BSS Faculty recognitions
Accounting
Candace Blackwell
Candace Blackwell has been a student of mine since Fall of 2019 when she enrolled in Accounting 1A online. She distinguished herself immediately as an extremely engaged and communicative student. She consistently turns in excellent work and I know from corresponding with her how much effort she puts into not just my classes, but all her classes. She is a returning student, a mother of four and grandmother. She is intellectually curious, open, asks questions and is ready to roll up her sleeves and do the work. She has a passion and a drive that is impressive. Candace has encountered some personal hardships this year and has not once waivered. Her commitment to her education and her own drive to excellence is the reason for this nomination. It is my privilege to give such a deserving student this honor.
Dianna Gonzalez
Kate and Dianna were in my f-t-f Financial Accounting I and Financial Accounting II. During this time, I had an opportunity to observe them in person. I found them to be highly focused, personable, mature and professional. They came to class with a positive attitude and ready to contribute. As a first-generation college students, they have very little academic support at home. Yet, they did an outstanding job in both courses on a consistent basis. Kate is a single mom who just lost her job at Jamba Juice due to COVID-19. Donna's dream is to go to Stanford. She also lost her job due to COVID-19. I truly feel the scholarship will help them get once step closer to their dream of four-year institution.
Kaitlyn Vo
Kate and Dianna were in my f-t-f Financial Accounting I and Financial Accounting II. During this time, I had an opportunity to observe them in person. I found them to be highly focused, personable, mature and professional. They came to class with a positive attitude and ready to contribute. As a first-generation college students, they have very little academic support at home. Yet, they did an outstanding job in both courses on a consistent basis. Kate is a single mom who just lost her job at Jamba Juice due to COVID-19. Donna's dream is to go to Stanford. She also lost her job due to COVID-19. I truly feel the scholarship will help them get once step closer to their dream of four-year institution.
Anthropology
Amelia Choi-Freeman
The first time I met Amelia Choi-Freeman was in my Physical Anthropology class back in the fall of 2018. I could see that Amelia was very interested in Anthropology and very quickly I noticed that her mind was set in earning a good grade. She worked hard and was very focused on her studies. I had the pleasure of having Amelia again in my Forensic Anthropology online class this past fall, a year later, where she excelled and was in fact one of my best students in the class. Amelia will be graduating from Foothill College this Spring quarter and has been accepted to the University of California, Santa Cruz. Amelia deserves to be celebrated for her excellence and determination! I congratulate Amelia and wish her the best of luck and I hope she continues to excel in all her classes at UCSC, especially in Anthropology.
Business
Khalid Daoudi
KD signed up for a 2018 Business Enterprise 22 course and left the class early at week 4 due to family related issues. I reached out to KD and invited him to come back when his life allowed him more time to focus on his schooling and I said “thank you and goodbye” in Arabic. This statement really made him feel comfortable with me as his teacher. KD exhibits and exemplifies the leadership and compassion qualities business teachers look for in students as future leaders. KD works part time at Trader Joes to support himself and his family while going to school. KD learned to be an excellent public speaker, contributed to the conversation in every class and was a valuable team member for a presentation assignment. He assisted his leader and team to complete the assignment and performed admirably in front of the class. KD emigrated from the Middle East, learned English in the US, and has overcome obstacles with a laser focus on his future success. KD works in customer service, attends classes at Foothill College, and is working toward his BS degree in Business Administration. He has a vision of running his own international business encompassing his language and cultural skills. I’ve known KD for 3 quarters as he attended both my Business Enterprise 22 and Business 87 HRD class. I mentored him about being a business major. I mentioned to KD there are 3 kinds of people in the world: 1) those that make things happen; 2) those the watch things happen and 3) those that wonder what happened. KD is a mover and shaker and definitely will make things happen! I’m so proud to have had the chance to work with KD in my Business 22 and Business 87 classes. KD has my full endorsement for this BSS Excellence Award and Scholarship Award 2020.
Kateryna Honcharuk
KH signed up for my Fall 2019 Business 22 course and was a team leader of presentation teams. KH was a take-charge student who exhibited kind, fair, and humane leadership skills. KD also enrolled in my Winter 2020 Business 87 HRD course and did very well. KH exhibits and exemplifies the leadership and compassion qualities business teachers look for in students as future leaders. She guided her team for successful presentation and made sure her voice was heard is the class. KH emigrated from the Ukraine, learned English in the Ukraine and US, and plans to be an entrepreneur using her language and cultural skills. She started and operates a small business videography firm with friends.KH was a very good public speaker, contributed to the conversation in every class and was a valuable team leader for presentation assignments. KH attends classes at Foothill College and is working toward a BS degree in Business Administration and dreams of owning a business. I’ve known KH for 2 quarters and was a mentor and editor for her Research Symposium Leadership document at Foothill College in 2020. I told KH there are 3 kinds of people: 1) those that make things happen; 2) those the watch things happen and 3) those that wonder what happened. KH definitely will make things happen for her! I’m so proud to have had the chance to work with KH in my Business 22 and Business 87 classes. KH has my full endorsement for this BSS Excellence Award and Scholarship Award 2020.
Economics
Helton Arata
Helton has been a top student and leader in these past two years. He excelled in every class and always had thoughtful and enthusiastic contributions. As President of the Fund the Future club, he exhibited tremendous passion for important causes, such as fighting global warming and global poverty. Most recently he presented in the Foothill Research Symposium on the importance of educating girls in developing countries. His parents in rural Brazil surely must be proud.
Jimena Montserrat Luna De La Garza
Jimena is a quiet, humble, and hard-working student from rural Mexico. She is one of those students that, after awhile, the instructor realizes is always there, always doing the right thing, and doing it well. She earned an A in both Global Economics and Microeconomics this past year – and I just wanted to honor her quiet determination to make the most of her opportunities.
Geography
Jan Evans
o Last quarter, I was fortunate to have Jan in my Introduction to Mapping and Spatial Reasoning class. This class is the first in the series to obtain a Geospatial Technologies and Data Science certificate. Jan is a working professional who holds a Bachelor's degree in History and a Master’s degree in English. Though she had been interested in Geospatial Technologies for some time, she was attracted to Foothill’s GIST fully online program because of its affordability and because it allows her to obtain a GIST certificate while keeping her current job. In my class, Jan’s work was of the highest quality and done with great attention to detail. The maps she created were visually appealing and conveyed information in a clear and compelling manner. Her contributions to class discussions were equally illuminating. During this quarter’s Flex Week I gave a presentation on the online tool Voicethread. With her permission, I used one of Jan’s posts as a model on how Voicethread can be effectively used by students in audiovisual discussions. The GIST program has provided Jan, in her words, the “happy combination” of working with maps, performing spatial data analysis, and gaining new software skills. She has enjoyed the GIST program at Foothill so much that she’s actually considering going beyond the certificate and obtaining her AA in GIST. Her goal is to open up new career possibilities where she can combine her current skills as a product manager with the new skills provided by the GIST program at Foothill.
Julia Freda-Eskenazi
o By the time Julia came to Foothill, she had a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a Master’s degree in Communications and Advertising. She returned to school after a 15-year gap in her education to re-invent herself. After meeting with a counselor and with the chair of the Geospatial Technologies and Data Science department, Professor Meezan, she decided to pursue a GIST certificate, which she has almost completed. I’ve enjoyed having Julia in two of my classes. She has always impressed me with her curiosity and enthusiasm to learn. Last Spring Julia and I researched and co-presented in the Research and Service Leadership Symposium a project about using satellite images to visualize landscape change. She also presented this year her individual project about the possibility of California entering a new drought drawing from a variety of data sources. In addition, this school year, she secured a GIS internship with the Santa Clara County Fire Department. And, she’s currently an embedded tutor in two BSS classes: my Physical Geography class and professor Milesi’s Remote Sensing and Digital Image Processing class. As a “mature” student, she has come to appreciate the high quality of instruction at Foothill, and how positive an experience it is when students are engaged in the learning process. Julia has three middle-school and high-school-age children. Though she’s had to give up some family time to further her education, she’s proud to be a good role model for them.
History
Nathaniel Mackler
Nathaniel Mackler is one of my most promising students and has impressed me with his intellectual curiosity, his dedication, and the care he brings to his work.
He served as the student advisor for Jewish Heritage month and as the President of the History Club, where he gave presentations on economics research and helped organize multiple field trips. One of his greatest contributions at Foothill was the creation of an ambitious oral history project called VietVoices. After receiving training at UC Berkeley’s Oral History Center, he organized this project that sought to capture the experiences of Vietnamese refugees in the San Jose area.
I have found Nathaniel to be a dedicated and extremely hard-working student. He is one of the most determined students I have had the pleasure of working with at Foothill College, and I can think of no one more deserving of this award.
Humanities
Agnes Fejer
Agnes Fejer is that rare student that not only delves deep into the subject matter but also draws connection between the different subject matter, which enriches the course experience for all involved in unexpected ways. Traversing the topography of Trauma and the Arts can be searing and leave one speechless, but Agnes always found a way to respond with profound observations, intellectual acuity and grace. HUMN 4 would not have been the course it was if it had not been for Agnes Fejer and her academic brilliance and engagement with the art works and theoretical works. It is my honor to have Agnes, my conspirator in the pursuit of meaning in darkness, be a recipient of the 2020 BSS Excellent Award.
Skyler Riordan
Skyler Riordan is a serious scholar. Rather than follow the obvious path, Skylar is drawn to the examination of other possibilities that are contained within intellectual pursuits of culture, history and philosophy. As a professor, one relishes a student such as Skyler. He questions and disputes, he argues and reasons, and he does it all with the great sense of enthusiasm and joy that marks the true intellectual. In addition to his academic achievements, Skyler is a strong advocate for transgender students. His efforts in raising awareness and evolving strategies that will make being a transgender student at Foothill College easier has made a lasting impact on the college. For these reasons, Skyler more than deserves to be honored with the 2020 BSS Excellent Award.
Philosophy
Aengus Church
Aengus Church has been my philosophy student in three of my classes. What always stands out about Aengus is that he has the keen instincts of a philosopher. While eager for instruction, he never satisfies himself with simply mastering the concepts as they are presented. In essays for ancient philosophy he made a clear analysis of the difference between mythological versus philosophical thinking, and also discussed the connections between Aristotle and East Asian thought. In Ethics he went beyond the simple right or wrong analysis of capitalistic business practices, and sought to show how capitalism could be transformed toward a more productive alternative modernity. Even as early as the introduction to philosophy course, he was making keen insights and challenging me at every turn. Now he is moving on to study philosophy at UC Berkeley, where I know that he will continue to excel and make us all proud to call him a Foothill College alum. So, join me in saying congratulations to Aengus on a job well done, and good luck at Cal.
Political Science
Peter Coe
During the course of our quarter, Peter really impressed me with his desire to learn. He made a point of asking regular questions, attending office hours, and asking for additional reading recommendations. Peter is destined to be a scholar! In addition to performing well, his desire for knowledge will undoubtedly drive his success.
Ron Kharmach
I am nominating Ron for excellence in his participation in Poli 2, during the winter '20 quarter. Ron produced thoughtful work on a consistent basis that was insightful and scholarly. He elevated the level of course discussions on a regular basis by basing his responses in fact and writing after carefully considering various viewpoints and scholarly research.
Joseph Antoine Ange Lagaud
At a young age this student developed a strong moral compass and compassion for their community. In recognition of the transformative power of education they have travelled across the world to attend Foothill College. Their success here in both academics and civic engagement make it clear that they will attain their dream to use their education to make positive transformative change in their home state. I truly cannot express just how much this student embodies the sense of global citizenship that this college strives for. Their achievements are our future and we should be proud to have been a part of that story.
Shauna Nichols
A native of Hawaii, this student is an outspoken advocate for human rights across our campus and the globe. This student has used their voice to raise that of their fellow students and has become heavily involved in shared governance. Their extensive work on major issues such as housing and food security have already blossomed into substantive improvement in the lives of their community members. Their academic achievements are parallel to that of their community activism. For their engagement in constructive critical dialogue, sound academic research, and a strong desire to fight injustice, it is our honor to recognize this student.
Psychology
Antoinette Aragon
When I first met Antoinette Aragon in my General Psychology a few years ago, I remember thinking to myself…..this student is a bit tentative and reserved, but maybe she will get more comfortable with time. What I learned about Antoinette over the quarter is that she is an intelligent, thoughtful, motivated, inquisitive, and respectful student. Antoinette went on to take my Research Methods class where she conducted a study on the effects of individualism and collectivism in social loafing on various group dynamics. Antoinette enrolled in my Independent Studies classes to build on her research study by implementing an experimental design. She gave an oral presentation at this year’s RSL Symposium and she will also present a research poster at the Western Psychological Association Conference in San Francisco (last year she also presented at these events). Antoinette has also served as a research assistant at Stanford University where her main responsibilities were investigating automated essay scoring by reading students’ essays and defining key themes and conducting literature reviews. Over the past few years, I have witnessed Antoinette gain confidence in her academic abilities, develop her leadership skills such as serving as a Student Ambassador for Mental Health & Wellness at Foothill, and taking pride in her research efforts. Antoinette will be transferring to Santa Clara University in the fall and they are incredibly lucky to have her!
Malik S. Goodlow
It is an honor to nominate Malik for the BSS Excellence Award. I was moved by Malik’s enthusiasm for the abnormal psychology course. On two specific occasions Malik showed outstanding determination and persistence to attend class in spite of stressful challenges just prior to each start time. As the class transitioned to the first virtual session I was deeply touched when he addressed classmates as his “psych family.” Malik is inquisitive, compassionate, and highly resilient. I believe he will continue to positively touch the lives of others and to be a powerful advocate for mental health awareness.
Toné Mosley
It is a pleasure to nominate Toné for the BSS Excellence Award. Toné actively engaged with the general psychology course content by asking instrospective questions in class, sharing his learning with classmates during group activities, and seeking me out for further understanding. His work as an EMT shows his commitment to helping others and supporting his community. Toné is thoughtful, gracious, and deeply self-reflective. I am confident that he will continue to be a strong leader and positively impact the folks he meets along his path.
Eleni Stogianni
Eleni Stogianni is a bright, enthusiastic, friendly, empathic, and insightful student who is motivated to continue her academic studies in counseling or clinical psychology. When I am in the classroom and looking out into the sea of students’ faces, I can always find Eleni’s face because she is the one who is always smiling! Over the past year, it has been fun to watch her passion for psychology grow exponentially. In my Research Methods class, Eleni conducted a study that investigated the relationship between empathy and parenting styles and she continued to collect more data by enrolling in my Independent Studies class. She gave a virtual presentation on her research at the RSL Symposium and she will also present a research poster at the Western Psychological Association Conference in San Francisco. For the past year, Eleni has also served as a research assistant in the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University. She worked on data from student interviews regarding their strengths and weaknesses during their time in college. This quarter I am blessed to have Eleni as the embedded tutor in my Statistics class. She has helped me immensely in my synchronous lectures and in navigating technological difficulties. Students have also told me how much Eleni has helped them in reducing their anxiety levels. I know that her future is very promising. Eleni received her B.A. in civil engineering and she decided to shift her academic and career goals by pursuing a degree in counseling or clinical psychology. I am confident that she will be successful in her endeavors!
Allison Wiley
Allison Wiley is a responsible, reliable, and intelligent student. She is charismatic and talented. I met Allison in my general psychology class. Throughout the course she excelled academically; she obtained the maximum score on the writing assignment which demonstrated critical thinking, precision, well formulated ideas, and excellent organization. She was selected as a research assistant for Stanford Social Science Internship Program. Allison helped set up efficient processes for data collection and analysis by using Qualtrics. Allison became a team leader of the interns and she was offered a paid position! She continued to excel and she is now managing her own team of paid interns for transcription work. Allison also worked as a research assistant at UCSF under the supervision of Andrew McReynolds. Aside from her great work in social sciences, Allison is a direct care hospice volunteer and continues to assist patients even during the pandemic.
Sophie Anna Marie Wolf
Sophie Wolf is an intelligent and conscientious student. She is determined, motivated, kind, and respectful. I continue to be impressed with her resilience and ability to utilize her resources when needed. Although her journey was not an easy one, she found ways to overcome obstacles and continued to strive to be successful. She always speaks with gratefulness about every opportunity that is presented to her. Sophie is a role model for two younger women in the family that she works for. Sophie is working under the supervision of a doctoral student as a research assistant for Stanford Social Science Internship Program. She is already recognized for the great work she does. Sophie was an advocate for the program. She spoke to my class about her experience as a research assistant and mentored other students. She was accepted to University of California Santa Cruz and she will attend in the fall.
Physical Geography
Oleksandra Khrapachevska
It is my pleasure to nominate Oleksandra Khrapachevska, for the Divisional excellence award. The definition of appreciate is “to value or admire highly and recognize with gratitude”. I would like to take a moment to express my gratitude for Oleksandra's effort in my course. A major component of my course is a quarter-long research project that includes developing a research poster. Students must conduct archival or historical research about a National Park of their choosing and identify spatial-temporal changes and define the phenomenon influencing the change. Early on in the quarter, Oleksandra reached out to me to communicate that she had never conducted scientific research before and was nervous about her unfamiliarity with the processes involved. Despite her unfamiliarity with conducting historical research, she has continuously submitted assignments that meet all of the criteria of the assignment rubrics. I appreciate her fearlessness in my course and the effort put in to develop a compelling research project on the detrimental effects of Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death (ROD) disease in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park. For these reasons I fully endorse Oleksandra Khrapachevska for recognition of her academic successes in my course.
Amir Voloshin
It is my pleasure to nominate Amir Voloshin, for the Divisional excellence award. Amir is a physical geography student from the current, Spring 2020 quarter and has earned and maintained the highest grade in the course to date. The quality of work from this student is consistently exceptional. Amir has impressed me with the additional effort put into this course, including going above and beyond assignment rubrics, scoring high on quizzes and exams, and completing all extra credit opportunities, despite his over 100% grade in my course. It is clear that he is passionate about ensuring the best quality of his work and pays great attention to detail! Specifically, the work Amir has submitted for the quarter-long research project which focuses on the effects of climate change and global warming on Grand Teton National Park. Based on interactions and the quality of his assignments, I have no doubts that Amir's future is bright and he will benefit any organization he is a part of in both his academic and professional trajectory, For these reasons I fully endorse Amir Voloshin for recognition of his academic achievements in my course.
Sociology
Julia Isabel Figueroa
It is with pleasure I award Julia Isabel Figueroa with a Certificate of Excellence. A sociology (and psychology) major transferring to Sacramento State University, Isabel is a Foothill College Puente scholar dedicated to the service of others. She has faced more than her share of challenges in her life, but these challenges motivate her to act in service to others. For example, using knowledge she gained from her participation in Puente, she created an educational program, “Puentistas Read!” which focused on educating youth and shaping the future leaders in her community. Isabel uses sociology to engage in Paolo Freire’s idea of praxis: "reflection and action directed at the structures to be transformed." My criteria includes compassion and empathy for others, and Isabel, you embody this as much as any student I’ve had. For these reasons, today I celebrate your excellence.
Samuel Penate
I have had the pleasure of working with Samuel for two quarters now. He is remarkable for his commitment to his education and for the authenticity and care that he brings to his writing and thinking. Samuel is a person of exceptional integrity who clearly sees the connections between the classroom and the larger world. I have watched him grow in confidence and skill over the past two quarters and I know that he is exceptionally well prepared to excel as a Sociology major. I am very proud of his accomplishments and look forward to watching him thrive at UCSC. Great job, Samuel!
BSS Scholarship Recipients
Stanford University Institute for Research in Social Sciences
These students were chosen as the top research assistants from among more than 40 community college interns who volunteered at Stanford this year, as part of the Stanford Institute for Research in the Social Sciences (IRiSS) collaborative Research Experience Program with Foothill College.
This year the committee chose three students. The reviewers chose one “Intern of the Year” and two “Intern of the Year Finalists.”
Intern of the Year Award
Allison Wiley
Supervisor – Monique Harrison, PhD Candidate, Sociology of Education, Graduate School of Education, under Dr. Mitchell Stevens, Monique said: “Out of the 10 interns I have supervised since I began mentoring 5 years ago, Allison is the best intern!! The words I will use to describe her are enthusiastic and hard working. She began last summer with so much drive. She was prompt, a critical thinker and a pleasure to work with. She piloted interviews, organized the process of on-boarding participants and then managed a calendar/schedule of over 103 participants who interviewed four times throughout the year. She manages a team of other interns that are undergoing paid transcription work. She designed and implemented the training and now leads weekly team meetings with them (self-titled the "Transcription Tribe") - note that she leads this meeting by herself and has created a sense of camaraderie and accountability amongst these members. She is also taking on leadership this summer as she on-boards new interns from Foothill who will eventually take her place. The study we conducted this year would not have been the same without Allison and I speak for the whole team in saying that her work and contributions were greatly appreciated and critical to the success of our project.”
Intern of the Year Finalists
Ying Zhou
Supervisor – Gabriel Chiu, PhD Candidate, Department of Sociology, under Dr. Mark Granovetter, Gabriel said: “Ying worked with me for literature review on my project about entrepreneurship. She was super reliable and exceeded my expectations. She showed thought and care in searching for relevant information. She also demonstrated skills in summarizing the key findings of each paper and organizing them in a logical and coherent manner. All of these are essential qualities for successful academic research. I am very delighted to see her demonstrate all these capabilities and would love to acknowledge her contribution as well as encourage her to pursue an academic career if she so desires.”
Alexis Takagi
Supervisor – Dr. Carolyn Ybarra, Institute for Research in the Social Sciences, under Dr. Mitchell Stevens, Graduate School of Education, Carolyn said: “Alexis has acted as de facto team leader since she joined the research project. She has set an example for the others through her high level of productivity, as well as improving the process through creation of tools and techniques. Alexis is able to anticipate problems and create and implement solutions, using her initiative. During work on an extensive bibliographic search and literature review, she exceeded expectations regarding the number of articles read and summarized each week. To help focus the bibliographic search, she independently created a procedure for the team to analyze different search terms to isolate those that were most effective for our project. Based on her analysis we were able to assign targeted search areas to each researcher. I asked Alexis to help onboard a new RA. Within two days she had a detailed training sheet drafted, including search tips, search processes with illustrations, sample article notes, and suggested articles to read. Alexis went above and beyond what was asked of her by acting as team leader, proactively creating new processes, supporting other RAs and streamlining our team work. I greatly appreciate her leadership and hard work.”
Many Thanks To
Our donors and fundraisers for all of their generosity and hard work:
- FHDA Foundation Staff
- Dr. Judy Miner
- Dr. Bruce Swenson
Our administrators President Thuy Nguyen, Kristy Lisle VP of Instruction and Institutional Research, Paul Starer Associate Vice President of Instruction.
Our fabulous faculty who spend countless hours nuturing our students.
Families and friends for encouraging our students as they pursue their academic endeavors.