PCC Courier, September 25, 2014

VOLUME 110 ISSUE 5 ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT PCCCOURIER.COM September 25, 2014 COURIER EDITORIAL What's expected of the next public relations director The independent student voice PASADENA CITY COLLEGE PAGE 4» Campus blooms in the night Daniel Valencia/Courier A rose planted in front of the mirror pools with the C Building behind it. Check out the rest of PCC at night in Scene. PCC a top producer of associate’s degrees Ashley Park Staff Writer Community College Week named Pasadena City College one of the top producers in the nation of associate degrees in multi-interdisciplinary studies. Multi-interdisciplinary studies are defined as “broad categories like science, liberal arts, human¬ ities. . . rather than just a specific major like chemistry,” said the Associate Vice President of Student Services, Cynthia Olivo. “It’s majors on a larger spec¬ trum.” Most students are not aware that this is a viable option, but 1000 500 #1 4 #31 #42 294 — ячс Top SO Associate Degrees in MulMenSsopinaty Studies Ш Pasadena City Cofege Cites Cofiege IS East Los Angeles College Ц Santa Monica Cdfege Photo Illustration by Daniel Valencia PCC places second place in Multi/Interdisciplinary studies. Olivo wants to assure students “The pros are that if the that multi-interdisciplinary stud- student is intending to focus on ies are a smart way to continue the sciences, for example, but furthering their education. don’t know what specific subject they want to study, this is an open option for them to explore that area, “ Olivo said. “It gives them an opportunity to continue studying without taking time off to figure out what they want to study.” Senior Vice President Rob¬ ert Bell is also certain that the fact that PCC made this list can and wifi help students who are looking to transfer to a four-year university. “With this recognition, four- year universities will know that a student transferring from PCC has had rigorous, challenging classes for their major,” said. TOP page 3 ► Connect with us СЭ facebook.com/ @pcccourier pcccourier II5I О §2J @pcccourier tumblr.com/ pcccourier Tragedies spur safety reforms at colleges Daniel Johnson Asst. News Editor One night in 1986, a young college student was murdered in her dorm room at Lehigh University. She did not know her attack¬ er, a fellow student, had been stalking her for some time. She did not know that there had been several reports of vio¬ lent incidents on her campus in the months leading to her tragic death, and thus she did not feel that she was in any danger. She did not know any of this, because no one was required to tell her. The young woman’s name was Jeanne Clery. The efforts made in her name by her parents and many others eventually led to the passage of the Jeanne Clery Act, which requires a variety of regulations concerning safety on campuses to be consistently followed. The Clery Center for Security on Campus is a non-profit group that is dedicated to educating campuses around the country on both the letter and the spirit of the Clery Act. “One thing that we always re¬ iterate when working with both students and campus profession¬ als is that safety is a community issue,” wrote Abigail Boyer, the center’s Assistant Executive Di¬ rector of Programs, in an email C-PART page 3 School website prepares to undergo complete transformation Dezarae Baibas Staff Writer I A team of professional hveb design technicians are preparing to give the PCC website a complete make¬ over to improve its look and functionality. Michael Ihrig, PCC’s web administrator and PCC alum¬ ni, said an update to the site is long overdue. “What we have now is what we’ve had since 2003,” said Ihrig. “Which if you think about it in computer years, that’s worse than dog years,” added David Steiman, the school’s interim public relations director. Eleven years behind in technology is equivalent to having a cell phone the size of a brick. Unless students are computer whizzes, finding certain information from the website can be confusing and frustrating. Broken links and a misguided search engine creates a time-consuming process just to find out where the math department is located. Ihrig and his team is about to change all that. “For us at PCC, it’s the first time that anyone’s attempted to create an information ar¬ chitecture,” said Ihrig. “What that means is it’s not just physically how the files relate to each other on the web¬ site but it takes into account your audiences and how they expect to get from point A to point B.” “We’re working with web content specialists to hone in on what that voice of PCC is, keeping it accessible and friendly and easy to under¬ stand,” Ihrig added. Ihrig and his team are determined to fulfill those BETA page 2 Nagisa Mihara/Courier Michael Ihrig works on coding the front page of the new website in his office. SPEAK OUT! Would you trust online dating sites to find "the one"? Vote at PccCourier.com