News – Page 27 – Pima Post

Chancellor spends $20.5K+ on Spring travel

2May

By Pima Post Editorial TeamNo Comments

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Chancellor spends $20.5K+ on Spring travel

By AMARIS ENCINAS and JOE GIDDENS During the April 3 governors board meeting, Chancellor Lee Lambert made an announcement about his travels for Pima Community College. “And then I know there was concerns about my travel,” he said. “So as a result, we’re going to enhance the current board’s travel policy. So we will be bringing an amendment to the board travel policy, just to provide a little more oversight and transparency.” The amendment hasn’t been introduced yet, but it will modify Board Policy 4.06 and it includes: The chancellor will inform the board chair of the purpose or overall end goal for travel; following the trip, the chancellor will inform the governing board of the insight acquired from the trip itself; and lastly, the chancellor will at least provide an annual written...

2May

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Journey to commencement

Story and photo by ERIK MEDINA On May 23, Pima Community College will host its annual graduation ceremony at the Tucson Convention Center Arena. At each graduation, one student is chosen to speak to the student body at the beginning of the ceremony, this student is known as the the commencement speaker. This year, that student is Nicole Werner. Werner is originally from Philadelphia, but moved to Arizona at a young age. Although she grew up in Philadelphia, she considers Arizona her home. At 16, Werner was on her own, so she decided to move to Arizona because that’s where her father resided. “I had heard my dad was living out here, so I came and stayed with him and his girlfriend, which was kind of weird,” Werner said. “After a while, I just kind of worked my way ...

Maddy Jeans: fighting for a seat at the table

2May

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Maddy Jeans: fighting for a seat at the table

By KYLE KERSEY A Pima Community College student was honored by the college for her pivotal role in changing the graduation policy of Tucson Unified School District, allowing Native American students to wear culturally significant attire at their graduation ceremonies. Maddy Jeans, a 2017 graduate of Pueblo High School and current Pima student, was instrumental in bringing the issue before TUSD. At a TUSD board meeting on Dec. 11, Jeans and fellow members of the TNYC spoke in support of changing the district’s policy on graduation attire. “I was the student that emailed and contacted all of you my senior year to be able to have this opportunity for all native youths in your district,” Jeans said at the meeting. “I wanted to do this, because I felt like throughout my life, I did not get t...

2May

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Some administrators get salary hikes

By JOE GIDDENS Since summer 2015, the average Pima Community College administrator salary has increased 3.5%, while the average faculty salary has dropped 0.5%, according to a report released by the Pima Community College Education Association, the group that represents the college’s full-time faculty. Budget woes have been brought on by declining enrollment, yet expenditure limits haven’t been felt equally across college’s employees, according to PCCEA. This is partly because the college is in the middle of a multiyear plan to cut $15 million from its budget. However, the college did increase staff salaries by 2.5% in fiscal year 2017 as a temporary salary increase. The severe budget cuts apparently haven’t affected some administrators’ salaries, though, with a third of adminis...

2May

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A pioneer for Mexican-American Studies

By ALEXZANDRIA MARTINEZ Rosalia Solorzano was honored with emeritus status on Feb. 6 at the district District Office. Solorzano is the 37th faculty member to receive this honor at Pima Community College. Distinguished individuals who have retired are nominated by former colleagues and faculty members confidentially. The faculty emeritus award is the most important award to be given at Pima Community College and recognizes faculty and their contributions and services to the college. “I’m very proud and very honored to have received the faculty emerita award,” Solorzano said. She has been a instructor for 40 years and has taught thousands of students at Pima. She retired as a Pima sociology instructor after 21 years. During Solorzano’s teaching career, she also has been a rese...

GOHS awards Pima a $10,000 pedestrian safety grant

2May

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GOHS awards Pima a $10,000 pedestrian safety grant

Story and photo illustration by ALEXANDER LOPEZ The Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) has awarded Pima Community College a “GOHS Pedestrian and Bicyclist Focus Education and Enforcement Efforts” grant, for the amount of $10,000 and will be paid out through the 2019 year. So far, Pima Community College Police Department had conducted three pedestrian and bicycle safety traffic campaigns, all were paid for by the grant. The three safety campaigns have taken place at the Downtown Campus, because of its high numbers of collisions involving pedestrians and bicycles, described Officer Josh Blum. The Downtown Campus isn’t the only affected area. Due to the large volume of traffic the West Campus sees on a weekly basis as well as the adjacent streets and neighborhoods, which PCCPD...

Teeing off for decades for Pima Community College

2May

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Teeing off for decades for Pima Community College

By ALEXANDER LOPEZ One thing that you almost can always find around Tucson is an open golf course. With the endless Tucson sunlight and heat, almost every day is a perfect day for 18 holes, and for Pima Community College facilities employee Albert Quihuis, his life wouldn’t be the same if it weren’t for one. Growing up in the Barrio Hollywood neighborhood on the West Side of Tucson, life wasn’t always the easiest or the safest. As the youngest of seven children, childhood became even more difficult when his father passed away and his mom was forced to take the reins of the family. With all of the craziness of life, Quihuis would find his serenity on the course, hitting round after round. He would hit buckets of golf balls until he had blisters on his hand, only to come back the n...

2May

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When foreign becomes domestic

By COSTA B. PAPPAS With Pima Community College being such a culturally inclusive school, it has brought in a wide variety of students with different nationalities from all types of cultural backgrounds. Some of these students speak fluent English, but for some English is not their first language. Many would believe that to go to college the student would have to be fluent in English to keep up with the classes. However, students thankfully have the resource of the ESL program, also known as English as a second language. Lisa Jurkowitz, the ELAA coordinator for Pima’s English as a world language program, she explained how Pima has two separate programs for non-native English speakers. There is a free non-credited English Language Acquisition for Adults for those who do not know how to s...

Preparing students for Pima’s ‘first year’

2May

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Preparing students for Pima’s ‘first year’

Photo and story by ALEXZANDRIA MARTINEZ Pima Community College’s First Year Experience is an umbrella program, which means it offers several different options for every student. Every student has different needs and interests and are in different areas of their lives. The program caters to students with at least 30 credits. At Pima, 30 credits classifies you as a freshman; 60 credits a sophomore. The program, which was founded in 2017, is targeted toward students who are on track for a two-year graduation. In lots of cases, most students haven’t completed the 30 credits needed for the first year. However, the First Year Experience has events that can benefit any student who is reaching or have first-year credits. “The program is ‘new word’ to the college and is growing, but it...

2May

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Upcoming sabbaticals for Pima staff

By COSTA B. PAPPAS Pima Community College has a way to give back to the hardworking staff through sabbaticals. A sabbatical is a paid leave granted by a university for the staff member to study as well as travel. The subjects of study range as do the locations necessary to complete them. Pima faculty members Jose Maria Menendez, Sandra Ley, Kris Swank and Lisa Wermer are asking for a sabbatical for the 2019-2020 school year. Jose Maria Menendez, a mathematical instructor, is asking for a full-paid fall semester sabbatical to write a book for pre-calculus teachers at the college institution level. According to the BoardDoc’s meeting, the purpose of this book is to prepare instructors to teach this subject with an “equity, diversity, and social justice perspective.” Durin...