Star of the Month:Hunter Simonsen—The Way of the Warrior

Imposing but mild, intense but soft-spoken, Hunter Simonsen is at the same time novice and veteran. The 27-year-old, first-year Lone Star Col-lege-Tomball student has been apply-ing his military experience with great success to the pursuit of his career goal.

The oldest of four siblings, Hunter’s first college experience was less than successful, his immature decisions and marginal performance provid-ing insufficient return on his family’s investment in him. So, it was off to Brazil for some very hands-on volun-teer work before trading in his jeans for Army khakis and doing two tours in Afghanistan, leaving the service with sergeant’s stripes.

Armed with the discipline he gained in the service (and lacked earlier in life) and a career goal born of his Brazil and Afghanistan experiences, Hunter’s next stop was LSC-Tomball in the summer 2012 session. “I figured it was a good starting point to get back into an academic rhythm after an extended break.”

Deciding economics was the best means to achieving a career in international relations, Hunter tapped his Army discipline, applied it to his studies and, in so doing, has achieved impressive success, including membership in Phi Theta Kappa and participation in the National Model United Nations (NMUN) pro-gram.

As for Hunter’s next stop, “I haven’t decided where I’m transferring to, but I want to make the most of my academic career and get off to the best start,” though Columbia University and Texas A&M University are in consideration.

Regardless of the road he takes, Hunter knows it begins with a college education. “Going to a college is an important part of our life that enables us to expand our knowledge and, then, seek the way we think best to provide for ourselves and our families. More than that, we find out how we want to impact the world.”

November 2012An Update from Dr. Susan Karr, President

1

Transformations

Mission

1

Lone Star College System provides comprehensive educational opportunities and programs to enrich lives.

Student Success ...... P. 1

Spotlights.............. P. 2

Accolades ............. P. 3

Recent Events......... P. 4

New Faces ............ P. 5

Community

Partnerships ......... P. 6

In this Update

Student Success & Engagement

It’s A Small World After All at LSC-Tomball

November 12–15 was marked by the smells of shwarma, sushi, empa-nadas and cookies throughout the Commons as Lone Star College-Tomball Student Life hosted the annual celebration of International Education Week — a world-wide event (initiated jointly by the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education) now celebrated in more than 100 coun-tries. On Monday, after Dr. Susan Karr led the opening flag ceremony on the South West Lawn, profes-sor Cliff Fox gave a presentation entitled “An Introduction to Egypt: 5,000 Years in 45 Minutes” as part of the Egypt Day celebration that included music, free henna tat-toos, and food (shwarma and bak-lava). STARS student organization sponsored both Monday events. Tuesday, Anime Club and Japanese Program worked together to present kimono dancers, Japanese poetry readings, Japa-nese pop music performed by Kurenai and free sushi. Wednesday, the Diversity Club hosted Columbia Day, which featured a Columbian DJ and free empana-das. Wrapping up the celebration on Thursday, the Deutsch Klub celebrated with traditional German attire and food, Christmas karaoke and cookie deco-rating, and an appearance by kindly Santa Claus and his devilish counterpart, Krampus (punisher of naughty children).

Critical Thinking Pays iPad

Congratulations to Lone Star College-Tomball student Lori Ball, who won an iPad for participating in a critical thinking assessment during the fall 2012 semes-ter. The assessment provided the Lone Star College Student Learning Outcomes Assessment Committee data with which to benchmark student performance on general learning outcomes. In order to encourage students to do their best on the assessment, the odds of winning the iPad were weighted so that the higher a student’s score, the greater the likelihood of winning the prize.

Transformations

52

Continued on Page 3

Brightestof the Bright

More than 80 Lone Star College-Tomball students were honored on Wednesday, November 7 with induction into LSC-Tomball’s five-star Phi Theta Kappa chap-ter, Alpha Rho Mu. The students, illuminated by the candles they were holding, were introduced to proud family and friends as they officially became members of the society. Texas Regional President of Phi Theta Kappa (and LSC-Tomball student) Marilyn Comer delivered the keynote address. To qualify for membership, students must be enrolled in a regionally accredited institution offering an associate degree program, have completed 12 hours of course-work towards an associate de-gree, have a grade point average of 3.5 or higher, receive an invita-tion from the college chapter, and must adhere to the moral stan-dards of the society.

Spotlights

Faculty: Janie Filoteo—The Associate Professor of Oz

Some call it the “Aha” moment; others call it the “Light Bulb” moment. In the

A soldier with the American flag accompanies Dr. Susan Karr as she leads the opening ceremony for International Education Week.

case of Janie Filoteo, associate profes-sor of Sociology, it was the “Wizard of Oz” moment (you know, the scene when the film changes from black-and-white to color). That’s how the seven-year LSC-Tomball veteran describes discovering sociology, when her world changed from black-and-white to color.

Originally a psychology major, Janie became “hooked” on sociology. Why the change? “I am completely biased as I don’t think there’s anything better than sociology. We get to study people, and people are absolutely fascinating! Not only do I get to academically study my favorite things (like reality TV), but I get to share my discipline with my students.”

Janie has genuine empathy for her students. A student herself not so long ago, she vividly remembers having a full plate, not to mention the responsibility to succeed. “I’m the first person in my family to go to college, and for me educa-tion helped give me a life that I never envisioned for myself as a child.”

Professionally, Janie derives her greatest satisfaction from creating Wizard of Oz moments for her students. “I can only hope that the students walk away learning a little more about our world and that I can get them thinking a little differently than when they came in.”

Indeed, her hopes were realized and her efforts recognized by students and peers this year with Faculty Excellence and National Institute for Staff and Organiza-tional Development (NISOD) awards.

Personally, Janie’s greatest love (friends, family and loved ones aside) is animals. She and her husband have two adopted pets (a “hyper” puppy and a “chubby” kitty), and in her spare time she volunteers at the Houston Society for the Pre-vention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).

Transformations

3

Continued on Page 4

Continued from Page 2

DonnaWillingham:

A Life with Purpose

Follow your dreams, and the rest will follow. Just ask Lone Star College-Tomball professor of Developmental English and de-partment chair of Developmen-tal English, ESOL, HUMD and Foreign Languages Donna Will-ingham. The 10-year, LSC-Tom-ball veteran’s recent Teacher of the Month and Minnie Stevens Piper award nomination—along with her 2011 Faculty Excellence and 2012 National Institute for Staff and Organizational De-velopment (NISOD) Excellence awards—are eloquent testaments to the adage. Looking over her life, Donna’s success shouldn’t surprise anyone. Graduating high school in her junior year; graduating college in three years; Donna was in the fast lane. Af-ter a career in the business world, Donna realized she dreamed of more meaning in her life and

Continued on Page 5

Accolades

Staff: Duy Nguyen—Building Roads to Success

An old Vietnamese proverb says, “A day of travelling will bring a basket of learn-ing.” For Lone Star College-Tomball Developmental Studies, English, Languag-es and Mathematics (DSELM) Division Operations Manager Duy Nguyen, the learning gained from a lifetime of travel has resulted in the knowledge she shares with students and coworkers daily.

Duy’s travels began in 1980 with her departure from Vietnam during a challeng-ing time in the country’s history. Her first stop was Canada, where she started

Giving Back to the Community—Holiday Fest 2012

The Lone Star College-Tomball Beck-endorf Conference Center and park-ing lot transformed into a fun, festive holiday scene on Friday, November 30, as approximately 3,500 commu-nity members joined LSC-Tomball in celebrating Holiday Fest 2012. As loving family and friends watched, children laughed and played their way through a variety of activities includ-

Transformations

54

Continued on Page 5Continued on Page 7

Continued from Page 3

PSSA Employee of the Month

Recent Events

Janet Moore:Geek Goddess

On the Greek goddess scale, this month’s PSSA Employee of the Month, Janet Moore, falls some-where between Athena (goddess of wisdom, heroic endeavor and reason) and Hestia (goddess of the hearth, home and cooking), for it’s her software wisdom that helps keep Lone Star College-Tomball a happy and functional home for faculty (and staff). In her capacity as C.O.T.E. profes-sional development department trainer and faculty support, Janet evaluates all new software that is being considered for LSC-Tom-ball and provides one-on-one as-sistance in software and hardware use.

For the nine-year LSC-Tomball veteran (six years full time, three years part time), her job is a geek’s dream come true. “I was 31 years old and decided to go [to

building a new life. By 2000, Duy was in Texas at the Lone Star Col-lege System office, where she served as the Lone Star College Founda-tion accountant. Two years later, she transferred to LSC-Tomball, where she has served as a division operations manager ever since.

Though much has changed in her life over the years, one thing has remained constant—her commit-ment to education. As a child in Vietnam, Duy’s father told her, “‘Things can be taken away…not education.” Today, she manifests that philosophy in her commitment to the students she serves. Every morning on her drive to work, Duy asks her-self, “What can I do to help my students”; similarly, on the drive home she asks, “What did I do to help my students?”

Last year, Duy’s travels took an ironic turn. Lone Star College System assigned her to go to Vietnam to help establish the crucial first phase of a partnership between LSCS and Ho Chi Minh City Vocational College (HCMCVC); spe-cifically, she assisted HCMCVC’s efforts to create high-quality local programs (including Associate of Applied Science degrees) based on the needs of the mul-tinational corporate employers in Vietnam.

In her spare time, the self-avowed “Number 1” Texans fan volunteers in the Cy Creek Band Booster Club (Duy’s daughter is a band member) and enjoys Cy Creek high school football.

Veterans Day—A Day of Thanks and Remembering

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest apprecia-tion is not to utter words, but to live by them.” Those words by President John Fitzgerald Kennedy were reflected in actions on the Lone Star College-Tomball campus November 8 in honor of Veterans Day. Throughout the day, the DMS screens across campus scrolled the names of LSC-Tomball veteran students as well as those belonging to loved ones of LSC-Tomball employees who served in the armed forces. And, in the Commons from 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m., Patricia Seibert, student support specialist, served veterans pizza, lemonade and cookies on behalf of the LSC-Tomball Advising & Counseling department.

Continued on Page 6

55

Transformations

Continued from Page 4

New Faces

Tuong “Tom” BuiPC Technician IV

Office of Technology Services

LSC-Tomball Lecture Series Instructs and Entertains

The third installment of the COTE (Center for Organizational and Teaching Excellence)-sponsored Lone Star College-Tomball lecture series, “Alligator Hunters and Proj-ect Management Processes—Do the ‘Swamp People’ effectively use the domains of project management,” took a bite out of the misconcep-tions surrounding project manage-ment. Don R. James, adjunct profes-sor of business, demonstrated how businesses from Wall Street to the Atchafalaya River Basin need sound project management to get their jobs done. His in-depth analysis of the

project management process (from the initiating process, to the planning process, to the executing process, to the monitoring and controlling process, to the closing process) was as comprehensive as it was humorous, much to the delight of the audience. Additional series topics and dates can be found at LoneStar.edu/cote.

Laura TrottOfficer

Campus Police

Donna WillinghamContinued from Page 3

greater impact on others’ lives, so she fulfilled her life-long dream of becoming a college professor. Always wanting to be at the “top of her game,” she returned to graduate school, earned her doctorate, and has never looked back. In her spare time, Donna is very involved in her community, very active in her church, and very commit-ted to making a difference.

ing photos with Santa, puppet shows, a life-sized version of the game Candy-land, performances, crafts and games, bounce houses, emergency vehicles, the McDonald’s car, train rides, hay rides, and free cookies, punch, cotton candy and popcorn. The annual event is organized by the college community as a way to say “thank you” to the Tomball and surrounding area community.

Students and Faculty Fill November with Music

The music flowed freely and plentifully in the Lone Star College-Tomball Per-forming Arts Center during the month of November. Under the direction of

Dr. Cheryl Bates, professor of mu-sic, three programs were performed free of charge for students, employ-ees and the community. “Ethereal and Transcendent: The Beauty of Music” (November 8) featured LSC-Tomball faculty performing 350 years of music history, includ-ing compositions by Debussy, Salze-do, van Campen Kopprasch, Hahn, Gabrielli, Vieuxtemps and Poulenc; though mostly undiscovered by the general public, many of the compo-sitions have been featured in dozens of films and television productions, including most recently Twilight, Head in the Clouds, and the BBC production of Vanity Fair. “Mag-nificent Music Montage” (Novem-ber 14) showcased a variety of musical genres from traditional to contemporary and included works by Giovanni Palestrina, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Duke Ellington. “Stage Soundings–Students in Recital” (November 20) spotlighted some of LSC-Tomball’s most talented student musicians performing challenging works by Bach, Mendelssohn, Barber and Schmidt.

Transformations

56

Continued from Page 5

LSC-Tomball Small Business

of the YearCongratulations to Northrock Technical Services, Lone Star College-Tomball’s Small Busi-ness of the Year. Each year, members of the Lone Star Col-lege System Small Business De-velopment Center (LSCS SBDC) Advisory Council select and recognize successful small busi-nesses that make an impact in the local community and on the economy. Nominees were gath-ered from the community, and 18 finalists were selected, three finalists from each of the six col-lege service areas, on the basis of leadership, entrepreneurial spirit, business growth, and con-tribution to the community. All 18 finalists were first recognized at a luncheon on October 17, and then the winners—one from each of the six college service areas—were recognized at the 2012 26th Annual Small Busi-ness of the Year awards banquet

Continued on Page 7

Candy Canes & Carols—47th Annual Tomball Holiday Parade

On Saturday, November 17, Lone Star College-Tomball Student Life and Phi Theta Kappa repre-sented the college at the 47th An-nual Tomball Holiday Parade. The theme for the parade this year was candy canes and Christmas carols. The LSC-Tomball Student Life stu-dents dressed as elves and danced down Main Street with their float titled after a quote from the movie Elf, “The best way to spread Christ-mas cheer is singing loudly for all to hear” while LSC-Tomball Phi Theta Kappans volunteered along

the parade route. The students also gave out stickers promoting the college’s up-coming Holiday Fest to excited children lining the parade route.

Community Partnerships

LSC-Tomball music student Aaliya Colen-Marshall is one of many students who performed at “Stage Soundings–Students in Recital.”

First Friday Networking Luncheon

The Greater Tomball Area Chamber of Commerce held its monthly First Friday Networking lunch in Lone Star College-Tomball’s Beckendorf Confer-ence Center on Friday, November 2. The featured speaker this month was Harris County Commissioner R. Jack Cagle. Commissioner Cagle provided the audience with an update on the expansion of State Highway 249, the construction of State Highway 99 also known as the Grand Parkway, the ex-pansion of Bordeaux Road, and his efforts to close sexually-oriented busi-nesses on Farm to Market 1960.

57

Transformations

Janet MooreContinued from Page 4

Small Business of the YearContinued from Page 6

Tomball] in 2000; I just loved technology, moved through here as a student, and decided that it was here that I wanted to work. I was very lucky. I love work-ing with emerging technology. I love working with people; I love seeing when the light bulb clicks and they understand some-thing,” said Janet.

And, her work is greatly appre-ciated. “[Janet] goes above and beyond the call of duty and does so with a smile. I find that she is willing to assist you no matter how many times she might have taught you the procedure that you are inquiring about,” said supporter and LSC-Tomball English instructor Ginger Fray.

The Ohio expat and mother of two spends her off hours enjoy-ing her children and orbiting around the center of her uni-verse, her one-year-old grand-son.

Scenes from Holiday Fest 2012

on November 15. “Each of these business owners makes special contributions to the commu-nity, and we’re proud to be able to give these owners a moment in the spotlight through the an-nual awards recognition. They deserve it,” said Sal Mira, execu-tive director of the LSCS SBDC.

Commissioner Jack Cagle addresses the Greater Tomball Area Chamber of Commerce.

30555 Tomball Pkwy.Tomball, TX 77375

Phone (281) 351-3300LoneStar.edu/Tomball

Transformations

Upcoming Events

Spring Classes BeginJanuary 14

WelcompaloozaJanuary 14–17 in Room N-103

Emerging Artists CompetitionJanuary 26, 9 a.m.–12 p.m.

Performing Arts Center

To see the most current events, visit LoneStar.edu/Calendars