Healthy Grilling PG. 12
Summer Challenge PG. 6
Camping Grub PG. 10
Alternatives to grilling meat
50 activites to partake in this summer
How to properly prepare food for camping
June 9 - June 17, 2011
spokanefalls.edu/communicator
Volume 42 | Issue 12
All-time high for tech fee allocation
A closer look at SFCC’s president Kirk Bayman
The Communicator
$900,000 will be spent on technology purchases on campus for the 2011-2012 year Ashley Hiruko
The Communicator While students might only think of computers and software when it comes to the technology fee, this year’s pool of money will be used to purchase everything from cadavers to Bamboo tablets, treadmills to a radial arm saw. The college allocated $900,000 for the student tech fee, up from last year’s $780,000. The plan goes before the Board of Trustees later this month. Students pay approximately $30 out of their tuition each quarter towards the tech fee, said vice presi-
Nicole Denman | The Communicator
Cara Sullivan, an interior design student at the falls, uses the computer lab in building 19 every day. She looks forward to added equipment because it can get crowded sometimes. dent of student and administrative services Alex Roberts. According to Roberts, the college business office calculates the amount of money each year that can be allocated for the tech fee. A survey is then given to students asking what kind of technology the college could use. Approximately 600 students participated in this year’s survey. College programs then put in their requests
and a college-wide committee, consisting mainly of students, is formed. The committee also consists of faculty and administration members. “We then look at the list of requests and try to find places where there will be alternate funding for those requests,” Roberts said. “Once the list is boiled down, we put the request in TECH | Page 2
$600,571
will be spent on college wide purchases.
$4,500 will be spent on a cadaver. Source: Rod Larse
More SFCC graduates transfer to universities
Research has shown that the number of SFCC graduates who transfer to four-year schools is going up each year Jackson Colby
through the door but don’t make an effort to help them be successful.” This is not to say that SFCC is an Jim Minkler, Vice President of easy school where students don’t Learning at SFCC, has some ideas have to work hard. about why SFCC has been transfer“The transfer students from SFCC, ring so many students to four-year who go to Eastern, tend to do better universities in rethan the students cent years. In much “Being at the Falls who start there first, of the country, the which shows that number of commu- helped me improve my even though we nity college gradu- English and it helped help students who ates who transfer to me experience U.S. need it, we haven’t four-year universilowered the bar on ties is falling, but culture.” standards of educa-Bu Park the opposite is true SFCC international student tion,” Minkler said. for SFCC. Research from “We have really the State Board of focused on retention at this institu- Community and Technical Colleges tion, and less on recruitment,” Min- has shown that the number of SFCC kler said. “We’re not doing our job graduates who transfer to four-year if we encourage students to come
The Communicator
GRADUATES | Page 2
INDEX NEWS................................2
FLAVORS Healthy honey PG.10
Britney Locati | The Communicator
Bu Park, 23-year-old SFCC student, plans to transfer to WSU or North Carolina State University.
FOCUS Laughing stock PG. 5
SFCC’s own Pam Tajima Praeger is not a typical college president; she knows many of her students’ names by heart. Praeger took office last June after her predecessor, Mark Palek, stepped down for medical reasons. Initially an interim position, CCS Chancellor Christine Johnson appointed Praeger Acting President in November. Praeger will stay in office until the end of the 2011-2012 academic year, during which the district will conduct a nationwide search for the next SFCC president, according to CCS Public Information Officer Ann Tucker. Praeger has worked in the CCS for over 33 years, starting as an education coordinator for the district’s Head Start program in 1978. Additionally, Praeger has taught early childhood education and served as Vice President of Learning from 1998 to 2010. Executive Assistant to the President Ann Jurcevich has worked at SFCC for 16 years, previously serving as Palek’s Executive Assistant. Jurcevich credited Praeger’s previous, varied roles at the college with her personal knowledge of SFCC and its employees. “[Praeger] knows a lot of people and their names and their faces,” Jurcevich said. “That wouldn’t necessarily be typical of a lot of presidents.” Praeger said that she never set out to become the president of SFCC. “I was much more interested in the more peripheral programs that were providing opportunities for nonmainstream people,” Praeger said. Praeger said that her family viewed education as a powerful tool in a person’s life - a sort of socioeconomic equalizer. Praeger said that, while she may be the formal face of the college, she feels that students in performing arts and athletics represent SFCC on a daily basis. During her career at SFCC as well as Eastern Washington University, Jurcevich said that she has seen several different college presidents, working directly under two, and that PRESIDENT | Page 2
FLAVORS Farmers markets PG. 11
PERSPECTIVES...................3 SIDELINES.......................... 9
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