The
Courier
Have a Safe &
Sane Fourth
VOL. 63, NO. 1 PASADENA CITY COLLEGE, PASADENA, CALIFORNIA JULY 3, 1986
Dr. Kirk Granted Leave of Absence
By Scott Heath
Staff Writer
Dr. Henry P. Kirk, vice presi¬
dent of institutional advancement,
has been granted a one year leave
of absence to serve as interim
president at Centralia College, in
Washington. Kirk will begin his
leave July 1 and is scheduled to
return exactly one year later in
1987.
“I see this leave as a win-win
situation,” says Kirk. “I get the
opportunity to run my own shop
while I have a job waiting for me
that I know I like.” Kirk sees this
interim presidency as an excellent
chance to gain additional adminis¬
trative experience which will be
beneficial to him professionally
and enhance his value to PCC upon
his return.
Kirk has been vice president
since the fall of 1981 and has been
involved in many programs.
Among Kirk’s favorite activities
include working with the PCC
Foundation, the Legislative Con¬
tact Committee and international
exchange programs.
Kirk was also interested in ex¬
panding the public awareness of
the college. He started the Focus
newsletter which deals with PCC
Foundation business. Sandy Stad-
tler is the associate editor with
Robin Manly as the publication
editor. Kirk was also involved with
the PCC Report a newsletter writ¬
ten and edited by Gail Fostrey,
public information officer, The
newsletter deals with campus ac¬
tivities. Fostrey also produces
Board Briefs, a letter summariz¬
ing the important information cov¬
ered at the Board of Trustees
meetings.
Centralia College is very in¬
Search for New
President Begins
By Andre’ Coleman
News Editor
The lengthy search for the new
Superintendent/President has
begun.
The PCC Board of Trustees has
selected the Association of Com¬
munity College Trustees (ACCT)
for assistance in selecting can¬
didates for the Superinten¬
dent/President job.
The ACCT which helped select
the retiring Superintendent, Dr.
John Casey, is a non-profit or¬
ganization that regularly conducts
nationwide searches for perspec¬
tive college executives.
The ACCT conducts searches
through the media, professional
trade papers and recomendations
from presidents’ and chancellors’
offices throughout the country.
The ACCT will conduct the search
with the assistance of the Board of
Trustees and an Advisory Commit¬
tee.
The Advisory Committee, which
has not been named at press time,
will include members of the board,
administration, faculty, classified
staff and student body. The com¬
mittee along with the board will do
the actual selection of the finalist,
and they will select the new Super¬
intendent/President.
The ACCT will not participate in
the final selection or vote for the
new Superintendent/President.
They will on
submit the names of
perspective candidates and con¬
duct the search and the candidate
screening process.
After the nationwide search for
perspective candidates is con¬
ducted, the ACCT screens and
comprises a list of 15 qualified
candidates. This list will be sub¬
mitted to the board and the com¬
mittee.
The board and the committee
will choose five candidates from
the list comprised by the ACCT,
but board has the option to con¬
sider other candidates aside from
those suggested by the ACCT.
The backrounds and qualifica¬
tions of these candidates will be
the subject of an extensive phone
investigation. From this investiga¬
tion the number of candidates will
be reduced to one or two.
After this, several members of
the board will visit the hometown
of the remaining candidates to
research his record and interview
his colleagues. This visit will be
followed by a discussion of the
findings and the final vote.
The nationwide search, which
will cost a total of $10,850, is
expected to last about six months.
GUESS WHO— Can you guess who this former PJC
student is? He was recently nominated teacher of the year.
terested in Kirk’s work with the
Foundation. In 1984-85 they were
looking for contributions totaling
$60,000 and received $120,000. In
the 1985-86 annual fund-raiser the
Foundation raised $260,000. Kirk
has been closely involved in all
Foundation activities and believes
that “The Foundation has a bright
future and fund-raisers will reach
a million in the next couple of
years.”
Another of Kirk’s programs was
the Legislative Contact Commit¬
tee, chaired by Dr. William E.
Goldman. Over this year the LCC
has sponsored four visits by local
legislators. Assemblywoman Sally
Tanner, Assemblyman Walter
Stiern, and State Senators Richard
Mountjoy and Newton Russell
were all involved with the plan to
open the lines of communication
among students, faculty and local
legislators.
International programs were
also part of Kirk’s responsibility.
He worked closely with Dr. Phyllis
Mael on the spring semester
abroad program to Oxford. He has
also worked this year to organize
an similiar programs to Greece
and Spain.
In Washington Kirk will be deal¬
ing with low faculty morale. “It’s
a big job but I am looking forward
to it,” says Kirk. “I have no axe to
grind, I will be there to help.”
With a declining enrollment of
3000. Centralia is also interested in
Kirk’s ability to recruit students.
“We need to look at new student
markets,” Kirk said about Cen¬
tralia, “We want to get home¬
makers, re-entry adults and busi¬
ness people in the community back
to school.”
Dr. Henry P. Kirk
■The renovated Lady Liberty will be
Courier photo by Vern McGuire
STANDING TALL
unveiled today.
Newsline
As you may be aware, blood
supplies are running critically
short, and if we were confronted
with a major emergency or dis¬
aster, supplies would not meet the
demand.
PCC will hold its Summer Blood
Drive on Wednesday, July 9 from
8:45 to 1:45. It will be adminis¬
tered by the American Red Cross
in Harbeson Hall.
If you are willing to allow repre¬
sentatives from the Red Cross to
come to your classroom on July 7
or 8, please contact Connie
Hurston in the student activities
office (ex. 7384) as soon as possi¬
ble.
Everyone associated with PCC
is encouraged to participate.
Please give the gift of life.
□
PCC is presenting “Understand¬
ing the Process,” a special video
presentation that provides in¬
formation about admission, test¬
ing, counseling and the registra¬
tion process.
All new students must see the
video before they are given coun¬
seling approval for registration.
The video will be shown at 2:30
p.m. on July 7, 10, 15, 17, 21, 23, 29,
31, Aug. 4, 6, 11-14, 18-21, 25-28 and
Sept. 2-4 in C301.
You may obtain an admission
ticket at the counseling window in
D200.
Teacher of the Year Chosen
By M. Gale Williams
Staff Writer
Each year students are given
the opportunity to pay tribute to
the instructors of their choice by
nominating those who have demon¬
strated the highest quality of in¬
struction and inspired them to
reach their full potential.
Students select names, circulate
petitions and submit them to a
committee. The selection commit¬
tee selects the winner after it has
evaluated the number of signa¬
tures and reviewed the comments.
The 1986 Teacher of the Year is
Sam Soghomonian. He is a product
of this locale. Born and reared in
Pasadena, he attended PCC when
it was known as Pasadena Junior
College. In 1945 he served as ASB
president.
After earning an Associate of
Arts degree from PCC, a Bachelor
of Arts degree and a Masters of
Science in education from USC,
Soghomonian with credentials in
hand returned.
“When I was a student in Pasa¬
dena I went from Kindergarten
through Junior College and then to
USC. At that time, the Pasadena
educational system was con¬
sidered one of the top 10 in the
country. People came from all
over the world not only to get to
Pasadena schools but to that fan¬
tastic place called Pasadena Jun¬
ior College.” With this in mind,
Soghomonian sought employment
at Eliot Jr. High School. He landed
the position and the job lasted 13
years.
In 1964 Soghomonian was hired
to teach at PCC as a political
science instructor. That rela¬
tionship has lasted for 22 years.
Soghomonian's approach to
teaching, by his own admission,
makes him demanding and strict
but, he considers himself fair.
“I will probably stretch a kid as
far as he can go. I consider myself
to be something like the golf pro. If
you give me $20 for a half hour, I
owe you that half hour before I
take your money. So, I want to to
give the taxpayers their money’s
worth and give the student every¬
thing he expects and more.” It is
that attitude that won him the
award.
“I truly am honored to receive
the Risser Award. When students
who have to do your term papers
meet you day after day and do the
hard work without always receiv¬
ing rewarding grades, choose to
honor you, it’s very satisfying. You
can almost say it takes the place of
money but not quite,” said
Soghomonian.
