Theater Lobby Renovation

Lobby today

Last fall, Vice Chancellor for Facilities Management, Jose Nuñez, initiated a project to complete a facelift of the Theater Lobby using District Deferred Maintenance and remaining Bond funds. To fulfill this initiative, President Buckley assembled a project group, which included faculty and staff from the college’s Performing Arts and Art programs as well as Interior Design Professor Elsa Torres. Professor Torres included three of her students who had the opportunity to work closely with the architectural firm, LCA Architects. 

The group has met several times over the past couple of months to assist in developing design ideas which would include: improving display cases for student art work, new carpeting, new doors, baffling panels, and light fixtures. The goal has been to develop a more inviting and modern lobby to welcome the community and our students. 

Proposal rendering

Architect Brent Randall, listening to the ideas and practical needs of the users, incorporated them into a proposed design. He indicated how much he enjoyed working with the Interior Design students and how impressed he was with the creativity, enthusiasm, and insight they brought to the project.

In addition to the Theater Lobby, the refurbishment project includes replacing carpeting and lights in the Theater House itself. The carpets and lights have not been updated in more than a decade, during the last theater refurbishment. Current planning includes additional baffling on the west interior to limit noise from reaching the second floor walkway that overlooks the Lobby. Should there be no unforeseen circumstances that might delay the project, work could begin as early as this summer.

Meet Lale Yurtseven, New Business Instructor

Lale Yurtseven

Please welcome Lale Yurtseven, who will be joining our full-time Business faculty. Ms. Yurtseven will be teaching courses across the Business curriculum.

Ms. Yurtseven is Turkish, grew up in Germany, and is multi-lingual, speaking English, German, and Turkish.

She holds an M.B.A. in International Management and a B.A. in International Relations from the Monterey Institute of International Studies. She has been an adjunct faculty member, teaching Business, at both De Anza and West Valley Colleges for over eight years. She has also served as a grant manager promoting business and education collaboration throughout the California Community Colleges system.

She started an Entrepreneurship Center at West Valley College, where she counseled students and community members who are interested in starting a business.

Prior to her experience in education, Ms. Yurtseven worked in management positions at both fortune 500 companies as well as startup companies. She also founded an information technology company, and continues to serve on its board to this day.

Andrés Roemer to Give Keynote at Graduation

Dr. Andrés Roemer, the Consul General of Mexico in San Francisco, is a diplomat, journalist, civil servant, and scholar. He was born and raised in Mexico City and has earned degrees from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Harvard University, and the University of California, Berkeley. He is the grandson of orchestra conductor Ernesto Roemer and has had a career as a shaper of policy and opinion in Mexico on political, social, economic and cultural matters. The recipient of various cultural awards and prizes, he was the creator and producer of popular TV Azteca Network and Project 40 programs including Between the Public and Private, In the ring, Think about Thinking, Ciudad de las Ideas, and the Roemer Report.

He has authored 16 books and 2 stage plays that examine such diverse topics as: happiness, art, love, water, soccer, law, economics, crime, evolutionary psychology, government, and public policy. He is a passionate communicator of humanistic science. He is a tireless advocate for human rights, and a leader in building firmer Mexican and American political, economic, and cultural relations. He is the Curator and Founder of the City of Ideas and Brilliant Minds International Festival, which is held annually in the Mexican State of Puebla.

Dr. Roemer is a Senior Visiting Scholar in Cultural Codes and Evolutionary Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law.

He has been awarded numerous national and international awards, including the prestigious Elise and Walter A. Haas International Award from the University of California, Berkeley, for his outstanding public service to the people of Mexico. He has been the recipient of the Promotion of Science Award, presented by Nobel Prize winner, Mario Molina and the President of the Mexican Academy of Sciences, Arturo Menchaca. In 2009, he received a National Theatre Award for best author for his play,The Other Einstein. Finally, in 2006, the Microsoft Corporation created the Andres Roemer Award, in his honor, given annually to distinguished individuals for their service to the worldwide community of scholars.

Dr. Roemer is among Mexico's most internationally recognized public intellectuals. Devoting his personal and professional life to empowering individuals to question accepted beliefs and the order of society's complexities, he has emerged as one of the most distinguished Mexican leaders of the 21st Century.

Paul Roscelli Presented Above and Beyond Award

On May 13, 2014, the SMCCCD Board of Trustees bestowed on Paul Roscelli, Cañada College Professor of Economics, the Above and Beyond Award. Paul was honored for his outstanding work as advisor to Beta Zeta Nu, Cañada College’s Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa (PTK), the international honors society for two-year colleges. Over the past decade, in large part due to Paul’s extraordinary efforts, the chapter has been honored as one of the premier chapters in the nation.

In 2013, it was recognized at the honor society's international convention as a distinguished chapter and was later and named the Most Distinguished Chapter in the Nevada-California Region. Beta Zeta Nu also received PTK’s College Project Award for its organization of the Evening of Academic Excellence, which annually recognizes the area's top high school scholars and received the Honors in Action Award for a study on academic integrity. Beta Zeta Nu was the only West Coast chapter to be named to the Top 10 Most Distinguished Chapters polling in 2013. It was the second consecutive year Beta Zeta Nu earned the honor.

In January 2014, Paul was named a Phi Theta Kappa Faculty Scholar. He was just one of 26 community college instructors selected from among nearly 3,000 Phi Theta Kappa Chapters. He was invited to attend the Phi Theta Kappa Annual Faculty Scholar Conference in the British Virgin Islands. As a Faculty Scholar, Paul will lead Honor Student seminar discussions at PTK's Honors Institute, which will be held in June at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

Cañada Hosts ACCEL

On May 2, 2014, the Adult Education, College, and Career Educational Leadership Consortium (ACCEL) held a major meeting at Canada College. Over sixty teachers, professors, student services professionals, and administrators spent a productive and inspiring afternoon. The ACCEL work is a mobilization in response to the AB 86 legislation with leadership from the three colleges in our district and the major adult schools along with support from community based organizations, non-profits, libraries, the County Office of Education, and other providers of adult education across the county. This work is funded by the AB 86 Adult Education Consortium Planning Grants in which the state provided $22.5 million. The goal is to redesign an educational system that creates linkages for students across adult schools and community colleges to accelerate academic and career success.

Four teams have been formed to cover the county–Coast, South, Central, and North. Co-directing two of the groups from Cañada are Jenny Castello, Professor of ESL, and Nadya Sigona, Counselor. We also have Dr. Larry Buckley, President, Dr. David Johnson, Dean, Diana Tedone, Librarian, Ray Lapuz, Professor of Mathematics, and Noel Chavez, Outreach Coordinator, serving in various capacities. Codirecting this entire project for the district is Dr Gregory Anderson, Vice President of Instruction.

In less than a year, the ACCEL coalition will prepare a comprehensive plan for the ongoing coordination and integration of adult education. Your colleagues mentioned above along with partners from across the county are laying the groundwork for ongoing funding of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Student Satisfaction Survey

The Office of Planning, Research and Institutional Effectiveness recently completed a student satisfaction survey of Cañada students. The results provide a remarkable picture of our student body's experience here at the college. The surveys were distributed via email and we received more than 1,000 student responses to sixty questions. The questions covered their background, goals, and experiences with both academic and student services on campus. Among the findings:

1. 97.2% of students indicated that they would recommend Cañada College to a family member or friends.  
2. While some current students said they would have preferred to begin their educations at a CSU or UC, 92.3% said that they would start at Cañada College if they had it to do all over again. 
3. 93.1% of students rated their education experience at Cañada as “Excellent” or “Above Average.” 

Among our favorite comments, one student wrote, “I don’t think I would still be in school if I had ended up elsewhere.” And, nothing beats this comment: “Cañada College is the best in the bay area.”

Three Cañada Students Win Kitchen Design Competition

Anne Marie Cappelli

Debbie Nash, Jie Yang, and Anne Marie Cappelli took the top three spots in this year’s National Kitchen & Bath Association Design Charette hosted by Cañada College.

The three interior design students will receive a $50 scholarship and certificate of achievement. Their entries will also be forwarded to the National GE Charette where they will be eligible for the top prize of a $5,000 scholarship.

The competition challenged students from around the country to design a kitchen utilizing specific General Electric appliances within a defined space. They had three hours to complete the assignment using drafting pencils, calculators, architectural scale, a drafting triangle and NKBA template.

Cappelli, who left a career in fashion design to pursue interior design, won first place in the Cañada competition. “I knew at a young age I would pursue a job in a creative field. I was torn between interior design and fashion design.”

Cappelli worked as a designer and patternmaker for more than 20 years in Toronto, Canada and San Francisco. While in the Bay Area, she took a part-time job working for an interior design retailer. This reignited her passion for interior design.

“I looked into many options for colleges and chose Cañada because of its reputation and its evening classes,” she said. “I have completed the basic core of classes for the certificate and I’m looking forward to doing an internship with a firm that specializes in kitchen and bath design.”

Yang, who finished second in the competition, came to the Bay Area four years ago from Shanghai, China. She commutes from Fremont to attend design classes at Cañada. “The instructors and staff are really friendly and knowledgeable,” she said.

Like Cappelli, Nash was also employed in the fashion industry, serving as a vice president of merchandising at Gap Inc., Gymboree Corp., and Esprit De Corp. “I needed more balance in my life,” Nash said. “I decided to go back to school and get my Interior Design Certificate and Kitchen and Bath Certificate.”

Last year, Nash started Nash Design Studio, her own interior design business, which focuses on home remodels and additions as well as kitchen and bath design. She will graduate this fall with her Kitchen and Bath Certificate from Cañada.