Menlo Magazine Summer 2021

Making Sense of an UpsideDown World

M EN LO COL L EGE M AG A ZIN E | SU M M ER 20 21

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Pamela Gullard

Making Sense of an Upside-Down World

SENIOR EDITOR Lisa Ann Villarreal, Ph.D. STAFF WRITER Lauren John CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Erik Bakke Jessica Berger Benny Boveda Caroline Casper Mark Hagar Dylan Houle Grande Lum Marianne Marar Heather Meeker Green Melissa Michelson La’Tonya (LT) Rease Miles Jordyn Sanico ’22 Angela Schmiede Rasmia Shuman ’22 Lisa Villarreal Steven Weiner DESIGN Marsha Gilbert PHOTOGRAPHY Ryan Barnett ’19 Crystal Cebedo ’20 Taylor Henkel ’22 Miguel Lim ’21 Douglas Peck Esteban Ramirez ’23 Samuel Spector ’21 Ryan Thompson Lisa Ann Villarreal EDITOR Tricia Soto PRESIDENT OF MENLO COLLEGE Steven Weiner CHAIR OF THE BOARD Micah Ka-ne ’91 BOARD OF TRUSTEES Thomas (Tom) Byers Alma Clayton-Pedersen Andrea (Andy) Cunningham Howard (Howie) Dallmar ‘74 James (Jim) Davlin Chris Garrett ‘94 J. Michael (Mike) Gullard Joe Hurd David Irmer, Sr. ’58 Helene Kim Jordan Long ’09 Larry Lopez ’84 Roxane Marenberg Zoanne Nelson Colin O‘Malley Fran Schulz ’85 Shireen Udenka Benjamin (Ben) Wagner

The Covid-19 pandemic helped expose the urgent need for social justice, the tragedy of our deepening political divide, and the weaknesses of our national safety net. It also became the proving ground for new teaching methods tried out in the heat of the historic moment. In this issue, we look at this process of change in society and on campus.

Introduction 1 Welcome Back!

3 The Learning Process Continues 5 Letters to the Editor

Features 7 10 11 13 15

The Future of Teaching Pandemic Problem Solvers Distance Learning Individual Attention Coping and Resilience

Faculty and Classroom 17 Menlo Serves All 19 E-Portfolios 21 Reading as Critical Thinking 23 New Course Explores Racism 25 Faculty News 29 New Minor: Equity and Justice 31 Executive Education 32 The Menlo ROI

Career Services 33 Internship Search 34 Salary Negotiation Workshop

Student Life 35 Commencement 2021!

40 Class of 2021 Valedictorian 42 Cosette Fitzgerald Speaks 43 Dean of Student Affairs Rease Miles 44 Keeping Students Safe 45 Oral Communication 46 International Students 47 Lu- ’au Online!

48 Ten Campus Secrets

Alumni 49 51

Recent Graduates Charles Jordan ’70

Athletics 52 Athletes Shine Off-Field 53 Lady Oaks!

55 Pandemic Play

Community Updates 57 In Memoriam 59 New Residence Hall On the Cover: Zoe Bell ’21, who excels scholastically and on the soccer field, demonstrates the strength and flexibility our students needed through the pandemic.

EMERITI TRUSTEES John Henry Felix ’49 Julie Filizetti Charles (Chop) Keenan III ’66 T. Geir Ramleth ’87 Menlo College Magazine, published by the Menlo College Office of the President, brings news of the College and its community to alumni, parents, and friends. 1000 El Camino Real, Atherton, California 94027-4301 Tele: 800-55MENLO, editor@menlo.edu, www.menlo.edu

In This Issue

By Pamela Gullard, Editor in Chief

In January, at our first editorial meeting about the Summer 2021 issue, we quickly centered on the idea of lessons learned during the tumultuous period of the pandemic, rising political divisions, and a renewed urgency about social justice in our fractured country. How has Menlo College addressed these issues?

But we quickly realized that we couldn’t define specific lessons learned yet. Rather, we wanted to ask our contributors what lessons they were learning—as a process, not a conclusion. For example, what new teaching methods were our professors adopting, not only to teach online while the pandemic raged, but also to probe social questions? What insights did our students have on the fast-moving events that will shape their future?

Thus, our theme of “Making Sense of an Upside-Down World” emerged. Our contributors responded with candor, self-reflection, and insights that will help begin to provide some answers to our deepest problems. While looking through this issue, you may want to start with the commencement address (page 41) by our 2021 valedictorian Cosette Fitzgerald, who reminds us that “if there’s anything this past year has taught us, it’s that we don’t see what others are going through.” In our forum for students reacting to the announcement of a new interdisciplinary minor program in Equity and Justice Studies at Menlo College (page 24), Katrina Newman ‘20 underscores that theme, saying, “Narratives can provide empathy.”

Our faculty have seized on new methods for teaching multiple points of view. On the eve of the presidential election, Dr. Lisa Ann Villarreal asked her class to analyze the problem of confronting repugnant views expressed by people we love, a task given to the characters in the novel Dreaming in Cuban. Read their remarkable answers on page 22. New pedagogical methods are discussed in staff writer Lauren John’s article on “What is the Future of Teaching?” (page 7) and throughout the magazine.

We treated this issue of the magazine as a continual work in progress, a mirror of the ongoing work many have taken up to improve their lives and the lives of others. As Cosette Fitzgerald says, “Be kind to yourself and give yourself the time you need to figure out what you want in life.”

We send you good wishes for re-discovering how to use your time the best—including a few fulfilling moments with the magazine!

Above: Jason Streit celebrates Commencement 2021! Photo Douglas Peck.

1 SUMMER 2021

Welcome Back!

Menlo was thrilled to welcome a group of students back to campus this spring. The group included student-athletes, international students, and students facing housing instability, all of whom had an urgent need to be present on campus to engage in their collegiate program.

In preparation for reopening, Menlo College engaged a consulting team from Stanford University to advise on necessary safety enhancements and guide the development of a robust testing, tracing, and quarantine system.

For more information on these programs, see page 44.

The on-campus community members deserve kudos for their commitment to safeguarding one another’s health and well-being. The resilience and persistence of our community is impressive. Go Oaks!

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The Learning Process Continues A Message from the President — Steven Weiner

T

he pandemic disrupted education at every level. Menlo College, like so many schools, moved at lightning speed in order to continue delivering a quality education while also adapting to our students’ accelerated needs for resources, some as fundamental as access to good technology and a good internet connection. Students across the globe stepped into a new world that required technical skills and new social abilities. The young fantasy writer Kara Barbieri wrote in her debut novel White Stag : “The oak is the strongest tree in the forest, but the willow bends and adapts. When the fires and storms hit, it is the willow that survives.” In that context, the pandemic was our equivalent to fires and storms, but we oaks proved Ms. Barbieri wrong – we bent and we adapted.

Micah Ka-ne, Chair of the Menlo College Board, Ka’ilihiwa Ka-ne ‘20 and President Steven Weiner on the jumbo screen at the 2021 commencement ceremonies.

Adaptation became our watchword. Throughout the pandemic, we redoubled our commitment to pay attention to the whole student. Shortly after the onset of the pandemic, we identified a panel of public health experts to advise us on a testing, tracing, and quarantine program that would best protect those members of our community who needed emergency housing on our campus; we chartered a Pandemic Planning Team under the leadership of Vice President Angela Schmiede; we implemented a Covid-19 ambassador program to promote safe behaviors among our students; and we created multiple opportunities to engage and support our students, independent of their location.

Throughout the year, faculty and staff volunteered to call students for informal check-in discussions. Dean Melissa Michelson and our Student Affairs team hosted weekly Community Circles to provide a safe space for students to express concerns about barriers to their success, and all of our student support services – mental health counseling, librarian assistance, academic advising, and tutoring – provided virtual support to ensure our students had access to needed resources.

Our Distance Learning Committee held professional development classes to help faculty get the most out of features on Zoom, the testing program called Respondus, Google drive, and countless applications and platforms. Six of our classrooms were fitted out with new cameras and connections to allow faculty to teach from campus in safe isolation, and our coaching staff found new ways to engage our student-athletes through Zoom teambuilding events, virtual workout sessions, and more.

To adaptation, we added assessment of student and faculty needs as another watchword for the Covid-19 era. Through surveys and social media outreach we were able to understand what was working for our faculty and our students, and what wasn’t, and to modify our efforts accordingly. We were not alone in recognizing the challenges that were confronting young people everywhere. The

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question that kept surfacing across the globe was Are the kids OK? Increasingly, the answer was no, in no small part due to the shock of life without the education infrastructure we had known. We were determined to do everything possible to cushion that shock for Menlo students.

But our work – and theirs – is not over. As we recruit the Class of 2025, we are preparing for the possibility that some of our new students will have suffered learning losses. To address this, we will place more emphasis on our pre-term Rising Scholars program and will augment our tutoring services. We recognize that our faculty and staff need recovery time as well. No one knows what the needs of our students will be next year. With the students, we will be figuring it out together.

I am proud to lead an organization that is committed to all students, however much bending and adapting that may require. Menlo is a place where students test out their talents, find colleagues in our diverse community, and develop new dreams. That’s been our credo for 94 years, and it will remain our focus as we move forward into our second century.

President Steven Weiner enjoys a laugh with student Jordan Broughton Bell ‘21 and friend Ace.

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Many thanks to all our readers who send comments via text, email, postal mail, or carrier pigeon. In every message, we see your bond with Menlo College.

Greetings from the Pacific Northwest! We both enjoy the Menlo College Magazine and want to commend you on the quality of both its content and its appearance - good work.

We were especially glad to read the article on John Henry Felix, whom we both knew. Wonderful Menlo socks in the photo! Could you tell us how to order some? [Go to campusstore@menlo.edu –Ed.] Thanks for the article on “Bibliotherapy” by Lauren John, and for permission to escape into “good junk” which we both enjoy - it certainly has helped us get through this period of isolation.

We deeply appreciated the excellent articles on pages 9-14 thoughtfully discussing racism in America. The student responses to How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi were a good reminder to us to get his book.

Ann and Jon Bowman — Anacortes, WA

Note from President Steven Weiner: Ann and Jon, Menlo College is ever grateful for your gift in creating the Bowman Library, which has nurtured the studies of generations of Menlo College students. Please enjoy the socks I sent—we hope our graduates follow in your (well-clad) philanthropic footsteps!

I just received the winter edition of the Menlo College Magazine and I thought it was excellent. It covered a wide range of aspects and connections of the college, students, faculty and alumni. Hard to do in these pandemic times. Congratulations!

Thanks for including some of my work. [See pages 37-38, Winter 2021 issue, for Christopher’s evocative photos –Ed.] Christopher W. McGranahan ’68—Pacific Palisades, CA

An outstanding publication, as always. I enjoyed reading it last evening. Thank you for your consistent incredible work!

Roxane Marenberg, Menlo College Board of Trustees—Atherton, CA

5 SUMMER 2021

To the Editor

Great work!

This is the most enticing eMagazine I have seen in higher education in many years; all the layouts and the stories are amazing, including mine :) CHAPEAU BAS to the team.

Mouwafac Sidaoui Dean of the Menlo College School of Business—San Francisco, CA

I imagine getting an email like this several times a year might get repetitive. But I was once again highly impressed with this issue of Menlo Magazine. Pam Gullard’s team seems to outdo themselves each time!

Reading the magazine causes me to again to send my congratulations to you and your colleagues on continuing to make Menlo better and better. I’m proud to have been associated with it in its antediluvian days!

Tom Scannell—Cupertino, CA

I received my copy a few days ago, and I must say “best ever.” It is a wonderful reflection of our magnificent college. Thank you for this exceptional work.

David Irmer ’58 Menlo College Board of Trustees—Sausalito, CA

I just received the winter magazine and all I can say is WOW! I really appreciate you taking my story and sharing it with the Menlo community and beyond. Thank you so much! I am humbled and grateful.

Donovan Bonner ’14—San Francisco, CA

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What Is the Fu

7 SUMMER 2021

uture of Teaching?

By Lauren John, Staff Writer

In March 2020 as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Menlo College moved all classes online. Students and faculty, working in online Zoom classrooms since then, have tackled new ways of learning together.

We have learned a new vocabulary:

You need to unmute!

I’m going to share my screen now and show you a video.

There will be four people in each breakout room— I’ll be popping in to see how you are doing.

Can you hear me now? Can you see me now?

As we lost valued personal connections, we’ve learned new esthetics of lighting, backdrops and sound. We’ve adjusted to global time zones with students signing in to class from Beijing, Rome and Santa Cruz—some just waking up and some ready for bed. We delighted in unscripted moments as a professor’s cat jumped up onto a keyboard or a cranky quarantined toddler was quieted on a parent’s lap.

As vaccines begin to quell the pandemic and in person classes become possible again, what distance learning technologies will continue and what will be left behind? Here are some ideas and observations from Menlo College faculty.

Angela Schmiede

Vice President for Student Success For a small college like Menlo, a close-knit community continues to be important. If anything, we value the residential oncampus experience even more than before.

During this pandemic, technology has certainly provided us with a window into new possibilities. There is a place for remote work and remote learning, particularly in terms of accommodating a diverse range of needs in our community. For example, when the Startup Weekend team decided to transition the intensive three-day annual event to a virtual one, they discovered the value of making the event more accessible to women around the world. But will Menlo become an online college? No, it’s not in our DNA. We continue to value our high-touch support of students and close faculty-student relationships as an exceptional learning environment.

Melissa R. Michelson

Dean of Arts & Sciences and Professor of Political Science While teaching online has many disadvantages and I’m eager to return to the physical classroom, I’ve found some benefits to the virtual format that I’m hoping to try to hold onto. I absolutely love the chat function – students can ask questions, post links, and share comments and reactions in ways that supplement and improve our discussions. I want to find a way to do that in face-to-face classes.

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Rachel Turner

Professor of Introduction to College English/English 100 One change I made to my reading assignments was assigning “study with me videos,” based on YouTube videos created by law and medical school students seeking greater discipline. I asked my students to record and share with me a 25-minute study session where they state their study plan and their predictions about the text based on what they know about the author and assignment. They include text annotations and end with a reflection on the text. If they use their phones as a recording device, there is the additional benefit of no distraction from texts or social media!

Valeria Molteni

Dean of Library Services We are planning to integrate all the distance services and programs that we have developed over the past year as regular practices. For example, we increased our online presence in the classroom and through individual student meetings—meeting student needs wherever they were—both in the United States and internationally. During the pandemic, the Library also expanded the e-book collection, and increased subscriptions to financial and humanities databases that support curriculum subject areas.

Sean Negus

Adjunct Instructor of English and Writing Center Instructor There can certainly be advantages for adjunct faculty to have greater flexibility over the modalities of their course assignments, including hybrid learning, especially if they work at several institutions and are commuting. Students, who grew up in a digital world, will also benefit from having teachers with skills in that world. Once students begin to regain a greater sense of normalcy in their lives, I believe they will appreciate the ways that hybrid instruction can augment the traditional classroom, thereby granting greater flexibility without sacrificing quality.

Sean Pradhan

Assistant Professor of Sports Management and Business Analytics Director of Sports Management Program Honestly, one silver lining of the pandemic is that it has forced me to become a better professor. During our time on “Zoom University,” I have adapted many new techniques, especially those that make the classroom experience more interactive, including the integration of various polls, surveys, even more small group activities, and virtual guest speakers. One frequent guest speaker who deserves a “shout out” is Mr. Jim Rooney of the Pittsburgh Steelers team. I will definitely continue to implement such pedagogical techniques when we are back in the physical space of a classroom. Overall, I could see myself leveraging this new “hybrid” mindset as I continue improving upon my courses in the future.

Shilpa Dasgupta

Adjunct Professor of Mathematics Leveraging cloud-based technologies such as Zoom and Google Meet as supplemental supports in higher ed definitely opens up new avenues of knowledge sharing and learning, but the pandemic has also revealed the vast disparities of access to digital resources. It brought forth widespread struggles of the digital divide worldwide. Access to broadband is vastly unequal.

Furthermore, devices (laptops, tablets, smartphones, desktops) are expensive. A good digital device with a high speed internet/ faster bandwidth may not be accessible or affordable by many students.

So, as we return to the traditional classroom and continue exploring the newly opened areas of digital learning, we have to be mindful of the digital gap and strategize our approaches accordingly. The pandemic has made us more aware of this digital divide in all learning arenas of contemporary education. We must continue to provide individualized support to the student community, such as frequently checking in with students, loaning computers and other digital accessories, and offering flexibility with exams, assessment methods, due dates, submissions, and many more. In sum, we must continue to go the extra mile.

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Faced with unprecedented challenges Ayanna Haysbert-Wright and Cindy McGrew kept (and still keep) Menlo running smoothly.

By Grande Lum, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs While the Distance Learning Committee has worked hard with faculty to implement online learning, Academic Affairs Director of Operations Cindy McGrew and Administrative Coordinator for Academic Affairs Ayanna Haysbert-Wright have played key roles in making sure the academic side of the college runs as smoothly as possible. Since March 2020, they have had to do all this remotely, whether it be scheduling classes and training, meeting semester deadlines of all sorts, coordinating the Honors Convocation, or managing whatever complications have arisen. Fixing large problems and small glitches, they have made sure the classroom experience was—and is—as excellent as possible.

For example, McGrew and Haysbert-Wright have been the troubleshooters for MOLE and Zoom. If a worried student cannot find an online class session, they quickly provide the information. They have also worked with the IT team to provide support to faculty adjusting to new technological tools. Both when we first went online in March 2020 and in the beginning of the fall term 2020, Haysbert-Wright spent hours with individual faculty members—often in the evening or on weekends—to make sure they were competent and comfortable running their online classes.

Likewise, I can always rely on Cindy McGrew to do whatever is needed, no matter the time or situation, especially when it comes to students. When we were unable to hold the 2020 Honors Convocation in-person, she quickly pivoted and helped manage the entire process, from improving the online nominations survey to creating a fabulous PowerPoint of all the winners to arranging a taping in full “Oscars Awards Ceremony” style. Through the pandemic, she made sure numerous students received equipment necessary for online classes, even though students were spread all over the world.

Cindy McGrew and Ayanna Haysbert-Wright have supported the two new academic deans, Mouwafac Sidaoui and Melissa Michelson, in their transition for the 2020-21 academic year. While dealing with short term emergencies, the Academic Office is also strengthening the foundations of education at the College, improving general education, and strengthening current majors as well as expanding to minors and new majors. The administrative team has done critical work behind the scenes to help all these initiatives come into being. I wish to thank Cindy and Ayanna for bringing their hard work and commitment to serving Menlo students and faculty. As one faculty member has said, “They are Information Central. If you have a problem, they can fix it or find someone who will.”

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Distance Learning Superheros How Menlo faculty went from 100% in-person teaching to 100% distance learning in the space of one week.

By Benny Boveda, Adjunct Professor of Marketing In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted our teaching modality at Menlo College; we went from 100% in-person teaching to 100% distance learning in the space of one week in order to finish the spring 2020 semester. This shift created an immediate need for faculty training and support. Under the leadership of Dr. Mouwafac Sidaoui, Dean of the Business School, a small group comprised of faculty, Academic Affairs staff, and our IT team were tasked with developing and delivering training to help faculty make this sudden transition. Beginning in March 2020, the Distance Learning Committee (DLC) scheduled a series of training workshops for faculty on new ways to incorporate the Menlo Online Learning Environment (MOLE) into course communication, and how to use Zoom conferencing to mimic the classroom experience. In addition, Dr. Shalini Gopalkrishnan, Visiting Professor of Management, and I conducted one-on-one training sessions with faculty members who needed additional practice with MOLE and Zoom. While the modality change was a significant challenge for some faculty members, we provided the support needed to get them through the semester.

In preparation for the fall 2020 semester, the committee continued to work throughout the summer months, developing training modules on MOLE, Google Drive, Zoom, and best practices for distance learning. As the faculty MOLE and HyFlex trainer, I worked on enhanced faculty training modules focusing on more advanced MOLE functions that our faculty could incorporate into their courses. The training content was developed based on the needs expressed by the faculty through a survey, with the DLC prioritizing the training and resources faculty needed most.

Perhaps the most challenging aspect was the uncertainty involved. How long would students continue to attend classes remotely? Would faculty need to be prepared to teach in situations where some students were attending in person, but others still needed to participate via Zoom? With so many possibilities for what the spring semester might look like, the DLC began developing a HyFlex modality to prepare for any eventuality. HyFlex learning involves creating a hybrid learning space that simultaneously accommodates face-to-face and virtual participation. Our IT team worked on securing and installing new technology in classrooms to host HyFlex teaching. In November 2020, I held a live classroom session in the HyFlex pilot classroom. I had five students in the classroom, and the rest were distance learning via Zoom. The test went well, and we gained valuable insight into the technology needed and effective teaching methods in this context. We then began the process of training faculty to teach HyFlex courses. Dr. Bruce Paton, Professor Emeritus of Management and Innovation, joined me and shared the best practices of distance learning.

While fall 2021 augurs a return to face-to-face classes, the experience of distance and HyFlex learning has provided valuable insights. Faculty have made clear the importance of providing support and regular opportunities for development and training, so that they can continue to evolve their teaching methods and make the best use of available technology. This spring, we expanded our training program to include more support on additional resources that could be incorporated into teaching practice, including enhanced features of Google Drive, Pivot Tables, and Tableau. While Menlo may leave distance learning behind, providing our faculty with tools and resources to deliver a better educational experience for our students is here to stay.

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Individualized Attention: Supporting Students in Crisis

By Lauren John, Staff Writer Menlo College provides services for students facing mental health challenges or family problems, including the campus Mental Health Clinic, directed by Dr. Jake Kelman, and an Early Alert System for quickly identifying students in crisis. The College also recently partnered with Ellipsis Health to deploy an app that uses AI and vocal biomarker technology to analyze speech and measure depression and anxiety, providing students with the opportunity to monitor their own well-being. Menlo students worked with Ellipsis Health to customize the app for our community.

Since the pandemic, more students have faced deepening problems. Parents have lost their jobs or are frontline workers at risk of contracting Covid-19. Relatives have been hospitalized and younger siblings, no longer in classrooms, have needed supervision. With college classes online, some of Menlo’s students have needed increased technical support. In the last year, administrators and faculty have responded to the crisis by listening carefully for new concerns and tailoring solutions for individual students.

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Angela Schmiede, Vice President for Student Success, and her team have been sure not to overlook basic needs. In a survey taken last fall, almost a fourth of the students at the College reported experiencing some food insecurity. A food pantry was created, funded with a grant from the Rotary Club of Menlo Park, where Schmiede serves as this year’s Club president. “One of our students was living in their car,” Schmiede says. “Once businesses shut down, this student was unable to access Wi-Fi to be able to take online classes. We reached out to the student and were able to provide emergency housing with access to Wi-Fi. Other students who did not have a safe place to live were also offered housing on campus.”

Though most of the campus was closed, Menlo College offered a haven for such students, and also kept some housing open to ensure that international students would not be hampered by lack of tech access or time zone disruption. Some student athletes returned to the dorms to enable them to work toward resuming their sports without being disadvantaged by the lack of training. Everyone living in dormitories on campus followed strict health and safety protocols. Resident Assistants (RAs) living and working in the dormitories played a huge role in maintaining the morale of the student residents, said Taylor Henkel, Director of Housing and Residence Life.

They helped residents get wireless access points from IT to meet extra bandwidth demand as everyone in the residence hall was on Zoom at the same time. Added Henkel, “The RAs also created virtual and in-person programs like Mental Health Matters and Thursday movie nights,” helping students stay psychologically well through all the stresses.

Unreliable Wi-Fi connections and inadequate computers have plagued many students trying to keep up with their classes on Zoom, according to a survey conducted a with the assistance of Director of Institutional Effectiveness Kristina Powers. Menlo College took action early in the pandemic, issuing computers to students who needed them and alerting faculty that as many as a third of their students might have trouble logging onto the class Zoom session. Additionally, faculty helped students download readings and assignments in advance and during non-peak hours as a way to manage unreliable Wi-Fi access.

Alumni and others in the Menlo College community were eager to help out, contributing to a Pandemic Relief Fund established through the Alumni Engagement Office. Moreover, Mark Maloney ’68 and his son Kirk ’95, both alumni of the College, donated laptops and padded backpacks to students so that they were able to “direct their attention to their studies instead of their barriers,” according to Laura Koo, Senior Director of Alumni Engagement and Development.

While college leaders have developed system-wide policies, individual professors have been making classroom adjustments to help students adjust to distance learning and the overall stresses of pandemic life.

“I really just tried to be available and present for my students,” said math professor Jessica Mean. She made early checks on students who missed classes and worked even more closely with advisors to be sure students were okay.

Professor Mean also went the extra mile for international students working in different time zones, proctoring exams as late as 8 p.m.

California time, which is 11 a.m. in China.

Dr. Kathi Lovelace, Professor of Human Resource Management, also worked in different time zones. “During the fall semester, I did a lot of individualized Zoom meetings with students from Europe and Asia. I would often use this time to answer questions and even ‘re-do’ parts of the lecture.”

“One of the most generous things that our faculty did for students during the pandemic was to hold extra sections of class for students in faraway time zones, including Hawaii, Europe, and Asia,” said Melissa Michelson, Dean of Arts & Sciences and Professor of Political Science. Michelson pointed out that many faculty members did this for just one or two students. “It’s a beautiful example of the degree to which our faculty are dedicated to our students’ success,” Michelson said.

Although spring break had to be cancelled for safety reasons, Menlo College made it a priority to set aside a week—called Geek Week– for students to have a break from the stressful pace of classes, and to have a chance to re-connect with each other. Professors were asked to lighten their assignment loads that week, and the Office of Student Affairs planned activities to relieve stress and share hobbies and interests, ranging from LEGO to superheroes to Harry Potter and Game of Thrones. Though that week’s outdoor screening of Spiderman on the quad and a virtual pet therapy session sponsored by the library may not exactly represent academic rigor, they were designed to reach the very real need for students to socialize, laugh, and have fun during this unbalanced time.

Through the pandemic, Menlo staff and faculty have shown increased empathy and compassion toward their students, even as many of us struggle alongside the students with the unexpected changes and limitations that the pandemic has wrought. Math Professor Jessica Mean sums it up well. “I show up for my students with compassion,” she says. “To show students that we, as the instructors, are aware that this is an unprecedented time that comes with adversities and barriers, and that we are there for them.”

Courtney Cooper ’21 gave a Geek Week presentation exploring superheroes and the representation of gender dynamics entitled “Who gets to be the hero: Gender in fandoms.”

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STRENGTH

Flexibility B alance

Coping and Resilience in Times of Stress

By Mark Hager, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology

15 SUMMER 2021

The Covid-19 pandemic has challenged us in many ways, yet we at Menlo College have shown our resilience. Psychologists emphasize “adapting well”1 as the key to maintaining resilience in the face of trauma. Menlo College psychology faculty and students show their adaptability with tips they have shared about how to maintain our well-being as we come through the pandemic.

Social distancing, sheltering in place and business lockdowns can create a deep sense of loneliness. Yet a phone call or video conference with distant relatives or virtual coffee hours with friends around the world may still be good solutions in our “new normal.” This technology, though not ideal, nevertheless offers real-time connections to share stories of daily life and adjustment. One unforeseen benefit of our virtual work has been collaborating with more colleagues across the country and the world. One of our psychology students started a Zoom yoga class for her neighborhood.

It brought people together virtually and, as restrictions eased, this group began to have play dates for adults and children in the community.

Resilience and successful coping strategies benefit from maintaining an air of gratitude and a sense of optimism . Finding something to anticipate or be grateful for will differ for each of us. At Menlo College, the spring event Wellness Week 1.0 (I’m hopeful it becomes a thing) brought some students a sense of gratitude for those faculty who introduced new wellness practices. One student was grateful for their journal practice, which included daily prompts with reminders of things to name and hold with intention and appreciation. Early research during the pandemic showed that flexibility was protective against risk factors to mental health 4. Our pivot to online learning demanded that both faculty and students practice letting go of those things we can’t control. “Can you hear me?” “Someone’s mic is on,” and “I got kicked out of zoom” are frequent reminders of this need to be realistic about what is and is not possible in virtual classes.

2,3,5

I asked our psychology faculty and students to share some of their wellness practices to promote our collective well-being. They listed exercise, such as walks in nature, yoga and dance, and internal restorative techniques, including mindfulness meditation, reading, prayer, and listening to music. Students have appreciated that faculty start class with meditation minutes or shared experiences of daily life, providing “safe spaces” for them to gather and reflect during this historic and tumultuous moment in our lives.

I have been grateful to support early career scientists and clinicians in the Department of Veterans Affairs. We have shared research and practices and hosted discussion forums to promote coping strategies during and through the pandemic 6. Our work has touched on many of these themes: relationships, self-care, optimism and resilience. Self-care also includes seeking help from social networks and professionals. At Menlo College we are fortunate to have Dr. Jake Kelman and his team in the Office of Mental Health Services to provide valuable assistance to our students.

The MHS Clinic provides support to current students. There are no fees. If you would like to talk to someone, you may visit the clinic for a virtual appointment.

• C ontact Dr. Jake Kelman, Director of MHS at jake.kelman@ menlo.edu or The Dean of Student Affairs at studentaffairs@memlo.edu • T he National Institute of Mental Health provides a list of mental health resources in the United States.

You may visit the page at: https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/find-help/index.shtml • In the event of a life-threatening emergency, please call 911 or proceed to the nearest emergency room.

Left: Menlo student Yuanchun ‘Gracie’ Guo ’24 shares her passion for yoga with her community. Photo Lisa Ann Villarreal

1. https://www.apa.org/topics/resilience 2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7666616/ 3. https://www.journalppw.com/index.php/JPPW/article/view/255/96 4. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2212144720301587 5. file:///C:/Users/mhager/Downloads/245-Article%20Text-1359-1-10-20201208.pdf 6. h ttps://www.hsrd.research.va.gov/for_researchers/cyber_seminars/archives/video_archive. cfm?SessionID = 3914&Seriesid =76

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Like many institutions, Menlo College has recently focused on how best to advance diversity, justice, equity, and inclusion for members of the college community, and particularly for members of historically marginalized communities. At the same time, we have recently been identified as both a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) and as an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution (AANAPISI), reflecting the relatively large numbers of enrolled students who are members of those panethnic groups.

Bringing students from all groups to campus is just the beginning of Menlo College’s commitment. The ongoing challenge is to be an institution that truly serves those students. Rising to meet that challenge creates opportunities to improve their educational experiences while also improving the Menlo experience for all members of the campus community. For example, in a discussion of James Baldwin during a recent literature class, one student explained why he wore his great-grandfather’s Tuskegee Airman’s jacket. That added context enriched the learning environment for everyone. In a political science class discussing bias in the criminal justice system, multiple students shared their own stories of interactions with law enforcement that they perceived as racist. In a humanities class, students addressed inequities that emanated as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic: job loss, high risk exposure, inaccessible vaccine distribution, and increased financial burdens, to name a few.

Menlo College is committed to diversifying the faculty and the curriculum – both by adding additional classes to the course catalog and by asking faculty to consider shifting their syllabi to reflect our diverse student body.

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For example, we have added classes on Latinx Politics, Race and Racism in the U.S., and Asian-American Literature. Other classes have retained their old titles (e.g., “Major American Writers”) but are being updated to include a greater proportion of authors who are women and people of color.

Even more shifts to the curriculum are planned for the future. These new courses not only help members of the Black, Latinx, and AANAPI communities feel seen and included, but they allow students who do not identify as members of those groups to broaden their educations, better preparing them for life beyond graduation.

I teach the Latinx Politics class. While many of my students identify as Latinx, others do not. All of them benefit from learning about the history of the Latinx population in the U.S., the nuances of different national-origin groups, and how they exert their political power in elections and through non-electoral political behavior. These lessons about the diversity and politics of an increasingly large proportion of the U.S. public are important and interesting for all, regardless of racial identity.

Another major shift to the curriculum has been the approval of Menlo’s first academic minor in Equity and Justice Studies, the result of a proposal from Dr. Marianne Marar. This minor prepares students to understand social justice, better understand systemic inequities and privilege, and to work to shape a more humane global world. I anticipate that we will see large interest in the minor going forward, as students seek to leave college ready to help advance social justice in their workplaces and communities.

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ePortfolios: A New Tool for Tracking Academic and Professional Growth

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Last year, Menlo College launched its new ePortfolio platform, designed to support students and faculty in their academic and professional endeavors.

An ePortfolio is a digital space where the user can collect a wide variety of content, including essays, spreadsheets, images, videos, or audio comments. It is optimized for sharing documents, but looks and functions like a website. And with the transition to remote learning, ePortfolios have provided an easy and effective way for students to submit and share digital work. ePortfolios are often used in the classroom to give students the opportunity to collect, curate, and reflect on their work and their learning process. As students revisit their work over weeks, months or years, and make choices about what to incorporate into a portfolio to represent their intellectual development, this process helps them to recognize their own progress and growth, and to construct a meaningful whole out of diverse educational experiences. ePortfolios also provide a platform for creating and sharing individual or collaborative projects, or showcasing experiential learning opportunities that happen outside of the classroom, such as participating in internships, undergraduate research, study abroad, and service learning.

Menlo faculty who have incorporated ePortfolios into their curricula report positive impacts on student learning. Rachel Turner, an adjunct professor of English, noted, “ePortfolios allow students to look back on their work and perform reflection tasks, which are good for metacognition.” The portfolios also give students a space to “talk about their learning challenges and successes,” added Lauren John, an instructor in the Intensive English Program and tutor in the Writing and Oral Communication Center. Mathematics Lecturer Jessica Mean affirmed, “Overall, my students’ ePortfolios looked great and they enjoyed the experience.”

When they’re ready to look for jobs or internships, students can use ePortfolios to share evidence of their skills with future employers, while telling a story about who they are and showcasing the unique combination of abilities and experiences that sets them apart. A recent study sponsored by the American Association of Colleges and Universities surveyed 318 employers and found that 83% viewed an electronic portfolio of student accomplishments as very (43%) or fairly (40%) useful to them in ensuring applicants have the skills and knowledge to succeed in their company or organization. Menlo alumni also continue to have access to the platform after graduation, so they can update their ePortfolios as their careers develop.

Menlo’s ePortfolio platform also provides a forum for faculty to share research and showcase teaching experiences and professional accomplishments.

The ePortfolio program has seen significant expansion in the past year. It was piloted in selected sections of English courses, and has now been adopted in courses across 6 different departments. Over 800 portfolios have been created by Menlo students, faculty, and staff. ePortfolio Coordinator Dr. Lisa Villarreal provides training and support for faculty who would like to incorporate ePortfolios into their curriculum. ePortfolios are the latest innovation Menlo has embraced to enhance student learning and provide continued support to graduates. They give students authority over their own learning, enabling them to measure personal, professional, and intellectual development, all while learning digital literacy skills and methods for crafting a compelling public identity online – essential competencies for the twenty-first century.

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Literary Lessons:

Reading as Critical Thinking and Catharsis

By Lisa Ann Villarreal, Ph.D. On the afternoon of November 4, as we all waited anxiously to learn the results of the previous day’s presidential election, I met with my Modern World Literature class to open our discussion of a new book; that day, we were scheduled to begin studying Cristina Garcia’s Dreaming in Cuban, a 1992 novel that showcases the multigenerational connections and conflicts in a Cuban family.

The course curriculum was designed around four novels by women of color from across the globe. Most of these I had chosen because they engaged directly with contemporary issues that touched my students’ lives; Dreaming in Cuban, a thirty-year-old book about communist Cuba, seemed less topical by comparison, but I thought my students would enjoy reading it. I could never have anticipated how this story would reflect our own experiences and emotions on that November day.

The primary conflict of the novel is the estrangement between the matriarch Celia del Pino and her middle-aged daughter Lourdes. Celia is a devotee of Castro and a fervent supporter of the revolution, while Lourdes, an expatriate who started a successful chain of bakeries in New York, is its most bitter critic. Their political differences have driven a wedge between mother and daughter, forcing the rest of the family to choose sides. As my student Alan Arreola ’24 characterized it, “Dreaming in Cuban paints a conflict between family and their values that diminishes their ability to achieve closeness with each other.”

As we began our discussion, it quickly became clear that, in the wake of the election, my students had been coping with similar conflicts. Melissa Herrera ’22 commented, “It’s heartbreaking to see people who I thought were my friends vote for someone to take away family rights. And then they still expect to stay friends.”

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“It was really eye-opening to see my friends and people I’m close to – the views that came out of them, and who they voted for. I don’t look at them the same way,” echoed Spencer Pahlavan ’23.

Life imitating art, many of my students had found themselves, like the characters in our novel, torn between the love that they felt for friends or family and the discomfort, even disgust, evoked by the views they heard espoused. And like the del Pinos, they struggled to find a way to preserve their relationships in the face of those differences, and wondered whether it’s truly possible to love someone while hating their beliefs. As Anna Schobel ’21 avowed, “For me, there are issues in politics that are just not negotiable.”

Exploring the relationships in the novel, our discussion yielded insights into why political differences are so polarizing, so difficult to talk about, and why they can hurt so much when they pit us against those we care about.

Anna pointed out that the political differences between Celia and Lourdes actually represented a deeper incompatibility: “Political opinions are founded on values, and if your values are different from the values of those around you, that is going to cause conflict. And it’s not the kind of conflict you can just look away from. It’s fundamental.”

Yaquan ‘Rebecca’ Wang ’21 agreed that this was probably the real reason Celia was so hurt and angered by Lourdes’ emigration. She explained that political differences reflect “opposite ideologies” – fundamental differences in how we see the world – of which “political standing is just the most obvious aspect that you can see. If you have opposite beliefs from your family, this can be very painful. As a teenager, you are dependent on your family, but then you step outside and see a bigger part of the world. Suddenly, your ideology comes not just from your family but from your outside environment. For the elder generation, it might feel like a betrayal.”

Days passed, and the election was decided, but the anger and intolerance that had infused so much of the rhetoric surrounding it had done lasting damage to our relationships and our nation. Counting votes and certifying results couldn’t provide a resolution for our deeper concerns about political extremism in this country. And yet, in being able to process this moment with my students through our discussion of Dreaming in Cuban, I found solace and hope. I hope they did, too.

Would you like to discover more works of world literature that carry lessons for our current moment? Read along with our class: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Americanah Chimamanda Adichie delves into the experience of Black Americans and the struggle for racial justice in this coming-of-age story of a young Nigerian woman. When Ifemelu moves to Philadelphia for college, she encounters xenophobia and discrimination; searching for acceptance, she is forced not only to reconceptualize her own identity, but to question the basis on which Black women in America define themselves and their allegiances.

Edwidge Danticat, Breath, Eyes, Memory At the age of twelve, Sophie Caco is uprooted, passed from one family member to another and displaced from her home in Haiti to New York City; there she discovers the terrible truth about her mother’s past and the lasting trauma that haunts the women of her family. Through her story, Haitian author Edwidge Danticat explores issues of race and identity, nationality and immigration, patriarchy and gendered violence.

Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things What seem to be small things — white lies, thoughtless words spoken in anger, capricious decisions, minor humiliations — can have dramatic, even tragic consequences, when they collide with the forces of tribalism, systemic discrimination, and political turmoil. The God of Small Things tells the story of two children who, through a series of minor accidents and mistakes, find themselves embroiled in the public upheaval erupting from caste and class conflict in their southern Indian town. Arundhati Roy examines the legacy of colonialism and the harsh realities of caste discrimination in India, explicitly engaging with the trauma of police violence against minorities. But she also reminds us of the possibility of finding comfort, even joy, in the small things, even when surrounded by consuming darkness.

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Menlo’s New Course Seeds Many New Thoughts.

This fall, Menlo debuted a multidisciplinary team-taught course designed to help students develop a deeper understanding of the history of race and racism in U.S. politics. Through close examination of both historical examples and current case studies such as the recent #BlackLivesMatter and #SayHerName movements, the course introduces students to the historical, social and political context that informs issues of racial justice, including intersections between race, gender, and sexuality; race and cultural production; race and the law; the issue of police violence; and the history of U.S. protests and social movements. The course incorporates a plurality of voices and opinions, incorporating multiple guest speakers and introducing students to a range of BIPOC authors writing on the topic of race. Here’s what students in the course Chunyu Kao ’20 had to say: What impressed me the most

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was the spirit of James Baldwin. He insisted time and time again that the role of an artist is not to defend his profession, but to express his own experience, his knowledge, honesty, and insight.

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Dennis Vanin ’24 Dr. Martin Luther King’s letter from “a Birmingham jail is very touching; it

was written in 1963 and it is still of such high relevance today. The wait seemed endless at that time and I think it will be the same today. ‘As long as we have to wait for justice, it will be denied’: a very profound sentence. If not now, when?

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Katrina Newman ’20

Levin Ledergerber ’24

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Professor Poulsen’s discussion on how we “‘read race’ onto people and into narratives

Narratives can provide empathy; they can spread stereotypes but can also disarm them. Narratives hold a lot of power. Tony Morrison’s story ‘Recitatif’ really challenged how I looked at a narrative. I felt myself getting confused because I was trying to assign a race to each person in the story throughout so that I could better ‘picture’ in my head what the story was telling me.

However, I now know that she did this on purpose to show how much weight we give to race, even in stories.

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taught me a lot. It was impressive when professor Casper said how much more sophisticated we are becoming as consumers of content on the topic of how narratives can change our perception. This class has not only taught me a lot about things like the history or impact racism has on society but also reflecting on myself critically. I am more conscious with my thoughts about racism and I question more why things are the way they are.

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Clarence Jones: Menlo College was proud to host Dr. Clarence Jones during this year’s Black History Month in conversation with Provost Grande Lum, and alumnus Ngozi Harrison ’19. The wide-ranging conversation with Dr. Jones including a discussion about social justice in the time of Black Lives Matter and lessons of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Menlo students, trustees, faculty, and staff all participated in the Zoom event.

Early in his career, Dr. Jones served as lawyer and speechwriter for Martin Luther King Jr., and was a member of King’s inner circle. He also defended the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in the renowned Supreme Court case New York Times v. Sullivan.

He is the founding director of the University of San Francisco Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice, and currently serves as the Scholar in Residence at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Institute at Stanford University.

Dr. Clarence Jones has been at the front lines of the struggle for social justice for decades, and he has inspired many leaders. The Menlo College community was deeply stirred by his presence.

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F acult y N ews The 2021 Council for the Study of Community Colleges (CSCC) invited Dr. Duane Brooks to present “Student Engagement is Half the Story: A Case Study to Account for Institutional Engagement as a Complex Adaptive System for Assessment.”

Dr. Mark J. Hager (right) has pivoted his research with the pandemic. He recently collaborated with Dr. Julie Weitlauf on a series of cyber-seminars for the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Health Services Research & Development. His launch session was “Coping through Covid-19: Mentoring Needs of Early Career Clinician Researchers in VA,” which was followed by “Career Shock: An Explanatory Framework for the Impact of Covid-19 on Research Careers.” Drs. Hager and Weitlauf also served as discussants for Veterans Affairs leaders helping junior researchers manage their research careers during the pandemic.

Offered for the first time at Menlo College this coming fall semester, Board Trustee and Adjunct Professor of Management Helene Kim will teach “The Role of Blockchain in Business Model Innovation.” This new course will cover topics related to blockchain and cryptocurrency, and it will explore how the rise of digital assets is transforming financial services and other global industries. The course will give a leg up to students who will be pursuing a range of careers, including technology management, analytics, financial services, risk compliance, and emerging digital asset investment industries.

Provost Grande Lum (left) was the featured speaker at the Cambridge Negotiation Institute’s roundtable discussion: “Bridging and Healing Across Racial Divides Post-Election 2020: The Role of Conflict Resolution.” Interest in the new book he co-authored, America’s Peacemakers: The Community Relations Service and Civil Rights led to numerous speaking engagements, including at the Alliance for Peacebuilding, and at Peace Week, sponsored by the Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University.

Dr. Marianne Marar recently developed the Equity & Justice Studies (EJS) minor, which is aimed at fostering students’ development and/or reclaiming of dignity and agency. Dr. Marar and Dr. Sean Pradhan continue to merge social justice and sports management in their research with conference presentations such as “Bought, Traded and Sold: A Closer Look at Black Players and the Liberty Principle in the National Football League (NFL)” and “Interception! Sports Fans’ Responses to Social Justice in the National Football League (NFL).” “Is Baseball Going Soft? Perceptions of Womxn General Managers in Major League Baseball,” with Aaron Flores ’20 and Courtney Cooper ’21, was presented at the Annual Western Psychological Association (WPA) Convention. Dr. Marar was also recently invited to speak on a panel entitled Intersections of Discrimination, Religion and Civil Rights in a Variety of Contexts for the Massachusetts Fair Housing and Civil Rights Conference (FHCRC).

Dr. Margaret McFarland has joined the Board of Advisors of CREO Design, LLC, a green tech company based in Sausalito, CA. CREO has several products in concept stage, the most promising of which is BioBulb, scheduled for its first commercial installation later this year. The company is an early stage start-up that combines artificial intelligence for collecting nutrient, water and light needs

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of indoor plants, with indoor installations in commercial and residential properties that integrate nature with buildings for healthier air. A focus is to advance a Wellness Wall for commercial buildings at substantially lower operating and plant costs than current green wall installations. She also serves as an advisor to the Executive Director of the American Real Estate Society on legal matters in connection with the unwinding of conference and hotel arrangements upended by the pandemic.

The Journal of Humanistic Mathematics published the master’s thesis written by Menlo’s mathematics lecturer Jessica Mean.

“Peer Motivation: Getting Through Math Together” portrays peers as effective motivators for college-level math students.

Dr. Lisa Mendelman has been awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Research Fellowship by The Huntington Library to further her new book project, Diagnosing Desire: Mental Health and Modern American Literature, 1890-1955. She will be one of only ten NEH fellows in 2021-22 (reflecting the highly competitive nature of the program, just 6.5% of applicants were awarded a fellowship). In addition, Professor Mendelman’s article on contemporary discussions of feminist fiction, “The Generative Dissensus of Reading the Feminist Novel, 1995-2020: Computational Analysis of Literary Critical, Prestige Review, Social, and Corporate Discourses,” was accepted to the top digital humanities journal, The Journal of Cultural Analytics.

Dean of Arts & Sciences and Professor of Political Science Melissa Michelson (left) published two op-eds in the Washington Post in January 2021. In February 2021, her 2020 blog post “Teaching the Power of Local Political Participation” was published in Political Science Today (the post noted the participation of students Victor Garcia ’21 and Rasmia Shuman ’21). Also during the spring semester, Michelson had two articles accepted for publication: “Disbanding the Old Boys’ Club: Strategies for Departmental Gender Equity: (in PS: Political Science and Politics) and “De Gota a Gota: Persistent Activism of Millennial Latino Immigrants in the Trump Era” (Aztlan ); received a grant from the Foundation for Civic Leadership for an evaluation of the national get-out-the-vote initiative known as Ask Every Student; and was quoted extensively in the media, including KTVU, the SF Chronicle, The Hill, and outlets in Chile and Denmark.

Dean of Student Affairs La’Tonya (LT) Rease Miles (right) is one of three editors readying a book for publication about the contributions of frontline campus workers to the retention, sense of belonging, and empowerment of first-generation college students.

Through case studies, testimonials, and interviews, the collection will highlight the myriad benefits of relationships between campus service staff and first-generation college students.

Only 16% of the submissions to the Academic Libraries Management Association for presentation at their annual meeting were selected; one of those was “The Lived Experiences of (BI)POC Women Academic Library Deans/Administrators,” which was proposed by Dean of Library Services Valeria Molteni.

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F acult y N ews Dr. Lakiba Pittman launched a series of talks on compassion and compassion cultivation for the Stanford School of Medicine, sponsored by the Pediatric Advocacy Coalition as part of their efforts to promote consciousness and awareness of the effects of racism and social justice issues on their clients and within their work environment. She also presented a “Compassion in Society” series with Thupten Jinpa, founder of the Compassion Institute, and the principal English translator to H.H. the Dalai Lama.

Professor Melissa Poulsen was asked to present “Citizen of Nowhere, Citizen of the World: Imagining Belonging in Asian Mixed-Race Literature,” at the Association of Asian American Studies’ annual conference.

Vice President for Student Success Angela Schmiede (right) was interviewed by Zippia for the article “Experts Weigh in on Current Job Market Trends.” Zippia heralded the article as a compendium of expert opinions on what aspiring graduates can do to start off their careers in an uncertain economic climate.

Business School Dean Mouwafac Sidaoui (left) was interviewed at length in five televised programs in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The interviews covered the hyflex classrooms we have deployed at Menlo, how we’re delivering curriculum during Covid-19, and mechanisms for innovation in bridging the gap between higher education and industry. Dean Sidaoui was also invited by the UAE government to speak at the Middle East EV Charging Infratech Summit, where the discussion focused on infrastructure innovations and profitable strategies for a cleaner and more sustainable future in the Middle East.

The winter 2020 issue of this magazine announced the formation of the new Rendanheyi Silicon Valley Center @ Menlo College (page 21) under the directorship of Dr. Annika Steiber. The new Center has developed a unique portfolio of seven business courses, starting with “Winning in the Digital Age – Leadership for the Twenty-First Century,” featuring Stephen Denning, the author of seven business books on leadership, and Bill Fischer, professor emeritus at IMD in Lausanne, senior lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management, and also the author of several books on driving strategic innovation. Several webinars produced by the center have attracted an average of two hundred business professionals from around the world. The new center is now part of the business ecosystem alliance, a network of like-minded centers across the globe. Finally, Dr. Steiber was an invited contributor to the Drucker Forum, where she discussed her observation that our new reality requires a new leadership model, one that unleashes talents and entrepreneurship within organizations.

Dr. Goolrukh Vakil was invited to give a presentation at Alliant University in the PsyD program on culture and psychology. The topic described how the practice of psychotherapy inherently contains tenets common in religious and spiritual practices.

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A 2021 Leading School for Real Estate Education Earlier this month, Commercial Property Executive published their list of the 2021 leading schools for real estate education.

Menlo College ranked among the top 25 programs in the country, and one of the few that could boast of seeing 100% of its students successfully placed in the real estate industry post-graduation. Kudos to The Real Estate Center @ Menlo College Director Margaret McFarland for successfully growing our program in recent years.

Above: Margaret McFarland welcomes participants to a symposium on real estate in the Bay Area held by The Real Estate Center @ Menlo (TREC) in November 2019.

TREC looks forward to sponsoring more exciting events – in person! – in the upcoming academic year.

Merriam-Webster!

Dean of Arts & Science and Political Science Professor Melissa Michelson was recognized for her contributions to political science intellectual discourse in an unexpected venue: The Merriam-Webster dictionary. The following entry now appears under the definition of political science in the latest edition of the dictionary.

Recent Examples of Political Science on the Web: Despite simmering frustrations in Sacramento, Melissa Michelson, a political science professor at Menlo College, doubted many Californians will look at Newsom’s decision to lift the order so critically. (Dustin Gardiner, SFChronicle.com, “Newsom’s abrupt shift on stay-home order angers legislators across aisle,” 25 Jan. 2021.)

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OUR CURRICULUM DEEPENS

Menlo College’s first minor program offering!

By Marianne Marar, Ed.D., Professor of Global Studies This fall, Menlo developed an interdisciplinary minor program in Equity and Justice Studies (EJS). EJS prepares students to meet the growing demand for skills in the examination and resolution of global problems. The curriculum incorporates courses from a variety of disciplines, including history, psychology, economics, and more. In addition, all minors will complete a course in Diversity in the Workplace, Global Studies, or Human Rights in a Global Perspective. The EJS minor will provide a pathway for students to hone their critical transnational consciousness and to embolden their commitment to a more equitable, humane, and just world.

I spearheaded the development of the minor because I’ve seen students thirsting for something like this since I arrived at Menlo in 2005. I have been teaching Diversity in the Workplace, one of the cornerstone courses for the minor, since I came to this campus. I see my students come in with a great deal of anxiety about what they’re going to encounter in the workplace, because of what they’re encountering in their daily lives now, and the fear of what that means for their future.

A first gen student, or a student grappling with impostor syndrome, or one who has generational trauma that they’re trying to work through; a student who has been impacted by systemic inequities and faces daily microaggressions: they wonder, how do I unpack all of this, and am I set up for failure in my future because I carry all of this with me?

But I’m also noticing a shift where students are starting to center the solutions to these issues around themselves, around their generation. Their voices are becoming centered at Menlo College in a way I haven’t seen before and this speaks to both the diversity that we do have at the student level and the diversity that we continue to want to engage. We have a very strong international student culture; we have a strong first gen culture; we have an established multilingual ethos. Recently, a group of students and alumni, Black Student Voices, challenged Menlo College to recognize that it is not immune nor has it ever been immune to injustice. As an educator-activist, I found myself in awe of Black Student Voices because they mobilized and they spoke truth to power and they demanded courses that would critically explore the dynamics of privilege and oppression, and give students the tools to question and then dismantle oppressive systems. I think we at Menlo owe them, and all students who have advocated for a curriculum that addresses issues of systemic injustice, a deep debt of gratitude.

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Logan Avina-Barajas ‘23

I hope this program sparks more conversations about privilege, oppression, and human rights, allowing this campus to be a more welcoming, inclusive, and happier environment for all. I certainly think this program is important and needed.

Andrew Pj Fuentes ‘24

As a Black woman, I generally see industries through the lens of equity and justice; however, I am rarely met with open conversations. I see the broken structures, but it feels taboo to discuss them in-depth. I think this program can help those who may not have the lived experiences increase their self-awareness, understand the privileges in their sphere, and how they can utilize their roles to influence change. This program can also impact how students understand their peers and where they come from. Business and innovation are everywhere, but not everyone has access to opportunities to explore them. This program can help explain why there are pockets of disenfranchised communities and how their inaccessibility to business opportunities affects all of our systems.

Saybah Biawogi ‘19

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I think the minor in Equity and Justice Studies is important to understanding the world we live in.

Many people from birth onwards operate under the assumption that America is an equal playing field when that is demonstrably not the case. A critical and accurate education on the history of the inequality that has been an inherent part of the American experience since the nation’s inception is key to finally bringing about change and I am glad Menlo College is doing its part offering that.

Enrique Little ‘23

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As a student pursuing a major in Human Resource Management, I am thrilled that Menlo College has added a minor in Equity and Justice Studies. Sometimes it is hard to recognize oppression because we are stuck looking at things from our own point of view and I believe this program will help broaden our perspective to further recognize these injustices, including how they affect the workplace. The more people that are educated on recognizing these situations the better our country can see growth in these areas. A program like this will be able to create leaders who can make the needed changes.

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Diana Guardado ‘23

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Menlo’s minor in Equity and Justice Studies will create a safe space for students to participate in dialogue about the pain experienced by disenfranchised groups. Personally, I look forward to gaining the knowledge I need to advocate for the implementation of inclusive and community-centered policies and projects. I am also eager to witness our Menlo community continue to act in solidarity with students of color, so together we can become pioneers of change.

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Here’s what Menlo students and alumni have to say about the EJS program:

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OUR CURRICULUM DEEPENS Executive Education at Menlo In an initiative led by Dr. Mouwafac Sidaoui, Menlo College has added some exciting new offerings to its Executive Education program.

Lifelong learning is essential for those engaged in today’s business and technology world. Executive Education at Menlo harnesses the innovative thinking and passionate engagement of our faculty to offer programs for professional development, leadership, and personal growth. These programs not only contribute to Menlo’s educational mission, they also provide important opportunities for dialogue between Silicon Valley professionals and the Menlo community.

Menlo now offers a certificate program in Driving Business Outcomes with Data Science using Design Thinking. The program is designed to create a shared understanding between data scientists and designers so we can get the most out of this powerful collaboration.

The Rendanheyi Silicon Valley Center was founded in 2020 at Menlo College in collaboration with the Haier Model Research Institute. The center offers courses and webinars in management techniques for a business landscape characterized by rapid technological development and disruptive innovations. Recent offerings include “From Empires to Rain Forests: Haier’s Rendanheyi as the Model for Success in the Platform Era” and “Winning In The Digital Age: Leadership and Management for the 21st Century.” Dr. Annika Steiber is the center director.

Menlo’s Webinar Series is open to all, with a variety of events that address topical issues. Past webinars have addressed “The Future of Smart Cities,” “Our Voice, Our Equal Future,” and “The Value of Self-Regulation in Difficult Times.”

The Real Estate Center Lecture Series offers insight into trends in the commercial real estate space in the Bay Area and beyond. This spring’s topics included “The Construction Process for Commercial Real Estate” and “Innovations in MixedIncome Housing: The Coliseum Apartments and Townhomes in Oakland.” Dr. Margaret McFarland is the center director.

Accelerated Program for Students to Graduate Early Dr. Mouwafac Sidaoui, Dean of the School of Business, is exploring a pilot pathway to a bachelor’s degree in three years for business programs. This pathway would be one option for students seeking to embark early on their careers while reducing the investment needed to obtain their degree.

The three-year modality would include summer and midyear intersession classes, and other arrangements that Sidaoui and his team are defining. They are working out the details on how students who graduate at this faster pace would be able to complete their required internships and, if they wish, study abroad. The aim is to provide every Menlo College student more flexibility so that they and their families can tailor their education in a way that suits their particular situation.

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Best in the West

Money Magazine Spotlights Menlo’s Return on Investment Even during the pandemic, Menlo College continued to accrue recognition, within the United States and internationally.

Among the more notable indications of Menlo’s growing stature, earlier this year Money Magazine identified the top 50 undergraduate business programs among thousands, and called out Menlo College as the 11th best undergraduate business program in the United States. This recognition is no accident: across-the-board program enhancements, enhanced stature of our faculty, recognition of our innovative internship program, and our students’ impressive record of post-graduate success were all factors that influenced the Money Magazine ranking. The magazine’s recognition of the success of Menlo graduates was echoed in two other research reports this year: The Center for World University Rankings ranked Menlo alumni 44th in the world among top executive positions at the world’s largest companies (a top 1% ranking among the nearly 20,000 colleges included in the study); and GradReports cited Menlo’s accounting program as the 13th best in the U.S. It’s outcomes such as these that led The Princeton Review to cite Menlo College as a “Best in the West” for the 11th year in a row.

We keep repeating the phrase “Go Oaks” and clearly the world is listening.

Scholar-Athlete Wins Scholarship in Finance Wendy Mouat ’22, recipient of the 2021 Financial Executives International Silicon Valley (FEISV) scholarship, has been on the Menlo College dean’s list since her arrival to campus from Lafayette, California. Before Covid-19 stopped in-person athletic events, she played infield and second base for the softball team. Contributing defense as well offense, she hit at a .328 clip during the last playing season. In other words, Wendy Mouat has a wide range of pursuits, and does them all well. With this $3,000 scholarship, she will be asked to join the FEI Rising Stars Executive Board, a subset of the FEI Board of Directors, and will contribute her voice as a scholar-athlete in promoting the discipline of finance to other students on campus.

Other students recognized in 2021 for outstanding contributions in finance are Bastien Grunenwald ’22, Michaela Haynes ’22, and Bryan Zaremba ’22. They will also serve on the FEI Rising Stars Executive Board, joining their peers from UC Berkeley, Santa Clara University, San Jose State University, and Cal State East Bay. The FEI scholarship program is supported by former Menlo Trustee and alumnus Harry Kellogg ’63, whom President Steven Weiner credited with leaving a “lasting and much appreciated legacy at Menlo College that extends well beyond the FEI scholarship program.”

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The Internship Search as Learning Experience Since 2014, more than 900 students have completed an internship as part of the college’s Internship In Major Field (INT 499) course.

Yet, the Internship course actually begins long before the first day of class. That’s because students—with the support and guidance of the Career Services team—are responsible for finding their own internships.

The program was designed to give students real job search experience: researching different opportunities, submitting applications, and preparing for interviews. “One of the benefits is that students experience first-hand the rigors of a job search,” said Dylan Houle, the program’s director (pictured below, center); “They learn how to take the steps necessary to unearth and pursue opportunities—a foundational competency for their future success.”

The two-person Career Services team takes a hands-on, proactive approach to helping students in their search. Each fall, Houle and Assistant Director Kelly Davis (pictured below, left) meet individually with all third-year students to discuss their career interests, point out key resources and review their resume.

Additionally, all third-years are invited to participate in the annual Mock Interview Day, which provides an opportunity for students to practice their interviewing skills with real employers and alumni. Last year, 9 out of 10 students afterwards reported feeling a boost in their self-confidence. And occasionally, even the practice interviews at Mock Interview Day can lead to real opportunities!

“This was an amazing experience,” one student commented. “The woman I spoke to from DeLeon Realty was very easy to communicate with. I will be contacting her about a possible internship opportunity soon.”

Behind the scenes, Career Services manages Handshake, the college’s internal job board and the place where students can access custom resources like resume and interviewing guides, career and personality self-assessments, and an organized directory of where past students have interned. Student employee Bianca Barros ’22 (pictured right) reviews hundreds of incoming employer requests on a weekly basis to keep Handshake updated. New internships are highlighted in the weekly Career Services newsletter.

“On average, roughly four in ten students report that they find their internship through our office,” Houle observed. “But over the past three years, we’ve seen a noticeable increase in the percentage of students who report finding it through their own network or directly through the company website, which is what we want to see—that tells me that students are taking ownership of their search.”

Emanuela Stopacholi ’21, an international student majoring in accounting, recently secured an internship at VMWare after putting many hours into her search; she advises her fellow Oaks, “You might doubt if you will ever get an internship but don’t give up. Perseverance is key for success.”

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Entering the Post-Covid Job Market

alary Negotiation Workshop

By Lisa Ann Villarreal, Ph.D.

The Covid-19 pandemic came with economic consequences that rippled across the nation. While people of every age, race, class, and gender have been affected, many of the negative impacts have disproportionately fallen on women, particularly women of color.

In March, the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) reported that women’s labor participation rate in the US had hit a 33 year low ( CNBC 3.1.2021). Globally, women lost more than 64 million jobs, resulting in $800 billion in lost earnings, according to Oxfam International ( CNBC 4.30.2021).

But while the pandemic was the catalyst for this crisis, it was not, in itself, the cause. Rather, the pandemic served to highlight the precarious position of women in the workforce, due to the systemic inequalities they continue to face, such as lower wages, unequal caregiver responsibilities, increased likelihood of part-time or informal work situations, and a smaller share of the executive jobs that can most easily support remote work.

Recognizing the impact the Covid recession could have on Menlo students entering the workforce, the department of Internships and Career Services and student organization WILD (Womxn’s Impact and Leadership Development) invited Heather Meeker Green to provide a Salary Negotiation Workshop for Menlo students. Green has over 30 years of experience in negotiation and communication.

She is currently the Managing Director at Accordence, Inc., a global training company specializing in teaching conflict resolution techniques.

Heather Meeker Green’s advice on how to negotiate a starting salary: It can be a bit challenging to get ready for your first salary negotiation, especially in uncertain economic times.

Add to that inexperience, general nervousness around negotiations, and a sense of a power differential, and it may feel intimidating. Biases of hiring managers can often perpetuate pay inequities. Women receive worse first offers, encounter more pressure to make concessions and receive less reciprocity in response to their own concessions. Due to racial bias and negative racial stereotypes, Black candidates are perceived as less likely to negotiate and seen as less deserving when they ask for more money, and are also offered lower salaries, and given less in concessions. With the spotlight on corporate responsibility, many companies are focusing on improving their processes, systems, and policies and training their recruitment staff. Even with the growing knowledge of the inequities in 2021, women, BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and those with disabilities are still experiencing pay gaps.

So how can students getting ready to enter the workforce advocate for fair compensation?

1

Ask for what you want. While a survey

of employers found that 74% of employers are able to improve their first offer, the same survey found that only 38% of graduates attempt to negotiate (McGurran, 2015b). Unless you are offered the highest part of the salary range, it is in your interest to prepare to ask for

a higher salary or more benefits and other options in your package. The impact of asking for and receiving less to start can add up to millions of dollars over a lifetime.

2

Know your worth – and communicate it to others. When it comes to presenting one’s own

value in salary negotiations, research indicates a measurable difference between how white men present themselves compared with women and BIPOC. Individuals from these groups have often been socialized to downplay their accomplishments, potential and value. Don’t be embarrassed to speak directly to what you have done, what you can contribute and how much you are worth.

3

Prepare. Know what is important to you. Do

4

Approach the negotiation with a positive attitude. Come in as calm, curious, and confident

your research at a myriad of salary sites and consider what criteria, standards, and principles will be perceived as persuasive and fair for legitimacy (salary comparables, other compensation and benefit comparables). Practice with someone before the actual conversation.

as you can to create a collaborative atmosphere.

Treat the negotiation conversation as a joint problemsolving opportunity, where both parties can achieve a positive outcome and build a strong relationship in the process.

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Commencement

May 15, 2021

The Graduating Classes of 2020 and 2021 Joined Together to Reflect on and Celebrate a New Path Forward

By Caroline Casper, Adjunct Professor of Literature and Humanities On Saturday May 15, 2021, in Atherton, California, Menlo College celebrated its 93rd commencement by combining two classes, for the first time ever, in a socially distanced yet festive graduation ceremony. The event, which was also streamed live on Menlo’s website for those who couldn’t attend in-person, began with a serenade of traditional Scottish bagpipes and an enthusiastic processional of the Menlo 2020 and 2021 graduating classes. The event, which, at times, felt more like a reunion than commencement, was convened by Grand Marshal Charles “Chop” Keenan III ’66 and a beautiful rendition of the National Anthem sung by alumna and class of 2020 salutatorian, Solin Piearcy.

After a celebratory welcome to the first gathering of students in 15 months, President Steven Weiner reminded the graduates that although the pandemic and other recent tragic events have seemed to “overshadow everything,” it’s important to remember all that the graduates have accomplished during this time.

“We have had such momentum, even during this awful period, and the credit goes to the students sitting in front of me,” he said.

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The momentum he mentioned refers to a series of new “firsts” for the college. Among these, in the midst of a global lockdown, Money Magazine ranked Menlo as the 11th best business program among more than 5,000 colleges and universities in the country. Also, within the past 15 months, the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) recognized Menlo alumni in the top executive ranks at 44th in the world (out of nearly 20,000 institutions), and Menlo’s internship program was heralded as the “most innovative” in California.

“All of these milestones, and others I haven’t mentioned, speak to our momentum, and our determination,” the president said.

President Weiner also noted that after Menlo’s Women’s Wrestling team won two national championships in 2019, three of those wrestlers have gone on to win spots on the 30-member Women’s U.S. National Wrestling Team.

There was one “first,” however, that President Weiner said he would have liked to omit from his list—the fact that, for the first time ever, Menlo students underwent 100% virtual instruction for the last 15 months.

“My excitement about the prospect of a return to campus this fall is admittedly tinged with more than a little sadness that all of you were deprived of the experience you deserved to have in the final year of your college journey,” he said. “This pandemic stole something from all of us…but your Menlo journey isn’t over. Your continued engagement with Menlo as a proud alumnus will open Above: New graduate Rosalina Castro celebrates.

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the door to many opportunities to celebrate together on this very quad in years to come.”

Micah Ka-ne ’91, Chair of the Menlo College Board of Trustees, native of Hawaii, and father of Ka’llihiwa Ka-ne ’20, introduced

the day’s student speakers, 2021 Valedictorian Cosette Fitzgerald and Student Government President Ian Martins. Ka-ne also congratulated this year’s salutatorian Anna Schobel, an international student from Munich, Germany and member of Menlo’s dance team. Schobel is one of three graduating seniors, along with Cassandra Carino and Amelie Elsasser, to achieve perfect 4.0 grade point averages.

Cosette Fitzgerald, who holds the distinction of being Menlo’s first valedictorian with autism spectrum disorder, spoke next, passionately using her time at the podium to acknowledge her diagnosis: “I am autistic,” she said. “You probably don’t see that in me because I was given many services early in my life to help me adapt to a non-autistic world.”

Top: Friends Sachal Jogi ’20 and Courtney Cooper ’21 got to share their graduation experience when the Class of 2020 was invited to join the Class of 2021 at this year’s commencement ceremony.

Bottom: Dean of Arts and Sciences Dr. Melissa Michelson congratulates Jumar Wynn ’21.

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Commencement photos by Taylor Henkel, Douglas Peck, and Lisa Villarreal

Fitzgerald went on to comment on the unjust limitations society places on people like her, and she spoke about the importance of inclusivity and self-love. She also recognized the hardships caused by the pandemic, and implored the audience to fight back against a growing culture of ignorance and misinformation about the Covid vaccine, as many people in this country still “erroneously believe that vaccines give children autism.” To read Fitzgerald’s full speech, see page 42 of the magazine.

Ian Martins, student government president and another native of Hawaii, delivered a spirited speech—with a few jokes on Menlo’s behalf—while thanking his family for their support, and his classmates for choosing him as their representative.

“It is the greatest honor I think anyone can receive,” he said.

“I hope that I’ve been able to reach you and support you in your college ambitions.”

Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Grande Lum then thanked the Menlo faculty, and recognized the awards and outstanding achievements of Professors Manish Tewari, Melissa Poulsen, Fabian Eggers, Sean Pradhan and Benny Boveda. He introduced the event’s keynote speaker, Dr. Maya Soetoro-Ng, a distinguished peace innovator, educator and author.

As the third Hawaiian to take the stage, Dr. Soetoro-Ng, who is former President Barack Obama’s half-sister and serves as an advisor to the Obama Foundation to develop programs in the Asia Pacific region, joined the ceremony via jumbo screen from her home to offer congratulations, and to speak about the importance of bridging communities and building peace.

“The past year has been one of sorrow, stress and fear for many…and I know you will help the world to reimagine a stronger, healthier and more innovative future after the storms of today,” she said. “This is an opportunity for you to wash your eyes, refresh your gaze, see yourself in new ways and claim opportunities.”

She also said that because at least 25% of Menlo’s student body is international, the graduates will be entering the world with a particular advantage over many others.

“You are building a sense of global citizenship and connection and a powerful sense of responsibility for one another, and those things will not only serve you well and help you to make

Top: Anna Schobel ’21, class salutatorian, is thrilled to see her fellow psychology majors receive their degrees.

Bottom: Bianca Barros ’22 welcomes fellow international student Roman Richard ’20 back to campus to finally walk the commencement stage.

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a great difference in the world, but also will be instructive to so many of us who desperately need to see that modeled,” she said.

In addition to her work for the Obama Foundation, Dr. Soetoro-Ng is also the co-founder of three groundbreaking initiatives; Ceeds of Peace peacebuilding workshops; the Institute for Climate and Peace, and the Peace Studio, which trains content creators like musicians and artists in peacebuilding. She closed by asking the graduates to reflect on three multifaceted dimensions of peace: peace within, peace between or interpersonal peace, and peace in service to others.

“There is so much work to be done in terms of building interpersonal peace between communities of people,” she said. “There is a great deal of conflict… so figure out what the conflicts of today are trying to teach you and where they are guiding you.”

Dr. Soetoro-Ng, who was named for the late writer and Civil Rights activist, Dr. Maya Angelou, and is the author of a children’s book called Ladder to the Moon, also suggested that creating interpersonal peace starts with altering the stories we tell.

“Rewrite the stories from the perspectives of others,” she said. “Make sure you know more than a single story about the other.”

In closing, the members of the classes 2020 and 2021 took to the stage to receive their diplomas from President Weiner, while those who could not attend in-person were presented in a recorded video. The ceremony concluded with a cap toss and a spray of confetti. And, as Grand Marshal Charles “Chop” Keenan III led the recessional, the graduates embraced one another, and all seemed normal in the world, the future bright and possible again.

Clockwise from top left: Clockwise from top left: Student Body President Ian Martins ’21 says goodbye to Director of Student Engagement (and staff mentor to the Student Government Association) Carmen Stockberger; Samantha Furlanic ’21, Brenna Francisco ’21, and Makenna Twisselman ’21 get ready for the big event together; President Steven Weiner congratulates Anthony Orozco ’21; Lauren Schaefer ’21 enjoys a commencement moment; Courtney Cooper ’21 pays tribute to the women who fought for education rights with her mortarboard; Bruce Valdez completed his Menlo degree in December 2019. He’s waited a long time but he finally gets to throw his cap in the air.

39 SUMMER 2021

Embracing Adversity and Disability Lands Menlo’s 2021 Valedictorian in the Spotlight

By Caroline Casper, Adjunct Professor of Literature and Humanities For Cosette Fitzgerald, Menlo College’s 2021 valedictorian, the journey to academic success hasn’t been easy. This is true for most college valedictorians this year; graduating at the top of the class during a global pandemic is a remarkable feat. But for Fitzgerald, who was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at the age of three, this achievement is particularly unique.

Fitzgerald was born and raised in Capitola, a small California town just outside of Santa Cruz. She grew up with sensory, social and communication issues, and she credits the efforts of her mother for her diagnosis. She helped prepare her for public school and the challenges ahead.

“I feel lucky because autism is not diagnosed enough for people who are assigned female and for people of color,” Fitzgerald said.

Although the Capitola school district offered few resources for kids like Fitzgerald, the county offered private practitioners and professionals to help her along the way. She learned social skills, received tutoring for writing, and did horse vaulting and swimming. When she outgrew those resources, her family moved to Santa Clara and enrolled Fitzgerald in a unique private high school that had a program for students with disabilities. There, she thrived and learned to adapt to a neurotypical world.

Because Fitzgerald has always been “good at math,” she decided to major in accounting and is currently on track to become a CPA. She’s also very interested in people and wanted to learn subjects like psychology and sociology.

“As much as I am a math student, I also like understanding people and systems of power, in part because I’m autistic,” she said.

“I’ve had to learn how people work, all of their unspoken rules and assumptions. Their thinking is not natural to me which makes it fascinating.”

When deciding on a college, Fitzgerald created a spreadsheet of every college within a 50-mile perimeter of her home and narrowed the list based on her needs and preferences. She started at West Valley College in Saratoga, graduating with an A.A. in Liberal Arts, then transferred to Menlo College, her first choice, in 2018.

“Slow and steady wins the race,” she said. “Many people on the autism spectrum can achieve their goals, but they need the right modifications. I always filled my schedule with classes relevant to my major, but I’d also take one ‘fun class’ each semester that satisfied my interests. This may have extended my time in college, but that balance kept me from feeling overwhelmed, and I loved what I learned.”

Community is especially important to Fitzgerald. She is passionate about social justice and advocating for the rights of the marginalized and disabled. She was also very active on Menlo’s campus. She worked as a writing tutor in the Writing and Oral Communication Center, and she was a member of Menlo’s Accounting Club, the Spectrum+ Club, and VITA (Voluntary Income Tax Assistance). After graduation, she hopes to avoid the world of “big business” and go to work for a local government agency to help create more accountability and policy change.

“We live in a society that doesn’t paint autism, or other such disabilities, in a very positive light,” she said. “It’s often a tragic narrative, but it isn’t for me. I’ve learned to embrace my autistic wiring and to love it.”

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41 SUMM ER 2 0 21

Give Yourself the Time You Need The in-person commencement audience and those streaming the ceremony were deeply touched by the address delivered by valedictorian Cosette Fitzgerald. Many asked to read it again so they could savor each word. Here, we reproduce that moving talk in its entirety.

Hello, friends, family, and classmates. This year has been complicated, to put it mildly. Right now, it is a time of celebration as much as it is a time of solemn reflection. We have all worked so hard to get to this point. Studying, managing jobs, taking care of loved ones, all while facing a terrifying, devastating pandemic. Despite all these obstacles, we have made our way to graduation, and we should be proud of that. Not only have we been collectively enduring this pandemic anxiety and trauma, but we are also shouldering the inequities and injustices that have existed long before it. It’s made me think about what I’ve been dealing with ever since I was a little kid.

You see, I am autistic, always have been. You probably don’t see that in me because I was given many services early in my life to help me adapt to a non-autistic world. It’s helped me gain a better sense of self-awareness, make long-lasting friendships, and get to where I am now. I have accomplished so much. And while I am forever grateful for all that love and support, it came at a price. In this society, I was taught that I was seeing the world wrong – missing things like social cues or unspoken rules that people like to call “common sense.” It led me to believe that I had a blind spot in my brain, so how could I trust myself? How could I have confidence in anything I thought or felt or perceived? And I say this while thinking about this country’s vaccination campaign, knowing that some people are refusing to vaccinate because they erroneously believe vaccines give children autism. How can I fully love myself when I know I am someone’s worst fear, when people think it would have been better for my parents or for me if I never existed? So, for all this time, I have struggled to see my strengths and recognize my accomplishments. I still sometimes quietly believe that I am a little broken. I don’t always see how my autism has made me a better person in many ways. I would like to say I’m hardworking, open-minded, passionate. I have had to work tirelessly to own my worth and to know I am successful because I am autistic, not in spite of it.

I am saying all of this because if there’s anything this past year has taught us, it’s that we don’t see what others are going through. Insecurities and traumas, economic anxieties, the fears of how outsiders are going to view us and may not recognize our humanity. We are all under a ton of pressure, and that is compounded by the pressure to find our futures. We are asked at such a young age, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” As if that is so simple. No one can know who they are or what they need so quickly, even as we are graduating. Be kind to yourself and give yourself the time you need to figure out what you want in life. And so much can change in just a short amount of time, especially right now, so be flexible and open-minded. Grab any opportunity that feels right for you in this moment. There is no rush to find the perfect job or a perfect life.

If there’s anything all of us need, it’s that we should take care of ourselves. We have all been dealing with so much stress and trauma during this pandemic, and we haven’t been given enough time to process it. Do whatever you need to cultivate the love and support you have always deserved. At the same time, use what energy and privilege you have to help others, even in small ways. We have seen how Black, Brown, Indigenous, and Asian communities have been oppressed and silenced time and time again, because people care more about the status quo and property over human lives. We see that our disabled peers aren’t getting the care they need and are treated as inconveniences for wanting to live. We see how lowincome and unhoused communities are struggling to get resources that should be basic human rights. We must do what we can to help them and hold those in power accountable for their promises. But we can’t do any of that without helping ourselves first.

Don’t forget to love each other. Don’t forget to love yourselves. Your minds and bodies are wonderful just as they are.

You are not broken. Thank you.

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S tudent L ife Welcoming the New Dean of Student Affairs: Dr. La’Tonya Rease Miles

By Jessica Berger, Director of Annual Giving and Alumni Experience, with Jordyn Sanico ‘22 Menlo College is proud to welcome Dr. La’Tonya ‘LT’ Rease Miles as its Dean of Student Affairs.

Rease Miles earned her Ph.D. in American Literature in 2004 from UCLA, where her research focused on the representation of Black masculinity in African American literature and pop culture, with a special emphasis on sports. She went on to hold leadership roles at top-rated California colleges, serving as the Director of the Academic Resource Center at Loyola Marymount University and, most recently, the Executive Director of First-Year Experience and Strategic Initiatives at UCLA.

Dr. Rease Miles congratulates senior class president Devon Nemelka ’21.

Dr. Rease Miles is a nationally recognized authority on first-generation students and the first-year experience in higher education. Drawing on her expert knowledge as well as her personal experience as a first-generation college student, Rease Miles regularly serves as a consultant to institutions of higher education across the nation. Her expertise in this field “adds important depth in ensuring our large contingent of first-generation students thrive during their studies at Menlo,” said Menlo College President Steven Weiner, when asked about her appointment; “She will be an effective advocate for our students and a valuable addition to the Menlo leadership team.”

At the heart of Dr. Rease Miles’ professional vision is her drive to support students as individuals – a view that will be at home in Menlo’s tight-knit environs. “One of the reasons I chose Menlo College was because of its close community; its small size gives me the chance to get to know students on a more personal level,” she says; “I look forward to creating a lasting positive impact on the college and increasing social equity through education. I am very excited to join the Menlo family.”

Empowering First-Generation Students to Succeed

By La’Tonya ‘LT’ Rease Miles, Ph.D., Dean of Student Affairs

Oprah Winfrey, Steve Jobs and Lilian Rincon are just a few notable innovators who also happen to be the first in their families to go to college. Here at Menlo, nearly one out of every three students is considered a first-generation college student. Being educational pioneers often means that first-generation students are resourceful, resilient, highly motivated and entrepreneurial.

Since I did not come from a college-going background, I picked colleges based upon what I did know: sports. I enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill because I knew that it was a “good” school and, more importantly, because of its powerhouse basketball team. I arrived on campus eager to learn and ready to explore, but I was surprised by the many things I did not know about college—things I couldn’t ask my mom. I know now that what I experienced was culture shock as a first-generation student. And like many of my fellow first-gens, I was thwarted by school policies and customs that students are expected to know but are not taught directly. For instance, I had no idea that I could drop a class. Instead, I stuck it out in biology—afraid to speak with an academic advisor and wanting to make my mom proud.

As Dean of Student Affairs, I have a unique opportunity to pay it forward and to be the person that I needed when I was in college.

It brings me tremendous joy to connect a student with a resource, to help them through a crisis situation or to celebrate their accomplishments. I also support other campuses nationally as they develop their own first-generation college programs and initiatives.

For instance, I founded and moderate a national Facebook group; I co-founded the Black First-Gen Collective; and I am co-editing a book about the unique relationships between campus service workers and first-generation students that will be published later this year.

All of the things that make Menlo College special—small class sizes, hands on learning, caring faculty and staff—are the things that make it ideal for first-generation students and their families. In fact, Menlo is primed to be a leader in the national first-generation movement. In the near future, there will be special outreach for first-generation students during orientation and at Open Houses for admissions. And the campus now has a chapter of Alpha Alpha Alpha, a national honor society for first-generation students (and alumni). As the saying goes: Tall oaks from little acorns grow!

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Keeping Students Safe:

Life on Campus, One Year Later

By Angela Schmiede, Ph.D., Vice President for Student Success and Chair, Pandemic Planning Team March 16, 2021, marked one year since the order for the Bay Area to shelter-in-place. Little did we know, then, that the three-week order would stretch into months. Menlo’s Pandemic Planning Team has learned much during this time about the novel coronavirus and how to prevent its spread over the past year, which has allowed us to safely reopen campus for close to 250 residential students this spring. To date, we have had only two positive Covid-19 tests among our residents since their return to campus on January 9, 2021.

Our success at maintaining a relatively virus-free campus is the result of a community-wide planning and implementation effort: We have worked closely with a public health expert to develop our Testing, Tracing, and Quarantine (TTQ) Plan, which has been managed effectively by Covid-19 Coordinator and Head Athletic Trainer, Rob Dalnoki.

All students living on campus quarantined and were tested upon arrival. On-campus students are required to participate in our antigen testing program twice a week, which has been critical to identifying and preventing the spread of the virus.

Student-athletes live and train in “pods” by athletic teams, which allows them to engage with their teammates with fewer restrictions.

Students have adapted to take-out dining services and we have been fortunate to have nice weather most of the time to allow for outdoor dining.

Our Student Affairs team–Dean La’Tonya Rease Miles, Director of Student Engagement Carmen Stockberger, and Director of Housing and Residence Life Taylor Henkel–has been instrumental in creating opportunities for engagement and addressing student needs during a time when students require additional support.

In addition, Taylor Henkel has implemented a Covid-19 Ambassador program, through which trained students and staff promote campus safety by educating students about Covid-19 safety protocols.

Our success at navigating the pandemic is due in large part to the commitment that each of our community members has demonstrated in following Covid-19 protocols. The pandemic has highlighted the close-knit community that is the hallmark of Menlo College.

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New This Spring!

This semester, the departments of Student Academic Support (SAS) and Internships and Career Services (ICS) teamed up to host a series of workshops designed to help participants develop their oral communication prowess. The workshops targeted key skills essential for students in their academic lives and future careers: presentation skills (including use of visual aids and powerpoint), group discussion and collaboration, persuasion and negotiation, interviewing, and networking.

According to Forbes, hiring managers and executives consistently rate strong communication skills at the top of their list of essential traits for employees. Communication makes business work; good communication can improve efficiency, foster collaborative problemsolving and innovation, and contribute to workplace morale (Morgan, 2018). Communication skills are also critical for personal, as well as professional, success. The ability to communicate effectively has been linked by numerous studies to an individual’s overall sense of psychological well-being and life satisfaction (Segrin, 2014).

For this reason, Menlo has long considered fostering these skills as central to our academic mission; oral communication and written communication are designated as two of the five institutional learning outcomes defined by Menlo College (alongside quantitative reasoning, critical thinking, and information literacy). Menlo offers courses in public speaking, business communication, persuasion and negotiation, and leadership, along with a cross-curricular writing program designed to develop proficiency in written communication across a student’s four years in residence.

The Oral Communication Workshop Series supplements these offerings, providing additional opportunities for students to hone their skills, or develop them in new directions. The workshops were also open to the broader Menlo community, and faculty and staff were invited to participate; a special workshop was held for faculty on fostering group discussions in the classroom. The workshops were also incorporated into a training program for student tutors in the Writing and Oral Communication Center; after completing the program, tutors will be qualified to offer feedback and coaching to individual students on presentations and speeches.

The workshops were hosted by Lisa Villarreal, Associate Director of SAS and director of the Math and Peer Tutoring Center, Erik Bakke, Senior Director of SAS, and director of the Writing and Oral Communication Center, Dylan Houle, Director of ICS, and Kelly Davis, Assistant Direction of ICS. After receiving significant positive feedback from participants, they plan to continue the program in upcoming semesters.

References Morgan, B. (2018) Why Every Employee At Your Company Should Have Communications Training. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2018/01/24/why-every-employeeat-your-company-should-have-communications-training/?sh=1f7682e0279d Segrin C. (2014) Communication and Personal Well-Being. In: Michalos A.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi. org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_446

45 SUMMER 2021

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I chose Menlo because I was interested in receiving a personalized college experience. My goals are to land a summer internship in an accounting firm and to receive a full-time offer after graduation. The accounting program at Menlo is one of the best in the area! I like to cook, stay outdoors, hang out with friends, and to cook some more!

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Zandanbal (Zach) Arslankhjuyag I’d say coming to the United States and especially being part of this community was one of my best decisions. Certainly, Menlo is helping me in a lot of my academic and personal life. I am going to take a finance degree and planning to work after graduation for some time to earn experience from Silicon Valley. Most of my friends are athletes in the college and with them, I train a lot, so for those who don’t know much about Menlo, it will be full of surprises coming for you!

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I choose Menlo to be around Silicon Valley and start my company. I was involved in multiple clubs and I want to be able to take my company public someday. My hobby is to meet new people and write. I like to fly planes and I am getting a license soon. I am an avid reader in Crypto and passion economy space.

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Emanuela Stopachol I chose Menlo because I was interested in receiving a personalized college experience. My goals are to land a summer internship in an accounting firm and to receive a full-time offer after graduation. The accounting program at Menlo is one of the best in the area! I like to cook, stay outdoors, hang out with friends, and to cook some more!

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the people and teacher to make my education the best possible. I wanted a close community. I would like to get

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Hi! I am a dancer and a boxer. I chose Menlo because it was a small school and I wanted to be able to be close to

my MBA after my international management degree or get into law school!

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was a small school and I wanted to be able to be close to

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In August 2020, the college’s five Designated School Officials (DSOs)—Priscila de Souza, Rey Penate, Tess Rewick, Dylan Houle and Kelly Davis—convened a standing monthly meeting to strategize new ways to support international students, share student feedback, and track relevant travel restrictions and federal government updates. So, what has this DSO team done and what are they working on?

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Planned a dynamic series of workshops and events focused on the priorities and challenges facing international students. In March, Sprintax, a tax preparation software company, delivered an information session on how to file taxes as a non-resident. For Career Connect Day, Celina Husung ’21 (Germany) moderated an alumni panel discussion on post-graduation pathways for international students. And in April, students were invited to a Q&A session with immigration attorney Nadia Yakoob. More events are being planned for next year.

5/28/21, 1:55 PM

As the college looks ahead to the next academic year and beyond, the DSO team will be front and center in advocating for international students and alumni. If you are a graduate interested in supporting current students, or if you are a current student with ideas and suggestions, please email the DSO team at iss@menlo.edu.

Ilan Pochic I chose Menlo college for its location but also for its diversity for a human-sized school. I'm involved indirectly in the Asian association thanks to my girlfriend. I love going to see athletic performances on campus. I'd like to work in the Bay Area after I'm done with my studies. I like basketball a lot and play some on campus almost every day of the week.

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M E N L O C O L L E G E M a g a z i ne

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Lu’au Online!

By Jordyn Sanico ’22, President, Pacific Islander Club 2020-2021 As we planned our annual lu-’au this year, the executive board of the Pacific Islander Club

(PIC) quickly realized that the virtual platform required during the Covid-19 pandemic was too unwieldy for dance practices, much less for the live performances of previous years. Our members, scattered across the country and already stressed by online classes, would not be able to spend many months learning and practicing dances while united only by an internet connection. So instead of contemporary performances, we created a video celebration aimed to acknowledge what the PIC has accomplished in past years, to reminisce upon some of our best memories, and to honor our seniors.

For me, this project was extremely rewarding. I’ve only had the pleasure of participating in one lu-’au; however, putting together the content for this live stream gave me many special moments. I had the opportunity to talk to some of PIC’s past presidents and hear about the ways the club has made an impact on their lives. Tarryn Orial ’19 noted that PIC has been one of the oldest active clubs at Menlo for over thirty years, saying, “It has been a home away from home for many.” Ka’ilihiwa Ka-ne ’20 described the lu-’au preparations: “That time of year was a lot of work, but it was so worth it to create an event that brought the community together and gave our club a sense of pride in being able to put on the largest student-led event on campus.”

This year’s event was to preserve the authenticity of our lu-’au, while still carrying out PICs

mission to share Pacific Islander culture. Please see our YouTube video, “2021 Menlo College Lu-’au” for an uplifting experience. Consider it an invitation to the day when we will have an in-person lu-’au again!

47 SUMMER 2021

By Dylan Houle, Director of Internships and Career Services

Founded in 1927, with a history reaching back to 1915, Menlo College has its share of stories to tell. Here are the 10 most secretive, odd and mysterious places on campus. (In order of least mysterious to most mysterious:) 10. Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Did you know that Menlo College is home to two electric vehicle charging stations?

Installed in 2011 with grant funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, they are located just behind the Fitness Center and accessible to the public.

9. The Outdoor Photo Gallery One of the landmarks of Menlo College is the big “M” at the entrance to the quad.

Ever wonder how it got there? Photographs of its installation are discreetly installed on the side of the Sports Pavilion that’s closest to the M. 8. The Secluded Redwoods Grove This grove is technically part of the adjacent Menlo School campus, but when the gate is open, students can enjoy being enveloped in the quiet solitude of a dozen redwoods—a great place to take a deep breath.

7. The Clandestine Trail To Downtown The red fence along the southeast border

of the campus opens onto Victoria Drive, a “locals only” shortcut to downtown Menlo Park. This quiet street is lined by beautiful homes and, if the rumors are true, a famous former 49er lives in one of them.

6. The Open Air Gym Behind Michaels Hall, there are three pullup bars set at three different heights. But what makes them somewhat odd is that they are accompanied by no other exercise equipment! When were they installed? By whom? Why? If you have any information about these bars, please contact us!

5. The Hidden Bust Go through El Camino Hall’s Russell Center to find this cute patio featuring a wall of red bricks inscribed and donated by alumni.

Peek into the far left corner and you’ll find a magnificent bust of former Director of the College and the School of Business Administration John D. “Judge” Russell, who was affiliated with the college for 45 years, from 1938 to 1983.

4. The Kratt Graffiti Room In 2016-2017, Menlo College renovated the lower level of Kratt Hall into a crisp, well-lit space for the athletics department… but this one room remained untouched because, for many years, student-athletes were allowed to cover its walls with their

names, inside jokes and drawings. Today, it is a bright reminder of the many alumni who’ve played for the Oaks.

3. The Mystery Novel One year before Menlo School officially expanded into a college curriculum, author Earl Reed Silvers published a book called The Menlo Mystery (1926) about a group of boys attending Menlo School’s summer camp who soon find themselves involved in a mysterious adventure capturing robbers!

2. The Shed With A Deadly Secret Phar Lap was a champion thoroughbred racehorse - and Australia’s greatest - who, in 1932, met his final day on what is now known as Cartan Field, near where Menlo College’s baseball field is now located. One rumor is that he had been poisoned by a competitor...but is it true? To this day, Phar Lap’s heart is on display at the National Museum of Australia.

1. The Lucky Horseshoe Nailed atop the entrance to the Russell Center is an ancient-looking horseshoe. No record of its history, purpose or intention exists to this day, but for many long years it has hung as a quiet symbol of good luck (the traditional symbolism of a horseshoe) for the college and its students.

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Alumni Building a Career during Covid:

Recent Graduates Share their Stories

By Jessica Berger, Director of Communications, Office of Alumni Engagement & Development

Entering the job market is never an easy task, but the corporate shut-downs and sudden stop to in-person interviews made that crucial transition even more difficult. We asked recent graduates how they got around the barriers. Here are their inventive journeys:

Taking a Chance, They Launched a Business Caitlin Sorensen ‘19 and Kylie Wetzel ‘19 First-generation college graduate Caitlin Sorensen has always known she wanted to start her own business. Working with a small business owner for her internship at Menlo, followed by full time employment with Trustee Andy Cunningham’s group the Cunningham Collective (whom she met through Cunningham’s course Marketing Menlo) after graduation only served to reinforce her goal. Where others might have found the prospect of starting a new business during a pandemic daunting, Caitlin recognized an opportunity to put her skills to work helping small businesses survive lockdown: “I noticed a lot of businesses were going online and they needed help with their digital marketing.”

Caitlin had met Kylie Wetzel through the Student Government Association at Menlo, where they worked together on events, giving them valuable experience in project management. “I never wanted to start my own business,” Kylie relates, “But Menlo is so entrepreneurial that I knew I had the exposure and just needed to get over the imposter syndrome.” So when Caitlin reached out to her with a plan to start a marketing firm, she decided to take the leap.

Together, they launched the Hustlin’ Honeys marketing and design agency. They have also created an online community called the Hive, understanding that some small business owners can’t afford to hire marketing consultants but still need marketing support. While Kylie recently returned to Menlo College as Digital Marketing Manager, Caitlin is now running the agency fulltime. Caitlin says, “I want to have an empire where we empower small business owners to thrive and inspire others to launch their own businesses, too.”

He Led a Team to Protect Patients Greig O’Connor ‘13 Greig O’Connor ‘13 began his tenure at Kensington Place Redwood City, an assisted living facility, as the Business Office Manager. He did not anticipate that he might become an Executive Director at an early age, but the opportunity arose for him to step into the role in March 2020. “My initial thoughts were two-fold: protect the patients and prepare the team - physically with PPE and protocols, and mentally that an outbreak might happen,” he shared. “Leading a team when you yourself don’t know is a challenge.

I had to figure out how to motivate the team to take on the task and become their counselor in addition to running the business.”

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Greig and his team rose to the challenge, turning the situation into an opportunity to get to know the residents and their needs better: “In many ways the team have become the residents’ loved ones. We saw the opportunity to use this time to see what we could really do.”

Greig credits his time at Menlo for preparing him to lead. “At Menlo I was on the football team, a Resident Assistant, and the President of the Hawai’i Club [now the Pacific Islander Club]. These roles taught me how to work hard, relate to people, and be organized.” His courses also gave him the broad management skills needed to be an effective Executive Director. “Menlo has a special place in my heart; it was the catalyst to what I am doing now.”

Tackling Real World Problems with her Research Skills Giselle Martinez Collado ’20 Having excelled in her psychology studies at Menlo,Giselle Martinez Collado’20 decided to specialize in macrological health and was accepted to Stanford University’s Masters of Science program in Community Health: “I took a leap of faith and decided that I wanted to experience the program within the pandemic.

This degree is important - right now - and will have an impact sooner rather than later.”

“We’ve had lectures on the response to Covid-19 with representatives from the CDC, and have helped with translating and information sharing with different communities - all while never stepping foot on the Stanford campus,” she related.

Giselle shared that she is also interning with a social media start-up called Hope Lab, studying how social media can be used for health interventions.

Giselle feels her experiences at Menlo have prepared her to succeed in this rigorous program: “I have the experience writing an undergraduate thesis at Menlo during my senior year, which many of my classmates do not.” And after she graduates? She hopes to travel the world working on global health projects and perhaps pursue a doctorate.

Managing Unpredictability Between Jobs and in A New Job Stewart Haller ‘19 Stewart Haller ‘19 came to Menlo to play baseball and study Marketing and Sports Management. He worked hard at both during his time on campus. He was a Resident Assistant and Peer Tutor. In his senior year he landed a coveted internship position with the San Francisco Giants, and he converted that internship into a full-time Marketing and Advertising position upon graduating in May 2019. “Baseball is my favorite sport and I grew up watching the Giants,” Stewart said; “It was a dream come true to work for them.” Then came Covid-19.

“I knew something was going to happen when Covid took off,” Stewart related; “All the customer-facing work slowed right down.” When he was let go, Stewart was disappointed, but not beaten: “I came to accept that losing the position wasn’t anyone’s fault. Then I sat down to articulate what I learned and what I was able to accomplish with them.”

Now Stewart is working at a FinTech startup as a Sales and Partnerships Coordinator. The adjustment to his new role has gone smoothly, thanks to the skills he learned at Menlo: “Menlo taught me to be open-minded about products and consumer behavior - it’s a thought process. There’s a lot of overlap between startups and sports; they’re both steeped in unpredictability.”

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Alumni Family First: Business Life is More than Numbers Kevin Kimball ‘05 Kevin Kimball “used to be all about going into the office.” After coaching the football team at Menlo while simultaneously earning a business degree, Kevin worked for the Oakland Raiders, then established himself in the gaming industry at Sony Playstation. He believed his 90-minute commute was a small sacrifice to make to do the work he wanted to do.

Once the pandemic started, Kevin began working remotely; the experience altered his perspective on spending time at – and travelling to – the office. His favorite part of working from home?

“I play with my kids at lunch and talk with them, we give each other hugs when we take breaks.”

When a small gaming start-up, Striking Distance Studios, approached him in mid-2020 to become their VP of Marketing, in addition to the challenge of the role, the 7-minute commute was instantly appealing. “The pandemic allowed me to entertain accepting this new position. I felt stable at Playstation - I knew how they operated. But I took the opportunity to be with my kids,” Kimball says. These days he is hiring new remote team members, one in Texas, and another in Washington, and everything is done online. “Now I’m open to the idea that working from home can be productive - maybe even more productive.”

Kevin credits Menlo with helping him to see the human side of business. He gives a specific shout out to Dr. Donna Little, Associate Professor of Accounting and Finance (now Emerita) for showing him there was more to business than numbers, which prepared him to lead his team effectively: “I’ve seen my role shift - I have more one-to-one meetings and I ask my team, ‘How are you doing?’ not ‘What are you doing?’”

Charles Jordan ’70 Learned to Think Globally at Menlo College

By Jessica Berger, Director of Annual Giving and Alumni Experience From his home in Buenos Aires, Charles Jordan ‘70 remembers Menlo College as having wellprepared him to lead multinational organizations. Through the personalized education, small classes, and individual coaching from professors, as well as the broad educational curriculum, he came to understand the expansive social underpinnings behind organizational success: “Courses I took included the history of California, U.S. history, world geography, Western civilization, and physics. ... A wider picture is good, instead of just a narrow vision of a particular area.”

Following graduation, Jordan began working in the oil and gas industry, and then moved to banking, mainly as a senior executive for international corporations like Banco Frances (now part of JPMorgan Chase), American Express Bank, and the Bank of New York. Jordan credits Menlo with introducing him to American corporate culture: “During those years [at] Menlo I learned much about the country and in hindsight that probably steered me to working with American companies - because I understood and adhered to their philosophies and work ethics,” he says.

Jordan retired in 2004 to focus on his other interests, such as family, friends, and travel. Reflecting on how times have changed, and speculating on how the world will emerge from the pandemic, he sees a need to balance between new technological advancements with other meaningful ways of doing business: “As we learn to work from home - maybe not full-time but part-time - people will use more of the internet and websites to communicate and to do business…but the face-to-face is still very important. For my first job at Exxon they sent me to New Jersey for six weeks to learn the computer systems for auditing. … [and] I always loved going to annual conferences around the world that I was invited to.” He views that kind of personal contact as essential to maintaining connections.

For Jordan, that includes his connection to Menlo. “It’s never too late to restart or revisit, and appreciate what one has received in the way of education from Menlo. I think it’s very important to keep in contact, and hopefully someday go back for a visit.”

51 SUMMER 2021

Our Student-Athletes Demonstrate All-Around Excellence Even without the chance to play on the field and in the gym, our student-athletes continued to contribute in the classroom and the wider community. These awards highlight their off-field achievements:

Cliff Hamlow Champion of Character Award Winners

The Cliff Hamlow Champion of Character Award is given to student-athletes who demonstrate outstanding athletic achievement, campus and community leadership, future ambition and embrace the five core character values of the NAIA Champions of Character program: Respect, Responsibility, Integrity, Sportsmanship and Servant Leadership. Softball middle infielder Wendy Mouat ’22 and wrestler Anthony Orozco ’21 were this year’s recipients of the award.

Wendy Mouat is a softball middle infielder who received the GSAC Scholar-Athlete Award last year. Off the field, she volunteers for Bay Area homeless shelters, disability centers, beach cleanups, and youth softball clinics. She is applying that experience to the benefit of Menlo students by launching a club that will promote opportunities for students to mentor and offer friendship to foster youth in the community.

Anthony Orozco earned a string of honors during his wrestling career, including two national championships, four NAIA All-American awards, the Cascade Collegiate Conference championship, two Arthur Ashe Awards, three Academic All-Americans. and a Champion of Character award! He was also the 2018 Menlo College Don Baike Male Athlete of the Year. Off the mats, he has helped lead numerous community service initiatives, including three years as team lead for Menlo’s annual Red Cross blood drive and collecting donations for the Diaspora Wrestling Foundation. Off campus, he is an active community volunteer, supporting bike-a-thons for the homeless, holiday donation collections and gift wrapping for underprivileged youth, and providing moving assistance for the elderly. Two well-deserving recipients of this year’s Cliff Hamlow Champion of Character Award!

US Bank Academic Awards

The Cascade Collegiate Conference recognizes men’s and women’s wrestlers who exemplify the tradition of excellence in competition and in the classroom, and once again, Menlo student-athletes dominated the list of 2021 awardees. The following fifteen Oaks were honored: Nicholas Camacho ’22, Barbara Greenberg ’23, Taryn Ichimura ’21, Megan Lam ’22, Alleida Martinez ’22, Jacob Mendoza ’22, Elijah Palacio ’22, Laynee Pasion ’21, Giuliana Pepe ’22, Angela Peralta ’21, Afton Silvis ’23, Amrit Singh ’21, Blaysen Terukina ’21, Sierra Van Rossem ’23, and Alana Vivas ’23.

GSAC Scholar-Athletes

The Golden State Athletic Conference recognized the outstanding academic achievement of eight Menlo basketball players in 2021: Sheniah Castex ’21, Salome Cordinier ’21, Nura Galmes Quadrado ’23, Corey Le’aupepe ’22, Khalid Price ’23, Jordyn Rosette ’23, Jake Tranter ’23, and Lauryn Vogt ’23.

Every student-athlete knows the exhaustion of participating in their sport while maintaining their academic performance. Though the pandemic interrupted play, it did not curtail our admiration for the years of hard work needed for our athletes to graduate. Exemplifying this, Pedro Almeida was recognized through the Señor Carlos López Award given to a senior student athlete who demonstrates outstanding athletic, academic, and community achievement. A few of the athletes applauded during Senior Day (lef t to right) : Sara Aguilar, Tiana Jackson, Pedro Almeida, and Iaan Shodiss. Athletic Director Keith Spataro beams with the pride of helping our athletes develop. Photos by Ryan Thompson.

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ATHLETICS

While the pandemic has taken competition off the table this year, the talents of our women grapplers are still garnering welldeserved attention. The two-time national championship team will still be the one to beat when competition returns, as evidenced by the recent nation-wide Coaches Poll that singled out twelve of our wrestlers for top-ranked status. The following studentathletes were all recognized as being among the most talented in the country (their national ranking within their respective weight classes are indicated): Sara Aguilar ’21 (#4), Shelly Avelino ’21 (#19), Tianna Fernandez ’23 (#10), Gracie Figueroa ’22 (#1), Taryn Ichimura ’21 (#13), Tiana Jackson ’21 (#1), Alleida Martinez ’22 (#1), Angela Peralta ’21 (#3), Emily Sandoval ’23 (#12), Alana Vivas ’23 (#4), Lizette Young ’21 (#12), and Cindy Zepeda ’23 (#7).

Reflecting the depth of talent on Menlo’s women’s wrestling team, seven members had the opportunity to compete for a chance to represent Team USA at the upcoming Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo this summer. Gracie Figueroa ’22, Marilyn Garcia ’20, and Solin Piearcy ’20 all competed in the US Team semi-finals, and four Oaks advanced all the way to finals in Fort Worth, Texas in April: Precious Bell ’20, Tiana Jackson ’21, Alleida Martinez ’22, and Katherine Shai (Fulp-Allen) ’10. When the final call was made, none of the Oaks secured their passage to compete in this summer’s Olympiad. Our time, though, will yet come!

53 SUMMER 2021 Angela Peralta

Emily Sandoval

Tiana Jackson

Lizette Young

Alleida Martinez

Sarah Aguilar

Cindy Zepeda

Alana Vivas

Shelly Avelino

Nanea Estrella ’24 took a first place finish at the recent United World Wrestling Junior Nationals in Omaha, NE. The title adds to Nanea’s lustrous high school career: she was a four-time Hawai’i State Champion and the winner of the Maui Interscholastic League Girl Athlete-of-the-Year. As described in the press reports, “Estrella is a freshman at Menlo College, a women’s wrestling powerhouse.” This news suggests our women’s team will be a force to contend with for years to come!

M E N L O C O L L E G E M a g a z i ne Taryn Ichimura

Gracie Figueroa

Tianna Fernandez

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While competitive play was off the table due to the continued threat of Covid-19, most of our student-athletes nonetheless returned to campus in January to train, connect with their teammates, and once again experience campus life — albeit one that was altered to a significant extent by pandemic-induced precautions!

But quarantining together in Covid pods took team bonding to a new level.

Photos by Ryan Thompson and Miguel Lim ’21

55 SUMMER 2021

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In Memoriam Venkat “Jay” Naidu: 1949-2021 Jay is remembered as a genuine, caring, and selfless person with a great giving heart. He was born in Fiji and educated at Andhra University in India. Accompanied by his wife Rachel and his son Jay Junior, he immigrated to the Bay Area in 1994 to take a position with Charles Schwab. Ten years later, he joined Menlo College, where over a nearly twenty-year career, he rose through the ranks to become Director of Human Resources. Jay served the College and its students with dedication.

Jay was a vital contributor to Menlo and was a dear friend to so many members of the Menlo community. Jay, we miss you!

Jay leaves our school a far kinder, more considerate, and more attentive place due to all he brought us.

–Steven Weiner, President, Menlo College

Jay was a caring and gentle soul with a simple joy and attentive compassion for others that brought reassurance and peace to my heart each time I interacted with him. He will be greatly missed and remembered for his kindness and dedication to our Menlo family.

– Christen Hardee-Thompson, Softball Coach, Menlo College

Jay was such a kind man with a fun sense of humor. I so very much enjoyed working with him.

–Monica Conniff, Client Services Coordinator, Heffernan Insurance Brokers

Jay was a wonderful human being who is deeply missed.

– Patty Lev, Director of Academic Advising, Menlo College

Jay was a dear friend and I will miss him dearly.

– Shilpa Dasgupta, Adjunct Professor of Mathematics, Menlo College

57 SUMMER 2021

Craig Alvah Starkey ‘51: 1932-2021 Craig is remembered for his humor and kindness, and his love of travel, surpassed only by his devotion to his family and community. He graduated from Menlo College in 1951, attended San Diego State University, and earned degrees from California Western University and American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird).

Craig worked in finance with First Federal Savings and Loan of San Diego and its successor Coast Savings until his retirement, and continued the family operations in real estate investment along with his brothers. Craig loved adventure, and at 20 years old he accompanied San Diego artist Everett Jackson to remote areas of Guatemala, Honduras, and southern Mexico to view and illustrate Mayan ruins. He was an avid supporter of arts and served on the boards of the San Diego Museum of Art and the San Diego Chamber Orchestra, among other organizations. Craig is predeceased by his wife Dori and his brother Harold ‘48, and survived by Stephen ‘79, three children, and five grandchildren.

Albert “Al” R. Schreck ‘55: 1930-2020 Albert, known as Al, passed away peacefully at the age of 89 surrounded by his loving family. After attending Menlo College and Williams College, he graduated from the Stanford School of Law in 1957. Al was a founding partner of Kingsley, Schreck, Wells & Reichling, a partnership that prospered for five decades, owning major real estate assets throughout California. Al lived in Portola Valley, and was a co-founder of the town, helping to incorporate it in 1964. He is best remembered for his larger-thanlife personality and his sharp dress. He is survived by his three sons, seven grandchildren, and one great-granddaughter.

Obituaries written by Jordyn Sanico ’22 with Rasmia Shuman ’22

Charles Austin Shea III ‘55: 1935-2021 Charles Austin Shea, also known as “Chuck” or “Charlie,” passed away after a courageous battle with Parkinson’s Disease surrounded by his loved ones.

He was regarded by many as a true hero, dependable friend, and the definition of what a great human being should embody. Charlie graduated from Menlo College in 1955 and was later inducted into the Hall of Fame for lettering in five sports in just one school year. Charlie regarded his time at Menlo as one of the big highlights of his life, and often fondly recalled the wonderful memories and people he met in his time there. His granddaughter Mackenzie “Kenzie” Carpenter ‘19 followed in his footsteps and advanced to become an athlete and graduate of Menlo College just like her grandfather. After his time at Menlo, Charlie went on to attend Stanford University where he had a successful football career, and after turning down the opportunity to play in the NFL, he pursued a law degree at Santa Clara University. Throughout his life, Charlie enjoyed many athletic activities, traveling abroad, building and remodeling homes, and landscaping. Charlie leaves behind his wife of 23 years, five children and stepchildren, and ten grandchildren and step-grandchildren, including Kenzie. He is predeceased by his son Charles IV ‘79.

Sally Dungan ‘72: 1954-2020 Sally Dungan was the longtime chief investment officer at Tufts University and passed away of cancer. She graduated from Menlo College in 1972, Pomona College in 1975, and held a Master’s degree from the Monterey Institute of International Studies in Intercultural Communication. Sally was listed among Trusted Insight’s Top 30 Women Chief Investment Officers and was considered one of the most influential women in institutional investing. She was known as a strong advocate for education and mentorship, and served on the boards of several public and private institutions, including the Eaglebrook School in western Massachusetts where her two sons attended school.

We also remember: Alan H. Hewett ‘39: 1919 - 2009

David Scott Lorimer ‘59: 1940 - 2020

Northrop H. Kirk: 1920 - 2011

Arthur George Brown ‘63: 1944 - 2020

Robert “Ted” Davidson III ‘54: 1934 - 2019

Daniel Kalb ‘67: 1945 - 2019

David Smith Dungan ‘54: 1935 - 2020

Roy B. Robinette ‘73: 1943 - 2020

Dr. Grover William “Bill” Bedeau, Jr. ‘55: 1935 - 2021

Alvah Chisholm Halle ‘77: 1957 - 2019

Robert “Bob” Marshall Clarke ‘55: 1935 - 2020

Harrison Gunther ‘79: 1957 - 2019 M E N L O C O L L E G E M a g a z i ne

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CAMPUS IMPROVEMENTS

Breaking Ground on the New Residence Hall

A moment to savor: the groundbreaking for a building that reflects the vision, generosity, and confidence of two very special donors to Menlo College. Making the moment even more extraordinary was the fact that the building took shape in the midst of a life-changing pandemic. “Our donors saw beyond the pandemic, and knew that Menlo’s future would be infinitely brighter if we could offer 288 more of our students the opportunity to experience the close-knit residential college experience that provides binding, often lifetime friendships,” said President Steven Weiner at the ceremony held on the building site on May 13, 2021. Though celebrants could not toast the anonymous donors by name, comments by President Weiner, Atherton Mayor Elizabeth Lewis, Dean of Student Affairs LT Rease Miles, Trustee Emeritus Chop Keenan ’66, and Board Chair Micah Ka-ne ’91 all acknowledged that the kindness of the donors will touch the lives of our community today, and the lives of generations to come. As President Weiner observed, “Bricks and mortar, generosity, and well-placed bets will do that.”

In recognition of the many students from the Pacific Islands that have graced the Menlo campus over the decades, the ceremony concluded with a traditional Hawaiian blessing performed by native Hawaiian traditionalist and cultural practitioner Kumu Kau’i.

59 SUMMER 2021

The Enduring Generosity of Martha and David Irmer ’58 The fundraising goal for Menlo’s New Residence Hall was $20 million, and construction was launched soon after that target was successfully raised earlier this year. The project is now well underway, but the dramatic increase in the cost of construction materials in recent months has created a funding gap.

Enter David Irmer ’58.

Extending decades of generosity, David Irmer ’58 and his family recently pledged a half million-dollar challenge grant to close the New Residence Hall funding gap, and thereby support student residential living at Menlo College – a foundation of the Menlo College experience. At this school, each part of a student’s life is connected with the rest. By virtue of living, eating, studying, and socializing together – with people from all over the world, from all walks of life – Menlo students become more engaged. They’re expected to be engaged.

For many years, Menlo students have found their journey to the commencement stage eased by support from the Irmer Family Scholarships. All of his giving has been informed by his determination to pay it forward, improving the Menlo College experience available to today’s students and to those of generations to come. David gives to Menlo because Menlo gave to him. As he said in conveying this most recent commitment, “My 63 years with Menlo College have been one of the great joys of my life.”

Thank you, David Irmer, for bringing joy to so many other lives.

Above: Martha and David Irmer

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Non Profit Org US Postage PAID Denver, CO Permit No 5377 1000 El Camino Real Atherton, CA, 94027-4301 www.menlo.edu

A Celebration is on the Horizon

Save the Date October 16, 2027 For a Centennial Celebration honoring 100 years of Menlo memories and friendships

Menlo College —— founded 1927——