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SPRING 2009
Cuesta Colle e News
Connecting
c u e s ta C o l l e g e t o t h e C o m m u n i t y
g
n
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a
Celebr e
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Exc
Special
Alumni
Edition
San Luis Obispo
North County
1964 1998
N e w p a r t n e rs h ip d e l i v e rs a t C u e s t a 3
W h at ’ s n e w o n c a m p u s 2 1
A w a r d w inn e rs 2 2
Cuesta College News
Spring 2009
Cuesta College News is published
three times a year by Advancement
From humble beginnings,
a dream is realized
Cuesta College, P.O. Box 8106
San Luis Obispo, CA 93403-8106
(805) 546-3100
cuesta.edu
Executive Editor
June Stephens
Editors
Stephan Gunsaulus,
Jill Ivie, Jay Thompson
Writers
June Stephens, Stephan Gunsaulus,
Jill Ivie, Jay Thompson
Photography
Jill Ivie, Jay Thompson
Art Direction/Design
Lana Rauch, Mary Ellen Bohnsack
San Luis Obispo County Community
College District Board of Trustees
Special
Alumni
Edition
Patrick Mullen, President
Angela Mitchell, Vice President
Gaye Galvan
Marie Kiersch
Per Mathiesen
Joe Vanherweg, Student Trustee
A message from June Stephens,
Executive Director, Advancement
Contents
2
Message from Director
3
In the News
4
Emeritus Presidents
4
Cuesta Through the Years
8
Alumni Staff and Faculty
10
Foundation Annual Awards
12
Photos Through the Years
14
Buildings Through the Years
16
Student Success
17
Athlete Alums
18
Alumni News
19
Foundation Awardees
20
Business and Community Alums
21
Campus Projects
22
Awards at Cuesta
23 Cuesta Athletics
2
• SPRING 2009
Cuesta college News
This issue is dedicated to those who
created, participated in, and continue to
advance Cuesta’s legacy of excellence.
T
his edition is dedicated to
former students, faculty,
staff, and community members,
who think of Cuesta College as
myCuesta, our College.
At Cuesta College, May is
Alumni Month. Cuesta College’s
Board of Trustees designated
it as such in recognition of the
contributions of thousands of
June in 1971 and today.
former Cuesta students, faculty
and staff members who contributed to the growth and
strength of our college over the past 45 years.
“Cuesta College’s alumni are an integral part of maintaining our college’s history and leading the district’s progressive move into the future,” the trustees said in a special
resolution adopted February 7, 2007.
Cuesta’s history began in the spring of 1963 when San
Luis Obispo County voters agreed to create a junior college
district out of the five local high school districts. The new
San Luis Obispo County Junior College District was
officially launched July 1, 1964.
The college’s first superintendent/president, Merlin
Eisenbise, was joined by longtime friend Frank Martinez,
and George McGinnis — a trio of administrators who
transformed the concept of a two-year college from papers
in a cardboard box and dreams in the minds of many into
a campus located midway between San Luis Obispo and
Morro Bay on the site of a military base.
Wood-framed barracks and livestock gave way over the
years to a 160-acre park-like campus with white buildings
and red-tile roofs reflecting the community’s early Spanish
heritage.
Just over 900 students walked the red-rocked pathways
when the first daytime classes began at the college in
1965 — even before the school had a name or its students
had selected a mascot. Today, Cuesta is home to more than
13,000 students on its main campus, the Paso Robles
campus, which opened for classes in 1998, and at South
County Centers in Arroyo Grande and Nipomo.
It is a pleasure to be a part of the magnificent history
of Cuesta College and to live in a county of generous
community members, who are committed to and support
higher education.
In the News
Robert and Rose Lane, longtime Cuesta friends
When Robert and Rose Lane retired to Morro Bay after leaving Hollywood in
1979, they weren’t attracted by Morro Rock and the city’s windswept beaches,
“Cuesta College was really what brought us here,” recalled Robert Lane, who contributed $100,000 to Cuesta College Foundation to establish the Rose and Robert
Lane Music Endowment. “No matter where we were, we always kept going to some
kind of extension courses, and we spotted Cuesta College. So we stopped in and
looked at what they had to offer and said this is the place for us.”
Lane, who met his late wife in his freshman year at UCLA in 1938, is a lifelong
learner who obtained an electrical engineering degree. But his educational life, like
his career, was never planned.
“I’ve got certificates from Rutgers, USC, UCLA,” the 88-year-old said.
“Wherever I’m at, I take courses.”
He and his wife built houses after the war. The couple eventually moved to Palm
Springs, where Bob found himself transitioning into a new career: comedy writing.
Frank Bogart, a colorful character, was mayor of the desert hot spot that was
also popular with such celebrities as Bob Hope. Bogart died this year at age 95.
“I was bored so I wrote a parody on Palms Springs called ‘Hand Springs’ with
Bogart as the head of it, and I passed it around,” Lane said. “One of the people who
read it was connected with writing and submitted it to somebody unbeknownst
to me.”
Soon, Lane was writing material for night club comics and Hunt Stromberg Jr.,
who later left his mark at CBS for such series as “The Beverly Hillbillies,” “Hogan’s
Heroes,” “Green Acres” and “Lost in Space.”
Lane also wrote jokes for a talk show host with a funny-sounding name.
“Oh I started the Regis Philbin show,” said Lane of the host who later gained
fame as “the hardest working man in show business” for his work on “Live with
Regis and Kelly.” “I was the first writer that introduced him to the country.”
As the 1970s
came to a close,
Bob and Rose left
Hollywood behind,
bound for Morro
Bay and Cuesta,
Robert and Rose Lane, who contributed $100,000 to benefit the
where the couple
performing arts program, moved to the Central Coast attracted
took classes and
by the opportunities at Cuesta College.
assisted with television production
courses. Bob also performed in some Cuesta variety shows.
Almost from the start, the Lanes became financial backers of the college, said
Frank Martinez, then the college president.
“They started contributing to different causes and gave us a lot of equipment,”
Martinez recalled. “He also gave us his know-how. He and his wife had been in the
movie and film business in Hollywood so they helped us with the drama program,
and the music program.”
The couple’s $100,000 endowment shows their commitment to Cuesta.
“It’s a great contribution,” Martinez said. “It will target the music program.”
Lane is proud of his connection to Cuesta campus and its impact on the
community.
“One of the good things about Cuesta is you can go for two years and pick up
some kind of expertise in a particular field where you can go find employment,”
Lane said. “I always thought that was a major function of Cuesta. I didn’t think it
was an intellectual bastion, more a place where we’re going to give (students) some
tools.”
An alternative way to class
Cuesta teams up with Cal Poly, RTA for free bus service
A new partnership with Regional Transit Authority granted Cuesta College students
access to ride for free any RTA bus during the first three weeks of the spring semester.
The partnership came about thanks to a joint effort by Cuesta, Cal Poly and RTA last
year when Cal Poly professor Eugene Judd tasked his civil and environmental engineering students with researching ways to improve public transportation to and from Cuesta
College. The presentations, with both short- and long-term projections, were made to
RTA and Cuesta College officials at the close of the fall semester.
“This is a great partnership with RTA that we hope to continue,” said Stephan
Gunsaulus, director of marketing and communications at Cuesta College. “We are
aware that parking can be an unnecessary stress facing our students as they return to
campus. By offering free bus rides to our students, we are not only reducing the
competition for parking spaces on campus, but increasing awareness of the economic
and environmental benefits that public transportation can offer.”
Cuesta college News SPRING 2009
•3
Emeritus Presidents
a legacy
Starting from scratch with
a box and an idea for a college
A
key moment in Cuesta College history occurred in 1964
in San Luis Obispo between
the head of the college board of trustees
and Merlin Eisenbise, the college’s first
president.
“J. Vard Loomis handed dad a
cardboard box, which contained all
the records that the college had, and
he said. ‘It’s yours now.’ ” recalled Dave
Eisenbise, Merlin’s son. “Dad took that
box and said, ‘Well, it looks like we have
to build a college.’ ”
That cardboard box would loom
large in the early days of the college and
become part of the institution’s folklore.
Voters agreed to form a community
college district on April 16, 1963. They
also selected the first board of trustees
whose top job was hiring a superintendent to get the college up and running.
“At that time Eisenbise and I were
looking for a new job,” said Frank
Martinez, who was the college’s second
president and a longtime friend and
colleague of Eisenbise. “So we decided
to apply. And we
agreed if either
Cuesta’s First President
one got it, he’d
Dr. Merlin Eisenbise
bring the other
1964-1977
one along.”
Eisenbise
got the job Dec. 1, 1963, though he
wouldn’t officially begin until July 1,
1964, and inherited the idea of a college. He didn’t have an office, staff or
fall of 1964 at San Luis Obispo Junior
a campus. Plus, the college didn’t even
High School and Atascadero High
have a name — it would be known as
School.
San Luis Obispo County Junior College
After leasing a portion of Camp San
for the first year of classes.
Luis Obispo, day classes began a year
Martinez and George McGinnis
later, on Sept. 13, 1965; and on Oct.
were Eisenbise’s first hires.
4 the school finally got a name — the
“He said, ‘Frank you take care of
trustees chose Cuesta over Santa Lucia
running the college and establishing
and Los Robles.
the curriculum.’ And he said to George,
Eisenbise went on to serve almost
‘You take care of the business angle and
14
years as president before retiring
the hiring of classified personnel.’
in 1977, weathering two failed bond
“And Dr. Eisenbise just supervised
measures before voters agreed to fund
everything,” Martinez said. “But his
the new campus in 1970.
main emphasis was dealing with the
“In my 40 years, both as a teacher
community and with the board.”
and administrator, the most challengThe first night classes began in the
ing and satisfying period has been my
role in the creation and development
of Cuesta College,” Eisenbise told the
Cuestonian in 1977. “It is rare that an
educator is given such an opportunity
to start from ‘scratch’ and in 12 years
see the development of a total education program as well as a modern,
$20 million plant.”
During his tenure he watched the
student population rise from 463 in the
fall of 1964 to 6,000 students in 1977.
In retirement, he traveled extensively
and eventually settled in La Verne. Merlin
Eisenbise died Oct. 11, 2001, at age 87.
Cuesta Through the Years
July 1, 1964: The official
start date of the new junior
college and Dr. Merlin
Eisenbise’s first official day
as superintendent-president,
seen here with
Frank Martinez, (left).
April 16, 1963: San Luis Obispo
County voters approve the formation
of a junior college district and
elected a five-member Board
of Trustees. J. Vard Loomis is
named the first board president.
4
• SPRING 2009
Cuesta college News
September 12, 1964: Some
463 evening students
enroll in the new San Luis
Obispo County Junior
College. Classes were held
at San Luis Obispo Junior
High and Atascadero High
School four nights a week.
October 4, 1965: Cuesta College is officially
christened. Cuesta was selected over Tolosa,
Santa Lucia and others. The name was also
attractive because of its nice alliteration for
the athletic teams since just the week before
students had selected Cougars as school mascot.
of excellence
The torch is passed
F
rank Martinez, Cuesta College’s
second president, was also the
school’s second employee.
He helped his predecessor,
Merlin Eisenbise, start Cuesta in the
early 1960s. Martinez took over when
Eisenbise retired in 1977 and continued as president until 1988 — helping
guide the college during its first quarter
century.
“It was a laugh a minute,” Martinez
said of the early days. “Everything was
a crisis.”
One involved the first edition of
the Cuestonian published Feb. 7, 1966,
featuring a photo of a Cuesta student
in a bikini. President Eisenbise ordered
Martinez to look into who shot the
risqué photo. It turned out to be Eisenbise’s son, Dave.
A bigger controversy involved where
to locate the college. Six free plots of
land were offered including sites in San
Miguel, Paso Robles and a scenic 160
acres in Santa Margarita.
But none was right because of the
lack of roads, water and other utilities,
all “very expensive to bring in,” he said.
Cuesta began on 54 acres of Camp
San Luis Obispo where classes
were taught in 72 refurbished
barracks. Later, the trustees
purchased 129 acres of the
base for $307,000. The site
— which expanded to 160
acres — had everything
the free land didn’t.
In the early days
there were hundreds
of decisions to make:
What to call the
school; what to name
the mascot (the football
team was initially called
the Roses in deference to its
first coach); not to mention
school colors.
Martinez picked the latter,
settling on olive green and black
“because I had some olive suits
and ties.”
But when it came time to
reorder more school letterhead, he
learned that olive ink was more
Cuesta’s second President
Dr. Frank martinez
1977-1988
expensive. And that’s how the official
school hue deepened to the color of
grass.
September 1965 was a turning point
with the start of the first daytime
classes. The first group included 917
students who adjusted to the primitive nature of the classrooms, which
leaked during the rainy season,
and 70 head of cattle that fed on
the grass of the land leased by the
college “and their droppings,”
Martinez said. “And this went on
for three years. The old buildings have railings and steps that
go up to the buildings, and the
cattle would come along and they’d
scratch their neck on these railings and
knock them over every day.”
Martinez, now 87 and still a
fixture at Cuesta events, has plenty
of memories.
His fondest, he said, is “just being in
on the very beginning of it. It isn’t very
often you get the chance to start from
scratch.”
October 15, 1970: A groundbreaking
ceremony is held on the permanent
campus. “We are finally placing
rocks on top of rocks to build a
permanent home for Cuesta College,”
said Cuesta board president Fred
Righetti, as the 18-member Cuesta
College band played “You’ve Made
Me Very Happy.”
January, 1968: The Western Association
of Schools and Colleges grants Cuesta
College accreditation for three years
– a first for the 5-year-old college. The
certification also meant that Cuesta
was able to apply for federal and state
financial assistance to upgrade the
temporary campus buildings.
November 10, 1970: County
voters approve by a 3-1 margin
a $5 million bond issue for new
campus construction. J. Vard
Loomis, the bond committee
chairman, and Cuesta board
president Fred Righetti led the
successful effort.
November 5, 1974: Voters approve a
$8.5 million bond measure to pay for the
construction of new school facilities
to complete the college campus. It
increased property taxes 14 cents per
$100 of assessed valuation over the
duration of the bond.
Cuesta college News SPRING 2009
•5
Emeritus Presidents
a legacy
A new campus blooms in North County
F
rom 1989-1999, the face of Cuesta College
was then Superintendent/President Grace
Mitchell. Her tenure at the college covered a
unique time in Cuesta’s history. She was faced with
the tasks of expanding the campus facilities,
transitioning the campus to a computer-based network and laying the foundation for the construction
and implementation of a North County campus.
“It was a growth period,” Mitchell said. “It was fun.
It was challenging, and it was exciting. What the
community needed and what Cuesta needed were
my goals.”
Under the charge of Mitchell, the first Educational and Facilities Master Plan was created
for the campus. Twenty years later, the
efforts of that master plan are visible
across the North County and San Luis
Obispo campuses as new buildings
emerged and remodeled buildings are
completed. The Theater Arts Building, which will be completed in the fall
of 2009, is the last building detailed in
Mitchell’s original master plan.
Mitchell may be retired from
Cuesta College, but her passion
and commitment to
community colleges
and the students
they serve has continued. She is still
helping other community colleges
develop master
plans for their own
institutions.
“The things I’m most proud of at Cuesta all fit
into one category. It’s what I’m still doing in my
retirement. It’s providing programs and opportunities for our students.”
As for the future of Cuesta College,
Mitchell has high hopes for the institution that was her home for a decade.
“I hope we can continue to grow
and serve the community,” Mitchell
said. “Whatever it takes to get the
support of and to serve the community
in whatever way is appropriate, I hope
we will do it. I hope Cuesta College
continues to do what it does best,
provide opportunities.”
Cuesta’s Third President
Dr. Grace mitchell
1989-1999
Cuesta Through the Years
March 15, 1989: Dr. Grace Mitchell
is appointed superintendentpresident – the first woman to take
the helm of Cuesta. Her goal was to
create a master plan for the college
that would identify the curriculum,
programs and facilities needed in
the decade ahead.
February 19, 1977:
Trustees appoint
Dr. Frank Martinez as
the college’s second
superintendentpresident.
June 6, 1978:
California voters
approve Proposition 13, which froze
property taxes and eliminated community
service taxes, and sent Cuesta’s budget
into a tailspin. As a result, trustees
scuttled the football program; on-campus
construction all but came to a halt; and
Cuesta’s arts program that brought a host
of big-name performers and speakers to
campus ended.
6
• SPRING 2009
Cuesta college News
July 1996: John and Berna Dallons
purchase an 82-acre site for $475,000
and gave Cuesta College a one-year
purchase option.
of excellence
An era of transitions
M
arie Rosenwasser led Cuesta
College into the 21st century as the
superintendent/president from 1999 to
2006. Her tenure is highlighted by several major
capital projects, a revitalization of technical programs, and an enrollment growth spurt in a time of
budgetary challenges.
In 2001, a decade after the first master plan
was completed, Rosenwasser completed the first
revisions and updates to that plan. These paved
the way for a new art and music lab, a Learning
Resource Center, a new Early Childhood Education
Center, money for the library expansion project and
funding for the construction of the first permanent
building on the North County Campus. In addition,
renovations were also made to the track and field,
greenhouse and physical science buildings.
“I was tremendously busy, and I loved it,”
Rosenwasser said. “It was a challenging and exciting
time. And it was a privilege to lead the college. I
didn’t do anything alone though, it took great
support from the administration, classified
employees, as well as the faculty.”
One challenge Rosenwasser faced was a wave
of personnel turnover as the first generation of
Cuesta College employees began to retire. During
her presidency, approximately 60 percent of
the faculty and approximately 70 percent of the
administration left. According to Rosenwasser,
it was the biggest period of personnel transition
since the college was founded.
In addition to the large number
of retirements, the student
population continued to
that the college will remember
and honor its history.”
Cuesta’s Fourth President
Dr. Marie Rosenwasser
1999-2006
December 1998: Russ and
Carol Kiessig donate 23
acres to expand the North
County campus to 105 acres.
The new North County
Trades and Technology
Center will be named
in their honor.
August 17, 1998: Classes begin for 1,290
students at Cuesta’s North County campus in
Paso Robles in four modular buildings. At a
dedication ceremony held later, thenstate Senator Jack O’Connell said
“this campus will only further enhance
the quality of life here. It will continue
to provide tremendous educational,
recreational and cultural
opportunities for this community.”
grow as the North County campus and the first South
County Center opened.
“We grew the enrollment all the years I was there,”
she said. “We did it purposely and strategically.”
As the college continues to grow today, 10 years
later after Rosenwasser first assumed
the mantle of superintendent/
president, her wish for the
perpetuation of Cuesta College
remains the same.
“Institutions change and evolve
but they still have their roots,”
Rosenwasser said. “It is a big
challenge but also a big
opportunity. I hope very much
March 3, 2008: Dr. David Pelham
assumes duties as the college’s
top administrator.
The Theater Arts Building
will open on his watch as well as
other new facilities.
August 1, 1999:
Dr. Marie Rosenwasser
(seen with then-SLO
Mayor Allen Settle)
takes over as Cuesta’s
fourth superintendentpresident.
Cuesta college News SPRING 2009
•7
Alumni
Staff & Faculty
Bill Fairbanks
Nella Girolo
C
I
Faculty 1972-2003
Faculty 1966-2007
uesta College had been at its Camp San Luis Obispo campus for under a
year when Bill Fairbanks met Assistant Superintendent Frank Martinez
for an interview.
“In those days Cuesta was new,” Fairbanks said. “They had a lot of issues
with the state Department of Education, so it seemed like Cuesta’s
administration spent a lot of time in Sacramento.”
“Martinez called me and said he
was going to be in Sacramento. After
his afternoon meetings he said he
would interview me. It was a warm
day so we went over to Capitol Park
and he interviewed me under an oak
tree.”
Fairbanks, who could teach
sociology and anthropology, got the
job and started in the fall of 1966. He
would spend the next 41 years on the
Cougar campus.
Cuesta’s teaching facilities were
primitive, but he found them
adequate.
“I think if you are a good teacher you can teach under a tree,” he said.
“Sometimes at night the heaters didn’t work, but they were doable. A lot of
the students from the early days have very fond memories of the experiences
on the old campus.”
He remembers the days when some students wondered if “Home on the
Range” should be the school song. “The most disconcerting thing about
cattle was the manure,” he said. “There’d be piles of that around campus. That
would be worse for night school students than for day school students who
could see it.”
Fairbanks, who taught until he was 70, retired in May of 2007.
8
a legacy o
• SPRING 2009
Cuesta college News
8
•
n the early 1970s, just a few years after Nella
Girolo began teaching voice and music
theater at Cuesta College, a student streaked by
her class.
“The guy ran through the music building
really fast,” she said. “The only thing you could
see was a bare bottom. He ran out and there
wasn’t any car to pick him up. So he had to run
back down this big, long walkway. My whole
class just laughed and laughed and laughed
watching this guy run the whole way.”
Girolo began at Cuesta in the fall of 1972 as a
part-time music instructor.
During the next 30-plus years she taught piano class and music
appreciation before becoming coordinator of the performing arts department.
She received the Outstanding Academic Employee Award for the 1996-1997
school year. She served six years as division chair before retiring in 2003.
SPRING 2009 Cuesta college News
Facilities on the old campus were funkier, she admitted.
“I remember once we had a piano that the leg kept falling off,” she said. “I
yelled for Warren Balfour for help. It was a baby grand. I was holding it up
yelling ‘Warren!’ It was really primitive.”
These days she remains active with Cuesta events and with the performing
arts center. “I’m excited about the new theater,” Girolo said.
Nella Girolo received the 2009 Betty Nielsen Volunteer of the Year Award at the
Cuesta College Foundation Annual Awards Luncheon held in May. See story,
page 11.
of excellence
Former faculty and staff
remember the first class
schedule and a streaker
running through campus
Elaine Coats
Cuesta’s first classified employee
E
laine Coats is a part of Cuesta College’s history, as much as anyone can
claim to be. She holds the unique honor of being the first classified (nonadministrative) employee and just the fourth person overall to be hired by the
San Luis Obispo County Community College District.
She served as the secretary for the first Superintendent/President
Dr. Merlin Eisenbise, as well as Frank Martinez and George McGinnis, the
first two assistant superintendents of Cuesta College. She also went on to
serve as the secretary to the Educational Specifications Committee. She remained a full-time employee of the college until 1992 when she retired.
“It was my very good fortune to be a part of the beginning process and to
continue to enjoy all that has transpired since that time,” Coats said. “I am
very grateful.”
In 1993, she returned to Cuesta College as a part-time hourly employee,
working in the Disabled Student Services office, fine arts office, human
resources office and the Foundation office until 2008.
Over the course of her career, Coats assisted in creating the first class
schedule, the first catalog and the educational specifications for the new
campus.
“There is no doubt about the quality of the leadership of the first
administrators who had the vision to make wise choices for faculty and staff,
curriculum and campus location,” Coats said. “The reputation of the college
and the quality of the alumni are proof of the amazing and outstanding
institution that Cuesta has always been.”
Leave A mark at Cuesta
If you are proud of Cuesta College why not put your name on it?
Cuesta’s Foundation offers a host of “naming opportunities” that recognize certain levels of monetary contributions
to the college. It’s also a chance to honor and remember loved ones with ties to Cuesta.
A stroll around the Cougar campus reveals many living memorials: trees, benches, gardens and bricks on Cougar
Park’s Walkway of Friends. These tributes honor loved ones and provide beautiful spaces for rest or reflection.
As Cuesta continues to thrive and grow, funding is needed. Gifts directed to campus facilities are a unique
way to help shape the landscape of the college and provide new opportunities that will benefit generations of
students to come.
Contact Cuesta College Foundation at (805) 546-3279 for more information.
This bench in Cougar
Park could carry
your name here.
Cuesta college News SPRING 2009
•9
Foundation
Annual
Awards
2009 Honored Alumni
Janet Frank
Cuesta College
Foundation
recognizes
outstanding
Dr. Janet Frank graduated from Cuesta College in 1969
with an associate’s degree. She then earned her bachelor’s
in social welfare and her master’s in gerontology from
the University of Southern California, before earning her
doctorate in public health from the University of
California, Los Angeles.
Honored Alumni
and Volunteers
Steven Frank
Steven Frank earned an associate’s degree in civil engineering from
Cuesta College in 1970. He continued on to earn a bachelor’s degree in
civil engineering from University of California, Berkeley, followed by an
MBA and a lifetime teaching credential. He has been employed by the
San Luis Obispo Public Works Department for 32 years.
2009 Annual Award Recipients
Dr. Frank Martinez
Superintendent /
President’s Award
Bob Wacker
Bob Wacker has served on the Cuesta
College Foundation Board of Directors
since 1998 and is currently the chair of the
Investment and Budget Committee. He
is founder and president of R.E. Wacker
Associates, a fee-only wealth management
firm in San Luis Obispo. See story, page 19.
10
• SPRING 2009
Cuesta college News
J. VARD LOOMIS
Distinguished
BOARD SERVICE
AWARD
Dee Lacey
Dee Lacey is a former member and past
president of the Cuesta College Board
of Trustees and has served as a member
of the Cuesta College Foundation
Board of Directors since 2001. She has
long been active in fundraising to build
and expand the North County Campus
in Paso Robles. See story, page 19.
JOHN SCHAUB
STUDENT
VOLUNTEER
AWARD
Bianca (Baeumler)
Widmark
Bianca (Baeumler) Widmark is working
towards an associate of arts degree in business
administration at Cuesta College. She has
been very active volunteering in one of
Cuesta’s German classes as well as providing
other volunteer services to the college. She is
a student ambassador for the Cuesta College
Foundation.
Kathryn Wetterstrand
Kathryn Wetterstrand earned her associate’s degree from Cuesta
College in 1977. Since then, she has spent countless hours volunteering
for several causes, including Hurricane Katrina, Red Cross, National
Immunization Day, Zoo to You, and fundraising for Cuesta’s North
County Campus Campaign.
Tim Williams
Tim Williams attended Cuesta College from 1990 to 1993 before transferring
to Cal Poly to earn his bachelor’s in journalism. He founded the local company
Digital West in 1998 and grew the firm to nearly 1,000 hosted domains within
three years.
MERLIN E. EISENBISE
OUTSTANDING
SERVICE IN THE
STUDENT CITIZEN
CLASSROOM AWARD
AWARD
Ernie Cementina
Ernie Cementina was hired by Cuesta
College in 1966 as the first director
of counseling. He served as dean
of humanities for 14 years until his
retirement in 1992. He continues to
support Cuesta College and volunteers his
time in the college library. Stay tuned for a
profile in an upcoming edition.
Jasmine Dollahite
& Shawn Moore
Jasmine Dollahite and Shawn Moore are
both students at Cuesta College. Dollahite
is studying to become a special education
teacher and Moore is a business major.
They both became local heroes in August
of 2008 when they rescued a partially
paralyzed man who had fallen down an
embankment into Cachuma Lake.
BETTY NIELSEN
VOLUNTEER
OF THE YEAR
AWARD
Nella Girolo
Nella Girolo served as faculty
representative to the Foundation
Board of Directors until her
retirement as chair of the
Performing Arts Division in 2003.
She continues to serve as a member
of the Board and volunteers on
committees as well as at many
events. See story, page 8.
Cuesta college News SPRING 2009
• 11
Cuesta
a legacy of excellence
A trio of students
gather on the lawn on
the old campus to play
music in the early
1970s.
Adele Frey, a physical education instructor, teaches a
class in the 1960s. “It was great to see students change
from high school kids, thinking Cuesta was fun and games,
to serious adults going through graduation,” she said.
George McGinnis,
one of the
college’s first
administrators,
his wife and
Dick Garrett at
a Founder’s Day
event in 1974.
Cuesta students queue up
on the old campus for
registration in 1968.
Cuesta’s automotive program is
one of the best in the state.
12
• SPRING 2009
Cuesta college News
was Cuesta’s
Glover Miller
officer.
ty
ri
cu
se
first
Ivan Jones, the
first chairman
of the English
Division,
stands in a
puddle on the
old campus in
the mid-1960s.
mmer
1994. The su
ants
s students in
ip
es
ic
cc
rt
Su
pa
to
ol
Bridge
se high scho
po
ills
ex
sk
l
to
ca
ms
ti
program ai
rk and prac
vel coursewo
to college-le e working world.
th
necessary in
Nursing students graduate in 1992.
The first class of nursing students
graduated 40 years ago, in 1969.
An unidentified Cuesta
athlete competes in a
track meet in 1967.
Barbara George, the director
of Cuesta’s Foundation,
takes flight in the hot air
balloon as a part of a 1985
fundraising event.
Avila Mall, which
takes its name from
Frank Avila, the
first instructor
hired at the
college, was a
grassy area near
the cafeteria on
the old campus.
Terry Croxton,
who was hired
in 1971 as a
biology lab
technician,
continues to
work at Cuesta
in the biology
department.
Students walk
between classe
s on the
old campus in
the 1960s.
Student horn pl
ayers
practice in cl
ass during
the 1990s.
Computers beca
me part of the
workplace at
Cuesta in the
1980s.
Designer Gordon Hayduk
used X-Acto knives, a pica
pole and wax to create
graphics in the 1970s.
1972.
September of
portrait in
al
nu
an
an
r
classes fo
the start of
semble before
as
y
lt
cu
fa
Cuesta’s
Cuesta college News SPRING 2009
• 13
Campus buildings Through the Years
Building 4800 66
Construction
67
Technology
Facilityand
other naming
opportunities
Proposed
Administration
Building Expansion
State approval and funding
not available at this time.
69
61
68
63
Humanities
Forum
62
72
80
Softball
Field
Art/Music
81
for all levels
of giving.
Snack
shelter
42
44
20
28
54
50
53
Future site of math
building.
21
24
State approval and
funding not available at
this time.
52
13
23
26
45
22
27
25
47
40
12
16 Pools
Pools
approved
1976
Built in 1976
Built in 1980
BUILDING 1000: Men’s P.E.
BUILDING 1100: Women’s P.E.
BUILDING 1200: Weightroom
BUILDING 1200: P.E. Faculty Offices
BUILDING 2200: Biological Sciences
BUILDING 2300: Classrooms
BUILDING 2400: Science Forum
BUILDING 4300: Faculty Offices:
Business/Engineering
BUILDING 6100: Language Arts
BUILDING 6200: Faculty Offices:
Language Arts/ Social Sciences
BUILDING 7100: Fine Arts/Music
(Rooms 7100-7108)
BUILDING 8000: Administration
Built in 1974
Built in 1977
BUILDING 1700: Classrooms
BUILDING 6300: Humanities Forum
Built in 1975
Built in 1978
BUILDING 2100: Physical Sciences & Math
BUILDING 3100/3200: Student Services
BUILDING 4100: Business
Education/Engineering
BUILDING 5000: Student Center
BUILDING 7200: Youth Programs
BUILDING 1400: New Gymnasium
BUILDING 2000: Classrooms
BUILDING 4200: Auto Technology
and Welding Engineering Technology BUILDING 4400: Electronics Lab
BUILDING 4500: Electronics, power control lab
BUILDING 4600: Auto Body
BUILDING 4900: Snack Shelter
VOLLEYBALL
COURTS
BASKETBALL
COURTS
10
14
Gym
Built in 1973
Cuesta college News
Sargen
Fitness
Zone
built in
2003
11
29
46
17
51
33/34
High Tech
Center
41
To learn more about
naming opportunities,
call Cuesta College
Foundation at
(805) 546-3279.
Dugouts
built in
1980
71
31/32
Library
43
• SPRING 2009
Construction began
in 2006
71
are available
14
Theater Arts
Building
Built in 1990
MODULAR 8100: Advancement
BUILDING 4700: Community Programs
Built in 1991
BUILDINGS 2600, 2700, 2800, 2900:
Classrooms and Offices
Built in 1995
BUILDING 2500: Allied Health/ Nursing/
Human Development
Built in 2002
BUILDING 3300/3400: High Tech Center
BUILDING 4000: Human Development
BUILDING 7100: Fine Arts/ Music,
Rooms 7104 to 7169 and Rooms 7170-7187
TENNIS
COURTS
18
Track
&
Field
Track
renovations
2001
L
Baseball
Field
Dugouts built in 1980
and refurbished by
volunteers in 2008
Extinguishing the ghost light
of Cuesta’s Interact Theater
New batting cages built 2009
76 Hollister
74
19
Old Gym
Built in 1941
75
Interact
Theater
Built in 1941
Upgraded in 1978
The sound of music and the voice of drama need a home. For
nearly 45 years, the acclaimed drama and music programs at
Cuesta College have made do with “temporary” quarters. The old
Army chapel became the 100-seat Interact Theater. The World
War II Army movie theater has enjoyed very good use as the
college’s 800-seat auditorium. Now known as the Blakeslee
Auditorium, it is owned by the California National Guard and is
on Camp San Luis Obispo property. More than 60 years old, it
was in constant need of expensive repairs.
At Cuesta College, there was no dedicated space for its drama
productions and music performances, yet the College is famous
in the state for its excellence in these areas. State funding has at
last funded the construction of a Theater Arts Building on the San
Luis Obispo Campus. A teaching/learning facility, it includes
classrooms, a 450 seat theater, a smaller “experimental theater,”
green room (and rehearsal space), dressing rooms, and a scene
shop and space for costume construction.
A real home for Cuesta’s acclaimed jazz studies program,
music theater, drama and choral groups is a dream come true.
County audiences will thrill to these programs, and others that
may be offered by local groups as well. In a central location and an
affordable cost, it is a cultural piece that fits well in San Luis
Obispo County, expanding artistic possibilities and sheer enjoyment of the arts.
Your gift toward the overall capstone funding goal of
$1 million will help furnish and equip the new $27 million
theater arts building on the San Luis Obispo campus.
COURTESY OF SPENCER HOSKINS ASSOCIATES
San Luis Obispo Campus
Photo BY DAVE RITCHIE
Theater Arts Building
Adobe
Built in
1840s
Cuesta College’s Interact Theater made a final curtain call May
10, following the last performance of “Rhinoceros.”
The theater, located on a portion of the old campus, opened
in 1971. The newly christened Interact Theater opened with a
production of Bertolt Brecht’s “The Good Woman of Setzuan” on March 19, 1971.
Jack McBade, 86, directed that first production, and over his 20-year career at
Cuesta “put a lot of my life into” the one-time military chapel that he named.
“I was looking for some type of a name for it and decided that it was about interaction between the school and the theater, so we called it the Interact Theater,” said
McBade who retired in 1987.
The theater was smaller in its early days, and it had no dressing rooms. As a result,
actors had to change in the locker rooms across Chorro Valley Road and run over to
the theater.
In those early days, if a scene called for an actor to enter from a different side of the
stage, it involved running around the outside of the building, McBade said.
A special ceremony honored the Interact’s near 40-year run on May 10. It featured
selected performances of the arts that graced the stage over the years: theater, jazz,
classical concerts as well as dance.
It concluded with the alumni who were present and who have tread the boards of
the Interact, announcing the year and their performance.
“The ghost light that represents the fire that burned in all classical theaters was then
extinguished,” said Anet Carlin, a former Cuesta College instructor who was involved
with the Interact since its earliest days.
TOP: A rendering of the
new Theater Arts Building.
CENTER: A view at the chapel
in 1970 with its steeple
attached. ABOVE: A recent
view of the Interact Theater.
Cuesta college News SPRING 2009
• 15
student Success
Gabrielle Union shines on the silver screen
Photo from Yahoo images
Gabrielle Union is Cuesta College’s brightest shining star in
Hollywood. The actress played soccer for the University of
Nebraska before returning to California and attending Cuesta
College. She eventually graduated from UCLA with honors,
studying sociology. While at UCLA, she earned an internship
at a Los Angeles modeling agency, and it was there that she
was discovered as a model and actress.
She’s appeared on such television series as “Ugly Betty,”
“The West Wing,” “Friends,” “ER,” “7th Heaven,” and “Saved by
the Bell.” She has also appeared on the big screen with leading and supporting roles in “The Honeymooners,” “Bad Boys
II,” “Abandon,” “Bring it On,” “Love and Basketball” and “10
Things I Hate About You.”
Student government experience stays with Tim Reed
Tim Reed was sitting in a chemistry test review at Cuesta
College when an ASCC questionnaire interrupted his test
preparation. Several students were upset about the timing
of the mandatory questionnaire and talked about getting involved with ASCC so they could make a change. Reed did just
that. The next term, he served as the ASCC vice president. It
was a choice that helped define his college experience.
During his service as VP, Reed witnessed and helped plan
several events to celebrate the opening of the new Student
Center in the mid-1990s.
“It was just an amazing time for me,” Reed said.
Reed completed his general education classes and began
a microbiology course load before transferring to Cal Poly
in 1995. Following graduation, he worked as a project manager for Bill Graham Presents and the general manager of
the Shoreline Amphitheatre, before returning to the Central
Coast. He now works as an independent public assembly consultant, project manager and special event manager and has
been involved with the management of major festivals and
concerts across the nation.
“I attended a community college in Michigan for a semester
prior to arriving at Cuesta College. So as you can imagine, to
me Cuesta looked like a vacation resort with beautiful lawns
and palms trees more than a college campus,” Reed said. “The
quality of education and the setting that it happens in could
not be better.”
Author Jay Asher discovers his passion to write while
His name is well known in certain literary circles, libraries, and
with teenagers both in domestic and international markets.
He wrote a book that has spent more than 18 weeks on the
New York Times Bestsellers List and is published in 11 foreign
markets. He is Jay Asher, and he is a Cuesta College alum.
Asher came to Cuesta College from San Luis Obispo High
School in 1993, taking general education classes before transferring to a four-year school.
“Since I planned on going to Cal Poly, I thought I’d begin at
Cuesta simply because it was a lot less expensive,” Asher said.
“In the end, I felt the instructors at Cuesta were more passionate about their classes than any I’ve seen before or since,
which made me even more excited about learning what they
were teaching.”
It was one of those very instructors who inspired Asher to
write books for children and young adults.
“I began writing children’s book while taking Nancy Hurd’s
children’s literature class. That class reintroduced me to a type
of literature I’d mostly ignored since I grew out of being its
16
• SPRING 2009
Cuesta college News
at Cuesta
target audience. But that reintroduction sparked a
creative side of me that has never let me down.”
Asher began writing and trying to publish
children’s books in 1994. Twelve years
later, he sold his first book, 13 Reasons
Why. In October 2006, his book sold in
an auction between three publishing
houses and was released the following
year.
“I might not have discovered
this passion had I not taken Nancy
Hurd’s class,” Asher said. “The reason I took that class was because I
wanted to teach in an elementary
school. I guess you never know how one
pursuit can naturally lead you to another.”
Jay Asher holds his favorite childhood book while Nancy Hurd, the instructor who inspired him to write
books for children and young adults, holds Asher’s best-selling novel, 13 Reasons Why.
athlete Alums
Chance Chapman has a cool name and what he hopes is a
major league arm.
Chapman, who was born in 1984 has a name that will
serve him well if he makes it as a big leaguer. And he’s on
his way — this year he is pitching for the minor league
Clearwater, Fla., Threshers, a high-A affiliate that sent such
players as 2006 National League MVP Ryan Howard and 2007
All-Star pitcher Cole Hamels to the major leagues.
The 6-foot-4, 215-pounder played in 2008 with the minor
league New Jersey Lakewood Blueclaws. Scouts say that the
overpowering right-hander attacks hitters with strikes.
When it came time for college, Chapman originally
planned to play baseball at Fresno State. But a change in the
Bulldogs’ coaching staff brought him to Cuesta in the spring
of 2003 under the tutelage of then first-year Cougars’ coach
Bob Miller.
“Cuesta has a rich tradition in junior college baseball,”
said Chapman, 25, who studied criminology and went 8-6
in two seasons on the Cougar campus. “It’s a winning program … that turned out a lot of good ball players over the
years.”
His goal is to be named to a major league roster.
“I’ve progressed up a level every year, and things are going good,” he said. “ If I had to say when, I’d say around 2011
I might have a shot. It’s going to take a lot to get there because everyone is fighting for a spot. It’s not only going to
take success and proving to myself that I can do it — it’s going
to take repeating that success and putting in the long hours
of work.”
Photo courtesy of New Jersey Lake wood Blue Claws
Chance Chapman signs with Phillies organization
It’s a Cinderella story.
It’s the tale of a tall kid from a rural community college
who goes on to play Division I basketball for a Big East Conference powerhouse.
Improbable? Yes, but true.
And in early February with the mercury hovering at a chilly
16 degrees at Syracuse University and Cuesta College in the
middle of a heat wave, Kristof Ongenaet (oohn-GA-not) was
rethinking his 2007 decision to head east — “because of the
weather.”
Did he prefer to be playing for nationally ranked
Syracuse, hoping for a shot at another NCAA championship for
the Orange?
“No doubt,” the Cuesta College alum said. “No question.”
And what a year the Orange had in 2008. Syracuse finished
as runner-up to Big East Conference winner Louisville, and
the team made its 32nd appearance in the NCAA Tournament and its first since 2006.
Ongenaet, a Belgium native who came west to make a
name for himself and a goal to play professionally in Europe,
earned All-Western State Conference Academic honors as a
freshman and sophomore. When it came time to transfer, the
6-foot-8, 225-pound forward, was contacted by more than 40
Division I schools. Besides his size, he was also a force on the
court averaging 11 points and a dozen rebounds a game —
the first Cougar to average a double-double for his career.
“I just decided that Syracuse was the best choice,” he told
reporter Brian Milne after signing in May of 2007.
Photo courtesy of Syracuse University
Kristof Ongenaet is a name to remember in basketball
Kathy Sheehy never played on a women’s water polo team at
Cuesta College.
Yet she is the most accomplished female polo player to
emerge from the Cougar campus.
“I started playing actually at Cuesta,” said Sheehy, who
goes by the nickname Gubba and attended between 1988 and
1990. “They didn’t have a women’s water polo team back then,
so I swam at Cuesta and sometimes (men’s water polo coach)
Terry Bowen would let me get in with the boys. It was the first
time I was introduced to the sport.”
That was 1990, and she also played at Cal Poly.
She immersed herself in the sport — which is played in
a deep-water pool, 10 by 20 meters, by six field players and
a goalie on each side — and quickly mastered the game described by some observers as soccer in the water.
“After playing for six months I made the national team in
1991,” she said. “2000 was the first time in the Olympics for
women. We got silver.”
The gold medal match at Sydney’s Olympics pitted the
Americans against the hometown favorites. The U.S. lost 4-3
to the Aussies in front of 17,000 people.
After 11 years of international competition, Sheehy retired
in 2002.
In 2008, Guy Baker, director of Olympic Development for
USA Water Polo, selected her to coach the women’s Senior
National B Team.
“Gubba was a tremendously intense player who competed
for everything whether in practice or a game,” said Baker. “She
is an excellent teacher and has a good understanding of the
game from a player’s perspective.”
photo by donald miralle
Kathy Sheehy rises to world stage in water polo
Cuesta college News SPRING 2009
• 17
alumni News
Alumni help the college ‘move into the future’
May is
May 21
Alumni
Month
Cuesta College
Honored Alumni Wall
Commencement Barbecue
Noon to 1:30 p.m.
SLO Campus, Student Center Courtyard
Hosted by the Alumni Association, this
annual event celebrates the 2009 students
graduating with degrees and certificates.
Attendees must RSVP in order to receive a
ticket for admission.
at Cuesta
College
May 22
MAY
The college board of trustees made it
official when they unanimously recognized
the contributions that former Cuesta students
have made to the growth and strength of the
college by declaring May as Alumni Month in
perpetuity.
These alums, “whose contributions and
development have benefited the college district
as well as our society at large … remain
connected to the college as friends, donors,
faculty and staff,” the college’s trustees said in
a special resolution approved Feb. 7, 2007.
“Cuesta College alumni are an integral part
of maintaining our college’s history and leading
the district’s progressive move into the future,”
the resolution said.
45th Annual Cuesta College
Commencement
5:05 to 7 p.m.
Cuesta College Gymnasium
Students will line up an hour prior to the
event between the pool and Building 1100.
A reception for graduates will be held at the
gymnasium courtyard immediately after the
ceremony.
New Honored Alumni Wall funded by
Cuesta College Foundation was installed
and dedicated May 1, 2009.
It resides in the 5400 building of the
San Luis Obispo Campus.
Seeking Cuesta alumni…
Did you graduate from Cuesta College in the last five years?
Have you published a book, started a business or accomplished anything else that you’re proud of? We want to hear
about how your Cougar experience has affected your newest accomplishments and where life has taken you after
Cuesta College.
{
18
• SPRING 2009
Cuesta college News
We may be featuring you in an upcoming alumni spotlight. Please send your submissions to Jay Thompson in the Cuesta
College Advancement Office. He can reached at (805) 546-3100, ext. 2636 or by e-mail, jay_thompson@cuesta.edu.
foundation Award Recipients
The wit and wisdom of Bob Wacker
Foundation director is SLO’s 2008 Citizen of the Year
photo courtesy of San luis obispo tribune
B
Bob Wacker is known for his wit and wisecracks — and for his financial savvy.
He received the Dr. Frank Martinez Superintendent/ President’s Award from the
Foundation Annual Awards in May 2009. See story, page 10.
ob Wacker, a member of the Cuesta College Foundation Board of Directors
and chairman of the Foundation Investment Committee, was named the 2008
Citizen of the Year by the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce.
He received the honor at the chamber’s annual dinner held Jan. 24 at the Alex
Madonna Expo Center. Developer Rob Rossi, the 2007 award winner, presented
the award.
Wacker, who lives in Los Osos and is a financial planner and president of
R.E. Wacker Associates Inc. of San Luis Obispo, has served on the Foundation
board since 1998, the same year he was named chairman of the organization’s
Investment Committee.
In addition, he serves on multiple nonprofit organization boards and is well
known as a master of ceremonies for charitable events where he is popular for his
wit and wisecracks.
“I think laughter is important,” Wacker told the Tribune in 2005. “I can’t help
myself. You should enjoy life.”
A dedication to public service:
Dee Lacey’s efforts help bring North County campus to life
D
ee Lacey may be one of the hardest working volunteers in San Luis Obispo
County.
The North County cattle rancher has served on the boards of the Paso Robles
library and recreation foundations, as well as the San Luis Obispo County
Community Foundation and the Paso Robles Children’s Museum. She has also
been a member of the board of directors for both the Twin Cities Community
Hospital, Heritage Oaks Bank and the Cuesta College Foundation Board of
Directors since 2001.
Her connection to Cuesta extends back to the early 1980s. She was a member of
the local school board when the college sought to use Paso Robles High School to
house its classes after outgrowing facilities at Templeton High.
After serving 20 years as a trustee for Paso Robles Public Schools, Lacey
became the first North County representative in decades elected to the Cuesta
College Board of Trustees, serving as both a member and past president of the
Board of Trustees.
“People came to me and said if you will run we think you could get elected, and
we can work on the North County campus,” said Lacey. “And I said to the group,
I’m really ready to retire, I’ve got grandkids and I’d rather be doing that, but I’ll
make a commitment for four years if we can build a campus in North County.”
Residents over the Cuesta Grade had wanted a campus since voters authorized
a new community college in 1963, and they even offered free land. But it would
take 30 more years to make the North County campus a reality.
In 1996, John and Berna Dallons purchased 82 acres on Buena Vista Drive and
held it — free of interest — until the college could raise money to pay for it.
Last year, the campus in Paso Robles celebrated its 10th year. Lacey is one of the
campus Ambassadors there to assist at public events.
“When I go to the campus it is very gratifying to know that not only did the
college make the commitment, the people in North County made the commitment
to build this campus,” said Lacey, who was named the 33rd California Assembly
District Woman of the Year in 2005 by Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee, another
former Cuesta board member. “Our thing was just like in the movie, ‘Field of
Dreams’ — ‘Build it and they will come.’ And they did.”
Dee Lacey received the J. Vard Loomis Distinguished Service Award from the
Foundation Annual Awards in May 2009. See story, page 10.
Cuesta college News SPRING 2009
• 19
business And Community Alums
Cathy Corell
Rob Garcia
Dave Peter
Dan Reddell
Bank vice president,
lending officer in SLO
Principal financial planner
Morro Bay
restaurant owner
Owner of Morro Bay
real estate firm
“My dad (Gil) was one of the early,
early, early guys out at Cuesta,” said
Dave Peter, who owns and operates the
Galley Restaurant on Morro Bay’s
Embarcadero. “The college opened in
1965, and he was hired by Frank Martinez in 1966. He headed up the math
and physical science department. So I
grew up at there.”
The family settled in Morro Bay.
When Peter graduated Morro Bay High
in 1981, Cuesta was the next logical
step.
While at Cuesta, the one-time trombone player got deeply involved in music and was part of the band that toured
Europe with Warren Balfour, when he
was running the jazz department, and
played at the 1982 Montreaux Jazz
Festival.
“I think my fondest memories
probably all have to do with music,”
said Peter, who attended 1981 to 1983
before transferring to San Diego State
University and starting a 20-year career
in the technology industry.
And there was also a personal element to his Cuesta College nexus.
“The great staff,” he said. “I was really
connected through my dad. So guys
who have been around forever, Sid
Bennett, Frank Martinez, I know them
really well. Every day was just a great
experience being on that campus. It was
a home away from home, absolutely.”
Dan Reddell was a fan of his community college before there even was one.
In the eighth grade, he remembers
participating in efforts to revive a
junior college that was closed in 1959
after losing its accreditation.
After graduating from Coast Union
High in Cambria in 1965, Reddell was
torn about where to go next.
“I wanted to go to Poly, but I had a
lot of friends who were going to this
brand new school,” said Reddell, who
owns Bayshore Realty and Bayshore
Rentals in Morro Bay.
On Sept. 13, 1965, he was among
the 917 students to begin daytime
classes at what was then known as San
Luis Obispo County Junior College.
Reddell’s focus was business, but
he fondly recalls a geology field trip to
Death Valley in his second year that
was lead by instructor John Bowen.
And Reddell is proud to have been
part of the first two-year group to
graduate in 1967.
“It was excellent,” Reddell said of his
education at Cuesta before he transferred to Cal Poly and took graduate
courses at UC Santa Barbara. “I guess
you could say I learned how to study
there. I became focused on learning.
A lot of that was my own attitude, but
Cuesta gave me the opportunity.”
Cathy Corell saw Cuesta College as a
portal to enter the business marketplace. In 1984, she earned her associate’s degree from Cuesta in secretarial
science. Today, Corell is the vice president/commercial lending officer with
Mission Community Bank in San Luis
Obispo. Her responsibilities include
managing and growing a sizeable loan
portfolio, commercial loans, consumer
loans, and cultivating business
development.
“I attended Cuesta College because
of its great reputation and knowledgeable professors,” Corell said.
Corell returned to the institution
that launched her professional career
in 1998 to take an accounting class to
enhance her skill-set as a loan officer. In
addition to her professional demands,
Corell also serves on several nonprofit
boards and committees, including Big
Brothers Big Sisters, the Arroyo Grande
Downtown Association, the Family
Care Network and the SLO Chamber of
Commerce.
“I would recommend Cuesta College
to anyone who is interested in furthering their education,” she said.
20
• SPRING 2009
Cuesta college News
Today, Rob Garcia is an irrefutable
success. As the principal and financial
planner of Rob Garcia Wealth Management, he spearheads the efforts of an
increasingly prominent wealth management firm that focuses on helping individuals and businesses create financial
plans and manage their investments.
In 1993, before he achieved success
in the financial market, Garcia was
a new student on the Cuesta College
campus, fresh from the Army, looking
for a small-town community to make
his home.
Garcia graduated from Cuesta two
years later with an associate’s degree in
general education. In 1997, he earned a
degree in business with a concentration
in finance from Cal Poly, graduating
with cum laude honors.
“My experience at Cuesta was
instrumental in my later success at Cal
Poly,” Garcia said. “The best investment I ever made was attending Cuesta
College. The return that I have received
on the money and time spent at Cuesta
College may never be duplicated in my
lifetime. I truly enjoyed my experience
at Cuesta College and am grateful that
by being on the Cuesta College Foundation board, I have the opportunity to
give back.”
campus Projects
Keeping Cuesta’s pool swimming
Cuesta College’s pool received some care over the winter break.
Cuesta’s maintenance workers replaced two filtration pumps during the Decemberto-January hiatus.
“Those pumps have been running for five years, 24 hours a day,” said Terry Reece,
the college’s director of maintenance, operations and grounds. “We have backup
pumps, but we don’t wait for them to fail … so anytime we take the big pool down
we change out our most-likely-to-fail component, which are these primary pumps.”
In addition, Arroyo Grande-based Sun Pool Construction Ltd. was hired to replace
Sounding a sweeter note
the chalking between the pool surface and the concrete deck. The caulking prevents
water from trickling down, washing out the fill sand and creating a void below the
concrete deck, he said.
Upgrading Cuesta College’s music theory classroom and lab meant blood, sweat
and few tears for faculty, staff and student volunteers who lent hands and long
hours to complete the project over the semester break.
George Stone, who teaches recording technology and music theory, oversaw
the project just as he had with the last major overhaul in 2001. Funding limitations prevented more timely upgrades to software, however, he said.
“We were teaching in the music theory lab last semester, but we weren’t
turning the computers on at all,” he said. “They were dead.”
Instead, students learned the way the masters did, using pencils and paper.
The $85,000 project, paid through a federal Vocational and Technical Education Act grant and other funding sources, completely replaced equipment for
30 student and faculty workstations, Stone said.
“It bought iMac computers for every student desk,” he said. “And all the
latest software.”
Photo classes get new focus
Two years ago Stone upgraded the recording studio. On this project, he oversaw a total volunteer effort that began after the fall 2008 term.
“We were patching holes,” he said. “We were painting and sanding walls.
Once you tear everything out you’re not going to put it into a room that’s dirty.
The last portion of a generous grant from San Luis Obispo’s Bert and Candee Forbes
in 2001 has paid for a project to upgrade Cuesta College’s digital photo lab.
A large chunk of the $300,000 the Forbes donated to aid the college’s music and
You’re going to make sure those walls are clean. You’re going to make sure the
arts programs paid for computer labs for visual art and digital photography students,
rug has been shampooed.
said Doug Highland, who teaches film and digital photography.
“This involved custodial support … computer services … full-time faculty,
Over the years, the visual arts lab was twice refurbished and older machines were
part-time faculty, students, the dean’s secretary, our division secretary, who was
passed down to photo students. Eventually, Highland said, the photo lab was closed
placing orders for things. I was in charge of making sure everyone was on task.”
because of equipment issues and classes moved to the visual arts lab.
When students arrived for the first day of the spring semester, they found 20
gleaming new workstations in the classroom, as well as eight stations in the lab
that is open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. And for the first time, they could sit at their
computers and see their instructor.
“The whole profile of the room has changed,” he said. “The first comments
Revamping a lab had cost $100,000, but three factors made the remaining $18,000
from the Forbes donation enough to upgrade the photo lab, Highland said.
“Computing power got cheaper. The printing quality got better and cheaper,” he
said. “And the software, specifically for digital photography, got less expensive.”
The eight new 24-inch iMac computers and two Epson 4880 desktop printers were
students made were, ‘I can see who’s in the class.’ Students could never see
installed over the semester break. They join six existing Macs with new software
each other. Now because there’s this vastly improved visual profile, there’s this
installed. Spring students arrived to take advantage of the new equipment.
great collaboration happening between students that fosters a better learning
environment.”
Highland is excited by the prospect of the photo department again having a digital
lab. It will be a boon for Cuesta’s 150 photo students, he said.
Cuesta college News SPRING 2009
• 21
Awards at Cuesta
Dorrae Kim
Former dean Ann Grant honored
Ann Grant, a former Cuesta academic dean, has earned a teaching
award from California State University Dominguez Hill’s School
of Nursing.
“It’s wonderful,” said Grant, who served at Cuesta from 1991 to
2004 as dean of sciences, math, nursing and physical education,
after receiving the Judith Lewis Outstanding Educator Award on
April 17. “To have this come along and say, ‘Yes you are doing a
good job and we recognize it,’ is very nice.”
The annual award recognizes outstanding educators for efforts
to help nursing students and teachers achieve goals, find solutions
to the nursing shortage and improve education through
technology.
Grant, who continues to take art courses on the Cougar
campus, believes she was honored for “my community service,
because I serve on the board at French Hospital Medical Center
as well as my teaching and being involved in helping to establish
Dominguez Hill’s on-site BSN and MSN classes at Marion Medical Center in Santa Maria.”
State group celebrates longtime Cuesta
Cuesta College history instructor Dennis Judd was honored by a state
history group at its annual conference in San Luis Obispo.
California Council for the Promotion of History presented Judd,
who has taught at Cuesta since 1988, with its Award of Distinction.
The award honors an individual, organization or agency with longterm outstanding contributions, lifetime achievements or dedication
of career duties to promote history.
“I have been involved with this group since the 1980s,” said Judd,
who was honored in October. “I didn’t see this coming.”
The award, which features an original watercolor painting of the
Hollister Adobe by San Luis Obispo County artist Joan Sullivan,
described Judd as a “spirited teacher and public historian whose work
has bettered the lives of his students and community.”
“Dennis certainly deserves recognition,” wrote Bob Pavlik,
Caltrans historian for the San Luis Obispo area, in nomination
papers. “He is highly involved in historical issues within San Luis
Obispo County and embodies (the organization’s) core mission
of history advocacy.”
22
• SPRING 2009
Cuesta college News
Michael Holmes
Cuesta salutes its own at Spring Opening Day
Cuesta College honored two of its own at
the Jan. 16 Opening Day Celebration preceding the start of the spring semester. The
Service Excellence Award, an endowment
fund by the Cuesta Foundation to recognize
distinguished performance and excellence
in service at Cuesta College, was awarded
to Dorrae Kim. Kim has been employed
with Cuesta College for 11 years as the lead
payroll technician. She previously worked
at Sesloc Federal Credit Union for 15 years
as a payroll specialist. Kim’s proudest accomplishments are her three sons and five
grandchildren.
“Winning the Service Excellence Award
makes the work and effort all worth while to
be recognized by your peers,” Kim said. “I am
very appreciative for this honor.”
The Peter and M’May Diffley Faculty
Excellence Award, which honors a faculty
member that demonstrates leadership, high
motivation, knowledge of a specific discipline and campus and community involvement, was awarded to Michael Holmes.
Holmes has worked for Cuesta College as an
adjunct biology professor since 2006.
“The M’May Diffley Award is the biggest
award and recognition I have ever received,”
Holmes said. “It is quite an honor to have my
efforts recognized by my peers. I know that
the other faculty members are working just
as hard or harder than I am to make Cuesta a
great institution.”
history instructor Dennis Judd
At Cuesta, Judd is pushing to restore the Hollister Adobe.
The three-room adobe that dates back to the 1840s takes its
name from the Joseph Hollister family who occupied it starting
in 1866.
As the family expanded, so did their home. By 1900, it was a
22-room wood clapboard structure with the adobe at the center,
Judd said. It was almost destroyed in the 1940s when Camp San
Luis Obispo expanded during World War II .
Hubbard Hollister, who had been raised in the building, talked
the base commander out of leveling the then-century-old adobe.
By 1970, Cuesta archaeology instructor Jay Van Werloff led a
communitywide effort to restore it. New adobe was added, the exterior
walls were resurfaced with concrete, and a lawn was planted and picket
fence erected.
The 2003 San Simeon Earthquake damaged the structure and made it
unsafe to enter. Judd is leading an effort to restore what he thinks could
be a historical jewel of the college — even though it comes at a time of
economic uncertainty.
Cuesta Athletics
Rusty Blair earns top coaching honor
C
uesta College men’s basketball coach Rusty Blair — who
snared his 300th career coaching win this season
named to lead the men’s basketball program in June of 1992.
This is the 11th time he’s led Cuesta to the postseason. The
— was named Coach of the Year in the Northern Division of
No. 14-seeded Cougars lost their first round playoff game to
the Western State Conference.
West Los Angeles College, 65-63, to end Cuesta’s 2009 playoff
Blair was a unanimous selection as Coach of the Year — the
third time he’s earned the conference’s top coaching honors.
hopes.
Blair is the only men’s basketball coach in the school’s 45-year
The Western State Conference, established in 1950, is the oldest
history with a career-winning record. He has led Cuesta to six
community college conference in California.
20-win seasons and 10 playoff berths since taking over
Blair’s teams have won five conference titles since he was
Athletes of the Month
December
2008
the program.
Each month Cuesta College honors its outstanding athletes
January
2009
February
2009
March
2009
Misael Corral » Cross Country
Tom Schumacher » Basketball
Frank Muller » Basketball
Misael Corral turned
in one of the most impressive half seasons
by a harrier at Cuesta
College. Corral earned
All-Western State
Conference Second
Team with the team getting fourth place
in the WSC, as well as a berth in the 2008
Southern California Regional Championships. He finished 55th at the SoCal Meet.
Tom Schumacher
averaged 18.8 points,
2.9 assists and
2.0 steals a game
in December and
was named to alltournament teams at
both the Delta and Grossmont tournaments.
He started every game and led the team in
minutes played, an average of 32 per game.
Schumacher is from Dudelange, Luxembourg
— one of 10 international players on the
Cuesta roster.
Frank Muller
emerged as a force
in the Western State
Conference as well
as one of the most
consistent players
in the loop. He averaged 14.1 points and led the Cougars with
7.5 rebounds a game in WSC play. In January he had back-to-back double-doubles
against Santa Barbara and Oxnard. Like
teammate Tom Schumacher, Muller is from
Dudelange, Luxembourg.
Joey Parsons quickly
established himself
as the ace of the
Cougar’s rotation.
He posted a 3-1
record and was the
only Cuesta pitcher
with more than one victory on the year. He
led the roster in games pitched (6), starts
(6), innings (39.1), strikeouts (24) and ERA
(2.97). On Feb. 21, Parsons pitched a complete game shutout over Saddleback, 5-0.
Katrina Torres » Basketball
Cassie Freeman » Track & Field
Lacey O’ Connor » Cross Country
Valerie Gee » Basketball
Freshman Lacey
O’ Connor was the
top runner for the
Cougars, leading the
team to second place
in the Western State
Conference by finishing third at the WSC Championships. That
earned her a spot on the 2008 All-Western
State Conference First Team. She also led
the Cougars to the 2008 state meet with a
13th place individual finish at the Southern
California Regional Championships and
earned All-SoCal Honors.
Valerie Gee was one
of the top scorers and
rebounders on the
team. Gee averaged
9.2 points and 7.4
rebounds, while also
shooting a team best
47.9 percent from the field. The Cougars
are expecting the quickly improving Gee
to become a dominant inside force for the
team.
Katrina Torres was
the team’s leader on
and off the court this
season. She led the
team with 11.5 points
per game and is third
in both rebounds
(5.8) and assists (1.5) per game. She ranks
17th in the state with 1.7 blocked shots per
game. Her 2.3 steals per game ranks 60th
statewide.
Joey Parsons » Baseball
Cassie Freeman has
developed into a
record-breaking machine and a favorite
for a state title in
May. Freeman broke
the Cuesta hammer
throw record three times through March.
Freeman broke Jennifer Wright’s 1997 hammer record of 134-7 on Feb. 12 with a toss
of 137-6.5. She broke her own mark the next
week, by more than a foot. And she finally
eclipsed 140-0 Feb. 27 in Moorpark.
Cuesta college News SPRING 2009
• 23
NONPROFIT ORG
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
PORTLAND, OR
PERMIT NO. 2160
myCuesta, Our College
– Thousands of Success Stories
Alumni Legacy Project
It all started with a life-size bronze cougar, designed by Cuesta College
honored alum and renowned artist, Dale
Evers. It has become “Alumni Cougar Park.”
Cuesta College Alumni and
community members have joined
together to create a legacy
program that will support
student scholarships, and other
areas where the need is greatest.
An area for quiet reflection or small gatherings, Cougar Park will serve as a prominent
legacy and tribute to Cuesta College alums and friends. Join us in establishing a gift
legacy and life-long tradition by purchasing a brick in the “Walkway of Friends,”
or a small bronze cougar, trees and benches. Your gift will benefit the Alumni Endowed
Scholarship, Legacy Project and areas of greatest need as determined by the Alumni Committee.
Cougar Park “Walkway of Friends”
Follow the instructions on this form and return with payment for each brick purchased to:
Cuesta College Foundation, Brick Legacy, P.O. Box 8106, San Luis Obispo, CA 93403-8106
Legacy Opportunities
“Walkway
of Friends”
Donation: $200 per brick
This brick walkway
Name ____________________________________________________________________
Address __________________________________________________________________
City/State/Zip _______________________________ Phone ________________________
E-mail ____________________________________________________________________
Total Enclosed $ _______________
Check
Visa
MasterCard
honors Cuesta College alumni, friends,
family, businesses and community members who want to contribute to the college
and recognize a friend or loved one at the
same time. This is an opportunity to pay
tribute to someone special or place your
name in perpetuity in the walkway.
Your $200 donation supports scholarships
and other programs. Please follow the
instructions on the form.
Credit Card number _______________________________ Exp. Date ________________
Other Cougar
Park items
Benches, tables and trees
are available for naming
Print clearly with one character (letter, number or punctuation mark) or space per square. All lines must
be left-justified. They will be automatically centered during the engraving process. You have 3 lines with
16 characters of upper/lower per line.*
*Please limit wording to individual, couple or family name, business, year graduated or special date, or “In memory of.” All wording is
subject to review by the Alumni Committee. Any questions please contact the Foundation Office at (805) 546-3279.
opportunities or purchase
a miniature bronze cougar.
For more
information
contact
the Cuesta
College
Foundation
office at
546-3279.