Humanities, Language Arts and Social Sciences department at Laney revealed
Jean Womak
Issue date: 9/4/08 Last update: 9/5/08 at 10:56 PM PST
Section: Features
Research in the Laney College catalog tells us that of the 33 teachers in the Humanities Division, about half of them got their advanced degrees from either San Francisco State University or U.C. Berkeley.
Only five of them proudly proclaim the AA degree after their name, but those were achieved at campuses all over the Bay Area. One listing an AA degree from Diablo Valley College is Division Dean Linda Sanford herself!
Other Humanities Division instructors who started out with an A.A. degree are Government instructor Don Arnold with an AA from Chabot, journalism instructor Burt Dragin who has an AA from L.A. City College, librarian Frances Moore with an AA from Contra Costa College, and English instructor David Mullen who has an AA from Laney!
Laney College hired 11 new full time tenure-track teachers this fall, four of them in the Humanities division. The four new Humanities Division teachers are Tamika Brown in Africa-American Studies, Steven Zetlan in ESL, Mark Rauzon in Geography, and Amir Sabzevary in Humanities/Philosophy.
Dean Sanford, who leads this division, emphasizes the importance of taking an assessment so a student can be placed at a level at which he or she can achieve success-fully. She wants people to know about Project Bridge. "It's a learning community, a special program for reentry students needing basic skills in English and math," she said.
The academic life of Laney College is divided into four divisions, each having some academic focus in common. The four Divisions are the Humanities, Language Arts, and social Science Division led by Dean Linda Sanford; the Arts, communication and Physical Education Division, led by Dean Marco Menendez; the Business, Mathematics and Sciences Division, led by Dean Michael Orkin, and last, but not least, the Vocational Technology Division led by Dean Peter Crabtree.
The strongest department in the Humanities Division is the English as a Second Language Department (ESL), with 10 full-time faculty. It's also the largest department in the college. But there's a lot more to the division than ESL. The division includes the academic disciplines of anthropology, geography and geology, physical science, English, ESL, ethnic studies, including African- American studies, Asian-American studies, Mexican-Latino studies, and Native American studies. It includes foreign languages of Chinese, Japanese, French and Spanish; Social Sciences of history, humanities, philosophy, political science, sociology and psychology. Also in the division are labor studies and journalism.
One important issue for the current Humanities Division Dean is the lack of a state budget because the Governor and the state legislature are not in accord. "We are awaiting their decision. Salaries are continued and emergency supplies can be purchased. We would like to know how much money we will have, so we can plan accordingly," Dean Sanford said.
Only five of them proudly proclaim the AA degree after their name, but those were achieved at campuses all over the Bay Area. One listing an AA degree from Diablo Valley College is Division Dean Linda Sanford herself!
Other Humanities Division instructors who started out with an A.A. degree are Government instructor Don Arnold with an AA from Chabot, journalism instructor Burt Dragin who has an AA from L.A. City College, librarian Frances Moore with an AA from Contra Costa College, and English instructor David Mullen who has an AA from Laney!
Laney College hired 11 new full time tenure-track teachers this fall, four of them in the Humanities division. The four new Humanities Division teachers are Tamika Brown in Africa-American Studies, Steven Zetlan in ESL, Mark Rauzon in Geography, and Amir Sabzevary in Humanities/Philosophy.
Dean Sanford, who leads this division, emphasizes the importance of taking an assessment so a student can be placed at a level at which he or she can achieve success-fully. She wants people to know about Project Bridge. "It's a learning community, a special program for reentry students needing basic skills in English and math," she said.
The academic life of Laney College is divided into four divisions, each having some academic focus in common. The four Divisions are the Humanities, Language Arts, and social Science Division led by Dean Linda Sanford; the Arts, communication and Physical Education Division, led by Dean Marco Menendez; the Business, Mathematics and Sciences Division, led by Dean Michael Orkin, and last, but not least, the Vocational Technology Division led by Dean Peter Crabtree.
The strongest department in the Humanities Division is the English as a Second Language Department (ESL), with 10 full-time faculty. It's also the largest department in the college. But there's a lot more to the division than ESL. The division includes the academic disciplines of anthropology, geography and geology, physical science, English, ESL, ethnic studies, including African- American studies, Asian-American studies, Mexican-Latino studies, and Native American studies. It includes foreign languages of Chinese, Japanese, French and Spanish; Social Sciences of history, humanities, philosophy, political science, sociology and psychology. Also in the division are labor studies and journalism.
One important issue for the current Humanities Division Dean is the lack of a state budget because the Governor and the state legislature are not in accord. "We are awaiting their decision. Salaries are continued and emergency supplies can be purchased. We would like to know how much money we will have, so we can plan accordingly," Dean Sanford said.
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