dmail December 2007

Jim Carnett, OCC's Director of Community Relations, Retirement Party

Biological Sciences Professor, Ann Harmer, Named Faculty Member of The Year

Jim Carnett, OCC's Director of Community Relations, Retirement Party

Stop by the Student Lounge on Wednesday, Dec. 12, between 3 and 5 p.m. to wish Jim Carnett, OCC's Director of Community Relations, a hearty farewell, and don't forget to wear your colors – orange and blue!

RSVP to Julie Clevenger at jclevinger@occ.cccd.edu or by phone (714) 432-5707.

Jim is retiring after 36 years to spend more time with his family. His wife Hedy will join him in retirement in June. Jim and Hedy already have a few trips planned, and they plan to spend more time with their growing family.

Their daughter Jade lives in North Carolina with her husband John Fatzaun and their four children: Ethan, 8; Emma, 6; Ellarie, 4; and Eva, 22 months.

A second daughter, Melissa, and her husband, Adam Anastasi, live in Costa Mesa with their young daughter, Selah, 20 months.

Jim's daughter Jennifer lives in Tustin with her husband, Alex Dorman. Jim's mother, Betty Carnett, lives nearby in Huntington Beach.

In addition to traveling and hanging out with the grandkids, Jim plans to continue his favorite activity, writing.

Jim will continue working until January 31, his official retirement date, shortly after his 63rd birthday.

In October, Jim was honored by California's Community College Public Relations Organization (CCPRO), which named its prestigious feature-writing award after him. The award now known as The Jim Carnett Feature Article Award, is presented annually by CCPRO and is considered to be the top writing award for community college public relations professionals throughout the state.

A gifted and prolific writer, Carnett captured a record five first-place national Paragon Awards for feature writing, presented by the National Council for Marketing and Public Relations (NCMPR), and another 40 first-place state, regional and national writing awards during his career at OCC.

Under Carnett’s leadership, OCC’s Community Relations Office captured 144 first- through third-place state, regional and national public relations awards from CCPRO and NCMPR.

Carnett credits his experience as an Orange Coast College student for changing his life. “It was here that I learned how to be a student,” he said. “That’s why I have a passion for community colleges. I’ve personally experienced what a community college can do in your life, and I’ve seen what it’s done in the lives of countless thousands of others.”

In addition to writing awards, Carnett was named NCMPR’s National Communicator of the Year in 1987; he received the organization’s Career Achievement Award and was inducted into its Hall of Fame in 2001.

Biological Sciences Professor, Ann Harmer, Named Faculty Member of The Year

Ann Harmer

Orange Coast College professor of biological sciences, Ann Harmer, has been named the college’s Faculty Member of the Year for 2007-08 by a vote of the faculty and staff.

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, who’s been an OCC faculty member for 29 years, will retire Jan. 25, 2008.

Orange Coast College’s Faculty Member of the Year Award, being given for the 18th year, is sponsored by the college’s Staff Development Office and Academic Senate.

Harmer, 63, a Costa Mesa resident, has been a member of OCC’s faculty since 1978. She was nominated for the Faculty Member of the Year Award by her office mate and OCC biological sciences professor, Sharon Daniel.

Harmer will be recognized on Thursday April 3, 2008, during a presentation in OCC’s Student Center Lounge. She will also be the featured speaker at the college’s 60th commencement ceremony next May at the Pacific Amphitheater.

“I was completely amazed when I won the award the first time,” Harmer said. “I am doubly amazed and deeply honored to win it a second time. I can’t express how much this means to me, particularly as I prepare to retire. I love this college, and I love my students and colleagues.”

Though she officially retires next month, Harmer will remain on campus next spring to manage the college’s unique Plastination Lab on a part-time basis, and she’ll teach a class in advanced sectional anatomy.

A native of Wichita, Kan., Harmer attended the University of Kansas for two years as a pharmacy major. She ended up earning a B.A. degree in art history, anthropology and American civilization at Wichita State University. Several years after graduating from Wichita State she returned to college and earned a B.S. degree in zoology and an M.S. in biology from Cal Poly Pomona.

Harmer is director of OCC’s Plastination Lab, created a dozen years ago. Plastination is the process of permanently preserving specimens by dehydrating them and injecting them with silicone. 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.

“Our lab differs from other college and university labs in that we do contract work for outside institutions,” Harmer says. “We’ve done 86 projects for the California Science Center; brain sections for California State University at Long Beach; and lungs for Hoag Hospital.

“We’ve also plastinated three baby dolphins. I know of no plastinated dolphins in the country other than ours.”

Harmer has written eight grants at OCC, and she and Daniel are responsible for establishing the college’s Plastination Lab, Hoag Multimedia Laboratory, and Cadaver Prosection Lab.

“That’s our legacy,” she says.

Other nominees for OCC’s 2006-07 award included: Juani Funez-Gonzales, a professor of history; Bill McClure, an associate professor of mathematics; Dat Phan, a professor of counseling services; Susan Smith, a professor of history; James Smolin, an instructor in psychology; and Theresa Tarlos, an associate professor of geography.

D-Mail Staff
Editor Martha Parham | Assistant Editor Amy Wheeler | Web Designer Max Vorathavorn
Graphic Designer Michael Likens |Contributing Writers CCC; Michelle Ma GWC; Margie Bunten OCC; Jim Carnett
Questions? Comments? Story ideas? Email us at dmail@cccd.edu.