ON CAMPUS AT OCC:OCC’s student body president resigns post

Orange Coast College’s 2006-07 student body president, Yusuf Abukar, last week reluctantly resigned his post.

“I was looking forward to fulfilling my obligation as president this year; it was a dream come true,” the 25-year-old native of Somalia said. “But after weeks of serious deliberation, I decided I had to resign.”

Abukar, who was OCC’s Male Student of the Year in 2005-06 and maintained a 3.95 grade-point average, was named student body president late last spring. He took office this summer. Abukar gave up the presidency to accept a three-year, full-ride scholarship to Columbia University in New York City, valued at more than $100,000.

Abukar says he already misses OCC “big-time!”

“I can’t tell you how much I agonized over this decision. I talked with my Coast professors, with my friends and with my family. I looked at it from every angle. I asked Columbia to hold it until next year so that I could fulfill my obligation to OCC, but administrators said they couldn’t do that. Finally, I decided I had to accept the scholarship.”

The former OCC student is majoring in economics at Columbia. He plans to earn a graduate degree at Stanford University or Harvard. His career goal is to enter the field of international economic development or become a college professor.

An active and involved student, Abukar served last year as vice president of OCC’s Sierra Club and was secretary/treasurer of the Amnesty International Club. He was a member of the college’s Phi Theta Kappa and Alpha Gamma Sigma honor societies.

Abukar moved to this country in 1999 from Somalia with his parents and six younger siblings. He couldn’t speak English. Today he speaks the language fluently, with only the slightest trace of an accent.

He enrolled at Orange Coast College in the fall of 2003.

Abukar calls his three-year stint at OCC the best experience of his life.

“I lived through 12 or 14 years of civil war in Somalia, traveled all over Africa and traveled throughout the United States. I’ve belonged to many organizations and groups. OCC is the best experience I’ve ever had. Whatever I face in the future, Orange Coast College has prepared me for it.”

Abukar will return to Orange County later this fall to take part in a ceremony that will make him an American citizen.

“I’m honored,” he said. “I want to thank the faculty, students and administrators of OCC for the great experience I had. They made a huge difference in my life. Without them, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”

SYMPHONY OPENS 46TH SEASONOrange Coast College’s Symphony will open its 46th season on Saturday, Sept. 23, at 8 p.m. at the Robert B. Moore Theatre.

The concert is billed “To the Stars and Beyond.” OCC’s Symphony is conducted by music professor Dr. Ricardo Soto.

The concert will include English composer Gustav Holst’s popular orchestral suite, The Planets, Op. 32, and American composer John Williams’ Star Wars Suite.

The Planets was influenced by Indian spiritualism and English folk tunes, and is well known for unconventional use of meter and haunting melodies. Williams, one of America’s most popular orchestra composers, is best known for his film scores and ceremonial music.

Tickets, priced at $10, are on sale in the Community Education Office, located adjacent to OCC’s Student Center. Tickets will also be available the door.

For information, call (714) 432-5880.

OCC NAMES TWO BUILDINGS AFTER CHARTER STAFFERSOrange Coast College has named two campus buildings for a pair of charter staff members who played key roles in the establishment of the college and the development of its national reputation.

The college has named its 300-seat Forum, constructed in 1959, the Giles T. Brown Forum. The college’s maintenance and operations building, which opened in 1998, is now called the Fran Albers Maintenance and Operations Center.

Brown, now 90 and a resident of Newport Beach, served as dean of OCC’s social sciences division from 1948 through 1960. He left the college in the fall of 1960 to serve as chairman of the history department at Cal State Fullerton.

The Forum was the first large lecture hall built on campus. Brown played an integral part in its design. He led a weekly world affairs lecture series in the facility from 1960 through 1991. The community lecture series was heavily subscribed.

Today, the Giles T. Brown Forum accommodates large-lecture history, psychology, political science and sociology classes.

Albers almost single-handedly built OCC’s campus in the spring and summer of 1948 on a 243-acre segment of the former Santa Ana Army Air Base. He served for 33 years as OCC’s director of maintenance and operations. Albers retired in 1981 and died in 2004 at the age of 84.

Hired as the college’s carpenter on Feb. 1, 1948, Albers had just eight-and-a-half months to get the campus ready for OCC’s first classes. He and a crew of 35 student helpers — who were paid 60 cents an hour — transformed barracks buildings into classrooms, performance facilities, faculty and staff offices, and lecture halls.

OCC HOSTS 80 UNIVERSITY TRANSFER REPS SEPT. 28Recruiters from more than 80 public and private colleges and universities from throughout the nation will be on Orange Coast College’s campus on Thursday, Sept. 28, for the college’s annual “Transfer Day.”

Activities will run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the quad.

The event will feature representatives from University of California and California State University campuses, as well as recruiters from independent California colleges and universities, and out-of-state institutions. The public is welcome.

The recruiters will distribute information about transfer requirements, educational offerings, admissions procedures, scholarships, fees and expenses, campus environment, student housing, athletics, financial aid, special programs, services for the disadvantaged and ROTC programs.

Contact OCC’s transfer center at (714) 432-5894.