The Clark College Columbia Writers Series continues its 2019-2020 season with national award-winning writer Terese Mailhot. This event, which is free and open to the public, will be held on Monday, February 24, from 11 a.m. to noon in Penguin Union Building rooms 258 A & B on Clark College’s main campus.

Terese Mailhot is from Seabird
Island Band. Her work has appeared in Guernica,
Pacific Standard, Granta, Mother Jones, Medium, the
Los Angeles Times, and elsewhere. She
is the New York Times bestselling
author of Heart Berries: A Memoir.
Her book was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for
English-Language Nonfiction, and was selected by Emma Watson as the Our Shared
Shelf Book Club Pick for March/April 2018. Heart
Berries was also listed as an NPR Best Book of the Year, a Library Journal
Best Book of the Year, a New York Public Library Best Book of the Year, a
Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year, and was one of Harper’s Bazaar‘s Best Books of 2018.
She is the recipient of a 2019 Whiting Award, the Electra Quinney Award for
Published Stories, a Clara Johnson Award, and she is also the recipient of the
Spalding Prize for the Promotion of Peace and Justice in Literature. She
teaches creative writing at Purdue University in Indiana.

The Columbia
Writers Series was launched at Clark College in 1988, bringing local, national
and international authors to the college and the region. This year’s lineup of authors will continue in the spring with
Subtext, a week-long festival beginning on May 18 and featuring a variety of
literary events.

Information
about the Columbia Writers Series is available at www.clark.edu/cc/cws.

This event is held on Clark College’s main campus at 1933 Ft. Vancouver Way. Directions and maps are available online. Individuals who need accommodation due to a disability in order to fully participate in this event should contact Clark College’s Disability Support Services (DSS) Office at 360-992-2314 or 360-991-0901 (VP). The DSS office is located in room 013 in Clark’s Penguin Union Building.

High school students can learn how to take the next step in their education by attending one of four optional Running Start Information Night sessions at Clark College.

The identical sessions will be held 7:00-8:00
p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 5; Monday, Feb. 24; Monday,
March 9; and Tuesday, March 24. All four events, which are free and open to the
public, will be held in the Clark College gymnasium in the O’Connell
Sports Center, located on the southwest side of Clark College’s main campus.

Running Start allows eligible juniors
and seniors to earn college credit while they fulfill their high school
graduation requirements. Running Start students attend Clark classes along with “regular” college students. They can choose from
a full range of academic and professional and technical courses.

The program, which can significantly reduce the
cost of a college degree, has proven popular in Southwest Washington. Some
Running Start students are so motivated that they earn their associate degree
from Clark at the same time that they earn their high school diploma. These
annual information nights frequently attract hundreds of interested students
and parents to the college, which is why the college is hosting four sessions
this year. Clark College welcomed 2,428 Running Start students at
the beginning of the 2019 fall term.

These information sessions are for students and
parents who want to know more about beginning the program in Fall 2020. While
the sessions are completely optional, they are a good opportunity to hear
current Running Start students candidly describe their experiences in the
program and to learn about the eligibility criteria, expectations, timelines,
and more. Students and parents who live on the eastern side of the college’s
service district can also find out about expanded options available at Clark’s
East Vancouver location at Columbia Tech Center.

Running Start students pay for books,
transportation, and some fees, but do not pay full Clark College tuition.
Students can attend part-time or full-time under the Running Start program. Fees
are subject to change by the Washington State Legislature. A fee waiver is
available for those demonstrating financial need.

Clark College is located
at 1933 Fort Vancouver Way in Vancouver, Wash. Parking will be available in the
college’s Red lots on the east side of Fort Vancouver Way and in the Purple Lot
on the west side of Fort Vancouver Way. Driving directions and parking maps are
available at www.clark.edu/maps.

Individuals
who need accommodation due to a disability in order to fully
participate in this event should contact Clark College’s Disability Support
Services Office at 360-992-2314 or 360-991-0901 (VP), or visit Penguin Union Building (PUB) room 013, as soon as possible.

For more
information on Running Start, visit the Clark College website at www.clark.edu/runningstart. For information about
Running Start Information Nights, call 360-992-2078.

Clark College will honor the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Tuesday, January 21, by exploring a little-known aspect of the local African-American experience: the “Buffalo Soldiers,” all-black regiments who served in the U.S. military in the 19th century. The event will include both a screening of parts of a documentary film called Buffalo Soldiers of the Pacific Northwest and a collection of historic memorabilia related to Buffalo Soldiers. All events are free and open to the public.

The film screening will take
place at noon, followed by a discussion with some of the individuals involved
in creating Buffalo Soldiers of the
Pacific Northwest as well as members of the non-profit group Buffalo
Soldiers of Seattle. The history display will be on view from 11:00 a.m. to
2:00 p.m. All events take place in Gaiser Student Center on the Clark College
main campus. Clark College is located at 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver.
Driving directions and parking maps are available at www.clark.edu/maps.

Buffalo Soldiers of the Pacific Northwest examines
the history of African-American regiments formed by the U.S. government in the
1860s to help secure its interests in the West. These often-forgotten soldiers
served their country in many capacities—everything from constructing roads to
fighting in battles. The 56-minute documentary film, which is currently in post-production,
explores the history and legacy of this region’s Buffalo Soldiers.

In honor of Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr.’s legacy of service to others, Clark College encourages your
donation of hair and skin care products for African-American families served by
YWCA Clark County.

For more information about
this event, visit www.clark.edu/cc/mlk.

Individuals who need
accommodation due to a disability in order to fully participate in this event
should contact Clark College’s Disability Support Services Office at
360-992-2314 or 360-991-0901 (VP),
or visit Penguin Union Building (PUB)
room 013, as soon as possible.

Clark College will host a group of four Tibetan Buddhist monks from South India from Monday, January 13, through Friday, January 17, as they construct a sand mandala in Cannell Library on the college’s main campus.

All events are free and
open to the public; they are co-sponsored by Clark College International
Programs, Clark College Libraries, and Dharma Light Tibetan Buddhist
Association of Vancouver. (Full schedule printed below.) Cannell Library is
located on Clark College’s main campus at 1933 Ft. Vancouver Way in Vancouver,
Washington. Maps and directions are available at www.clark.edu/maps.
Anyone needing
accommodation due to a disability in order to fully participate in this event
should contact Clark College’s Disability Support Services Office at (360)
992-2314 or (360) 991-0901 (VP), prior to the event.

This project can be
appreciated simply as a beautiful and intricate time-based art form. But
according to Tibetan Buddhist belief, a sand mandala is meant to create a
profound experience of compassion for any who attend. The positive effects of a
sand mandala construction are believed to radiate out over the entire region,
blessing the environment and the beings therein, in an effort for world peace. The
mandala is destroyed in the closing ceremony, as a lesson in the impermanence
of all phenomena. The opening and closing ceremonies will include traditional
Tibetan Buddhist chanting and music. The closing ceremony will also include a
procession to the Columbia River, where a small portion of the colored sand
will be poured into the water as a form of blessing.

Schedule of events

Opening Ceremony    

• Monday, January 13,
  12:00 – 12:30 p.m.

Mandala Construction

• Monday, January 13,
  12:30 pm – 6:30 p.m.
• Tuesday,  January 14, 10:00 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.
• Wednesday, January 15,
  10:00 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.
• Thursday, January 16,
  10:00 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.
• Friday, January 17,
  10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Public Talk

• Tuesday, January 14, 12:00
  – 1:00 p.m.

Venerable Lobsang Dawa, with the help of translator Lobsang Dhondup,
will speak about the history and meaning of the sand mandala, as well as the
importance of compassion in daily life.

Closing Ceremony:

• Friday January 17, 2:00
  – 3:00 p.m., followed a procession that leads to the Columbia River from 3:00 –
  3:30 p.m.

The finals have all been handed in and students are enjoying
some much-deserved rest during Winter Break, but here at Clark College staff
are busy getting ready for Winter Term, which begins January 6.

There are plenty of exciting classes to look forward to, including:

• The Small World Initiative (BIOL 105), a collaboration with Yale University that teaches Clark College students to search for potential new strains of antibiotics
• A wide selection of fine arts classes, including Metal Arts, Ceramics, and Graphic Design
• Business courses like Small Business Management, Introduction to e-Business, and Introduction to International Business

It’s not too late for new students to get started at Clark. Visit our new students page to learn how to begin 2020 by getting on the path to a new career.

For continuing students, the time is now to register for the next term. Need to talk with Advising or other student services during Winter Break? We’re open all December long!

Photo: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

On Wednesday, December 4, the award-winning Clark College Orchestra will present its fall concert as part of the 2019-2020 season celebrating the 30th anniversary of Dr. Donald Appert as Clark College Music Director/Conductor. This all-orchestral extravaganza will include La Valse by Maurice Ravel, Nuages and Fêtes from Claude Debussy’s Nocturnes, and Josef Suk’s Symphony No. 1 in E Minor.

The performance is at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium of Skyview High School in Vancouver. Admission is free and open to the public. Donations to the Orchestra General Fund will be accepted at the door.

For
complete information about all the Clark College Music Department concerts
including the orchestra, concert band, jazz ensemble, and choirs, please see http://www.clark.edu/campus-life/arts-events/music/music-concerts.

About Dr. Donald Appert

Dr. Donald Appert has appeared as a guest conductor in Japan, Australia, Central America, and throughout Europe. In Italy La’ovadese wrote, “… the performance of the ‘Serenade in C Major’ of Tchaikovsky, under the exceptional direction of Appert, was in such a style that it brought out the elegance and grace of the melodic lines with Mozartian inspiration.”  Giornale di Sicilla praised his interpretation of Nielsen’s First Symphony as “lyrical with an airy freshness,” and his conducting as “precise, painstakingly accurate, and diligent.” In the United States, he has appeared as a guest conductor of the Vancouver (Washington) Symphony, the University of Texas – Arlington Symphony Orchestra, the Eastern Washington University Symphony Orchestra, and the University of Central Arkansas Symphony.

As one of only five musicians chosen, Dr. Appert received the 2015 Honored Artists of The American Prize for “individuals who have proven themselves to be musicians of sustained excellence over a number of seasons.” Adding to this distinctive honor is his 2011 The American Prize in Orchestral Programming – Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Award for his work with the Oregon Sinfonietta. 

Dr. Appert was awarded the 2015 ASCAPLUS Award in recognition of his performances in Italy and the United States. His awards in previous years were for performances in Romania, Qatar, Europe, Central America, Japan, and the United States. Dr. Appert is the recipient of the 2014 Clark County Arts Commission Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award, and in 2009, he received the Washington Community College Humanities Association Exemplary Status Award in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the Humanities. 

As a member of ASCAP, most of Dr. Appert’s compositions have been performed throughout the world. A recent work, Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, commissioned by and for Jeffrey Butler of the Houston Symphony, had its world première to great applause on June 17, 2018, with Mr. Butler as soloist and the Clark College Orchestra accompanying him.       

Clark College Theatre starts its 2019-2020 season with A Bright New Boise by Samuel D. Hunter.

Winner of the 2011 Obie Award for Playwrighting
and nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play, A Bright New Boise is a darkly funny examination of American
religion set in the staff room of an Idaho Hobby Lobby. Will, who has fled his
rural hometown after a scandal at his Evangelical church, comes to the Hobby
Lobby, not only for employment, but also to rekindle a relationship with Alex,
his brooding teenage son. Alex works there along with Leroy, his adopted
brother and protector, and Anna, a hapless young woman who reads bland fiction
but hopes for dramatic endings. As their manager, foul-mouthed Pauline, tries
ceaselessly to find order (and profit) in the chaos of small business, these
lost souls of the Hobby Lobby confront an unyielding world through the
beige-tinted impossibility of modern faith.

This
production’s cast includes: E
Andres Houseman as Will, Linda Owsley as Pauline, Corinne Stephens as Anna,
Keegan Harrison as Leroy, and Brenden Kinnee as Alex. The show is directed by
Mark Owsley.

This show contains adult themes,
language, and content.

Show Dates: November 15, 16, 21, 22, and 23. All show times are at 7:30 p.m. in the Decker Theatre, Frost Arts Center, on Clark College’s main campus. Maps and directions are available at www.clark.edu/maps.

Ticket Information: Students (with ID)
$10; Alumni (with membership) $10; Senior Citizens $12; General Admission $15.
Tickets may be purchased online at http://www.clarkbookstore.com/site_theatre.asp, or call 360-992-2815.

If you need accommodation
due to a disability in order to fully participate in this event, contact Clark
College’s Disability Support Services Office at 360-992-2314 or 360-991-0901
(VP), or visit Penguin Union Building room 013, as soon as possible.

The Clark College Columbia Writers Series kicks off its 2019-2020 season with “The Female Gaze” with 2019 National Book Awards Fiction Longlisters Kali Fajardo-Anstine (Sabrina & Corina) and Kimberly King Parsons (Black Light). This event, which is free and open to the public, will be held on Thursday, November 7, from noon to 2:00 p.m in Penguin Union Building (PUB) room 161 on Clark College’s main campus.

The event includes a reading
and discussion on building buzz around debut short story collections and
highlighting the many faces of contemporary female identity in literature. It
will feature brief readings, a moderated conversation, and question-and-answer
session followed by a book signing.

“The Female Gaze” is presented
by the National Book Foundation and Clark
College in a new partnership.

Kali Fajardo-Anstine is
from Denver, Colorado. Her fiction has appeared in The American
Scholar, Boston Review, Bellevue Literary Review, The Idaho Review,
Southwestern American Literature, and elsewhere. Kali has received
fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, and Hedgebrook. She received her
MFA from the University of Wyoming and has lived across the country, from
Durango, Colorado, to Key West, Florida.

Born in Lubbock,
Texas, Kimberly King Parsons received her MFA from
Columbia University. Her fiction has been published in The Paris
Review, Best Small Fictions 2017, Black Warrior Review, No
Tokens, Ninth Letter, and The Kenyon Review, among others.

The Columbia Writers Series was launched at Clark College in 1988, bringing local, national and international authors to the college and the region. After “The Female Gaze,” this year’s lineup will continue with the writer Terese Mailhot on Monday, January 27; the poet Ilya Kaminsky will read during spring term.

Information
about the Columbia Writers Series is available at www.clark.edu/cc/cws.

This
event is held on Clark College’s main campus at 1933 Ft. Vancouver Way. Directions
and maps are available online. Individuals
who need accommodation due to a disability in order to fully participate in
this event should contact Clark College’s Disability Support Services (DSS)
Office at 360-992-2314 or 360-991-0901 (VP). The DSS office is located in room
013 in Clark’s Penguin Union Building.

On Friday, Nov. 1, Clark College welcomes
the community as it hosts “Educating for the Seventh Generation,” a celebration
of Indigenous cultures.

The event will begin at 5:00 p.m. with free food and
refreshments. At 5:15 p.m., dancers from the Ke Kukui Foundation will perform. At
5:45 p.m., there will be a welcoming address and the presentation of the
Dreamcatcher Scholarship, which supports a Clark College student of Indigenous
ancestry. Grand Entry for a powwow will begin at 6:00 p.m., followed by an
Aztec performance at 6:15 p.m. The colors will retire at 10:00 p.m. Informational
tables and vendors selling Native arts and crafts will also be at the event.

The event, which
is free and open to the public, will be held in the Gaiser Student Center on
Clark College’s main campus. Clark College is located at 1933 Fort Vancouver
Way, Vancouver. Driving directions and parking maps are available at www.clark.edu/maps. Anyone
needing accommodation due to a disability in order to fully participate in this
event should contact Clark College’s Disability Support Services Office at
(360) 992-2314 or (360) 991-0901 (VP), prior to the event.

This
is the 10th year
that Clark College has coordinated and hosted an event in honor of Native
American Heritage Month. It is one of four signature events hosted by the
college annually to celebrate diverse cultures. According to organizers, “Educating
for the Seventh Generation” references “our responsibility to teach the future
Seventh Generation to maintain our resources, traditions and customs. It is the
way of caring and preserving for the Seventh Generation, which is a true
sustainable practice.”

Information about this event is online at www.clark.edu/cc/native-american. Information about Native American Heritage Month is available at http://nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov/about/index.html. Images from the 2018 celebration are available via Clark’s Flickr album at https://www.flickr.com/photos/clark_college/albums/72157699995239382.

On September 16, Clark College employees gathered in the O’Connell Sports Center gymnasium for the traditional Opening Day ceremonies. While much of the program was familiar to longtime employees, this year’s event brought a few new elements.

The first and most noticeable was the college’s new leader: Interim President Dr. Sandra Fowler-Hill, who is serving a one-year term as interim president while the college seeks a permanent replacement for retired president Bob Knight. Fowler-Hill joked that, while she has attended many such celebrations during her decades-long career in higher education, here at Clark, “this is my first Opening Day–and my last Opening Day.”

“We’re eager to serve Clark’s students and make this college a welcoming place for all.”

— ASCC President Evans Kaame

Board of Trustees chair Jane Jacobsen thanked Dr. Fowler-Hill for coming out of her retirement as the president of Portland Community College’s Rock Creek campus to step into the interim role.

Trustee Paul Speer outlined the process for hiring a new president, reiterating that the Board of Trustees was “transparent, equitable and inclusive.” The college has posted updated information about the presidential search on its website.

Opening Day was also the occasion to announce two new employee awards. The first was the Exceptional Administrative-Exempt Award, recognizing a class of employees that fall neither into Classified staff nor faculty categories. Administrative-exempt staff include many administrators, managers, directors, executive assistants, and other employees who are not eligible for overtime compensation.

“We realized there’s a group of employees who haven’t had an opportunity to have their excellence recognized,” said Dr. Fowler-Hill.

The second new award was announced by Associate Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Rashida Willard. The Lora Whitfield Social Equity Award will be awarded to a member of the Clark College community who has demonstrated a sustained commitment to advancing equity, Willard said. It is named in honor of early childhood education professor Lora Whitfield, who died in July. Dr. Debi Jenkins read a poem to honor Whitfield’s memory.

Social equity was a significant theme in a presentation on the college’s progress toward Guided Pathways from Willard, Vice President of Instruction Sachi Horback, and Vice President of Student Affairs Bill Belden.

“It is on us to make sure all our students complete and persist,” said Willard. “We can’t put it on our students to succeed in a broken system. We need to fix the system in order for everyone to succeed.”

Old traditions were also honored at Opening Day, including the recognition of employees for their years of service. Four employees–Mike Arnold, Lynn Boydston, Lisa Hasart, and Vicki Weese–were recognized for having worked at the college for 30 years. Vice President of Human Resources and Compliance Stefani Coverson also announced the recipients of the 2019 Exceptional Classified Award: Amanda Brown and Ian Beckett.

The recipients of the 2018-2019 Exceptional Faculty Award, who were announced at Commencement, were recognized again and provided with plaques honoring their achievement.

Dr. Fowler-Hill concluded the event by saying, “It’s an honor to be your interim President this year. You are dedicated, passionate and steadfast in your work to support our students. I have rolled up my sleeves to join you in this work and support you every way I can.”

Photos: Clark College/Jenny Shadley
More photos can be found on Flickr.