ON CAMPUS AT OCC:OCC celebrates its 60th anniversary

Orange Coast College kicked off its 60th anniversary celebration last week with a retrospective gallery exhibit in the college’s beautiful new $6-million Frank M. Doyle Arts Pavilion.

The exhibition, which runs through April 20, launches the college’s 20-month-long anniversary celebration. Anniversary events continue through September of 2008. The college was founded in January of 1947, and the first classes were offered in September of 1948.

The college’s retrospective is being staged in the Arts Pavilion’s Main Gallery and in the Young Artists Gallery. The exhibit, which is free to the public, is open from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays; from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesdays; and from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays. It is closed Mondays.

The Doyle Arts Pavilion is located next to OCC’s Arts Center. Tours or special events may be arranged by appointment by calling (714) 432-5738.

The exhibition spans seven decades, from 1940 through 2007. It covers America’s entrance into World War II, the emergence of the Santa Ana Army Air Base in Orange County in 1942, the closing of the air base in 1946, the establishment of Orange Coast College on former air base property in 1947 and all six decades of the college’s existence.

Approximately 20% of the exhibit focuses on the Santa Ana Army Air Base and 80% on the college.

The college’s 60th anniversary exhibition includes artifacts, photographs, illustrations, first-edition posters, narratives, books, films and videos.

The next major event on Orange Coast College’s 60th anniversary calendar will be a reception and program to honor the nine individuals who have served as Orange Coast College’s president. The event is scheduled for 5-8 p.m., Thursday, April 19, in the Student Center Lounge.

SPRING ENROLLMENT UP 6.74 PERCENT

The college’s spring enrollment is up a healthy 6.74% from a year ago.

As of Feb. 2 — the end of the first week of spring classes — OCC had an enrollment of 21,935 students. That compares with 20,550 for the same date last year, an increase of 1,385 students.

Orange Coast is offering 2,198 course sections this spring, up 144 sections from the spring of 2006.

“We increased our course offerings by 7% because demand was very high,” said Nancy L. Kidder, OCC’s administrative dean of enrollment services. “Our enrollment is up by almost the exact same percentage as our number of class sections.”

Although spring semester classes began Jan. 29, many additional courses will get underway throughout the semester. OCC is expected to enroll approximately 25,000 students before the spring semester ends May 27.

For registration information, call (714) 432-5072.

GOULD TO PERFORM RACHMANINOFF WORK

Acclaimed pianist Brian Gould will be the featured soloist on Saturday evening, Feb. 24, when OCC’s symphony offers the fifth concert of its 46th season.

Gould and the orchestra will perform Rachmaninoff’s “Paganini Variations.” The concert also features Johannes Brahms’ “Symphony No. 4.” It begins at 8 p.m. in Robert B. Moore Theatre.

OCC’s symphony is under the baton of music professor Ricardo Soto.

Gould, who became a member of OCC’s music faculty in 1995, heads up the college’s piano department. He’s teaching two advanced OCC piano performance classes this spring and several music appreciation classes.

A former child prodigy, the 45-year-old Orange County native received critical acclaim as a pianist at the age of nine. He made his orchestral debut performing the Tchaikovsky Concerto and has since performed with many major orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

He has performed as a soloist at the Hollywood Bowl and appeared by special request in front of former President Gerald Ford.

The OCC soloist studied at the Hochschule fur Musik in Vienna and has won many piano competitions. He holds a Ph.D. in piano performance from the University of Southern California.

KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR TO SPEAK AT OCC FEB. 28

Basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar will be on OCC’s campus Wednesday, Feb. 28, to discuss his new book, “On the Shoulders of Giants: My Journey Through the Harlem Renaissance.”

The book, which was written with OCC writing professor Raymond Obstfeld, recently hit No. 25 on the New York Times Bestseller List.

Abdul-Jabbar will speak from 2 p.m. to 2:40 p.m. in Robert B. Moore Theatre, then will conduct a book-signing session.

Admission is free, and the public is invited.

Abdul-Jabbar, then known as Lew Alcindor, played his first intercollegiate basketball game as a UCLA Bruin against Orange Coast College’s Pirates on Dec. 3, 1965. Alcindor played for the UCLA freshman team because NCAA rules, at the time, prevented frosh athletes from playing varsity sports.

The game was played at Pauley Pavilion on UCLA’s campus, and 10,000 fans looked on as the Bruins crushed the Pirates, 119-43. Alcindor scored 23 points.

“On the Shoulders of Giants” chronicles the Harlem Renaissance, a seminal period in African American history.

Jabbar’s personal narrative recounts how Harlem’s literary, musical and sports achievements shaped his own destiny.