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MILESTONES

Seboo Aghajani (Admissions and Records), Meg Chil-Gevorkyan (Student Outreach Services), and Sharis Davoodi (Human Resources) graduated from Woodbury University with a Master’s degree in Organizational Leadership (MOL) in August 2009.  Sharis, Meg and Seboo were the first students to represent GCC in the MOL program. They also participated in Woodbury University’s first “Hooding Ceremony Graduation.”

Adjunct geography instructor Marla Conti and her husband Don Ellis recently adopted their daughter Anya from a small town in eastern Ukraine.  They have been working on the very complicated international adoption since they met her on a hosting program in 2008, and they finally brought her home permanently in November 2009.  Anya just turned 11, and is now enrolled at Gardner Street Elementary in West Hollywood, where many students speak her native language, Russian. She is learning English quickly, has made lots of friends, and is thriving in her new environment.  For Anya and her new family, this is a real-life dream come true.

Jane DiLucchio has a short story (“Blondes Have More Fun”), featuring her mystery series sleuth, Diega DelValle, in the upcoming anthology, Murder in La La Land. The launch party for the anthology will be at the Mystery Bookstore in Westwood on Saturday, May 22 at 5 p.m. Everyone’s invited! (Champagne and munchies!)

Alan Frazier, Assistant Professor of Aviation and Administration of Justice, has resigned his position to accept a professorship in the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences at the University of North Dakota. Alan will continue to teach online courses here at Glendale Community College.

Marcia Irvin (GCC day shift custodian for 10 years) reports that her youngest daughter, Leonna Irvin, traveled to South Africa in January to study at the University of Zululand for six months. Leonna attends UC Berkeley and will graduate in 2011. Marcia wants her daughter to know that she is very proud of her, and wishes Leonna’s father were still alive to share her joy.

Prof. Osheen Keshishian of EOPS was invited to Istanbul, Turkey, by the Anadolu Kultur Organization to be one of three speakers at the centennial celebrations of the Armenian-language newspaper Jamanak (Time) in January. He gave a lecture on ethnicity and ethnic survival in the United States. His talks were reported in local Armenian and Turkish newspapers.  

Sid Kolpas has been awarded the Hayward award for 2010 by the Academic Senate of the California Community Colleges. Created in 1985, the award honors community college faculty members who demonstrate the highest level of commitment to their students, college, and profession. In addition to excellence in teaching, they must have a record of outstanding performance in professional activities and a record of active participation on campus. The ASCCC honors four faculty annually, one from each area of the state. Sid is the first faculty member to receive the award at Glendale College, and only the second Mathematics faculty so honored in the award's history.

Sid’s daughter, Dr. Allison Kolpas, University of Delaware Department of Mathematical Sciences, has published her sixth article (February, 2010): "Effects of Demographic Stochasticity on Population Persistence in Advective Media" in the Bulletin of Mathematical Biology.

The Glendale Chamber of Commerce has announced that GCC Interim Superintendent/President Dr. Dawn Lindsay will receive the organization’s Woman of the Year award.  She will be honored at the annual State of the City and Chamber Awards Luncheon on March 25 at the Hilton Glendale.  Congratulations to Dr. Lindsay!

Peggy Renner has been elected to serve on the Nominating Committee of the Organization of American Historians (OAH). The election is a national one, and the OAH is the preeminent organization for faculty who teach the history of the US. This means Peggy will help to select the OAH presidents for the next four years.

Shant Shahoian and his wife, Lucy Boiadjian, announce the birth of their son, Noah Vem Shahoian, on February 10. He is happy and, according to the doctor, "has a strong set of lungs on him." His mama is doing well. His papa? His papa was a bit of a blubbering mess but is all better now. Noah weighed 7lbs. 4 oz.