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CLARION citrus college
College embraces change for new year BY LINA CARDINAS
FREELANCE REPORTER
LCARDINAS@CCCLARION.COM
Citrus College had the first oncampus convocation of its staff since 2019 on Aug. 26. Superintendent/President Greg Schulz gave the yearly welcoming speech in person for the first time since he got the position a year ago. The energy within the Haugh Performing Arts Center was buzzing with enthusiasm from staff who were ready for the start of the new year. Schulz spoke of the changes Citrus College will embrace starting this year. He celebrated the staff for their accomplishments and expressed his pride in the community. He also spoke of his personal favorite experiences in his first year as superintendent/ president. The changes he spoke of included completing the renovation of the ED Building. He added positions to the superintendent/president’s cabinet and the progress supporting the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion projects. Schulz said thanks to Measure Y and Measure G, the first infrastructure enhancement Citrus will see this year is the completion of the ED Building. With steady progression, the steel supports have been completed, new HVAC mechanical units have been installed and the exterior and interior framing is underway. Schulz said he had changed the composition of the superintendent/ president’s cabinet, expanding the membership of the existing council. The superintendent/ president used to have three vice
presidents, a chief of information services officer, a director of human resources officer and an executive assistant. Last month he has since added three positions to the board: Lan Hao, director of Institutional Research Planning and Effectiveness, Tyesha Thomas, director of Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion, and Melissa Utsuki, executive director of Communications and External Relations. Thomas, the director of diversity, equality, and inclusion, briefly took over to speak about vital work to be done on campus with the progress of the DEIA+ Committee. What used to be just the DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) has recently been upgraded to DEIA+. The added A+ includes but is not limited to anti-racism, anti-hate, anti-violence and accountability. Thomas encourages staff members to join in on DEIA+ projects and attend meetings to get involved in DEIA+ activities. “This labor of love is not limited to just committee members,” Thomas said. Schulz recognized the 12 new full-time faculty hires and various faculty members for their years of service to the college, ranging from five to 35 years. Two staff members recognized for their service include Cliff Wurst, a kinesiology instructor with Citrus since 1992, and Tina Gutierrez, who has been the college’s library media technician since 1987. With all the 75 faculty members recognized within the longevity
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ccclarion.com Volume LXXVI • Issue 1 Tuesday, August 30, 2022
ASCC stays in flux Student government holds special meeting to elect another new president BY MARK SNOW
EDITOR- IN - CHIEF
MSNOW@CCCLARION.COM
MARK SNOW - STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Superintendent/President Greg Schulz addresses staff and faculty during Fall 2022 convocation on Aug. 26.
awards, they have 985 years of experience combined between them solely at Citrus College. Schulz said he is quite proud of the staff. “People don’t stay at the same job for 35 years if they’re not happy there,” Schulz said. “Citrus is an environment people feel comfortable and content to work in, or there wouldn’t be 75 staff members recognized for choosing to stay as long as they have.” Schulz said one of his favorite things is how impressive the student’s accomplishments are like the Citrus Singers performing at Biserica Neagra in Romania, having the highest number of scholar ballers (scholar-athletes with a GPA of 3.0 or higher) ever within the institution’s history this past year, and the Black Scholars Program fundraising for the National Alliance Of Mental Illness and Just For Us Youth. One of his favorite opportunities over the past 12 months has been to familiarize himself with the college’s surrounding communities, for example,
communicating with a few clubs within Glendora, participating in a few parades, and a podcast. Schulz expressed his pride in the community’s feedback, confirming that Citrus makes a difference. “This is a community that embraces change,” Schulz said. He informed everyone of the academic additions the college made for the upcoming year, such as the addition of courses provided and the new degrees offered by the college, including new associate degrees offered in business and accounting. There are 10 new certificates of achievement, three for students on the public accounting track and seven business certificates. Schulz said Citrus offered 21 dual enrollment courses last summer and is offering 61 courses at K-12 school district sites this fall. Schulz gave the stage to four students and one alumna and let them share their personal Citrus stories. The speaking students included Nayiri Baghdassarian, Alexis Carlin, Emilio Pichardo, Jessie San and Adam Urena.
The Associated Students of Citrus College elected a new president after the former was found to be ineligible. Former ASCC President Jamie Marcel Iles failed to meet eligibility requirements for the position, Student Life Supervisor Rosario Garcia said in an email. New ASCC President Sofia Guzman was voted in as the new 2022-2023 ASCC president. Iles was elected last semester and would have served their first term in fall. Garcia said in an email that she was unable to share any details on the reason for Iles departure. In a special ASCC Executive Board meeting on Aug15, ASCC Sen. Guzman, ASCC Sen.Isabella Rivas and Student Trustee Serina Nadine Mummert voted without a special student election per the ASCC constitution, according to the agenda for the meeting. According to the ASCC constitution, Succession to the presidency shall be the currently elected Vice President. Should this officer be ineligible or unwilling to succeed, the Executive Board shall elect to the Presidency one of its voting members. “The person elected will be permanent for the 2022-2023 year,” Garcia said in an email. Guzman said she did not have details of Iles departure but is grateful for the opportunity. “I was not expecting to be president, but I think I will grow as a leader,” She said. “I’m also looking forward to working with other leaders on campus and making a difference while I’m here.”
The end of COVID (testing)
Weekly student testing shifts from a requirement to an option starting this fall as college policy shifts BY ANTHONY ROSSI
STAFF REPORTER
AROSSI@CCCLARION.COM
Citrus College students will not be required to take a COVID-19 test for on-campus classes beginning this fall. Voluntary testing will be available at the Student Health Center. Students have the option to receive a COVID-19 antigen testing kit or have it administered on-site, according to the Citrus College Coronavirus Information and Updates website. The Student Health Center is on the first floor of the Student Services building.
Superintendent/President and Citrus College COVID-19 workgroup member Greg Schulz said since the state of California no longer requires close contacts to a COVID-19 case to quarantine, enforced testing was dropped. “Our mandatory testing program was designed to minimize the number of classes that may be impacted by a COVID-19 case in the classroom and thus requiring all of the other students to quarantine for 10 days,” Schulz said in an email. “This is no longer the requirement or recommendation from L.A. County Department of Public Health.”
Daily Pre-Screening, a Citrus Mobile app feature that students fill out to affirm their health for the day, will remain required for students taking in-person classes. If a student obtains the necessary green pass, they must still scan the QR code outside the building before entering. With testing becoming voluntary, the daily pre-screening feature now shows five questions, reduced from the original eight. Now, students must attest they have not tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 10 days, are symptom-free and have answered
these questions truthfully. Students who have tested positive for COVID-19 must report their case to the Student Health Center or by emailing Citrus College Nurse Shauna Bigby at shc@citruscollege. edu. Since students have returned to campus after the March 2020 shutdown, COVID-19 testing was mandatory to attend classes at the college. From the fall 2021 semester to the spring 2022 semester, students took a COVID-19 rapid test at the Haugh Performing Arts Center for weekly clearance.
In the summer 2022 semester, the testing center was relocated to the Campus Center with the weekly rapid test being replaced with a COVID-19 PCR test. The PCR tests would give students their results after two to three days. Head of the COVID-19 workgroup Robert Sammis did not respond to an email sent on Aug. 23 or return a follow-up voicemail left on his office phone on Aug. 24. For more information, go to the Citrus College Coronavirus Information and Updates page and follow the Clarion for continued COVID-19 coverage.