Lenore is the district’s educational technology specialist, which means she works with faculty to keep them current on technology they use online and in the classroom. Blackboard is her game (along with golf).
So, for those of us who have never taken an online class or don’t teach in that format, what is Blackboard? It is a web-based software system that is used to support flexible teaching and learning in face-to-face and distance courses. In plain English, Blackboard enables universities, schools, and corporations to host their class content on the World Wide Web. Instructors can use PowerPoint and other computer applications to enhance their teaching.
Lenore works with more than 59 online instructors and another 21 who are doing web-enhanced teaching in their face-to-face classes. While she likes to meet in person with instructors, that’s not always possible. We have instructors in New York, San Diego, Georgia, Sacramento, Arizona and who knows where else.
Prior to taking her current position, Lenore was an academic advisor in student services for several years. Among the students she advised were her three sons, who all graduated from West Hills College. There is Sean, who is nearly 24 and in the Navy stationed at Pearl Harbor, and his twin brother Kyle who recently graduated from Fresno Pacific university. Sean is the famous son whose picture is featured in a number of West Hills’ ads and publications. She also has a 21-year-old son, Trevor, who was on the first WHCL golf team and is now a student at UCLA.
Lenore says that she and her husband, Joe, a general contractor, are trying to figure out what to do with their empty nest now that the boys are grown. Her family enjoys golfing together and she enjoys watching CSI while she walks on her treadmill.
Lenore must not have much time on that treadmill. When her boys were in high school, she started taking classes at West Hills and graduated in 2000. In 2004, she finished a bachelor’s degree at Fresno State in business administration with a focus on information systems. She’s now in the process of completing some additional undergraduate units in computer science, calculus and physics before she enrolls in an online master’s program in computer science at Chico State.
Way to go Lenore!
Senior Secretary Lupe Luna now helps Dean of Learning Resources Susan Kincade in her dealings with online instructors but many people remember her from the days when she was a student on the campus of West Hills College Coalinga (she graduated in 2003).
Her career at West Hills started when she was a student worker in the Human Resources Department in 1999. She spent time at the switchboard and then she worked for the farm office before moving to her current position, which is housed in the Library/Learning Resource Building at West Hills College Lemoore.
Lupe says the most frequent question she gets from instructors is, “How do I fill out my timecard?” She also works with the Title V and TTip grants. One of her favorite parts of her job though is helping with the Help Desk. “I don’t always know the answers but I enjoy doing that,” she says.
Lupe has a big event planned on August 5th—she’s getting married to Ivan Alvarado. They met while both were attending WHCC. Ivan is from Huron and Lupe is originally from Cantua Creek. They’ve been together for six years and are hoping to buy a house in Hanford where Lupe now lives. Ivan is the general manager of a warehouse in the Los Angeles area.
The other loves of Lupe’s life are her godchildren—baby JP and 3-year old Maggie. They are her brother’s children. “I can’t live without them and they can’t live without me,” Lupe beams.
In her spare time, Lupe likes to go to the mall and she’s learning to crochet. She says, “It’s harder than I thought!”