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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Lizette Navarette, vice president at the Community College League of California, has been appointed vice chancellor for the College Finance & Facilities Planning Division; Dr. Valerie Lundy-Wagner, a senior research analyst at California Competes, has been appointed assistant vice chancellor of research and data.
“These two appointments will help support and advance the work our colleges are undertaking to better serve students and our state as we strive to address income inequality through the promise and potential of public higher education,’’ Oakley said.
The College Finance & Facilities Planning Division oversees the distribution of local assistance and capital outlay funds for the 73 districts that make up the California Community Colleges and also represents the system in advocating for budget requests with the state Legislature and Department of Finance.
The newly created position of assistant vice chancellor of research and data was established to better assist colleges with data reporting and analysis that informs strategies to achieve the goals and commitments set out in the Vision for Success.
Navarette for more than four years has served as vice president at the Community College League of California, where she oversees budget and policy advocacy for California's 73 community college districts.
As vice president, Navarette works closely with elected trustees, chancellors and presidents to support the success of local districts and the students they serve. She first came to the Community College League in 2013 as a legislative advocate.
She previously served as the associate director of regional relations at UC Riverside and the youth & education coordinator for the City of Riverside. Navarette earned her bachelor’s degree in political science and international relations from UC Riverside – where she also served as student body president – and her master’s degree in public administration from the University of La Verne.
She is now earning a doctorate in education from UC Davis. Navarette is the first woman appointed as vice chancellor for the College Finance & Facilities Planning Division.
Lundy-Wagner is a nationally recognized researcher on equity in higher education, including how it connects to K-12 and workforce development.
A former assistant professor and faculty fellow at New York University, Lundy-Wagner has worked as a senior research associate at the Community College Research Center, the leading authority on community college research and reform, and as an associate research director at Jobs for the Future, a national nonprofit focused on education, workforce development and economic mobility.
She currently works as a senior research analyst at California Competes, a policy research and advocacy organization. In her current role, she manages the research agenda design and execution, and for the last year has served as a key informant on development of the statewide longitudinal education-to-workforce data system.
A Richmond, Calif. native, Lundy-Wagner earned her bachelor’s degree in civil and environmental engineering at UCLA, her master’s degree in education at Stanford University and her Ph.D. in higher education at the University of Pennsylvania. She also was a postdoctoral scholar in engineering education at Purdue University.
The California Community Colleges is the largest system of higher education in the nation, composed of 73 districts and 115 colleges serving 2.1 million students per year.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
School officials said they are proud of the work they do and would like to recognize student success with the community whenever possible.
A student representing Cobb Mountain Elementary recently received a perfect score in the first of three meets in this year’s WordMasters Challenge, a national vocabulary competition involving nearly 125,000 students annually.
Competing in the difficult Blue Division of the WordMasters Challenge, fourth grader Sage Moore earned a perfect score of 20 on the challenge. Nationally, only 52 fourth graders achieved this result.
Other students from Cobb Mountain Elementary who achieved outstanding results in the meet include fifth grader Lily Morita and sixth grader Brooke Watson.
Cobb Mountain Elementary teachers Allison Rodgers and Angela Stevenson coached students in preparation for the WordMasters Challenge.
The WordMasters Challenge is an exercise in critical thinking that first encourages students to become familiar with a set of interesting new words (considerably harder than grade level), and then challenges them to use those words to complete analogies expressing various kinds of logical relationships.
Working to solve the analogies helps students learn to think both analytically and metaphorically.
Although most vocabulary enrichment and analogy-solving programs are designed for use by high school students, WordMasters Challenge materials have been specifically created for younger students in grades three through eight.
They are particularly well suited for children who are motivated by the challenge of learning new words and enjoy the logical puzzles posed by analogies.
For more information about the WordMasters Challenge program visit http://www.wordmasterschallenge.com.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
More than 150 awards totaling nearly $500,000 are being made available through PG&E scholarships, which includes the employee resource group, or ERG; engineering network group, or ENG; and Better Together STEM scholarship programs.
PG&E scholarships information, including criteria and applications, is available on PG&E’s website. To be considered for a scholarship, all applications must be submitted by Feb. 7.
“Helping students in our communities attend college and achieve their goals is a big step toward improving lives. These individuals, many of whom are the first in their families to attend college, will be the leaders and innovators of tomorrow. We’re proud to invest in these promising young people,” said Mary King, PG&E vice president of human resources and chief diversity officer.
PG&E scholarships are awarded annually to help offset the cost of higher education.
ERG scholarship winners will receive awards ranging from $1,000 to $7,000 for exemplary scholastic achievement and community leadership.
Better Together STEM Scholarship recipients will receive a one-time scholarship of $1,000 to $10,000 to assist in their pursuit of higher education in engineering, computer science, cybersecurity or environmental sciences.
Since 1989, PG&E’s ERGs and ENGs have awarded more than $4.5 million in scholarships to thousands of recipients.
The funds are raised totally through employee donations, employee fundraising events and Campaign for the Community, the company’s employee giving program.
Since 2012, PG&E’s Better Together STEM scholarship program has given nearly $3.6 million to accomplished students based on a combined demonstration of community leadership, personal triumph, financial need and academic achievement.
Funds for Better Together STEM scholarships come from the PG&E Foundation, which is dedicated to supporting charities that address critical social, educational and environmental challenges in the company’s service area. These scholarships are supported by PG&E shareholders.
More than 5,000 PG&E employees belong to the ERGs and ENGs. Each group helps further the company’s commitment to serving its communities and growing employee engagement.
PG&E’s ERG and ENG scholarships are available through these 12 groups:
– Access Network (individuals with disabilities).
– Asian.
– Black.
– Latino.
– Legacy (tenured employees).
– National Society of Black Engineers (STEM career employees).
– NuEnergy (new employees).
– PrideNetwork (LGBT employees).
– Samahan (Filipino).
– Society for Hispanic Professional Engineers (STEM career employees).
– Veterans.
– Women’s Network.
In addition to the PG&E scholarships, the Pacific Service Employees Association, a nonprofit mutual benefit organization serving PG&E employees and retirees, also provides scholarships for dependents of company employees.
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- Written by: McNeese State University
Bonnie Joanne McCallister received her Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural sciences at the university’s fall commencement ceremony on Saturday, Dec. 14.
McNeese State University awarded 628 diplomas to 618 students at the fall commencement ceremony, as commencement exercises returned to an on-campus venue for the first time in 33 years in the new Health and Human Performance Education Complex.
During her time at the university, McCallister was named to the university’s fall 2017 and spring 2018 honor rolls, as Lake County News has reported.
McNeese State University is a member of the University of Louisiana System.
Established in 1939, McNeese State University is nationally ranked as one of the top public universities in the United States, is recognized as one of the finest regional universities in the South and is known as having one of the best returns on investment for tuition and high average starting salaries for its graduates.