Bakersfield College - Raconteur Yearbook (Bakersfield, CA)

Page 18 text:

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

Page 17 text:

,www 44-Mrie,'1f 71 TG Aggggrggm 33-imp' ,gif W iff' W V Q fl M RW 01 fr: , 1' ' -M' if 4 .f ,,-,pm

Page 19 text:

And the Vice President Dr. Simonsen makes it a point to keep communication lines open with the students. Mr. Burns Finlinson, Vice President of Bakersfield Col- lege, has identified himself thoroughly with the educa- tional and cultural interests of the community during his 14 years here. When he came to Bakersfield College, Mr. Finlinson was Director of the Veterans Guidance Center, and in 1949 he assumed the new post of Dean of Records. He was appointed to the office of Vice President in 1958. With his wife and three children, Mr. Finlinson lives on a small Garnsey Road ranch, which is reminiscent of his boyhood home in Utah. There, in his spare time, he enioys listening to good music and reading. From Brigham Young University he received his Bache- lor and Master of Science degrees. Also, he travelled throughout the maior countries of the world aboard the University Afloat, which proved to be a most enioyable and instructive period of travel and study. Mr. Finlinson gained his first experience in college work as the Dean of Men and as Chairman of the Social Science Department at the College of Southern Utah in Cedar City.