OCC Presents 45th Annual Student Dance Concert
 Orange Coast College’s Dance Department will host its 45th annual Student Dance Concert on Friday and Saturday evening, April 25-26.
Six student choreographers and 30 dancers will take the stage at 8 p.m. in Robert B. Moore Theatre. Student choreographers will present shows in a variety of dance styles, including contemporary ballet dance, jazz dance, theatrical modern dance and a kinetic modern dance duet.
Three faculty members will also choreograph works for the concert. OCC dance professor Linda Sohl-Ellison, assisted by Amelie Hunter and Jeff Mayor, will direct the concerts.
"The focus of the annual concert is student work," Sohl-Ellison says. "Our students choreograph many of the dances, conduct auditions for dancers, direct the works and handle costuming. It’s their outlet to be completely creative."
OCC’s annual Dance Awards Ceremony will follow Saturday’s performance.
Advanced concert tickets, are only $10 and are on sale in OCC Bursar’s Office. Tickets may be purchased online at www.occtickets.com or by phone using Visa, Discover or MasterCard. For information, please call (714) 432-5880.
Tickets will be sold at the door for $14.
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OCC Business Conference Goes “Back to Basics”
“Back to Basics” is the theme for the Ninth Annual Orange County Small Business Conference at OCC on Saturday, May 3.
Three workshop tracks – Marketing, How to Start a Business, and Financing Your Business – will offer vital information for entrepreneurs.
The program, sponsored by OCC’s Business and Computing Division and the OCC Foundation, will begin at 8 a.m. and run through 1 p.m. in the Student Center.
Workshop presenters include instructors from OCC’s Business and Computing Division.
Each track includes three workshops offered in 50-minute sessions. Attendees can browse vendors during 20-minutes breaks between workshops.
Admission to the event is $25. Attendees who sign up in advance will receive a free continental breakfast as part of their registration. Phone registration is available at (714) 432-5929. Parking is free.
Online registration and additional information about the conference is available at http://expo.orangecoastcollege.edu.
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Orange Coast College Honors Top Faculty, Staff Members
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From left, Ann Harmer, Faculty Member of the Year; Julie Clevenger, Staff Member of the Year; Bob Dees; and Mike Olds, Part-Time Faculty Member of the Year |
Orange Coast College recognized Ann Harmer, professor of biological sciences, as the college’s Faculty Member of the Year for 2007-08. Orange Coast College also recognized economics instructor Mike Olds, Part-Time Faculty Member of the Year, and Julie Clevenger, staff assistant in the OCC Foundation Office, as Staff Member of the Year.
Harmer, who served as an OCC faculty member for 29 years until her retirement this year, entertained guests with a presentation entitled “Stories My Mother Never Told Me.”
Harmer joked that she always challenged her students, many who have careers in health care, because she knew “someday they are going to be taking care of me!”
“Every time I go into a medical facility in Southern California, I see my students,” she added.
It marks the second time that Harmer has won the prestigious honor. She was named Faculty Member of the year for 1995-96. She is the first repeat winner in the history of the award.
Harmer is director of OCC’s Plastination Lab, created a dozen years ago. It was the first such facility established on a college campus in the nation. To date, only a couple of other community colleges and several universities have established labs.
Harmer, a Costa Mesa resident, has been a member of OCC’s faculty since 1978. Harmer will be the featured speaker at the college’s 60th commencement ceremony next May at the Pacific Amphitheater.
Olds, an Irvine resident, has been teaching at OCC since 1983. He retired last June and remains a part-time instructor. A passionate skier, Olds climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro with his son in 1999. His world travels include trips to Turkey, China, Antarctica and the Galapagos Islands.
Chelsea Smith, one of Olds’ students, praised him as a challenging teacher who was always available. Smith, an accounting major, said Olds “prepared me to take the next step toward my future.”
Clevenger, a graduate of OCC, has been employed by the college since 1987. She lives in Costa Mesa with her husband and two children.
Lynanne Minton, who nominated Julie Clevenger for Staff Member of the Year, said the OCC Foundation staff assistant is a “very positive, upbeat person. She is an outstanding example of a hardworking committed, really involved classified staff member.”
Clevenger called Orange Coast College “my second family. To be honored like this means the world to me.”
The Staff Development Office and Academic Senate sponsor Orange Coast College’s Faculty Member of the Year Award, which is being given for the 18th year.
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Fiesta Latina to Celebrate Cultural Heritage at OCC May 8-9
 Orange Coast College will stage its eighth annual Fiesta Latina celebration on Thursday and Friday, May 8-9.
One-hour performances are scheduled for Thursday, May 8, at 7 p.m., and Friday, May 9, at 11 a.m. The performances will be held in Robert B. Moore Theatre and are open to members of the community. Admission is free.
The event celebrates the rich cultural traditions of Latin America, including dances from Puerto Rico, Columbia, Cuba, Brazil, Mexico and Argentina.
New this year are selections from Bolivia, Peru, Spain and Africa. Guest performer Tinkus, a folkloric dance company based in Santa Ana, will present a pair of Bolivian dances.
Fiesta Latina is an Orange Coast College dance and cultural heritage outreach to Orange County’s elementary schools and high schools — and to local adults. It’s a colorful and energetic educational presentation, offering striking examples of Latin American culture, dance and music.
"The goal of our concerts is to show audiences the relationships between dance and everyday life in Latino culture, and to demonstrate the rich diversity of Latin American cultural heritage,” Costas said.
For information about Fiesta Latina, phone (714) 432-5506, ext. 4.
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Recently, Coast student leaders flew to Sacramento to meet with state legislators about issues affecting community college students. Student Lobby Day is an annual event of District Student Council, which is comprised of student representatives from all three colleges. Students met with Orange County assembly members and senators, and even got invited to the Senate Floor by State Senator Lou Correa (D-Anaheim). 
