Members of the Clark College Veterans Club and Associated Students were on hand to welcome student veterans to the new Veterans Resource Center. Also pictured are Vet Corps Navigators (and VCAS advisors) Tim McPharlin, far left, and Josh Vance, far right.

Less than four months after the college announced a major grant to help create a Veterans Resource Center, that center held its first public event to welcome student veterans and other members of the college community.

“This is a major milestone for the campus community as we pull together all the resources we have for veterans for their personal, financial, and educational success,” said Dean of Student Success & Retention Matthew Rygg as he greeted guests to the center’s open house, held March 11.

Clark College Bob Knight called the opening of the Veterans Resource Center “a proud day for Clark College.”

“As a vet myself, it is a proud day for Clark College to be opening a resource center for our student veterans,” said Clark College President Bob Knight, who served more than two decades in the U.S. Army. “To have a space where they can sit and meet with each other and get help and counseling is just a little of what we can do and should do for our veterans.”

Vice President of Student Affairs Bill Belden spoke in gratitude of the donors who had made the center possible. These include Jane Hagelstein, a longtime supporter of Clark’s student veteran community who donated $48,000 to help construct and furnish the center; the Community Foundation for Southwest Washington, which donated $30,000 in November to help hire and train staff at the center; and other individual donors who wish to remain anonymous. Belden also thanked Clark College Foundation for its support in making the center a reality.

Tucked into a quiet corner of Gaiser Hall’s second floor, the center is not yet complete–there is more furniture and decor in the works, and the college is still in the process of hiring a staff person to run it. But already it offers student veterans a host of amenities. A comfortable couch sits near a bank of computers available for research and paper-writing; private offices allow student veterans to discuss their educational and personal needs in confidentiality. An American flag stands by the doorway.

Clark College Veterans Club and Associated Students president Megan O’Malley thanks Jane Hagelstein, whose donation helped make the Veterans Resource Center possible.

“For me personally, a lot of it is just having that quiet space that [veterans] can come to where they don’t have to fight for a computer and where they can feel comfortable,” said Megan O’Malley, who is currently serving in the Army National Guard and is president of the Clark College Veterans Club and Associated Students.

About 700 veterans enroll at Clark College every quarter, about 500 of whom use GI Bill benefits to help pay for tuition, fees, housing, books and supplies. They often face unique challenges when they enter college–everything from managing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to navigating the sometimes complex paperwork involved in accessing military benefits. And then there are the not-so-unique challenges, like time management and financial instability. The Veterans Resource Center provides veterans with guidance and help for all of those things in one welcoming, centralized location.

“It’s our way of extending a helping hand to our vets and showing that the community they experienced while in the military is still available to them now that they’re out,” said Clark student Josh Vance. Vance, who served 10 years in the Air Force, now works as one of two Vet Corps Navigators in the center, helping veterans connect with services both inside and outside the college. Additionally, the center houses two full-time staff members who previously worked in the Office of Financial Aid; they are charged with helping veterans (as well as their qualifying dependents) access, understand, and comply with their GI Bill benefits. Six work-study employees also work in the center, supporting the staff and helping  student veterans with questions. All the center’s work-study students and most of its staff are veterans or active service members themselves, helping to create a comfortable and supportive environment for student veterans.

Student veteran Killian Hough and her service dog, Chekov, visit with Veterans Affairs Program Manager Michael Gibson at the Veterans Resource Center open house.

Killian Hough, a quiet woman whose service dog bears a sergeant’s stripes, came to check out the center after reading about it in her student email. She said she would return, and thought the center was a good step toward serving veterans at the college. “It shows that they’re considering veterans, having a place where we can have our thoughts, separate from all the kids,” said Hough, who served in the Air Force during Operation Desert Storm and currently serves in the Army National Guard. “A lot of us, both young and old, we’ve been through a lot, and sometimes we kind of think differently.”

The Veterans Resource Center is located in Gaiser Hall room 216. Its current hours during the regular academic year are 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. on Friday. Hours are reduced during breaks in the academic year. Certifying officials are available 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday. The center’s main phone line is 360-992-2073.

Photos: Clark College/Jenny Shadley. For more photos from this event, visit our Flickr set.

Clark College Independent 2014 winter quarter staff include, left to right Caitlin Calsbeek, Emma Fletcher, Cloe Beck, Aleksi Lepisto, Kyle Souvenir, Tra Friesen, Kenneth Zummach, Tyler Urke, Robert Berman, Ryan Rutledge, Brody Voge, Tyler “Charle” Brown, Evan “Smiles” Jones, Alejandra Magallanes, Ester Manea and Bradley York. Photo: The Independent/Bradley York

Clark College students who publish the print and online editions of The Independent captured two national awards at the Associated Collegiate Press 30th annual National College Journalism Convention, held Feb. 27-March 2 in San Diego.

In addition to attending more than 72 workshops and training sessions while at the convention, The Independent staff won third place in a “Best of Show” competition among more than 30 community colleges from across the country that publish weekly newspapers. The Clark College student staff also captured 10th place among large schools — both community colleges and four-year institutions — that produce news websites.

This was the first award for The Independent‘s online publication, said Clark journalism instructor Dee Anne Finken, who advises the student staff. She said the acknowledgement is evidence the student staff’s digital-first emphasis is working, and noted that the staff’s success in the print category was a step up from last year, when Clark students finished seventh at ACP.

Finken and adjunct instructor Jeff Bunch accompanied the 12 students who attended the three-day conference, which also included workshops on everything from the basics of newswriting to the future of journalism in the digital age, each led by experts in the field. Other workshops featured faculty from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Arizona State University and the Poynter Institute along with New York Times Public Editor Margaret Sullivan.

Editor-in-chief Aleksi Lepisto said Clark students are committed to publishing a high-quality news product and will continue to work hard to do even better next year. “If we do good work, people will see it,” Lepisto said.

Lepisto said the issue the staff submitted in the “Best of Show” judging featured a solid representation of the quality coverage for which The Independent staff has become known. It included a feature story about a Clark anthropology instructor who is also a ghost hunter and archeologist; a look at some of the issues faced by the growing blind student population at Clark; a commentary about a lack of political awareness among students; and an update on the popularity of the food carts on campus.

Finken and Lepisto said they were grateful for support from the Associated Students of Clark College, which helped fund the trip.

Finken noted that student news teams are in a similar situation as professional news outlets when it comes to figuring out best practices for operating in the rapidly evolving news landscape.

“It’s challenging right now,” Finken said. “We have one foot in developing the fundamentals, but we also have to look ahead to develop more ways of storytelling and delivering the news. But we are up for the challenge.”

In addition to Lepisto, Finken and Bunch, the following student staff members represented The Independent at the conference: Esther Manea, Emma Fletcher, Tyler Urke, Tyler “Charlie” Brown, Tra Friesen, Nate Nienaber, Alejandra Magallanes, Kenneth Zummach, Brody Voge, Ryan Rutledge, and Robert Berman.

Other staff members are Caitlin Calsbeek, Evan Jones, Daniel Hampton, Bradley York, Cloe Beck, Killian Bailey, Boyd Lainhart, Kyle Souvenir and Kait Terrel.

Independent staff contributed this article.

Monday, March 3, four Clark College Bookstore employees visited Crestline Elementary School’s temporary location, which was created after the school was destroyed in a fire last year. Their mission: To distribute to the school’s kindergarten and first-grade students the 190 copies of the Dr. Seuss classic One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish that the Bookstore had gathered through its annual Seuss-a-Palooza book drive. They also read the book aloud to classrooms as part of Read Across America Day.

“The best part of the event is always seeing the look on the children’s faces when you hand them a book and tell them that it is their very own to keep and take home to share with their family and friends,” said Bookstore buyer Kaina Barba, who visited Crestline with his colleagues Michael Owenby, Ashley Anderson, and Michal Neubauer. Indeed, many children gasped when they received their books, peppering the Bookstore staff with questions like “how did you get all these books here?” and “I really get to take this book home?”

“The children were absolutely thrilled to receive books of their own,” said Crestline Budget Secretary Lori Boyd. “Many of our students come from homes where there is not extra money to purchase books, and having their very own, brand-new book to keep is a special treat.”

In addition to the Bookstore’s Crestline visit, 56 Clark students participated in Read Across America Day by reading to children at Harney and Fruit Valley elementary schools through Clark’s Volunteer & Service Learning program.

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Photos: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

WSUV’s Butch T. Cougar and Clark’s own Oswald the Penguin, as well as volunteers and Student Ambassadors from Clark College, were on hand to greet guests at College Goal Washington. Photo: Matthew Hunt/Doghouse Graphics.

On January 26, Clark College hosted a College Goal Washington event in Gaiser Student Center, attracting approximately 250 guests–more than any other such event in Southwest Washington.

College Goal Washington (also called “College Goal Sunday”) is a state-based volunteer program that provides free information and assistance to students and families who are applying for financial aid for post-secondary education. Financial aid specialists from both Clark College and Washington State University Vancouver were on hand to help families fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Volunteers were able to provide assistance in both Spanish and Russian, as well as in English.

The afternoon-long event included three break-out sessions: “Getting to College & Succeeding,” “Financial Aid 101,” and “Scholarships.” Translation into Spanish and Russian was also provided for these sessions.

Financial Aid Program Coordinator Kendra Graham contributed this article.

Clark paralegal student Letisia Ford, left, introduced Professor Debi Jenkins at the 2014 winter quarter Faculty Speaker Series presentation.

Most large workplaces today have made some efforts toward encouraging diversity: a training session here, an “awareness day” there. But, as Early Childhood Education and Psychology professor Debi Jenkins argued passionately in her winter quarter Faculty Speaker Series presentation, truly fostering diversity requires a daily commitment by all members of the workforce, not just a once-a-year activity attended by a few.

“The question to ask is: How does the workplace nurture the souls of its diverse employees?” Jenkins said during her lecture, which was held February 13 in the Ellis Dunn Community Room on Clark College’s main campus. More than 40 people were in attendance, including college administration, faculty, staff, and students, as well as members of the larger community.

Appropriately enough, given Jenkins’s topic, she was introduced by a student who came to Jenkins for mentorship at a moment of crisis. Clark College paralegal student Letisia Ford said she first met Jenkins when Ford was referred to her by another professor after experiencing prejudice from her classmates. “I was called certain names, I’ve been singled out and called ‘ghetto,’ and I’ve been told I need to learn how to ‘speak like an American,'” said Ford, who is fluent in both English and Spanish.

Ford said Jenkins was able to offer her empathy, advice–and courage. “She challenged me to not give up,” said Ford. “She gave me the tools to be able to be positive.”

Prof. Jenkins brought in items from her own family’s Kwanzaa altar to help illustrate her presentation.

It was a fit introduction for Jenkins’s own presentation. Titled “Habari gani?: Support for a diverse workforce through communities of practice,” it synthesized research Jenkins is conducting on diverse employees’ experiences in the workplace. Habari gani is Swahili for ‘What’s happening?,’ a question posed by village elders to younger community members as a way to gauge how they were feeling. “They had the responsibility for the soul of the community,” Jenkins said of these elders, who were called the habari gani menta (“people who ask what’s happening”) but today would probably be called mentors.

Habari gani is also the call that begins each day of the African-American holiday Kwanzaa, and Jenkins used the Seven Principles of Kwanzaa to organize her findings and recommendations. She presented both research on academic literature about challenges experienced by diverse employees as well as direct quotes from anonymous employees of diverse population groups whom she’d interviewed. The results were sobering: employees who felt their employers were constantly watching them, waiting for them to fail–or, as one interviewee put it,  to “steal staples.” Others complained of feeling like their abilities and contributions were minimized by their supervisors, or of feeling completely isolated at their workplace.

The remedy, Jenkins said, was to use the habari gani menta mindset at work, reaching out to diverse employees to ensure they felt both understood and valued. As Jenkins explained, this approach makes everyone responsible for creating a workplace that welcomes diversity–but also lets those diverse employees have an active role in how that happens.

Jenkins cautioned members of dominant groups against the urge to try to position themselves as the “expert” when talking with diverse employees. “‘Oh, my cousin dates a black person,'” she said by way of example. “‘Oh, my cousin dates a lesbian.’ That’s great. [But] we members of diverse groups don’t know what our response is supposed to be to that.”

Better to accept the position of listener, Jenkins counseled, and to ask questions about those diverse employees’ own experiences and viewpoints–and really listen to the answers provided.

Jenkins also urged her listeners to ask themselves questions about what their own individual role was in fostering diversity in their workplace, and what they were doing currently to help foster diversity. “If you have to think about, ‘Hmm, what do I do?’ then you’re probably not doing enough,” she said.

Jenkins, who serves as division chair of Behavioral Sciences and head of the Early Childhood Education Department at Clark College, was presenting research that was part of her doctoral thesis in Higher Education Administration, which she plans to complete next year at Phoenix University in Arizona. Jenkins already holds a Master of Science degree in Psychology from that institution, as well as an Associate in Applied Science degree in Early Childhood Education from Clark College and both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Human Development from Pacific Oaks College in Pasadena, California. In addition, she is founder of Share the Flame, an organization that offers strategies for personal growth and change through one-on-one coaching, workshops and presentations. In 2009, she received the YWCA Woman of Achievement Award for Clark County.

Established by Clark College with support from the Clark College Foundation, the Clark College Faculty Speaker Series honors individual faculty members and celebrates academic excellence. The 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 with members of the community at large–while addressing some of today’s most intriguing issues. Visit Clark’s website for more information about both past and upcoming Faculty Speaker Series presentations.

Photos: Clark College/Hannah Erickson

Nikolas Hoback as Melchior, center, in rehearsal for the winter musical, Spring Awakening.

Clark College Theatre is proud to present as its 2014 winter quarter musical production the award-winning exploration of repressed youth, Spring Awakening. The production is directed by Rusty Tennant and runs February 28 – March 15.

Winner of eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Spring Awakening is a rock musical adaptation of Frank Wedekind’s 1891 expressionist play about the trials and tribulations–as well as the exhilaration–of the teen years. It features music by Duncan Sheik and a book and lyrics by Steven Sater. Spring Awakening celebrates the unforgettable journey from youth to adulthood with  power, poignancy, and passion.

A stinging indictment of 19th-century repression, Wedekind’s original play was banned after its release. Even today and translated into musical form, Spring Awakening’s themes of sexuality, abuse, rape, incest, suicide, and abortion are still highly controversial and emotionally charged. “Clark College Theatre is taking a conscious path toward developing the student as a performing artist,” says Rusty Tennant, who is also the Artistic Director of Fuse Theatre Ensemble. “Our goal is to provide ample opportunity for students to participate in work that is relevant to the current trends and movements in the world of theatre. Spring Awakening is a critically acclaimed show based on a revolutionary play, with young adults composing the majority of the cast. In so many ways, this is the perfect play for us to present.”

Tennant adds that Spring Awakening isn’t just controversial: It is also a terrific musical filled with haunting melodies. “I find myself singing the songs all the time,” he says. “That is not just a testimony to this revolutionary score, but also to the amazing singers I have been able to bring together for this production. This cast is singing from the deepest corners of their souls, and that makes for some exciting theatre.”

Cast includes Nikolas Hoback (Melchior), Gina Fuerte-Stone (Moritz), and Petya Grozevna (Wendla). Production includes partial nudity, strong language, and adult themes.

Show Dates: February 28, March 1, 7, 8, 13, 14, and 15. March 8, there will be a 2:00 p.m. matinee. All show times are at 7:30 p.m.

Ticket Information: Students (with ID) $11; Alumni (with membership) $11; Senior Citizens $13; General Admission $15. Tickets may be purchased in person at the Clark College Bookstore in Gaiser Hall, online, 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 Gaiser Hall room 137, two weeks before the event.

Photos: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

Clark College hosts numerous job fairs at its main campus each year, all of them open to the public.

Clark College hosts its second annual Summer Job and Internship Fair from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Tuesday, March 4, in the Gaiser Student Center. The event is designed to help job-seekers find summer internship and employment opportunities with Portland- and Vancouver-area employers.

New this year, the college is partnering with the Vancouver Housing Authority (VHA) to co-sponsor the fair. According to VHA Community Involvement and Employment Manager Bridgette Farnbulleh, the VHA has organized its own summer job fair for the past two years, but was eager to join forces with the Clark College.

Clark College’s job fairs draw dozens of employers and hundreds of job-seekers.

“We wanted to connect with Clark College because of the educational aspect,” Farnbulleh said. “We wanted our youth to be on a college campus, and to understand that the kind of job you get is closely connected to the education you get. We’re trying to break the cycle, to make sure that just because they may have grown up in poverty doesn’t mean they have to live in second-generation poverty themselves.”

“I’m looking forward to this year’s job fair,” said Sarah Weinberger, Employer Relations and Job Developer at Clark College. “We have already doubled the number of registered employers from last year, and the collaboration with the VHA will make our event even stronger. Previously, the Summer Job and Internship Fair was held in May, but many employers had already hired for a June start date by that point. We are now holding the event in March because it’s when students need to start planning for summer employment.”

Positions offered at the fair may be full-time, part-time and in the case of internships, they may be paid or unpaid. There will also be a mock interview room set up to help job seekers prepare for real-life interviews.

The Summer Job & Internship Fair is sponsored by Clark College Career Services and the Vancouver Housing Authority. The event’s Gold Level sponsor is LaborWorks. Some of the employers who will be at the event are Boys & Girls Club of Southwest Washington, Entercom Portland, Firestone Pacific Foods, LOWE’S, Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, Trackers Earth, and YWCA Clark County. There are over 30 registered employers currently, with room for more. The event is open to any company or organization offering internships or summer employment, but space is limited so interested employers should act quickly to register.

A list of participating employers is available on the Career Center’s Pinterest page.

The event  is free and open to the public. Clark College is located at 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver, Wash. Driving directions and parking maps are available at www.clark.edu/maps.

If you need accommodation due to a disability in order to fully participate in this event, you should contact Clark College’s Disability Support Services Office at 360-992-2314 or 360-991-0901 (VP), or visit Gaiser Hall room 137, as soon as possible.

Elizabeth Christopher contributed to this article.

Photos: Clark College archives/Jenny Shadley

Vice President of Instruction Dr. Tim Cook welcomes members of the college’s advisory committees.

On January 21, 2014, nearly 40 people attended Clark College’s Advisory Committee Chairperson Training. Clark College has 25 advisory committees, 15 of which were represented by a chair and/or vice-chair at this training session. Others who attended the training included faculty and administrators.

Vice President of Instruction Dr. Tim Cook opened up the session by welcoming the attendees and discussing the importance of advisory committees to the college and the role they will play in the future. Advisory committees are groups of industry and business experts who help ensure that the college’s career and technical programs are aligned correctly with the region’s workforce needs.

Dedra Daehn, Director of Academic Services, conducted the training.  Topics of the session included ways to engage advisory committee members, work plan development, basic parliamentary procedure and effectively leading committees. A time of questions and discussion followed the training session.

This training, which was first offered last year, is an ongoing commitment of the college to support and enhance advisory committees.

Dedra Daehn contributed this article.

Photos: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

The 2014 Iris Award honorees: Kris M. Henriksen, Program Coordinator at the Clark County Department of Community Services; Kristy Weaver, Senior Vice President/Team Leader at Pacific Continental Bank; and Sherri McMillan, owner of Northwest Personal Training.

Three women who are leaders in youth advocacy; health and wellness; and business and banking are the winners of the 2014 Iris Awards, honoring women of achievement in Southwest Washington.

The awards will be presented to Kris M. Henriksen, Program Coordinator at the Clark County Department of Community Services; Sherri McMillan, owner of Northwest Personal Training; and Kristy Weaver, Senior Vice President/Team Leader at Pacific Continental Bank.

Henriksen, McMillan, and Weaver will be honored on March 13 (five days after International Women’s Day), in Clark College’s Gaiser Student Center. Following a 5 p.m. reception, the awards ceremony will begin at 6 p.m.

Tickets are on sale through the Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce. Tickets are $35.00 per person. Seating is limited.

The Iris Awards are supported by Clark College, the Clark College Foundation, Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce and the Vancouver Business Journal, which publishes the “Women in Business” directory, the only Portland/Vancouver metro area directory of businesses that are owned, directed or managed by women. The Iris Award winners will be featured in the 2014 “Women in Business” directory.

The 2014 Iris Award Recipients

Kris M. Henriksen

Kris M. Henriksen is the Program Coordinator at the Clark County Department of Community Services. For the past 10 years, Henriksen has been the driving force behind creating, developing, and sustaining TeenTalk, a peer-to-peer support line that is youth-led and continually evolving.  The program has received national recognition for its innovative, youth-driven marketing plan.

For her work, Henriksen received the Anne Turner Excellence in Volunteer Management Award in 2011. She has recruited and trained more than 170 youth volunteers.

Henriksen holds a Bachelor of Science degree in behavioral sciences from Concordia University and has put in more than 350 training hours in Building on Developmental Assets, Mental Illness Awareness, Crisis Response, Wraparound Team Facilitation, Community Networking, Cultural Competency, Building on Natural Supports, Mediation Skills, Motivational Interviewing, Developing Family Strengths, Youth Advocacy, Interpersonal Communication, and Humanizing the Workplace.

Outside of her day-to-day work, Henriksen is certified to teach Youth Mental Health First Aid classes in the community. She has helped to coordinate Challenge Day programs in two local high schools each year for the last four years, and volunteers as part of the City of Camas Board of Adjustments, Children’s Sharing Project.

Sherri McMillan

Sherri McMillan is the owner of Northwest Personal Training, celebrating its 14th anniversary in downtown Vancouver. Her company has been recognized as the BBB Business of the Year, Chamber of Commerce Community Builder Award winner and voted No. 1 Fitness & Training studio by the Columbian and the Vancouver Business Journal.

McMillan holds a master’s degree in Exercise Physiology and has been inspiring the world to adopt a fitness lifestyle for nearly 25 years. She has received numerous industry awards including 2010 CanFitPro International Fitness Presenter of the Year, 2006 IDEA Fitness Director of the Year, 1998 IDEA Personal Trainer of the Year, and 1998 CanFitPro Fitness Presenter of the Year.

In addition to being a fitness trainer, McMillan is a fitness columnist for various magazines and newspapers (including the Columbian); author of five books and manuals including Go For Fit – the Winning Way to Fat Loss, and Fit over Forty; featured presenter in various fitness DVDs; international fitness presenter; and a spokesperson for Nike, Schwinn and PowerBar.

She is also the Event Director for a number of very successful local events including the Girlfriends Run for a Cure, the Girlfriends & Dudes Triathlon, the Summer Solstice and March Muddy Madness. She has participated in numerous community fundraising events including Dancing with the Stars and Glamorous Gams and has raised nearly $500,000 for local charities over the years. She can be found running, biking or hiking with her daughter, Brianna, and her son, Jackson.

Kristy Weaver

Kristy Weaver is the Senior Vice President and Southwest Washington Team Leader at Pacific Continental Bank, focusing her efforts on developing commercial and non-profit relationships. With nearly 25 years of experience in the banking industry, Weaver’s professional and action-oriented style complements the overall management of Pacific Continental Bank.

Weaver serves on the board of directors at the Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce, the Children’s Center, and the Legacy Health Salmon Creek Hospital Foundation. Weaver also actively participates in a variety of community and civic organizations including the Community Foundation Professional Advisory Council and Vancouver’s Downtown Association’s First Friday Artwalk.

She graduated from Northwest Intermediate Commercial Lending School and the Western Banking School of Bank Management. She is currently enrolled in Pacific Coast Banking School, a national graduate school for banking, and will complete her program this summer.

Weaver is a native of Washougal who calls Vancouver her home. She has been married to her husband, Kevin, for nine years. They are devoted to their dog, Jackson, who was adopted from the Humane Society of Southwest Washington.  Avid golfers, they love to retreat to Manzanita, Oregon whenever time allows. The most valued things to Weaver are family, friends and community.

Photo: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

Professor Debi Jenkins

In Swahili, the phrase “Habari gani?” means “What’s happening?” It was a question asked by village elders to younger members of the community as a way to gauge how they were doing. The habari gani menta (literally, “the person who asks, ‘What’s happening?'” but often translated as “mentor”) was charged with providing mentees with support to keep them from feeling disconnected.

In her presentation during the winter quarter installment of Clark College’s renowned Faculty Speaker Series, Professor Debi Jenkins describes how many employees from historically disadvantaged communities feel disconnected from their workplaces, leading to challenges in employee retention–and how we each can become a habari gani menta to our coworkers to help overcome those feelings of disconnection, thereby fostering a workplace environment that truly honors and supports diversity.

Using current research and her own scholarship, Professor Jenkins creates a framework for supporting workplace diversity based on the Seven Principles of Kwanzaa: Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity), Imani (Faith).

“My research focuses on higher education, but really these are practices that could be incorporated into any workplace interested in fostering diversity,” says Jenkins. “I want people to ask themselves, ‘What is their role as an individual to support a diverse workforce?'”

The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held from 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. in the Ellis Dunn Community Room (Gaiser Hall room 213) on Clark’s main campus. 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 (DSS) Office at (360) 992-2314 or (360) 991-0901 (VP) two weeks prior to the event. The DSS office is located in room 137 in Clark’s Gaiser Hall.

About Professor Debi Jenkins

Since 2011, Professor Debra (Debi) Jenkins has served as division chair of Behavioral Sciences in addition to her role as head of the Early Childhood Education Department at Clark College. Her range of teaching experience includes topics in psychology and sociology, power-privilege-inequity, and early childhood development. She has designed courses for both face-to-face and online classrooms, including Race and Ethnicity; Parent Education; Family Dynamics and Culture; and Bicultural Development and Education. In addition, she is founder of Share the Flame, an organization that offers strategies for personal growth and change through one-on-one coaching, workshops and presentations. In 2009, she received the YWCA Woman of Achievement Award for Clark County.

Jenkins began her higher education at Clark College, earning an Associate in Applied Science degree in Early Childhood Education. She holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Human Development from Pacific Oaks College in Pasadena, Calif., and a Master of Science degree in Psychology from the University of Phoenix in Arizona. She expects to graduate from that same institution next year with a doctorate in Higher Education Administration.

Jenkins’s research focus for the last seven years has been on the influence of power-privilege-inequity on bicultural development of underrepresented communities in the United States and tri- cultural literacy development among Maroons children in Jamaica. Her doctoral dissertation is about the role of allies and communities of practice in supporting a diverse workforce. Jenkins believes that teaching and learning are reciprocal activities. As such, she continually refines her message and approach while focusing on desired student learning outcomes, not the least of which is to “foster a connection between course content and real world experiences.”  Jenkins quotes bell hooks, American author and social activist, when she talks about establishing a supportive learning environment that “respects and cares for the soul of students … to provide the necessary conditions where learning can most deeply and intimately begin.”

About the Clark College Faculty Speaker Series

Established by Clark College with support from the Clark College Foundation, the Clark College Faculty Speaker Series honors individual faculty members and celebrates academic excellence. The 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 with members of the community at large—while addressing some of today’s most intriguing issues. Visit http://www.clark.edu/news_center/events/facultyspeakerseries.php for more information about this and upcoming Faculty Speaker Series presentations.