Be a host family: Open your heart and home to a Pierce College international student
State supreme court justice to speak at Pierce College graduation
Washington State Supreme Court Justice Mary E. Fairhurst will be the featured speaker at this Friday’s Pierce College graduation ceremonies.
Commencement exercises will be at 3:30 p.m. Friday, June 14, at the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma. In all, 2,933 students are eligible to participate in the ceremony.
Fairhurst has served on the state Supreme Court since 2003. Before she was elected to the court, she worked as a Washington state assistant attorney general, specializing in criminal justice, transportation, revenue and labor.
Pierce College Puyallup names new leader of learning and student success
An administrator with a decade of experience in student services and instructional administration will become vice president of learning and student success at Pierce College Puyallup.
Matthew Campbell, 39, currently serves as director of student services for the College of Science and Technology at Temple University in Philadelphia, and earlier was an administrator at Anne Arundel Community College in Arnold, Md.
Campbell said he’s eager to work with faculty, staff and students in what he described as the college’s collaborative environment. During his job interviews, Campbell said, “I was inspired by the positive attitudes and enthusiasm from and for the Pierce community.”
LA Angels of Anaheim draft Raiders ace pitcher Elliot Morris
![ElgoestoAnaheim[1]](http://wp.pierce.ctc.edu/blog/piercenews/files/2013/06/ElgoestoAnaheim1-300x170.jpg)
Raiders pitcher Elliot Morris is heading off to his field of dreams. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim drafted the right-handed pitcher this morning in the fourth round of the Major League Baseball amateur draft.
“I’m so happy to be picked. It’s the perfect team,” Morris said in a telephone interview, minutes after learning the Angels drafted him. “It’s awesome.”
Morris’s pick marks the first time Pierce College has ever seen a major league team draft a player directly from the college, Pierce College District Athletic Director Duncan Stevenson said.
Raiders pitcher expected to be picked in Major League Baseball amateur draft
Cross your fingers for Raiders pitcher Elliot Morris. He’s expected to be drafted during the three-day Major League Baseball amateur draft that begins today, Thursday, June 6.
According to BaseballAmerica.com’s pre-draft ranking, Morris is
the number 5 prospect from the state of Washington, and number 227 in the nation. The draft runs this afternoon through Saturday.
Morris’s eye-popping 94-mph fastball has caught the attention of nearly every major league scout in the Northwest, according to Pierce College District Athletic Director Duncan Stevenson.
Commit to Complete: More than 300 pledge to finish their degree
You’ve got to admire the resolve of students like T. Monique Montgomery.
The 26-year-old Pierce College student has a 7-month-old son, nearly 3-year-old daughter and two jobs, one as a home aide and the other as a temporary worker. It’s tough balancing school, motherhood and work, but the pre-nursing student is determined to complete her associate degree – and she put that pledge in writing Wednesday.
She was among the more than 300 Pierce students who signed a promise to finish their degree at the Commit to Completion event Wednesday at Pierce College Fort Steilacoom.
Fort Steilacoom gallery: Justin Jensen, “Texture and Being”
Justin Jensen, a Colorado painter whose landscapes are embedded with symbolism, is this summer’s featured artist in the Fort Steilacoom Fine Arts Gallery.
Jensen will meet with the public at the opening reception of “Texture and Being” Wednesday, June 5, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in the Fort Steilacoom Fine Arts Gallery.
Jensen was just hired as an art professor at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, said Pierce College Art Professor Dave Roholt, who attended graduate school with Jensen.
“Justin has an extraordinary ability to mix the sacred and sublime,” Roholt said.
Much of Jensen’s imagery carries references to his Christian faith. In his landscapes of the Rocky Mountains, for instance, he often inserts a cosmos or nebula into what otherwise might be a postcard-perfect image.
“It’s a balance between the celestial and terrestrial state,” Roholt said.
Justin Jensen: Texture and Being
On display through Sept. 27, 2013
Fort Steilacoom Fine Arts Gallery
Pierce College Fort Steilacoom
9401 Farwest Dr. S.W., Lakewood, Wash.
Fine Arts Gallery
Olympic Building (room 265)
Gallery hours: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Monday – Thursday; 10 a.m. – noon Friday
More info: 253-964-6718 or http://jmjensenart.com
Learn what’s “Science Fact or Science Fiction” Saturday at the Science Dome
Ever wonder if warp drive is actually possible? Will we ever have flying cars and genetically engineered humans?
Find out at the Pierce College Science Dome’s “Science Fact or Science Fiction?” celebration this Saturday, June 8.
This free event features an afternoon of interactive science exhibits and talks about whether the amazing things billed as science in movies are rooted in fact.
Fort Steilacoom event urges students to complete their degree
Students can publicly pledge to finish their associate degree at “Commit to Completion” at Pierce College Fort Steilacoom on Wednesday, June 5.
Omega Theta, the Fort Steilacoom branch of Phi Theta Kappa, will have pledge forms for students to sign as they vow to finish a community college program. It’s part of an international movement called “Community College Completion Challenge” or “C4.”
Omega Theta is holding the event at 11 a.m. in the Cascade Courtyard, outside the cafeteria, or, if it rains, inside the Performance Lounge. Students can grab a snack and listen to music along with signing their pledge.
Dental hygiene students provide valuable service, affordable care
Learning how to prevent and treat common “gum” infections, such as gingivitis and periodontitis, goes far beyond the classroom for Pierce College dental hygiene students.
Students can be found treating patients at health fairs throughout Pierce County, whether at an elementary school, a church parking lot or the Tacoma Dome. At a recent Homeless Connect fair in Sumner, for instance, students volunteered to clean homeless patients’ teeth, apply sealants and fill cavities.
Students aren’t paid for their service, and many volunteer more than the minimum number of hours they must fulfill to meet program requirements.
