Pasadena City College

California community colleges have shed more than 300,000 students since 2009 because the students cannot get into classes, and the toll is likely to grow unless the state reverses course and pumps more money into higher education. That bleak assessment was delivered last week by California Community Colleges Chancellor Jack Scott in a State of Community Colleges address at Pasadena City College. Scott served as president of the college from 1987 to 1995, before being elected to the state Legislature.

California community colleges have shed more than 300,000 students since 2009 because the students cannot get into classes, and the toll is likely to grow unless the state reverses course and pumps more money into higher education. That bleak assessment was delivered last week by California Community Colleges Chancellor Jack Scott in a State of Community Colleges address at Pasadena City College. Scott served as president of the college from 1987 to 1995, before being elected to the state Legislature.

Jack Scott, president of Pasadena City College, has received the Harry Buttimer Distinguished Administrators Award at the annual convention of the Assn. of California Community College Administrators. The award was founded in 1986 in memory of the late Harry Buttimer, former chancellor of the Contra Costa Community College District.

Jack Scott, a veteran and popular educator who has headed the state's community college system during a period of brutal budget cuts and was often a voice decrying the impact on students, announced Tuesday that he will retire as chancellor overseeing the 112 campuses. Scott, 78, became chancellor of the nation's largest community college system in January 2009 after a long career as a state legislator and college campus leader, giving him rare insights into both politics and academia.

A 17-year-old Pasadena City College student was found stabbed to death in her father's bedroom Friday, and police asked for the public's help in finding her boyfriend. Police went to a duplex in the 100 block of Harkness Avenue in Pasadena about 2 p.m. after getting a call and discovered the young woman's body, Police Lt. Keith Jones said. A caller told police "something was up and recommended we check it out," Jones said.

Ground will be broken Wednesday for a gymnasium at Pasadena City College as part of the final, $21.7-million phase of the community college's 10-year make-over. The 65,000-square-foot athletic facility, which is scheduled to open in mid-1999, will include several basketball courts and a fitness center, plus classrooms for sports medicine and other physical education courses. A pool and track will also be built at the Del Mar Boulevard site.

After opening the season with a 20-17 victory at Fresno City College, the Pasadena City College football team travels to San Diego Mesa on Saturday. "Anytime you win after getting on a bus, driving four hours and playing against a first-class program the same day, you have to be pleased," Pasadena Coach Dennis Gossard said. "Our defense played tremendous." The Lancer offense was also impressive.

By just raising his hand, Louis Creveling enrolled in a college that didn't even exist, and 62 years later he's still glad he did. That's how the first class at Pasadena Junior College, now called Pasadena City College, was recruited in 1924: with a show of hands among interested seniors at Pasadena High School.

When Pasadena City College instructor Patrick Pandolfi's machine shop students walked into class last week, they met their newest challenge--building components for yet another space project, a spacecraft propelled solely by the sun's rays. Though his students tackle conventional assignments such as making steel hammers, this solar sail spacecraft they will help build seems more like science fiction.

Walter T. Shatford II, an attorney for whom Pasadena City College named its library in recognition of his four decades of service on the school's boards, has died. He was 94. Shatford, who was also a civil rights activist, died May 5 at his longtime home in Pasadena of complications related to old age, said his wife, Sara. When the $16.5-million Shatford Library opened in 1993, the college's Board of Trustees decided to honor one of its own instead of naming the building after a donor.

Marine Corps recruiters at the San Gabriel Valley Pride event at Pasadena City College on Saturday didn't care whether the young men who lined up to test their strength were gay or straight. The Marines just wanted to see some pull-ups done properly: Place hands about shoulder width apart, palms facing away; pull upward until chin is over the bar and then slowly return to the hanging position. Repeat until the feet feel like concrete blocks and the biceps like rubber bands about to snap.

Twenty-six combat veterans launched academic careers Saturday with a weekend excursion to the San Jacinto Mountains. They were members of the Veterans' Learning Collaborative at Pasadena City College, a new program designed to help veterans adjust to the challenges of higher education and overcome the physical injuries and lingering anxieties of battlefield service. "The move from military to college is a natural transition, but a difficult one," said Harold Martin, an associate professor of psychology at the college and a member of the program.

KPCC boasts "A Prairie Home Companion," Larry Mantle's popular "AirTalk" call-in show and an audience that has tripled in size in the last 10 years, turning the station into one of the country's most-listened-to public radio outlets. Coming next? A major expansion that its board of trustees hopes will make KPCC the hub of a regional constellation of public radio stations and a major source of news and information in Southern California. On Saturday, KPCC will take the wraps off of a $24.5-million broadcast facility in Pasadena that houses 13 studios and control rooms, compared with one primary studio in the cramped quarters of the library at Pasadena City College that has been the station's home since 1993.

At home in North Carolina, Los Angeles D-Fenders Coach Chucky Brown began receiving phone calls before training camp in November about a diminutive blur of a player in L.A. named Horace Wormely. The 5-foot-6 point guard turned in dominating performances against some NBA and overseas pros in the Drew Summer League, where Wormely was picked as the "most inspirational player." One call came from former UCLA star and 12-year NBA veteran Tracy Murray, who was effusive about the small point guard.

Rose Parade float viewing Rose Parade floats will be on public display today and Sunday along Sierra Madre and Washington boulevards in Pasadena: Admission: $7; children age 5 and under are admitted for free Hours: 7 to 9 a.m. for the mobility impaired and seniors age 65 and older; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for the general public Getting there: Parking is limited, but shuttle service is available from the Rose Bowl...

PCC Flea Market Since 1977, vendors have gathered in the parking lots at Pasadena City College on the first Sunday of every month to hawk antiques, books, clothing and more. The first market of 2010 will offer more than 500 stalls, including a vinyl lover's dream -- more than 70 record and music sellers on the third floor of the parking structure. Pasadena City College, 1570 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sun. Free. (626) 585-7906. www.pasadena.edu.

Former Muir High running back Saladin McCullough will play for Pasadena City College in the fall. McCullough signed a letter of intent to enroll at USC after gaining 2,142 yards and scoring 36 touchdowns in his senior season in 1992. But the prep All-American was never admitted to USC because his Scholastic Aptitude Test score of about 1,200 was challenged by the Educational Testing Service, the Princeton, N.J. group that oversees the test.

California Community Colleges Chancellor Jack Scott said Wednesday that the colleges are faced with a 3% jump in enrollment and an 8% drop in state funding and must be creative about cutting costs. In an address before the annual convention of the state's community colleges, Scott said he would ask schools today to focus their limited resources on core missions such as job training and basic education. The system served 2.89 million students last year -- 150,000 more students than state funding supported.

When Pedro Hinojosa dreams about the future, he knows he wants something different from the hand-blistering digging and chopping he does to help out on his father's gardening route. He is drawn to a medical career, possibly as an emergency room technician, a nurse or even a doctor. First, he has to get through freshman year at Pasadena City College.