Samuel Merritt College (SMC) is pleased to introduce the new Office of the President (OP) electronic newsletter, called enews. The newsletter is in its third year of publication, and the move to an electronic format represents a progressive change to improve College communications and upgrade the access to that information. With the SMC vision to become nationally recognized over the next five years, creating an effective web-based publication is one of many strategic priorities.

We think you will enjoy reading this Summer issue of OP enews! The articles are intended to help inform you about important College activities with a focus on Community Outreach. Several stories provide a glimpse of how staff and faculty are active in community events throughout the city.

This issue also has the latest news on topics such as Graduation 2007, May Town Hall, Faculty Spring Symposium, an innovative workshop on Promoting Student Success, and the latest plans to open the San Mateo Learning Center (SMLC). SMC students, Emelle Holmes and Susan Haas are also featured as student practitioners who give their all to their education and communities.

We hope that you enjoy the new electronic format of enews, which will appear quarterly. As always, your comments and suggestions for future issues are welcomed.

Stephanie Bangert
Editor, OP enews
Executive Director, Office of the President

2007 Graduation: SMC Has Come a Long Way

Over the past 95 years Samuel Merritt College has graduated nearly 5,000 students. SMC graduated its first students in 1912. That was the year when the Girl Scouts was created, the first blues song was recorded, and Kazimierz Funk discovered vitamins... read more »

R2 Opens, San Mateo ABSN Students head to the SFLC for Orientation

The first San Mateo cohort to enroll in the 12-month Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) program had its first orientation at San Francisco Learning Center (SFLC) on June 1... read more »

Faculty gets hot on Research

The Second Annual Faculty Science Symposium was held in the Health Education Center (HEC) on May 11 with dozens of faculty, staff and students were on hand to hear the latest faculty research and presentations... read more »

Emelle Holmes: A Graduate Student Brings her Indiana Charm to Oakland

Emelle Holmes, a second-year graduate student in the Master of Physician Assistant (MPA) Program, is making a difference in her community... read more »

Susan Haas: Recent Grad Nabs Top Honors at SMC

A former history major at UC Berkeley, Susan Haas’ path to higher education at Samuel Merritt College (SMC) has been a challenging balance between graduate school and
full-time parenting... read more »

SMC Joins Efforts to Reshape Oakland's Economic Growth

To reestablish the SMC goal of becoming nationally recognized as a premier, multi-specialty health sciences institution, College liaisons are attending community programs sponsored by local community organizations to promote SMC as a leader in Oakland... read more »

Town Hall takes Technology to a New Level

Over 80 staff and faculty members attended Town Hall on May 3. The event was facilitated by Stephanie Bangert and Penny Bamford, WASC Steering Committee (WSC) co-chairs, and Vicki Davis, Managing Academic Technology and TurningPoint expert... read more »

Promoting Student Success

On April 26, SMC hosted “Pathways to Persistence,” a successful workshop led by educational consultant Tom Brown. Thirty-five members of the SMC community attended the workshop with both staff and faculty well represented... read more »

SMC Defined Institutional Purpose

SMC recently began preparations for two separate accreditation reviews scheduled for 2009 and 2011. The purpose is to measure and assess the effectiveness of the institution in accordance with the Standards of Accreditation defined by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, or WASC... read more »

SMC Inspires At-Risk Youth

John Garten-Shuman, Vice President of Enrollment and Student Services, has taken a lead in talking with local at-risk teenagers about the importance of going to college after high school graduation... read more »

SMC is Helping Girls to be Strong, Smart and Bold

Over 350,000 girls under the age of 18 live in Alameda County, and according to the U.S. Census Bureau 2005 American Community Survey, more than 13% of them live in a single-family home below the poverty line... read more »

West Pavilion Center Offers Free Skin Cancer Screening

For more than a decade the Albert C. and Bertha P. Markstein Cancer Education and Prevention Center, located in the West Pavilion building, has been educating the community and Samuel Merritt College (SMC) employees about decreasing the risk of cancer by offering free skin cancer screenings... read more »

Elizabeth Valente: Communication is the Key to Identifying Issues

To help engage Samuel Merritt College (SMC) and the broader community in the latest news about curriculum, clinics, faculty research and innovative teaching practices, the college has hired Elizabeth Valente as the Associate Director of Publications and Media Relations, Office of the President... read more »