faculty

I have worked at Lake Tahoe Community College for over 21 years as a classified employee. In those years, I have seen a lot of changes – many good, some not. I wanted to address something that I haven't seen touched on yet regarding the college’s bond measure, and that is what happens at LTCC if Measure F does not pass.

My name is Dr. Frederick “Fritz” Wenck, DDS, and I’ve been closely involved with Lake Tahoe Community College since its beginning in 1974, when I was elected one of the first LTCC Board of Trustees members. I’d like you to consider, just for a minute, what would happen if the college’s Measure F bond effort failed to pass this Election Day.

My wife and I bought a retirement home in Tahoe in 2002, in part because there was a college in South Lake Tahoe. I have been on the LTCC Foundation Board since 2009. I am writing to urge everyone to support Measure F to modernize Lake Tahoe Community College and increase the educational opportunities offered there.

Lake Tahoe Community College has been chosen by the California Community Colleges’ Online Education Initiative (OEI) as one of eight colleges that will participate in the OEI’s full pilot launch, slated to take place from Fall 2014 through Spring 2016. LTCC was selected based on a number of criteria, including its accreditation standing, its well-established online degree programs, and its well-established professional development program to assist faculty with online education-oriented services and course design.

Energy saving improvements at the Lake Tahoe Community College will soon pay off financially when Liberty Utilities presents a check for $17.085.85 to the LTCC board of directors on September 9.

The check represents all of the rebates the college was eligible for after the improvements were used on campus starting in 2013.

Alison Ganong, MD will be joining Tahoe Orthopedics and Sports Medicine in September.

The board-certified physical medicine and rehabilitation physician specializes in interventional sports medicine and spine care.

“We are proud and delighted that Dr. Ganong has come on board with Barton Health,” says Chris Proctor, the director of Barton’s Tahoe Center for Orthopedics. “She has an outstanding reputation in her field and is committed to serving the growing number and variety of sports medicine needs in our community.”

The likelihood of four-year degrees coming to Lake Tahoe Community College just got a major boost. A bill authorizing California’s Community College System to launch a limited baccalaureate degree pilot program was just approved by the State Assembly Committee on Higher Education. Senate Bill 850 (SB 850) allows 15 California community colleges to offer one 4-year degree as early as January 1, 2015, and starting no later than the 2017-18 academic year. The bill already passed through the state Senate back in May by a 34-0 vote.

Artist Avery Palmer will be at Lake Tahoe Community College on Friday, June 20 in the school's room F101. Palmer will present a lecture on his artwork, including a slide show, as well as participate in a demonstration and discussion of his ceramic techniques.

The school's Art Club is hosting the free event which is open to the public.

Palmer is an emerging artist from San Jose, CA. who specializes in drawing and painting as well as ceramics.

On March 5, 1974, the voters approved the formation of a college district that would serve students on the south shore of Lake Tahoe. For 40 years the Lake Tahoe Community College has been providing higher education for the community, and its successes and growth were honored in a ceremony Wednesday. Community members joined college staff, board members and students at the original location of the college, 2659 Lake Tahoe Boulevard, which is now the home of the Econo Lodge.

Clifford Nass, a popular professor at Stanford University, passed away at South Lake Tahoe's Stanford Camp on Saturday, November 2. He was well known for his studies on the way people interact with technology and for his work on individual differences associated with multi-tasking.

Nass, 55, was in South Lake Tahoe to attend the fall Staff and Faculty Weekend at Stanford Camp which is located on the shores of Fallen Leaf Lake. He suffered a heart attack.

Lake Tahoe Community College English instructor Michael O’Laughlin and Sociology/Anthropology instructor Dr. Scott Lukas have both been honored for their outstanding work in the classroom. O’Laughlin was selected by LTCC students as their Teacher of the Year, and Dr. Lukas was chosen by his fellow faculty members as the Distinguished Faculty Award recipient. The winners will each personally receive $500 thanks to a generous donation by the LTCC Foundation. They’ll also each get to direct another $500 towards the LTCC program or scholarship or classroom materials of their choice.

The Lake Tahoe Community College Foundation, in cooperation with David Brock Music, announces an afternoon soirée of music, food, drink and good fellowship to benefit the Music Department at LTCC for the purchase of musical instruments. This event will be held Sunday, Sept. 29 at 3 p.m. at a private residence in Stateline, Nev.

Delectable hors d'oeuvres will be prepared and served by members of the Culinary Arts Program at LTCC. Hand-picked wine selections from Amador and Napa vineyards will also be featured.

South Lake Tahoe poet and LTCC English faculty Janet Smith has won the 2013 Guy Owen Prize for her poem “The Children’s Section.” The poem, for which Smith received $1000, will appear in the fall issue of the “Southern Poetry Review.”

Poet Arthur Smith chose the poem from a short list of finalists.

“The subject matter, the reading experience in childhood, could have been easily sentimentalized, but the poet consistently pulls back from that with an even more powerful detail which sees into the heart of the creation of the imagination,” he said.

The University of Nevada, Reno is set to hold the 57th Lake Tahoe Music Camp July 21-27 at the Nevada State 4-H Camp. Each year, nearly 200 students in grades 8 through 12 participate in a week of music activities, rehearsals, team building exercises and recreation time, all on the shores of beautiful Lake Tahoe.

The camp is filled with jazz and classical music workshops, clinics, performances, mentoring and instruction with award-winning University faculty, guest conductors, professional Chamber singers and jazz musicians and more.

The Lake Tahoe Community College Foundation is seeking nominations for the 2013 Lake Tahoe Community College Distinguished Alumni Award. This award is based upon alumni or a former students’ exemplary achievement in his or her life endeavor.

Their accumulated academic, business and / or civic activities are also considered. It is expected that nominees attribute their success in life in some way to the knowledge and experience they gained while attending Lake Tahoe Community College.

The Lake Tahoe Community College Writers’ Series is proudly hosting a celebration for the publication of the college’s literary journal, The Kokanee, Wednesday, May 15 at 8 p.m. at the LTCC library.

The event will feature short readings from student and faculty authors. Authors reading from their work will include Frank Riley, Cece Cummins, Harper Dial, Bonnie Turnbull, Marcela de Lira Astorga, Karen A. Terrey, Ryan Row, and Alec Holmes. The event is free and open to the public. The Kokanee will be available for purchase.

California Gov. Jerry Brown today delivered the 2013 State of the State Address. Here's the prepared text:

The latest Tahoe Project interview is with Leona Allen, a lifelong Tahoe resident, a Lake Valley Fire Protection District firefighter and a founder of the Lake Tahoe Basin Fire Academy. Hosted by Michelle Sweeney, Allen shares insight into wildfire preparedness, her family's experience of loss in the Angora fire and the success of the Fire Academy where she is among the program faculty at Lake Tahoe Community College.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - California State University has reached a tentative agreement on a four-year contract with its faculty that would avert strikes threatened for the fall, the university and facult...

The 43rd annual Squaw Valley Community of Writers will convene again this summer with acclaimed workshops in Poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction and Screenwriting. As part of the workshop, the Squaw Valley Community of Writers will be hosting an extraordinary evening of poetry readings on Thursday, June 28, at 8 p.m. in The Olympic Village Lodge at Squaw Valley.

As part of the evening of poetry, Kazim Ali, Robert Hass, Sharon Olds, Claudia Rankine and C.D. Wright will read from their published and unpublished work, including poems written in Squaw Valley just days before.

I have spent the last 10 months talking and listening to the staff and faculty of Lake Tahoe Community College and to the people of South Lake Tahoe. South Lake Tahoe has experienced bad economic t...

Summer is a perfect time to learn about birds that migrate to the Lake Tahoe Basin for the season. Join Kirk Hardie, Co-Executive Director of the Tahoe Institute for Natural Science for two events introducing the migratory birds of the Lake Tahoe region. Kirk will present a talk on these avian visitors to the area on Thursday, June 14, 2012 (no-host bar at 5:30pm, presentation begins 6 pm, $5 donation suggested) at the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences on the Sierra Nevada College campus and a bird watching walk on June 16 starting at the UC Davis Tahoe City Field Station.

University of Nevada Reno interim chief Marc Johnson, who took over after the sudden death of administrative leader Milt Click, was selected by the state's Board of Regents as the 16th president of UNR.
“It is a high honor to have been given this opportunity,” said Johnson, who has served as UNR's interim president since April. “I am very gratified by the community and campus support of my candidacy.”

Education Driven
“The University of Nevada, Reno is a quality university with a statewide obligation and presence, and we will continue to communicate with our constituents statewide to better convey what the University represents and how it contributes to Nevada’s future,” Johnson added. “We will continue to grow the University’s national reputation and remain committed to being a University with hands-on learning opportunities that prepares students with the knowledge and skills to be contributing, successful citizens.”

Lake Tahoe Community College received notice today from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges accrediting commission that the college's accreditation is being reaffirmed.