News

Two students on the Meramec campus of St. Louis Community College are in trouble due to threatening social-media posts. Last month, Kara N. Hohman, 20, of South St. Louis County, turned herself into Meramec police after allegedly making a threat to campus faculty. Her tweet stated that she would “kill someone if her financial aid didn’t figure itself out soon,” according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The threat was discovered by a public-affairs employee, who notified campus police. […]

Higher Education Magazine has ranked St. Louis Community College 36th among the Top 100 institutions across the country for percentage of associate’s degrees conferred on black students. The college conferred degrees on 2,113 students, including 474 black students (22.4 percent), during the 2011-12 school year. That’s a 19 percent increase over the previous year. “It’s a cause for celebration,” said Donna Dare, vice chancellor for academic and student affairs. […]

St. Louis Community College has received nearly $200,000 to train low-income and unemployed area residents in hazardous waste cleanup. For the fourth year, the Environmental Protection Agency granted the college funds to provide trainees with more than 200 hours of instruction. The college hopes to place 55 workers in environmental jobs, out of a potential 81 graduates. “This has been a very successful partnership over the years, with our local grant program achieving the highest placement rates nationally, and most importantly helping qualified residents earn credentials that are of value in the marketplace,” said Roderick Nunn, STLCC vice chancellor for economic development and workforce solutions, stated in a press release. […]

Forest Park has a new math chair. James Munden, 30, of Columbia, Ill., has replaced Seth Daugherty. “My philosophy is not to memorize rules, but to see and implement the actual mechanics behind the rules,” he said. Munden has been teaching pre-algebra, analytic geometry and calculus at Forest Park since 2010. He formerly served as a graduate assistant in math at St Louis University, where he is working on a doctorate. Daugherty served as Forest Park’s math chair for two years before stepping down this month for personal reasons. He still is teaching classes as an assistant professor. […]

Open hours in Forest Park’s indoor swimming pool have been reduced for the summer due to lack of funding. Students, faculty and staff used to have pool access one hour a day, four days a week, even if they weren’t enrolled in classes. Now they can only swim two days a week. “The cutback is due to budget concerns,” said Mark Applegate, aquatics coordinator and instructor. The change comes on the heels of another reduction in fitness opportunities at Forest Park. The college eliminated open hours in the weight room this summer. The swimming pool is in the Physical Education building on the east side of campus. “Our primary responsibility when we keep the pool open is heating the pool, changing the chemicals, making repairs and having a lifeguard on duty,” Applegate said. […]