One OCCC professor is being honored in recognition of her groundbreaking work in computer gaming and computer animation.

The DaVinci Institute has named Akram Taghavi-Burris, Computer-Aided Technology professor, a 2011 DaVinci Fellow.

A new fellow is named each year, and each fellowship runs for two years.

Robert Bolton/PioneerOCCC Academic Adviser Tennent Emmons shows students how to enroll for summer and fall classes during a Brown Bag luncheon March 9. For more information, visit MineOnline, accessible through

Talented and hardworking, OCCC alumnus Lacey Lett is swiftly becoming a force to be reckoned with in the media world.

“Lacey is what I call a triple threat,” said OCCC Broadcasting professor Gwin Faulconer-Lippert.

“She can do radio, she can do television, and she can write.

“She’s had her own radio show. She’s had her own TV show. She writes for the Oklahoman, and she does a program called 7 in 7.”

Lett got her start in broadcast media while still in high school, working on the school’s newscast.

With spring break 2011 almost in full swing, many students have already begun to make plans on how to spend their free time.

As a student on a budget, however, many find it hard to afford that dream spring break vacation.

With a little creativity and research, students can find a spring break plan that fits them and their wallets.

On March 17, the world will unite under a banner of green to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, the Catholic feast day in honor of St. Patrick, patron saint of Ireland.

St. Patrick was a Catholic bishop who spent 40 years working to convert the various Irish tribes to Christianity in the 4th century, according to Catholic.com.

But the current incarnation of the holiday is a relatively recent development, according to an article on www.history.com.

“Excuse me, the mountain, is it far from here?” asked Yolande Kombou, an international student from Cameroon, in west Africa.

At the time Kombou was sitting with a group of students on top of Mount Scott, Oklahoma’s highest peak which reaches 2,464 feet.

The mountains in Cameroon are a massive chain known as the Cameroon Volcanic Line which at its highest point is over 13,255 feet, making it Africa’s largest volcano.

Swaiss, a native of Jordan, was a television reporter, writer and editor for the only English-language nightly television newscast for Jordan and surrounding countries during the mid ‘80s.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma and his master’s degree in mass communications at the University of Minnesota. He has been teaching Arabic at OCCC and Francis Tuttle for the past four years.

With the closing of Black History Month, comes the celebration of another group crucial to American history.

As the calendar turns, so does the awareness of Women’s History Month, which is celebrated throughout the month of March.

Lyndsie Stremlow, Arts and Humanities Division secretary, said Women’s History Month is an important event.

“There are many groups of people that juxtapose in America,” she said.

Two Baptist ministers squared off to debate the resolution “The U.S. Constitution neither establishes nor advocates for a Christian nation,” on campus late last month.

The Rev. Steve Kern, pastor of Olivet Baptist Church, argued that the U.S. Constitution intended to establish a Christian nation while Rev. Bruce Prescott, executive director of Mainstream Oklahoma Baptists and the opposition speaker, said the Constitution is neutral on religion.

A proposal to bring environmentally friendly “to go” containers to OCCC’s cafeteria will be voted on by The Leadership Council at the meeting at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, March 10, in College Union Room 1.

TLC is made up of student representatives from each student club plus several at-large members.

The resolution was authored by Lawrence Cagle with Phi Beta Kappa honor society, Kenneth Meador with College Democrats, and Jorge Krzyzaniak with Advocates of Peace.

TLC members accepted the resolution Feb. 24, in their second meeting of the semester where they had a full agenda and a full meeting room with more than 60 percent of campus clubs being represented.