Yavapai Community College Associate Dean for Education Heather Mulcaire is featured in the February/March issues of Prescott Woman Magazine. You may read the article authored by Michael Grady by following this link: https://publuu.com/flip-book/785991/1738411/page/34
Mulcaire discusses her work at the Community College, her family, and history in the Verde Valley. The article is well worth reading.
In a December 19 press release, Yavapai Community College announced it has hired five new instructors for its expanding Performing Arts Department. They will be teaching acting, voice, and technical theatre courses. They will be joining the faculty in January.
According to the Community College press release, the following are the new faculty hires:
“Mezzo soprano Danielle Corella will teach both Private Voice (MUS 101A) and Applied Voice (MUS 151A) courses. An Arizona Opera veteran, Danielle sang the role of Gertrude in AzO’s Roméo et Juliette and Belle in their Opera Tunity production of Beauty and the Beast. She holds a Master of Music Degree from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Music from Westminster Choir College. She currently conducts YC’s Community Chorale.”
“Prescott Valley residents may know Ben Naasz from The Movement Studio, which he operates with his wife, Sasha. A talented actor, director, scenic designer and producer, Ben will draw from his 30-year theatrical career to teach Stagecraft (THR 141) and Lighting for the Stage and Media (THR 160). He holds a Master of Fine Arts in Theatre Technology (with an emphasis on Scenic Design) from the University of Arizona, and a BFA in Musical Theatre from Shenandoah Conservatory in Virginia.”
“With her Masters in Classical Acting from Brandeis University, where she taught movement and voice, Heather Scott earned her Meisner certificate from New York City’s Neighborhood Playhouse and is a certified theatrical combatant. Her professional credits include As The World Turns and multiple regional commercials as well as work with Disney Regional Entertainment. The co-director of the Yavapai College musicals It’s A Wonderful Life and Hello, Dolly!, Heather is also the J&LLPAC’s Director of Operations. She will teach the College’s Acting I (THR 131) and Acting II (THR 132) courses.”
“A dedicated educator and veteran actor, director, stage manager and producer, Layla Tenney is thrilled to bring her 20 years of theatrical experience to YC. She has been a prominent figure in the local arts community, teaching theatre at Prescott and Chino Valley high schools, where she directed numerous productions that inspired students and audiences alike. She has also been a creative force at the Prescott Center for the Arts since 2009, creating programs that support young artists. Layla has her Master of Arts in Theatre Education from the University of Northern Colorado, and her bachelor’s from the University of Arizona and will teach THR 231, Acting the One-Act Play.”
“Prescott-based baritone William Vallandigham is regularly featured on opera and concert stages in Arizona, Southern California and the greater Chicago area. In 2023-24, William sang Brahms and Mahler with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and appeared in Arizona Opera’s productions of Il barberie de Siviglia and Mozart’s Don Giovanni. He performed extensively with Opera Santa Barbara, with roles in The Crucible, Cosi fan Tutte, Carmen and the title role in Eugene Onegin. William’s career highlights range from Phillip Glass’s Kepler at the Spoleto Festival to orchestrated music from video game legend Nobuo Uematsu. William earned his master’s in music from Westminster Choir College, and his Bachelor of Music from Baldwin Wallace University. He will teach Musical Theatre I (THR 133) and Musical Theatre II (THR 134).”
Yavapai Community College president Dr. Lisa Rhine stated at the District Governing Board Tax and Budget hearing on May 16 that there will be no reduction in faculty positions on the Verde Valley Campus. This was in response to the discussion at the April Governing Board meeting where Vice President Ewell presented a table and Board member Ray Sigafoos initially interpreted it as “dropping ten positions in the Verde Valley.”
After listening to the video clip, the Blog interpreted the brief discussion as involving a reduction of ten faculty positions on the Verde Campus. Dr. Rhine says that interpretation is not correct.
Click here to view and hear Dr. Rhine’s statement at the May 16 Governing Board meeting.
Click here to view and hear the exchange at the April Governing Board meeting regarding lower head count and “positions” plus Mr. Sigafoos’ initial interpretation of the table presented by the C0llege to the Board.
You can see the possible confusion that was caused by the table, which is reproduced below. The table was presented by the College to the Governing Board at the April 2023 meeting and used by Vice President Clint Ewell. Note the use of words such as “positions,” and phrases such as “lower heard count” and “ten positions” during the discussion on the video clip where the table was being used. Also note that the Verde Valley is specifically identified on the table by red arrows put there by the Blog.
Dr. Rhine did not offer any data at the May 16 meeting showing the current number of part-time and full-time faculty now on the Verde Campus. The Blog has asked for that information.
District One Representative Ray Sigafoos.
The Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) announced the recipients of its annual Regional Awards for community college trustees, equity programs, chief executive officers, faculty members, and professional board staff members on August 15. In the Pacific Region, Community College Board member Ray Sigafoos, English Professor and Faculty Senate President Dr. Karen Palmer, and Yvonne Martinez-Sandoval, the executive assistant to President Rhine and the District Governing Board, were recognized. They were among more than two dozen recipients of various awards from five regions made by ACCT this year.
To learn more about the awards and the reasons these people were selected, please read the Community College news article posted by reporter J.J. McCormick August 16, which can be found by clicking here.
Yavapai Community College will hold an open house July 30 on its Prescott Campus, 1100 E. Sheldon Street, Prescott. The open house will run from 9 to 11 a.m. The press release from the College, that appears below, describes the event.
Learn what it’s like to be a YC Roughrider, including:
Meet the people that can help you learn more about the programs that YC has to offer
Let YC help you complete your application
Learn about scholarships, financial aid, and how to pay for college
our the beautiful campus
Yavapai College offers a rewarding educational experience and beautiful settings in the mountains of central Arizona. In addition, it offers dozens and dozens of certificate programs, associate, and transfer degrees.
The Prescott campus is also home to Roughrider athletic teams in baseball, basketball, soccer, volleyball, e-sports and softball. Special campus features include an art gallery and sculpture garden, a computer commons, and a state-of-the art library.
Residence halls offer affordable housing in a comfortable and safe community, providing the opportunity to develop quality study skills, meet new people, and to grow through new experiences.
Join us on July 30 to learn more about Yavapai College. No pre-registration is necessary.
Governing Board discussing faculty and staff salary increases November 16
[BLOG EXCLUSIVE] The Yavapai Community College Governing Board agreed with a proposal put before it at the October 2021 Board meeting by the College Administration that distributed a portion of the next faculty/staff wage increase based in part on a concept that would have an assessment of whether groups obtained certain objectives. When the College faculty received word of the Board action, the Faculty Association, which represents all the faculty, filed a grievance challenging the group achievement portion of the recommendation — at least that is what it appears from the discussion at the November 16 meeting of the District Governing Board.
The October Governing Board salary recommendation for the 2022-23 academic year included a faculty and staff 2% across the board increase, a 5% across the board increase in benefits, and an additional 2% to be awarded on the basis of various groups achieving certain performance targets. The Administration called the portion of the salary increase based on group performance “gainshare.” The details of “gainshare” were to be presented to the Board by the Administration at the Board’s February 2022 workshop.
The faculty grievance document filed with Vice President Dr. Diane Ryan was not presented to the Governing Board at the November 16 meeting so the precise details of the grievance are unknown. However, Dr. Lisa Rhine made it clear to the Governing Board that the faculty would not agree to the “gainshare” portion involved in making faculty salary increases.
It should be noted that in October Board Representative Mitch Padilla had already asked the College to present comparative data regarding the use of the gainshare model at the February 2022 Board workshop. It should also be noted that a final decision on faculty increases is not made until May or June of 2022 when the Board finally votes on a full budget.
Dr. Rhine did not present an alternative faculty salary proposal to the Board at the November 16 meeting.
The overall discussion on the issue was not very clear at the November 16 meeting and the audio of that meeting is challenging. Some Board members (Chevalier and Kuknyo) appeared to favor continuing to include some portion of a faculty wage increase based on the experimental “gainshare” concept. Representative Sigafoos indicated he wanted to wait and see a concrete proposal before him on a future wage increase, if there were a suggested change from October, before making a final decision. Mitch Padilla had already indicated in October that he wanted more information about gainshare. Chair McCasland seemed somewhat unclear on her position although she reiterated her strong support of Dr. Rhine.
In the end, the Board voted to give Dr. Rhine full authority to rework the salary proposal and if necessary, bring a new salary proposal to the Board for its consideration. The Board also agreed to quickly meet to consider any future change to the salary recommendation made in October or to review a grievance should one reach the Board.
You may view a clip from the Community College’s stream of November 16 discussion regarding the salary increase by clicking on this link.
You may view a clip from the October 2021 discussion regarding the salary increase and an explanation of how gainshare works by clicking on this link.
Linda Evans, longtime Student Support Services TRIO Coordinator for the Yavapai Community College Verde Valley Campus, announced her retirement effective March 3. Evans is credited with helping thousands of students to successfully matriculate Yavapai Community College since the beginning of the TRIO program on the Verde Campus in 1997.
In an interview with reporter J.J. McCormack, Evans said that her leaving was a bitter-sweet departure from the “addictive quality of higher education.” It has been like working in a butterfly aviary, she told McCormack: “You’re working with all these men and women who are becoming – they’re growing and changing. It’s a neat thing to be able to watch.”
She also said that “I fell in love with the [TRIO advising] position. It involved tutoring, mentoring and working with students in a little more personal way.” Because TRIO advisors have a lighter advising load, it enables them to “delve a little deeper” into each student’s preferences and needs. “Some people are told all their lives that they can’t do math. Our college shows them that they can. Not only that, but that they can do it well.”
The Federal TRIO Programs (TRIO) are Federal outreach and student services programs designed to identify and provide services for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds. TRIO includes programs targeted to serve and assist low-income individuals, first-generation college students, and individuals with disabilities to progress through the academic pipeline from middle school to postbaccalaureate programs.
Most recently, August 2020, Yavapai Community College received a U.S. Department of Education TRIO grant in the amount of $2,417,615.00. The five-year award allowed the College to continue with the TRIO Student Support Services Program, which supports more than 300 students annually.
To read Yavapai Community College reporter J.J. McCormack’s great story about Ms. Evans, please go to https://www.yc.edu/v6/news/2021/02/linda-evans.html . Or, click here.
Yavapai Community College Professor Matt Pearcy has produced an outstanding short video that explains how vaccinations work. You may find it interesting. He has posted it on YouTube. However, because it might be challenging for some to find, you may view the video on the Blog post below or by going to YouTube by clicking here.
Several Yavapai Community College faculty including professors Kate Redmon, Andrew Winters and Sandy Van Lieu highlighted how they are using technology to enhance the potential for learning in their classrooms during the 2019 Faculty Showcase. The faculty presentations are available on-line at the College’s Youtube channel and should be explored by anyone interested in learning how faculty are creatively using technology at Yavapai Community College. (Go to College youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5s89VOW14XpNQay9_AHAZw.)
Professor Kate Redmon
Among the 2019 Showcase presenters was professor Kate Redmon. She credited developing a flexible approach to the use of classroom technology as increasing student success in her GED classes. “Students in their GED class are actually getting their GED” she said. “It used to be that they just struggled along a month of two and gave up and decided online was not their thing.” Now, because of her flexible approach to using a variety of hi-tech tools, she is seeing more students complete their GED.
Students in Professor Redmon’s class are given three options in choosing what hi-tech learning method is best for them. She says that some students never use her videos. They like the “on-line curriculum where they are just clicking buttons and going through and that’s all they ever do.” She says that she has other students who “hate the online curriculum and can’t learn that way and all they do are my videos,” which are collected by her in an extensive video library. She has a third group of students who “want to zoom with me and don’t want to do other things.” This involves live on-line discussions using Zoom propriety software where she and the students see and talk with each other interactively as a class. These students “don’t want to do other things,” she says. Professor Redmon considers the learning flexibility “beautiful.” To see Professor Redmon’s showcase presentation, please click here.
Professor Sandy Van Lieu
Professor Andrew Winters
Professor Sandy Van Lieu explained how she has developed open educational resources, which replaces the traditional casebook, in at least one honors class. This class uses free, available online resources (mostly literary works) instead of requiring students to purchase a textbook or workbook. The goal of is to reduce the cost of textbooks or eliminate their use where it is feasible to do so. Professor Van Lieu’s explanation of how she accomplished this in one class may be viewed by clicking here.
Professor Andrew Winters shared a series of techniques he now uses in his philosophy class to enhance the quality of online learning. He emphasized the value of online discussions among students in his class. As an aside, he also teaches students how to discover the “truth” of online news. To view his view his video explaining a variety of techniques he has developed for use in hi-tech classrooms, please click here.
There are other several other excellent faculty presentations posted on the youtube channel.