Shafinaaz Kamrul
Professor of industrial technology, Tom Rosdahl was elected by Pierce College faculty Monday as the new president of the Academic Senate.
He defeated current president Izzy Goodman by one vote.
The results of the election came in Monday at 9:15 a.m. and were announced at the same day’s Academic Senate meeting.
As vice president of the Senate last year, Goodman was called to complete the term of Barrie Logan, Ph.D., who retired before his term as senate president was up.
He has been the vice-president of the Academic Senate for a long time, and is the chairperson of Pierce’s chemistry department.
“I was disappointed,” said Goodman. “But that’s life.”
“I actually had no aspiration to run for the position,” said Rosdahl.
“Some of the faculty members approached me because I guess they thought that we needed fresh blood for the position and I gave it a try.”
Diane Levine, instructor of anthropology, is to continue with her position as the secretary of the senate.
David Schutzer, who is also from the anthropology department, was elected as the treasurer.
Elected At-Large Senators were Nurse Beth Benne and Political Science instructor Pamela Brown from the full-time faculty.
Elected senators from the part-time faculty were Kathy Holland, adjunct instructor of political science and economics, and Adrian Youhanna, adjunct instructor of geographical sciences.
Rosdahl’s term as the Pierce College Academic Senate president starts from February 2007.
He is taking over the job as the president in the midst of Pierce College continuing its recent major campus construction projects.
Part of Rosdahl’s job is to attend the District’s Academic Senate meetings, and to be more involved in campus politics.
“I have been in the senate for about five years but now I would have to be more involved in a different level of campus politics,” said Rosdahl.
Rosdahl teaches automotive classes at Pierce, and had been a member of the faculty since 1984.
He went to school at Pierce for a year right after finishing high school, then went on to serve five years in the military.
After coming back home, he returned to finish his associate degree from Pierce and then earned his bachelor’s degree from California State University, Los Angeles.
The new president said he is anxious about his new position in the senate but looks forward to it.
“I know I am good at repairing cars and teaching automotive classes but this is obviously a totally new job for me,” said Rosdahl.
Rosdahl is not initially anticipating any large-scale changes as far as the functioning of the Academic Senate is concerned.
“First of all I need to get to know all the members of the senate closely, find out about their departments and how they function,” said Rosdahl.
He is aware that he represents all the departments as a whole and needs to get to know each and everyone of them better.
“I have to understand exactly how the entire faculty functions,” he said.
Rosdahl feels that there would always be some people who have issues and he needs to work with them to make sure that these issues are addressed and resolved in the best way possible.
“The campus needs to actively promote the programs we have,” commented Rosdahl. “Pierce has some excellent programs that are just not promoted properly.”
One of the main issues he is willing to work with is how to get everything web-linked because the students like it better when they can get their work done online.
“Students don’t want to open a book,” said Rosdahl. “But they usually would not mind going online and this is why we need to get everything out on the web.”
The school has a web-designer and technician right now and Rosdahl is eager to provide him with ample resources to get everything online.
“As technology changes we need to make sure that we are able to keep up with it,” he added.
In addition to being the Academic Senate president and an automotive service technology instructor, Rosdahl was also the Track Champion at the Los Angeles County Raceway in 2002 and 2005.
His achievements include making a drag racing car out of an old car.
His office display’s a proud picture of him in his drag racing car at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
He finds it funny when students brag to him about street racing because all that it brings is “towing and totaling of the car.”
Pierce College is a second home for Rosdahl and he enjoys being here just as much as he enjoys taking his wife out shopping on his off days.
He loves the Industrial Technology building and its contents.
“If you like working on cars then this is the biggest toy box that they ever made,” said he.
Rosdahl’s son, Thomas Fortune is also a part of the Pierce faculty and teaches nighttime automotive service technology classes.
life.”
“I actually had no aspiration to run for the position,” said Rosdahl.
“Some of the faculty members approached me because I guess they thought that we needed fresh blood for the position and I gave it a try.”
Diane Levine, instructor of anthropology, is to continue with her position as the secretary of the senate. David Schutzer, who is also from the anthropology department, was elected as the treasurer.
Elected At-Large Senators were Nurse Beth Benne and Political Science instructor Pamela Brown from the full-time faculty.
Elected senators from the part-time faculty were Kathy Holland, adjunct instructor of political science and economics, and Adrian Youhanna, adjunct instructor of geographical sciences.
Rosdahl’s term as the Pierce College Academic Senate president starts from February 2007.
He is taking over the job as the president in the midst of Pierce College continuing its recent major campus construction projects.
Part of Rosdahl’s job is to attend the District’s Academic Senate meetings, and to be more involved in campus politics.
“I have been in the senate for about five years but now I would have to be more involved in a different level of campus politics,” said Rosdahl.
Rosdahl teaches automotive classes at Pierce, and had been a member of the faculty since 1984.
He went to school at Pierce for a year right after finishing high school, then went on to serve five years in the military.
After coming back home, he returned to finish his associate degree from Pierce and then earned his bachelor’s degree from California State University, Los Angeles.
The new president said he is anxious about his new position in the senate but looks forward to it.
“I know I am good at repairing cars and teaching automotive classes but this is obviously a totally new job for me,” said Rosdahl.
Rosdahl is not initially anticipating any large-scale changes as far as the functioning of the Academic Senate is concerned.
“First of all I need to get to know all the members of the senate closely, find out about their departments and how they function,” said Rosdahl.
He is aware that he represents all the departments as a whole and needs to get to know each and everyone of them better.
“I have to understand exactly how the entire faculty functions,” he said. Rosdahl feels that there would always be some people who have issues and he needs to work with them to make sure that these issues are addressed and resolved in the best way possible.
“The campus needs to actively promote the programs we have,” commented Rosdahl. “Pierce has some excellent programs that are just not promoted properly.”
One of the main issues he is willing to work with is how to get everything web-linked because the students like it better when they can get their work done online.
“Students don’t want to open a book,” said Rosdahl. “But they usually would not mind going online and this is why we need to get everything out on the web.”
The school has a web-designer and technician right now and Rosdahl is eager to provide him with ample resources to get everything online.
“As technology changes we need to make sure that we are able to keep up with it,” he added.
In addition to being the Academic Senate president and an automotive service technology instructor, Rosdahl was also the Track Champion at the Los Angeles County Raceway in 2002 and 2005.
His achievements include making a drag racing car out of an old car.
His office display’s a proud picture of him in his drag racing car at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
He finds it funny when students brag to him about street racing because all that it brings is “towing and totaling of the car.”
Pierce College is a second home for Rosdahl and he enjoys being here just as much as he enjoys taking his wife out shopping on his off days. He loves the Industrial Technology building and its contents.
“If you like working on cars then this is the biggest toy box that they ever made,” said he.
Rosdahl’s son, Thomas Fortune is also a part of the Pierce faculty and teaches nighttime automotive service technology classes.
New academic senate president Tom Rosdahl. He’s also a professor of industrial technology. ()
