Imprint - Fall 2011

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Johnson County Community College

JCCC students startfall semester in newOlathe health center

5Journalist wantsto change ‘businessof what we eat’ Bill Kurtis will talk about his efforts torestore the prairie and raise healthiercattle in Sedan, Kan.

6For the sake of healthThe Olathe Health Education Centeropens to meet the increasing demandfor trained health care workers. Thebuilding will be dedicated on Oct. 6.

Building LEED

When the Olathe Health EducationCenter opened in August, these keypersonnel were in place. They are,from left, Jane Zaccardi, director ofpractical nursing; Mary Hedberg,professor of business office technology;Loralee Stevens, assistant dean ofCommunity Outreach Credit Instructionand Mike Stithem, OHEC buildingmanager.

Cover

4Author brings‘Part-Time Indian’to JCCCSherman Alexie to speak abouthis semi-autobiographicalbook for young people ongrowing up on the SpokaneIndian Reservation.

ImprintImprint at JCCC is published five times a year by Johnson County Community College, 12345 College Blvd., Overland Park, KS 66210-1299; 913-469-8500, fax 913-469-2559. Imprint at JCCC is produced by College Information and Publications and the Office of Document Services. Imprint is located online at http://www.jccc.edu/Imprint.Editor: Diane Carroll • Photographer: Bret Gustafson • Designer: Randy BreedenWhen planning your estate, remember Johnson County Community College. For more information, call the JCCC Foundation at 913-469-3835.

Fall 2011 | Imprint

Contents

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8Taking the ‘LEED’seriouslyThe new Olathe health center is thefirst building at JCCC to be constructedunder the promise of sustainability andthe green dictates of the LEEDcertification system.

Recycling

10College boosts recycling effortsYou don’t have to look very far to finda recycling container at JohnsonCounty Community College. And onceyou find it, you don’t have to thinkvery hard about what can go in it.

11Charging stations setthe scene for advent of electric vehiclesThe college helps lead the way towardelectric vehicles with the installation ofcharging stations in an undergroundgarage.

15Library updates space,and rethinks ways it provides serviceSome of the changes to BillingtonLibrary are obvious, such as the newcirculation desk. Others might beharder to spot .

College scholarexamines the effects of Haitian migrationAnthropology instructor Kiran Jayaramwill speak about his research onmigrants who have moved to theDominican Republic in search of abetter life.

Back CoverBuilding

12Will math go the wayof Latin?Participants in the Eastern Kansas Math

Summit examine the future of math

education from middle school to the

post-graduate level.

Math

Notice of Nondiscrimination – Johnson County Community College does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin, disability, age, religion, marital status, veteran’s status,sexual orientation or other factors that cannot be lawfully considered in its programs and activities as required by all applicable laws and regulations. Inquiries concerning the college’s compliancewith its nondiscrimination policies may be referred to the Dean of Student Services or Director of Human Resources, Johnson County Community College, 12345 College Blvd., Overland Park, KS66210, 913-469-8500; or to Office for Civil Rights, 8930 Ward Parkway, Suite 2037, Kansas City, MO 64114, 816-268-0550.

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Energy

Fulbright Scholar

14On a mission to Russia Executive vice presidentJoe Sopcich details trip to Russia as Fulbright scholar

Author to linkpersonal storyto Part-TimeIndian book

an award-winning author, poet and screenwriter, will

discuss his life and work – and the connections between the two – at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 19, in Yardley Hall at JCCC.

Alexie appears at JCCC as part of its scholar-in-residenceprogram, and the public is invited to attend. Admission is free.

His presentation is titled The Partially True Story of the TrueDiary of a Part-Time Indian. It reflects the semi-autobiographicalnature of his recent young adult novel.

That book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, wonthe 2007 National Book Award in Young People’s Literature andhas spent more than 100 weeks on The New York Times’ best-seller list for children’s literature.

It tells the story of Arnold Spirit, a 14-year-old Native Americanwho decides to leave the reservation school in favor of a highschool 20 miles away. Arnold and the school mascot are the onlyIndians in the rich, white school and Arnold struggles with issuesof identity and community.

Monica Hogan, an English professor at JCCC, was part of theselection committee that chose Alexie as its fall scholar and TheAbsolutely True Diary of the Part-Time Indian as its CommonRead selection for fall 2011.

“When I nominated Alexie’s book, I was looking for a good read – something that if I could get my students to start readingthat they would finish,” she said. “More importantly, students atcommunity colleges often share similar experiences to those ofthe main character in Alexie’s novel, but this novel gives readersan opportunity to reinterpret individual self-worth andcommunity.”

In addition to The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,Alexie has written numerous volumes of poems and short storiesas well as novels and a screenplay for Smoke Signals, a moviebased on one of his short stories. The film received theSundance Film Festival Audience Award, and Alexie received a best first screenplay award from Independent FeatureProject/West.

The New Yorker recently named Alexie as one of the top 20writers for the 21st century, and The New York Times BookReview described him as “one of the major lyric voices of ourtime.”

The event is sponsored by JCCC’s English department; Center forAmerican Indian Studies; Office of Diversity, Equity andInclusion; Scholars in Residence; and Performing Arts Series ArtsEducation.

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Sherman Alexie,

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© 2003 Rob Casey

nationallyknown

journalist and a native of southeastKansas, presents Bill Kurtis: Back Homeon the Range at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21,in Yardley Hall of the Carlsen Center,Johnson County Community College.

A reception will follow in the CarlsenCenter lobby. The talk and receptionare free and open to the public. Theevent is co-sponsored by JCCC’s KansasStudies Institute and Performing ArtsSeries.

Kurtis will discuss his efforts to returnthe prairie lands near Sedan, Kan., totheir native state, revive Sedan’seconomy and establish a company thatrevises the agribusiness model offeedlot cattle to create healthier beefthat is better for the environment,animals and consumers. He will sharehis personal experiences in attemptingto reverse agribusiness norms and beon the forefront of grass-fed cattleranching. He will also highlight theimportant lessons he has learned aboutthe business of what we eat.

A journalist, producer and author,Kurtis is celebrating 40 years as anaward-winning broadcaster. Born inFlorida and raised in Independence,Kan., Kurtis graduated from theUniversity of Kansas with a bachelor ofscience degree in journalism. Heattended Washburn University Schoolof Law, where he was awarded a jurisdoctor degree.

He began his television career atWIBW-TV (CBS) in Topeka. In 1966,after being recognized for his 24-hourcoverage of a devastating tornado,Kurtis was hired by WBBM-TV inChicago where he was a field reporterand later anchor of The Channel TwoNews. Kurtis moved on to the networklevel at CBS where he anchored theCBS Morning News and contributed toCBS Reports. He is also credited withbreaking the Agent Orange story andthe story of Amerasian children inVietnam. He returned to Chicago andWBBM-TV as news anchor from 1985-1997.

In 1990, he founded Kurtis Productionsand began producing programs for theA&E Network, including the long-running, Emmy award-winningInvestigative Reports and Cold Case Filesas well as Investigating History for theHistory Channel. Kurtis served as thehost of A&E’s American Justice – thelongest running nonfiction justice serieson cable. Cold Case Files wasnominated for 2004 and 2005Primetime Emmys for OutstandingNonfiction Series.

Kurtis is also an author. The DeathPenalty on Trial: Crisis in AmericanJustice, which is his most recent book,explores issues surrounding capitalpunishment in America. By profilingtwo murder cases, Kurtis reveals hischange of mind regarding capitalpunishment.

In his home state of Kansas, Kurtis isan active conservationist. His 10,000-acre Red Buffalo Ranch is located inthe last section of America to enjoyuntouched tallgrass prairie. In 2005,Kurtis founded Tallgrass Beef Companyto champion the environmental andhealth benefits of grass-fed cattleranching.

The Red Buffalo Ranch borders thesmall town of Sedan, which issoutheast of Wichita, near theOklahoma border. Kurtis has workedclosely with residents to renovate andrestore the historic Main Street.

Kurtis is the third speaker in the KansasLecture Series. The Kansas StudiesInstitute initiated the Kansas LectureSeries with Wes Jackson, president, TheLand Institute in 2009, followed by StanHerd, preeminent representationalearthwork artist, in 2010.

For more information about Kurtis’spresentation, contact Dr. James Leiker,director, Kansas Studies Institute atJCCC, 913-469-8500, ext. 3673, [email protected].

Bill Kurtis,

Bill Kurtis

5Fall 2011 | Imprint

Journalist pushesfor big changesin the ‘business of what we eat’

health care workers is forecastto grow, and JCCC has now

grown, too, to anticipate that need.

Dedication for the new Olathe Health Education Center(OHEC) will be at 3 p.m. Oct. 6 at the building site, 21201 W. 152nd St., Olathe.

Only a large cornfield separates OHEC from the OlatheMedical Center (OMC), and nearby are a world-class imagingcenter, doctor’s offices and a long-term care facility – OlatheGood Samaritan Center – that offer students studying healthcare some hands-on opportunities for learning.

The process of creating an allied health education centerbegan when the medical center donated 5.8 acres of land toJCCC. Groundbreaking was December 2009, and the 50,000-square-foot center was open for the first day of credit classesin August.

In addition to the OMC partnership, future partnerships withMidAmerica Nazarene University and the Olathe SchoolDistrict are in the works in hopes the community willbenefit from OHEC.

Terry Calaway, president, JCCC, said, “We are delighted tohave the opportunity to educate health professionals in thisstate-of-the-art facility. The building will have a dramaticimpact on learning, and that learning will have a dramaticimpact on the health care in this community.”

About the buildingThe building’s features include:

• The same red brick and white cast-stone that highlightsstructures on JCCC’s main campus.

• Furnishings and architectural features – such as the glass-sided main staircase and cherry wood panels – that echothe Regnier Center’s interior.

• A two-story windowed atrium that serves as a studentstudy area.

• A hospital “feel” from the open lobby and a second floorequipped with the very same state-of-the-art equipment –beds, privacy curtains, nurse call buttons and medicalheadwalls – that furnish hospital rooms.

• Four simulation bays with one-way glass, allowinginstructors to watch students perform procedures.

• A flexible-use space on the first floor. By using dividers,the area can become four classrooms, two double-sizedclassrooms, one large meeting space or a combination of classroom and meeting space.

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The demand for

Fall 2011 | Imprint

Practical nursing movesto Olathe health center

The new JCCC health center is close to the Olathe Medical Center, where students will get some of their training.


New opportunitiesThe second floor will be the home for the practical nursing program andother health-occupation programs. Jane Zaccardi, director of the practicalnursing and health occupationsprograms, said she was lookingforward to teaching there.

Previously, the LPN and healthoccupation programs held class inKing’s Cove Office Park, just west ofInterstate 35 at 75th Street. That facility,retrofitted for teaching purposes,contained only 11 beds withmannequins.

“Now we’re moving from 11 beds to 29beds,” Zaccardi said. “We’ll have morechances to do patient simulation, andwe don’t have to leave our building.”

Construction costs of the OHEC werearound $13.4 million and includedmany energy-saving measures. (Seesidebar.) After including furniture andmedical equipment, the center costapproximately $15 million.

“It’s a total upgrade,” said Zaccardi. “Wenow will have more current equipmentfor the CNAs (certified nurse assistants)to practice with.”

Bill Osborn, associate vice president,instruction, said he hopes the up-to-date equipment and extra space helpthe college to expand the medicalbilling and coding program as well asthe medical transcription program. Aspace designed to resemble a doctor’srecords office is located between twoclassrooms on the first floor.

More than medicineIn addition to health-related classes,OHEC will be home to select generaleducation classes.

Loralee Stevens, assistant dean ofcommunity outreach for creditinstruction, said OHEC would give thecollege an additional presence insouth-central Johnson County. She saidgeneral education offerings at OHECreflect a “variety of classes to fulfill anassociate’s degree, as well as classes ofpersonal interest.”

Five to seven of the building’s 21classrooms will be used for generaleducation classes, with the restreserved for health-related instruction.

For the futureOHEC may not be dedicated yet, butcollege officials are alreadycontemplating its future. With thenumber of health-related occupationsprojected to grow at a higher thanaverage rate, the architects left room foran addition of 20,000 to 30,000 squarefeet on the same building footprint.

Classroom

Meeting Area

Student Lounge/Study Space

Faculty/StaffSpace

Use-SpecificLabs

Low-fume paints and sealants.Recycled building materials.

Daylight.

All of these forward-thinking building practices were used inthe construction of the Olathe Health Education Center(OHEC), the new home for practical nursing, healthoccupation programs and general education courses.

OHEC is the first building to be constructed under thepromise of sustainability after President Terry Calawaysigned the American College and University PresidentsClimate Commitment in March 2008.

In it, he pledged to make all new construction follow thedictates of the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC)designation of a LEED silver building or higher.

“It’s college policy now,” said Jay Antle, executive director ofthe Center for Sustainability at JCCC.

The USGBC developed LEED, or Leadership in Energy andEnvironmental Design, which is an internationallyrecognized green building certification system.

Points are earned in distinct categories such as water andenergy usage, materials used in construction andenvironmental quality inside the building. On a 100-pointscale, OHEC must achieve 50 to 59 points in order to becertified silver. A gold certification requires 60 to 79 pointsand a platinum is 80 points and above.

How did the designers andbuilders attempt to attain thosepoints? The flagship of all OHEC’s sustainability practices is theground-source heat pump. Also called a geothermal system,the pump uses 48 wells dug underneath the OHEC parkinglot. These wells are 350 feet deep and use the temperatureof the earth to heat the building in the winter and cool it inthe summer.

Because the water is stored so far underground, it maintainsa relatively consistent temperature of about 65 degreesFahrenheit. In addition to providing heating and cooling forthe building, a geothermal system is also supposed to costless to maintain than traditional sources of heating,ventilation and air conditioning.

Antle said the thermal pump also would result insignificantly lower utility bills than a typical heating,ventilation and air-conditioning system. The upfront costs –digging the wells, lining them with concrete, filling themwith glycol and setting up the handling systems on eitherside of the building – will be recaptured, he said. How longit will take depends on the costs of traditional heating andcooling materials (such as the cost of natural gas) and theefficiency of the new system.

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Energy efficiency.

Fall 2011 | Imprint

LEED

An air-handler room uses OHEC’s geothermal system for heating and cooling the building.

OHEC is JCCC’sfirst ‘official’green building


Other LEED points will come from these features:n Daylight. The building was oriented on the site to capture

as much daylight as possible. The lobby features a two-story windowed atrium, and the windows facing the northare large, with six of them on the east side and eight onthe west.

n Motion sensors and light detectors. When daylight is nolonger strong enough (on rainy days) or gone altogether(at night), a device attached to the light fixtures relays themessage to turn on the lights or increase their power, andthe light responds automatically. Additional sensorsmonitor motion in a set area, such as a classroom orhallway. When no motion is detected, the lightsautomatically turn off. Motion sensors are even at work inthe elevator, so lights don’t come on until someone stepsover the elevator threshold.

n Native plants and local materials. Outside the building,plants indigenous to Kansas will demand less water.Inside the building, construction materials fromMidwestern suppliers meant less energy used in transport.

n Low-fume paints and sealants. “In buildings where thesematerials are used, fewer people called in sick. So we’renot only creating a greener building, we’re creating ahealthier building for workers and for students,” Antlesaid.

n Recycled building materials and recycling during building.In addition to using materials with post-consumer content,builders also maintained that recycling stream byseparating waste during construction. Steve Calfas, sitesuperintendent, said workers from JE Dunn, the builderfor OHEC, separated cardboard, wood, steel, concrete andmasonry so it could be diverted from the landfill andrecycled.

n Low-flow fixtures, two hydration stations and even ashower. You’d expect water-saving toilets and a place tofill your water bottle, but the shower might be a surprise.For bicycle commuters who want to park their rides onthe bike racks outside, a quick shower before class orwork may be a necessity. It’s in the first-floor unisexbathroom.

n “People now have an obligation to create beautifulbuildings that are environmentally responsible,” Antlesaid. “At the end of the day, we need a building that notonly works, but that works well.”

Additional green aspects includebicycle racks and reservedparking for alternative fuel andand car-pool vehicles. Variablefrequency drives control electricmotor speeds used in the heating,ventilation and air-conditioningsystem.

very far to find arecycling container at

Johnson County Community College. And once you find it,you don’t have to think very hard about what can go in it.

This summer, JCCC expanded its recycling programs, addingmore recycling containers around campus, shifting to “singlestream” recycling for most indoor containers and expandingthe types of plastic that can be recycled.

The college also became home to one of the big purpleRipple Glass recycling containers, making glass recyclingmore convenient for JCCC students and employees as wellas for neighbors.

It’s proven that more people will recycle if it’s easy for them,said Michael Rea, JCCC’s recycling coordinator.

For example, the new Ripple Glass collection bin makesglass recycling easy for the thousands of people who driveto campus every day as well as the college’s neighbors.Located in the warehouse parking lot on the west side ofcampus, and easily visible from College Boulevard, thecontainer is accessible 24 hours a day.

Similarly, shifting to single stream recycling – meaning thatplastic, paper and cans can go into the same containerwithout sorting – should increase the volume of material

that’s recycled rather than sent to the landfill, Rea said.

Students, employees and visitors no longer need to look for the numbers 1 or 2 on their recyclable plastic to see if it’s acceptable. The college now recycles all plasticsimprinted with the circular arrow-recycling symbol, numbers 1 through 7.

The convenience factor also applies to boosting the numberof outdoor recycling containers. Previously, the college had110 outdoor trashcans and six outdoor recycling containersfor bottles and cans, Rea said, as well as three recyclingcontainers attached to solar-powered trash compactorsinstalled in March.

Now, the domed containers for cans and bottles that oncedotted indoor hallways have moved outside next totrashcans.

“Just putting them next to each other should increaserecycling by 30 percent,” Rea said.

In addition to reducing the waste the college sends tolandfills, boosting recycling also has a financial benefit forJCCC. The funds generated through recycling benefit studentscholarships.

You don’t have to look

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Recycling

Fall 2011 | Imprint

College boosts recycling effortsMichael Rea, recycling coordinator, takes delivery of a glass recycling container located on the west side of the campus.


and neighborswho own

electric cars will get a real charge out of four parking spacesin the Carlsen Center west underground parking garage.

The slots, located on the east wall of the garage near theentrance to the Carlsen Center, are reserved for electricvehicles. They’re adjacent to two electric vehicle-chargingstations that were installed in the garage this summer.

JCCC is one of eight sites around the Kansas Citymetropolitan area selected to host the charging stations,which are funded through a grant from the U.S. Departmentof Energy. The Kansas City Regional Clean Cities Coalition isworking with KCP&L to administer the grant, which isfunded through the American Recovery and ReinvestmentAct.

In addition to JCCC, charging stations are located at Blackand Veatch, Overland Park; the City of Lee’s Summit;Commerce Bank, Harley Davidson and Union Station, all inKansas City; Heartland Hospital, St. Joseph, Mo.; and ParkPlace Village, Leawood.

While drivers can charge electric cars like the Chevy Voltand Nissan Leaf at home, there’s a need for a charginginfrastructure that can be used while the vehicles are awayfrom home but not in use. This is particularly effective whenthe owner of an electric vehicle can replenish the battery’scharge while the car is not in use for a period of time.

Workplace parking lots, colleges and universities and evenmovie theatres provide that opportunity. Knowing thatpublic charging stations are available and where they arelocated will help increase driver confidence and encouragethe purchase of more electric cars.

That, in turn, will reduce dependence on gasoline andimported oil, enhance efficiency and improve the region’s airquality, said Tim Gelvin, JCCC’s executive director forcorporate outreach and a member of the Great Kansas CityPlug-in Readiness Initiative steering committee.

At a June press conference announcing the locations of thecharging stations, KCP&L’s Roland Maliwat said all of thesites allow day and night access to the stations. Hostingorganizations are strong supporters of electric vehicles andrepresent a cross section of businesses: a hospital, retail,education, manufacturing and offices, he said.

Gelvin said the grant covered the cost of the chargingstations and installation. The college will absorb the cost ofthe electricity used to fuel the vehicles for three years.

Providing the four parking spaces and electricity reflects thecollege’s commitment to sustainability, Gelvin said. Inaddition, the JCCC Student Sustainability Committee hasallocated funds to purchase an electric vehicle which will beused in part for driver’s education classes.

“This is a great opportunity to offer new technology for ourstudents’ use and learning,” he said.

JCCC students, employees

Energy

Electric carshave a spot of their ownon campus

Tim Gelvin, executive director of corporate outreach, shows off one of two charging stations near the Carlsen Center.

to your last math class – whether it wasyesterday or 40 years ago. Was the

teacher at the front of the room, explaining an equation?Were you sitting in a row of desks trying desperately todecipher the teacher’s handwriting and way of thinking?

Perhaps the day ended in success. Perhaps the day justended, and you said to yourself, “I can’t do math.”

Maybe the problem wasn’t with the math. Maybe theproblem was with the way the math was taught. Maybethere’s a better way.

Finding that better way was the focus of the Eastern KansasMath Summit. Nearly 100 high school and college mathteachers, as well as business professionals, met at JCCCrecently to discuss the future of teaching math and howstudents can learn more effectively.

It was the first such summit for teachers in the area,organized by Jeff Frost, professor and dean of mathematicsat JCCC.

The keynote speaker, Maria Andersen, titled her speech, Will Math Go the Way of Latin?

Andersen is a professor of mathematics at Muskegon (Mich.)Community College and a “learning futurist” at the school’sLIFT Institute (named for Learning, Innovation, Futuring andTechnology.)

She seriously posed to a room full of math teachers, “Whydo we need to teach algebra?”

“I see some very strong parallels to the kinds of argumentsthat were made to kill Latin off – in the media, in adults, andin adults’ frustration in their kids’ inability to do math andtheir lack of understanding about why they do math,”Andersen said.

She showed attendees slides detailing interactions betweenpeople in a math classroom. The result was a few students inthe front row engaged in answering the teacher’s questions.The rest sat quietly. One slide even showed the majority ofthe back row had fallen asleep before the class was over.

Andersen said change needs to come from something asfundamental as the layout of the room. The rows of desksneed to disappear, she said, in favor of tables wherestudents can sit together and work on problems as a group.The teacher needs to leave the lecture spot at the front ofthe room and act as a coach for the math teams that needhelp.

Technology also has changed the way math teachers need toteach, she said. Instead of lecturing about the concept andsending students home to do the homework, she suggestedteachers reverse the process. After all, many of the lecturescan be recorded, posted on the Internet and watchedoutside of class.

Andersen also questioned the wisdom of teachingsomething a computer software program can do in a matterof seconds. If it still needs to be taught to understand thekey components used later in other math applications, thentell the students that, she said, but stop offering “ridiculousexamples” of real-life scenarios no one would ever do.

Anderson’s keynote opened the summit, and closing it was apresentation by actress Danica McKellar, author of MathDoesn’t Suck and two other math-related books for youngpeople. McKellar is best known for her role as Winnie onthe television series The Wonder Years.

Frost said he organized the summit because “there are notenough opportunities for teachers of different levels –middle school, high school, college – to talk. We wanted tobegin the conversation.”

Teachers from Shawnee Mission, Blue Valley and Olatheschool districts attended, as did instructors from areacommunity colleges (such as Kansas City, Kan., and Butlercommunity colleges) and universities (such as the Universityof Kansas, Kansas State University and Fort Hays StateUniversity).

Frost said he’s unaware of another summit like this ever heldin eastern Kansas, and he’d like to continue the conversationwith a second summit in 2013.

Think back

JoAnn Hiatt, an instructor at Olathe East High School, helps math summit participants calculate the rise of the steps in the RegnierCenter in a workshop about extrapolating data.

Fall 2011 | Imprint12

Math

Math: Meeting to find a better wayCollege hosts summit for teachers

Instructors share ways to make math interestingThe Eastern Kansas Math Summit not only allowed JCCCinstructors to meet with other teachers in the area, but it alsoallowed them an opportunity to present.

In breakout sessions over two days, their offerings included:

• Don’t Worry, Be Happy: Learning Strategies for Math,Marla Byrne and Lisa Cudd.

Did you know that the first key to succeeding in math lies in your attitude?

“You have to change your attitude toward math before youcan change the outcome,” explained Cudd, who teams withByrne to teach a three-credit business math class with a one-credit learning strategies component.

“You can choose your attitude,” Cudd said. One solution? Ona craft stick (one of those big ol’ Popsicle sticks), write “Stickto it” or “I can learn” or any other motivational phrase anduse it as a bookmark. Sometimes little things can mean a lot.

Next, learn how to use the textbook as a study aid. Byrnesaid, “Some students don’t even open the textbook except todo the homework problems.”

One example? If the textbook offers objectives at thebeginning of every chapter, use them. “That’s your to-dolist,” Byrne said. And as with any to-do list, check off itemsonce they’ve been accomplished.

Another strategy includes that artifact from a bygone age –the index card. Cudd and Byrne suggest making an indexcard for each unit that highlights key points and includesimportant formulas. Instead of rereading a chapter, take thecards with you to study from.

“My goal is that one person who’s the conversion, who says,‘I really like math,’” Byrne said.

• Discovery-Based Learning in the Classroom, Chris Imm.

Some students need to see math in action before it makessense to them, and that’s why Imm has integrated discovery-

based learning (also called inquiry-based learning or IBL)into his classes.

In addition to having the students teach a lesson themselves,Imm provides hands-on “experiments” that prove a math point.

Surprisingly, the students who respond best to IBL are indevelopmental math classes. Students in higher-level classesare startled by the lack of lectures and oftentimes they don’tlike it.

“Anticipate difficulties,” Imm said.

Some of his experiments include poking a hole in thebottom of a liter-sized soda bottle to measure the volumeflow. The size of the hole will obviously determine how fastthe water drains out, but what if you wanted only a certainamount of water over a certain time, like an irrigation systemin a farm field? How could you figure that out? Trial anderror, yes, Imm explained, but also with math.

• Revisiting the Community Conversation,Jeff Frost and Margie Hill.

Organizer Frost teamed with University of Kansas mathcoordinator Margie Hill to lead a discussion on issuesaddressed during plenary sessions on both days of the summit.Still in contention was the use of calculators in the classroom.The talk then switched to technology use in general. “It levelsthe playing field to raise those who come in at adisadvantage,” said Mike Koehler, presenter at the summit,who is an instructor at Blue Valley North High School.

Student attitude became the next topic. Amy Lemer, anadjunct math instructor at JCCC, shared a story about herson. Only in first grade, he came home to tell his mother, “Ihate math – but not your math, Mommy.” She said she wasworried. If she couldn’t get her own son to enjoy math, whathope did the children of non-math-instructing parents havein embracing math?

Some group members agreed that teachers need to guidestudents into a “success loop” where they achieve success,and that success makes them want to do the task again.


Chris Imm, a math professor at JCCC,focused on discovery-based learning.

Pam Snow, a manager with PearsonPublishing, keyed in on technology.

Professor Maria Andersen of MuskegonCommunity College gave the key address.

14 Fall 2011 | Imprint

Fulbright Scholar

something very quicklyon his recent trip to

Russia, funded by a Fulbright grant.

They may have ice in Russia, but they don’t haveicebreakers.

“They just don’t have them,” Sopcich explained. “It’s formaland all. They didn’t laugh.”

Sopcich, the executive vice president of administrativeservices, tried his best to ease the tension of the highlystructured traditions of education in Russia.

As part of his presentation, funded by the FulbrightProgram, Sopcich included a Powerpoint slide of JCCCpresident Terry Calaway supposedly saying, “Don’t listen tothis guy,” written in the Russian language. But students theredidn’t understand his tongue-in-cheek self-effacement. Theystared at Sopcich until he soldiered on.

“I learned that’s not what you do there,” he said.

Those cultural differences were the whole point of Sopcich’svisit to the cities of Moscow, Yekaterinburg and Tyumen inthe Russian Federation. Selected by the Fulbright Program toexplain the concept of community colleges to a Russiansociety without them, Sopcich found as many similarities asdifferences, especially in the students.

Sopcich was one of five community college administratorswho visited the three Russian cities from April 5 to 20.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship internationaleducational exchange program sponsored by the U.S.government. It is designed to increase mutual understandingbetween the people of the United States and the people ofother countries.

Sopcich decided to apply to the program after Marilyn Gaar,professor of political science at JCCC, urged him to do so.She knew he had always been interested in Russia.

As Sopcich visited schools in Russia, the similarities withschools in America became apparent.

“Walking down the hall, it felt the same. Students, digitalsignage, all the same. The only thing different was thelanguage,” he said.

The parallels were great at the Moscow Technology CollegeNo. 14. The school began as a vocational training site forgarment workers, but it expanded to include fashion design,advertising, culinary arts and economics, some of the verysame programs JCCC offers.

One difference is the length of time students take tocomplete these programs. While many of these programs atJCCC can be completed in two years, a degree in fashiondesign at the Moscow college can take almost five years, anda hotel management degree can take nearly three years.

“That’s one reason to study the community college model,”Sopcich explained. “Perhaps our model may be moreefficient.”

At a medical school in Tyumen, educators were veryinterested in learning about JCCC’s Healthcare SimulationCenter.

And since Sopcich has been back, he has been exchangingemails with the Russians he met. An administrator from theMoscow college wants more information on some of JCCC’shome nursing care programs.

Sopcich is happy to oblige.

Joe Sopcich learned

Exchanging ideas in RussiaExecutive vice president Joe Sopcich visits colleges as Fulbright scholar

and you can’t helpbut notice: things

have changed.

Some of the changes are obvious, such as the remodeledentrance space that was once a lobby. Other alterations,such as staff restructuring, are less apparent but far-reachingas well.

The buildingWhen the main campus opened in 1972, the library was oneof the original six buildings. It was named after one of thecollege’s founders, Dr. Wilbur Billington, in 2001, and upuntil June of 2011, a large lobby separated the front doorsfrom books and computers on the first floor.

Mark Daganaar, director of library services, BillingtonLibrary, said students would often meet in the lobby to formstudy groups, but it wasn’t designed for that purpose.Students would move big armchairs into a circle, their voicesechoing off the three stories of concrete.

“We thought, ‘Hey, why don’t we move that activity insidethe library and think about using this space differently?’” hesaid.

Nine rooms on the library’s second floor were constructed,eight for student study spaces and one as a workspace forlibrarians. Four rooms hold four people each. Two hold sixpeople, and two more can accommodate eight individuals.

The library’s former lobby was remade to hold anattractively designed circulation/reserve desk that forms a“U” around the monolithic concrete staircase. Indirectlighting, multiple wood-veneer surfaces and carpeting softenthe space.

The desk will centralize services like checking out books,picking up items on reserve or obtaining a laptop for short-term use. Many of these tasks were performed on the

second floor, and Daganaar said he thinks the new locationwill be more accessible.

Periodicals will now be more accessible as well. Past issueswill be stored next to the magazine’s current issue, andpatrons can simply find what they want themselves insteadof depending on a librarian to retrieve it.

On the second floor, a half-wall (approximately 4 feet high)offers outlets for users of laptops, iPads and other electronicdevices. “Since the building was built in the ’70s, we hadvery limited power access,” Daganaar said.

The peopleOther changes come in the form of people, not poweroutlets. Two new librarians, Mark Swails and Jessica Tipton,were hired as replacements for retiring librarians, andDaganaar saw the opportunity to restructure the staff.

Swails is the reference/copyright librarian, a new positionfor the college. “Most college libraries have a copyrightspecialist,” Daganaar said.

Swails is head of the copyright committee on campus. Healso works with publishers to gain permission fromcopyright holders and advises faculty on what can be usedunder the doctrine of fair use.

Tipton is the evening/weekend librarian. Instead of havinglibrarians rotate working evenings and Saturdays, Tiptonworks consistently until the library closes.

“We get a lot more nontraditional students and communityusers during the evening and on weekends,” Tipton said.“For many of these people, nights and weekends are theonly time they can make it to the library.”

Tipton said she’s looking forward to serving that populationas well as the traditional students at JCCC.


Librarians Jessica Tipton and Mark Swails are new to JCCC, as is the library lobby.

Library updates and rethinksspace and service

Enter Billington Library,

Kiran Jayaram, anadjunct assistantprofessor ofanthropology at JCCC,will be the first CollegeScholar for the 2011-2012 academic year.

Jayaram will speak onthe experiences ofHaitian migrants in theDominican Republic.

Jayaram will presentCapital Changes: Seeing

the Similarities and Differences Among Haitian Mi-grants in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic from 7to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 2, in the Hudson Auditoriumof the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art. Thispresentation will deal with new trends in Haitian mi-gration to the Dominican Republic, particularly in theurban area of the country’s capital, Santo Domingo.

A 6:30 p.m. reception in the Shull Atrium of theRegnier Center will precede the event.

Jayaram will speak again from 11 a.m. to noonFriday, Nov. 4, in Hudson Auditorium.

Both presentations are free, and the public isencouraged to attend.

A presentation for students, faculty and staff will befrom 11 a.m. to noon Monday, Nov. 28, in the Craig

Community Auditorium (GEB 233).

The topic for this talk will be Political EconomicPluralities of Livelihood Strategies and StructuralViolence: the Case of the Haitian Migrants in theDominican Republic. This presentation will go intomore detail regarding dynamics of daily life for theHaitian urban migrants to Santo Domingo. It willdiscuss specific livelihood strategies within a con-temporary setting.

“While several reports by organizations like AmnestyInternational drew popular audiences’ attention tothe issues of Haitian migrants in the DominicanRepublic, the 2010 earthquake in Haiti piqued theworld’s interest in the island,” Jayaram wrote.

Jayaram received his master’s degree in LatinAmerican Studies from the University of Kansas andis a doctoral candidate at Columbia UniversityTeachers College. His own research has dealt withidentity politics in a Haitian social movement andthe impact of capitalism in rural Haiti. Most recently,he has studied the migrants who left Haiti for aperceived better life in the Dominican Republic,Haiti’s eastern neighbor on the island of Hispaniola.

The College Scholars program showcases faculty excel-lence in research fields that go beyond the classroom tomake scholarly contributions within the instructor’s aca-demic discipline. A College Scholars committee choosesapplicants based on the topic’s general interest, timeli-ness and relevance, among other qualifications.

JOHNSON COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE

12345 COLLEGE BLVD

OVERLAND PARK KS 66210-1299

NONPROFIT ORGU.S. POSTAGEPAID

Johnson County Community College

College scholar delves intoplight of migrants from Haiti

Imprint - Fall 2011

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Transcript of Imprint - Fall 2011