Lifetime of Guitar Professional teaches students BY ANDY NGUYEN AND JOY HINES TIMES STAFF
The atmosphere is very warm, light-hearted and happy. Upon entering professor Bahram Behroozi’s class, students appear to be excited to begin their music session. Behroozi is greatly admired by his students. “Professor Behroozi is very dedicated,” said Erick Arambula, a psychology major student. “Professor knows what he’s doing and what he’s talking about.” At age 12, Behroozi said he was “very comfortable” playing music. His early playing included the harmonica, the dulcimer, violin and guitar. “Music was one of my great passions from a young age, and I was involved in music and pursued it,” Behroozi said. “My late age I’m a teacher at San Jose City College and this has taken me to where I am now.” Behroozi is Persian, born
in Tehran, Iran. He has lent his artistic talent around the world. “Behroozi is a kind, hard working and dedicated faculty member,” said professor Priscilla Santos, counselor and professor guidance. “As a music professor, he helped me and supports students in need.” Santos thanked Behroozi for many years of wonderful friendship. Behroozi has been featured as a soloist of classical guitar in many countries, such as France, Italy, Israel and around the United States at concert halls and churches. “Professor Behroozi is a very knowledgeable person. He does a growth assessment on a weekly basis in order to get good feedback. I highly recommend him as a great instructor,” said Cristina Chambers, a child development student.
Classical Jags Music program on display PAGE 5
Behroozi graduated from San Jose State University with a B.S. degree in math in1968 and a master’s degree in music in 1971. He has taught music appreciation as well as beginning and intermediate classical guitar at SJCC since 1975. “He is a very patient person, easy to get along with and nice to talk to,” said Jose Torres, a computer networking student. Behroozi has admired various periods and genres of music ranging from the Renaissance period to the 21st century. “Fernando Sor and Johann Bach are two of my favorite artists.”Behroozi said. “My greatest moments in music are the success of the students,” Behroozi said. “Some students excel and continue going forward to join a conservatory, concert solo, or play in an ensemble. My goal is to retire soon and teach part-time classes.”
No full-time faculty for Journalism Program
Low enrollment affects president’s decision STEVE HILL TIMES STAFF
San Jose City College President Barbara Kavalier rejected a December recommendation by the Academic Senate to hire a full-time faculty member for the Journalism Program, which produces the campus newspaper, City College Times. Kavalier said that she had to look at enrollment trends to justify hiring a full-time faculty member for the Journalism Program, and she said the data didn’t support it. An October 2011 Journalism Program review found that journalism writing and broadcasting classes were filled from 70 percent to 100 percent while the newspaper enrollment was 60 percent capacity and no journalism courses had retention issues.
Academic Senate President Charles Heimler said that the president has to consider the four performance indicators listed in the school’s Strategic Plan, which include access, retention, persistence and success. “They’re looking at demand for the classes, which they use waitlists as a measure of that, and they’re looking at historical patterns of enrollment in the courses,” Heimler said. “Often journalism has struggled to have enough enrollment to make a class,” Kavalier said. Journalism professors from many California community colleges that produce a newspaper say that at least one full-time faculty adviser is necessary for any newspaper to excel. “A full-time faculty member allows the program and publications to flourish in
terms of quality, retention, enrollment, prestige, recognition, continuity, performance, first amendment issues and many other advantages,” said professor Pat McKean of Long Beach Community College. “Having a full-timer in charge of the program definitely enhances enrollment, retention and the program as a whole,” said Santa Rosa Junior College journalism professor Anne Belden.” Another danger to the Journalism Program is that adjunct faculty are not protected from retribution from administrators. “Despite the Student Adviser Protection Act of 2008, the truth is an adjunct has no protection from presidents taking revenge against them for what students publish. Full-timers do,” said journalism professor Robert R. Mercer of Cypress College. Mercer said he was
fired from Evansville (Ind.) University for what administrators characterized as “not keeping those students in control.” He said the students at Evansville proved the university had violated their civil rights. Mercer also said that it might be a violation of the California wage and hour law as well as the adjunct union’s contract to not have a full-time adviser who can “teach students the full freedom of what the First Amendment gives students.” Heimler did say that there is a plan in progress by the college president and himself, as well as instructors in English, journalism and communication instructors, to devise a program that will meet enrollment criteria. “The college president is very interested in developing a new media-type program that
will fulfill that need moving forward in the next 10, 20, 30 years,” Heimler said. However, journalism courses that produce the newspaper are in a precarious position each semester as they have been threatened with cancellation for low enrollment and arbitrarily omitted from the schedule of classes in past semesters. In an email to the campus, ESL Instructor Ron Levesque wrote about the danger of losing enrichment programs on the campus. “If we follow enrollment patterns alone, we would return to a program of the three R’s (reading, writing and arithmetic) and lose out on programs in the arts, in physical education, in journalism, leaving a campus with no core, no heart and no student voice in the case of journalism.”
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