VAN NUYS : College Instructors Get Training Grants
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Los Angeles Valley College faculty members have received eight out of 12 federally funded summer intern grants awarded to the Los Angeles Community College District.
The awards pay for each of the vocational education professors to work 240 hours in business and industry this summer in their areas of expertise. The companies train each faculty member in advanced technology and methods within the particular trade so that the instructor can incorporate the experience into the classroom curriculum.
“I call it a win-win-win situation,” Sam Mayo, dean of academic affairs, said Tuesday. “It transfers back into the classroom.”
Mayo said faculty members win because they have the opportunity to learn new techniques. Companies win because they have a contact person who can lead them to talented students, and students win because they have an opportunity to gain marketable skills.
The Valley College faculty members are Leonard Ciufo and Spencer McMurry, business administration; August Chadwick, computer science; Doris M. Davis, family and consumer studies; Anthony Cifarelli, journalism; Woodrow James, music; Sharlene Pollyea, office administration, and Virginia Wiprud, respiratory therapy.
Mayo said past grant recipients have already created new programs at the college. Business administration instructor John Burke, who interned with John Douglas Co. in Encino last summer, went on to form an internship program for real estate students.
“Three of our students who participated in an internship program last fall went on to be hired this past January by John Douglas Co. as realtor associates,” Burke said.
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