Whether you’re a seasoned writer or just love the written word, Clark College invites you to find inspiration, connection, and creativity at its annual Creative Writing Festival, taking place May 27–31. Free and open to the public, this week-long festival includes engaging readings, conversations, and workshops led by acclaimed authors—all designed to spark your imagination and grow your craft.

The festival wraps up with the popular Clark Spring Creative Writing Workshop on Saturday, May 31, featuring a full day of interactive sessions for writers of all backgrounds.

All events will be in the Penguin Union Building (PUB) on Clark College’s main campus, 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver.  Directions and maps are available online.

Creative Writing Festival Schedule:

May 27, 10 am–Noon, PUB258:
Reading & Conversation with New York Times bestselling young adult and adult fiction author Emiko Jean

May 28, 10 am–Noon, PUB161:
“The Swift” release party with student readings and a celebration of the publication of the third edition of Clark’s student-run literary journal

May 29, 10–11 am, PUB258:
Columbia Writers Series Fiction Reading: Chelsea Bieker

May 29, 3-4 pm, Cannell Library:
Book release celebration for Clark Professor Gerry Smith’s collaborative project Coyote and Bear Discuss Modern Art

May 30, 11am–Noon, PUB258:
Yoga for Creativity

May 31, 10 am–5 pm, Penguin Union Building:
Spring Writing Workshop: A full day of writing workshops, readings, and community building. Includes free lunch, coffee, and pastries.  Reserve your free tickets here.

Clark College is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution. Learn more at www.clark.edu/nds. If you need accommodation due to a disability in order to fully participate in this event, please contact Clark College’s Human Resources Office. Phone: 360-992-2105 or email: hr@clark.edu/.

Writing Workshop

Opening Remarks by Susan Dingle, the current Clark County Poet Laurate. Dingle earned a master’s degree in creative writing from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is the author of two books: In Pilgram Drag, published by Finishing Line Press and Parting Gifts, published by Local Gems. Dingle earned a Master of Social Work degree at SUNY Stony Brook University and is a licensed clinical social worker and alcohol and substance abuse counselor.

Workshop: Letters and Poems, Poems and Letters with Jeff Alessandrelli, a writer and editor living in Portland. The Kenyon Review called his most recent poetry collection Fur Not Light “an example of radical humility.”  Jeff Alessandrelli is the author of the novel  And Yet. In addition to his writing Jeff also directs and co-edits the non-profit record label/book press Fonograf Editions.

Workshop: Writing with Ghosts in the Archival Machine with Katy Anastasi (she/her), a Reference & Instruction Librarian at Clark College and a graduate student at Eastern Oregon University’s MFA in Creative Writing program. In this generative, open-genre craft workshop, participants will explore various library and archival materials with sensitivity to ghosts in the archival machine. 

Workshop: Writing the Magical, Writing the Real: On Making Magical Stories Believable with Emme Lund, an author living and writing in Portland, OR. She has an MFA from Mills College. Her debut novel, The Boy with a Bird in His Chest (Atria Books, 2022) was longlisted for the First Novel Prize from the Center For Fiction, was a finalist for an Oregon Book Award, was named a best book of the year by Buzzfeed and The Portland Mercury, and was included on lists in The Washington Post, USA Today, People Magazine, The Advocate, Cosmopolitan, and Shondaland.

Workshop: Talk Short to Me with Elena Passarello, whose essays on performance, pop culture, and the natural world have been translated into six languages. Her recent work appears in the New York Times Book Review, Paris Review, Audubon and Best American Science and Nature Writing.  She is the author of two collections, the most recent of which, Animals Strike Curious Poses, was a New York Times Editor’s Choice. Her next book, about the spotty legacy of Elvis Presley, is forthcoming from Penguin Press in 2027. You can hear Elena every week on the nationally syndicated public radio program Live Wire! This class works through a few of Carson’s short talks and closes with a generative prompt to get you started on a Talk of your own.

Workshop: ‘As You Know, Captain…’ Avoiding Infodump in Speculative Fiction with Joe Pitkin. Pitkin has lived, taught, and studied in England, Hungary, Mexico, and at Clark College in Vancouver, Washington. His short stories have appeared in The Boston Review, Analog, Black Static, Cosmos, and other magazines and podcasts, as well as on his blog, The Subway Test. Stranger Bird, his first novel, was published in 2017; his most recent novel, Exit Black, was published by Blackstone last year.

Workshop: Character Development: A Generative Tarot Writing Journey with Selah Saterstrom, the author of the innovative novels Slab, The Meat and Spirit Plan, and The Pink Institution, as well as two nonfiction collections, Rancher and the award-winning Ideal Suggestions: Essays in Divinatory Poetics. Selah Saterstrom is the co-founder of Four Queens Divination, an online platform dedicated to the intersection of creative writing and divinatory arts, where she offers classes and mentorship.

Workshop: Zenyatta Mondatta with Ed Skoogm, the author of four collections of poetry, Mister Skylight, Rough Day, Run the Red Lights, and Travelers Leaving for the City. His poems have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, The New Republic, American Poetry Review, and the Best American Poetry series. This generative poetry workshop will focus on how poems can sound amazing and memorable, with language that resonates before it even means. 

Workshop: Poetry and Art: Ekphrastic Poetry with Gerald Donnelly Smith, who has published poems in various literary journals including The Adirondack Review, hummingbird, River Wind, Icon, and Talking Leaves as well as the anthologies War (Green Haven, 2007), The X-Y Experience (2001), and Playing with a Full Deck. He served as the director of the Columbia Writers Series at Clark College for seven years. In this workshop, we will review the different methods for writing poetry about artwork, focusing on painting. We will briefly discuss example poems about Van Gogh’s “Starry Night.”  

Workshop: Multidisciplinary Workshop: Reading & Writing with Images by Dao Strom, a poet, musician, writer, and interdisciplinary artist who works with three “voices”—written, sung, visual—to explore hybridity and the intersection of personal and collective histories. She is the author/composer of several hybrid-literary works, including the poetry-art collection, INSTRUMENT, and its musical companion of song-poems, TRAVELER’S ODE, and the forthcoming TENDER REVOLUTIONS/YELLOW SONGS (2025). Recently, she co-edited/co-curated the hybrid-literary anthology + exhibit A MOUTH HOLDS MANY THINGS (2024). Strom’s work encompasses both solo and collaborative art and writing projects, and has received support from the Creative Capital Foundation, NEA, Oregon Community Foundation, and others.

Workshop: Five Kinds of Trouble by Dr. Tara Williams (she/her), who earned her MFA in Fiction at Fresno State University. She also holds a master’s and doctorate in education. Currently she teaches composition and literature courses at Clark. Her literary work has appeared in Southwest Review, Tales of the Fantastic, Fatal Flaw, and other publications, and her short stories have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. An excerpt from her novel-in-progress won an honorable mention for the Plentitudes Prize, and an audio adaptation of one of her short stories took second place in Sycamore Review’s Deanna Tulley Multimedia Contest. Her work is also included in the climate fiction anthology Fire & Water: Stories of the Anthropocene (Black Lawrence Press, 2021).

Workshop: The Poetry of Memoir by Jane Wong, the author of the memoir Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City (Tin House, 2023), winner of the Washington State Book Award. She also wrote two poetry collections: How to Not Be Afraid of Everything (Alice James, 2021) and Overpour (Action Books, 2016). She is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize and fellowships and residencies from the U.S. Fulbright Program, Harvard’s Woodberry Poetry Room, Artist Trust, Hedgebrook, Ucross, Loghaven, the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, and others. An interdisciplinary artist as well, she has exhibited her poetry installations and performances at the Frye Art Museum, Richmond Art Gallery, and the Asian Art Museum. She grew up in a take-out restaurant on the Jersey shore and is an Associate Professor at Western Washington University.

Learn More

• Creative Writing Festival – May 27-31: https://www.clark.edu/about/arts-events/cwf/
• Writing Workshop – Saturday, May 31: https://www.clark.edu/academics/programs/dept/english/writingworkshop.phpRegistration for the Writing Workshop only:https://www.eventbrite.com/e/clark-college-spring-writing-workshop-tickets-1075675828359

Led by Clark automotive professor Dannie Nordsiden, the automotive department welcomed nine students from CFA de la Mobilité, a vocational training center in Strasbourg, France.

Over several days, these high school-aged students toured Clark’s 14,000-square-foot automotive facility, met with faculty, staff, and local students, and gained firsthand insight into the college’s innovative “Dealer Ready” apprenticeship programs.

When Mike Godson, former head of the program, pulled out the textbook he wrote, Hybrid, Electric and Fuel-Cell Vehicles, the visiting students laughed in recognition. They use that textbook, too, all the way in France. They were extra excited that they now got to meet the man behind the words.

The visiting students, all in their final year of study at CFA de la Mobilité, are enrolled in a specialized auto training program. They were accompanied by two instructors: Roxane Adler, who leads the International Apprentice Mobility program and teaches history and literature, and Mikael Osterstock, an automotive maintenance instructor.

The CFA de la Mobilité group is on a 10-day tour of the Pacific Northwest. “The most valuable element was meeting Dannie, who welcomed us so well,” said Adler. “We sincerely hope to see him again and develop a wonderful partnership with Clark College.”

Exploring Hands-On Learning at Clark

On Wednesday morning, Professor Nordsiden accompanied the group to several local partner dealerships. There, the students had the opportunity to speak with professional technicians about careers in the automotive field and learn more about Clark’s unique approach to hands-on training. The “Dealer Ready” model allows students to earn income and gain work experience through paid internships while completing their degrees.

During their visit, the students also learned that Clark’s automotive programs are structured as apprenticeships, requiring students to work part-time in a professional repair setting while attending three days of in-person instruction in the college’s labs each week. This hybrid model ensures students apply classroom knowledge in real-world environments throughout the Vancouver-Portland metro area.

CFA de la Mobilité also has a similar partnership with Renault preparing students for careers with the international automotive manufacturer. 

Here’s what our French students have to share from their visit:

• The American diagnostic system is different because “it has more details and provides more detailed instructions.” The visiting students enjoyed practicing on the vehicles and troubleshooting together.
• The workshops are “larger and different, especially in terms of equipment like the wheel balancer.”
• What they enjoyed most was the human interaction, “both the instructors and the students were very welcoming—with whom we loved talking to and working with.”

“This visit reflects Clark’s ongoing commitment to global collaboration and career-focused education,” said Nordsiden. “This cultural exchange aligns the college’s general education competencies, ‘Civic and Global Consciousness,’ with our classes, by providing a look into our trade from another lens. In short, it allows our world to get a little smaller—and our knowledge a little broader.”

About CFA de la Mobilité

Located in the Parc des Forges in Strasbourg, the CFA de la Mobilité is a training institution with a mission to contribute to the development of vocational professions. Since 2023, this institution has been providing training to adult apprentices and trainees from vocational certificates to advanced technical certificates (BTS) in the automotive sector. CFA also has a Professional Automotive Electromechanical Technician training program with Renault.

Learn more about CFA de la Mobilité at www.cfamobilite.fr.

About the Clark College Automotive Technology Department
With a program history that spans more than 40 years, Clark College’s Automotive Technology department has received community recognition for producing top-tier automotive technicians and for its focus on hands-on learning and partnerships with dealerships that include Toyota, Dick Hannah, and Audi.

Learn more about Clark’s Automotive Technology programs at www.clark.edu/cc/auto.  

Photos: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

Clark College is expanding its health care offerings with a new Surgical Technology program, equipping students with the skills to assist surgeons and nurses in operating rooms. Developed in collaboration with Clark County health care providers, the program offers a direct pathway to family-wage jobs in high-demand medical careers.

The degree: This two-year program leads to an associate of applied technology (AAT) degree, preparing graduates for critical roles in surgical teams.

Timeline:

• The first cohort will start in fall 2025, with space for 20 students
•  The first students will graduate in spring 2027

What does a Surgical Technologist do? The surgical technology program will prepare students to function effectively with surgeons and nurses in the operating room, performing duties that are vital for the safety and care of surgical patients.

Jim Reynolds, director of surgical technology and professor at Clark College is an experienced surgical technologist with years of working alongside surgeons in operating rooms. He explained that during surgery, a surgical technologist plays a crucial role by passing sterile instruments and supplies to the surgeon. 

Reynolds said he is excited that Clark is offering this vital program.

“The hard work of bringing this program to Clark College has been shared by this college, the local community, and local hospitals,” Reynolds said. “I am thrilled to be a part of such an amazing team that knows not just about the need for more surgical technologists in the area but also has the resources and the passion to assist in the creation of the program and to provide assistance in the years to come. Our advisory committee has been working together to build this program. I can’t wait to bring in our first cohort in September.”

First in Southwest Washington: Clark’s Surgical Technology program is the first of its kind in Southwest Washington, with the closest Washington programs offered at community colleges in the Puget Sound region. In the metro area, the closest program is at Mount Hood Community College in Gresham, Oregon.

Prerequisites: Students can begin taking foundational classes this spring term, starting April 7. Before students are admitted to Clark’s program, they must complete prerequisite courses including microbiology, a sequence of two anatomy and physiology courses, and more.

Required certification: Prior to graduation, students will sit for the national certification exam for qualification as a certified surgical technologist, which allows surgical techs to practice in operation rooms nationwide.

“Graduates from this new program will meet a critical workforce need,” said Clark College President Dr. Karin Edwards. “This program will ensure that our hospitals will have well-trained surgical technologists. We are dedicated to preparing a trained workforce for our community to meet current and future needs.”

The surgical technology program joins a robust offering of allied health programs at Clark College: dental hygiene, emergency medical services, medical assistant, health information management and medical billing and coding, nursing, pharmacy technician, and phlebotomy.

Funding and partnerships

Clark College received a $141,260 Hospital Education and Employment Training (HEET) grant to develop the program to meet a critical workforce need in 2023. The grant proposal was developed in collaboration with PeaceHealth and the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (OFNHP).

The grant is administered by the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC). HEET funding is used to develop or expand innovative training programs in partnership with labor and employers that support incumbent health care workers to advance their careers in the health care field while meeting the rapidly changing workforce needs of our health care system.

In collaboration with PeaceHealth and OFNHP, the Surgical Technology HEET project has included developing the program, including curriculum; integrating worker voice to ensure accessibility for workers; developing an incumbent worker pathway; and leveraging industry resources for quality instruction.

Clark College is pursuing a second HEET grant to fully implement the first cohort. The expectation is that the program will be sustainable after initial implementation.  

What Clark’s partners say

“Surgical technologists are in high demand, and play key roles on our clinical team,” said Chief Hospital Executive Cherelle Montanye, PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center. “This program will be a critical resource to prepare students for an excellent career path at hospitals and surgery centers across our region.”

“This is the type of program that OFNHP enthusiastically supports,” said Jonathon Baker, OFNHP vice president. “Programs like this will add to the skill set of our medical technicians, support health care in our region, and lift up our community.”

Learn more

• Clark College’s surgical technology program
• Clark College’s health care and biosciences programs
• Read an article in The Columbian here

NOTE THIS EVENT WAS POSTPONED DUE TO WEATHER. Check back for more information about a new date and time.

This year Clark College’s annual event honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is a presentation by and conversation with Heather McGhee, The New York Times bestselling author of The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together. 

All faculty, staff, and students are invited: The New York Times bestselling author Heather McGhee will be the keynote speaker during Clark College’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr. event from 3 to 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 17 in Gaiser Student Center. The event is presented to the college community by the office of the president and funded by Clark College Foundation. The book is available for purchase at the Clark College Bookstore for $16.50. 

About Heather McGhee

McGhee designs and promotes solutions to inequality in America. During her career in public policy, she has crafted legislation, testified before Congress, and helped shape presidential campaign platforms including the idea of debt-free college. McGhee holds a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies from Yale University and a J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law. She chairs the board of Color of Change, the nation’s largest online racial justice organization.  

About the book The Sum of Us:  

• Spent 10 weeks on The New York Times bestsellers list 
• Adapted into a podcast produced by Barack and Michelle Obamas’ production company 
• McGhee’s TED Talk, “Racism Has a Cost for Everyone” has more than 2.5 million views 

Summary

Heather McGhee’s specialty is the American economy—and the mystery of why it so often fails the American public. From the 2008 financial crisis to rising student debt to collapsing public infrastructure, she found a common root problem: racism, but not just in the most obvious indignities for people of color. Racism has costs for white people, too. It is the common denominator of our most vexing public problems, the core dysfunction of our democracy, and constitutive of the spiritual and moral crisis that grips us all. Learn more about McGhee’s book here. 

Media reviews

• “The book that should change how progressives talk about race.” — The New York Times 
• “Required reading to move the country forward.” — The Chicago Tribune 

The book’s Clark College connection:  

McGhee’s book tells the story of Clark College employee Susan Parrish (writer in Communications and Marketing) on pages 95 and 96.  

Here’s what Susan says: “In The Sum of Us, author Heather McGhee shares my story of “cascading loss and downward mobility” in the aftermath of the Great Recession. In a short period, I got divorced, was laid off from my job, had to sell my house at the lowest point in the housing market, claimed unemployment for the first time in my life and had to reinvent my career—and my entire life.” 

Clark College welcomed a new trustee and said farewell to an outgoing trustee at its June 7 Board of Trustees meeting. 

Board President Paul Speer and Clark President Dr. Karin Edwards welcomed Marilee Scarbrough to its governing board and thanked Trustee Rekah Strong, who has served on the board for a decade. She is the executive director of Educational Opportunities for Children and Families.  

Dr. Edwards said, “Rekah has been a champion for Clark College. She cares deeply about students and their families and promotes education as an equalizer for those who have been marginalized. Her intentional actions and commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion have fostered meaningful cultural change during her tenure here.” 

Marilee Scarbrough, an attorney, has been general counsel for the Vancouver School District since 2011. Previously she served as the policy and legal services director for Washington State School Directors’ Association, and attorney for the Washington State House of Representatives’ Higher Education Committee. Scarbrough holds a Juris Doctor from University of Oregon and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from Whitman College.  

“I am excited to serve my community in this new role,” said Trustee Scarbrough. “I look forward to working with the Clark College board and administration to inspire learners to excel, transform lives, and strengthen our increasingly diverse community.”

2023-24 Board of Trustees 

• Chair Paul Speer
• Vice Chair Cristhian A. Canseco Juarez 
• Jeanne Bennett  
• Denise Gideon 
• Marilee Scarbrough 

About Clark College Board of Trustees 

Each of the five members of the college’s Board of Trustees is appointed by the governor of Washington and serves a five-year term. They must live within the college’s service district, which includes Clark, Skamania and western Klickitat counties. 

The board seeks to ensure the quality and relevance of college programs and provides stewardship of public resources. The board is responsible for strategic planning, development and approval of college policies, and approval and oversight of the operating budget. Learn more here. 

Photo: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

Have you heard the latest buzz?

Just in time for Earth Day, Clark College was certified as an affiliate of the Bee Campus USA program on April 20, joining 165 other college campuses and 179 cities across the country united to make their landscape attractive to pollinators.

“Through a variety of sustainability initiatives, college students, faculty, and staff have championed creating environmentally friendly campuses,” said Clark College President, Dr. Karin Edwards. “I was fortunate to help sow wildflower seeds on campus in early spring. I anticipate that we will be enjoying beautiful native wildflowers—and seeing more bees on campus—in the coming months.” 

Biology Professor Steven Clark is coordinating the college’s Bee Campus initiative and has led the college in laying groundwork, such as planting native wildflowers, to make the campus more attractive to bees and other pollinators.

“Bee Campus helps bees because we provide food and habitat for bees,” Clark said. “But it may help humans more because we learn how to live in harmony with nature.”

Pollinators—including mason bees, bumblebees, butterflies, moths, beetles, flies, and hummingbirds are essential for the planet. They are responsible for the reproduction of almost 90% of the world’s flowering plant species and 30% of our food.

As part of the college’s Bee Campus initiative, it is offering opportunities for student research and service learning. Faculty, staff, and students have worked together to study and create pollinator habitat with native plants.

As a certified Bee Campus, Clark College will offer education to students and community members about the region’s native pollinators, potentially via biology labs, community science research contributions, environmental science service learning, Continuing Ed seminars, and Bee Units offered to nearby elementary schools.

During Clark’s Take Your Child to Work Day event on April 27, he led a group of college employees and their children on a bee walk just outside the front door of the STEM Building. Within minutes the kids were identifying and counting mason bees, bumblebees and more.

Professor Clark will teach two Clark College community education courses focused on bees and their habitat. Bee Walks and Bee Lives begins May 26. Bee Walks and Bee Biology begins June 6. Both courses include classroom time followed by a “bee walk” around campus.

Bee City USA and Bee Campus USA are initiatives of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, a Portland-based nonprofit. Bee City USA’s mission is to galvanize communities and college campuses to sustain pollinators by providing healthy habitat, rich in a variety of native plants that are free of pesticides.

For more information, visit:

• Clark College’s Bee Campus USA initiative
• Bee Campus USA
• Four simple ways to help pollinators

Earlier this week, the college had its formal exit meeting with the Washington State Auditor’s Office for its annual financial statement audit for fiscal year 2021-22. This is the 8th year in a row that Clark College has achieved no findings in these state audits, demonstrating that financial reporting and internal controls are in compliance with state laws. 

“Thank you to everyone for their part in helping us get through this process successfully,’ said Vice President of Operations, Sabra Sand. “These audits required a tremendous amount of time for our Business Services staff, along with collaboration with other areas across campus including Student Life, Financial Aid, and the Bookstore.” 

Link to a PDF of the audit letter.

Three Clark College students are among those being recognized for their academic excellence and community service.  

Alexandria (Lexi) Kneipp overcame her social anxiety by stepping up to be a leader, first in high school and now as a Phi Theta Kappa officer. Volunteering has helped her become more connected to the college and her neighborhood community. She enjoys leading and assisting others in navigating difficulties or making someone’s life easier. After she graduates this spring, she will transfer to Western Washington University to pursue a degree in Elementary Education. 

Lexi received another PTK honor by being selected as a Coca-Cola Bronze Scholar. She will receive a $1,000 scholarship and a bronze medallion. She will be recognized at the PTK International Conference and the All-Washington Academic Team ceremony, both in April.  

As one of the top 16 award recipients of the PTK’s All-Washington Academic Team, she will receive a $750 scholarship from Washington State Employees Credit Union (WSECC). 

Bruce Adams was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor. It significantly impacted him and his ability to do his job as a lab courier. His new career goal became to have a career again. He is determined to earn his degree. As he returned to college, Bruce initially was concerned about online learning, but the resources available for virtual learning eliminated his fears. He will graduate this fall with honors in the Health Information Management program and looks forward to returning to the workforce. 

Ella Merusic was motivated by her parents, who worked hard to overcome difficulties in life for her benefit. They gave her the support she needed to improve her life and future. Ella is looking forward to graduating with honors in Biological and Biomedical Sciences this summer. She plans to transfer to Washington State University to continue her studies to become a software designer/engineer who can better others’ lives through her work. 

The top three recipients will be announced at the Washington State Conference. Each will receive a $1,000 scholarship from the Association of College Trustees (ACT). The ceremony will be livestreamed via the SPSCC YouTube channel. 

Photos: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

For the second year in a row, the Clark College’s chapter of Phi Theta Kappa (PTK), the international honor society for community colleges, was ranked first place in the region and received the Distinguished Chapter Award. Three of its PTK members were nominated to the All-Washington Academic Team, and the chapter took top honors in PTK’s regional Hallmark Awards. 

Clark College also ranked first place in two other categories: 

• First Place College Project – First Generation College Student Day 
• First Place Paragon Award for New Advisors – Heather Leasure  

“Being a PTK and Clark College alumni myself, I am excited to receive the Paragon award for new advisors,” said Leasure, Student Communication & Retention Manager and PTK co-advisor. “I look forward to all the wonderful things we will be doing in 2023, including winning distinguished chapter again and more.”  

Photos courtesy of Heather Leasure