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Note: Lower portions of Chatter may be clipped by Gmail.
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Chemeketa transforms lives and strengthens communities
through quality education, services, and workforce training. |
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We need your photos, stories, and tips to keep publishing this newsletter! If you have something you would like to share, please email it to robert.lahue@chemeketa.edu.
Items must be submitted by end of day Thursday for publication the following Monday.
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Faculty Recognition Event
Student Art Show
Mary Eyre Elementary Visits Skills2School Sim Lab
Salem Wednesday Market in Red Lot
C4 Corner: Meet Molly Mulick
Classified & Exempt Employee Excellence Awards - Submission Deadline is Friday!
VC Talks: Marty Havran
Digital Accessibility Tip: Alternative Text
Wellness Walkabout Thursday
Genuine Loves: Frybread & Marionberry Jam
Speaking of Marion Berries, Free Game Admission!
Final 2025-26 Program Review Greatest Hits!
TRIO at State Capitol
Blood Drive Thanks
Shop at Columbia Sportswear Employee Store
Employee Development
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Faculty Recognition Event
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Excellence in Teaching
Congratulations to Jill Lomax (Dental Assisting, Full-Time) and Masumi Timson (Japanese, Part-Time) for their outstanding accomplishments in teaching and learning as well as their above-and-beyond service to the Chemeketa community. Both Jill and Masumi excelled at creating supportive learning environments that delivered both care and academic challenge. Both instructors demonstrated equal measures of authority and enthusiasm that captured their students’ attentions and enabled student success.
Selecting just two individuals among such a large pool of worthy candidates is a true challenge. Thus, the selection committee also celebrates the achievements of the Finalists for the Excellence in Teaching Award: Val Codino (EMT/Paramedicine), Linzee McCulley-Schliesmayer (Engineering), Chrys Tobey (English), Mary Hughes (ESOL), Christopher Claysmith (Physics), and Marg Yaroslaski (BAS-Leadership).
(Photo L-R: Jill Lomax, Masumi Timson)
Faculty Achievements Honored
Chemeketa’s Faculty Recognition Event last week celebrated the exemplary contributions of Chemeketa faculty to the College’s mission and vision. Recognizing achievements in teaching, leadership, service, innovation, affordability, and accessibility, this event focused on individuals, groups, and programs that have made the college experience better for students and our community.
Congratulations and appreciations to the following faculty:
Traci Hodgson - Leadership
Dan Carlson - Leadership
Bryan Berenguer - Service
Daniel Couch - Increasing Access
Erik Jensen - Affordability
Tiffany Gardner - Innovation
(Information provided by Allison Sherman, Center for Academic Innovation)
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Thank you to everyone who came by for the reception for the Student Art Show. Over a third of pieces of art in the show were selected for awards, and we have all the artwork that got an award featured at this link in a presentation.
Until June 1, visitors can come by and cast a vote for their favorite artwork. We invite you to help select the "people's choice award" and browse a spectacular show!
-Amadeo Rehbein-Verhoeven, Gallery Assistant, Gretchen Schuette Art Gallery
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Mary Eyre Elementary Visits Skills2School Sim Lab
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Last Thursday, the MWEC Skills2Schools SimLab was buzzing with excitement as we welcomed around 60 first and second grade students from Mary Eyre Elementary School to the Chemeketa campus along with parent volunteers who joined in the fun!
Students had an incredible hands-on experience getting behind the controls of our Tenstar excavator simulator. This exciting opportunity allowed them to “operate” heavy equipment and explore what careers in the industry can look like. There was a lot of curiosity, laughter, and focused concentration as students tested their skills on the simulator.
To keep the momentum going, each student also received an activity bag filled with engaging materials to help them continue learning about heavy equipment and the wide range of career opportunities connected to it.
Events like this are a powerful reminder that it is never too early to spark curiosity and introduce students to the world of career exploration!
-MWEC Team (Ed Woods, Debbie Johnson, Marlene Sandoval, Peter Lohonyay, Maggi Daugherty, Terrie Reisner)
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Salem Wednesday Market in Red Lot
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The Salem Wednesday Market is Back at Chemeketa!
We are excited to announce that the Salem Market has returned. Please note our updated hours and location:
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C4 Corner: Meet Molly Mulick
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911 Emergency! Here comes Molly to the rescue!
For the past 2 years, Molly Mulick has worked at the Brooks campus as a Project Specialist for the Emergency Services Program. She described her life before joining Chemeketa as “never boring;” Molly is a mother of 5 children—so, when she considered adding a part-time job to her already full-time responsibilities at home, she knew she needed an active role that would keep her interested, but was flexible enough to make space for the rest of her life as well.
Molly grew up in Oregon City before relocating to Silverton to raise her family. Since her husband is a Chief for the Clackamas Fire Department (and several of her children have chosen similar paths), she’s intimately familiar with the demands placed on emergency service professionals. She brings a level of empathy and understanding for the students and the faculty she supports informed by her family’s experience: “This stuff is hard. I see the scenarios these paramedics deal with, the stress they’re under. I could not do what they do.”
The Brooks campus houses the Emergency Medical Service, Paramedic, Fire Suppression, Fire Prevention, Criminal Justice, Law Enforcement, and Diesel Technology programs. Molly works directly with individuals at every level of the process, from program chairs to faculty to students. She’s a driven caregiver, making herself of use wherever she can. She explained, “Whatever they need, I’m that lady. I'll help anyone on every floor if I've got the hours.”
(Molly is third from left in photo, pictured with husband and children)
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Classifed & Exempt Employee Excellent Awards - Submission Deadline is Friday!
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Chemeketa is proud to announce the opening of nominations for our fourth annual Classified Employee Excellence Award while also soliciting nominations for our second annual Exempt Employee Excellence Award. Both staff excellence awards will be announced in the fall at inservice.
Both staff awards seek to honor staff who exemplify the college's values while maintaining remarkable job performance in the daily duties of their role. Each winner will receive a $1,000 stipend and a plaque to commemorate their distinction.
Please consider nominating one or more staff members for each award using the links below:
All faculty and staff members at Chemeketa contribute to student success, and this is an exciting opportunity to celebrate the amazing work of our colleagues. Nominations are due by May 29, 2026.
For questions about the Classified Excellence Award, please contact Alice Sprague or Keith Russell. For questions about the Exempt Excellence Award, please contact Sheila Brown or Ryan West.
Pictured: 2025 Classified Excellence Award Winner Kathryn Ellis (left), 2025 Exempt Excellence Award Winner Kela Kruse (right) |
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This week Visual Communications presents a unique opportunity to hear from Marty Havran, a Salem-based 3D visual development artist and digital sculptor. He will be sharing stories about his career and work in this highly-creative and competitive field.
Marty has done visual development work for Hollywood studios like LAIKA, DreamWorks, and Sony Pictures. He has worked on the films Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar 3, Flushed Away and many others.
So bring your lunch and join us next week for this special presentation! |
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The details:
- Tuesday, May 26, 12:30-1:30 pm
- Room 4/225
Marty’s links:
Marty’s bio: Marty Havran is a highly experienced 3D visual development artist and digital sculptor with a career spanning over three decades in film, animation, and visual effects. Based in Oregon, he is the founder of Havran Productions LLC, where he leads visual development, asset creation, and production design for a range of clients, including major studios. His expertise bridges artistic vision and technical execution, with a strong focus on character modeling, environment concept development, and production pipelines. In addition to his industry work, Havran has contributed to education and mentorship, sharing his knowledge of modeling and pipeline workflows with emerging artists. Known for his versatility and collaborative approach, he continues to create high-quality visual content across both studio and independent projects
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Digital Accessibility Tip: Alternative Text
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Alternative text (aka Alt text) is a brief text description of images and graphics, and is an essential part of making content accessible.
Alt Text is read by screen readers (or other assistive tech) to provide information about the image to the reader. Alt text should not just describe the image, but provide context on how the image relates to the page content.
Alt text should be added to images, icons or other graphic elements in digital content, including webpages, PDFs, and social media posts.
- Keep it short, usually 1-2 sentences. Don’t overthink it.
- Consider key elements of why you included the image, instead of describing every little detail.
- No need to say “image of” or “picture of”.
- But do say if it is a logo, illustration, painting, or cartoon.
- Don’t duplicate text that is adjacent in the document or website.
- End the alt text sentence with a period.
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Wellness Walkabout Thursday
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Thursday, May 28, with flexible start times between 11:30 am and 1 pm - You choose your start time.
Put on your walking shoes and get ready to get outside, explore the campus and have fun along the way.
On your journey:
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You'll start by picking up a map that will guide you to various locations around the Salem campus.
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Each location will have an activity or interesting site to see AND a stamp or raffle ticket for you to enter to win a prize. This means the more stations you visit, the better your chances are of winning.
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This year’s walkabout will have flexible start times. You can start any time between 11:30 and 10m. The projected walking time is about 45 minutes if you want to reach all of the stations, but you can choose how many stations to visit.
Sponsored by the Wellness Committee.
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Genuine Loves: Frybread & Marionberry Jam
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Wednesday, May 27
11 am-1 pm
Going Up Cafe (Salem Building 2)
Frybread w/Marionberry Jam
Oregon-grown marionberries (named for Marion County!) bring a bold sweet tart burst of Northwest flavor, turning every bite into something special.
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Speaking of Marion Berries, Free Game Admission!
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Another summer of Marion Berries baseball in the West Coast League begins this Friday at the Salem Campus as the Berries host the Port Angeles Lefties.
Chemeketa employees and their immediate family members will receive free general admission to all Berries home games with their Chemeketa employee ID. You can upgrade to more premium seating by paying the difference between your preferred seating and the general admission price.
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Final 2025-26 Program Review Greatest Hits!
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Presenting our final set of highlights from this year's Program Reviews!
In case you missed a highlight you wanted to see, all of this spring's program review summaries appear in this document with links to the program reviews.
And this coming fall, a new crop of program reviews will begin. We'll be back next Spring with their highlights.
-Mary Ellen Scofield, Program Review and Accreditation Specialist, Academic and Organizational Effectiveness
Seeing few students pursuing this program’s two-year degree, and looking to improve the “flow” of its one-year certificate curriculum, new Program Chair Corey Clark retired the degree and redesigned the certificate’s pathway and courses. The new design will debut this coming fall.
In removing the two-year degree, Corey sought alternatives for students interested in furthering a career in pharmacies. He is in conversation with Pacific University’s Doctor of Pharmacy program to build a pathway for students to complete core courses at Chemeketa and transfer into PU’s program.
This program’s enrollment grew 50% in the last three years, and the number of students who have earned its degree has more than quadrupled in the last 10. SLPAs are in demand especially in rural areas and especially since the pandemic normed the use of telepractice. Connections with schools, clinics, past students, speech language pathologists, and national organizations also contributed to this growth.
Facing increased applications and students, and with the help of Yamhill support staff, advising, and the business office, the program has streamlined its application, advising, and practicum placement processes to better support enrollment, progression and completion.
To give more faculty a quick and easy way to support students with kudos or referrals to resources, this team upgraded our early alert system by adopting Navigate and creating a student team to follow up on referrals. The new system is seeing more use and early student success gains.
This team also revised how we welcome new students. During orientation, students now meet with an advisor, register for classes, and can meet with financial aid staff and faculty in their area of interest. Orientation is also available online. Four times more students participated in 2025 as 2023, and a slightly higher percentage went on to enroll in courses.
To draw more high school students to college and Chemeketa, the team partnered with faculty to host events showcasing our programs in STEM, agriculture, industry tech and trades, health professions and wellness, and arts, humanities, communication and education.
The YVC team increased enrollment and FTE post-COVID at their campus by diversifying which populations they recruited, reaching out to adults with some college but no degree, and improving retention strategies. The average age of their students also increased from 24 to 26, and twice as many students enrolled in face-to-face courses, correlated with higher successful completion rates.
YVC has also reintroduced Community Education in response to interest from local organizations and businesses. This has been a positive way for YVC to give back to and meet critical needs for the community.
Student leadership and engagement has been on the rise at YVC too. Students are regularly seen leading in their community as baristas in the Gathering Place Cafe, at the student services desk, and at our food pantry The Vault. Clubs and activities are on the rise with groups like Student Activities Board hosting events and the Book, Art, and HTML clubs meeting.
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This month, 22 college students from around the state attended the Oregon TRIO Educational Justice & Civic Leadership Conference at the Oregon Capitol, for a powerful day of learning, advocacy & community building.
Mya Rodriguez, a current Political Science/Pre-Law major, was nominated to represent Chemeketa's Student Support Services Program, and attended with two former Chemeketa TRIO transfer students who are now at Oregon State University.
Students strengthened their leadership skills, explored systems-level change, and began developing advocacy projects they will continue implementing in their local communities through 2026.
We are incredibly proud of these students for stepping into their voices as leaders and advocates for educational equity across Oregon. The future of Oregon TRIO leadership is bright!
-Hayley Gibbs, TRIO Coordinator
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On behalf of the Red Cross and the Chemeketa Service Leaders student club... THANK YOU to the Chemeketa Community for contributing to the life saving mission!
The May 13th & 14th drive surpassed the collection goal with 66 units collected, adding to the total of 145 units collected this school year. Did you know that 1 pint of blood can save up to 3 lives?
-Ashley Rothenberger, Academic Success Coach, TRIO |
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Shop at Columbia Sportswear Employee Store
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Chemeketa employees have access for themselves and up to four guests at the Columbia Sportswear Employee Store in Portland until May 31.
Additional Details:
- You must bring the invitation (the PDF linked below), a photo ID, and proof of your employment with Chemeketa.
- This is only valid for in-person shopping at the Employee Store
- Employee Store hours at 9 am-9 pm daily.
- The Employee Store is located at 14100 Science Park Drive NW.
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Columbia Sportswear Employee Store Invitation
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Outward Leadership
This is a two-session workshop. Please plan to attend both sessions.
June 2 & 3 • 1-4:30 pm • Bldg. 6, Rm. 218B • CRN 84706 |
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Have a Chemeketa-related question?
Email our C4 Committee for answers!
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Chemeketa in the community
Are you aware of an upcoming community event that Chemeketa should attend? Please be on the lookout for events in our district and click the button below to let us know about them. |
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Send us content ideas
We want to hear from you! Email us your newsletter questions, critiques, and content ideas to Robert LaHue (robert.lahue@chemeketa.edu). |
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Chemeketa Community College prohibits unlawful discrimination based on the following:
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Race
National Origin
Disability
Gender
Pregnancy
Domestic Abuse Victim
Protected Hairstyle (CROWN Act)
Victims of Domestic Violence (Sexual Assault, Stalking, and/or Harassment)
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Color
Sex
Protected Veteran Status
Gender Identity/Expression
Whistleblowing
Expunged Juvenile Record
Political Affiliation or Belief
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Religion
Marital Status
Age
Sexual Orientation
Genetic Information
Injured Workers
Tobacco Use During Work Hours
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Or any other status protected by federal, state, or local law in any area, activity or operation of the College. The College also prohibits retaliation against an individual for engaging in activity protected under this policy, and interfering with the individual’s rights or privileges granted under federal, state or local laws.
Under College policies, equal opportunity for employment, admission, and participation in the College’s programs, services, and activities will be extended to all persons, and the College will promote equal opportunity and treatment through application of its policies and other College efforts designed for that purpose.
For concerns, inquires or complaints regarding disability accessibility and accommodations contact:
Section 504/ADA Coordinator
Karen Alexander, Director, Student Accessibility and Testing Services
503.399.5276
Persons having questions or concerns about Title IX, which includes gender-based discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual violence, gender based violence, and stalking, contact the Title IX coordinator, Jon Mathis at 503-584-7323, 4000 Lancaster Dr. NE, Salem, OR 97305, or http://go.chemeketa.edu/titleix.
All persons having questions or concerns related to Equal Employment Opportunity or Affirmative Action should contact the Affirmative Action Officer at 503.315.4586, 4000 Lancaster Dr. NE, Salem OR 97305.
Individuals may also contact the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (OCR), 810 3rd Avenue #750, Seattle, WA 98104, 206.607.1600.
To request this publication in an alternative format, please call 503.399.5192. For language access please call 503.315.4586. |
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