On the evening of February 21^, the Clark College Theatre Department opened its doors to students and community members for the dress rehearsal of the winter quarter musical, “RENT.”  Forty of those community members were students from the Boys and Girls Club of Southwest Washington, brought on a trip organized by Clark College Admissions and Student Recruitment.

RENT–a Tony Award-winning musical that covers issues of sexuality, drug use, and AIDS–can be challenging for younger audiences. Youth were required to have permission slips signed by parents in order to attend the show. Afterward, they had a chance to participate in a panel discussion with all of the actors, where the youth asked questions about some of the subjects that they witnessed in the play, how actors prepared for their role and how each person decided which character they wanted to be.

Clark College Theatre instructor Gene Biby, who directed RENT, worked with Admissions and Recruitment to make the event a success. He arranged the panel of actors and facilitated the question-and-answer session.

“We received nothing but positive feedback from both students and chaperones of the Boys and Girls Club and hope to arrange similar visits with the theater department in the future,” said Student Recruitment Specialist Narek Daniyelyan. “Big thanks to the wonderful staff of the Boys and Girls Club of Southwest Washington, who continuously partner with Clark College and share the advantages of attending Clark with their students. Special thanks to all of the actors who were willing to stay late to talk to the youth of our community.”

Photo: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

Dr. Darryl Brice said he appreciated this photo of Dr. King because it looks as if Dr. King is pointing to the viewers and asking them what they are going to do to promote justice.

“If you look at that ‘I Have a Dream’ speech that everyone references … look at the front part,” said Dr. Darryl Brice as he gave Clark College’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day keynote speech to an audience gathered in Gaiser Student Center on January 22. “Everyone talks about the dream, but there was a nightmare part where he talked about the reality of what was going on at the time.”

Brice, an Instructor of Sociology and Diversity and Globalism Studies at Highline Community College, went on to expand on his speech’s central thesis–that the more radical elements of Dr. King’s legacy have been “co-opted or omitted” in favor of a softer, less challenging image of the civil rights leader as a dreamer. As Brice put it, “You don’t get arrested over 30 times for having a dream.”

Brice detailed aspects of Dr. King’s politics that he said are often omitted: his opposition to the Vietnam War, his anti-poverty activism, his criticism of income and wealth disparities between African-Americans and white Americans, and his harsh criticism of well-meaning white liberals who did not recognize their own internal racism. He also pointed out that in his day, Dr. King was considered so dangerous that the FBI put him on its COINTELPRO watch list.

Brice continued by saying that “Dr. King’s dream was never attained.” He presented charts showing that great disparities remain in the wealth and incomes of African-Americans and white Americans. He urged audience members to “have the same courage” Dr. King showed to fight against injustice. When asked what college students in particular could do, he answered, “Hold us accountable–that’s what college students have always done.”

Dr. Darryl Brice, white shirt, with members of Clark’s MLK Planning Committee and President Bob Knight, third from left.

The event, presented by Clark’s MLK Planning Committee and sponsored by the Office of Equity and Diversity and the Service-Learning and Volunteer Program, was part of the college’s official celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Dr. Brice attended Frostburg State University, where he received his bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Justice Studies. He received his master’s and doctoral degrees in Sociology from Loyola University Chicago. He has taught at Highline since 2003, and in 2008 was recognized as its Faculty Member of the Year. In 2007 the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints honored him with the Teachers Assisting in Discovery award. In 2009 he was the recipient of the NISOD (National Institute for Staff and Development) Excellence Award. In addition, Dr. Brice has appeared in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers.

Photos: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

President Knight bestows a Presidential Coin on Information Technology Application and Database Developer Andy Barsotti during the 2013 annual State of the College address.

As Clark College nears its 80th anniversary, its longevity can be seen both as one of its greatest challenges and as one of its greatest strengths. Clark College President Bob Knight explored that theme during his annual State of the College Address, held January 17 in Gaiser Student Center.

“When you’ve been part of a region for 80 years, most people know your name,” he said to an audience composed of Clark College employees, students, and community leaders. “They know of you. But they may not know much about you. Or they may remember you as you were years ago. They may not know who you are today.”

Knight went on to list some of the things that distinguish Clark College from other community colleges in the region, including its outstanding engineering, nursing, dental hygiene, welding, machining, automotive, diesel and other programs; its Running Start program (the largest in the state); its eLearning program, which 20 percent of all for-credit students participate in; its exemplary Mature Learning program; and its partnerships with regional development organizations including the Columbia River Economic Development Council, Southwest Washington Workforce Development Council, WSU Vancouver, the High Tech Council of Clark County, and local school districts. He also noted that last year Clark became Washington state’s largest single-campus community college in terms of for-credit classes, serving 26,000 students each year.

“We are not the small college that many people remember,” he said. “We are big, and we are growing.”

President Bob Knight gives the 2013 State of the College address.

Knight elaborated on the many ways Clark is growing, both physically–through such projects as a new STEM building on its main campus and a new campus in northern or central Clark County–as well as instructionally and organizationally. He noted that the college has begun developing new programs like Health Informatics and Mechatronics to meet new workforce needs, and may consider offering bachelor’s degrees in some fields in the future. He added that the college would work with WSU Vancouver in creating any such degree programs.

Knight listed other ways the college is growing and adapting. He highlighted the college’s recent use of lean processes to improve how both Student Affairs and Instruction function. He pointed out the benefits of two recent relocations: those of Corporate and Continuing Education and of Adult Basic Education/English as a Second Language. CCE’s move to downtown Vancouver, he said, has helped it to provide more support for the local business community. ABE/ESL’s move from Town Plaza to the “T Building” across Fort Vancouver Way from the main campus, meanwhile, has provided its students with greater access to student services and educational opportunity.

“We hope they will not just complete basic education, but will cross the road to continue their education by taking college courses,” Knight said of those ABE/ESL students.

Knight pointed out that all of these improvements and developments are being done at a time of deep budget cuts. At Clark’s 75th anniversary, he said, about 60 percent of the college’s funding came from the state; today, that number is below 40 percent. This has resulted in a higher economic burden on students, who have seen regular tuition increases–as well as on faculty and staff, who have accepted temporary 3-percent wage reductions.

Knight thanked the Clark College Foundation for its work in raising funds to improve programs despite state budget cuts–while acknowledging that such success creates its own challenge. “Ironically, because the Clark College Foundation does such great work, they have a perception problem,” he said. “Some people believe they have more than enough money to meet the needs of the college. That’s just not true.”

Knight concluded his speech by asking audience members–both employees and students, as well as friends and community leaders–to work together to support the college.

“Together, we can support our students’ dreams–and fulfill our vision for our college and our region–by putting Clark first,” he said.

Afterward, many in the audience walked across the street to view the new ABE/ESL facilities. One such person was Vancouver City Councilor Jeanne Harris, who attended Clark herself. As she walked, she said that she appreciated Knight’s overview of where the college is–and where it is heading.

“It helps those of us who are on campus maybe once a year to put it all together,” she said. “It made me proud of Clark College.”

Photos: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

As soon as President Bob Knight concluded his annual State of the College address, many audience members grabbed their coats and hurried out of Gaiser Student Center–not because they were eager to leave, but because they wanted to see the new location of Adult Basic Education/English as a Second Language. These programs, which were housed at Town Plaza for five years, moved to the Roy and Virginia Anderson Educational Complex (better known as the “T Building”) at the end of 2012.

The new facilities have many advantages over the old Town Plaza location: more windows, better temperature regulation, updated classroom technology. But perhaps the biggest improvement is the location itself, just across Fort Vancouver Way from Clark College’s main campus. This allows students easy access to college services like the Career Center and Cannell Library, as well as the chance to participate in student life.

“Students from Day One are operating as college students,” said Director of Basic Education Larry Ruddell as he greeted visitors to his program’s open house.

Workforce Pathways Program Manager Tiffany Williams pointed out that it wasn’t just students who benefited from access to the main campus; she and her colleagues were now able to easily take advantage of staff- and faculty-development events that previously required a car trip for Town Plaza employees.

Williams was giving tours of the new Pathways Learning Center, which was markedly different from its form at Town Plaza. There, 15 computers were arranged at tables facing the walls, making it difficult to do group teaching about computer skills; now, 24 computer stations are arranged at rows of desks in a traditional classroom layout, with a space for an instructor and a pull-down screen at the front of a room filled with natural light. This has allowed staff and faculty to begin teaching classes on everything from computer-based job searches to introductory web design.

“We’ve already started serving more students,” said Williams. “At our old location, we would average five to seven students at our classes; just this week, we had 14. When we get here in the morning to open the door, there are already students waiting to get in.”

Nearly 1,400 students took basic education classes at Clark College during the 2012 fall quarter alone.

Ruddell said that students have adjusted well to the move, with few having trouble finding their way to the new location. “We prepared them so thoroughly that on the first day of [winter quarter] classes, we were getting more lost students from the main campus than we were from our own student population,” he said.

Photos: Clark College/Jenny Shadley