SFCC’s Trades and Advanced Technology Center and Training Center Corporation Win Mayor’s Sustainability Awards

Pictured (L to R): Nicholas Petrović, Jeremiah Star, Stephen Gomez,
Amanda Hatherly, Luke Spangenberg, Ondine Frauenglass, Marlon Guite, Randy Grissom, Deborah Boldt, Heidi Weingart, Camilla Bustamante and Xubi Wilson.

The college was a recipient of two City of Santa Fe Mayor’s Sustainability Awards, Oct. 13. The School of Trades, Technology, Sustainability and Professional Studies was recognized for its sustainability curriculum in the Education category. The SFCC Training Center Corporation was honored for its high tech and green business incubation in the Economic Development category. The award ceremony recognized programs, projects and people throughout Santa Fe who are dedicated to helping Santa Fe reduce its carbon footprint, improve its environment, build resilience in the face of climate change, provide environmental education and develop a green workforce. An SFCC contingent of more than a dozen – including students, former students and members of faculty, staff and administration – represented SFCC at the event. Former SFCC student Tejinder Ciano was also honored for his nonprofit recycling business, Reunity Resources.

Sahaj Khalsa Wins Award

Sahaj Khalsa, program director of EMSI, won ‘Best Oral Presentation’ for a research project on the use of restraints in the pre-hospital environment. The award was from the Prehospital Care Research Forum at UCLA and was presented at the National Association of EMS Educators annual conference in Ft. Worth, Texas.

López Receives Governor’s Award

Faculty member and acclaimed santero Felix López received the prestigious Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts on Sept. 23. López is the recipient of numerous other awards, including from the Spanish Colonial Arts Society and the National Endowment for the Arts. His work has been exhibited at the Denver Art Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, National Hispanic Cultural Center, Museum of Spanish Colonial Art, Museum of American Folk Art and Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum, and is in in major collections in Los Angeles, New York, Spain, and elsewhere.

SFCC was given the National Judges Award of Excellence  at the University Economic Development Association (UEDA) in Roanoke, Virginia on October 18. The Judges Award is given to the university that best exemplifies the values of the UEDA. Specifically, the award recognizes SFCC’s Training Center Corporation. According to the UEDA, the college’s Training Center Corporation “represents a best practice initiative in university-based economic development and example of regional transformation for economic prosperity.”

Dr. Camilla Bustamante, dean of the School of Trades, Technology, Sustainability and Professional Studies, was in attendance to accept the award.

The Training Center Corporation is an independent arm of SFCC, acting as an incubator of ideas and entrepreneurial activities to support experiential learning for students and community partners.

The Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council, in partnership with Second Nature, awarded SFCC Honorable Mention in its Climate Leadership Awards for dedication to creating a sustainable higher education environment and incorporating green practices into the campus and educational discourse. Second Nature is a national nonprofit that works to build a sustainable and positive global future through collaboration with leadership networks in higher education, and the Climate Leadership Awards recognize innovative and advanced leadership in sustainability, climate change mitigation and resilience at college and university campuses that participate in Second Nature’s climate commitments.

Chapters, an exhibition featuring Gordon Fluke’s prints, pastel drawings, handmade books and other works, continues through Dec. 16 in the main campus entrance. The opening reception on Oct. 31 coincided with Fluke’s retirement from academic administration and marked his return to the art world to begin a new chapter in his life. He will teach a credit book arts class in the spring. Fluke worked at the college for almost 19 years. Since 2000, he served as SFCC’s Director of Continuing Education. Prior to that he worked in the bookstore, community relations, and as an adjunct faculty member in the art department teaching introduction to printmaking, papermaking and book arts. The exhibition is presented by the college and the Santa Fe Community College Foundation through the Art on Campus program. For more information about the exhibition contact Art on Campus coordinator Linda Cassel at 505-428-1855, linda.cassel@sfcc.edu. See samples of his art, facebook.com/gordonflukeprintmaker.

Fine Arts faculty member Patricia Pearce
is one of five featured artists in the exhibition,
Alchemy of Decay, which opened Aug. 26 in the Rotunda
Gallery in the Capitol at Old Santa Fe Trail and Paseo de Peralta.
The show continues through Dec. 9.

SFCC’s Coordinatorn for the Center for Diversity and
Integrated Learning Emily Stern presented at Teachers
for Social Justice 16th Annual Conference in San Francisco
in October. Her presentation was titled El Corazón: Where Social
Justice, Community and Identity Intersect.

SFCC Receives Equipment from LANL

LANL’s Chemistry (C) Division donated more than $40,000 worth of science equipment to SFCC. Donated items included lab coats, face shields, refractometers, hot plates, glassware, plasticware and incubators. C Division Chief of Staff Andrea Salazar-Gallegos led the initiative.

SFCC Partners with NMHU in Teacher Licensure Program

The Center for the Education and Study of Diverse Populations (CESDP) at New Mexico Highlands University (NMHU) was awarded the National Professional Development
Program Grant from the U.S. Department of Education. SFCC will serve as NMHU’s partner institution in a 2+2 Career Ladder Teacher Licensure Program for two partnering Local Educational Partnering (LEP) school districts in Northern New Mexico. The first two years will focus on the Associate of Arts in Teacher Education from SFCC
for 30 paraprofessionals. After students receive the Associate of Arts degree, they will be admitted to the Undergraduate Elementary Education Licensure program at NMHU. The first cohort of 30 students is expected to begin pursuit of an AA in Teacher Education in summer 2017. For more information, contact Director of Teacher Education Dawn Wink, ext. 1347.

Michelle Rosen-Hatcher joins SFCC as the Director of Kids Campus

Michelle Rosen-Hatcher joins SFCC as the Director of Kids Campus. Rosen-Hatcher spent more than 25 years with Santa Fe Public Schools as a teacher and administrator. She taught in special education and gifted programs and also was assistant principal at Santa Fe High School. During her teaching career, she received two Fulbright scholarships, which she spent in India and in Japan. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from City College of New York, a master’s degree in education from New York University and Administrative Licensure in Transformational Leadership from New Mexico Highlands University.

In Memorium

In Memoriam: Gerald Clay. Gerald Clay, retired fitness professor, died unexpectedly Aug. 5 at the age of 62. A “GoFundMe” page has been set up: https://www.gofundme.com/2j4hrafb to help the family. Gerald’s memory will be honored with a basketball tournament at the Fitness Center in his name on March 3 and 4. For more about Clay, please see the Santa Fe New Mexican obituary at Legacy.com.