AVC CHIEF BRINGS NEW FOCUS : CAREER TRAINING, TECHNOLOGY TO BE MAIN STRESSES.Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer Linda Spink is on a mission to educate herself about the community and its college before she decides how to go about her goals as Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley College's new president. Her top priorities, she said Friday, are to design curricula to prepare students to meet the needs of their future employers and to expand the use of technology for students and staff. First, Spink said, the college must determine whether it is effectively creating a work force for local employers. Then school officials will take a further step to determine the needs of employers over the next 20 years. ``It is like a tightrope that we walk when we decide to begin new programs,'' Spink said. ``But we must always be adding and dropping programs as the community changes.'' Spink, the 67-year-old college's first female president, was on campus Friday to address the college faculty. Spink is succeeding Al Kurki, who retired after serving 10 years as president. ``I would like to think of myself as a high-energy person, a person willing to sit back and listen,'' Spink said. ``I will always have the students first and foremost in my mind.'' As president, Spink presides over a college with an enrollment of about 9,000. The college serves a region of 1,945 square miles - more square miles than Rhode Island Rhode Island, island, United States Rhode Island, island, 15 mi (24 km) long and 5 mi (8 km) wide, S R.I., at the entrance to Narragansett Bay. It is the largest island in the state, with steep cliffs and excellent beaches. . AVC's faculty must be encouraged to look at how technology can be used to improve their jobs, Spink said. ``I want to look at the use of technology and look at how that fits in our curriculum,'' Spink said. ``I would like to see a computer on the desk of every faculty member.'' The college will examine what technology it has available and how the equipment is being used. ``Can I promise that every computer we bought this spring is being used effectively? No, but I can promise that within a year to a year and a half we will be,'' Spink said. Spink plans to be involved in the community, once she gets to know the campus and the area. ``My focus needs to be on this institution,'' Spink said. Spink, 50, selected from 53 applicants in a nationwide search, has been vice president since 1990 of Mohawk Valley Community College Mohawk Valley Community College is a two year college of the State University of New York located in Oneida County, New York in the United States. The college has campuses in Rome and Utica. in Utica, N.Y. Before that, she was associate dean for health science and technology at Massachusetts Bay Community College Massachusetts Bay Community College is a two-year college in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. It has three campuses, in Wellesley, Ashland, and Framingham. Trivia The college is also home to the Wellesley Symphony Orchestra. in Wellesley Hills, Mass., where she had worked since 1984. Spink has a doctorate in administration of higher education higher education Study beyond the level of secondary education. Institutions of higher education include not only colleges and universities but also professional schools in such fields as law, theology, medicine, business, music, and art. from Boston College Boston College, main campus at Chestnut Hill, Mass.; coeducational; Jesuit; est. and opened 1863. Actually a university, the school's Chestnut Hill campus comprises colleges of arts and sciences and business administration, the graduate school, and schools of nursing , a master's degree master's degree n. An academic degree conferred by a college or university upon those who complete at least one year of prescribed study beyond the bachelor's degree. Noun 1. in psychiatric nursing from Boston University Boston University, at Boston, Mass.; coeducational; founded 1839, chartered 1869, first baccalaureate granted 1871. It is composed of 16 schools and colleges. and a bachelor's degree from Michigan State University Michigan State University, at East Lansing; land-grant and state supported; coeducational; chartered 1855. It opened in 1857 as Michigan Agricultural College, the first state agricultural college. . Prior to becoming a college administrator, Spink worked as a nurse and was an instructor for 13 years. Spink grew up in Long Island, N.Y., and has lived in Pittsburgh; Norfolk, Mass.; Utica; and in Ventura. She is divorced and has two grown children. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: (SAC and AV--color in AV) Linda Spink, Antelope Vall ey College president, wants the school to prepare pupils for the job world. Jeff Goldwater/Daily News |
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