President Schilling’s Board Report for May 22, 2018

The following is a report to members of the North Orange County Community College District Board of Trustees.
Presented by Cypress College President JoAnna Schilling, Ph.D.
on May 22, 2018

The college has been in thoroughly engaged in “end-of the-semester” events and we are enjoying seeing our students succeed and flourish. It’s a wonderful time of the year to acknowledge and celebrate their accomplishments!

College Events

  • Cypress College will be celebrating its 51st Commencement this Friday, May 25 at 6 pm. We will be welcoming over 1000 graduates receiving more than 1200 degrees and 649 certificates, including our first ever BA graduates in Funeral Services. More than 400 students will participate in this year’s ceremony. Also being honored is Abhiruchi Chaulagin, our Outstanding Graduate of the Year; Curtis Sheets, Foundation Board Member and our Outstanding Alumnus of the Year; Regina Rhymes, our Charger Award winner; Cindy Shrout, our Faculty of the Year, and Wayne Chang, our Adjunct Faculty of the Year. Our Commencement Speaker will be NASA’s Farisa Morales, a former community college student who now searches for new planets with JPL. We are looking forward to an inspiring commencement and hope all our board members will be there!
  • Eleven Cypress College psychology students have been chosen to present research projects at the CC2PhD Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research Conference at UCLA on Saturday, May 26. The conference is one of two held annually by the UCLA-based CC2PhD Association and strives to provide an accessible opportunity for community college and transfer students to engage in research and encourage pursuit of a graduate degree. It will feature presentations from more than 100 California community college and transfer students in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and STEM.
  • The Cypress College Men’s Golf Team, led by Coach Dana Bedard, won their first CCCAA State Championship round on Monday, May 14, capturing the first team state title in program history. Sophomores Matthew Rafter, Georgios Bris, and Andrew Thomson posted top-six scores, earning them All-State honors. Congratulations Chargers!
  • Congratulations to our Women’s Softball team who finished third in this season’s CCCAA State Championship Tournament! The Cypress College softball team fought a good fight in their state semi-final appearance against Palomar College, losing by just one run in the seventh inning.
  • Sophomore Alejandra Gomez became the most decorated women’s diver in Cypress College history with her performance at this year’s CCCAA State Swim & Dive Championships. Gomez repeated as the CCCAA State Champion on the 3-meter board and broke the state meet record on the 1-meter board to earn her third state title in two seasons. Awesome job, Alejandra!
  • Our Performing Arts students have been busy with their end of year concerts, including the Jazz Band Concert on May 7, MAD Film Festival on May 11, Jazz Choir on May 18, Concert Choir on May 19, and our Dance Concert on May 20.
  • In other graduation and scholarship news, our Language Arts Scholarship Awards were held on May 14, our Forensics Showcase was held on May 15, Honors scholarship celebration on May 17, as well as our DSS graduation, Puente graduation on May 15, and Human Services graduation on May 18.
  • Our Court Reporting Program is 40 years old! Faculty member Carolee Freer organized a wonderful breakfast which was attended by past and present students, instructors and alumni of the program. Carolee noted that when the program began “nobody drove on the 91 Fwy – can you believe that?”
  • The Cypress College Foundation awarded over 72 scholarships, to 250 students at our Scholarship Awards Ceremony on May 21. It was a wonderful event attended by proud students and parents, as well as our generous faculty, staff and donors.

Community Events

  • On May 9, Dr. Schilling and Dr. Hua attended the Cypress Chamber Golf Reception at the Navy Golf Course in Los Alamitos, to support the work of our local chamber and our partnership with this important business association.
  • On May 10, Dr. Schilling, Dr. De Dios, Dr. Bandyopadhyay, Kathleen Reiland, and Hospitality Management coordinator, Lisa Clark, presented to 20 hotel General Managers representing large hotel chains in Garden Grove, to discuss our Hospitality Management Program and the opportunities we provide for training.
  • Schilling attended the CSULB Spring Educational Leadership Forum on Monday May 14. CEOs, VPs, and Academic Senate Presidents from across the LA/OC area attended to discuss opportunities for transfer and building intersegmental courses across our institutions.
  • Schilling, Trustee Stephen Blount, and VP Emily Day attended the annual Cypress Police Appreciation Luncheon on May 15. It was a wonderful event and opportunity to honor our great partnership with our Cypress Police department, and to honor them for the heroic work they do on our behalf.
  • On May 17, Dr. Schilling had the honor of sharing lunch at the Cypress Bistro with City Council woman, Mariellen Yarc, and Cypress City Manager, Peter Grant. They were impressed with our amazing students and the culinary experience they share with their guests.
  • On Friday, May 18, the college community said goodbye to Don Bedard, “Mr. Cypress”, who was one of the first Cypress College employees in 1967. Dr. Bedard served the college for over 30 years as Vice President and Interim President (twice). He was beloved by the campus community and his service was filled with blue and gold well-wishers.

That’s the Board Report from Cypress College. Buen Cypress!

 

%d bloggers like this: