March 12, 2012
Greetings Cuyamaca College:
I apologize for being a couple of days late in sending this March missive. It is so easy for time to
get away from us with the crazy-busy schedules we keep. I appreciate your indulgence. As usual,
it has been a busy four weeks since I last wrote to you. The attached “President’s Report to the
Governing Board” for March (at the bottom of this message) contains many highlights of the
past few weeks. Our Cuyamaca College students have been particularly active as we move
through the spring semester. I had the great pleasure to accompany Viviana Vasiu, our Phi
Theta Kappa president and member of the All-California Academic 1st Team, to Sacramento for a
luncheon honoring her and the other team members. What an impressive group of students!
While on the topic of Phi Theta Kappa, I want to thank each of you who responded to my appeal
for donations for providing financial support for students who qualify for membership in Phi
Theta Kappa (PTK), but who were unable to afford the membership fee. Over $800 was
collected which will provide 10 lifetime memberships in PTK for deserving Cuyamaca College
students. Notably, one of our employees wrote a check for $300 to support this worthy cause!
Thank you all for your generosity! (We are still collecting donations—see Barbara Takahashi).
Cuyamaca College is claiming bragging rights for having what, some have said, may be the finest
2012 Accountability Report for Community Colleges (ARCC) in the State. We have shown great
progress in 6 of the 7 measures reported. While we still want to bring our students’ scores up
more, this report really validates the excellent work Cuyamaca College is doing in support of
student success. This link provides a concise summary of the results of the report:
There has been no new news on the budget front concerning our colleges and the State. Suffice
to say that much hard work in determining the extent of the shortfall and possible solutions, is
being done district-wide. I’m planning another budget forum in mid-April and you will receive
ample notification of it.
The college hosted the 4th annual Sustainable Urban Landscape conference this past week that
attracted over 250 landscape professionals for a very full day of workshops and information
sharing. Kudos to the Ornamental Horticulture Department and many others for putting on a
great event.
I would be remiss to not recognize and congratulate the latest recipient of the Cuyamaca Way
Award, Rhonda Bauerlein, our long-time instructional design technology specialist. Rhonda is
passionate about providing our students with the best educational experiences through her
work with the faculty. Upon receiving the award, Rhonda said, “It’s pretty delicious icing on the
cake to feel as respected and appreciated as I do at Cuyamaca College.” Be sure to congratulate
Rhonda the next time you see her!
I also had the opportunity to spend some time at last Saturday’s Math Field Day. This was the
49th year of the event, the last 10 or so being held at Cuyamaca College. High schools
throughout San Diego County entered teams in the competition, and it was very impressive to
see them at work. Canyon Crest Academy was, once again, the 1st place finisher. Kudos to our
Math Department faculty and many others who volunteered their time to produce this
important outreach event.
That’s it for now, so Happy Saint Patrick’s Day, Happy Year of the Dragon, and Happy Day # 75 of
2012, and stay dry this weekend!
Mark J. Zacovic, Ph.D.
President
900 Rancho San Diego Parkway
Office (619) 660-4221
Fax (619) 660-4393
Cell (951) 537-9384
[email protected]