Primary Faculties - The LFA Newsletter: Issue 2, March 2022

On December 29th, Lakeland faculty members Peter Orr (Nursing), Connie Bowler (Nursing), and Traci Sullivan (Sociology) served as three of seventeen volunteers at the free pop-up COVID-19 testing clinic at the Lake County Fairgrounds.

Peter oversaw the pop-up testing clinic, organized volunteers, processed tests, and confirmed positive results. Connie collected the swabs and brought them to the table to be processed and timed. Traci set timers, monitored tests, and documented results. Over 800 tests were performed that day, and almost 25% were positive.

Thank you, Peter, for your incredible work in organizing the clinic. And thanks to all three LFA members for spending a long, cold day in service to the community!

Dan Winterich (Criminal Justice) has served as a mentor for College Now of Greater Cleveland, which has connected thousands of local students in underserved communities to volunteer mentors throughout Northeast Ohio. Dan states, “Most scholarship recipients are first-generation college students, come from low-income families, and face many barriers. I knew that my experiences in college and my work as a professor could be helpful in guiding someone through this difficult transition.”

Visit the College Now website to learn more about this organization and how to become a mentor.

It just takes two hours to change futures! Just ask Cindy Simerly (Business Management, retired) or Jeanette Brossmann (Communication Studies), who tutor each week for Seeds of Literacy, an organization that provides free tutoring to students who are working towards their high school equivalency. Jeanette says of her experience thus far, "I always have a smile on my face at the end, and the students usually share their overwhelming appreciation."

Seeds of Literacy needs more tutors for reading, language arts, math, social studies, and science. Math tutors are bilingual (Spanish) tutors are especially in demand. Training and support are provided, and tutors are able to choose which they are comfortable tutoring students in. If you have any questions or interests, please feel free to contact Jeanette or Cindy. Additional information can be found on the Seeds of Literacy website.  

Please consider donating gently used or new coats, gloves, boots, sleeping bags and/or money to support our local homeless population. Many of these individuals are veterans!  Donations can be dropped off at the Lakeland Veterans Center (E-117). Feel free to contact Jeanette Brossmann or the Veterans Center (lakelandcc.SVA@gmail.com) to arrange for items to be picked up from your office. You can also venmo Jeanette (@Jeanette-Brossmann).

The LFA Comms Team wants to  hear about your community work and the services provided by the organizations you serve. Email Traci Sullivan or Natalie Hopper so we can share your involvement.

Did you know Lakeland has an observatory? It hasn’t been used in recent years but will soon be available to students and to the surrounding community, largely thanks to Mary Pogany, Ryan Eubank, and new Lakeland faculty and LFA member Rickey Bartlett (Geoscience/Astronomy).

The observatory is on the roof of B building and features a 14-inch Schmidt Cassegrain telescope housed within a dome. The scope has been upgraded with new options as well as a filter to allow for solar viewing. If you’d like a tour, let Rickey know!

In addition to being faculty at Lakeland, Matt Saunders (Music) is also part of the music faculty at the Fine Arts Association in Willoughby, OH, which seeks to enhance lives through arts education, therapies, performances, camps, concerts, recitals, and community partnerships.

As part of the Fine Arts Association's Faculty Recital Series, Matt performed his original composition, Twenty Views of the Trombone, on January 12.  

Three LFA members were featured in Lakeland’s Visual Arts Faculty Exhibition, which was on display in the campus’ art gallery in D building until February 4.

Amy Copeland (Graphic Design) has a beautiful collection on display that blends the technology of photography and digital editing with the “traditional” art of weaving. She explains, “my assemblage…is the culmination of creating geometric shapes in my tapestries and discovering hidden geometric shapes out in the world.”

Chris Berry (Drawing/Painting) has four pieces on display, which are part of an ongoing series of acrylic on canvas paintings. According to Chris, “Through the use of color, I strive to portray rhythm, harmony, and balance for an overall sense of movement.”  

Derek O’Brien (Ceramics/Sculpture) has six pieces on display, which he calls “experiments” with clay and metal. He states, “Some of the themes I work through are the relationships between humans and animals, as well as man’s influence on nature.” 

With an expertise in microbiology, Mike Khoretonenko (Biology) has already tackled why breakthrough cases of COVID-19 should not deter individuals from getting vaccinated, how drug companies were able to develop safe and effective coronavirus vaccines so quickly, and whether coronavirus vaccines can alter one’s DNA (spoiler: they can’t). 

Mike plans to create more videos. We will continue to share them on the LFA Facebook page and in future issues of this newsletter. 

Seven LFA members have been recognized by the Ohio Association of Community Colleges (OACC) for their completion of the 25-week Effective Online Teaching Practices course offered by the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE). 

Congratulations to Professors Amy Copeland (Graphic Design), Connie Golden (Business Management), Denise Lash (Medical Assisting), Megan Mamolen (Library), Rose Sheykhani (Biology), Michelle Smith (Sociology), and Joanna Whetstone (English) for their incredible commitment to online students and teaching. Well done!

Mitch James (English) was elected by Lakeland’s Provost and Vice President to be the college’s Faculty Equity Champion. Mitch has participated in workshops tailored toward understanding how best to implement diversity, equity, and inclusion into both course and departmental curricula, as well as into the operations of the college as a whole. 

This training is sponsored by the Ohio Association of Community Colleges, in collaboration with such entities as the Racial Equity Institution (REI) and the National Alliance for Partnership in Equity (NAPE).

Congratulations to Paula Ahlstrom (Early Childhood Education) on her recent retirement after thirty years at Lakeland. The LFA will miss her warmth, positivity, and determination, but we wish her a very happy retirement!

Lakeland professor and Criminal Justice program chair Greg Truhan assisted Lakeland's Civic Theatre with the staging of their first on-campus performance since the start of the pandemic. As a former police officer and retired senior agent with the United States Secret Service, Greg shared his expertise with patrons by means of post-play discussions after each performance. 

In Greg's words: "The first time I saw 'Assassins' in 2008, I knew nothing about how the show was written, or what it was about. As the play unfolded, I thought to myself, 'Wow, I studied all of this in Secret Service training.' Although partly fictional, both the play’s dialogue and song lyrics are based mostly on historical facts gathered from the verse, journal excerpts, courtroom testimony, and other records and documents in which the assassins, in their own words, attempted to explain what led them to commit their crimes. In some instances, direct quotes are utilized, so the production is an excellent example of 'Art Imitating Life.'"

Have your received a special award? Asked to share your expertise? Let us know!  

Where are our LFA alumni? What are they up to now? We would like to keep in touch with them and need your help to do so. If you are still in contact with a retired LFA member, let us know, so we can update members on the fun and fulfilling lifestyle that is retirement!