DEAN NEVINS – ACADEMIC SENATE PRESIDENT

Original article by Joan Galvan for SBCC’s FAST News

ACADEMIC SENATE PRESIDENT. Dr. Dean Nevins, Professor of Computer Science, has been elected SBCC’s next Academic Senate president. He will take office as president-elect at the end of the spring semester and serve as president for the 2011-13 term . Dr. Nevins, who has been associated with the college since 1997, received his B.S. degree from California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, and his M.S.E.E. and Ph.D. from USCB. He will succeed current Academic President Ignacio Alarcon.

DAVE GOWANS – 2010 CLASSIFIED EOTY EDITION

Arnold “Dave” Gowans, Laboratory Teaching Assistant in the SBCC Computer Science Department, was named 2010 Classified Employee of the Year. Dave began his career at teh college as a computer science student. After graduating from SBCC, he transferred to UCSB where he earned a B.S. degree. Upon graduating, Dave returned to SBCC where he has excelled in his role as a laboratory teaching assistant. He has worked with various clubs on campus including the Computer Science Club and the Video Games Club and assists at high school visitations and open houses on campus. Dave is currently taking graduate computer courses towards his M.S. degree.

ROB DEPENDAHL – FACULTY EXCELLENCE AWARD

Original article by Joan Galvan for SBCC’s FAST News

FEBRUARY 2010 FACULTY EXCELLENCE AWARD RECIPIENT – ROBERT DEPENDAHL. Professor of Computer Science Rob Dependahl has worked at SBCC for 30 years. He received his B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Oregon and his M.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara. 

What teaching tip or counseling advice do you have for other faculty?

Engage your students personally to participate actively in their SBCC experience. Education is not a bystander sport. Students do not learn much simply sitting in classes listening to teachers, memorizing pre-packaged assignments, and reciting answers. Effective learning requires that they think about what they are learning, write about it, relate it to past experiences and apply it to their daily lives, making what they learn part of themselves. Encouraging these traits can enhance student learning as well as your own teaching experience.

What “Words of Wisdom” do you have for other faculty?

A passionate love of your discipline and profession is a must, as is a sincere desire that each student be bettered, daily. Applying your own passion for your chosen discipline in the classroom dramatically enhances the learning experience, enabling students to excel far beyond what they might otherwise expect.

What careers or jobs did you have before working at SBCC?

Out of college, I worked at the Holiday Inn, in Goleta, making $2 an hour, looking, waiting, and hoping for that first opportunity in computer science. It came six months later when I was hired by Burroughs Corporation to design and implement an Operation System for their B-1700 computer product line. Several years later, I accepted a new job working as Systems and Programming Manager for the Santa Barbara School District. At this time, I also began teaching evening classes at SBCC. I soon became Director of Data Processing. My final and best job decision was to come teach full-time at SBCC. Soon after employment, I became Department Chair of Computer Science, and was chair until Fall 2007.

Who was your most influential teacher and why?

My most influential teacher was Dr. Richard Koch, a mathematics professor at the University of Oregon. He’d come into the classroom every morning with the most unbelievable enthusiasm. Sometimes he’d even hop up on the classroom’s front table. Waving his arms, he’d point at the chalkboard to make a point. Even though I did not always understand his point, the fact that he was so enthused rubbed off on me. I figured there must have been something in it for me! My teaching takes on many of the characteristics that he offered all those years ago.

What is your favorite student line or excuse?

After missing a class “Hi Coach, I missed your last class did I miss anything?”

What do you love about your job?

I surely love my chosen discipline. I likewise love helping others. And, you can’t beat Santa Barbara! So, what could be better than teaching Computer Science, in Santa Barbara, at the best community college in the country? I’m energized when students get ‘turned-on’ to the ideas I share, when they choose to apply these ideas on their own in interesting ways, when their lives are changed for better, forever. There is no finer discipline than teaching. The personal rewards simply cannot be surpassed by any other life endeavor.

What is your favorite place in the world?

The classroom at Santa Barbara City College Outside Santa Barbara, it’s a toss-up between Amsterdam (the best people-watching city in the world) and Paris (with its ambience and culture). But then again, it’s hard to beat the surreal sense of God’s creation when viewing the Milky Way on a clear summer night, in Bear Valley (High Sierra Nevada), California.

What is your personal motto?

“Enjoy this moment, for it will never come again.”

SOHEYLA JAVANBAKHT – 10 YEARS OF SERVICE

Original article from the minutes of the SBCC Board of Trustees.

Dean Nevins spoke on the 10 years of service of Soheyla Javanbakht. Soheyla started with us about10 years ago, she is actually a product of SBCC and she has made herself an indispensable part of our educational mission. She has done that with a constant focus on students and student success. Soheyla has gone out of her way to work with difficult students and has done so in such a manner that sometimes they won’t talk to anyone but Soheyla. Soheyla has also modeled successful student behavior by going back to school and getting her masters degree in CIS to further aid students. Soheyla has constantly improved herself, improved her approach to students and improved her contribution to our department. Very happy to see Soheyla recognized in this manner. Super intendent/President Serban presented Soheyla with a Certificate of Appreciation on behalf of the Board of Trustees.

FOR THOSE WHO ARE ABOUT TO PRETEND TO ROCK!

Original article by the Independent’s Sam Rolens

A host of imitators of rock and roll’s most popular acts from the past 30 years gave bizarre and not entirely lackluster performances this Wednesday on the Santa Barbara City College Campus, playing their beloved classics through a series of humble mediums. Ranging from half-hearted lip-synching to student Chris Romine strumming a plastic guitar behind his head a la Jimi Hendrix, students and faculty of various gaming skill levels at City College turned up to compete and revel in novelty at SBCC’s first annual Rock Band-off, with the popular video game making the point that it’s not who you are that matters, it’s who you can pretend to be. Bright red, black, curly, and overtly Garth-esque wigs – Garth, as in “Wayne” – were passed between bands, some of whom proved that even pretending to be someone else can be something to be taken seriously. The contest was organized by Nathan Gallego and put on by the campus’s Computer Science Club, which is hoping to raise enough money to purchase a Lego Mindstorm Robot – the programmable robot that shows that if you’re trying to raise money for a toy aimed at adults, nothing beats a video game competition. And though Soundgarden missed the final chord of “Black Hole Sun” and AFI’s Davey Havoc was without his usual corpse-like paleness, there was plenty of rock to go around.

The competition itself was so enticing in its promise of mass voluntary humiliation that it gained the attention of the faculty, who donated money to pay for the trophy awarded to the contest winners. The entry fee for the contest was $10 per band, a price that would barely cover the cost of the victory plaque had the administration not decided to lend a hand.

The criteria for the rulings made by Office of Student Life judges were difficulty, stage presence, and presentation. The winners of the competition were representatives of Video Game Club, in what can be seen as a seemingly unfair forgone conclusion. They won over the crowd with their stage antics and their passionate entreaty to all those present to not “stop believing.” When someone mentioned to guitar player Romine his command of Rock Band, he exclaimed, aghast in confusion, “That wasn’t Gears of War?”

Common mistakes in the competition included facing away from the audience and getting over-excited and forgetting to watch the cues on the game screen. Although it was often the worst performers who found the best response from the crowd: The loudest cheers by far accompanied those who forgot to play or sing, and those who got so flustered in their songs that they started asking confused questions over the playback. At one point, a student with an actual guitar strolled up then wandered away, stopping only a moment before realizing there was no place for him in the situation.

The highlight of the competition, and the reason most turned out to watch the contest was the performance by the faculty band. Like most, they surely became teachers in the hopes of one day wearing bright-feathered wigs in front of many yelling people and strutting to Oasis or Journey. On Wednesday, they were The Police.

Computer science professor Robert Dependahl drummed in a Rod Stewart wig, supporting vocalist English professor Margaret Prothero, who came during the break in her class to belt it like Sting, afterward crying out, “Now, back to Shakespeare.” Lou Spaventa, dressed in his commencement faculty robes, also an English professor, justified his place in the band. “Sting was an English teacher, and he’s old,” he said logically. “He’s Sting, and I’m stung.” Joe White represented the philosophy department with distinction, saying, “Philosophy is on the bass, where it’s meant to be.” White actually used to work in artist promotion, having had dinner with Muddy Waters and representing Jethro Tull. He left the business long ago when he “figured they’d all be dead in a couple years.”

Their song started without them. They missed the first 20 seconds of Roxanne while they continued waving into the crowd, who began crying, “You guys are playing! Go!” The rocky start behind them, the faculty soon became delighted by their unexpected proficiency for rock and roll. It has been a good while since “Roxanne” has been played by anyone with quite so much charming self-consciousness. Though they did not win, the professors made fans of their students – the students can now respect their teachers for their funkiness in such a way that they will never be able to respect them for their minds and command of material within their fields.

Congratulations to Video Game Club rockers Jordan Jenkens, Cedric Mercer, Chris Romine, and Malcolm Crum on their Rock Band battle victory. We can’t wait for next year.