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Associate of Fine Arts under review
By Frank Spink
News Editor
Nurtured by the creative vision of four PVCC faculty artists, a new Associate of Fine and Performing Arts degree (AFA) and five new academic certificates are making their way through the District's formal review and approval process.
The degree and certificate programs must get final approval from the MCCCD Governing Board before they can be offered to students. If approved, the programs may begin in the fall semester.
Senior associate dean of instruction, Mary Lou Mosley, who is guiding the programs through the approval process, says the interdisciplinary degree and certificates are designed for students with vocational plans or an avocation in theater, creative writing, visual arts, music, dance or cinema.
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| Photo by Rohanna Green |
| The rock climbing wall is just one of the many attractions of this year's Wellness Fest. |
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Wellness Fest raises health awareness at PVCC
By Elizabeth Lake
Puma Press Editor
"For students to be successful, there are many areas of their lives [that] they need to pay attention to," says Heather Anderson, Student Life Program Advisor.
This is the defining purpose behind PVCC's Annual Wellness calendar of events. Once a weekly occurrence, this year, the Wellness Fest runs for the entire month of April. This is a program designed to raise health awareness among students and faculty of PVCC.
Anderson, who has been involved in the wellness emphasis for the last five years, co-chairs the event with Athletic Director Ali Waelchli. The Wellness Fest also involves the help of part-time Student Life worker and PVCC student Catherine Hobbs and the Fitness Center, the athletics program, the counseling division and the administrative department.
The Wellness Fest includes various activities in the lines of games, speakers, and demonstrations, as well as blood screenings for blood pressure, skin cancer, blood glucose, vision, and HIV, which is a confidential screening. These are free services to promote health at its optimum for anyone who would like to participate.
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| Photo by Sammy Mehrazar |
| Instructor Rae Ornsby puts equal emphasis on Spanish language and culture in classroom. |
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Instructor shares "love affair" with Spain
By Sammy Mehrazar
Contemporary
Culture Editor
Language professor Rae Ornsby shares his knowledge of the Spanish language while infusing his teachings with his genuine love for the culture. Ornsby teaches two introductory Spanish classes at PVCC and confidently guarantees a functional understanding of the language by semester"s end.
A native of Connecticut, Ornsby attended high school there but in his junior year, he jumped at the opportunity to study abroad in Barcelona for a year. During this year, he started a lifelong love affair with Spain; a love so great that it seems only to be matched by his love for his wife of 12 years and their seven children.
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| Poet Jan Beatty read works from "Mad River" and "Boneshaker." |
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Visiting poet inspires audience with powerful poetry
By Pamela Nutting
Fine Arts Editor
Classical music filled the air at 2 p.m. on April 16, greeting students, faculty and community members crossing the threshold of B-208 to welcome PVCC's 2002 Visiting Writer and Scholar, Jan Beatty.
Nearly 50 audience members came to draw inspiration from Beatty as she read poems from her books Mad River and Boneshaker.
PVCC creative writing instructor Dr. Lois Roma-Deeley introduced Beatty, explaining she is not only an instructor at the University of Pittsburgh, but also a celebrated poet who has won numerous awards for her work. She said Beatty's poems have been called everything from "funny" and "smart" to "a force of nature," but added that she believes Beatty's poems "have an elegant compassion not often found in contemporary poetry."
Those who have never met Beatty but have read her beautiful, fierce stanzas may have been surprised by her small frame, calm demeanor and classic but hip appeal. She began reading a varied selection of her poems through black-rimmed, blue-tinted glasses with a quiet, regular cadence, and grabbed everyone's attention effortlessly.
Although Beatty said none of her work is precisely autobiographical, she draws on her experiences when writing. Both her personal life (as a daughter in a working class family, a lover and a woman observing the world) and her working life (as a social worker and a waitress) influence her poetry.
Early childhood education to offer new B.A. degree
program on campus
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| Photo by Rohanna Green |
| Students training in PVCC’s early childhood education program work with children like Stephen Inglish at the Child Development Center on campus. |
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Beginning this summer, PVCC's child development program will offer students the opportunity to earn a bachelor's degree in early childhood education without leaving campus.
Charter Oak State College, a fully accredited college based in Connecticut, will provide the transfer option to students who desire a four-year degree with a concentration in early childhood education.
The degree is designed to prepare students for positions as preschool teachers, directors or for setting up and running their own preschools.
Eileen Shiff, coordinator of the child development program, is the driving force behind the four-year degree option.
"Students are excited about this opportunity; where they can continue to blend theory with practice as they prepare for career success," says Shiff.
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