December 2009 - Issue 49 - Kenai Peninsula College

Kenai Peninsula College, University of Alaska Anchorage
December 2009 Volume IV, Issue 3
Distance education:
New DVD will help students be more successful
By Shyan Ely
KRC media student
For students who have ever wondered how distance education worked or
whether it was the right option for
them, KPC is creating a DVD to provide
the answers.
The first copy of the distance education DVD, which was created by KRC’s
Heather Nash and KBC’s Kevin
Wilmeth, will be released in December
and will cover how to overcome the difficulties, especially the technical challenges, inherent in distance classes.
This distance DVD will be sent to stu-
dents who are enrolled in distance classes in the spring 2010 semester.
Some people feel discouraged by the
idea of distance classes and the difficulties they may face with technology, and
the DVD can help them with these problems, said Nash, KRC’s Title III activities director. Many people, for instance,
are unaware that math tutoring is available online.
“We started from the position that
some of our students will have little or
no computer technology expertise and
yet still want to take distance ed coursework, and tried to go from there,” Nash
said.
The main expense of the DVDs is the
cost of replicating 600-800 of them from
the master copy. New KPC audio and
video equipment was used for the filming of this DVD. Production of the DVD
was funded by the Title III Distance
Education Access and Success Grant,
and the cost of mailing is being paid for
by the college.
Title III employees are working hard
to complete the DVD production. This is
the first edition of the DVD, and Nash
said she expects that she and Wilmeth
will have improvements for the second
Cover of the technology DVD produced by Title III staff.
Art courtesy of Dr. Heather Nash, KRC Title III activities director
edition based on content, technical
issues and student feedback.
Forget your password? No problem with UAA’s new ID management site
By Beth Hack
KRC media student
Technology is about to become a little easier for students and employees
at
KPC.
UAA
Informational
Technology Services has upgraded to a
new identification management application: me.uaa.alaska.edu.
Unlike
the
previous
ID
Management system, it’s a “one stop”
program. In the event students or
employees forget their password they
can reset or change it themselves without calling the Call Center, even if
they have multiple accounts at different locations, with multiple user
names. With this new site all services
can be accessed with a single username and password.
Over the next year, students and
employee UAA usernames will be
replaced with their UA username.
This will become the user’s single
identity regardless of where they go
within the University of Alaska. The
UA single identity username is: first
initial, middle initial (if you have one)
and last name. If they need to make
other changes to their user account
(such as Mail Alias changes), they just
do so via the UAA Identity Manager.
According to Mark Jenson, KRC
Information Technology supervisor,
students can currently use this
account for My UA and can optionally
use it for Authenticated Wireless
access. “Soon you will be able to use it
for Blackboard, computer lab access
and other services,” said Jensen.
Over the next year, students and
employees will be able to access all
services through this one site. This
not only makes it easier for the users,
it makes it extra nice for IT, freeing up
more time to concentrate on other
projects.
And, keep in mind some good technology advice: passwords are like
The me.uaa.alaska.edu Web site guides the user through the identity process.
underwear, the longer the better; don’t
leave them lying around; keep them
hidden; change them often; don’t
share them with your friends.
Page 2 KPC Connection
December 2009
KPC potential 24 years ago still true today
Photo provided by KPC Advancement
Our lack of established procedures and established traditions is our invigorating challenge, however frustrating it
may be today.
The anticipation of what
will become of this potential is
exciting. But potential in and
of itself is nothing. It predicts
what can happen, not what
will happen. The learning
process at this college is like a
small pebble that has just fallen off a mountain. It has
potential energy. It will either
continue on down, gaining
momentum and knocking loose
other rocks as it goes, or it will
fall into a crevice and lie dormant. Everyone who is a part
of this college directly or indirectly affects the fall of this
pebble. Our wisdom, our honesty, and our professionalism
are like the force of gravity
moving the pebble on. The
crevices and boulders blocking
the fall of the pebble are our
mistakes, our stupidity, and
our passiveness. It is our challenge to see that this pebble
falls straight and falls far so
that the education process at
this
college
may
reach
new…depths.
% "
- Janice Maloney High, KRC
associate professor of English
- Suzie Kendrick, KPC advancement programs manager
-Naomi Hagelund, KPC
communications specialist
-Clark Fair, KRC adjunct
journalism instructor
Questions about the KPC
Connection or how to submit
articles for this newspaper can
be directed to Naomi Hagelund
at innjh@uaa.alaska.edu or by
calling 262-0320.
Produced in cooperation with the
Peninsula Clarion, Kenai, Alaska.
www.peninsulaclarion.com
Campus
KPC
KRC
KBC
RBES
AES
UAA
Abbreviations
Kenai Peninsula College
Kenai River Campus
Kachemak bay Campus
Resurrection Bay
Extension Site
Anchorage Extension Site
University of Alaska
Anchorage
$"
"( &
%$ &
!%"
(
'
$ &
- Gary J. Turner, KPC director
( $
"$"$#&
The KPC Connection
editorial team consists of:
"'$
see BRIEFS, page 4
Gary J. Turner, KPC director
"'$
Share your home - change
the world
The
KRC
Youth
for
Understanding program needs
two families to host its current
exchange students—a young
man from South Korea and a
young woman from the
Netherlands—for the spring
semester:
There are many
computer instead of a person.
% $
Additional CNA course
added to spring semester
Beginning with the spring
semester, KRC will offer three
sections, instead of two, of the
six-credit Certified Nurse’s
Aide course, (HCA A105). The
additional section will be taught
by Carol Twait, 8 a.m. - 4:30
p.m., Monday - Friday, March
29 - April 23. Dan Bohrnsen,
workforce development coordinator at Kenai Peninsula
Borough School District, saw a
large increase in demand from
high school students for these
courses and worked with KPC
to see that another section was
added so additional junior and
senior high school students
could enroll. The interest is so
great that the KPBSD course
waiting list has been overbooked since September.
By Gary J. Turner
then the Kenai Peninsula
KPC director
Community College will never
In place of my column this approximate the Harvards,
month, we are reprinting an Stanfords, and the Yales.
article, “I too have a dream,”
If a college is to be measwritten by Dr. Alan Boraas 24 ured by its volume of students,
years ago for the former Kenai the rank of its entering freshPeninsula Community College men, and the length of its pro“Spruce Pitch,” forerunner of cession of graduates, then the
the KPC Connection. Boraas Kenai Peninsula Community
was awarded the university’s College will never approximate
top award for faculty, the the Harvards, the Stanfords,
Bullock Prize of Excellence, on and the Yales.
Nov. 14 at a KRC ceremony.
If a college is to be measThough written more than two ured by the size of its faculty,
decades ago, his words still the number of degrees they can
ring true for KPC.
string after their names, and
I Too Have a Dream
their list of publications, then
Several years ago Martin the
Kenai
Peninsula
Luther King gave what many Community College will never
consider to be his
approximate the
most
powerful
the
“A college is Harvards,
speech. It was his
Stanfords and the
“I
Have
a measured by how Yales.
Dream” speech effectively
But the true
and
outlining
his
worth of a college
appropriately its is not measured
dreams for his
people. Though it students are edu- by these things.
does not approxi- cated.”
A
college
is
mate the scope or
measured by how
–Alan Boraas, effectively and
content of Dr.
KRC
anthropology appropriately its
King’s dream, I
would like to
professor students are eduborrow the symcated. This is
bolism—for I too have a where my dream becomes realdream.
istic in its potential.
I have a dream that one day
We have the potential of
the
Kenai
Peninsula becoming one of the best colCommunity College will be the leges in the United States.
best school of its kind in the Look around; you will see this
United States. This elicits a potential. We are not yet
laugh, and you call it a day- bound to an archaic curricudream. At the least you smirk lum. We are not yet bound to
and call it unrealistic. How can offering degrees that prepare a
this handful of buildings, with student for nothing. We are
its handful of students and its not yet encumbered with stuhandful of teachers ever come dent services that hassle stunear the likes of Harvard, dents more than help them.
Stanford, and Yale?
Our classes are not so large
I’ll answer that.
that the teacher is a dot in the
If a college is to be meas- horizon and a voice over a
ured by its edifices of learning, microphone. We are not yet so
its ivy-clothed campus, and the insensitive that a student with
size of its football stadium, a problem has to consult a
$# "'(
PTK honor society welcomes new faculty advisor
Paul Landen, KRC assistant
professor of psychology, is the
new advisor for the Alpha
Omega Omicron Chapter of Phi
Theta Kappa. In his new post
Landen will help generate membership in the honor society
and assist the students with
event and project planning. Phi
Theta Kappa is an international
honor society of two-year colleges. Membership is by invitation only. To be eligible for
membership, prospective members must be pursuing a twoyear degree and have a GPA of
at least 3.5 in the semester prior
to the invitation. Landen can be
reached at 262-0394.
This KPC Connection is produced by Kenai Peninsula College
students, faculty and staff, and is
intended to serve as both an
internal communication tool as
well as a means to inform
Peninsula residents about what is
happening at the college. The
opinions expressed herein do not
necessarily reflect the official
opinions or policy of KPC, the
University of Alaska Anchorage
or University of Alaska, nor of
KPC employees or students. If
our readers believe there has
been an error in a story, they
should contact Gary Turner at
262-0315. We will make every
effort to publish corrections as
necessary in the next edition.
$
'(
$"
KPC Connection
December 2009 Page 3
Diversity: Recognizing similarities and
valuing the differences
By Chelsey Dorman
KRC media student
As the overall population of KPC continues to increase, so
does its diversity. The college is drawing growing numbers of people from various places, ethnicities, ages, nationalities, disabilities
and sexual orientation, said Diane Taylor, KPC Diversity Action
Council representative and KRC Learning Center manager.
“Having a diverse student population is important to every
college. This is where students get to explore views and beliefs
that expand their understanding of the world, and beyond their
comfort zone,” said Gary J. Turner, KPC director. “While KPC’s
diversity has greatly increased over the past few years, it is much
more than numbers.”
Turner said just last week that he was walking through the
lobby and there were five students, all of a different color and ethnic group, having an animated discussion. “Discussions like that
would be greatly different if all the students were of the same ethnic group or color,” he said.
According to KPC statistics, the college’s student population
has grown significantly more diverse in the last 10 years. There
were 110 minority students in 1999 and 216 in 2008. This year
the number of minority students has increased to 321. During
this period, minorities have increased 192 percent and in the past
year, 49 percent.
This is especially true for Alaska Native and American Indian
students. The number of those students attending KPC has
grown dramatically in the last 10 years, increasing from 51 in
1999 to 165 this year, an increase of 224 percent.
Encouraging more diversity and reaching more students is a
goal. “There is no simple, quick fix (in raising awareness). We’re
just hoping to give students opportunities to learn more about
other cultures, hear different music, listen to stories, go to workshops, etc. We’re trying to make a deliberate effort,” said Taylor,
who also oversees the college’s Youth for Understanding program, which this year brought two foreign exchange students to
the college.
KPC students receive free WorkKeys testing courtesy of BP
By Lance Smith
KRC media student
Industrial process instrumentation
and process technology students will
save money and get a leg-up when applying for jobs next year.
BP has donated money to fund
WorkKeys, a program that provides free
testing for a pre-employment test
required by BP for future process and
instrumentation technicians, said Jeff
Laube, KRC assistant professor of
process technology,
According to the WorkKeys Web site,
the program provides “an assortment of
computer-based tests used by businesses,
educational systems and job training programs throughout North America to help
employers evaluate the compatibility and
qualifications of their future employees.”
Included in the test are four sections
that can prep students to use the
KeyTrain test prep software also provided free of charge to students. “WorkKeys
testing costs $100 for a single test session, so this will be a significant benefit
for our students,” said Scott Kraxberger,
co-chair of the KRC Business & Industry
Division. “These preparation and testing
services should make our graduates more
competitive in the job market and more
valued by their employers after they are
Logo for KeyTrain.
Art courtesy KeyTrain Web site.
hired.”
WorkKeys is also used by other petroleum companies, such as Shell, and other
manufacturing/industrial companies.
Comedian Tig Notaro brings unique brand of humor to KRC
By Shauna Thornton
KRC student journalist
At a recent performance at KRC,
nationally known comedian Tig Notaro
opened her act with some sarcasm for the
small but enthusiastic crowd in the Ward
Building. She said that she had been on
television, had been performing regularly
in Hollywood and across the country, but
just when she was beginning to believe
that her career was really taking off, she
found herself on the Kenai.
Despite the light jab at her rural surroundings, Notaro said after her perform-
ance that she particularly enjoys playing
such settings.
“I love actually really small towns to
perform in because people seem so excited and receptive to entertainment, and so
I was hoping that would be the situation
(here), and it was,” said Notaro, who was
raised mostly in the small town of Pass
Christian, Mississippi.
“I think in bigger cities, they get
spoiled because they have so many
options. And those people maybe seem
like they don’t appreciate it as much.”
see NATARO, page 5
Comedian Tig Notaro.
Photo by Seth Olenik.
“It’s a time-saver for both the students
and BP if they’ve already got that out of
the way and have already met the criteria
that BP was looking for, for the positions
when they advertised them,” Laube said.
After he received the funding from
BP, Laube signed up all of his students. “I
have quite a few students that are already
finished with the KeyTrain test prep program, and the first WorkKeys test is slated to be given on Dec. 18,” Laube said.
The WorkKeys opportunity is not limited just to KPC. “BP extended (the funding) to all campuses teaching the process
technology courses. The Tanana Valley
campus has access as well as KPC’s
Anchorage Extension Site,” Laube said.
“If students want to take advantage of a
great offer like this, it’s going to give
them a leg-up and is going to get them
noticed by employers.”
already • read
Used Books
506 Attla Way, Kenai • 335-BOOK • Open Monday-Saturday 12-6, Sunday 12-3
Page 4 KPC Connection
...BRIEFS
Continued from page 2
advantages to hosting these visitors, according to KRC program coordinator Diane Taylor.
The families will have the
opportunity to share the
American culture while helping
to build trust and understanding with another culture. Host
families are not expected to provide transportation, just a home
for the semester. Compensation
is
provided.
Youth
for
Understanding is an international organization that provides students an opportunity
to live with a host family in a
new culture while working or
studying. This is KRC’s second
year in the program. Those
interested in the idea of hosting
a student can contact Taylor or
Marilyn Albright at the KRC
Learning Center: 262-0327 or
262-0328.
KBC spearheads effort to
prove math is fun
KBC will be the site of the
fifth
annual
district-wide
Middle School Math Meet. The
Jan. 22 event is expected to
draw nearly 100 young people
from the Peninsula. The Math
Meet is patterned after the
MathCounts program, and is
coordinated by Sara Reinert,
KBC professor of mathematics,
and district teacher Suzanne
Haines. The goal of the meet is
to offer a setting for advanced
middle-school aged math students from around the district
to share and enjoy numerical
fun with one another. Last year
it attracted more than 90 students from many locales,
including Seward, Moose Pass,
Soldotna,
Kenai,
Nikiski,
Homer, Razdolna, Ninilchik,
Nikolaevsk
and
Aurora
Borealis. At last year’s subsequent competition at the
Anchorage Chapter meet, the
Homer Middle School team
took second place.
December 2009
Nursing and paramedic programs utilize
state-of-the-art simulation
By Dave Hendrickson
KRC media student
What is not alive but can cry, sweat, blink
its eyes, have a seizure and bleed? Why
SimMan 3rd Generation of course.
What does this all mean to KPC? For students thinking of going into nursing or the
paramedic program it means a lot. While the
programs have earlier generations of SimMan
and a SimBaby, “this brings us up to the forefront of where we need to be,” said Lynn
Senette, UAA/KRC assistant professor of
nursing.
Some of the top schools like Duke
University use this version of SimMan and
now KBC, KRC, Prince William Sound
Community College and UAA Anchorage
Campus all have the same technology available to students. What SimMan 3G brings to
the learning experience is the ability to simu-
late even more real life situations that students might never see in training.
“SimMan 3G is basically a computerized
semi-robotic mannequin that contains a small
computer inside the right leg. It is connected
wirelessly to the instructor’s computer,”
Senette said. The instructor can make
SimMan do almost anything a real patient
would do. Give the wrong intravenous medications and SimMan will let you know.
“He reacts to the medicine the way you
would expect people to react,” Senette said.
SimMan 3G was even on the TV show “Grey’s
Anatomy” where they used him to try out
new procedures. Senette, along with Paul
Perry, KPC paramedic program coordinator
presented a demonstration of SimMan 3G at
the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home
Association Conference in Anchorage on
Nov. 11.
The SimMan is designed to provide
students with valuable experience.
Photo provided by Dave Hendrickson, KRC media student
KPC faculty travel to present papers at international conferences
By Yuzhun Evanoff
KRC media student
KPC faculty are well known for their dedicated teaching and commitment to student
learning, but many don’t realize that they also
are involved in research. Each year, KPC faculty are invited to attend and present their findings at major national and international conferences.
KRC had a historic turnout at the 20th
Association for Canadian Studies in the United
States Conference in late November. When
Alan Boraas, Janice High and Cheryl Siemers
presented research papers in San Diego, they
formed the largest contingent of KPC faculty to
ever invited to attend an international conference.
The biennial conference was founded in
1971 to enhance understanding of Canada and
its relation to the United States and the rest of
the world. This year’s conference featured about
500 presentations spread across 115 panels.
High, KRC associate professor of English,
presented a paper entitled “Sharing the Story:
Alaska Students Explore Canadian Connections
through Journalism.” She said she was pleased
to be a part of an event that could bring international attention to KPC.
High also presented a paper co-authored by
Siemers, KRC assistant professor of English, and
Diane Taylor, KRC Learning Center manager,
entitled “Shared Perspectives: Storytelling,
Identity and Cultural Connections for Alaskan
and Canadian Students.” Siemers was unable to
attend the conference because she had a baby
shortly before the conference.
Boraas, KRC professor of anthropology and
recent recipient of the Edith R. Bullock Prize for
Excellence—the most prestigious University of
Alaska award to faculty—offered to the conference his paper entitled “Northern Sports as a
Manifestation of Identity.”
Also attending an international conference
will be Christine Gehrett, KRC associate professor of philosophy. She will be attending the
Hawaii International Conference on Education
held in January in Honolulu.
Her paper, entitled “Science and
Philosophical Dialogue: Extending Awareness
and Understanding of Environmental Issues,”
outlines her thoughts on the importance of students’ connections to nature.
“I’m hoping through work like this we
become better at the kind of problem solving
that’s necessary in the next twenty years,”
Gehrett said.
Dr. Alan Boraas,
KRC professor of
anthropology
Cheryl Siemers,
KRC assistant professor of English
Christine Gehrett,
KRC associate professor of philosophy
Janice High, KRC
associate professor
of English
All photos: Provided by KPC Advancement
Quit Today!
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Ph: 907-260-3682
Fax: 907-260-3682
PO Box 1612, Soldotna, AK 99669
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www.peninsulasmokefree.com
Funded by the Alaska Division of Public Health
KPC Connection
December 2009 Page 5
Word on Campus:
(Asked of high school students at KRC’s Career Day)
What was your favorite session, and why?
By Naomi Hagelund and Hannah Heath
KPC Advancement
Torrey Johnson, 15, Soldotna High School
“I liked the child care session. They talked about what kinds of jobs you could
get. It’s not a career I would do as a full-time career, but it’s nice to know.”
Swan Brooner, 16, Soldotna High School
“Mine personally was the Sea Life Center session. I learned that you can volunteer and help out with the animals, depending on your age. If you’re 12 years old
and up, you can talk about the animals. Under 12 years old have to have a parent; they have a whole program for that. Sixteen-year-olds can go behind the labs
and work with the animals. They can help animals heal and feed animals. I think
it’s really cool.”
Chelsea Belden, 16, Skyview High School
“I liked the child care connection session. They help with children from 0 to 8
years old. They help parents if they don’t know how to take care of their children. Some of my friends want me to be a nanny when I’m older.”
Ethan Van Loan, 18, Nikiski High School
“I went to the auto mechanics session. I like cars. It was informative.”
Tyler Cannon, 16, Kenai Central High School
“Nursing. You don’t have to go to college for that one.”
Tory Fitzpatrick, 16, Kenai Central High School
“Welding. He didn’t talk much about underwater welding. He talked about how
welding is helpful and how you can make lots of money. Pretty good chance I’ll
go into it.”
Connor Hamman, 17, Kenai Central High School
“Nursing. It was really informative. They explained how easy it was to get
involved in it.”
Online KPC student in Mexico runs
the distance for her education
By Melody Lee Gleichman
KRC media student
Starting out with a 6 a.m. run, KPC distance education student Jennifer Aleshire crams her day with
not only a full load of UA online classes (including a
KPC course), but also a race to meet the needs of others in poverty-stricken Guadalajara, Mexico.
Aleshire, of Anchorage, is studying for her bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences, while attending a
local university to learn Spanish and committing herself to a mission internship. Through the Assemblies KPC distance stuof God denomination, “Engage in Missions” offers a dent Jennifer
program to Christian students who either desire full- Aleshire serves as
time mission work or are there just to gain the expe- a missionary in
rience. “There are 12 of us students who live here in Guadalajara,
a giant house and get to enjoy this crazy lifestyle!” Mexico.
Aleshire said.
Photo courtesy of Jennifer
When not attending classes, she volunteers about Aleshire
15 hours a week to ministry and community service,
including two feeding outreaches to needy children and the homeless, working at a local youth center, and conducting Bible studies on four campuses
around the city. Once a week, a group of 6- to 12-year-olds comes to the youth
center for Aleshire and her housemates to teach English.
Periodically, she plunks herself down in front of her computer to connect
to an Interpersonal Communications class taught by Michelle Waclawski,
KBC adjunct communication instructor.
“This is my second year taking online classes, and I would say that it is
convenient and equal in the caliber of teaching to a real classroom,” Aleshire
said.
Aleshire, who will complete her internship in Mexico in August 2010,
hopes to graduate from UAA in two to three years. She has yet to settle on
the career field she would like to focus on after graduation. “I have thought
about everything from wildlife biology to something in the medical field, but
I really just want something that can be useful wherever I go, be it Alaska or
other parts of the world,” Aleshire said.
...Notaro
continued from page 3
The KRC crowd at the Ward
Building event was in for several surprises, such as the time Notaro found
a batch of Sour Patch Kids and proceeded to give a play-by-play account
as she ate them. In fact, the crowd
soon learned that whatever the
quick-witted comedian heard going
on in the audience became fair game
for her act.
This low-key, relaxed observational style, ranging in subject matter
from jobs to pets and anything in
between, often led to a room full of
hysterical laughter.
After the show, which was sponsored by the KRC student union and
the Kenai Peninsula Showcase,
Notaro commented more seriously
on her second trip to Alaska this
year. “I love coming to Alaska,” she
said. “It is very beautiful. I mean, the
weather was different (than during
her trip to Sitka in June), but it was
just fun—and beautiful.”
Notaro traveled after the show to
Anchorage, where she performed the
following night for a crowd at UAA.
For more information on the comedian, visit her Web site at www.tignation.com.
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Page 6 KPC Connection
December 2009
Monthly Feature:
KPC introduces new faculty and staff
Compiled by Heather Winger, KRC media student
Meet
Richard (Rick)
Adams
Meet
Kevin Wilmeth
KBC Student Success
developer
1. What is your job title? Duties?
Title III Student Success Developer. I am here to
help students do better. The position is under
KPC's Title III grant, [with an] emphasis on the use
of technology tools to bridge gaps of distance and
synchronicity.
2. How long have you been in this position?
Since late May.
3. What was your last position? Where?
Davalen, LLC, a technology consulting and education outfit specializing in specific IBM/Lotus enterprise software.
4. Where did you go to school?
Two years at Stanford, several semesters at community campuses in central Texas, a semester at UTAustin, and finally finished up at Texas A&M.
5. What brought you to Alaska?
My wife and I came to Alaska simply because it was
where we wanted to live. Turns out each of us had
this dream since we were little kids.
6. What do you like best about your position?
Really it's the work and the people, both. The work
is fun because of how flexible it is. The people are
bright and full of ideas that make a lot of sense.
7. What are your long term goals and what do you
hope to achieve here at KPC?
I hope to be a successful advocate of an internal culture of continuous adaptation within the institution; I hope to be a constructive anarchist within
the system.
Meet
Alissa Mattson
KRC Test Center
administrator
KPC/AES assistant
professor of process
technology
1. What is your job title? Duties?
Assistant professor of process technology. My
duties include teaching, student advising, participating in the Alaska Process Industries Career
Consortium education and training committee, and
developing the equipment and instrument laboratory in Anchorage.
1. What is your job title? Duties?
My duties include test scheduling and proctoring
for distance education, ABE/GED, placement
exams and national/certification exams.
2. How long have you been in this position?
I started teaching this fall.
3. What was your last position? Where?
I was previously a high school Language Arts
teacher, so the transitions into testing/proctoring/
customer service went smoothly.
3. What was your last position? Where?
I retired this summer from 35 years in engineering.
I was the chief engineer for a company in Red Wing,
Minnesota developing and overseeing the manufacture of automation and robotic equipment.
4. Where did you go to school?
I graduated from the University of Washington with
a BS in Mechancial Engineering and a MS in
Engineering.
5. What brought you to Alaska?
My wife and I have been coming to Alaska the past
10 summers doing volunteer construction work on
the Kenai Peninsula and the Norton Sound area of
western Alaska. During this time I learned of the
Process Technology program at KPC.
6. What do you like best about your position?
Interacting with the students and passing along
some of the knowledge I’ve gained over my career.
2. How long have you been in this position?
I started working at KPC in August.
4. Where did you go to school?
I earned my BA Degree in English and Secondary
Education from Colorado Christian University.
5. What brought you to Alaska?
I grew up in Western Michigan, but I met my husband in Colorado. He grew up and graduated from
high school in Alaska. We made the decision, over
six years ago, to move back up to Alaska to start
careers and raise our family on the Kenai Peninsula.
6. What do you like best about your position?
I LOVE that I get to see so many former students
succeeding in our programs here at the college.
7. What are your long term goals and what do you
hope to achieve here at KPC?
One of my main goals is to help create systems here
in the Learning Center that help testing and scheduling run as smoothly as possible.
7. What are your long term goals and what do you
hope to achieve here at KPC?
To give students the knowledge required to become
qualified operators in the process industry and to
help them develop critical thinking skills for a lifetime of learning.
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KPC Connection
December 2009 Page 7
Health clinic helps students access, organize medical information
By Kathy Becher
KRC Student Health Clinic director
Students may have had TB skin tests, pap smears,
breast lumps, spinal CTs, tetanus shots, eye exams, pacemakers inserted—but when? And do they know what
they’re allergic to?
The KRC Student Health Clinic is looking at innovative ways to help students access and organize their personal medical records. With the explosion of electronic
medical records throughout health care, students need to
take primary responsibility for their own continuity of
care. One convenient way to do so is to enter online “medical home” programs such as Google Health
(www.google.com/health).
Google Health is a personal health information centralization service. Users upload their health records into the
program, merging separate health records into one cen-
tralized profile: health history, medications, allergies, lab
results, demographics.
The service can access only information volunteered
by individuals. It does not retrieve any part of a person’s
medical records without explicit consent. Google also
offers “personal health services” links:
• Expert second opinions
• Lab work orders, with physician oversight
• Patient assistance programs for free and reduced medications
• Live interactive doctor and therapist sessions
• Searches for clinical trials
• Potential to allow students’ medical providers and
pharmacists to update their Google Health profile
interactive risk assessment for diabetes, heart disease
and cancers.
• Healthy lifestyle guidance
Students can download their own profile onto a CD or
jump
drive.
Several
companies,
such
as
“MyMedicalSummary,” will retrieve, organize and
update students’ profiles for them. There is also a
portable medical record called “MiCard,” which is the
size of a credit card with a 2-inch LCD screen and scroll
button. Emergency personnel have instant access to
health information, contact numbers and even a copy of
a student’s living will. “NoMoreClipBoard” is a link
where students can forward all of their medical information to their healthcare provider before their next office
visit.
Students who would like to get started organizing their
health records can come to the campus clinic, where staff
can assist in creating profiles, scanning medical records
into a secure KPC key chain jump drive, and showing
how to keep medical information updated for life.
KRC offers tutor service to students needing extra coursework help
By Sonya Garber
KRC media student
One of the college’s most popular course assistance
programs is going strong: tutoring, which is one of the
services provided by the KRC Learning Center.
The center is staffed by seven: David Duncan, Krissel
Calibo, Rich Haynes, Clark Fair, Maggie Winston, Chin
Park and Taewhan Kim. Kim is one of KRC’s foreign
exchange students with the Youth for Understanding
Program, and is available for Japanese coaching. Overall,
tutoring is offered in many disciplines, with the greatest
demand for help in anatomy & physiology, chemistry,
math and English.
Tutors join the program for a variety of reasons. “I am
hoping to eventually get a paid position. It’s hard dealing
with new people all the time, but it is great to help and get
a different perspective,” said Duncan, a tutor for accounting, math and English.
For others, family influence played a role. “My little
Begin the career
of your life right
here at home!
brother talked me into becoming a tutor,” said Winston,
who tutors in math and English-as-a-Second Language.
“The hardest thing about being a tutor is running into
someone you can’t help, but the best thing is when you
can help.”
While there are currently seven tutors, there is room
for more. “Many students transfer out after two years and
the challenge is often getting the word out that new tutors
are always welcome and needed,” said Diane Taylor, KRC
Learning Center manager. The learning center helps not
only college students, but also those in the Adult Basic
Education program, public school students and people
from the community.
“The program has been in existence for as long as I
have been the director for the learning center, about twenty years,” Taylor said. Those interested in becoming
tutors will receive basic—and then advanced—training.
Taylor can be contacted in the Learning Center at 2620328.
Diane Taylor and Maggie Winston on duty in the
KRC Learning Center.
Photo by Sonya Garber, KRC media student
With more than 600 dedicated and skilled
employees, Central Peninsula Hospital and
Heritage Place combine the best of medical
technology and the human touch. We care
for our community around the clock,
responding to medical needs - from
newborns to the critically ill.
Please visit www.cpgh.org or contact Human Resources Director Debi Honer at (907) 714-4770, or email dhoner@cpgh.org.
Page 8 KPC Connection
December 2009
Travelogue:
Conference in the Golden Gate City becomes a San Francisco treat
By Naomi Hagelund
KRC communications specialist
I found San Francisco to be a city full of
diversity, high-heeled black leather boots
and people who think you’re weird if you
hold the door open for them. I quickly
learned that my small-town -Alaskan way
of smiling at strangers, or even looking
people in the eye, did not solicit the best
kind of attention.
After a few days, I adapted to the environment and sported a bored, I-don’t-careabout-you look that I saw on most San
Franciscans, which seemed to prevent
them from being hassled by needy street
wanderers. That, paired with high-heeled
boots I bought on my first day, and I almost
looked as if I belonged there.
Standoffishness of the locals aside, however, San Francisco is an amazing place full
of activity and entertainment. Before the
start of the three-day content management
system training that I was sent to
California for, I tried to get a taste of a little bit of every part of the city.
I walked halfway across the Golden
Gate Bridge, got lost in the music shops
and bookstores of Berkeley, browsed the
gold treasure of King Tut’s tomb at the
DeYoung Museum, and tasted the local
Anchor Steam beer, straight from the tap.
I walked out to Pier 39 and watched
hundreds of sea lions wrestling each other
for a spot on the docks. I visited the local
pubs, and even found a Steelers bar,
Giordano Brothers, in the middle of downtown San Francisco for the Sunday morning game. I ate fettuccini in the North
Beach Italian district and watched fortune
cookies being made in Chinatown. I
watched a live band called “Bring Your
Kenai
Peninsula
College
System
Kenai River Campus (KRC)
156 College Road
Soldotna, Alaska 99669
(907) 262-0300
toll free (1-877) 262-0330
www.kpc.alaska.edu
Hagelund stands in front of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
Photos provided by author
Own Queer” play in Golden Gate Park and
rode the BART underground across the bay
to Oakland.
San Francisco was a beautiful place to
visit, with its historic buildings, incredible
art and the smell of hot sourdough bread
and salt water wafting through the air.
Being in such a culturally rich place full of
sunshine and palm trees renewed my motivation to learn.
Ektron, the company that was training
me and the rest of the KPC Web site team
Animal-shaped sourdough bread viewed through a San Francisco bakery window.
on the content management system that
KPC bought, provided us with three full
training days of how the new system is
going to work.
With this new system, we will be able to
make our new Web site extremely user friendly. The system will make it much
easier for us to keep the Web site up-todate, and we’ll even be able to eventually
throw on a few fancy gadgets, such as a
student membership system and student
blogs. We’re looking forward to including a
searchable schedule in the site, along with
an interactive calendar of KPC events, and
polls for gathering student opinions on college-related topics.
The trip was educational, fun and left
me feeling very optimistic about the direction of KPC’s online presence.
Kachemak Bay Campus (KBC)
533 E. Pioneer Ave.
Homer, Alaska 99603
(907) 235-7743
www.homer.alaska.edu
Resurrection Bay
Extension Site (RBES)
P.O. Box 1049
Seward, Alaska 99664
(907) 224-2285
www.kpc.alaska.edu
photo by Carol Griswold
Hagelund next to a statue outside the
DeYoung Museum, where she saw the
King Tut Exhibit on Oct. 25, 2009 in San
Francisco.
Anchorage Extension Site (AES)
3211 Providence Dr., UC118
Anchorage, AK 99508
(907) 786-6421
www.kpc.alaska.edu