Antelope Valley College

An Antelope Valley College sociology instructor is one of four community college instructors in the state named recipients of the Hayward Award for Excellence in Education. Martha Wengert was honored by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges for her commitment to students and the college, Antelope Valley College spokesman Steve Standerfer said. It was the second year in a row that the award went to an Antelope Valley College faculty member.

This post has been corrected. See below . Dewayne Dedmon, a 7-foot center from Lancaster who had one year of eligibility left at USC, decided Wednesday to declare for the NBA draft. In a quote released by USC, Dedmon said, "It's just my time to chase my dream and go to the NBA. I had a great time at USC and it was a good experience. I had some ups and downs and learned a lot and believe it is best for me to turn professional at this time. I wish USC, [new Coach] Andy Enfield and all my teammates all the best moving forward.

Antelope Valley College has sent letters to 588 students who have bachelor's degrees or higher, advising them that they may be subject to a $50-per-unit fee next year, as a result of action by state lawmakers. Under the law imposing the new fee, students can apply for an exemption if they are dislocated workers, people on public assistance, displaced homemakers or non-California residents who already pay higher tuition, said Jim McDonald, director of admissions.

Scam artists posing as students or stealing identities from other people illegally obtained more than $770,000 in financial aid and loans via California community colleges and online schools, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. Seventeen people have been indicted since August in six cases that involve 15 California campuses, including Santa Barbara City College, Bakersfield College, Antelope Valley College and San Diego City College, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Sacramento.

Antelope Valley College students returning for spring semester classes next week will soon have a new parking lot to use. The district's board of trustees last month awarded a $53,225 contract to Pinion Asphalt Paving of La Crescenta to build the lot next to 30th Street West on the northern part of the campus. The 147,874-square-foot lot was scheduled to be paved this month. The area now is a dirt lot used for overflow parking.

The Antelope Valley College football team will have a 7-0 record--instead of 6-0-1--going into tonight's Foothill Conference game at Desert because Chaffey, which earlier tied the Marauders, 24-24, has had to forfeit all of its wins and ties because it used an ineligible player. The forfeit win gives Antelope Valley a 5-0 record in conference play and a half-game lead over Mt. San Jacinto and Citrus, both 4-0.

Women in today's workplace should concern themselves with issues such as employee child care, flexible work hours and parental leave, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joy Picus told a conference at Antelope Valley College. "The family of father, the breadwinner; mother, the homemaker; and two-point-however-many-kids is gone," Picus told about 90 people attending the fourth annual Women's Conference at the college March 16. "Women are in the work force in virtually every family these days.

Antelope Valley Community College could face delays in building a number of urgently needed facilities for students if Proposition 153 is not passed by voters on June 2, college officials said. The prediction followed a decision to go ahead with contractor bidding to build new library and administration buildings, facilities that probably do not rely upon passage of the ballot measure, the Higher Education Facilities Bond Act. However, construction of a $1.

Two traditions in the Antelope Valley seem to be as old as the dust-laden winds and the forever vistas. And around Christmas every year, these two traditions merge to educate and entertain residents of the high desert. The first tradition involves the Antelope Valley College's patronage of the area's classical orchestra. A female conductor of the orchestra is the second tradition. The symphony orchestra has brought symphonic and choral literature to life for the past 50 years in the high desert.

A link between Antelope Valley College and the high-desert aerospace industry was forged this week with the announcement that the college has been certified to train aircraft mechanics. That link was established Tuesday at Lancaster's Fox Airfield when Federal Aviation Administration officials granted accreditation to the college's airframe and power plant class.

The NBA scout made his annual rounds, checking in with his sources about prospects. Among his West Coast connections, he heard a similar story: There is a 7-footer, a lean and athletic kid who plays aggressively. Runs like a deer. His ears perked. "Those guys," the scout said, "there are just not a lot of them. " The player's name: Dewayne Dedmon. And there was the twist. He wasn't at all familiar with the player whose name was now being mentioned constantly.

Kentucky didn't win the national championship it was seeking this month, but on college basketball signing day Wednesday, the Wildcats reloaded for a title run next year and beyond. Point guard Brandon Knight, generally regarded as the nation's top recruit among high school seniors, signed with Kentucky, as did Turkish star Enes Kanter, a forward, and Stacey Poole, a highly touted swingman from Jacksonville, Fla. The Wildcats also received a commitment from Michael Gilchrist, a forward from St. Patrick High in Elizabeth, N.J., who is considered the nation's top junior.

Brad Stevens is content to keep coaching the Butler way. The 33-year-old coach, who came within a buzzer-beating shot of winning the NCAA men's basketball championship, signed a 12-year deal Thursday that extends through the 2021-22 season. Team spokesman Jim McGrath declined to say how much the deal was worth, though Stevens had a total compensation package of $750,000 last season. Athletic Director Barry Collier acknowledged Tuesday that Stevens was in line for a pay raise.

RE "The Oscar for Atmosphere" [Feb. 24]: I too study the sets and sometimes get so engrossed that I lose track of what is going on in the movie. I especially loved the set in "Something's Gotta Give." I have watched that movie over and over so I could imagine myself living in that house. A few years ago I noticed the wrought-iron staircase in the sorority house in "Legally Blonde" and actually had the wrought-iron tradesman who fabricated it do the same in my house. Peggy Rosen Laguna Niguel I will post Barbara King's appreciation of set design on my office door to help my students understand that environment is important to understanding the story.

An Antelope Valley College instructor under fire for ordering a 19-year-old Muslim student to remove her head scarf in his class resigned Friday, school officials said. Robert Daniel, an engineer who taught part time since 2002, resigned before the Lancaster school's board of trustees could decide whether he should be fired, interim college President Jackie Fisher said. "We could have dismissed him -- that was an option -- but he came in and resigned," Fisher said.

The board of trustees of Antelope Valley College will decide at its meeting today what action to take in regard to an instructor who ordered a 19-year-old Muslim student to remove her hijab head scarf or leave his class, the college president said Thursday. Student Fajr Burhan said instructor Robert Daniel told her to remove her scarf when she walked into his computer information science class last week. Burhan said she refused, explaining that she wore the hijab for religious reasons.

Visitors to the Antelope Valley College Art Gallery say you don't just see the latest art exhibit, you experience it. And that's exactly what Cynthia Minet, 29, had in mind when she created it. Minet, who teaches art history, painting and drawing at the school, said she believes art should be a participatory experience. Combining sculpture and painting, she creates three-dimensional reliefs that invite the viewer to make aesthetic decisions by manipulating the works on display.

Jonathan Lucas and Mike Castro, National Guardsmen They always knew they'd be called one day, when America went to war. Maybe they wouldn't man a foxhole in the desert, but an assignment on a military base seemed likely--backfilling for some active-duty GIs shipped overseas. Instead, Staff Sgt. Mike Castro and Airman 1st Class Jonathan Lucas of the California Air National Guard are serving six months in a fluorescent-lighted corridor at Los Angeles International Airport.

Three universities announced a partnership Monday with Antelope Valley College to create a four-year engineering program that would allow students to complete bachelor's degrees on the two-year campus. Students who complete their first two years of course work at the community college could register at Cal State Northridge, Cal State Bakersfield or Cal State Fresno for the junior-level classes in electrical or computer engineering, officials said.