Alice Saltzman for Trustee of Coast Community College District

By Alice Saltzman, Ph.D.

The role of a Trustee of Coast Community College District is to support faculty, staff, students, and administration while preserving fiscal responsibility.

A Trustee needs a business and financial background to oversee the distribution of educational funds. I've been an estate trustee and am now vice president of a small business. If elected, I will exhibit personal integrity and fiscal responsibility for Coast Community College District.

A Trustee must work cooperatively with other board members. I've had experience in helping to reach group consensus in cooperative organizations. I look forward to working with the other Trustees on the Board.

What else would I, personally, bring to the board?

First, I am a Mom and Grandma, which have made me a peacemaker, and a promoter of good education. Does being a peacemaker sound corny? Actually most of you are peacemakers in one setting or another, promoting love among family members, respectful interactions at work, cooperative relations at play and in our communities. We need to extend this to the world community as well if we want a peaceful world for our children and grandchildren.

As for good education, I loved learning with my children and grandchildren. In fact, I love learning of all types, at all levels. I've taught grade school children, middle school children, college students, and adults. If your life is standing still, or perhaps overwhelming, carve out time for a class. Don't worry about the grade. Do it for the thrill of learning something new. Then you will realize what a valuable asset Coast Community Colleges are to the adult population as well.

I would bring to the board my appreciation of diverse cultures. I received my Ph.D. from UC-Irvine in Social Sciences. I am a cultural anthropologist. I have a fascination for customs and beliefs that are different from my own. At 8 years of age, for Social Studies reports, I was cutting out pictures from National Geographic magazines of peoples from foreign countries in exotic costumes. At 16 I was an exchange student to Greece. At 19 I lived for over a year in Germany where my husband was stationed in the army. At 28 I lived with my husband and two small children in a village in the mountains of Montenegro, Yugoslavia, doing anthropological research on the peasants beliefs. Later I went to Brazil and the Philippines to study local healers. I was fascinated with all these places, but I was elated each time I returned home. How lucky I was to have been born in America, with all the rights, privileges and opportunities that American citizenship bestows. We all now live in a global economy and a global world. Even our community colleges have a culturally diverse student population. I believe one way to support students and Orange County international businesses is by expanding programs that highlight technology, cultural understanding, and international studies.

I also would bring to the board learned optimism. Twenty-five years ago I had a life threatening illness. When I came out of the coma, the doctors told me I would remain totally paralyzed from mid-chest down. Too horrible! I refused to believe them. Rather than get depressed, I focused on whatever I could do to bring health back into my body. At first it was only a healthier diet + no coffee, no sugar, a vitamin pill. But when my big toe wiggled, and my kneecap moved slightly, I gave them regular wiggling exercises. I was then drawn to supplemental and alternative therapies -- acupuncture, therapeutic touch (taught in many nursing schools) and more spiritually oriented energy practices. I first went as a patient, then studied the healers' beliefs and techniques as an anthropologist, and eventually became trained as a practitioner. A spiritual outlook transformed my atheist upbringing, and learned optimism is replacing habitual pessimism. As a Trustee I will be helpful in arriving at good solutions to the District's challenges.

When I was a girl, I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. "I want to be a mother and a student," I'd reply. So, I raised three wonderful children (2 grandchildren) and I kept going back to college and graduate school in fits and starts, getting my Ph.D. at UC-Irvine at age 50. Now, I think it is time to be of service, to use my experience and education to be a Trustee for the Coast Community College District.

If you live in any of the zip codes below, please vote for me as Trustee of Coast Community College District in the national election on November 2nd. Thank you very much.

Costa Mesa--92626-7-8-9; Newport Beach--92659-60-1-2; Seal Beach--90740; Newport Coast--92657; Westminster--92683; Garden Grove--92840-1-2-3-4-5; Fountain Valley--92708; Huntington Beach--92646-7-8-9