May 6, 2022 | Curry Campus, News
Coos Bay, OR – Southwestern Oregon Community College’s popular Geology Lecture Series concludes for the 2021-22 academic year with a talk by Dr. Ron Metzger, Professor of Earth Sciences at Southwestern with “The Last Lecture? Oribatid Mites, Conodonts and Musings from Nearly Four Decades in the College Classroom”.
The talk will take place on Saturday, May 21, 2022 at 7:00 pm in the Hales Center for the Performing Arts on the Coos Bay campus (1988 Newmark Ave., Coos Bay) and also streamed live via Livestream at the College website (https://livestream.com/swocc/geology2021-22).
Ron Metzger earned a Bachelor of Science degree with honors from St. Lawrence University, and master’s and doctorate degrees in paleontology from the University of Iowa. He has been a member of the Southwestern Oregon Community College faculty since the fall of 1996 and will officially retire in June. He is a member of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers having served in a variety of leadership roles for the Pacific Northwest Section including president. He has been a workshop leader for Teachers on the Leading Edge and for On The Cutting Edge: NAGT Early Career Geoscience Faculty Workshop.
While at Southwestern he served as Geology Club Advisor, Faculty Senate Chair, and as faculty ex-officio on the College Foundation Board. Over the years he has given community outreach talks to numerous groups. One of Metzger’s most significant local contributions has been hosting the geology lecture series, bringing prominent scientists to the College to present lectures on cutting edge topics to students and community for over two decades. Ron also serves on the Jefferson Public Radio Foundation Board and recently retired from the board of the Oregon Coast Music Festival after 20 years of service.
In addition to our speaker, representatives of the Southwestern Foundation, South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, University of Oregon’s Charleston Marine Life Center, Shoreline Education for Awareness, and Surfrider Foundation will be present in the Hales Center lobby starting at 6:30 pm to share information regarding their organizations. The representatives will also be available after the lecture.
Lecture Series Sponsors include DB Western, Southwestern Foundation, The Mill Casino & Resort, Ocean Discovery Lecture Series, and the American Geophysical Union. For additional information contact Ron Metzger at rmetzger@socc.edu or 541-888-7216.
Apr 26, 2022 | Curry Campus, News
Coos Bay, OR – Southwestern Oregon Community College’s Physics and Astronomy Lecture Series welcomes Dr. Angela Des Jardins, Director of the Montana Space Grant Consortium and principal investigator of the NASA- and NSF-sponsored Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project (NEBP) to present “Exploring Eclipses at the Edge of Space” on Thursday, May 5, 2022 at 6:30 pm. The lecture can be accessed via Zoom at https://socc-edu.zoom.us/j/94390532783.
Dr. Des Jardins will provide insight into the science that can be learned observing eclipses from high-altitude balloons. She will recap some of the findings from the August 2017 total eclipse and look forward to the coming annular eclipse over Coos Bay in October 2023 and the total solar eclipse across central North America in April 2024.
On August 21, 2017 student teams across the country sent special balloons 100,000 feet into the atmosphere, sending live video of the total solar eclipse from the edge of space to the NASA website and TV. In addition, students conducted scientific studies of the atmospheric effects of the eclipse. The 2017 eclipse ballooning accomplishments spurred student-led, ground-breaking scientific campaigns in Chile during the July 2019 and December 2020 total solar eclipses. Dr. Des Jardins will discuss previous NEBP results, show fantastic eclipse footage, and highlight student opportunities for the upcoming 2023 and 2024 solar eclipses.
The Physics and Astronomy Lecture Series is sponsored in part by the Southwestern Oregon Community College Foundation.
For more information about this lecture and future events, please contact Dr. Aaron Coyner, Associate Professor of Physics, at 541-888-7244, aaron.coyner@socc.edu. To learn more about physics and engineering degrees at Southwestern visit https://physics.socc.edu/.
Apr 18, 2022 | Curry Campus, News
Coos Bay, OR – Southwestern Oregon Community College (SWOCC) and the SWOCC Foundation invite the community and businesses to participate in a celebration of alumni. Festivities will take place June 3-4, 2022, and include a Golf Tournament (to fundraise for scholarships) and a Hall of Fame ceremony.
Friday, June 3:
- All Day = Campus Tours: call 541-888-1595 or click HERE to schedule
- 5:30 p.m. = Social at the Back Alley Pub & Grill
Saturday, June 4:
- 9 a.m. = Opportunity Links! Golf Tournament at the Coos Golf Club to fundraiser for scholarships (registration required)
- 3 p.m. = Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony & Athletic Awards at Prosper Hall
This year’s event will kick off with a “meet and greet social” at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, June 3, at The Back Alley Pub & Grill.
At 9 a.m., Saturday morning, the SWOCC Foundation will host a golf tournament at the Coos Golf Club. If you are interested in putting together a four-person team for $600, or would like to sponsor the event, please contact the SWOCC Foundation: foundation@socc.edu or 541-888-7209. Your donation will fund scholarships for students who attend Southwestern on both our Coos and Curry campuses.
Following the golf tournament on Saturday at 3 p.m., the athletic department will honor former athletes, teams, coaches, and those who have had a noteworthy impact on the school and its athletic programs. The Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will take place in Prosper Hall during the annual sports awards. One team and three individuals covering a wide range of Laker history will make up the Southwestern Hall of Fame class of 2022.
This will be a no-host weekend, and the public is encouraged to come to the event.
The Hall of Fame class of 2022 inductees are:
- The late Jennifer Gunnell (Volleyball 1989-90)
- Joanna Grotenhuis (Volleyball 1990-91)
- John Speasl (former Athletic Director and coach, 1973 – 2011)
- The first Southwestern baseball team (1966-67) including players:
- Harry Abel, Jack Greene, Dan Kirk*, Lewis LaFleur*, Ray Lemke, Dennis Metzger, Dennis Rodgers*, Terry Severson*, John Walker* and Tom Wright, coached by the late Bill Horning.
*The college is seeking help in locating some team members. Anyone with information should contact the hall of fame committee at hof@socc.edu or 541-888-7208.
Apr 15, 2022 | Curry Campus, News
Coos Bay, OR – Southwestern Oregon Community College’s Physics and Astronomy Lecture Series welcomes Dr. Tonia Venters with her lecture “Illuminating the Extreme Cosmos through Astoparticle Astronomy”. This will be a virtual lecture to provide insight into astroparticle astronomy. The lecture will be at 5:30 pm on Monday, May 16, 2022, and will be streamed live via our website here: https://livestream.com/swocc/physicsandastronomy2021-22.
Dr. Venters is a research astrophysicist at NASA Goddard following academic studies at Rice University and the University of Chicago. Dr. Venters shares this description of her talk:
For ages, astronomy has relied on light in order to learn about the universe, but light isn’t the only cosmic messenger. Recent developments have brought about the dawn of an exciting new era of multi-messenger astronomy, a discipline that combines observations in gravitational waves and astroparticles, as well as light, to get a more complete picture of the universe and the astrophysical systems within it. Of the different messengers, perhaps the most mysterious are two of the astroparticles: cosmic rays and neutrinos. Cosmic rays are the messengers of the most extreme accelerators in the cosmos; however, efforts to identify their origins have been thwarted for over a century due the fact that they don’t point back to their sources.
On the other hand, even though neutrinos do point back to their sources, individual sources have yet to be confidently identified. In this talk, I will provide an overview of the recent developments in multi-messenger astronomy and then focus on the particular challenges of cosmic-ray and neutrino astronomy. Finally, I will set the stage for next generation facilities that will shed light on the universe through astroparticle astronomy.
For more information about this lecture and future events, please contact Dr. Aaron Coyner, Associate Professor of Physics, at 541-888-7244, aaron.coyner@socc.edu. To learn more about physics and engineering degrees at Southwestern please visit https://physics.socc.edu/.
Apr 14, 2022 | News
Coos Bay, OR – Coinciding with Earth Day on Friday, April 22, 2022, Southwestern Oregon Community College’s Associated Student Government, International Club, and Student Athlete Advisory Committee will be hosting a “Walk for Peace” event at the College track from 5:30 -7:00 pm, 1988 Newmark Ave., Coos Bay.
The goal of the event is to raise money for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and to spread awareness about the suffering that children are currently experiencing around the world due to war. There will also be Earth Day-themed activities taking place.
Entry to the track for the walk is $3 for participants, and free for all current SWOCC students. The College will donate $2 for each of the first 200 SWOCC students that attend. All proceeds collected will be donated to UNICEF. If people wish to donate more than the $3 entrance fee that will be welcomed and added to the total donation. Please bring cash only. No credit cards can be processed. This event is open to everyone. Please don’t bring pets, no dogs allowed on our track.
For more information contact Forrest Akers, International Club Advisor at forrest.akers@socc.edu, 541-888-7185; or Kyle Croy, Associated Student Government Advisor at kcroy@socc.edu, 541-888-7316.
