Currently, Norton teaches body conditioning and weight training.

Brahmas linebacker Jerry Peralt, 19, has great respect for the retiring coach.

“He’s a good man,” Peralt said. “He teaches here and he doesn’t have to. I know he has a lot of experience. Unfortunately he couldn’t coach me . . . he stopped coaching about five to seven years ago.”

Another student, Jerell Brown, 18, has had Norton as a professor for physical education classes.

“He’s pretty cool,” Brown said. “I think he’s ready for [retirement], it’s time for him.”

The “flash mob” came following the choir’s performance at the Plaza del Sol Theater at California State University, Northridge.

Members dressed in black tops and blue jeans began to warm up outside of the Student Store at 12:45 p.m.

They attracted the attention of a handful of students that stopped and enjoyed a break from the stress of finals.

Some students even pulled out their cell phones and cameras to capture the moment.

Cathryn Tortell, an adjunct instructor of music, is the director for the choir.

She organized the impromptu free concert with one goal.

“A lot of people don’t even know we exist,” Tortell said. “It was all about we exist.”

The plan worked and attracted the attention of Angela Enriquez, a 19-year-old nursing student.

“I just walked by and saw them setting up,” Enriquez said.

As part of the marching band for Palmdale High School, she is used to things like this, but the concert brought back memories.

“I was excited,” Enriquez said. “I haven’t seen a concert since high school.”

The concert also transported students to a completely different place.

April Russell, a 19-year-old, kinesiology major, stood in awe as Timothy Kranz belted “Apres un Reve.”

“I feel like I’m at an opera,” Russell said.

Kranz is a 29-year-old business major who has been in other choirs before, but sees the college choir as something different.

“There are people coming in that have no experience in choir,” Kranz said. “And then there are people that have experience in choir or some sort of singing.”

However, everyone works together and helps each other, according to Kranz.

The students were not the only ones enjoying the moment.

Tortell gazed in bliss as this season’s student conductor, Sara Greenberg, 21, stood before her peers while they sang a “Les Miserables” medley.

“It’s not easy being a weekly conducting student,” Tortell said.

As a conductor, Tortell praises Greenberg for her ability to smoothly transition from one song to another and properly communicate to both singers and musicians.

” She has been most gracious, and open, and I couldn’t have ask for more,” Tortell said.

Her bracelet filled arms cut through the air gracefully and all eyes were on her.

After the concert she reflected on what it was like to stand before the choir.

“It’s just really great to work with this group,” Greenberg said. “We have people of different levels, and I get to be in front and watch them.”

Students who missed the performance are welcome to catch an encore performance during the free Thursday afternoon concert in Music 3400 at 12:45 p.m.

To learn more about the music department visit their website: http://www.piercecollege.edu/departments/music/

The website that was used by many students was created and copyrighted by Instructor of Business Administration Richard Skidmore. He, along with the Director of Cooperative Education Ronal Smetzer, believe that the website was taken down with malicious intent.

Earlier in the semester, the Pierce College Job Center was closed after 20 years of operation. The job center was run by Skidmore, and was a service provided to help students develop skills to find work. Skidmore also created and operated the website for the job center.

Before the center was closed, campus administration requested use of this copyrighted site for the Career and Transfer Center, according to Skidmore.

“When the Job Center closed,  [college president] Kathleen Burke-Kelly requested that Skidmore hand over the (job center) website,” Smetzer said. “Skidmore told them they could lease it.”

Shortly after this conversation, the Cooperative Education (Co Op Ed) website was taken down.

“They are angry because I copyright everything I do,” Skidmore said. “They are willing to burn students and faculty because of it.”

The Co Op Ed website was created by Skidmore to streamline the process of helping students and faculty in the program to communicate.The overall goal was to assess students’ progress.

Students would fill out information on the site, including student I.D. numbers, job location and their personal assessment of the job site in which they are working.

They would then include their hours worked, and feedback would be provided by the professor.

When the site was shut down by Pierce administration, students were unable to complete their assignments.

The site was taken down to be updated, Burke-Kelly said.

“The site has been up since the late 80s,” Burke-Kelly said. “After we had taken it down, we realized that the site was collecting information that violated the Right to Privacy Act.”

The Family Educational Right to Privacy Act refers to the “Conditions for availability of funds to educational agencies or institutions.”

“All the information that the instructor needed was given to him,” Burke-Kelly said.

But Smetzer maintains that the site is well within legal parameters.

“Richard had the website evaluated though a program created by Microsoft, and it came back 92 percent compliant, whereas our own Pierce College website was in the low 80 percent,” Smetzer said.

The website was taken down right before spring break. Smetzer met with vice president of student services Joy McCaslin during the break to discuss the closing of the site.

During this meeting, Smetzer said he informed McCaslin of the rating the website received.

McCaslin responded that there were different ways to measure ratings, Smetzer said.

“I’ve been told that the President has decided that the Co Op Ed program will be on hiatus for the fall, and a viability study has been approved of the program,” Smetzer said. “This is usually a precursor to a program being closed.”

President Burke-Kelly confirmed that the program would not be offered in the fall.

“It has been suggested to me that, if a student needs Co Op Ed for their program, there are faculty members that would be willing to offer it as a directive study,” Burke-Kelly said. “[This] means that faculty wouldn’t be compensated. They would be doing it on a voluntary basis.”

Skidmore believes this is a malicious attack, and that the college is doing itself a disservice. The Co Op Ed program is projected to bring in $290,541.34.

He estimates that the college will only save $39,000 in faculty revenue not offering the program, which means the college would be losing $251,541.34 by not offering the program.

“Co Op Ed has been very profitable for the college,” Skidmore said in an email sent to the Roundup staff. “Closing the department is not a financial decision, even in these hard economic times.”

The hours from the Co Op Ed program will be shifted to other departments, Burke-Kelly said.

“Any department can say they make this much or that much,” said McCaslin. “But if you shift those hours to another department the college has not lost anything.”

Professor Skip Perkins wanted to study film scoring and jazz music at California State University, Northridge but was told he wouldn’t be studying those genres because they weren’t worth anything.

“They [CSUN] basically said, ‘This is old stuff we don’t really do this stuff here. We’ll let you come to school but you’re going to have to forget about all that,’” Perkins said.

While studying for his bachelor’s degree at CSUN, an experience in class almost deterred Perkins from his musical path.

“I was in a composing class one time and the teacher said ‘Bring in some music for next week,’” Perkins said. “At that time, in the 70s, I was really interested in the musician Erik Satie.”

Perkins went to class the next week.

“I put this piece of music up on the piano and the teacher started playing it and he looks at me weird and says, ‘This sounds like Erik Satie’ and he took the paper and threw it on the floor,” Perkins said. “I was crushed.”

That moment made Perkins rethink his path but learned what he wanted out of his education at California Sate University, Long Beach (CSULB) and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

“When I went to CSULB [for his master’s degree] I said in my interview, ‘Can I do the music I want to do or do I have to do 20th century A tonal music?’” Perkins said.

Perkins had been studying 20th Century A Tonal Music at CSUN.

“They said, ‘Oh no you can do anything you want’ which opened the door somewhat,” Perkins said.

Perkins then interviewed at UCLA for the Ph.D program.

“I specifically asked them [UCLA] can I do jazz, can I do film scoring and they said, ‘Absolutely, you can do anything you want here’ so that opened up the door,” Perkins said.

Perkins loves teaching music and helping guide students in the right direction for them.

“If there is one student in my class that was like me when I was going to community college, then I would want to pass on everything I know to them so that they won’t have as hard of a time as I had at CSUN,” Perkins said.

Music student Salvatore Accardo said he likes Perkins approach to teaching because he makes sure there’s always a focal point in music and shows them us different styles.

“Jazz you record differently, rock and roll you focus on this, and for me I get a real wide range of different recording styles,” said Accardo. “You don’t record a jazz band the way you record the Rolling Stones.”

Perkins lets his second level recording class experiment and learn their way.

“If you ask him questions, he’s totally happy to help you out but in the recording environment when you’re actually recording a band for the class, he says ‘Ok guys figure it out,’” music student Ryan Merrick said.

Merrick said Perkins is always around to answer questions and to help students.

“He teaches in a manner that connects with the students,” Merrick said. “You can do any music you like, he’s not prejudice towards one.”

According to co-president of the philosophy club, Robert Hovanisian, the cabaret will consist of art in all of its different forms, including drawings, films, speeches, skits, and much more.

“We just want people to show up and have a good time,” Hovanisian said. “We’re going to have refreshments and water and popcorn. It’s free for everyone to come in and enjoy. Come in and have some popcorn and watch.”

Every year, the Philosopher’s Cabaret chooses a theme that relates to philosophy that should connect the performances to one another in some way, said Hovanisian. This year, the theme is ‘The Logic of the Absurd.’

“People are going to perform skits based on what is absurd in life,” Hovanisian said.

Lauren Padic, the other co-president of the philosophy club, was excited to see performances that expressed absurdity.

“I love the theme,” Padic said. “I’m a big fan of [philosopher] Albert Camus. He’s the one that kind of came up with what the absurd is. [He believed] there is no inherent meaning in life. Everything is based on perspective. It’s absurd in that way.”

This year, James Hermon from the Broadcasting Club will host the event.

Kamyar Taghavi, 20, a business major, was excited to hear that events like the Philosopher’s Cabaret are open for anyone to come and see.

“I am very interested. I like philosophy,” Taghavi said. “I have even considered switching my major to philosophy.”

The Philosopher’s Cabaret is not just for members of the philosophy club, said Hovanisian. Any student interested in showcasing their talent is encouraged to contact the club’s advisor, Dr. Melanie McQuitty, to be included in the event’s program schedule.

According to Padic, a live disc jockey will be performing after the student routines in the Philosopher’s Cabaret.

“It should be a really great cabaret,” Padic said. “I’m really excited.”

Wahid, which means “one” or “togetherness” according to the group, is comprised of multi-instrumentalist Dimitris Mahlis and percussionist Chris Wabich.

The performance was full of loud, exotic music that was “full of improvisation,” as Wabich explained to the audience.

“Today we took a few new turns and played on the hyper end,” Wabich said.

During the concert, Mahlis played the oud, which he described as the guitar of the Middle East and Mediterranean and the oldest stringed instrument in the world.

“It’s something that’s in our culture,” Mahlis said. “The sound is very beautiful. “

Wabich played frame drums, which are one-sided drums where the frame is larger than the surface, which he built custom to the needs of the band.

“Usually drums have no bass to them,” Wabich said. “I built mine oversized, which had the unexpected effect of adding bass and allowing me to play a perfect tuned octave.”

The talent of Wahid was not lost on sociology major Wendy Escalante, 22, who was thrilled with the change of pace.

“It was very wonderful, very different from other concerts,” Escalante said. “Usually it’s a violin, piano, or other classical instrument, but they went with old-fashioned instruments.”

Rajat Sabharwal, 20, was simply awed by the performance.

“I liked the blend of these instruments,” Sabharwal said. “It’s pretty amazing.”

Wahid was formed approximately 15 years ago after they decided to stop their solo careers and form a band, particularly because both shared an interest in playing Middle East and Mediterranean music.

“We both had a passion for this style of music,” Mahlis said. “Since we had heard each other play before, we decided to take a shot at a band, and we’ve been playing ever since.”

Both members have been playing music for many years. Mahlis has played since he was 12-years-old, but started the oud at 28, while Wabich has played percussion since he was 7 years old.

Mahlis played several instruments before the oud, mostly stringed, but became interested in the oud because of his cultural roots.

“Just hearing it was very profound,” Mahlis said.

Wabich can’t remember a time when he didn’t play drums, starting at an early age with a spoon and a saucepan in his mother’s house.

“I just like rock music,” Wabich said. “[Percussion] is kind of like a piano in that you can play one note in harmony with another instrument.”

The free Thursday concert series of this semester has one last performance May 24 at 12:45 p.m. at Music 3400 featuring the Pierce Student Concert.

www.wahidmusic.com

Scott Blair has been an actor for 13 years in films and theatre performances as well as had two books published with a third on the way.

Blair’s latest article was a hockey story as Blair himself used to be professional hockey player.

“A sports article for ESPN.com. I used to play professional hockey,” said Blair, “I wrote a little piece about a certain team.”

The most current event Blair is partaking in is the Honda Helpful Team giving out free coffee at Pierce.

“I think it’s an awesome opportunity. It gets people’s attention because it’s coffee and we’re on a college campus,” said 19-year-old programming for business major Christine Womac.

Students were allowed to go and pick up a reusable coffee mug and fill it coffee bought from the Pierce bookstore.

“If everyone uses a reusable mug we would save 19 million trees a year,” said Honda Helpful Team Leader Tami Horetski.

They are promoting their facebook page and have a favor hot line for anyone to call and ask for any type of favor.

“Honda’s trying to show they care about everyone in the community not just the Honda drivers,” said Horetski.

On Memorial Day they will be giving out free tanks of gas for Honda users.

Duxler, who was chair of the Physics Department for nine years, excluding this year, has a long list of accomplishments while with Pierce, but still feels it’s time to retire.

“You can’t stay forever,” Duxler said, chuckling.

Among his accomplishments are the creation of a test creation and grading system for teachers, the creation of the assessment testing software used across the district, and the introduction of Physical Science 13, which dealt with alternative energy sources.

However, he feels his most important work was changing the physics curriculum from lecture-based to active participation, which was based on proven techniques that were researched at the University of Washington and the University of Oregon, he said.

“[The best part was] seeing how students went from passive to excited during classes,” Duxler said.

Duxler doesn’t fret about his retiring, as he will continue to work with the district exclusively as manager of the assessment software, and will leave the Physics Department in good hands.

“We have a very fine physics staff to carry on,” Duxler said.

“You see the students come through the program, and the skills they gain in the program, they use them in the work place to become productive citizens,” he said.

Rosedahl, who has taught at Pierce since 1985 and is the president of the Academic Senate, got into cars at a young age. He’s always felt mechanically inclined, and before he worked on cars he tinkered on whatever he could find, he said.

“When I was 12 I was taking my bicycle apart,” he said.

Now, as a professor, he remains just as invested in cars, but Rosdahl’s added the success of his students to his list of interests. Since starting his teaching career, he’s had many former students go on to start their own auto businesses. Some continue to drop by Rosdahl’s office to thank him for the training they’ve received, he said.

“[I] like to see all young people succeed, and to see people succeed is fulfilling a goal,” Rosdahl said.

Many of Rosdahl’s students currently attending Pierce can attest to his influence.

“Tom is the man,” said Chris Perez, an automotive major who had Rosdahl last year.

Rosdahl, Perez said, encouraged him to focus more on school and to get into the automotive field. Before taking his class, Perez felt he was traveling down the wrong road, but Rosdahl steered him towards a “more focused, more positive path.”

“The only reason I’m trying to finish school is because of him. Trying to get into cars, because of him,” he said.

Julian Johnson, an Automotive major who also took Rosdahl last year, feels Rosdahl impacted his life as well.

“He helped me with a lot of things I was going through, even with my family,” he said.

Johnson felt a similar lack of direction in his life like Perez, but since taking Rosdahl’s class he hopes to have his own shop one day. He owes Rosdahl’s ability to inspire his students to the bond they all share over cars.

“Me and him, we both got love for Camaros,” Johnson said.

For Rosdahl, earning the respect of his students comes down to a basic principle.

“I think to teach, and to impress on students, number one, you have to have respect for the students you have in class,” Rosdahl said.

The second, he believes, is that you must want to see your students succeed, which is why he includes the newest advancements affecting the auto industry in his class. Fuel mileage and emissions are the driving factors behind the industry now, and it takes more training and education to repair a vehicle than it did 20 years ago, he said.

“If we provide a better educated workforce, we’re basically providing a better community out there,” he said.

In the future, Rosdahl plans on retiring within the next year or year and half, but he’s considering continuing to teach as an adjunct as well.

O’Hanlon began her teaching career at Pierce College by instructing physical education classes.

Then in the 1980s, she learned computer science and began teaching web development classes and serving as the chair of the Computer Science Department.

One of O’Hanlon’s most memorable moments was teaching archery at Pierce.
“One errant arrow flew over the fence, across Victory Boulevard, and through the open convertible top of a passing car. The driver was not injured,” O’Hanlon said.

O’Hanlon graduated from California State University, Northridge with a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and teaching credential. She later retrained in computer science at California Lutheran University.

Aside from working with computer science, O’Hanlon also teaches Theory and Application of Aerobics and Conditioning, a course she created 35 years ago to train aerobics instructors and personal trainers. O’Hanlon has also authored eight books used in a variety of classes at Pierce.

However, O’Hanlon is still looking forward to celebrating her retirement by traveling.

“My husband retired three years ago, and we plan to do some traveling in our new recreational vehicle,” O’Hanlon said.

According to O’Hanlon, they plan to take an Alaskan cruise, camp in their new RV along the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington and spend two weeks in Hawaii.

“My teaching career has been challenging at times and very rewarding,” O’Hanlon said. “[I] still love teaching the students and seeing them light up as they learn a new skill, solve a problem or successfully complete a class project.”