Transfer rates to UCLA best in district

Adjunct professors moved toward Academic Senate constitutional recognition

Transfer admission rates for Pierce College applicants to University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) exceed statewide averages by 10 percent, rendering an applause from the Academic Senate in the Great Hall.

Pierce College students were accepted to UCLA 38 percent of the time, opposed to an average of 28 percent being granted admission from across the state in the fall of 2015, according to Transfer Center director, Sunday Salter. This ranks Pierce College number one out of 15 area colleges including every school in the LACCD plus Santa Monica, Pasadena, El Camino, Moorpark, Glendale and Long Beach, according to Mitra Hoshiar, director of honors program.

Students being properly informed on what classes to take, in what order and using Assist. org as well as speaking with counselors, are primary reasons for the success, according to Salter.

“Our students are prepared. They have strong GPAs. They’re finishing their major prep and they are getting admitted at a very high rate,” Salter said. “It is the right courses for the major and the GPA that come together to make the proper candidate for UCLA.”

The average Pierce College applicant to UCLA earned a 3.3 GPA and the average accepted student’s GPA was 3.5. Pierce College’s honors program students are accepted to UCLA 87 of the time ranking Pierce third among the 15 area schools, according to Hoshiar, who encourages students to join the honors program.

“Please spread the word. If students want to go to UCLA and want to increase their chance of getting into UCLA, the honors program is their winning ticket,” Hoshiar said.

“[Pierce] honor students get to apply to two majors when applying to UCLA and this greatly increases their chances for admission, because out of the 125 majors at UCLA, 67 percent of applicants apply to the same 12,” Salter said.

During the meeting, a proposal to amend the senate’s constitution to allow adjunct professors to serve as members was passed. Adjunct professors have been participating on the Academic Senate for years but were not included in the constitution.

Kathy Holland, adjunct assistant professor of political science, explained why it is important for adjunct professors, who she estimates to outnumber full-time professors on campus three-to-one, to have a voice on the Academic Senate. “We do the same work as full- process on this campus.”

Lyn Clark, computer applications and office technologies department chair, asked Wendy Bass, chair of the technology committee, why in the Center of the Sciences only three of the 30 rooms are able to operate their technology.

“They are very upset and really concerned. I am wondering who is going to address this,” Clark said. “The technology committee, in my estimation, needs to think about how are we going to solve the problems for all of these instructors in the Center for the Sciences.” timers. We do identical work in the classroom, office hours and research, but we don’t have job security or the same pay,” Holland said. “We are expected to meet and exceed the policies that this body curates for what we do in the classroom. We want to be recognized for the work that we do and to be able to fully participate in the decision-making

Bass said that all the equipment in those 30 classrooms that is not functioning needs to be replaced.

“We are going to have to replace it all because there is no contract,” Bass said. “There was nothing put in place when they did that building [Center of the Sciences] to maintain the equipment.”

Pierce custodian remembered

Former football player at University of Hawaii and assistant football coach at Kennedy High School dies

MAX SULLIVAN News Editor Msullivan.roundupnews@gmail.com

Ansar Jeff X, a custodian at Pierce College and assistant football coach at Kennedy High School, died in his sleep Saturday Feb. 20. He was 46.

X was known for his calm quiet demeanor and his ever present smile with a toothpick in his mouth. He would workout on his first break and was often spotted in the morning walking backwards up the hill on the sidewalk along the Performing Arts parking lot. On his second break he would read.

While known as Jeff Newman, X played quarterback at Kennedy High School and attended the University of Hawaii on a football scholarship. He played wide receiver and running back at Hawaii in 1989-90, before suffering a knee injury which ended his collegiate

Aug. 29 - Sept. 18

Reported by: Samantha Bravo football career.

2/11—Vehicle Impounded Vehicle was towed for expired registration past one year and for using a stolen handicap placard located in Staff Parking Lot 1 around 7:30p.m.

X transferred to Pierce from West Los Angeles College in April of 2013 in order to be closer to his parents.

X worked in the Child Development and Academic Department, Fitness Center and in the training room. He was well liked by everybody in Plant Facilities, according to Rodney Allen, Plant Facilities operations manager.

“He was not only a great worker, but an outstanding person,” Allen said. “We have over 50 employees and there is not one person that had a bad thing to say about him. Not one. Unbelievable, unbelievable guy.”

Custodian supervisor, Marquis Brignac, says X was a natural leader with a strong meticulous work ethic who often took initiative. He also promoted camaraderie between the Plant Facilities employees.

“He was one of those people who on the job he didn’t mind bridging the gap between a lot of people,” Brignac said. “He was the type of person where everybody felt like he was their closest friend. So he is impactful and our department is definitely going to miss him.”

2/13—Petty Theft Unknown suspect cut the lock and stole a bicycle near the village area from 10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. A student reported the theft on Feb. 13

2/16—Petty Theft Unknown suspect stole a laptop from student's vehicle from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.