Simply the Best

De Anza College faculty, staff and student accomplishments 2010-2011

At De Anza, Simply the Best describes our students, faculty and staff, who daily reach for and find the best within themselves, as individuals and in teams. The proof is exemplified by our many award-winning students, faculty, staff and programs here at De Anza.

De Anza Joins in Founding The Democracy Commitment
President Brian Murphy and other community college leaders nationwide have joined to form The Democracy Commitment, a national initiative that will provide a national platform for the development and expansion of programs and projects aiming at engaging community college students in civic learning and democratic practice. The goal of the partnership is that every graduate of an American community college shall have had an education in democracy. This includes all students, whether they aim to transfer to university, achieve an associate degree or obtain a certificate.

Hall of Fame Celebration
De Anza College Athletics honored 12 inductees into its Hall of Fame during a dinner/ceremony in April 2011.

All-American Athletes Named
Congratulations to the following student athletes for their 2010 accomplishments:

• Men’s Soccer--Luis Nieves and Davor Bakovic, All Americans; Tariq Adam, All West/All California
• Men’s Cross Country--Cliff Crum, All NorCal
• Women’s Cross Country--Rebekah Phillips and Kristine Talbot, All NorCal
• Football--Ty Powell, All American; Blaze Vela, Jerry Slota and Will Davis, All California

Photography Students’ Work Published
Kevin Ash, Clifford Nichols and Chyett Smith had their photographs published in Photo Forum magazine's annual The Best of College Photography 2011-2012. Their work was selected from more than 13,000 applicants.

ESL Instructor Awarded Scholarship
Kathy Ochoa Flores received a Fulbright Scholar Award for 2010-2011, one of five TESOL professionals in the United States to receive the award. She taught a methodology course and advised professional practicum students at the Universidad de La Serena in Chile.

Campus Researcher Published Article
Mallory Newell, De Anza’s Institutional Researcher, published an article in the Journal of Applied Research in the Community College (JARCC) in fall 2010, “Disaggregating Ethnic Categories: An Analysis of Educational Attainment for California Adult Asian Americans.”

Employee of the Month Awards, October 2010 – June 2011

• October--Dawna O'Malley, Financial Aid & Scholarships Office assistant
• November--Yusuf Mathir, ETS/AV department
• December--C.J. Jones, coordinator of Fitness and Wellness Center
• January--Shirley Schooler, registration and accountability administrative assistant for Disability Support Programs and Services Division (DSPS)
• February--Teri Gerard, campus budget analyst
• March--Marie Taylor Harper, evening computer laboratory instructional coordinator for Computer Information Systems department
• April--Vida Ajdarian, HOPE
• May--Lori Susi, graphic designer Marketing/Communications
• June--Annie Kong, custodial

Dining Services Featured in Magazine
Dining Services Director Patrick Gannon and Executive Chef Paul Figlomeni were interviewed for an article about their “Tour the World With Risotto” cuisine, which appeared in the November 2010 issue of On-Campus Hospitality.

Head Football Coach Honored, Team Wins Championship
Dan Atencio was selected as Coach of the Year by the Golden Gate Conference. The Football team won the Golden Gate Coast Conference Championship for 2010, the first outright championship for the De Anza team since 1995. It was also the first time in NorCal Football history that a team won the “C” Division and the following year won the Conference Championship in the “B” Division.

Men’s Soccer Wins Coast Conference
Congratulations to coaches Mark Landefeld and Colin Lindores and the Men’s Soccer team for winning the Coast Conference. This was the third time in the last four years that the team won the championship, and the 21st Conference Championship for Men’s Soccer in the program’s history.

Math Instructor Honored for Excellence in Teaching
Lenore Desilets received an award for excellence in teaching from the Council of Mathematics of California Community Colleges (CMC3) at a conference in Monterey in December 2010.

History Instructor Publishes Sixth Book
Mary Jo Ignoffo published her sixth book in December 2010. “Captive of the Labyrinth: Sarah L. Winchester, Heiress to the Rifle Fortune” is the first full-length biography of Winchester and redresses the myths about her and reveals the legacy she intended.

Part-time CIS Instructor’s Work Reviewed in MERLOT
Valerie Taylor’s “Technology Supported Learning (TSL)” was peer reviewed and published in MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resources for Learning and Online Teaching) in December 2010. TSL is a professional development workshop for community college faculty. The MERLOT project is an international initiative that enables faculty to integrate technology into higher education and is supported by 27 systems and institutions of higher education as well as the National Science Foundation.

Creative Arts Faculty Member in the Spotlight
Bill Mattick, part-time photography instructor, was featured in Color Magazine’s March 2010 issue for his 2004 series “The Caretakers,” an eight-month photographic study of an abandoned train station in Oakland.

Two Faculty Members Named Coach of the Year 2010
Head Football Coach Dan Atencio was named Coach of the Year in the Coast Conference and also Region 2 NorCal Coach of the Year. Head Track and Field Coach Nick Mattis was named Coach of the Year in the Coast Conference for Women’s Cross Country.

Photography Student Wins Award
Student Phil Richardson's landscape photo was selected as a final entry and published in Photographer’s Forum magazine’s “The Best of College Photography 2010.” Richardson’s photo was one of 100 selected from 13,947 images submitted by 3,500 students nationwide.

Three Athletic Teams Win Scholar Awards
The Men’s Cross Country, Women’s Track and Field, and Women’s Tennis teams received the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) Scholar Team Award for 2010. This is the highest academic team achievement given annually by the CCCAA, and the first time that De Anza has had more than one team recognized in a year. All team members must have excelled academically with a total GPA of 3.0 or higher. Congratulations to the teams and their coaches: Nick Mattis, JJ Noble and Coleen Lee-Wheat.

Instructor Named to Athletic Hall of Fame
Women’s Soccer Coach Cheryl Owiesny was named to Saint Francis High School’s Athletic Hall of Fame in May 2010.

Instructor Featured in Dance Teacher Magazine
Math instructor Karl Schaffer and dance partner Erik Stern were featured in the March 2010 issue of “Dance Teacher” magazine. Schaffer and Stern travel the country and teach Math Dance about six times a year.

Instructor’s Essay Published, Book Honored
Glenn Lovell, part-time Film/TV instructor, published his essay “Sub-par Propaganda” in “The Pop Culture Zone: Writing Critically about Popular Culture.” Also, his “Escape Artist: The Life and Films of John Sturges” was among those named Best Books for Special Interests, selected by the American Association of School Librarians, and Best Books for General Interests, selected by the Public Library Association.

Journalism Students Win State Awards
In November 2010, 17 delegates (students and staff) from De Anza College attended the Journalism Association of Community Colleges (JACC) NorCal conference at San Jose State University. De Anza students brought home seven awards.

• Online Journalism General Excellence -- La Voz staff
• 1st place Editorial Cartoon -- Brandon Selph
• 3rd place Illustration -- Justin Taylor
• 3rd place Bring-in Advertisement -- Cy Hodgkins
• HM Editorial Cartoon -- Ryan Brusuelias
• HM Editorial Writing -- La Voz staff
• HM On-the-spot News Story -- Nadia Banchik

Film/TV Students Honored
Three students were the recipients of the Chadwick Okamoto Award in June 2010 at the Visual & Performing Arts Center at De Anza. Each student received a $500 cash scholarship at the 31st Annual Student Film & Video Show. Honored were Helena Grunwald for screenwriting, Thuy Le for film production, and Robinson Wood for animation. Okamoto was a graduate student enrolled in De Anza's Animation Program from 1998-2001. Okamoto died of a heart attack shortly after he became a professional animator. The scholarships are given annually to students who exemplify his finest traits: artistic excellence, a tireless work ethic and generous assistance to others.

Photography Instructors Honored
In summer 2010, Diane Pierce’s photograph “Animated Objects and Other Oddities” was selected for the permanent photography collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas. Also notable was Wilfredo Castano’s participation in the photographic exhibition of El Tecolote newspaper, “Imagining the Mission: Pasado, Presente y Futuro.”

Creative Arts Dean Serves as Juror for Annual Show
Nancy Canter was chosen as the juror for the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society's Annual Member Show in November 2010. Canter has taught painting and drawing at the college level for more than 30 years.

IIS Instructor Participates in NEH Workshop
Catie Cadge-Moore participated in a workshop titled “African-American History & Culture in the Georgia Lowcountry: Savannah & The Coastal Islands, 1750-1950.” The workshop was selected as a National Endowment for the Humanities Landmarks of American History and Culture: Workshops for Community College Faculty program for Summer 2010. 

Film/TV Instructor Wins Award from Press Club
Susan Tavernetti took third place in the entertainment review category for non-daily newspapers at the San Francisco Peninsula Press Club’s 33rd Greater Bay Area Journalism Awards dinner in June 2010. She received the award for her Palo Alto Weekly film review of Laurent Cantet’s “The Class,” a French drama about teachers and teaching. Winners were selected from 394 entries from media professionals in the 11 Greater Bay Area counties.