Professor Dave Kosloski, fifth from left, led Washington State community college students through their study-abroad experience in Italy during the 2015 spring quarter. Photo courtesy of Dave Kosloski

On February 11 at 4:00 p.m. in the Ellis Dunn Community Room (Gaiser Hall room 213), the Teaching and Learning Center hosts “Square Pegs in Round Holes: Making the Study Abroad Experience Meaningful for Community College Students,” the 2016 winter quarter installment of Clark College’s Faculty Speaker Series.

Communications studies professor Dave Kosloski shares insights, surprises, and challenges that are unique to the community college study-abroad experience. Based on his teaching-abroad assignment in Florence, Italy, during the 2015 spring quarter, he will explore the cultural, pedagogical and social issues that arise in working with the two-year student in a traditional study abroad environment.

Prof. Dave Kosloski

About Prof. Dave Kosloski

For 18 years, Professor Dave Kosloski has taught courses in the Communication Studies department at Clark College, most notably in public speaking and competitive speech and debate. He received his bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Public Relations at Georgia State University in Atlanta and his master’s degree in Communication Theory at Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant. Even before completing his master’s degree, Kosloski began teaching courses in interpersonal and public communication. While working on doctoral coursework in Rhetorical Criticism at the University of Illinois, he not only taught public speaking and business writing courses but published numerous articles. He also co-authored and edited several instructors’ manuals to accompany textbooks in his field.

When Kosloski received his first teaching award as a doctoral candidate he began to realize that teaching, not research, was his passion. His first full-time teaching position was at a small liberal arts college in Nebraska. After two years there, he decided to focus his career on working at a two-year college.

From 1998 to 2013, Kosloski served as Clark College’s Director of Forensics. Under his tutelage, the Penguins routinely captured first place in speech and debate competitions in the Northwest Community College Division. Only once in 15 years did the team place second. He also led his teams to nine different international competitions in Italy, Belgium, Germany, and Quebec, where they ranked from second to sixth overall. Of his teaching abroad experience in 2015, he says it was not only an opportunity to connect with students more deeply as he had when he coached forensics, but to experience another culture more meaningfully than a week-long speech competition could offer.

A first-generation college student himself, Kosloski finds that community college students are truly committed to getting the most out of their education. He believes that “students will rise to whatever challenge they are presented.” In his 28 years teaching, Kosloski has observed that the skills he teaches are more far-reaching than students can imagine. “They come to class on the first day assuming they’re just getting a required course out of the way. They think it’s not useful to their major,” he says. “It may not be until years later when they have to make a presentation to a board of directors or a PTA that the skills they acquired are really useful. Their lives are empowered in ways they could not imagine on that first day of class.”

See a video of Prof. Kosloski discussing the study-abroad experience:

About the Faculty Speaker Series

The Clark College Faculty Speaker Series showcases recent experiences that have enriched both the life and teaching of a Clark faculty member. Faculty members share their developmental experiences with the college community—and members of the community at large—while addressing some of today’s most intriguing issues.

Established by Clark College with support from the Clark College Foundation, the series honors individual faculty members and celebrates academic excellence.

Photo: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

Video: Clark College/Nick Bremer-Korb

Dr. Michael Benitez Jr. speaks at Clark College’s annual celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“Today we’re going to have a little of what I call ‘critical fun,’” said Dr. Michael Benitez Jr. as he began to speak to the crowd gathered to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy in Gaiser Student Center on January 20. True to that promise, Benitez delivered a talk that was enlivened with humor—but also tackled serious subjects like racially based bias in this country’s social and economic systems.

“For 60 years, the data have told we need to change, but for some reason, we’re not looking at the data,” said Benitez, showing charts that revealed gaping discrepancies between African-Americans and whites in sectors like home ownership, wealth accumulation, and imprisonment. “We’re looking at things the comfortable way. Instead of looking at the needs of the oppressed, we need to take a look at the comforts of the dominant.”

Benitez acknowledged that most people in the auditorium probably were able to take advantage of at least some of those comforts. “This is the tension for those of us working for social justice,” he said. “Our complicity in the system that we aim to dismantle.”

Benitez spoke engagingly about both receiving and being denied privilege—being able to say and do things as an able-bodied man that a woman or person with disabilities might not be able to say or do, but also being a target for police as a Latino man. “There’s a reason I was pulled over four times by police on a road trip,” he said.

Benitez is the Dean of Diversity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer at the University of Puget Sound. He recently completed his doctorate in educational leadership and policy studies at Iowa State University. He has served higher education in different capacities for the last 15 years, including academic affairs, student affairs, diversity and inclusion, and teaching.

President Bob Knight announces the college’s new Social Equity Plan at the college’s annual celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Appropriately for an event celebrating Dr. King’s legacy, the speech was preceded by the announcement of the college’s new 2015-2020 Social Equity Plan. “We are being serious about this as we move forward with social equity,” said President Bob Knight in announcing the plan. “We want to make it fair and just for everyone at Clark College to achieve their dream. I will be at the forefront of it.”

“This is everybody’s plan,” said Clark College Multicultural Retention Manager Felis Peralta, who as a member of the college’s Cultural Pluralism Committee helped develop the plan. “It does not belong to the Cultural Pluralism Committee. It does not belong to the Office of Diversity and Equity. Everybody has a part of making Clark a better place for everyone.”

In his keynote speech, Benitez praised Clark for taking a stand on social equity. “I’m glad to hear the word ‘equity’ in there,” he said. “Because without equity, there no such thing as inclusion. Without equity, there is no such thing as diversity.”

Photos: Clark College/Nick Bremer-Korb

President Robert K. Knight received applause during the 2016 State of the College address when he told representatives from Ridgefield, “We’re coming!” — a reference to the college’s future North County campus.

Clark College President Robert K. Knight delivered the annual State of the College address in Gaiser Student Center on Jan. 21. In his speech he stated, “I hope to leave you with a sense of the transformation that is happening all around us.”

Some of that transformation is physical–Knight pointed to the upcoming opening of the new STEM building in the fall and the $10 million remodeling of the college’s culinary facilities to support the re-opening of the Culinary Arts program. He also highlighted more long-range plans, including the construction of a new campus in Ridgefield. Many representatives from Ridgefield’s government were in the audience and cheered approvingly at mention of the new campus.

Other transformations were more systemic. Knight spoke about the progress being made in implementing the college’s 2015-2020 Strategic Plan, which was unveiled during last year’s State of the College address. Steps taken to realize that plan include a new Social Equity Plan and Academic Master Plan.

Vice President of Instruction Dr. Tim Cook with President Knight at the 2016 State of the College address. Dr. Cook has been instrumental in developing the college’s new Academic Master Plan.

Another systemic change is a move toward “guided pathways,” a concept that offers students highly structured course plans that help them complete their programs efficiently. This strategy, popularized by the book Redesigning America’s Community Colleges: A Clearer Path to Student Success, has become a rallying cry among many in higher education who are working to boost students’ ability to complete their programs smoothly and quickly. “The vision of guided pathways is that every student has a clear road map to help them navigate each point in their journey at Clark,” said Knight.

To further help students on their journeys, Knight added, Clark would be adding more one-on-one assistance with navigating college systems. “Going on a computer to enroll and register online is hard enough for anyone, but especially if you don’t have anyone in your family who can help you with that,” said Knight, noting that almost three-quarters of Clark’s student body were first-generation college students. “So we’re backing off from doing all of that online.”

As is traditional, Knight used the State of the College address as an opportunity to showcase some of Clark’s talented and dedicated employees by presenting them with Presidential Coins. He also highlighted three Clark students whose stories reflected the many ways students find success at the college.

In conclusion, Knight said that just as Clark College was changing, so was the region that it served. “I feel the energy in Clark County right now,” he said. “I’m excited by what we can accomplish together.”

View more photos from the State of the College on our Flickr site.

Photos: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

Highlighting the critical importance of improving student success in America’s community colleges, the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program today named Clark College as one of the nation’s top 150 community colleges eligible to compete for the 2017 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence and $1 million dollars in prize funds, as well as Siemens Technical Scholars Program student scholarships.

The Prize, awarded every two years, is the nation’s signature recognition of high achievement and performance among America’s community colleges and recognizes institutions for exceptional student outcomes in four areas: student learning, certificate and degree completion, employment and earnings, and access and success for minority and low-income students.

“We are excited and honored to be selected as one of the top 150 community colleges in the country,” said Robert K. Knight, president of Clark College. “Students and student success is at the heart of everything we do, and it is wonderful to have the hard work of our exceptional faculty and staff recognized in this way. Our new strategic plan and program initiatives are all aimed at increasing student success, and being selected as one of top community colleges is proof we are moving towards this goal.”

Nearly half of America’s college students attend community college, with more than 7 million students – youth and adult learners – working towards certificates and degrees in these institutions across the country.

“Community colleges have tremendous power to change lives, and their success will increasingly define our nation’s economic strength and the potential for social mobility in our country,” said Josh Wyner, executive director of the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program. “This competition is designed to spotlight the excellent work being done in the most effective community colleges, those that best help students obtain meaningful, high-quality education and training for competitive-wage jobs after college. We hope it will raise the bar and provide a roadmap to better student outcomes for community colleges nationwide.”

A full list of the selected colleges and details on the selection process are available at www.aspenprize.org.

Clark College and 149 other community colleges were selected from a national pool of over 1,000 public two-year colleges using publicly available data on student outcomes in three areas:

• Performance (retention, graduation rates including transfers, and degrees and certificates per 100 full-time equivalent students)

• Improvement (awarded for steady improvement in each performance metric over time)
• Equity (evidence of strong completion outcomes for minority and low-income students)

Clark College has been invited to submit an application to the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence containing detailed data on degree and certificate completion (including progress and transfer rates), labor market outcomes (employment and earnings), and student learning outcomes.

Ten finalists will be named in fall 2016. The Aspen Institute will then conduct site visits to each of the finalists and collect additional quantitative data. A distinguished Prize Jury will select a grand prize winner and a few finalists with distinction in early 2017.

The Aspen Prize is funded by the Joyce Foundation, the Siemens Foundation, and the Kresge Foundation.

Scholarship Opportunities

For the first time, the 150 Prize-eligible institutions are also invited to nominate exceptional students enrolled in their best middle-skill STEM programs for scholarships. Up to 50 Siemens Technical Scholars will be selected from programs that provide outstanding preparation for high-demand jobs in manufacturing, energy, health care, and information technology. A partnership between the Siemens Foundation and the Aspen Institute, the Siemens Technical Scholars Program intends to help our nation’s community colleges and their business partners bridge the gap between projected shortages of skilled workers and the millions of high-demand jobs in these STEM industries. Scholarship winners and the programs that deliver rigorous training enabling their success will be announced in fall 2016. For more information and to view video profiles of 2015 Siemens Technical Scholars, go to: http://as.pn/stscholars.

About the Aspen College Excellence Program

The Aspen College Excellence Program aims to advance higher education practices, policies, and leadership that significantly improve student outcomes. Through the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, the New College Leadership Project, and other initiatives, the College Excellence Program works to improve colleges’ understanding and capacity to teach and graduate students, especially the growing population of low-income and minority students on American campuses. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org/college-excellence.

About the Aspen Institute

The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, DC. Its mission is to foster leadership based on enduring values and to provide a nonpartisan venue for dealing with critical issues. The Institute is based in Washington, DC; Aspen, Colorado; and on the Wye River on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. It also has offices in New York City and an international network of partners. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org.

About Clark College

Located in Vancouver’s Central Park and serving up to 14,000 students per quarter, Clark College is Washington State’s largest single-campus, for-credit community college. The college currently offers classes at three satellite locations: one on the Washington State University Vancouver campus; one in the Columbia Tech Center in East Vancouver; and one in the Columbia River Gorge in Bingen, Washington. Additionally, its Economic & Community Development program is housed in the Columbia Bank Building in downtown Vancouver.

Photo: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

Lydia Yuknavich and Debra Gwartney, inset, are both reading at Clark College as part of the Columbia Writers Series.

Clark College’s Columbia Writers Series will host two outstanding writers during winter quarter, both of whom are known for their beautifully written but brutal memoirs—one a recollection of an adolescence wracked with alienation and abuse, the other a wrenching account of a mother losing her own daughters to drugs and the streets.

Lidia Yuknavitch and Debra Gwartney will be reading from and discussing their work at two separate events in February. These events, which are free and open to the public, will be held on Clark’s main campus.

Read more about these two authors and their appearances at Clark:

Debra Gwartney
February 17, 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Penguin Union Building, Room 258C

Debra Gwartney is the author of Live Through This: A Mother’s Memoir of Runaway Daughters and Reclaimed Love, a memoir published in 2009 and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. The book was also a finalist in 2009 for the National Books for a Better Life Award and the Oregon Book Award, and was shortlisted for the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award. Kirkus Reviews decribed it as “[a]n achingly beautiful chronicle of unfathomable sorrow, flickering hope and quiet redemption.”

Gwartney is also co-editor, along with her husband Barry Lopez, of Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape. She has published essays in many magazines, newspapers, and literary journals, including American Scholar, TriQuarterly, Prairie Schooner, Salon, Tampa Review, Kenyon Review, Crab Orchard Review, The New York Times (“Modern Love” column), and others.

Gwartney is a recipient of fellowships from The Writer’s Center, located in Bethesda, Maryland, the American Antiquarian Society, Portland’s Literary Arts, The Oregon Arts Commission, The Wurlitzer Foundation of Taos, New Mexico, and Hedgebrook Writers Colony. In 2000, she was a scholarship winner for the Breadloaf Writers Conference. She is currently a member of the nonfiction faculty for Pacific University’s MFA in Writing program.

Lidia Yuknavitch
February 23,  11:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m. 
Penguin Union Building, Room 258A&B

Lidia Yuknavitch is the National Bestselling author of the novels The Small Backs of Children and Dora: A Headcase; the memoir The Chronology of Water; as well as three books of short fictions – Her Other Mouths, Liberty’s Excess, and Real to Reel; and a critical book on war and narrative, Allegories of Violence.

The Los Angeles Review of Books wrote of The Chronology of Water, “Yuknavitch’s fragmentary ‘anti-memoir’ relates a history filled in equal parts with violence and aesthetic discovery, sexual exploration and personal chaos. The Chronology of Water is striking for its emotional bareness, but also for its lapidary prose; each sentence is a beautiful gem, diamond-hard and precise.”

Yuknavitch’s writing has appeared in publications including Guernica Magazine, Ms., The Iowa Review, Zyzzyva, Another Chicago Magazine, The Sun, Exquisite Corpse, TANK, and in the anthologies Life As We Show It (City Lights), Wreckage of Reason (Spuytin Duyvil), Forms at War (FC2), Feminaissance (Les Figues Press), and Representing Bisexualities (SUNY), as well as online at The Rumpus.

She is the recipient of the Oregon Book Award – Reader’s Choice, a PNBA award, and was a finalist for the 2012 Pen Center creative nonfiction award. She writes, teaches and lives in Portland, Oregon.

Mark Magdaleno was named Interim Baseball Coach in January 2016.

Clark College has named Mark Magdaleno as its Interim Head Baseball Coach. Magdaleno takes over as the Penguins are preparing to begin practice for the upcoming season.

“Mags” takes the helm after serving as the associate head baseball coach since he was hired in August. He has spent 32 years coaching baseball at the high school and college level. Most recently he was on staff at Ventura College in California, where he also began his career in 1983. Magdaleno has extensive coaching experience in California and throughout the West. Andy Moore, Mick Ellett, and Jesse Villanueva continue to serve as assistant coaches for the team.

Director of Athletics Ann Walker says she feels fortunate to have Magdaleno and his staff leading the baseball team. “There is great energy in our baseball program right now and that is a tribute to Mags and his assistant coaches,” she says. “I am confident, through his leadership, our young men will achieve great successes, enjoy a sport they love playing, and will represent the program and athletic department in a manner we can all be proud of. I look forward to working with him and his staff and watching the team compete this spring.”

Clark College opens its 2016 season on Tuesday, March 1, against Linfield College at home.

Photo: Clark College/Nick Bremer-Korb

As retired Clark College art professor James Archer stood in the gallery named after him and gazed at the works hanging on the walls, his expression was slightly wistful. Archer was attending the reception for “Archer @ Archer,” an exhibit of selections from Archer’s private art collection, which he is donating to the college where he taught for 23 years.

“It’s pretty overwhelming,” he said, standing between two colorful abstract prints of his own and a row of prints made by a former student who is now an art professor himself. “Many of these works were done by young people whom I mentored over the years. Most of them, I never was able to frame, so this is my first time seeing them framed and hung as a collection. It’s a very emotional experience for me.”

Carson Legree, left, with Jim Archer at the opening on January 12.

The college has received many donations of art through the Clark College Foundation over the years, but this donation is unusual both because of its size and its historical significance. Archer is donating 129 works total, about 40 of which are on display at the gallery. These works include drawings, paintings, prints, and collage, many of them by Clark instructors or students. Not only do they form an impressive collection of regional art, but they also represent the artistic vision of Archer Gallery’s founding director.

Archer originally became curator of the gallery in 1982, when it was still located within the Clark College Bookstore and was called the Index Gallery. Successful in attracting well-known Northwest artists, the Index Gallery became known as one the region’s top alternative venues for contemporary artists. In 1995, the gallery—which by then had been relocated to a larger space within Gaiser—was renamed in Archer’s honor. It moved to its current location in the lower level of the Penguin Union Building in 2005.

“This donation is significant because it has a lot of regional pieces, many with a strong Clark connection,” said Clark art professor and current Archery Gallery curator Senseney Stokes. “There are works here from [retired art professor and former Archer Galley curator] Carson Legree, from Jim himself, from [retired art professor] Jim Baker. But even beyond these connections, some of the work here is so strong, so beautiful. Jim collected some really great stuff, and we’re lucky to have it in our campus collection.”

Professors bring art students to the Archer Gallery regularly as part of their instruction.

Clark’s Art Committee will be deciding where to place pieces from the collection after the show ends February 20. Members of the college community are invited to provide the committee with feedback on placement of particular objects.

Asked why he chose to donate his collection to Clark, Archer explained that he was downsizing to a smaller home and that Clark seemed the natural place to donate these works. “I’m an alumnus of this college, I worked here,” he said. “I’m happy that they won’t just be put in a closet here. People will see them, and react to them, for a long time to come.”

Photos of the exhibit can be viewed on our Flickr site.

Photos Clark College/Jenny Shadley

Clark College student Cindy Nguyen hopes to become an ultrasound technician.

“I’ve always wanted to go to college,” says Clark student Cindy Nguyen. Even so—and despite her excellent grades—Nguyen acknowledges that college has its challenges.

“When you come to college, you need to learn to study more efficiently than you did in high school,” says the 19-year-old. “And there’s the money thing: tuition, and then textbooks are really expensive, like $200 a quarter.”

Like almost three-quarters of Clark’s student body, Nguyen is a first-generation college student. Her mother, a nail technician, and her father, who installs hardwood flooring, never had the chance to attend college in their native Vietnam. Paying for college for their children (Nguyen’s older sister, who also attended Clark, is now a social worker, and her younger sister is still in middle school) is a financial challenge for them—but one they have decided is worth the sacrifice.

“They’re really supportive,” says Nguyen. “They’re willing to do anything for me to pursue my education, because they never had that opportunity.”

Being able to attend Clark has helped significantly in reducing the cost of college for the Nguyen family, who have lived in Vancouver since the 1990s. Nguyen is able to save on housing by staying with her parents while completing her prerequisites at Clark before transferring to a farther-away institution to complete her degree in ultrasound technology. Furthermore, she has received support from scholarships made possible by generous donors to the Clark College Foundation.

“That’s been really helpful,” she says. “It’s relieved the financial burden. Without the scholarships, I would have to get a job to support myself in college. This way, I can just concentrate on my studies. I’m so focused on what I’m doing.”

Every year, Clark College Foundation supports the college’s students with tens of thousands of dollars in scholarships, many of which are funded by Clark alumni who remember being struggling students themselves.

Nguyen says having total strangers investing in her education gives her a sense of responsibility to make that investment worthwhile. “It’s really motivating,” she says. “Their way of helping me has allowed me to enable myself, achieve an education, and hopefully support other people one day. I see myself working at a hospital and helping people as an ultrasound technician. That’s my dream. So what I’m learning right now, I’m going to give back to them—and I’m going to help support my parents, too.”

Photo: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

My name is Lily Hart, and I am a student at Clark College. I’m also the Managing Editor of Phoenix and was Assistant Literary Editor last year. Phoenix is Clark College’s award-winning literary and art journal. Run by student editors and faculty advisers, it publishes work from Clark College students, faculty and alumni—mostly students. We publish in print and online, and accept a wide array of work including fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, ceramics, design work, music, and dramatic recitals. You can go online at clarkphoenix.com to get a full list. This year, Phoenix is proud to introduce a new category: graphic novels.

I am hoping that this post will give you insight into the behind-the-scenes process of Phoenix—and will maybe prompt you to submit something to the journal yourself!

Right now, the 2016 Phoenix is just finishing up its pre-production phase. Here are a couple little tidbits about the early stages that many people aren’t aware of. Clark offers a three-credit class in the fall – Intro to Literary Publication. In this class, students work on marketing and promotions; interview plans and strategies; and editing 101. If you are curious about some of the work done in the class, take a look at the promotional posters going up around campus, as well as a slide in the Gaiser Student Center: We created all of those in our class, and it’s fun to be able to see our “homework” on display all over campus. We have a class of 16 students, and everyone is enthusiastic about the work we’ve started.

One of my classmates in Intro to Literary Publication, Rowan Walters, is Phoenix’s Poetry Editor. “Starting in the class and progressing to the staff has made me feel valuable, both to the campus of a school I love as well as to society in general,” she says.

I would definitely agree with this. For me, one of the other highlights of being involved is getting to know a lot of amazing people with similar interests. It’s a nice community feel.

You also get real-world experience in being an editor, gaining organization skills and managing projects, which are all perfect skills for today’s job market. As Jennie Avens, our Fine Arts editor from 2015 and again staff for 2016, says, “Working with this team was a great practical experience that gave me a sneak peek of what to expect if I get into publishing after graduation.” Whether a student’s career goals lie in editing and the arts, or in something completely different, the skills gained from being on Phoenix gives are always applicable.

Another thing which I’m really excited about is the awards Phoenix has won. In 2014, the journal won first place in the American Scholastic Press literary and art journal competition, and individual student work won as well. Last year, (when I was involved, so this is super exciting!) it won the 2015 Washington Community College Humanities Association’s Large Budget Literary/Arts Magazine of the Year, and the Community College Humanities Association award for first place Literary Journal. This is a huge deal for us because we have never won that award before.

Remember, submissions are open to the entire college community–students, faculty, staff and alumni–and the submission deadlines are January 9 for literature, January 19 for art, and February 29 for video. Visit clarkphoenix.com to find out more about how to submit your work. We hope to see your submissions!

This article was contributed by Clark student Lily Hart.

Photos: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

The announcement of a new campus, the girder-by-girder growth of a new building, and our first men’s basketball championship in 20 years–no doubt about it, 2015 was a banner year in many ways. Take a stroll through the year that was as we wish you and yours a wonderful New Year!