Focus

ROXBURY COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Focus

December 1989

President's Message:

DECEMBER 1989

3 Academic Excellence at
Roxbury Community College

4 Profiles: Faculty Assembly
leaders Dr. Raymond Turner
and Dr. Kyrsis Rodriguez

5 What is Workplace Literacy
Education?

5 Dean Hazel Bright Addresses
"Challenges for the 90s"

6 "FOCUS on the News"

• New Vice Presidents to begin
in January 1990

• Francina Gelzer Scholarship

• R.C.C. Employees Honored

• The Express & Expressettes
begin 89-90 season

(Cover Photo: Artist John Wilson
has been commissioned to place a
sculpture on Roxbury Community
College's campus. Installation will
be completed during 1 990.)

Roxbury Community College

Focus

The Focus is a monthly publication
of Roxbury Community College.

Notices, news and items for
publication should be submitted to the
President's Office, Room 304, Roxbury
Community College, 1234 Columbus
Avenue, Roxbury Crossing, MA 02120.
(617)541-5301.

Editor: Ricardo Guthrie;

Staff Writer: Aya de Leon.

(Photo: Angel Amy-Moreno)

Greetings to all students,
faculty, staff and friends
of Roxbury Community
College who have been longterm
supporters of the school. This
year, we need your help and
commitment as we've never needed
it before.

These are not the easiest of
times for RCC, but I know without
a doubt that we have all the ele-
ments of an outstanding commu-
nity college, and with commitment,
we will be able to make academic
excellence an unquestionable
reality here at Roxbury Commu-
nity College. Throughout the
coming months, I would just like
to stress the importance of keeping
our eyes on that goal. Certainly
our circumstances have not made
it easy, but in the face of adversity
from outside our halls, it is impor-
tant that we turn inward, and take
care of what needs to be taken
care of here on our campus.

We know Roxbury Community
College students deserve our
best— and we have so much to
give. The qualifications of our staff
are impressive; the credentials of
our faculty are outstanding. I
believe in this College. I know the
potential is here. Why else would I
have taken this job, despite all of
the warnings of the naysayers?
When Thomas F. Welch, Chairman
of the RCC Board of Trustees,
called me and offered me this job, I
said "I accept," prior to discussing
terms or salary. I took this job

because I wanted the opportunity
to work with all of you: students,
faculty, staff, and community
members to bring Roxbury Com-
munity College to its rightful place
in higher education. I know
many of you already give 100% to
this job; but we've all got to be
committed.

I have worked all semester
seeking support from the commu-
nity at-large, and I am feeling now
that we are at a point where we
will make a breakthrough. The
initial response from our legislative
representatives is encouraging; the
response from private industry is
also favorable, and I am confident
that more supporters of Roxbury
Community College are out there
waiting to be identified. We at the
College need to do more in order to
turn the promises of support into
concrete resources— the future of
our institution demands it. We
have to fend off financial woes
while continually improving the
operation of the College. I am
asking everyone who knows the
historic mission of the College to
redouble their efforts to drum up
support. Let's change the news
that's being written; let's trumpet
the success stories that are yet to
be told, and let's make our voices
heard up at the State House and
in the streets. There's much to be
proud about at RCC, but if we let
others tell our story then our real
potential will continue to go unre-
alized. And that's part of the
reason why the Focus has been
produced, and only part of what
we as a College community have to
offer to the watching and waiting
residents of our neighborhoods.
Let's spread the news: "It's a new
day at RCC."

Where there's a will, there's a
way. If we are all willing to work
together, we will succeed.

I recall, recently, a visitor to
Roxbury Community College
remarked to me, "What an impres-
sive campus."

I replied, "Just wait until you
see what's going on inside."

Join with me. I know we can
make it work.

. Since

kbit*

Sincerely,

Walter C. Howard
President

I ■

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r ",!•,

Forum Measures Academic Excellence

On Wednesday and Thurs-
day evenings, November 1
and 2, the College held a
public forum entitled Academic
Excellence: Where We Are, and
Where We Must Go.

The purpose of the forum was
to determine the current state of
preparedness of RCC graduates.
The forum was designed to provide
feedback on the development of
systems to ensure the prepared-
ness of all RoxburyCommunity
College graduates to enter the
workplace and the academic
arena.

During the forum, employers,
business community leaders,
administrators of transfer colleges
and universities, former Roxbury
Community College students, and
others presented their views on the
skills and training of Roxbury
Community College graduates to a
panel of educators and community
leaders. Panelists included Melvin
King, Professor of Urban Studies
and Planning, and Director of the
Community Fellows Program at
MIT; Sharon McDade, Director of
the Institute for Educational Man-
agement at Harvard; Luis Prado,
Executive Director of La Alianza

Hispana; Thomas F. Welch, Presi-
dent of Thomas F. Welch Associ-
ates; Dr. John Grady, Professor at
Wheaton College; Dr. Kyrsis Rodri-
guez, Associate Professor at RCC,
and Dr. Raymond Turner, Assis-
tant Professor at RCC; as well as
Dr. William B. D. Thompson,
former Acting President. President
Walter C. Howard acted as mod-
erator.

Speakers addressed the panel
on matters related to the following
questions: How well do RCC
graduates perform in the colleges
and universities to which they
transferred? How well do they
perform the jobs they receive after
graduating from Roxbury Commu-
nity College?

Both evenings were well- at-
tended by students, faculty, ad-
ministrators, and members of the
greater community. While a
number of businesses were in at-
tendance, there was a more com-
prehensive response from RCC
alumni who had transferred, and
the college administrators. The
following schools were represented
at the forum: UMass Boston,
Wheelock College, Suffolk Univer-
sity, Wellesley College, Smith

College, Simmons College, Salem
State College, Boston University,
and Wentworth Technical Insti-
tute. While the majority of the
feedback was positive, there were
specific areas of weakness that
were identified by the speakers.
One alumna noted that her prepa-
ration in Spanish was inadequate,
and another graduate stated that
many of his technical credits were
not transferrable. On several
occasions, speakers remarked that
math, science and writing skills
needed to be strengthened.

"I think it was a good begin-
ning," remarked Florence Miller,
an RCC alumna who spoke during
the forum, "We needed to have
something like that a long time
ago. I think our new President is
working hard to get things to-
gether."

"I think the forum went very
well," Dr. Howard said afterward.
"We heard what we are doing well,
and what needs work. This was
the easy part; now we have to roll
up our sleeves and go to work.
But I was pleased that so much of
the feedback was positive. I am
confident that this faculty has the
tools to make the adjustments that
will make RCC the excellent
college it can be."

Raymond Turner sets high goals for self and students

By Aya de Leon
Staff Writer

"He's always pushing and helping
students to understand what he's
trying to teach."

"He motivates us into learning more
about science. "

The preceding comments were
written by students on an anony-
mous evaluation form for General
Science, an introductory course
taught by Dr. Raymond Turner,
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
and Mathematics at RCC, and
current Co-Chair of the Faculty
Assembly.

"I believe in accomplishing
whatever mission I set out to... I
have always set and tried to main-
tain high standards." Throughout
his life. Prof. Turner has set high
standards for himself. He received

his Bachelor of Science degree in
Chemistry from Brooklyn College
in New York in 1974, and his
Masters in Chemistry from
Fordham University in 1982.
While studying at Fordham, he
was a Research Worker at the
Columbia University Department
of Biochemistry, and a Senior
Research Technician at Cornell
University Medical College.

After graduating from Fordham,
he received a full-time teaching
and research fellowship to Poly-
technic University in New York,
where he received a second Mas-
ters and a Ph.D. also in the field of
chemistry in 1986. In 1987, he
began a post-doctoral fellowship at
the Department of Nutrition in the
School of Public Health at Har-
vard, and during that same period,
he began teaching at RCC.

"I like teaching because it gives
one a chance to influence people
in a positive way. Students,

Turner

particularly traditionally excluded
people, need positive role models,
people they can look up to."

"People who have succeeded
can come back to them and say
'let me show you how'.... I try to
provide them with the tools to be

(Please see Turner, page 7)

Kyrsis Rodriguez challenges students to think critically

By Aya de Leon
Staff Writer

Rodriguez

"At the end of this semester you
will have been exposed to organ-
isms you never knew existed and
will rediscover others that you
never paid much attention to. I
hope that this part of the journey
makes you keenly aware of the
world around you and develops in
you a responsible perspective on
the importance of every organism
that shares this planet with us. "

The introduction to Dr. Kyrsis
Rodriguez's syllabus for General
Biology I promises an exciting,
challenging course; the syllabus
also reflects Dr. Rodriguez's fasci-
nation with biology, her passion
for teaching, her commitment to
her students, and her love for the
planet.

Dr. Rodriguez, born and raised
in Puerto Rico, received her Bache-
lor and Master of Science degrees
in Biology from the University of
Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras, in 1970
and 1974. "In Puerto Rico," she
explained, "It's very common for
women to pursue careers in
science and medicine." It was not
until she came to Massachusetts
in 1972 for a six week course at
Woods Hole, that she found that
"the majority of the scientists were
male, and the majority of people
doing research were male."
Undaunted, she completed her
Ph.D. in Plant Anatomy and Physi-
ology at the University of Missouri
at Columbia in 1982.

She came to Roxbury Commu-
nity College in 1983, and was pro-
moted from Assistant to Associate
Professor in 1987. "I love teach-

ing," she explains. "Teaching is
not a comprehensive enough
word— I see myself as a learner
also. I learn something new every
semester. The reason I am in the
classroom is to share what I know
with [students], with the under-
standing that they will share what
they know with me. So we are
both supposed to be teaching and
learning.... It's a very exciting
process." The rich cultural and
racial atmosphere at RCC makes
teaching exciting for Dr. Ro-
driguez: "It is a challenge in the
sense that every culture has its
own ideas and its own way of
looking at things. It teaches you
to look at things in so many
different ways that it gives you a
perspective on things that you
probably cannot get someplace
else."

She has also worked to make
science and math more accessible
to the Latino community at RCC
by teaching courses in Spanish,
developing curriculum, and teach-
ing: Science Workshop for Bilin-
gual Students , an intensive four-
week course in the ESL depart-

(Please see Rodriguez, page 7)

What is Workplace Literacy Education?

A recent survey in Massachu-
setts has found some
surprising answers to the
question: "What is workplace
literacy education?"

Conducted by David Rosen,
Roxbury Community College's
Adult Literacy Resource Institute
director and Cerci Kale, director of
the Boston Workplace Education
Collaborative at RCC, the survey
reflected the concerns of 27
workplace literacy programs in
Massachusetts (a 64% response
rate). The survey revealed that
employer-centered needs and
goals— such as increased job
accuracy and productivity, em-
ployee retention and promotion, or
decreased accident rates— are only
part of what most Massachusetts
programs try to achieve.

Kale and Rosen found that
nearly all Massachusetts
workplace education programs
teach basic skills required in the
context of job tasks. However,
these programs also include basic
skills needed for other life tasks:
applying for citizenship, knowing
one's rights and responsibilities as
an immigrant, home safety, com-
municating verbally and in writing

with childrens' teachers, and other
"life skills."

Most respondents said their
programs should be evaluated
using additional measures such as
changes in levels of basic skills,
qualitative and quantitative meas-
ures of increase in self-esteem,
increased problem- solving skills,
entrance into GED programs or
citizenship classes, ability to func-
tion in one's neighborhood or com-
munity, and learner satisfaction
with classes.

Respondents stated that defini-
tions of workplace literacy must
recognize that many programs
serve limited English-speaking
adults who need both generic and
job-specific ESL. They also urged
the continued involvement of
organized labor. The concern of
unions with rights and responsi-
bilities of workers must be com-
bined with attention to quality of
life issues.

A narrow definition of work-
place literacy education was
largely rejected by respondents in
favor of elevating student/worker
interests and goals through this
field of education. Union and

employer interests that view liter-
acy as education rather than as
merely prerequisite training for
one's job are critical. Such a
definition would include basic
skills which lead to promotions
and better jobs, as well as to
increased communication, critical
thinking, and problem solving
skills on the job and in the rest of
the worker's life.

Copies of the survey are avail-
able from Dr. David J. Rosen, at
the Adult Literacy Resource Insti-
tute, 241 St. Botolph St., Boston,
424-7947.

Dean Bright addresses
"Challenges for the 90s"

"A challenge is an opportunity in disguise. We
have before us the rich opportunity, well-hidden
though it may be, to reverse the prospect of a future
of poverty and hopelessness for thousands of inner
city children, their families and communities, and in
the end, our society. We can be the ones to provide
the personnel who will make the difference in retain-
ing corporations in the Northeast who will rebuild the
faltering economy. We can be the ones to augment
the dreadful shortage of AHANA [African-American,
Hispanic, Asian, Native American] teachers, scien-
tists, engineers, and people of medicine. We can be
the ones to spur the renewed vitality of our educa-
tional institutions, make them more responsive to
non-traditional students and in the process more
responsive to all students. We can be the ones to
save our colleges. "

These were the closing remarks of an address by
Hazel Bright, RCC Dean of Student Development and
Campus Life, entitled "Challenges for the 90s." Dean
Bright was the keynote speaker at the opening ses-
sion of the 42nd Annual Meeting of the new England
Association of College Registrars and Admissions
Officers held November 9, in Sturbridge, Mass.

Dean Hazel Bright addresses Commencement, 1988

5

FOCUS on the News

Fiscal Affairs VP and
Academic Affairs VP
begin in January 1990

Barbara Logan-Stamps was
recently selected as the VP for
Fiscal Affairs and will begin work
January 2, 1990. Ms. Logan-
Stamps brings 10 years of corpo-
rate experience to the College.
Most recently with the Boston
Company, she holds a Masters in
Administration (1980) and a
Masters in Education (1978) from
Brooklyn College. Dr. Alan Shep-
pard, a Professor at Fort Valley
State College in Georgia, was VP
for Academic Affairs at Fort Valley
State from 1987 to 1989. He
received his Ph.D. from Ohio State
University in 1971, and will as-
sume his new post January 16th.

Roberts elected
Student Trustee

In October, Darren C. Roberts
was elected as the student repre-
sentative to the RCC Board of
Trustees by the Student Govern-
ment Association, of which he is
treasurer. Born in Trinidad, now
living in Dorchester, Roberts
entered RCC in the Spring of 1988,
interested in the field of Account-
ing. He is an accounting tutor in
the Teaching Learning Center, and
is committed to representing
student concerns: "It is important
for me to know how our students
feel about issues on campus so I
can act accordingly."

DeJesus

McGrann

Employees Honored by
the Commonwealth

In September,
Dean Jose de Jesus
and Dean John
McGrann were hon-
ored by the Com-
monwealth of Mass.
Employee's Cam-
paign (COMEC).

Dr. Walter Howard
was in attendance
as the CEO repre-
sentative of RCC.
L. Edward Lash-
man, Jr., Secretary
of Administration
and Finance and
1989 Chair of
COMEC, presented
plaques to deJesiis
and McGrann, in recognition of
their efforts to raise funds for the
1988 COMEC campaign. Last
year, de Jesus and McGrann led
the fundraising effort at RCC,
which raised $7,538, almost twice
the amount of the previous year.
All of the funds raised were sent to
charities in the Boston area.

"Pride in Performance"

Last September, three RCC em-
ployees were honored for dedicated
service to the Commonwealth.
Gail Cody, Jose de Jesus, and
Betty Hillmon were awarded
certificates and engraved marble
desk plates during the annual
"Pride in Performance" banquet,
which was held at the Park Plaza
Hotel. "It is important that we

The R.C.C. Express & Expressettes
began the 89-90 basketball season
in winning form. Home games are
held at the Shelburne Recreation
Center, 2730 Washington Street,
Roxbury. Pictured at left, the
EXPRESSETTES (back row): Kathy
Grannum, Zobeida Lopez, Shawna
Hicks, Whitney Granger; (front)
Mandell Perryman, Jemma Owens,
Pamela Hale, Samedi Morris. At
right, the EXPRESS (back row):
Dana Fisher, Benny Bowers, Chris
Beach and Dave Foy; (front): Steve
Nicholson, Greg Jackson and Edell
Howard. (Photos: Abdul Sadik)

6

celebrate who we are and what we
do," said Governor Dukakis, who
was the keynote speaker. "You are
the people that are making a dif-
ference in the lives of our citizens,"
he added.

Gelzer Scholarship
Established

Early in the fall, Francina E.
(Copeland) Gelzer was honored at
the Harriet Tubman House, which
celebrated her twenty-five years of
dedicated service as a librarian.
The reception was held on her
birthday and an announcement
was made that a scholarship will
be established in her name in con-
junction with Roxbury Community
College.

Francina Gelzer has been the
branch librarian of the Dudley
Branch Library and has served as
the district supervisor of seven
other branch libraries since 1978.
She began her career as a chil-
dren's librarian at the North End
Branch, after receiving her mas-
ter's degree in library science from
Suffolk University. "I can't remem-
ber a time since I was in my teens
that I did not visualize being a
librarian," explained Gelzer, "I just
always wanted to be one."

The celebration and "Commu-
nity Salute" came as a complete
surprise to Mrs. Gelzer, who
retired on June 30 of this year. "I
was overwhelmed," recalls Gelzer,
"I don't think I can ever capture in
words what the whole affair meant
to me."

(Please see Gelzer, page 7)

\

f » I

Rodriguez...

(Continued from page 4)

ment, and translating Biology and
Basic Math materials into Span-
ish.

In addition, she is active in the
Science Department and in the
RCC community as Department
Chairperson-elect for 1990, and is
currently Co- Chair of the Faculty
Assembly.

She uses a multi-faceted ap-
proach in the classroom: "I don't
just go in there and teach biology.
I also have to teach them ethics,
critical thinking, how to relate to
each other, how to relate to their
society, how to question authority
without being abrasive. I ask
them to challenge me. By doing
that, I am teaching them how to
challenge authority in a respectful
and positive way.

"And that has nothing to do
with biology— but they're going to
need it when they go out there."

She explains that the method
she uses for conducting her

classes is a lecture /discussion
format. There is a lecture," she
says, "but the lecture emanates
from the answers of the students."
She explains that when a student
asks a question, she insists on
using a dynamic process to arrive
at the answer. "When the student
asks me a question, I ask ques-
tions of the student until I get the
answer from the student."
Through this interaction, she
explains, the answer is not just a
fact to be written down, but the
result of a process of which the
student is a part, and the student
knows that he or she had the
answer all along.

While her pedagogy is at times
nurturing and inclusive, she also
has a tougher side. She chal-
lenges her students to think criti-
cally, to have opinions, and to
express them. "You don't have to
agree with me all the time," she
tells her students, "If we all agreed
all the time, then life would be very
boring. But if you're going to
disagree... you have got to learn

how to present your argument in a
coherent manner. If not, I'm going
to kill your argument."

She stresses critical thinking
skills through various methods.
She explains that she will often
ask students to write papers on
controversial, science-related
topics, and asks that for the final
part of the paper, they state their
opinion. "I make it very clear that
they are not graded on what their
opinion is, but how well they
support it. I want them to take a
stand on abortion, AIDS, lead
poisoning, nuclear waste, environ-
mental issues, birth control— give
me your opinion and defend it— in
other words, have an intelligent
opinion." She also asks them to
give a presentation to the class on
a topic, after which they are
questioned by the professor and
the other students.

"They have this panic, absolute
panic, about talking in public,
but... at the end of the semester,
they are more confident."

Turner...

(Continued from page 4)

successful. . . . Unfortunately, many
highly educated people of color do
not come back and give back to
the community."

Dr. Raymond Turner was born
in Mt. Hermon, a Black commu-
nity in Portsmouth, Virginia. He
explains that it was "one of the few
historically Black neighborhoods
that has traditionally been Black
controlled," and that his Carib-

bean-born grandfather was one of
the original founders.

After graduating from high
school, he volunteered for the
military and served as an infantry
soldier in Viet Nam. He was
honorably discharged, and is
currently a captain in the Medical
Service Corps of the U.S. Army
reserve. He has a permanent
appointment to the Walter Reed
Army Institute of Research in
Washington D.C., as the Assistant

Chief of Biochemistry in the Dept.
of Molecular Pharmacology.

Perhaps what is most impres-
sive about Ray Turner is the fact
that he is able to be effective in a
classroom where students are not
expected to have any previous
background in science.

"I believe that students at RCC
have hidden potential. When stu-
dents come with poor grades from
high school... I convince them that
people were wrong about them."

Roxbury Community College
Board of Trustees

Mr. Thomas F. Welch, Chairman

Ms. Eleanor Acheson

Mr. Leon Brathwaite, Sr.

Mr. Guy Denlzard

Ms. Kay Gomez-Young

Dr. John Grady

Ms. Deborah Jackson

Dr. Irene Nichols

Mr. Luis Prado

Mr. Darren Roberts

Dr. Walter C. Howard
President

Gelzer...

(Continued from page 6)

Barbara Elam, Co-Chair of the
Gelzer Community Salute Commit-
tee explains that "Frankie's [Mrs.
Gelzer' s] rock bottom commitment
was to the young people of this
community." During her 25 years
of service, Gelzer worked to ensure
that the library was a vital com-
munity resource. She feels that
the library can be an important re-
source for youth: "I'd rather have
them comfortable in the library
than out on the streets."

The Francina E. Gelzer Scholar-
ship at RCC was established by
the Gelzer Community Salute
Committee, made up of friends
and colleagues of Mrs. Gelzer,

including Mrs. Pearl Mosley, who
works in the RCC Learning Re-
source Center. Given the mission
of the College, "RCC was the place
for the scholarship to be," said
Mrs. Mosley. She and the other
committee members were willing
to donate their time and money to
the scholarship in Mrs. Gelzer's
name. "These people came read-
ily," Barbara Elam explained, "out
of the love and respect they had
for Frankie [Mrs. Gelzer]. Every-
body wanted to help."

Approximately five thousand
dollars will be awarded each year.
Details of the scholarship will be
finalized through the RCC Founda-
tion.

Faculty member David
Coleman and Stacy
Lee Simmons recreate a
scene from the Roxbury
Outreach Shakespeare
Experience's recent pro-
duction, "Macbeth," which
was performed at Lowell
University November 30 -
December 2, and at the
Strand Theatre in
Dorchester, on December 7.
The Roxbury Outreach
Shakespeare Experience
(R.O.S.E.) is co-sponsored
by Roxbury Community
College and features
students and community
residents in its perform-
ances.

(Photo: Kippy Goldfarb)

Focus

Roxbury Community College

1234 Columbus Avenue
Roxbury Crossing, MA 02120

Address Correction Requested