Mini Profile: Joleen Voss-Rodriguez
They are bus drivers, school support staff, parents, immigrants and other working adults. Some of them dropped out of college, while others never went at all. For many, earning a college degree is a seemingly unreachable dream.
Seemingly unreachable, until Joleen Voss-Rodriguez steps in.
As she sits with prospective non-traditional college...
Mini Profile: Angela Belden
Professor finds purpose in and out of the classroom
It was 2010 in Stillwater, Okla., when Angela Belden sat in front of a three-member panel at Oklahoma State University defending her dissertation about the cumulative effects of TV on body image.
As intense as the moment was, her mind was also...
Mini Profile: Corinne St. Claire
Professor Corinne St. Claire outside the Business Building on Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif. on October 10, 2024. Photo by Veronica Rosas.
Corinne St. Claire was working IT and saving up for a skydiving certification when the Covid shut down happened.
While in lockdown, her yoga instructor encouraged...
Mini Profile: Brandon Jones
Brandon Jones. Photo by Melanie Somoza.
Long before Brandon Jones became a biology professor, he was a curious boy roaming the sun-soaked hills of Orange County, where the rustle of leaves and the scurry of insects beneath his feet sparked a fascination with the natural world.
Whether chasing lizards or...
Mini Profile: Ken Windrum
Ken Windrum. Photo by Tyler Hale.
His love for cinema started when his father took him to see a double feature of Lawrence of Arabia and Marooned at an early age. Most children would be restless watching the former movie—clocking in at over three hours and forty minutes—but Ken Windrum remembers being mesmerized...
Mini Profile: Michael Sande
Michael Sande. Photo by Icy Smith.
Since starting at Pierce college 21 years ago, Theater Department Managing Director Michael Sande has guided more than 100 productions.
"I also find that often the most fulfilling to work on when you see they have sort of sparked in interest in...
Mini Profile: Shalice Gonzalez
Shalice Gonzalez. Photo by Emil Rizkalla.
Shalice Gonzalez is the new administrative assistant in the Office of Academic Affairs at Pierce College.She has a long history of helping people in various jobs. Before coming to Pierce, Gonzalez worked in lawfirms for over 20 years, handling many different responsibilities. However, after years in the...
Leading the new generation
Tracy Hovsepian holds a children's book in the Child Development Center at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif., on May 21, 2024. Photo by Ashley Shellmire.
Tracy Hovsepian knows first hand what the struggle to navigate different cultures entails. Hovsepian’s family are ethnic Armenians, part of a Christian minority who lived peacefully in...
Assistant joins the Media Arts team
Morgan Keith organizes the Roundup News archive room in Woodland Hills, Calif., on Oct. 25, 2023. Photo by Benjamin Hanson.
A University of Missouri alum, journalist, dog mom and crocheter enters the Roundup News room. She is excited for the next task on her to-do list.
Pierce College Instructional Assistant...
The adventures of a photojournalist
Gerard Burkhart poses in the Los Angeles Valley College studio room in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 26, 2023. Photo by Alexis Guevara.
Gerard Burkhart’s photography journey has taken him on countless adventures filled with adrenaline and passion.
Born in 1958 in Altoona, Pennsylvania; Gerard Burkhart moved to Los Angeles...