.D., Dean of Library Services Libraries have been developing spaces for research and archives since ancient times, going as far back as the 7th century Mesopotamian Library of Ashurbanipal, the first recorded library. Libraries continue to change. During the last twenty years, a remarkable shift in academic libraries has taken place as they move away from being depositories of books to becoming interactive learning spaces for the whole campus community.

By engaging students who use the space, academic libraries can grow to be intentional learning centers on campus rather than just places for the conservation of information. Unlimited by discipline, these transformed libraries provide the opportunity for students in all subjects to collaborate and interact, as well as use the space in innovative ways. Through tools as varied as the low tech whiteboard to computers with a wide range of software applications, libraries are unique on campus for providing educational resources to any student regardless of standing or discipline. Online databases and tools allow students to choose when and how they use the library resources to guide their own learning experiences.

During the Summer of 2019, the librarians at Bowman Library took advantage of a generous furniture donation to create student-centered spaces throughout the building. This effort required the assessment of 20,000 print materials, both books and serials, and the design and rearrangement of areas to best use the donated furniture. The process was intense and encompassed myriad activities of different complexity, from physical moving to very specific technical tasks in the backend of the library databases. Ongoing coordination with the Menlo facilities department guided the entire project from start to finish. Come to the Library and see how the new spaces have changed the Bowman Library.

Photos: Lisa Villarreal

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On the back cover: Angelina De la Cruz ‘23 enjoys the inaugural goat yoga event sponsored by resident assistants.

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“

When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else.

“ To n i M o r r i s o n

My (ME)NLO Moment