Falcon Day - Speakers

Alva Acosta, Fine Arts Division

Alva Santiago, Microsoft Office Specialist

Alva Santiago, Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT), Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP). Born in New York City. Moved to Southern California in 1984. Fully bilingual in English and Spanish. Alva has been a business consultant and corporate trainer for 30 years. As a MCT, her clients include, but not limited to, Oracle, Oakley, Pentel, Nestles, Lisi Aerospace, GCS Aerospace, GKN Aerospace, United Way of New York City, U.S. Army Hospital in Colorado, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics, SpaceX, AEG Live, Hilton Worldwide, GlaxoSmithKline, Foss Maritime, Behr Paint, Marine Corp in Miramar, and Kaiser Permanente. Remote trainings included clients in Hong Kong, Singapore, Jakarta, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Chile, Denmark, Dublin, and new locations open up each year. As a consultant, hired by corporate clients to design and create business intelligence tools in Excel. Clients include Columbia University, Apollo Insurance, and Santa Monica Seafood. Also, designed and built two Access databases for the Marine Corp in Miramar to register and monitor trainees and their families. Experienced in Microsoft Excel, Word, Access, Outlook, PowerPoint, Project, Business Intelligence for Excel, and Power BI for Desktop. And, continually upgrading to newer software skills.

Presenting
"Outlook (Intermediate)"
Session A | Time: 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM 

"One-Drive"
Session B | Time: 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM

"Outlook (Advanced)"
Session C | Time: 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM

Dr. Dilcie Perez, Vice President, Student Services

Dr. Dilcie Perez currently serves as the vice president of student services and assistant superintendent at Cerritos College in California. Prior to this role, she served as the dean of student life and judicial affairs at MiraCosta Community College District. She also served as the dean of students at California State University San Marcos. Dr. Perez’s research and career experience has been centered on breaking down organizational silos to support student success. Dr. Perez earned a bachelor’s degree from CSU San Marcos in political science, a master’s degree in administration from Central Michigan University, and a doctorate in educational leadership from San Diego State University.

Presenting: 
“Committing to a Culture of Care. Every Student. Every Time.”
Closing Presentation | 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM

Dr. Humberto Hernandez, Cerritos College Psychologist

Dr. Humberto Hernandez is a licensed psychologist and currently works in Student Health at Cerritos College. He earned his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology at Washington State University. Dr. Hernandez utilizes a culturally informed and integrated approach to psychotherapy, staying cognizant of current research and evidence-based practices. He has worked several Hernandez years in higher education settings, as he enjoys supporting college students’ emotional development as they reach their academic and life goals.

Presenting: 
"Understanding Emotional Trauma"
Session C | Time: 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM

Janet Lambert, Lead DE Coordinator, Professor of English.

In 1993, Janet began teaching at Crenshaw High School. LAUSD's District Internship program set the foundation for her pedagogy which focuses on equity, humanizing, and supporting the development of student voice. She taught and wrote curriculum for their credentialing program as well as created a Teachers Helping Teachers retention program. In 2002, she began teaching at the community college level. Besides teaching faculty Canvas courses and creating online English curriculum, she presents regularly at conferences, including MLA, NADE, CADE, CAP, and OnCourse. She is also passionate about multimodal composition and African-American literature. In addition to teaching English and working as lead DE Coordinator, she teaches for @ONE.

Presenting:
"Video Club Presentation"
Session A | Time: 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM

"Connecting Assessment to What Matters to Students"
Session C | Time: 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM

Dr. Jose Fierro, President/Superintendent 

Native of Madison, Wisconsin, Dr. Jose Fierro grew up in Bogota, Colombia. He earned his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from the University of Applied Sciences in Bogotá, Colombia, and a Master of Science degree in leadership and management of educational programs from Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Dr. Fierro also holds a doctorate degree in higher education leadership from Northcentral University in Prescott, Arizona.

Dr. Fierro joined Cerritos College as the President/Superintendent in 2015. Prior to that, he served as the vice president of academic affairs and chief academic officer at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Under Dr. Fierro’s leadership, the College launched Cerritos Complete, the College’s official California College Promise program. Cerritos Complete is one of 10 community college programs in the nation selected as a finalist for the 2018 Bellwether Award.

He is also an avid athlete. He has been racing triathlons for 10 years, finishing every race. Dr. Fierro is actively involved with students – he trains with the College’s student veterans, and together, they participate in sports events, including the Beach Blast Half Marathon. Dr. Fierro is always looking for more opportunities to stay active and engaged with students. He has his eye on the Ironman race.

Presenting: 
"Wellness; 360 Self-Care to Improve Your Life"
Session D | Time: 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM

Kelly Rios, Student Services

Lynn Serwin, Co-DE Coordinator, Professor of English

Lynn Serwin is an English Professor with 20 years of online teaching experience. In her discipline, Lynn is often helping students bring out the best of themselves. Her work on sabbatical in 2020/21 was focused on helping online students build community with other students and campus services outside the classroom. The lessons learned about building community, and sustaining relationships online have translated to Lynn’s classes. Lynn is also the Distance Education Coordinator of Student Engagement and Support. Lynn holds a graduate certificate in Teaching Writing Online, has taken several @ONE courses to enhance her online teaching, and was awarded by Calbright College for developing Success Squads to connect students to the campus.

Presenting:
"Video Club Presentation"
Session A | Time: 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM

"Connecting Assessment to What Matters to Students"
Session C | Time: 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM

Natalie Gordon, Financial Aid

Natalie Gordon joined the Cerritos College community in June 2020 as a Program Assistant II in Financial Aid. As an undergraduate at UCLA, she interned for KROQ and Jack FM within their Social Media department and has continued to use Social Media as a way to engage with students. Since UCLA, she has been committed to a career in education and strives to help students reach their potential and maximize their financial aid in the process. During the COVID pandemic, she has been able to grow the @Cerritosfinaid Instagram from 300 to 800 followers within a year and make virtual connections to Cerritos College’s high school and community partners by fostering a virtual community on Instagram.

Presenting: 
"Increasing Student Engagement Using Instagram"
Session D | Time: 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM

Nicholas Matthews, Co-DE Coordinator, Professor of Speech

Nick Matthews has been a full-time faculty member in the Communication Studies department at Cerritos College since 2016 and began serving as a distance education coordinator for accessibility and general DE support in Fall 2021. He holds an M.A. in Communication Studies and an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership, both from California State University, Long Beach. His dissertation, “Accessible Instructional Materials and Disabled Student Success,” resulted in a first-of-its-kind measure of perceived accessibility in DE courses. He has won multiple awards in the CSU system for his accessibility research, including a first place Grad Slam award at his campus and a finalist award in a CSU system wide research competition. Nick is continuing his research on accessibility via a postdoctoral academic scholar appointment at CSULB for 2021-2022.

Presenting:
"Video Club Presentation"
Session A | Time: 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM

"Accessibility Presentation (Connecting students to key concepts)"
Session B | Time: 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM

 Sara Chavez, Counseling Department

Vanessa Salas, Counseling Department

Vanessa Salas joined Cerritos College in September 2015 as an Administrative Clerk II in the Counseling Department. As an entrepreneur, she learned to navigate and utilize Instagram, creating engaging content and building an active following. She is a UCLA graduate and is currently attending Pepperdine University for Clinical Psychology. She was handed the reins for managing the Counseling Department's Instagram account @cerritoscounseling at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and has grown the account following from 300 to 1,243 followers. What is better than having students know we care? How about the opportunity to engage with them daily? Her objective is to inform, build community, provide resources, and present opportunities for students to engage on Instagram.

Presenting:
"Increasing Student Engagement Using Instagram"
Session D | Time: 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM

Veronica Herrera, Co-DE Coordinator, Counselor

Veronica Herrera joined the Counseling Department over 15 years ago. She enjoys serving students by providing student development opportunities in and out of the classroom. She was recently appointed as one of the Distance Education Coordinators to provide professional development support in Accessibility. Veronica views the training process as a collaboration where she sees herself as a partner and coach. It is her goal to create training that provides a supportive learning environment, so that faculty and staff feel comfortable approaching her for assistance throughout the process. She fundamentally believes that when we support our faculty and staff with ongoing quality professional development opportunities, the better served our students will be.

Presenting: 
"Accessibility Presentation (Connecting students to key concepts)"
Session B | Time: 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM