Parenting/Education

Santa Barbara start-up Cognixion announced this week that new upgrades are available to Speakprose Pro+ app featuring eye-tracking and facial recognition that will assist communication for people with speech and motor-function disabilities.

Speakprose Pro+ is used on compatible portable Apple devices and serves to democratize speech between people in the public and private domains. More importantly, the latest upgrades allow people who have been silenced by their circumstances to connect and interact with the rest of the world.

Sally Stewart has been elected for a second term as President of the Transition House Auxiliary. A resident of Santa Barbara for 32 years, she has been a member of the Auxiliary for four years and co-chaired the organization’s 21st Annual Mad Hatter Luncheon fund raiser in 2018. She volunteers for Transition House and Hospice of Santa Barbara.

Other newly-elected board officers include Vice President Florence Michel, Treasurer Anna Ylvisaker, Secretary Diane White, Membership Chair Debbie Branch Geremia, Hospitality Chair Darlene Amundsen, and Publicity Chair Jean Keely.

At its organizational meeting on December 13, the District Board of Trustees elected Robert Miller as president of the board for the 2019 calendar year. Dr. Peter Haslund was elected board vice president.

President Miller was first appointed to the Governing Board in February 2018  and represents Area 2 (Goleta). He was elected to serve the remainder of former Trustee Marianne Kugler's term, through 2020. Vice President Haslund joined the Board in 2010 and represents Area 1 (Carpinteria and Montecito).

Source: PMSM Architects

PMSM/19six Architects, one of the oldest architectural firms in California, is proud to announce that Monisha Adnani has been promoted to Principal.

Judge Michele Castillo and Dr. Bernie Luskin are the newest members of The Santa Barbara & Ventura Colleges of Law (COL) Board of Trustees. Both were elected unanimously this fall to serve as fiduciaries for the region’s oldest and largest independent law school.

University Club of Santa Barbara Celebrates 100 years and introduces its 2018/2019 Board of Directors

The University Club of Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara’s premier social and dining club is proud to announce its Centennial Anniversary and will be hosting uniquely memorable events all year long. President Leonard Himelsein said…“Moving the Club into a new era while maintaining its historical elegance is critically important to me.” Himelsein is honored to serve his second term as President and joining him is the Club’s board of directors and they are listed below.

The Knox School of Santa Barbara, for Gifted and Talented Children, is pleased to announce that Mrs. Kari Van Bebber Ramirez has taken up the helm as the new Head of School, beginning this 2018/2019 school year.  The school’s Founder, Dr. Angela Tanner, will continue in her role as Director.
 

Local employees and job-seekers at all career stages can take charge of their futures with Career Skills Institute courses through the SBCC School of Extended Learning. During November, several of these tuition-free short courses are geared toward improving management and workplace communication skills. The Career Skills Institute is endorsed by LinkedIn and focuses on providing training for the workforce in a unique, flipped-classroom setting, powered by Lynda.com.

The United Nations Association of Santa Barbara & Tri Counties has awarded its inaugural 2017 Santa Barbara Peace Prize to environmental leader Rinaldo S. Brutoco, founding president of the World Business Academy, now in its thirtieth year.

With approximately 263 million vehicles on the road, the United States is a country made up of drivers that trust their vehicles to get them everywhere as safely, reliably, and efficiently as possible. However, there’s a good chance a vast majority of these drivers may not know they’re unknowingly sacrificing safety, wasting money and time, and unnecessarily harming the environment along the way.

SBCC has once again received recognition for its outstanding educational programs. College Choice, a leading authority in college and university rankings and resources, ranked Santa Barbara City College at #9 for Best Online programs. The full ranking can be viewed here.

Santa Barbara Unified School District opened recruitment for the Director of English Learner and Parent Engagement, a position held by Dr. Jacqueline Mora since July of 2015. Dr. Mora was recently appointed as Assistant Superintendent of Education Services at Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District. Recruitment for the Director of English Learner and Parent Engagement opened on September 28, 2017 and will close on October 27, 2017. 

Santa Barbara Unified School Board of Education will consider a policy change limiting interdistrict transfers at its regularly scheduled Board meeting on October 10, 2017. The policy change under consideration is a result of a district funding model shift to basic aid this fiscal year. Basic aid is when the district is in a position to generate more revenue through local property taxes than the State provides through traditional funding formulas.

Photo: SBCC Geologist and administrative assistant Libby Gans (left) and geologist and Professor Emeritus at UCSB, Dr. Arthur Sylvester

Bennett's Educational Materials will not be closing the store as previously reported, but instead moving into a different unit inside the Magnolia Shopping Center (next to Subway). The new address is 5148 Hollister Avenue, Santa Barbara, CA 93111. Our last day at our old location is September 30th, and the first day at our new location will be Sunday, September 8th. Thank you for your support and we hope to see you at our new location.

(Santa Barbara, CA) -- Wilderness Youth Project is proud to announce a community fundraising campaign to raise $250,000, 

Providence is pleased to announce that Caroline Corazza has joined the school's advancement team as the director of development.

Santa Barbara Community Academy Principal, Alicia Saballa-Santana announced she will retire on October 6, 2017 after six years of service with Santa Barbara Unified School District and 32 years in education. Saballa-Santana began her service with Santa Barbara Unified School District on September 2011 as Principal of Santa Barbara Community Academy.

Astronomy enthusiasts of all ages were in for a treat that was out of this world as the 7th annual AstroVaganza celebration returned to the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History on Saturday, September 9th.

Enthusiastic, patient adult volunteers are needed to tutor learners in the Santa Barbara Public Library System’s free Adult Literacy Program. Tutoring changes lives by helping local adults learn basic skills, build work readiness, study for the citizenship exam, help their children, and achieve personal and career goals. The Library System will offer nine-hour training courses for new tutors in September and October 2017.

To help its resident families prepare for the upcoming school year, Peoples’ Self-Help Housing (PSHH) hosted a variety of fun and engaging activities for resident children over the summer, including nutrition, computer coding, STEM and other programs.

The Santa Barbara County Courthouse Docent Council is seeking applicants. Training for persons interested in becoming docents at the National Historic Landmark Santa Barbara County Courthouse will begin in early January, 2018 and go through mid-March. This is an opportunity to learn about the history and architecture of this special building and share the information with its many visitors from around the world. A coffee for prospective docents will be held in November. Applications are available at the Courthouse information booth or by calling Mary Ann Froley at 695-0524.

Santa Barbara City College welcomes newly hired full-time faculty members, who begin their tenure at the College this week. August 21 marked the first day of classes for the 2017-2018 school year and Fall semester.

Santa Barbara City College announced its selection of Kyle Rasmussen as Veterans Support and Resource Center Coordinator for the College. Rasmussen will head up support, outreach and marketing efforts for the Veterans Center, including managing the Veterans Administration (VA) work study program. He will provide non-instructional services to eligible veterans, reservists and dependents and their spouses. 

This fall, local employees and job-seekers at all career stages can take charge of their futures with Career Skills Institute courses through the SBCC School of Extended Learning. These tuition-free courses can be completed in a few weeks and earn you digital badges. Registration is now open for the 86 tuition-free classes offered throughout the Fall Semester. Students who wish to complete digital badges in a single semester are urged to register now to secure their spot in classes.

Anacapa School has made an astonishing comeback. Recent financial challenges led to a decision to close Anacapa School until an anonymous, unsolicited $1M cash donation from a source outside of the school’s donor community provided a vital financial lifeline. “Anacapa School has served Santa Barbara and the outlying communities through the years, and now we have been given the opportunity to continue our mission through this extraordinarily generous and much appreciated donation”, said Headmaster Gordon Sichi.