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October 2010

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2010

Mt. SAC Repertory Dance Company Stages Fall Concert Nov. 5-7

WALNUT, Calif.––The Mt. San Antonio College Repertory Dance Company will perform a variety of dance styles at its Annual Fall Repertory Dance Concert on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 5 - 7, at the college’s Sophia Clarke Theater. Performance times are 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday with a special 3 p.m. performance on Sunday, Nov. 7.

The dance company is Mt. SAC’s elite group of student performers who showcase the talent of this award-winning dance department. The troupe performs thought-provoking modern works and entertaining musical theater pieces along with ballet, jazz, hip-hop, and contemporary dance. Faculty and guest choreographers are highly acclaimed professionals with credits that include major dance companies, film, and television.

Tickets are $12 for general admission, and $9 for seniors, students and children under 12.

For tickets, visit www.4tix.org online or call the Mt. SAC Performing Arts Box Office at (909) 468-4050.

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 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2010

Mt. SAC to Host Robofest 2010

WALNUT, Calif.––The Mt. San Antonio College robotics team will host an area robotics competition, Robofest 2010, on Saturday, Oct. 30, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., in the campus Student Life Center, building 9C. This event is free and open to the public.

Over 300 participants from 25 local high school and college robotics teams are expected to compete in the daylong event that will include ladder competitions and presentations by speakers from JPL and local industries on current issues in robotics.

The Mt. SAC robotics team is scheduled to compete at the state robotics championships on Dec. 11 at Cal State Northridge.

For more information on Robofest 2010, call physics professor Martin Mason at (909) 594-5611, ext. 5306.

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 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2010

McGowan Named Business Dean at Mt. SAC

WALNUT, Calif.–– Dr. Joumana McGowan has joined Mt. San Antonio College as the new dean of the Business Division, where she oversees curriculum, career programs, and the faculty and staff of five departments––accounting and management, business administration, child development, computer information systems, and consumer science.

She will also forge relationships and partnerships in the regional business and industrial community to ensure that instruction and training are in synch with changing demands of the workplace of the present and future.

“Dr. McGowan brings a wealth of experience in both academics and administration, which are needed to take our excellent business program to the next level,” said Mt. SAC Vice President of Instruction Virginia Burley. “She comes at a critical time during our troubled economy when unemployed people are coming to community colleges seeking new skills in order to find jobs in different fields.”

McGowan comes to Mt. SAC after serving most recently as Coastline Community College’s dean of business and computer information systems, and as the department chair of the Business Management Department at Fullerton College. She also presided over the Academic Senate at Fullerton and brings to Mt. SAC a wealth of business teaching experience.

McGowan has served on the statewide Business Education Advisory Council since 2009 and on the Business Industry Collaborative. She also has experience managing grants on improving and strengthening career technical education and on informatics through the National Science Foundation.

McGowan holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration from Cal Poly Pomona and a doctorate from the University of Southern California.

Mt. SAC offers more than 200 degree and career programs in a wide variety of academic disciplines, including credit and noncredit/continuing education courses that lead to university transfer and employment for more than 65,000 students annually.

### TUESDAY, OCTOBER 05, 2010

Mt. SAC’s New Building Automation Program Gets the Green Light

WALNUT, Calif.––At a time when emerging green technology is gold, Mt. San Antonio College may have just hit the mother lode with its new Building Automation Systems program that taps into the latest industry trends and promises a sustainable future.

The new fall semester program––one of only a handful of similar building automation college programs in the country––will train students as technicians to manage high-tech green systems that reduce buildings’ energy needs.

“Energy management systems make buildings ‘smart’ so that we can control energy consumption based on demand and need,” said Mt. SAC Career and Technical Education Director Darrow Soares. “It’s all about making buildings more efficient.”

Through the automation systems, the technician can monitor the energy use of a building on a computer terminal and make the appropriate decisions to affect savings. By regulating the use of energy burners such as air conditioning, electricity, and lighting, technicians can save anywhere from 30 to 45 percent in energy use and costs.

“Refrigeration and air conditioning alone uses about 60% of the energy in a building,” said Soares.

Today, nearly all major supermarkets and large office complexes in Southern California are automated. And that current trend is catching on worldwide.

“Building automation technology is increasingly becoming more universal,” said Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA) President Ron Zimmer. “What works in California can also be found in Shanghai.”

According to Zimmer, buildings consume 40% of the energy in North America, and building automation has a palette of strategies to affect savings. One example of automated energy savings is through the use of lighting. There are energy-saving bulbs, obviously, but yet another way to save energy is to have an automated system that turns lights off and uses what is known in the industry as “daylight harvesting.”

“There is technology now that senses light near windows and would shut off lights near the windows and leave on the other lights farther away,” said Zimmer. “Lights don’t need to be on while there is available daylight coming in from a window or when people aren’t in the building.”

The trend toward building automation nearly completes a cycle in building that began about 50 years ago.

“In the 1960s, we discovered air conditioning and started imposing air conditioning on buildings that weren’t meant to have air conditioning, ” said Soares.

Older buildings had higher ceilings, thicker walls, and other features, which allowed for more efficient heat transfer. But once the trend shifted to air conditioning, building structures changed as well and became less efficient.

“Now with the advent of building automation the cycle has come full circle, and automation is changing the scope of the work,” said Soares.

And with the green boom toward automation comes the need for qualified technicians.

“Today, a technician who is in refrigeration and air conditioning has to know building automation,” Soares said. “It’s a new skill set.”

The new Mt. SAC program is starting out with a pioneer cohort of 24 students who will complete the 37.5-unit Mt. SAC certificate or a 42.5-unit industry certificate program in a year. Students will also serve a 120-hour internship at the end of the program and take classes in fields such as air conditioning and refrigeration, computer information systems, and electronics as well as the core courses in building automation.

The program is the product of a three-year $2.3-million U.S. Department of Labor grant awarded in February 2010 to Mt. SAC, Rio Hondo, and Chaffey colleges for development of a new program in building automation. Mt. SAC serves as the lead institution for the program, while Rio Hondo will offer the electronics classes for the students and Chaffey will offer classes through its industrial motors program.

An advisory committee of educators and business owners oversees the program, which is designed to address the growing need for building automation technicians.

“Job prospects in building automation will exist as long as energy is a commodity, and energy is always going to be commodity, ” said Soares.


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 MONDAY, OCTOBER 04, 2010

Mt. SAC Theater Presents “Moon Over Buffalo”

WALNUT, Calif.–– The Mt. San Antonio College Theater Program will stage its production of “Moon Over Buffalo” on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 15 & 16, at 8 p.m., in Mt. SAC’s Sophia B. Clarke Theater. A special Sunday matinee performance will be given on Oct. 17 at 2 p.m.

Ken Ludwig’s backstage farce “Moon Over Buffalo” revolves around the fading careers of two 1950s Broadway actors, George and Charlotte Hay, who have one last chance at stardom by impressing director Frank Capra. The craziness that ensues includes slamming doors, mistaken identity, ripped costumes, spiked coffee, and wordplay. Actress and comedienne Carol Burnett made her 1995 comeback to Broadway is this madcap comedy. Tacey Adams directs this Mt. SAC production.

Tickets are $12 for general admission, $9 for seniors, students, and children under 12.

For tickets and more information, call the Performing Art Box Office at (909) 468-4050. Tickets may also be purchased online at www.4tix.org.


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