Butte College Foundation Grants Awarded

The Butte College Foundation awarded $15,000 to worthy Butte College programs.

The Foundation Grants Committee met on Friday, March 5, 2010 at 9:00 a.m. in the Center for Academic Success building.

The following individuals made up the Foundation Grants Selection Committee:
Foundation Directors: Pat Pascale, Steve Olmos, Ruth Ann Hansen, Margaret Hughes
Executive Director Foundation: John Gliha
Instruction Representative: John Osborne, Teresa Ward
Management Representative: Annette Guffy
Classified Representative: Magian Smith

The committee reviewed 24 applications requesting a total of $39,925.07 in funds. Here are a few of the requests totaling $15,000.


Child Development Center

With Butte College’s growth in enrollment there has been the need to expand the Butte College Child Development Center (CDC).  The expansion of the CDC into the Chico Campus benefits Butte College students by providing an alternative site for students who, because of curricular consolidation, may need to attend classes at the Chico Campus.  The CDC endeavors to collaborate proactively with faculty and students to maximize student success.  As the college responds to the needs of the underserved students who are experiencing financial burden, the CDC is committed to provide quality childcare.  In particular, the CDC Mission philosophy and professional dedication is to provide excellence in childcare promoting self-esteem, self-regulation, and school readiness for children, through the implementation of developmentally appropriate curriculum for young children and their parents, and our students.

Students enrolled in Early Childhood Education classers will see firsthand an environment rich in materials and adult child relationship that promote fine and large motor development, creative exploration, language expansion, and critical social emotional progress.  CDC’s professional and dedicated teachers practice guidance and discipline techniques that foster and instill a respect for one another, while nurturing the whole child and their family.

In going forward to expand and provide care for the children of Butte College students, there was a specific and pressing need for a sleeping mat system for the group of children whose ages require napping.  The guidelines set forth in title 22 govern the materials and needs set forth in our request.  A grant given by the Butte College Foundation provided mats for 22 children. The high quality mats are guaranteed for 4 years (minimum) which will serve 176 children and quite possibly continue to serve many more for the years to come.  In addition, a sanitary storage unit serves to store the mats as well as act as a structural entry barricade needed to adapt the current Chico classroom into a “Safety First” children’s classroom.


Computer Science Technology

The Gateway program will provide online access for our students and faculty to variety of leading-edge computer and educational technologies.  The principle components of the Gateway consist of terminal servers for applications, virtualized servers to train computer administrators, virtualized servers to train computer administrators, and virtual world servers to provide a highly interactive learning environment.

Terminal servers will allow our students to use the latest software applications, on campus and remotely, at no cost to them beyond basic Internet access. In this way, the Gateway will allow us to house, maintain, monitor, and deliver these applications from a single source on campus.

Virtualized servers represent the cutting-edge in enterprise-level computing, and the Gateway will enable Butte College students to experience the hands-on training they will need to succeed in minimal hardware resources.  The Gateway will help Butte College save money on computer hardware expenses as it enables us to expose our students to a vast array of the latest enterprise computing technologies.

Virtual worlds represent the highlight, and likely the component that draws the greatest public interest, of the Gateway project.  In virtual worlds, students and faculty can interact with each other and objects in a three-dimensional space.  In its simplest form, a virtual world is a highly immersive space in which students and faculty can participate in lectures, view presentations, and explore.  With the proper amount of institutional support, individual creativity, and hard work, a virtual world can provide students with interactive simulations and other experiences that they could not have in the real world.  For example, engineering students can build virtual robots that would cost millions of dollars, history students can recreate and tour ancient cities, and students in meteorology can fly into the center of a hurricane.


Spanish Language Resource Line

The Butte College Foundation provided a grant to fund the development of a phone line within the Butte College Call Center to serve Spanish speaking students. The new phone line for Spanish speaking students will serve as a user friendly gateway to the college’s resources and services.  Students who are enrolling at Butte College will connect with a friendly and knowledgeable Call Center worker who will provide information regarding enrollment and student services.

The mission of the Butte College Call Center is to provide current, prospective students and the general public with information regarding all Student Service Departments pertaining to current and prospective enrollment.  This enhancement would allow the Call Center to extend those services to students whose primary language is Spanish.

The overall goal of this Butte College Foundation grant is to allow the Call Center to create a student-centered, community-based learning environment which empowers students to become productive, literate, and responsible members of a diverse society by providing Spanish speaking students with an equal opportunity to access student support services and develop Basic Skills.


Natural Resources- Swarovski Spotting Scope

The Butte College Foundation provided funding toward the purchase of a Swarovski straight spotting scope.  This scope will be used for observing wildlife with a close up view without disturbing their natural behavior and for species identification on and off the Butte College Wildlife Refuge.  This piece of equipment is important since most wildlife species tend to shy away from humans in close proximity and much of the time binoculars do not provide enough magnification.  Students benefiting from this equipment are those of the Friends of the Refuge Club, which is made up of a variety of disciplines, Natural Resources (Wildlife Management) and Biology (Zoology and Field Biology) majors during normal class activities.  This will allow a better understanding of animal behavior and species identification for all of the students using this equipment.  Additionally, skills developed in using this equipment by Natural Resources and Biology majors will help staff, providing work experience students in our quest to do a complete species list for the Butte College Wildlife Refuge.


Biology, Radiotelemetry and Tagging Equipment

The Butte College Foundation provided a grant towards the purchase of equipment to be used in teaching various courses on campus that deal with wildlife.  These courses include Zoology, Field Biology, and Wildlife Management, but this equipment may be used in other courses as well.

Modern techniques of marking and tracking animals involve the use of technology such as radio telemetry (by placing a small radio transmitter on the animal and tracking it with a receiver) and the use of tiny implantable chips under the skin of animals that are permanent and uniquely coded. These can then be easily read by a hand-held reader.  This equipment will provide Butte College students with the valuable experience of using these techniques to mark and track animals.

Studies on wildlife often depend upon the ability to capture an animal and mark it so that when it is recaptured it can be easily identified.  Common techniques for doing his include the banding of birds by placing a metal or plastic band around their legs.  However, for smaller organisms, like mice, bates, etc. this method is not very viable as there is no easy location on the body to place such a tag.

Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tag technology has allowed for the marking of small animals with permanent tags that have little or no adverse effects.  These tiny tags (about the size of a large rice grain) are implanted under the skin of an animal by a simple and quick injection mechanism.  Each tag produced has a unique identification code and does not require any batteries.  When a reader is place over an animal with a tag, it reads out the ID code from the tag, thus allowing for safe, reliable and highly accurate marking of animals in the field.  These tags are also permanent so that they last the life of the animal.

While marking an animal is an important part of studying them, following their movements to locate them is equally vital in wildlife studies.  This is typically done by placing radio transmitters (or GPS devices) on an animal and then using an antenna/receiver to locate and follow the animal.  This is standard practice in wildlife surveys and gaining experience in using such techniques provides our student with an advantage when it comes to applying for internships, jobs as well as graduate schools.  To radiotrack an animal, one needs transmitter to place on the animal – these come in a variety of sizes and weights to match the animal’s size, a receiver that is matched to the radio’s frequencies as well as a hand-held directional antenna to locate the direction of the signal.


SIFE – Emergency Loan Fund

Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) has been operating an Emergency Student Loan Program for years on campus.  This program, which makes loans ranging between $25 and $100, is designed to assist students in meeting their basic school and living needs.  It is clear that during this economic downturn more of our students are finding it difficult to pay not only for books and supplies, but also address their basic needs of housing and food.  Emergency loan funds and the campus food pantry have provided critical support helping individuals as the need arises.

SIFE’s program has been very successful over the years for a number of reasons.  First, the application process is simple.  Students complete a one page application which is not overly intrusive.  This provides an incentive for students to apply for funding without feeling that we are embarrassing them.  Second, the approval process is quick (typically less than one week).  So, the money that the students so desperately need is disbursed in a timely manner.  The most important feature of this program is that it works.  These loans go directly to Butte College students in such a way that they are able to feel, not only a sense of dignity, but that they are seeking assistance, rather than getting a “handout.”

The program has more demand for loans than funding available.  SIFE students have raised $300 to fund this program, which means that only three students at a time have been able to receive funding.  The grant received from the foundation, will enable SIFE to better serve Butte College students by funding a substantially greater number of loans.


See a full listing of Butte College Foundation grants >