Friday, Jun. 27, 2008

John Spevak: Campus reflections

As some of my readers know, I will retire from Merced College after 36 years at the end of this month. In my 36th year I was honored to give the graduation speech at the college's commencement exercises in May.

Parts of the speech had to do with my career at the Los Baños campus, how a Chicago boy came to land there, what his experience was like, and what lessons he learned. I thought some of my readers might find these LBC aspects of some interest, so here are excerpts from the speech that relate to my coming and working in Los Baños:

It began in the spring of 1970 when I arrived at Castle Air Force Base in Atwater as an airman first class. It wasn't long before someone told me something I hadn't known: there was a community college in Merced. My first question was: What's a community college? There wasn't one in Illinois where I lived.

I was curious. I had interrupted my graduate studies at the University of Chicago to join the Air Force, but I knew I wanted to be a college English teacher. So I found the campus and walked into the office of the evening dean, Ted McVey. "Excuse me, sir," I said, "would you have need for a part-time English teacher?" I told him I had a master's degree, and before I left his office he assigned me an evening class for the fall semester.

I soon realized how much I liked community college students. And I had stumbled into a job--community college teaching--which would become my life's passion. And I learned from these experiences that when choosing a career, follow your dream. And be prepared to follow it--even to places where you hadn't dreamed of going.

In the spring of 1971 Dean McVey asked me, "How you like to have a full-time job teaching English in Los Baños next year?" "Sure," I said. "Where's Los Baños?" I accepted it, sight unseen. I soon found out not only where Los Baños was but what was happening there.

A new campus was opening in the fall, and as it turned out Ted, who would be the dean there, selected me to be not only the English instructor but the entire English department. Bob Edminster, Catherine Vetter, Bill Seghy, Mike Levine, and I--all five of us--became the entire full-time instructional staff.

Opening a new campus was exciting, but spending my whole day, my whole week, my whole year as a teacher of English was even more exciting. For me teaching was an energizing process of exploring ideas and sharing them with my students. What a wonderful way to earn a living.

During the 14 years I taught in Los Baños I met a wide range of dedicated students. There were students like Carol and Tomar and J.W. and Melinda, some of the brightest people I had ever known, who stretched my knowledge and creativity.

I met other students like Lily, an older adult who had grown up in Louisiana and hadn't gone to school, because she had spent her childhood helping her family pick cotton. When I asked her to sign the attendance sheet the first time, she printed an X. Lily grew in knowledge and confidence. Seeing that growth was for me as big a satisfaction as watching the brightest students develop.

I remember another student named Chris, who came into my class about a year after an auto accident had made him a quadriplegic at age 19. He came in bitter and angry. I asked a counselor friend of mine in Merced, Bob Lenz, to come to Los Baños and talk with Chris.

With Bob's help and my encouragement, Chris began to participate in class and became active, not only in the classroom but throughout the campus, including several terms as an officer in student government. "Wow," I said to myself, "becoming a part of a community college can be a life-changing experience." From these experiences I discovered that I learned more from my students than they learned from me.

In 1985, things weren't looking good for us at the Los Baños campus. We were an afterthought to the administration then. We were neglected in many ways, including being without an on-site dean. A new president, Tom Harris, came to Merced College and saw how much we in Los Baños were in disarray. He asked me if I'd be interested in becoming the interim dean there. I really didn't want to do this. After all, I loved teaching. But I looked around and nobody else was coming forward. So I agreed.

As it turned out, I stayed a dean in Los Baños for seven years. During that time I tried to recreate the family atmosphere which Ted Mcvey had engendered when he was dean. I discovered I received my satisfaction vicariously, by seeing faculty make a difference in students' lives. I also realized the importance of hiring excellent instructors, like Barbara Penney, whom I hired when I was dean.

I was helped immeasurably by dedicated classified staff members like Sheila Langley, Barbara Mello, Laura Rico, and Bernice Cooper. We all--faculty, classified, and administration--worked collaboratively and developed an esprit de corps that I believe still exists, blessedly, at the Los Baños campus.

In my 36 years at Merced College the biggest lesson I learned was this: Being part of a community college in California like Merced College, as a member of the staff or student body, is one of the best experiences anyone can have. For it is in a community college, like the Los Baños campus, that we can see and live what I believe is best example of the American dream, where anyone has the opportunity to become anything or anybody she or he strives to be.

(Comments on the writings of John Spevak, a regular Enterprise columnist, are encouraged and can be sent via email to spevak@telis.org.)

(Comments on the writings of John Spevak, a regular Enterprise columnist, are encouraged and can be sent via email to spevak@telis.org.)