President Schilling’s Board Report for February 25, 2020
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 February 25, 2020
As we enter the fifth week of the spring semester we look back on a successful and inspirational Black History Month and look ahead to our 45th Americana Awards. Our Black History events celebrated the amazing contributions Black Americans have made to the world of pop culture, fashion, and the arts, while the Americana Awards again celebrate the many contributions our Citizens and Man of the Year have made to our communities. We hope you had the opportunity to join us for the remaining “pop-ish” Black History events, and look forward to having you there on Saturday, February 29 as we raise funds for our students while honoring those who have given so much to our communities.
Campus News
Cypress College hosted two open forums on February 12 to allow students, faculty, and staff to provide input on our Educational and Facilities Master Plan (EFMP). In addition, the President’s Office hosted a comments box and EFMP map and projects list the week of February 18-21 to allow those unable to attend these forums to provide input. Our EFMP consultants will also be visiting our Associated Students, our Presidents Advisory Council (PAC), Academic Senate, Planning and Budget Committee (PBC), the Management Team, and various divisions on request. Our goal is to ensure a high level of participation and feedback for the important projects we will be supporting for the next decade.
Our Leading with Equity Symposium, which will be held at the UCLA Conference Center on March 26-27, opened registration on February 12, and we are already reached our maximum of 80 participants. This important summit will be facilitated by Dr. Veronica Kiefer-Lewis and we are hopeful it will be a dynamic time to build community among all constituents, engage in the challenging discussions that are needed to move our college forward, and to make progress on becoming an equity-minded campus. I want to acknowledge the efforts of our Professional Development coordinators, Michael Brydges, and Ruth Gutierrez, for their efforts in putting together this retreat.
Cypress College participated this year in the Every Student Succeeding event for the Cypress Schools. This event honors students from all grade levels who have persevered under challenging and difficult circumstances. Our awardee was Tyuana Boochee, a single mother who is a Legacy Scholar, and an honors student despite struggling with homelessness and personal challenges. Tyuana is an inspiration to us all and was presented with her award by Legacy counselor LaRon Armstead. This was the first year that a Cypress College student was acknowledged.
Our 45th Americana Award Ceremony will be held on February 29 at the Disneyland Hotel. Our Executive Director, Howard Kummerman, and his team have been working hard to ensure we have more premiere silent and live auction items than ever before, and to guarantee a record-breaking number of sponsors. Our Man of the Year, Bill Taormina, is a staunch advocate for ending homelessness and our Cypress Citizen of the Year, George O’Hara, is a Cypress College Foundation member. Margie Lewis, former president of Cypress College, has graciously volunteered to serve as our Americana Chair this year, and she is exhibiting the same standard of excellence in her chair position, as she did as our president. We are grateful to all of our volunteers and staff for ensuring we raise scholarship funds to support our students at our annual Foundation Scholarship Awards Ceremony on May 14.
17 former Charger baseball players are on the opening day roster for NCAA Division I teams this spring, including UNLV, UCLA, Oregon State, Michigan, Long Beach State, Ball State, Dayton, UCR, CSUF, Morehead State, HBU, & UML. We are #CYProud of our transferring athletes and their ongoing success. Go Chargers!
Please join us at the upcoming Cypress College Art Gallery (CCAG) opening on Thursday, February 20. This new exhibition, Superscope, Clay 2020, curated by faculty member, Molly Schulps, offers a widescreen view of contemporary clay-based visual arts in California, We are also pleased to announce that this semester CCAG has partnered with LEAF/Able ARTS Work, and will be providing 20-free visual arts workshops in the Gallery to classes of local school children.
Future Upcoming Events – Save the Date(s)!
Cypress College’s 24th Kindercaminata will be taking place on February 28. We will be welcoming over 800 kindergartners from our local schools to our Gateway Plaza from 8:30-11:30 a.m. for activities, introductions to age-appropriate academic fun, and other surprises to engage these young scholars in a college-going future.
Rotary Spaghetti Dinner will be held on March 7 at the Cypress Community Center. All sales go to support our EOPS program and all tickets go back to our food pantry to provide free meals to students. If you are interested in purchasing a $5 ticket and support a student, please let Dr. Schilling know.
YomHaShoah – Please join us on April 22 at 7 p.m. in the Cypress College Campus Theater for the 4th annual Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust. This year we will be hearing from eight survivors as well as Sam Sachs, one of the WWII camp liberators, who will share their stories. In addition, Cliff Lester will also be awarding the Ursula Lowenbach Foster Holocaust Memorial Scholarship, in honor of his mother’s memory. It promises to be a moving evening and we hope you will join us. Registration will be open soon and proceeds go to Holocaust Education.
Cyber Security Superintendents Cup – On April 21 we will host our second annual competition features our District middle school students as they compete for bragging rights and the Superintendent’s Cup. Last year Centralia School District was the big winner and this year our other districts are vying to take the cup back home to their district. Please join us to see the future of Cypress College students in our Cypress College Theater at 5 p.m.
The Cypress College Legacy Society will host its next reception on April 29. Currently the Legacy Society, which acknowledges donors who have pledged or given over $10,000 in support of our students, has over 50 members and growing. Members include Trustee Barbara Dunsheath, past presidents of Cypress, Margie Lewis, Mike Kasler, and Bob Simpson, Chancellor Cheryl Marshall, and many past and present staff, faculty and managers. We are grateful for their support of our students.
That’s the Board Report from Cypress College. Buen Cypress!