Gavilan College

Researchers often ask women about pregnancy intentions but seldom ask how confident women are that they will be able to become pregnant when they desire. We argue that beliefs about fertility and infertility may function as justifications for behaviors to which one is already committed. Thus, women who have delayed childbearing but who intend to become pregnant may express confidence in their ability to become pregnant, even in the face of diminished odds of conception. Using data from the National Survey of Fertility Barriers, we demonstrate that over 75 percent of women who intend a first or subsequent pregnancy express confidence that they will be able to become pregnant when they wish, even if they perceive themselves as having a fertility problem or meet medical criteria for infertility. Our results are consistent with the motivated reasoning perspective. Our findings suggest that confidence in pregnancy may be a response to social‐structural pressures to delay childbearing among women who intend to become pregnant, but not necessarily the reason for delay.

Women have many reproductive options, but little is known about their regrets regarding prior reproductive choices and outcomes. Guided by the life-course and stratified reproduction perspectives, this study draws on an open-ended question about reproductive regrets from wave I of the National Survey of Fertility Barriers, a representative telephone survey of reproductive aged U.S. women conducted from 2004 to 2006. The authors classified regrets into five broad categories: (1) none, (2) problematic fertility, (3) unfulfilled fertility desires, (4) family, and (5) pregnancy experiences. The authors conducted the analyses separately by motherhood status. Logistic regression analysis revealed that regardless of parental status, those who were older, had infertility, or were experiencing economic hardship were more likely to report reproductive regrets. The authors also investigated factors associated with the likelihood of expressing specific reproductive regrets. In general, the present findings confirm expectations based on the life-course and stratified reproduction perspectives.

Lesbian and gay parents are becoming more prevalent, visible, and accepted in the United States. Despite these shifts, legal and social obstacles continue to shape pathways to parenthood. For many lesbians and gay men, access to parenthood is difficult, uncertain, and varies geographically. Using focus group interviews, this study explores how 36 Midwestern gay, lesbian, and bisexual young adults without children perceive gay and lesbian parenting and their own parenthood prospects. Themes included perceptions of legal and social barriers to parenthood, assumptions of the mounting economic obstacles and constraints surrounding parenthood, and concerns with navigating legal relatedness when establishing their families. This research provides insight into how emerging adulthood is experienced by sexual minority young adults in a shifting legal and social climate full of uncertainty regarding LGBTQ rights and parenthood. Policy implications and future research are discussed surrounding sexually diverse people’s accessibility in pursuing parenthood.

The experiences and discourses within a college classroom can have meaningful and lasting influences on students. In this article, we present and analyze student reactions to a Criminal Activities Checklist, a unique classroom activity that demonstrates the social construction of “the criminal” and “law-abiding citizen” and challenges the “us versus them” mentality. Additionally, the activity illustrates the importance of recognizing privilege in society and understanding how privilege can interact with the criminal justice system. We analyzed 170 qualitative responses from students who participated in the activity at teaching-centered universities in Colorado and Oregon. Our findings demonstrate that the activity fostered student Reflexivity regarding their misperceptions of crime and criminals and demonstrated Empathetic Thinking towards those with less privilege or who were affected by the criminal justice system.

The cultural and legal landscape in the United States has shifted towards increased recognition of LGBQ-parent families. This shift raises questions about the everyday experiences of LGBQ parents and whether the cultural and legal changes also manifest in diminished experiences of discrimination. Drawing on data from 74 interviews with LGBQ parents, we analyze their accounts of whether they are read as a parent by others in their daily interactions. Our findings reveal the ways in which heterosexuality is a key component of how membership to the category of ‘parent’ is produced in social interactions. Our findings also illustrate how assumptions about heterosexuality are both racialized and gendered. Our focus on accountability foregrounds power in everyday interactions and provides a lens through which to understand how inequality and disempowerment for LGBQ people can persist in American society despite cultural and legal changes.

Written by a former tenure-track community college faculty member and current community college administrator, this chapter offers the reader a different perspective on teaching inequality and capitalism based upon the type of higher education institution. Having taught at two community colleges, a private four-year university, and a public research university, the author discovered that the challenges of teaching the topic were very different depending on the type of institution. Readers of this essay will come away with valuable insight into the different approaches employed in teaching inequality and capitalism as a dependent function of the type of institution where it is taught.

Latino students represent the fastest-growing population in the state of California, the United States, and the California Community College (CCC) system. Unfortunately, compared to other ethnic groups, Latino community college students continue to lag academically. Given the importance of counseling services and the scarce research related to community college students and community college counseling services, this study explored how 26 first-generation, low-income, Latino community college students perceived, negotiated, and developed a relationship with their community college counselor. Using a qualitative grounded theory research design, participants’ counseling experiences were captured through face-to-face semistructured in-depth interviews, and a theoretical model was developed. This study extended the literature on the importance of community college counseling services in assisting and motivating students to reach transfer and graduation and emphasized students’ positive and negative counseling experiences. The research findings suggest a need to improve community college counseling services. Thus, based on the research findings and other published research, this study proposes a set of the following: (a) guidelines for applying cultura (culture) to community college counseling that can assist relationship building between students and counselors; (b) questions that can be included in students’ evaluation of counselors; (c) counselor interview questions that may elicit behavioral response and assess cultural competence; and (d) community college students’ preferred counselor characteristics that may be used by hiring committees.

This article celebrates and pays tribute to the work of Karin Barber by joining analyses of the history of political and economic conditions with analyses of the relationship between people's lifestyles and aesthetic forms of production. This paper analyzes a Yorùbá alárìnjó (traditional singing, dancing, drumming, and masquerade) performance and a recent Yorùbá film by Túndé Kelani to illustrate the interconnections between “lifestyle” and aesthetics (Bourdieu, Distinction). This article concludes that a local performing troupe produced an aesthetics of liminality that emerged from its immersion in local and global markets of the 1990s, while the Kelani film produces an aesthetics of ambivalence, exploring relationships between traditional and modern cultural politics in the early 2000s. Grounded in long-term fieldwork in southwestern Nigeria, this piece illustrates Barber's insight that cultural preservation requires innovation and argues further that popular culture is an important part of this process (Anthropology of Texts).

Advances in miniaturized analytical sensors will improve current techniques for measuring blood glucose. In contrast to the current enzyme-based approaches, non-enzymatic methods for measuring saccharides can be less expensive. We have synthesized a class of polyelectrolytes containing boronic acid, a synthetic saccharide receptor. These polymers can be used in a variety of sensing systems, including fluorescence-based assays. A key challenge in designing these sensors is selectivity of the polymers. By changing the structure of the phenylboronic acid receptor, different saccharide selectivities can be achieved. A fluorescence assay was used to measure saccharide selectivity. A fluorescent dye is quenched by the polymers, and when saccharides bind to the polymer, fluorescence is recovered. The fluorescence signal is dependent on the saccharide concentration. The assay was first optimized for maximum signal, and the binding affinity for three monosaccharides was determined. These experiments will determine the polymer with the best selectivity for glucose, leading to its use in an analytical sensor.

The Canada de los Osos (CDLO) Reserve is in the southern portion of the Mt. Hamilton Range Ca. approximately ten miles east of Gilroy. CDLO reserve was identified by The Nature Conservancy as a high priority for protection and conservation. To date, nothing is known about the insect fauna of this diverse area. The reserve is composed of roughly 4400 miles that encompasses a number of habitats including riparian, chaparral, mixed woodland, grassland, and aquatic habitats. An insect survey was undertaken at CDLO Ecological Reserve to begin compiling the diversity and composition of the terrestrial insect fauna. Using a number of collecting methods including the use of black lights, mercury vapor lights, netting, pitfall and malaise traps, we collected a number of insects in four sampling sites over a five week period. Due to the sheer number of insects collected, only data for the Coleoptera were tabulated. Our results are reported herein.

Research has suggested Supplemental Instruction (SI) also known as Peer Assisted Study Sessions can support students in their efforts to succeed in their courses and program (Lockie, N.M. et al 1994.) At Gavilan Community College, the Natural Sciences department developed a SI program based on the University of Missouri- Kansas City model. This model suggests that SI participants earned higher mean final course grades, and have lower rates of course withdrawals (Arendale et al. 1997). After 3 years of implementation, a comprehensive evaluation study was conducted. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected for both formative and summative evaluations. For example, focus groups provided specific suggestions on the organization of the program and methods for distributing information. A self-report survey found SI students benefitted from participation and had useful suggestions for improving the program. Additionally, the summative data found a high correlation between SI participation and grade points. Further analysis comparing pre-SI course success rates and SI course success rates found that the students who participated in the SI courses achieved higher grades as compared to students in the pre-SI courses. A preliminary demographic review indicates a higher number of women and Latinos in the SI program proportionally to the campus population and coincides with other research that states that collaborative learning environments are more beneficial for learning of students from diverse cultures (Arendale, D. 1993.) The findings from the evaluation were used to better understand the program's effect and make changes in the structure and operation of the program.

Our lab studies neural development in C. elegans, a transparent nematode used as a model system for gene function studies. Rab-7 is a gene in the rab family of monomeric GTPases responsible for vesicular traffic within the cell. Specifically, rab-7 regulates endosomal sorting and transportation of vesicles from early endosomes to lysosomes. In general, monomeric GTPases function as molecular switches. They alternate between active and inactive forms depending on their nucleotide binding state. When bound to GTP, the GTPase is active; when GTP is hydrolyzed to GDP it becomes inactive. Mutations in rab7 have been associated with patients suffering from Charcot-Marie-Tooth type 2B neuropathy. Studies into the function of rab-7 in C. elegans can give clues to the causes of this disease and leads into possible treatments in humans. We obtained cDNA entry clones from the ORFeome library (Reboul et al. 2003)and verified that the WT rab-7 cDNA sequence was correct. Using site-directed mutagenesis, we mutated specific codons in the wild-type rab-7 to create both a constitutively active (CA) and a dominant negative (DN) form. These three forms (WT, DN, and CA) will be recombined into a destination vector using gateway technology to create an expression clone that includes a neural promoter driving expression of rab-7 fused to mCHERRY. These expression clones will then be introduced into C. elegans to study rab-7 function in neurons. The mCherry fluorescent protein will show where the rab-7 protein is located within neurons. The DN and CA forms will help dissect rab-7 function.

Barber’s latest book provides a call and prescription for a renewed focus on the analysis of texts and the conditions of their production and reception. Building on her extensive fieldwork in the Yoruba town of Okuku, Barber’s numerous publications analyzing African oral and written texts have already modeled such an anthropology. In order to produce these kinds of analyses, today’s anthropologists need to be retrained. Having trained as an anthropologist during the popularization of multi-sited fieldwork, poststructuralism, and postmodernism, I seem to have witnessed the fragmentation of ethnographic fieldwork. To acquire the necessary tools for Barber’s methodology, anthropologists need to go back to the basics: achieve fluency in the language of the oral and written texts being examined; spend uninterrupted periods of time living in the setting in which the texts are produced; and spend time talking with a wide range of text composers, co-producers, and audience members about the texts themselves. If anthropologists and cultural critics strive to explain how other cultures produce locally specific meanings while engaging in the world, they will benefit from Barber’s call to take seriously the texts we constantly preserve and innovate.

A distinctly Pentecostal music and worship style has strongly affected rock and roll. This influence has been both indirect, through Pentecostal influence on gospel music, and direct, via a surprising number of rock artists who grew up in or were exposed early to Pentecostal settings. Among those rock and soul artists are many in the highest echelons of rock performance and song writing, including Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, B. B. King, James Brown, Tina Turner, Marvin Gaye, Sly Stone, Al Green, and many others. One explanation of Pentecostal influence rests on the parallels between Pentecostalism and rock, both of which feature ecstatic music drawing on West African roots.

h4>ABSTRACT This qualitative research study examined the perceived barriers and factors that hindered or facilitated ethnically diverse students’ completing their nursing education. It builds on a large qualitative study conducted by Yoder in 1996, describing the processes nurse educators use when teaching ethnically diverse students and the perceived special needs of these students. Seventeen recently graduated ethnic minority RNs in Central Coastal California were interviewed using an open-ended questionnaire. These nurses represented Latino, Portuguese, Asian, and African-American population groups. Grounded theory methodology was used for data analysis. The findings identified the needs and barriers that ethnically diverse nursing students may encounter while completing their nursing education. In addition, data revealed supportive factors that helped these students cope with the barriers. AUTHORS Received: August 28, 2004 Accepted: May 20, 2005 Ms. Amaro is Nursing Instructor, Gavilan Community College, Gilroy, and Dr. Abriam-Yago and Dr. Yoder are Professors, San Jose State University, San Jose, California. Address correspondence to Debra J. Amaro, MS, RN, 6760 Stephan Court, Gilroy, CA 95020; e-mail: damaro@gavilan.edu . </p

Information competency is increasingly important to the learning process at Gavilan College. Supported by a $35,000 grant from the California Community College Chancellor's Office, a team of Allied Health (AH) and Library faculty developed new components and revised courses in the Allied Health curriculum. The main objective was to introduce Allied Health students and faculty to a wide array of information technologies, computer applications and information competency concepts. Our goal was to reconfigure the Allied Health curriculum to reflect the impact of information technology on the health professions by inserting information competency components into AH courses. These changes in the curriculum each year impact about 450 students enrolled in the Allied Health curriculum, 475 students enrolled in Biology course co-offered with Allied Health, and 150 students enrolled in Library courses. Three new one-unit Library/Allied Health courses were developed and five three-unit Allied Health courses were extensively revised with AH instructors and librarians working in tandem. All modules were web-based.Student scores on an Information Competency (IC) test administered at the beginning and end of each class showed an average gain of 23.8 points.Outcomes include an enlarged cadre of faculty and administrators knowledgeable and enthusiastic about IC as an effective instructional method, more effective use of our technology infrastructure, and more effective working relationships between library and discipline faculty. Students struggled at first through the IC assignments, but came out demonstrating not only better health and medical research skills, but, according to their instructors, improved basic research, report writing, and computer skills. Allied Health faculty reported that integrating IC components helped to maintain currency in their own courses, and enhance the overall quality of their courses. After IC training, students were better able to differentiate the quality of sources, and had a broader understanding of course content. The process effectively institutionalized IC in the Allied Health department. Some “lessons learned,” a planning template and our test instruments are provided. Class websites may be found at

This document reports on a study done at Gavilan College regarding counseling intervention for students that are subject to academic dismissal. The students that were studied were required to visit a dedicated follow up counselor prior to enrolling in classes in order to assist them in designing an achievable academic plan. The data gathered came from 68 students in fall 2000 and 85 students in Spring 2001. The study found that study skills counseling alone resulted in increased persistence and higher GPA's even though those students did not self-report improved study habits. Furthermore, follow up counseling is most strongly related to an increase in retention and persistence and a decrease in the number of units attempted without a decrease in the number of units completed. Although there was a lack of increase in GPA, this may be due to the difficulty of raising grades in a short amount of time. Outreach efforts appeared to occur at a level sufficient to attract interested students. Future analysis will explore the number of visits to other counselors, planned work hours, educational goals and other potentially influencing factors. (MZ)