The 2016 Exceptional Faculty Award recipients are, left to right, Joseph Cavalli, Dr. Kathleen Chatfield, Heather McAfee, and Doug Mrazek.

During the 2016 Commencement ceremony, President Robert K. Knight announced the names of the recipients of the 2016 Clark College Exceptional Faculty Awards. The awards are presented annually to full-time and part-time faculty members. Nominations can be submitted by Clark College students, faculty, classified employees, administrators, alumni, Board members, and Foundation directors.

The awards are made possible through an endowed trust fund established by the Washington State Legislature and the Clark College Exceptional Faculty Endowment Fund, which was established in 1993. That fund provides recognition of exemplary work performance, positive impact on students, professional commitment, and other contributions to the college.

This year’s Exceptional Faculty members are:

• Joseph Cavalli, instructor of history
• Dr. Kathleen Chatfield, instructor of business technology
• Heather McAfee, professor of geography
• Doug Mrazek, professor of French

Joe Cavalli, History

Joseph Cavalli has taught history at schools in Croatia, Italy, and Bahrain. He began teaching at Clark shortly after returning to the Pacific Northwest in 2006. For the past five years, he has also served as the director of Clark’s award-winning Model United Nations program. He also teaches history through Clark College’s non-credit Mature Learning program and at Mt. Hood Community College.

Cavalli says he sees history more as a context for understanding the world than as a rote memorization of names and dates. “It’s not about me giving students information,” he says. “What I want to impart is the love of learning and the need to be curious.”

Students appreciate Cavalli’s efforts to make history relevant to their current lives. “I had no interest in history whatsoever until I took his class,” wrote one student. “After my first class with him, I was enthralled. Now, history is my favorite subject and my current major.”

Dr. Kathleen Chatfield, Business Technology and Management

Over the course of her 21 years at Clark, Dr. Kathleen Chatfield has taught a variety of courses, including keyboarding, microcomputer applications, Microsoft Excel, e-commerce, and project management. In truth, however, her influence goes far beyond those subjects. In fact, she has been a part of every online class offered at Clark College through her work as the senior instructional designer for the college’s eLearning Department, where she helps Clark faculty learn how to develop online classes.

“It is a daunting task to guide so many full-time and part-time instructors through all the different learning systems, while also helping them to maintain their unique styles and philosophies of teaching,” wrote one nominator. “Yet Dr. Chatfield manages to accomplish this task.”

Dr. Chatfield continues to teach classes to students as well, saying that this experience helps her better understand the needs and challenges of faculty. This adds up to more than a full-time workload, but Dr. Chatfield says, “I’m doing what I love. I’ve never woken up in the morning and said, ‘Oh no, I have to go to work.’”

Heather McAfee, Geography

Heather McAfee first became interested in geography while working for the U.S. Department of Defense, doing cultural analysis of Iraq that included mapping the civilian population there. “I love geography because it is the most interdisciplinary subject you can study,” she says. “It touches everything, even health—we have medical geography. Recently in my classes, we’ve looked at and mapped the spread of the Zika virus.”

McAfee serves as chair of the Geography Department at Clark; she also serves on the college’s AA Transfer Committee, the Library of the Future Taskforce, and the Learning Communities Taskforce. Additionally, McAfee has worked to create connections between Clark and community organizations, including the Water Resources Education Center and the Vanport Mosaic.

“She made her classroom a comfortable area where every person’s opinion and outlook was highly valued,” wrote one student. “Her teachings went much deeper than the textbook material. She wanted us to dig deep and relate every lesson to our personal lives and experiences, and it taught all of us so much about the world around us.”

Doug Mrazek, French

When Doug Mrazek was job-hunting after receiving his master’s degree in French from the University of Illinois in 1978, one of his professors told him that the Pacific Northwest was so beautiful that if he took a job there, “you’ll never want to leave.”

Those words turned out to be prophetic; Mrazek has devoted 38 years to teaching French at Clark. He has taught generations of Clark students how to conjugate être, led dozens of them on trips through France and Quebec, and helped the French Club put on countless events as its academic advisor.

Small surprise, then, that Mrazek received more than 30 nominations for this award this year. “I’m in amazement,” he says. “It’s a tremendous sense of closure. After a career of 40 years, it’s a nice way to move on.”

Photo: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

Professor Veronica Brock

“This is where I grew up,” says Professor Veronica Brock from her office in O’Connell Sports Complex on Clark’s main campus. “My dad was a professor here, teaching physics and astronomy. I was a student here. I grew up with ‘Penguin blood,’ as we like to say.”

Brock, who recently marked 20 years of teaching at Clark, didn’t intend to follow in her father’s footsteps. After graduating from East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania with a Master of Science degree in cardiac rehabilitation and primary prevention, she remained on the East Coast working in cardiac rehabilitation. But gradually she began to realize that she didn’t love the clinical aspects of her work as much as she did teaching patients about their health.

“I’ve always just followed my heart when it came to career and jobs,” Brock says. “Every job I got, I’d say, ‘Oh, I like this aspect of the job—let’s do more of that.’ When I worked in cardiac rehab, I realized my favorite part of my job was the educational element.”

Brock began teaching health and physical education, and when she decided to move back to the Pacific Northwest, taking a position at Clark seemed like a natural fit. “It was a good match for my heart, with this job’s teaching and learning focus,” she says. “And I love the idea that, as an open enrollment institution, we provide an opportunity to everybody. That’s such a cool idea: If you want an education, you can get an education.”

Brock—who teaches health, physical education, fitness trainer, and health and physical education classes—says she loves seeing the changes her students make as they learn to develop new approaches toward their own health.

“In our curriculum, we don’t just want students to change their behavior during the class,” she says. “We want to teach lasting change, and that requires motivation. Motivation is two things: importance and confidence. You have to be able to define why it’s important for you to be doing this, and you have to be able to believe you can do it. If you don’t have motivation, you’re probably not going to stick with any exercise or health practice long-term.”

Brock’s certainly shown long-term motivation to make Clark a stronger institution. She has invested much of herself into Clark—professionally, personally, and financially. She has served on numerous committees, including the Healthy Penguin Nation Committee to promote employee health, and is a regular donor to the Clark College Foundation.

Brock says she began donating to the Foundation when her two children, now teenagers, were enrolled in the college’s Child & Family Studies program as preschoolers, making her family third-generation Penguins.

“My kids are the amazing people they are today because of that program,” she says. “So that really prompted me to give—I could see the program needed support.”

Since then, Brock has donated regularly to the Foundation, which supports capital improvements to the college as well as scholarships and programs to promote academic excellence.

“I like putting my money toward solving problems,” Brock says. “Education is a solution; if you educate the world, the world can change. It’s a very direct way to say, ‘I believe in what I’m doing and I believe in our students.’”

Read Veronica Brock’s Top 10 Tips for a Healthy Lifestyle.

Photos: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

Biology professor Steven Clark

Clark College is inviting the public to come back to school for a series of free seminars that explore the lighter side of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). New this academic year, the Clark College STEM Seminar Series launches on Friday, October 16, at noon in Anna Pechanec Hall room 201 with “Rockin’ Out with Rock Rabbits.”

This seminar covers research done by biology professor Steven Clark on pika, tiny rabbit-like creatures who normally live in high elevations. Prof. Clark will discuss what he’s discovered about an unusual population of these creatures living in the Columbia River Gorge whose survival may hold keys to understanding how our environment can adapt to global climate change. Expect Prof. Clark, who recently received an Exceptional Faculty Award, to share photos and insights in an exciting, high-energy presentation geared toward anyone with an interest in science—no Ph.D. required!

Other fall quarter events in this series include:

• The Science Behind Sci-Fi with Prof. Joe Pitkin, Oct. 30
• Handicapping Horse Races with instructor Robert Weston, Nov. 13
• Breaking the Cycle of Abuse with Prof. Mika Maruyama, Dec. 4

All events are held on Fridays from noon to 1 p.m. in APH room 201. All are free and open to the public. Light snacks will be available and guests are welcome to bring their own lunches with them.

“Clark College has long been a center for STEM learning in this region,” said Clark College STEM Coordinator Erin Harwood, who helped organize the seminar series. “We already do lots of outreach to encourage interest in STEM among our community’s young people through our annual Science Olympiad and other events. This is a way to show adults as well that learning about STEM can be lots of fun. We’re hoping people start looking forward to these seminars as a great way to spend their Friday lunch break learning something new.”

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), or visit Penguin Union Building room 013, as soon as possible.

Computer Technology instructor Bruce Elgort brings years of private-sector experience to the classroom.

On Thursday, June 11, students in Clark College instructor Bruce Elgort’s PHP and SQL programming class (CTEC 227) will face an audience. While that might be standard for a class in the performance arts, it’s less expected in a computer science course focused on complex web and application development questions. However, Elgort believes it is exactly the type of thing that will set them apart as they look for jobs.

“The most important thing is that these students are showing what they learned in solving the technical problems in front of them, but it is also important that they learn how to explain their approach and interact with clients and customers,” Elgort said.

Elgort knows, having spent several years in private industry as the president of Elguji Software and, before that, in IT roles with Sharp Electronics and Underwriter Laboratories. He continues to be engaged in national Open Source software efforts and a variety of other projects. Beyond his deep industry experience, Elgort has distinguished himself as a teacher, earning an Exceptional Faculty Award at Clark College in 2013.

Elgort invites members of the community to attend the presentations, which will take place on June 11 at 4 p.m. in Foster Auditorium on Clark College’s main campus. The crowd of 50 to 60 individuals from the tech community and Clark College are there to provide feedback and learn more about the college Computer Technology program.

Students started their projects by developing detailed application specifications for a fictitious bank called “Greenwell Bank.” Students interviewed their client to see what “the bank” needed for app functionality. Once the specs were approved, they went into the architecture and design phases. From there, they then sought continuous feedback from the application stakeholders as they coded the applications. The projects being presented include two home inventory apps, a construction bidding app, an HR employee review app, and a project management system. All of this occurred within a nine-week timeframe.

While the CTEC 227 presentations are notable for the large public audience expected to attend, many programs at Clark—including Engineering, Computer Science, Mechatronics, and Studio Art—include public presentations to industry experts as part of their final or capstone projects.

Clark College is located at 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, close to downtown Vancouver. Parking is free. Maps and directions 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 Office at 360-992-2314 or 360-991-0901 (VP), or visit Penguin Union Building room 013 as soon as possible.

Left to right: Kristi Taylor (dental hygiene), Helen Martin (business technology), Joan Zoellner (mathematics), Linda Valenzuela (nursing), Ruth Trejo (chemistry), Alan Wiest (health and physical education), Bevyn Rowland (counseling), Shayna Collins (counseling), Ethel Reeves (nursing), Susan Nieman (nursing), and Sunnie Elhart-Johnson (business technology medical office).

Eleven outstanding educators are the newest members of the tenured faculty at Clark College. Shayna Collins (counseling), Sunnie Elhart-Johnson (business technology medical office), Helen Martin (business technology), Susan Nieman (nursing), Ethel Reeves (nursing), Bevyn Rowland (counseling), Kristi Taylor (dental hygiene), Ruth Trejo (chemistry), Linda Valenzuela (nursing), Alan Wiest (health and physical education, and Joan Zoellner (mathematics) were all honored at a reception on April 8 in Clark’s Gaiser Student Center.

“This is an important moment, both for these faculty members and for the college,” said Clark College President Robert K. Knight. “These talented and dedicated professionals have made a commitment to our college, and will help shape the college’s programs and community for many years to come.”

Tenure is awarded by the college’s Board of Trustees based on professional excellence and outstanding abilities in their disciplines. The granting of tenure is based on the recommendations of tenure review committees to the vice president of instruction, which are then forwarded to the president, who presents a final recommendation to the Board of Trustees. Recommendations are based on self-evaluations, tenure review committee evaluations, student evaluations, supervisory evaluations, and peer evaluations. The final decision to award or withhold tenure rests with the Board of Trustees.

The professors receiving tenure are:

Shayna Collins, Counseling

Shayna Collins earned her Bachelors in Women’s Studies and Psychology in 2006 and a Masters in Mental Health Counseling from Minnesota State University in 2009. She then moved to Portland and worked at the Center for Family Success and LifeWorks before joining Clark in 2012.

Shayna currently serves on the Advising Steering Committee and the campus CERT team. Other activities include Teaching Squares, FYE Mentorship program, several search committees, and planning for the annual Stress Awareness Day at Clark.

Collins believes in providing greater access to education for all, encouraging life-long learning, and creating a classroom environment that accommodates diverse learning styles. “It is my pleasure and honor to serve as a faculty counselor at Clark!” she says.

Sunnie Elhart-Johnson, Business Technology Medical Office

After attending a number of colleges as part of her undergraduate degree, including UCLA and The Evergreen State College, Sunnie Elhart-Johnson graduated with honors from Humboldt State University. Elhart-Johnson earned her Masters of Management and Organizational Leadership (MMOL) in 2009. Additionally, she has a current certification from AHIMA in Training ICD-10-CM/PCS and earned a certification in Patient Navigation and Advocacy this past fall.

Over the past 30 years, Elhart-Johnson has worked primarily in the medical field including previous experience as a unit secretary, EMT, medical transcriptionist, AHT, medical biller and coder. Non-medical experience includes corporate trainer, computer tech support, and a number of managerial positions. She has taught Medical Administrative courses throughout the past 14 years, earning the 2011-2012 Clark College Exceptional Faculty Award.

Elhart-Johnson has served as the Department Head for the BMED programs for over three years, working extensively in the curricular development needed to graduate students with the ability to successfully work in almost any healthcare environment, including billing and coding. The BMED Department is currently placing students in several local hospitals and outpatient settings as ICD-10 experts ready for the implementation this October. She currently sits on the Evergreen School Advisory Committee and the Skills Center Advisory Committee, and volunteers at a local free clinic.

“I’m excited about the HIIM degree beginning this summer, allowing students to sit for the highly sought for RHIT certification,” Elhart-Johnson says. “I look forward to leading changes in the healthcare industry through Clark’s programs and graduates, and to supplying our community partners with the ideal employees who have mastery in their field.”

Helen Martin, Business Technology

Helen Martin studied history at Leiden University in the Netherlands, and graduated with a doctorandus degree. She also earned an MBA with a concentration in marketing from Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia. She has previous work experience with Clark College, PTIGlobal, MindLink, Miami University of Ohio, and Websense.

“As a teacher, I see it as my job to help Clark Students acquire the skills to succeed in life, the confidence to apply those skills in a real world setting, and to make their learning experience effective and enjoyable,” she says.

Martin is a member of the Clark College CERT team, and has been involved as a mentor in the First Year Experience program.

Susan Nieman, Nursing

Susan Nieman is a graduate of the Clark College Nursing Program. She completed her BSN and MN at WSU Vancouver before joining Clark College as an adjunct instructor in 2005. Nieman has worked in psychiatric and emergency room settings and currently serves in the United States Army Reserve as a nurse with the 396th Combat Support hospital.

“My goal is to create additional volunteer opportunities for Clark College students to enrich not only their nursing experiences, but the lives of community members touched by our service,” she said.

Nieman serves as a board member and volunteer at the Free Clinic of Southwest Washington. She enjoys spending time with her family and doing outdoor activities on the water, especially outrigger canoeing.

Ethel Reeves, Nursing

Ethel Reeves earned her associate degree in nursing at Clark College in 1992, her BSN at WSU Vancouver in 2009, and her MSN at WSU Vancouver in 2013. Prior to coming to Clark College, she worked at Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital from 1987 to 2011 and at Columbia Gorge Community College from 2008 to 2012. She began teaching at Clark College as a Clinical Adjunct Faculty in fall 2011.

“As a first-generation college graduate, I  pencourage and support the joy of life-long learning,” Reeves says. “My approach is to help reduce student anxiety so that their learning is maximized in any given educational setting.”

Reeves is a member of the Nursing Standard 1 Committee, Scholarship Committee, Speights Faculty Development Committee, and the Emergency Management Preparation Committee.

Dr. Bevyn Rowland, Counseling

Dr. Rowland earned her undergraduate degree in English from University of Portland, her Master of Arts degree (Counseling) and her Doctor of Psychology (Clinical PsyD) degree from Pacific University. She completed her APA-accredited internship at University of Idaho, and a postdoctoral residency at Cornell University. Dr. Rowland currently maintains a private practice in Salmon Creek at Evergreen Behavioral Health, where she is also working to create a nonprofit mental health center.

“Students arrive to college and counseling at varying levels of readiness, motivation, investment, and health,” said Dr. Rowland. “I adore helping students move toward change to support their success at Clark, as well as capitalize on strengths they already have, to create the life they want.”

In addition to Dr. Rowland’s work as a licensed clinical psychologist and her counseling and teaching roles on campus (teaching in HDEV and COLL departments), she is an active member of the Behavior Intervention and Threat Assessment (BITA) Team and the Cultural Pluralism Committee (CPC). She presents on mental health topics to student classes across divisions, and often provides training to staff and faculty through the Teaching and Learning Center.

Kristi Taylor, Dental Hygiene

Kristi Taylor earned her associate degree in Dental Hygiene from Clark College and her Bachelor of Science degree in Dental Hygiene through the degree-completion program of Eastern Washington University at Clark College. She began teaching at Clark in 2010, first as an adjunct instructor and then as a full-time temporary instructor. When she began her position as a tenure-track first-year lead instructor in dental hygiene, one of Taylor’s tenure goals was to complete her master’s degree in Post-Secondary and Continuing Education degree from Portland State University. She earned that degree in summer 2013.

“I have lived in Vancouver for the majority of my life and feel it a privilege to work for Clark College,” says Taylor. “Because I attended and graduated from Clark, I can use these experiences to mentor and facilitate dental hygiene students to fulfill their dreams.

“Creating an environment that is learner-centered, free from fear, and limited in stress, is ideal,” she continued. “A learner-centered environment allows students the opportunity to grow and retain information in a way that allows for optimal patient and community care.”

Throughout the past three years, Taylor has been an active leader of the dental hygiene students in the ASCC club and Students of the American Dental Hygiene Association (SADHA) by leading changes that have allowed students more access to serve their patients, college, and community. In her current teaching role, she is responsible for planning all clinical courses and many didactic courses throughout the first year of the students’ dental hygiene education.

Ruth Trejo, Chemistry

Ruth Trejo received her master’s degree in organic chemistry from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). She taught at Miramar Community College and Southwestern Community College before coming to Clark College in 2011.

“I love to watch students conquer difficult subjects with assistance from me and their peers,” says Trejo. “I believe in the power of self-sufficiency and peer group work to learn chemistry.”

While in San Diego, Trejo was involved in community-outreach projects working with Green Chemistry and most recently Science Fun for Kids 9 to 99, where anyone could come to Miramar and learn science by enjoying physics or chemistry projects. Now that she is at Clark, Trejo  volunteers as a coordinator for the annual Science Olympiad. She is currently working as the general chemistry lab coordinator for the Chemistry Department.

Linda Valenzuela, Nursing

Linda Valenzuela earned her associate degree in nursing from the College of the Sequoias in Visalia, California; her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from California State University, Dominguez Hills; and her Master of Public Health degree from Portland State University. She anticipates completing her Master of Science in Nursing degree from Western Governors University in August 2015.

Valenzuela’s previous employment includes Asotin County Public Health and Clark County Public Health. She currently is a relief staff member at PeaceHealth Southwest, a position she has maintained since 2005. She joined the nursing program at Clark as a full-time, tenure-track faculty member in 2009.

“I’ve worked as an registered nurse for over 30 years,” she says. “I’m also active in my community in home health and hospice activities.”

Valenzuela currently serves as  the sixth-quarter lead for the nursing program.  Her hobbies include gardening and quilting.

Alan Wiest, Health and Physical Education

Alan Wiest completed his undergraduate and graduate degrees in Exercise and Movement Science from the University of Oregon. He has taught Health, Physical Education, and Exercise Science for more than 14 years in Oregon, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Washington.  He teaches in the Health, Physical Education, and Fitness Trainer programs at Clark College. Wiesty holds certifications as an Aquatic Fitness Professional, Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, and USA Weightlifting Sports and Performance Coach.

“I believe I learn as much from his students as they learn from me,” Wiest says. “I cherish my job, and I know I’m incredibly fortunate to be in a position of helping others pursue a lifetime full of health and happiness.”

Wiestserves on many Clark College committees; volunteers both at the college and in his community; commits to continuing education; and loves taking part in the faculty/staff-vs.-students intramural events at the college.

Wiest resides in Vancouver and can often be found hiking the trails carved into the Columbia River Gorge, Vancouver Lake, and the Coastal Trails. When time permits, he travels the U.S. in an attempt to climb the highest peak in all 50 states.

Joan Zoellner, Mathematics

Joan Zoellner earned her Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from Humboldt State University and her Master of Arts in Mathematics from Indiana University. She has previous teaching experience at Portland Community College and began teaching at Clark College in 2010.

“I strongly believe that students in a math class should be doing math, not just watching the instructor work problems,” she says. “Deep, lasting learning occurs when students work together to solve challenging conceptual problems in class, and practice the procedural aspects of math outside of class. All of our students have the ability to succeed in math, and my job is to facilitate their growth as learners.”

Zoellner is involved in developmental mathematics education reform, and is in the process of developing a Math Review Boot Camp course for students who place low after taking the COMPASS test. You can also find Joan tutoring in the Math Help Center, and serving on several math department assessment committees.

Photo: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

Spanish professor Elizabeth Ubiergo sits with the puppets she helped create during her 2014 sabbatical project.

On Tuesday, May 12, at 4:00 p.m. in the Ellis Dunn Community Room (Gaiser Hall room 213), the Teaching and Learning Center hosts “Bilingual Puppetry: A project-based learning exploration,” the 2014 spring quarter installment of Clark College’s Faculty Speaker Series. Professor Elizabeth Ubiergo will present her sabbatical research on the use of puppetry and other forms of art and literature to enhance learning world languages.

Ubiergo’s research was prompted by realizing that her young daughter spoke better Spanish when talking with a toy than when talking with real human beings. She began wondering if this same technique could help her students at Clark, who often seemed to forget their Spanish language skills as soon as they had to use them in front of other people.

“There is a lot of research going on right now regarding performance-based language learning,” says Ubiergo. “I thought, maybe if my students had something to hide behind, like a large puppet, they could relax and get more from the experience.”

Ubiergo used her sabbatical to learn performance-based teaching techniques, build a series of large puppets based on classic works of Spanish literature, and create bilingual scripts for short plays to be performed with the puppets. After her sabbatical, she worked with students to perform the plays at the college’s annual Día del Niño/Latino Festival and in the classroom. They will also perform at the Portland Puppet Museum during the 2015 summer quarter.

While Ubiergo’s work is focused on the teaching of Spanish, her presentation will provide insight and advice to any teacher interested in exploring performance- and play-based teaching techniques.

About Elizabeth Ubiergo

Spanish professor Elizabeth Ubiergo has earned a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts degree in Spanish language and literature from the University of Oregon. She also attended Universidad de Valladolid, Spain, and the Universidad Católica in Quito, Ecuador. Ubiergo has previous work experience with the University of Portland, Portland Community College, Chapman & Silva Translation Services, Universidad Católica—Ecuador, University of Oregon, and Clark College. She began teaching at Clark in 1994 and received tenure in 2008.

At Clark College, Ubiergo serves as co-advisor of the Spanish Club. She is the founder of Clark’s study abroad program in Valladolid, Spain, and this year began co-leading Clark students in a newly designed, two-week course of study in Mexico. She is the founder of the Mesa Redonda, a series of Spanish-language roundtable discussion groups which have been held at Clark for 13 years. She also served on Clark’s Financial Aid Committee, International Education Committee, and Latino Celebration Month Planning Committee. In addition, for more than a decade Ubiergo has served as an Advance Placement (AP) exam reader for the AP test in Spanish.

Ubiergo says her teaching philosophy emphasizes the importance of play in the learning process. “I tell my students that language learning should be fun and creative, not competitive and stressful,” she says. “Basically, students learn by speaking and making mistakes in authentic situations.”

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.

Photos: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

It’s not often that a 700-page treatise on economic theory sells out on Amazon and hits No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list. But Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century, termed “one of the watershed books in economic thinking” by a former World Bank economist, has not only sold hundreds of thousands of copies but has sparked a heated global conversation on the origins and effects of wealth inequality. On Thursday, April 23, members of this community have an opportunity to join the conversation when Clark College hosts a panel discussion of the book.

The event, which takes place at 6 p.m. in Foster Auditorium on Clark’s main campus, is free and open to the public. An opening reception will take place at 5:30 p.m.

Four Clark College faculty members with expertise related to Piketty’s work will participate in the discussion, which will cover both Piketty’s methodology as well as his central thesis: Unfettered capitalism necessarily leads to increasing wealth inequality, which in turn leads to social and economic instability.

”It’s a very relevant topic and Piketty’s book has stirred a great deal of debate both in the U.S. and internationally,” said Patricia Atkinson, a Clark College economics instructor who helped organize the event and will serve as the discussion’s moderator. “The rise of wealth and income disparity warrants an in-depth conversation at Clark College.”

Panelists are:

• Sociology professor Dr. Carlos Castro, Ph.D. in sociology from University of Oregon
• Economics professor emeritus John Fite, M.A. in economics from Georgetown University
• Economics instructor Dr. Shon Kraley, Ph.D. in economics from the University of Washington

Cannell Library and the Clark College Bookstore have both stocked copies of the book in advance of the event.

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 or (VP). The DSS office is located in room 013 in Clark’s Penguin Union Building.

Many of us value our pets as sources of comfort, companionship, and protection. But what if it turned out that they were also teaching our children valuable lessons that could help them be better adults? Clark College psychology professor Dr. Mika Maruyama tackles the crucial role animals can play in early childhood development during her Faculty Speaker Series presentation, “Why Do We Need a Pet? Effects of animals on children’s socio-emotional development,” held Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 4 p.m. in the Ellis Dunn Community Room (Gaiser Hall room 213) on Clark College’s main campus.

“In America, most people own or have owned a pet, but they may not realize that these animals can actually improve your health and well-being—lowering blood pressure, reducing anxiety, and, in the case of children, strengthening emotional development,” says Dr. Maruyama, who has published numerous articles and book chapters on the topic. “This talk could apply to anyone in the fields of social science, psychology, early childhood education, women’s studies, or nursing, as well as anyone interested in social issues like interpersonal violence and how our pets can help us raise healthy children.”

Dr. Maruyama shares her intriguing research findings, which suggest that children learn more than we suspect from animal companions. The daily interactions they have with pets can help develop the important quality of empathy. Likewise, studies show that when children regularly mistreat animals, we need to pay attention—as it could be a warning sign of further violence to come as the child grows up.

This presentation is free and open to the public. Clark College is located at 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver. 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 may contact Clark’s Disability Support Services Office at 360-992-2314 or 360-991-0901 (video phone) or email dss@clark.edu within one week of the event.

This presentation is part of Clark’s prestigious Faculty Speaker Series. The theme for this year’s series is “Microbes, Pets, and Puppets: What Animals Can Teach Us.” The final presentation, “Bilingual Puppetry: a Project-Based Learning Exploration” by Spanish professor Elizabeth Ubiergo, is scheduled for May 12.

About Dr. Mika Maruyama

Dr. Mika Maruyama is a tenure-track professor teaching both general and lifespan psychology at Clark College. A native of Japan, she has studied the psychological relationship between animals and human development in both American and Japanese society as well as social issues including animal cruelty, domestic violence, child maltreatment, and juvenile delinquency. She has contributed to numerous academic journals, handbooks, and textbooks, including Animal Abuse and Developmental Psychopathology (2010, APA Books), Human Development (2008, Wadsworth Publishing), and International Handbook of Theory and Research on Animal Abuse and Cruelty (2008, Purdue University Press). Dr. Maruyama earned her bachelor’s degree from Utah State University and both her master’s and doctorate degrees in psychology from Portland State University. She began teaching at Clark in 2011.

Photo courtesy of Dr. Roberto Anitori

From one-celled organisms to imaginary elephants, we have much to learn from the non-human life forms around us. That is the theme of this year’s season of Clark College’s Faculty Speaker Series, “Microbes, Pets, and Puppets: What Animals Can Teach Us.”

The series begins on October 30 at 4 p.m., when biology professor Dr. Roberto Anitori presents “Microbial Heroics in Antarctica” in the Ellis Dunn Community Room (Gaiser Hall room 213) on Clark College’s main campus.

This presentation is a fascinating exploration of some rarely seen “extremophiles,” microbes that have adapted to survive in places where most living things could not—in this case, the remote and lightless ice caves in an Antarctic volcano. Part travelogue, part scientific presentation, Dr. Anitori invites guests to voyage with him on his 2010 research expedition to Mt. Erebus, the second-highest volcano in Antarctica. Through photos and stories, he will share his experiences training to survive in sub-zero temperatures, as well as his initial findings about the microbes living inside Mt. Erebus’s caves—which could have implications for life in even more difficult-to-research regions, like the deep sea, areas far below the earth’s crust, or even other planets.

“We think these ice caves are models for environments without light,” says Dr. Anitori. “Most life on earth depends on sunlight.”

Instead, these microbes survive on nutrients within the very rock itself—for example, digesting manganese and iron the way other organisms digest biological material. This discovery could, in turn, provide valuable insights into a little-understood aspect of Earth’s ecology.

“Most people, when they think about microbes, they think about things that make you sick—or make yogurt or beer,” says Dr. Anitori. “But 95 percent of the microbes on this planet don’t have anything to do with those things.”

This presentation is free and open to the public. Individuals who need accommodation due to a disability in order to fully participate in this event may contact Clark’s Disability Support Services Office at 360-992-2314 or 360-991-0901 (video phone) or email dss@clark.edu within one week of the event.

Future Faculty Speaker Series presentations include “Why Do We Need a Pet? Effects of animals on children’s socio-emotional development” and “Bilingual Puppetry: a Project-Based Learning Exploration.”

About Dr. Roberto Anitori

Dr. Roberto Anitori

Dr. Roberto Anitori has spent many years studying extremophiles and other microbes. After earning both his bachelor’s and doctoral degrees in Molecular Biology and Microbiology from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, he worked in research labs at Macquarie University in Sydney and at Oregon Health and Science University. In addition to his work in Antarctica, he has researched extremophiles in other volcanoes, deep-sea vents, underground water tables, deserts, and radioactive hot springs; he wrote the first published description of microbial life in the radioactive Paralana hot spring of Australia. He has been invited to lecture by organizations including the Australian Society for Microbiology, the Geological Society of Australia, and NASA. In 2011, he received the Antarctica Service Medal from the National Science Foundation. Dr. Anitori began teaching microbiology at Clark in 2008 and received a tenure-track faculty appointment in 2013. He is the editor of the book Extremophiles: Microbiology and Biotechnology (2012, Horizon Press).

Clockwise from top left: Kelly Fielding, Chris Martins, Sarah Theberge, and Jim Wilkins-Luton.

A professor who never planned on going to college, A Web-savvy wiz who stays in touch with students on Twitter, an aspiring academic who turned his back on the ivory tower in favor of more hands-on teaching, and an experienced clinician who takes the mystery out of a much-misunderstood subject–these are the recipients of the 2013-2014 Clark College Exceptional Faculty Awards, which were announced during the college’s 2014 Commencement ceremony and officially presented to their recipients during Opening Day activities on Sept. 10.

The Clark College Exceptional Faculty Awards are presented annually to full-time and part-time faculty members. This year the award recipients include two full-time tenured professors and two part-time adjunct instructors, whose detailed biographies can be accessed through the links below:

• Kelly Fielding: The voice of experience
• Chris Martin: The technophile with human feeling
• Sarah Theberge: The accidental professor
• Jim Wilkins-Luton: The book-lover gone digital

The awards are made possible through an endowed trust fund established by the Washington State Legislature and the Clark College Exceptional Faculty Endowment Fund, which was established in 1993. That fund provides recognition of exemplary work performance, positive impact on students, professional commitment, and other contributions to the college. Nominations can be submitted by Clark College students, faculty, classified employees, administrators, alumni, Board members, and Foundation directors.

Photos: Clark College/Jenny Shadley