Five candidates are vying for three seats on the Copper Mountain College Board of Trustees. Managing editor Tami Roleff gives brief highlights of the candidates…
Greg Gilbert, Mary Lombardo and Dick Rogers are incumbents who are being challenged by Dr. Supinda Sirihekaphong, and Thomas Short. Lombardo and Rogers believe the biggest challenges facing the college are the COVID-19 pandemic and a lack of funding. Short also sees COVID-19 and the lack of computer access for some students as the major obstacle. Gilbert mentions those as well, but says the overarching challenge is sustaining passion for the success of each student. And Sirihekaphong says the college’s biggest challenge is the poverty of its students and listening to its diverse constituents.
Gilbert’s top priority is to advocate academic integrity. Lombardo says her top priorities are to promote career-technical education and a dual-enrollment program, and Rogers agrees, specifically mentioning programs in air-conditioning and solar. Short says the college needs more online and evening/weekend classes to help working students. Sirihekaphong would like to shorten the time it takes students to graduate.
The unedited responses from the candidates:
Greg Gilbert
1. Why are you running for election/re-election?
My 25 years at CMC and here in the Morongo Basin have created a record that I wish to build upon.
As a faculty Member:
- Founded the college’s academic senate to help safeguard the efficacy of our curriculum and ensure academic authority over courses and programs.
- Advised student government for three years of festivals, newsletters, and fundraisers because socially engaged students are more likely to remain in school and succeed.
- Founded Howl literary magazine (now 24 years) and The Copper Penny research journal (now 11 years), because publishing and editing develop real world skills, enhance resumes, and promote pride of accomplishment.
- Held bimonthly creative writing and reading groups, and hosted dozens of author events to nurture an atmosphere of literacy at CMC and throughout our community.
As a Local Educator:
- Conducted Program Quality Reviews at nine MUSD sites.
- Hosted a Writing Project course for CMC and MUSD teachers. Taught by CSUSB and UCR professors, the group created a writing portfolio system that was adopted by 500 local teachers and MUSD’s Beverly Willard. It was funded through a Writing Project grant with help from CMC’s foundation through the ever visionary leadership of Owen Gillick, predecessor of the indomintable Sandy Smith. No Child Left Behind arrived and the portfolio was DOA.
- At the request of local teachers, I was elected to the MUSD Board (2000-2004). During my presidency, teachers received the support that they requested and a long overdue raise (13% over three years).
In the Community:
- Five years service at the Joshua Tree National Park Association.
- Six years of editing and judging writing for the Morongo Basin Conservation Association.
- Four years working to establish a basin-wide bicycle path with CMC at its center. Through meetings at our County Supervisor’s office, we achieved a $200K grant to conduct a study, and now have a multi-million dollar Active Transportation Program award waiting our final preparations.
As an Education Professional:
- Served as an elected member of the Executive Committee of the State Academic Senate for California Community Colleges from 2003-2007.
- Served as Statewide Curriculum Chair and as Founded the State’s Accreditation Institute.
- Authored nearly two dozen papers designed to protect faculty authority, sabbatical rights, academic integrity, and accreditation management. Recently authored a paper that secured an additional $20 million in the Governor’s budget for hiring new faculty throughout California.
- 2012- Present – Council of Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) Taskforce, Washington DC, a 12 person committee of regional accreditors, college administrators, and professors that worked with the legislature on issues concerning the Higher Education Reauthorization Act.
CMC Board:
- Elected 2012, served as President twice.
- I’m a student advocate who embraces a community-wide approach to education. I’ve served on every presidential hiring committee since the retirement of Jim Pulliam, now having worked with six presidents.
- I am committed to our community, to genuine progress, and to CMC as a hub of positive energy in support of education, the arts, and our students’ short and long termed professional goals.
- Dual enrollments, job training, and a thriving partnership with MUSD have become local priorities.
2. What do you see as the biggest challenge/problem facing Copper Mountain College?
A short list might include COVID-19, staff size (small staff; too many hats), governmental regulations, too few social activities, a need for heightened cultural awareness, and far too little funding, among others. I could offer a compelling argument for each, but to select one overarching challenge, my answer is “sustained passion.”
I have worked to retain a founding phrase in CMC’s mission statement: “a passion for the success of every individual student.”
Passion is a commitment of the heart. It transcends “duty” or “compliance” and owns the playing field. The words “every individual student” argues against settling for averages and median figures.
While CMC navigates its problems, I salute the creativity and resilience of our staff, faculty, and administrators. Everyone is stretched to their limits, but to the extent that CMC can inspire and welcome creative thinking and an impassioned commitment to students, the college can do far more than survive; it can excel.
In brief, a passion for each student means that CMC strives to actively demonstrate awareness for individual cultural and social identities, to provide purposeful and engaging campus activities, and to strive to develop diversity in our workplace that reflects the demographics of our community.
3. What’s your top priority as a trustee?
Given the universal duties of trustees to be good stewards of the college’s finances and require that all employee groups, community members, and students feel encouraged to contribute to local decision making, my top priority is to push CMC to become the intellectual and artistic resource that our founders envisioned.
Over the past 10 years, I have advocated for CMC to actively promote academic integrity at the college and throughout the basin. To that end, we have library workshops open to everyone at CMC and throughout the community. We enforce academic integrity in all courses, and MUSD is partnering with us. Now my hope is that we can expand to local chambers and public agencies and proclaim in one voice that ethics and integrity matter through a basin-wide advocacy for bias free research and reputable sources.
4. If you could change anything (with a magic wand) what’s the one thing you would change about the college?
Zap! We would have a building as large as the Bell Center devoted to student and community activities. It would house a theater with a stage and workshop space, art classrooms, public and student galleries, an observatory (named for John White), a music room, a general activities center with pool tables and games, and dedicated offices for clubs and student council. The structure would house a community center with state of the art communications/broadcasting capabilities as well. The structure would rely on wind and/or solar energy, blend into our desert environment, and have private outdoor spaces that exemplify xeriscape gardens. I can dream, can’t I? We all can.
At the heart of this dream is why I founded Howl and The Copper Penny. It’s why the Foundation awarded me life-long membership and why the faculty made me emeritus. It’s why I contribute a portion of my Trustee salary to Howl, fund half of a student scholarship, and regularly contribute to Foundation fund raisers. I don’t just show up for meetings and respond to agendas. I’m an advocate for our students and our college!
Do you have a website or FB page? Email or phone number for people to contact you?
Go to https://www.facebook.com/greg.gilbert.180/
My email is [email protected]
Leave a message or an email, and I’ll get back to you.
Mary Lombardo
- Why are you running for election/re-election?
Eight years ago, I was first inspired to serve on the CMC Board of Trustees because of my admiration and close relationship with the tenacious students in my community who used my printer for homework, asked me for a ride to their SATs a few towns away, had me look over their completed college applications, sought internships offered at my dental office, were awarded the local college scholarships our family funded, and invited me to join them for their first day of freshman orientation at the college of their choice in central California. Eight years later, I continue to be inspired by our students and their dreams; as part of the Board, I make decisions and maintain a vision impacting many more lives and many more students than I could ever support alone. I want more for our community and for our students’ futures. Please let me continue the good work we are doing by re-electing me in November.
- What do you see as the biggest challenge/problem facing Copper Mountain College?
The COVID-19 pandemic is the most immediate challenge we face going forward. We have found ongoing, viable solutions for continuing to offer accessible quality education in ways that will protect the safety and health of our staff and students according to official recommendations. What we need is continued flexibility to meet the needs of our students in this ever-changing environment. Also, due to the widespread negative financial and economic impact of the pandemic, we anticipate a reduction in funding from the state. Fortunately, as part of my time on the board, we responsibly instituted a required 10% reserve policy to sustain CMC and our students’ educational futures during difficult and uncertain times, just like these.
- What’s your top priority as a trustee?
These are my areas of interest and advocacy I bring to the table:
- Promoting Career Technical Education (CTE) to involve students in cultivating specific job training and transferrable, practical career skills
- Furthering our Dual-enrollment Program, allowing high school students better access to higher education with college courses taking place on their schools’ campuses
- Making the hard decisions to identify and address the obstacles our students face on their paths towards achieving their goals while ensuring the financial stability and sustainability of the college’s future.
Also, with eight years of experience in the CMC boardroom, I have learned that it is not a single agenda that earns priority, but with passionate discussion from all five dedicated board members, we develop a direction–a vision–with specific goals for CMC and we work at accomplishing these goals for the benefit of the district and our community. Therefore, all our goals are of equal priority because of who they seek to benefit.
4. If you could change anything (with a magic wand) what’s the one thing you would change about the college?
More money!! With a magic wand granting more funding and major donations to our Foundation some items on my wishlist would be:
- Constructing an amphitheater able to seat 200 students or teachers for popular courses and then opening this lecture hall for guest speakers and the public.
- Broaden our Career Technical Education to include diverse fields and programs
- Expand CMC sports—adding volleyball and soccer programs!
My email for people to reach me at is: [email protected] and my phone number is: 760-228-1353.
Dick Rogers
1. Why are you running for election/re-election?
I am running for the Board of Trustees of Copper Mountain College to make sure the students of the Morongo Basin have success at the College. I have many years of experience in the community college system including psychology instruction, counselor, director of student services including financial aid, and director of programs on the Marine Base for Copper Mtn. College. I am proud of CMC and have had two of my children graduate from CMC.
2. What do you see as the biggest challenge/problem facing Copper Mountain College?
The greatest challenge at this juncture is providing education during this pandemic. Funding of the college systems in California is very concerning since the State is at lest 54 billion in deficit spending, which makes it incumbent that we be fiscally conservative in the management of the college.
3. What’s your top priority as a trustee?
My top priority is student success and providing adequate financial aid to allow our students to succeed. We can hopefully continue to provide transportation through our college foundation at little or no cost to our students.
4. If you could change anything (with a magic wand) what’s the one thing you would change about the college?
I would like to provide additional vocational programs at the college. We now have a great program in the nursing field, automotive, criminal justice, accounting and computer science. I would like to offer a program in air conditioning, which could provide jobs both in the basin and the low desert. This would also be available to our Marines who will be returning to their homes across the country. I would also like to explore occupational training in the solar are.
Thomas Short
1. Why are you running for election/re-election?
Throughout my life I have always found value in service to one’s community and country. When I was 18, I enlisted in the Marine Corps and dedicated 12 years (5 years reserves, 7 years active) of my life to serving my country. I took the time to volunteer for Toys for Tots, serving on color guards, funeral details, coordinating food bank runs, and other services to the community I served. I want to know that everywhere I go, I have helped the community and I would like to continue that service into my civilian life. When I think about my life, I look at how fortunate I have been for the opportunities I have been given. When I was in high school, I was able to attend a local community college and learn a trade. I was able to start working right out of high school, this program opened so many doors for me. I have seen firsthand how community colleges can change people’s lives for the better and I want the same opportunities for every member of this community.
I know that I can really make a difference at Copper Mountain College and I understand the importance of getting a higher education and the impact it can have on someone’s life. Not only have I been to community college and university but I earned 2 bachelor’s degrees while taking care of my son who was diagnosed with autism. So, I understand the difficulty students face when trying to get an education, trying to find a balance between your work life, your family, and education can be challenging. I want to serve our community to the best of my ability because I truly care about it, I have family that has lived here for generations, this is the community I want to raise my children in and I want to help it grow. I believe that I would be a great fit for this position because of my background as a project manager, which falls perfectly in line with the duties of the board, and because of the leadership and decision-making skills I learned through my service in the Marine Corps. I have the skills and experience needed to take on this role.
2. What do you see as the biggest challenge/problem facing Copper Mountain College?
Right now, I would say it’s COVID-19. This pandemic has exacerbated other issues, such as the achievement gap, by forcing students to study from home, when they may not have the appropriate technology to adequately study. Such as laptops/computers, webcams, or access to Wi-Fi. The resources that have aided them in the past may no longer be available due to COVID restrictions. So there has been a drastic increase in students who are unable to continue their education, which is no fault to the current board.
Asides from the pandemic I believe the biggest issue is the time it’s taking for students to get their degree. I have seen multiple sources which demonstrate that only 23 to 28 percent of students graduate within 150% of the expected course duration, this is well below state and national averages.
3. What’s your top priority as a trustee?
I think the school needs to be more flexible in their classes, this means more online classes and or weekend/night school. The majority of students drop out because of conflicts with family, work, or just life in general and having a rigid schedule forces them to make tough decisions and more often than not people choose work and family over their education. If they have alternatives to in-class options or classes outside of normal working hours, I think we would see an increase in the number of students graduating within the expected time to complete the course. So, making the school more versatile in how and when students attend classes will be my top priority as a trustee.
I believe this will also increase the number of enrollments from working-class adults and active military members. Both of them have been on the decline in recent years. Military base enrollments have dropped 45% since 2015. I know that this is a nation-wide trend but being next to one of the largest bases in the nation this trend shouldn’t be so prevalent. Active service members have a program called tuition assistance they can use while serving on active duty. If they don’t use this program it is gone once, they leave active duty. If they use this and get a degree it makes it so much easier to get advanced degrees once they leave active duty, using the GI Bill. I was able to do this when I left active duty and got 2 bachelor’s degrees. By not offering flexible scheduling military members must seek other options to use this benefit.
4. If you could change anything (with a magic wand) what’s the one thing you would change about the college?
Increase the school’s budget. Many of the issues with CMC and also all schools in California is a low budget. Currently California ranks 41st in school funding, which means that schools are having to work magic to make their budgets stretch. But since magic wands don’t exist the next best thing is to get people on the board that knows how to do more with less. I served for 12 years in the least funded branch of the military, I served as a Utilities Chief and know how to make the most out of so little.
My campaign’s Facebook page can be found here https://www.facebook.com/T.Thomas.Short
I can also be contacted via email [email protected], I will always respond to honest questions from citizens and will address their concerns when possible.
And my Crowdpac can be found here, which is serving as my website. https://www.crowdpac.com/campaigns/395695/t-thomas-short
Supinda Sirihekaphong
1. Why are you running for election/re-election?
I’m running for CMC Board of Trustees, because I’d like to utilize my 20+ years in higher education and nonprofit fundraising to contribute to my community. The Morongo Basin is a vibrant community. However, not everyone reaps the benefit of living in the area and I’d like to expand opportunities to every resident of the Morongo Basin.
I worked at a similar community college for five years in the Northern CA, as a Program Director and have been in higher education for 10 years altogether. I have a Doctorate of Educational Leadership from San Francisco State University, focused on public education and social justice. So I understand both the opportunities and challenges of the day-to-day operations of a college and big picture mandates/programs/initiatives from Sacramento. My Master’s degree is in Nonprofit Management and
I was a fundraiser for various nonprofits both as a volunteer consultant and full-time staff member. I understand that there have been no challengers in previous elections, so not only do I offer my experience and knowledge in the CA community college system, but I also offer a fresh perspective and want to explore how the college can be a stronger partner in making sure that the economic development of our community benefits everyone and doesn’t leave anyone behind.
2. What do you see as the biggest challenge/problem facing Copper Mountain College?
I’m not sure what the biggest challenge/problem facing CMC, but I do see poverty in the community and I see constituents not being heard by some elected officials. I think CMC can play an important role in helping the community and its residents have a good chance of upward economic mobility by enhancing and expanding their skills and knowledge, so they can make a positive contribution to our community.
It is the responsibility of elected officials to listen to all constituents regardless of their race, class, gender, housing and financial situation and sexual orientation. As a candidate, I’ve been trying to reach the entire spectrum of our diverse population and find out if there are any unmet needs. If elected, I’d like to continue to explore and collaborate with the community on issues that is currently not being met, so that every resident can prosper and feel like a contributing member of our community.
3. What’s your top priority as a trustee?
My top priority in the first 6 months to a year is to understand what are the needs of the community and the college. Then I’d like to work with the college and community to explore ways to improve our offerings and positively impact the lives of community members. Based on the data that I’ve gathered so far, I’d like to explore ways to shorten the completion rate from an average of 6 years to 2-3 years, strengthen our connection to K-12 schools to ease the transition to college and create a college-going culture and partner with local businesses to provide opportunities to improve our economy.
4. If you could change anything (with a magic wand) what’s the one thing you would change about the college?
Since a magic wand is involved, maybe the college can download data into each student’s brain and facilitate conversations that develop critical thinking skills! But on a serious note, I see change as a process but if a spontaneous change were to happen, I’d eliminate any obstacles, whether they be financial or bureaucratic to anyone who wants to take classes at CMC to complete their educational goal within their own timeline.
Do you have a website or FB page? Email or phone number for people to contact you?
For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/supindasiri4cmccdtrustee or crowdpac.com/c/drsupinda4cmccdtrustee or email [email protected].
