Alumni Event at Cirivello's

Former ASB President Brian Russell visits with retired Business professor and Tong sponsor Phil Shrotman, TNT alum Rhonda Pearson-Nuzum, TNT alum Jill Shrotman Moore and Sue Shrotman.

Over 40 Long Beach City College Alumni and friends attended pre-Spring Sing party on Friday, March 6, 2009 at Cirivello's Sports Bar. An alumni committee consisting of Camille Bolton, Ron Camero, Brian Russell, CC Sadler and Nancy Yoho solicited door prizes, planned the menu and promoted the event. Guests were greeted by LBCC Foundation Executive Director and former AWS advisor, Dr. Ginny Baxter. Alumni from the 50's, 70's, 80's and 90's were represented. Past Spring Sing DVDS were played while alumni mingled.

Esprit Alum Kristy Humphrey, Tong Alum Ron Camero, Ethan Thompson and Tong Alum Derek Oriee enjoy the hors d'oeuvres

Dominic and Celia Miller, TNT Alum Lori Rose-Pearson and Aaron Pearson look forward to the show.

Thor alumni are enjoying their "mini" reunion. They are (l. to r.) Jeff Wellcome, Eric Munguia, Nick Parra, Chris Dunlap and Enrique Ponce.

Event at Wahoo's Fish

Wahoo's Fish in the Marketplace graciously hosted a get together for Alumni and Friends in June. Attendees introduced themselves and updated us on their current activities.

Michelle Crisa-Dufva came from Playa del Rey for the event.

Committee member Rom Camaro sells opportunity tickets to Jessica Cardenas. Ron does an excellent job gathering prizes.

Long Beach City College employees Walt Webber, Camille Bolton and Fred Rossmannek are all alumni.

Maria Cochran, new LBCC Foundation Executive Committee member, tells of her work at Dramatic Results.

Summer Pub Crawl

Over 30 alumni and friends gathered at 4 stops on the LBCC Pine Avenue Pub Crawl. Participants started at the Halbert, Hargrove Financial Advisors 23rd floor office on Pine and Ocean for wine and hors d'oeuvres. Then guests munched on pizza and buffalo wings at Smooth's Sports Bar hosted by LBCC Hall of Famer John Morris. Fantastic sushi and eggs rolls were provided by Wokcano and salsa lessons and paella were enjoyed at Sevilla. Opportunity prizes were provided by alumnus extraordinaire, Ron Camaro.

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George Crane, Camille Bolton, Lynn Hernandez and Sal Saenz enjoy the view at Halbert Hargrove.

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Ann Arnold, John Morris, Shelly Barbre and Ed Arnold view the sports memorabilia at Smooths.

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Ginny Baxter, Roberto Uranga, Steve Michaels and Councilwoman Tonia Reyes Uranga taste the egg rolls at Wokcano.

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The crowd, including Coleen and Ramon Maldonado, try doing salsa.

From the Past

Where are these ladies now? In our move to our new building Ginny Baxter found this photo. The Associated Women Student Board posed at Scherer Park around 1976. She remembers some of their names – who and where are the others?.

1st Row (l. to r.) Jill Ramsdell, Chris Sperry, Erin Pine, Ann Barrus, ?, and Pam Starr 2nd row (l. to r.) Carolyn Myers, Diane Atwater, ?, Lorie Richards, Toni Melton, Michelle Manley, Gina Dyer and Lori Devlin.

College and Foundation Awards

We would like to recognize the following LBCC Alumni for their contributions in continuing to make LBCC an outstanding institution.

Distinguished Alumni

Past President of the Long Beach City College District Board of Trustees, attorney Douglas Otto was honored by President Oakley as a Distinguished Alumni at a recent Board of Trustees meeting.

Otto attended LBCC before transferring to Stanford University. He then went on to receive a J. D. degree from the University of Chicago. He is a Founder and Past President of both the Long Beach Foundation for Architectural and Cultural Heritage and Long Beach Heritage. He was named Preservationist of the Year in 1990. He chaired the City of Long Beach's Blue Ribbon Citizens Transportation Task Force, which developed a comprehensive transportation plan for the entire city (1989-1990). He was a member and Chair of the Long Beach Planning Commission (1992-2000). He chaired the Long Beach City Manager's Downtown Business and Development Advisory Committee (1998-2004). He is a founding Board member of the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific (1994), currently serves on its Executive Committee, and chairs the Long-Range Planning Committee. He also served on the City's Ethics Task Force in 2002.

From 1998 through 2000, Doug chaired Long Beach Strategic Plan 2010; a comprehensive city-citizen planning effort adopted by the City in 2000. For this and his other community work, he received the prestigious David Landry Memorial Award for Outstanding Community Service from the City of Long Beach.

He is a former President of the Long Beach Bar Association, which named him Lawyer of the Year in 2005. He is a member of the St. Mary's Medical Center Board of Trustees and Bio-Medical Ethics Committee, is the past President of the Long Beach Arts Council, and is a member of the California State Bar Association, Access to Justice Commission.

In 2004, he was elected as the Long Beach City College Trustee for Area 4. Otto was lauded for his leadership on the Measure E Bond extension as well as service on the District Board. He was presented with a plaque and pin.

English Professor, Frank Gaspar, was awarded the Long Beach City College Distinguished Alumni award by President Eloy Oakley at the January Foundation Breakfast meeting.

Frank Xavier Gaspar is an American poet and novelist. Born in Provincetown, Massachusetts, Frank served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. After being discharged, he earned an MFA from the University of California, Irvine and began teaching at Long Beach City College.

Frank Gaspar is a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Literature and a California Arts Council Fellowship in Poetry. He is the author of four award-winning collections of poetry, most recently A Field Guide to the Heavens, winner of the Brittingham Prize. Additionally, his work has received three Pushcart Prizes, The Edgar Stanley Award, and has twice been anthologized in Best American Poetry. His novel, Leaving Pico, is a Barnes and Noble Discover Award Winner, a Borders Book of Distinction, and winner of the California Book Award for First Fiction and it has been translated into Portuguese. His book Mass for the Grace of a Happy Death won the Anhinga Prize for Poetry and his first collection of poetry, The Holyoke won the Morse Poetry Prize.

New work appears widely in national journals and magazines, and he reads publicly throughout the country, most recently at Yale, Dartmouth, Brown, Northeastern, The Claremont Colleges, and the John. F. Kennedy Memorial Library.

Jean Clad. Originally from Minnesota, Jean grew up in Long Beach where she attended Wilson High School and Long Beach City College. She earned a BA in Art and Philosophy from UC Berkeley. She studied painting in Paris and Italy before returning to the US. Upon the death of her husband she returned to California earning a MA in Art. She began teaching art at Long Beach City College and has done so for many years. A working artist, she has been shown in countless exhibitions throughout the US and Europe. Jean is best known for her exhibits of artists' books. She received the Distinguished Arts Award from the Arts Council for Long Beach last September.

Gene Connor, Volunteer Extraordinaire, has received the Tom Hennessey Spirit Award by the International City Bank Marathon Committee. He was also recognized with a bench at Rainbow Harbor with his name engraved as well as recognition by the Naples Improvement Association for his many years of dedicated service. We know Gene as an ardent volunteer and supporter of the Long Beach City College Senior Studies program.

Student Mentors

LBCC alumni Lori Brault, Debra Carlson, Marc Allmeroth, CC Sadler, Frank Menjivar, Derek Oriee and Erica Gutierrez. The Associated Student Body Leadership retreat ended with a Student Mentor Mixer involving current student leaders and alumni. Students interviewed alumni and asked for suggestions for success in their chosen fields.

News

Cheryl Mathieu decided to step up to a challenge set forth by Oprah Winfrey. To her surprise, she won. Mathieu, 44, is one of 80 women chosen nationally to participate in Women Rule!, a leadership project run by Winfrey's magazine O, The Oprah Magazine, and the nonprofit organization The White House Project. The contest was set up to find women looking to change the world through business, political and nonprofit avenues and provide them with leadership training to develop their ideas further. More than 3,000 women across the nation applied.

"I was very excited when I found out I won," said Mathieu, who was chosen for launching AgingPro.com, a Web site dedicated to providing resources for elder care. "It was confirmation that I was on the right track." Winning the contest was the culmination of a long process for Mathieu, who works as a self-employed geriatric manager in Long Beach.