Bakersfield College - Raconteur Yearbook (Bakersfield, CA)

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guise ,, - ',V' it ' .g .,, . . K if sian' f , x X. 'K f .. f The duties of Dr. Edward Simonsen, President of Bakersfield College for the past two and one half years, are so great in number that his free times are few and far between. Dr. Simonsen received his A.B. Degree at the College of the Pacific where he was Student Body President. Studying at the University of Cali- fornia, Berkeley, he earned his Master of Arts and Doctor of Education de- grees in educational administration. Dr. Simonsen first came to the Kern County Union High School and Junior College District as a member of the initial faculty at East Bakers- field High School in l938. Upon returning from further university training, Dr. Simonsen accepted the position of Dean of Men and Director of Ath- letics at Bakersfield College. Later, during his term as Dean of Administra- tion, Dr. Simonsen was the liaison between the college, the district adminis- tion, and the architects in the planning and construction of the new college campus. ln addition to his obligations on the campus, he is chairman of the State Athletic Committee of the California Junior College Association, a member of the Association's Committee on Junior College Plant Planning, and he is on the Personnel Practices Committee of the California Associa- tion of Secondary School Administrators. He is also a member of Phi Delta Kappa, international men's honorary educational fraternity. The President As l attempt to greet you in keeping with your Raconteur theme, A Face in the Crowd, may I begin with the sin- cere hope that each of you has developed his interests and his enthusiasms to the point of achieving great value from the year we have iust spent together. We trust that you have found this a friendly place in which to study and to understand better your hopes and aspirations. We believe that our type of college, with a student body of broad interests and abilities, with a staff devoted to teaching, and a campus conducive to learning, affords an excellent opportunity for individual growth and personal insight. Recently in a daily newspaper of national circulation there appeared an editorial which told of the advantages of small colleges. With apologies to the writer of that editorial, l should like to paraphrase it as l feel it relates to our college and your place in our student body. A student imbued with a desire not only to learn but to wonder can find at Bakersfield College the way to under- standing and fulfillment. He can take advantage of small- er lecture halls and more intimate recitation classes to ask the questions that in large groups are unanswered because they are unasked. And he need take no less pride in his alma mater than does the alumnus of an lvy League college. He will have placed his faith in himself and his devotion to learning ahead of other considerations, and by his very presence on our campus he will have helped our college mold itself while it molded him. Zmwf