![Photo caption: (from Left to right) Mari Garcia, Sabrina Lawrence, Robert Overson, Lorraine Burgman, Jennifer Nari. Photo by Pablo Balancio for Gavilan College.](https://sanbenito.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2012/03/94602c90d5e98e36650427903d9042b7.jpg)
At its February 2012 meeting, the Gavilan College Board of Trustees conferred tenure upon five faculty members. Tenure is the granting of continuous employment status to a faculty member. Employment will then be ongoing until terminated through retirement, resignation, or dismissal (persuant to the provisions of the faculty contract.)
It takes four years of employment, annual evaluations, and successful completion of the Tenure Review process for a faculty member to be recommended for tenure. Tenure Review is a confidential process carried out by a Tenure Review Committee, which considers all pertinent information: student evaluations, self-evaluations, administrative evaluations, committee observations, and student surveys, to make a recommendation to the college president either to continue or not to continue employment. Each Tenure Review committee consists of the faculty member’s dean, the supervising administrator, two faculty members, and the appropriate department chair. The Tenure Review committee is formed during the first year of employment. It then meets, reviews annual evaluations, and makes a recommendation to the president as to whether employment should be continued after the first year, after the second year, and after the fourth year. If tenure is not granted after the fourth year, then the faculty member’s contract is not renewed.
The faculty members are:
Lorraine Burgman, Learning Disability Specialist
Burgman is an alumna of Gavilan College, having graduated with an AA in Spanish. She has a BA in Behavioral Science from San Jose State University, and MA in Social Science with a Learning Disabilities Certificate from San Jose State University.
Robert Overson, Learning Disability Specialist
Overson holds a multiple-subject teaching credential from Bethany College, as well as a BA in Social Science from San Jose State University, and an MA in Special Education from San Jose State University.
Mari Garcia, EOPS Counselor
Garcia earned an AA in General Studies from Hartnell College, a BA in World Languages and Culture from California State University, Monterey Bay, and an MA in Counseling from San Jose State University.
Jennifer Nari, Math Instructor
Nari earned both an AA and AS from College of the Sequoias. She has a BA in Mathematics from University of California at Berkeley, and an MA in Mathematics from University of California at Santa Cruz.
Sabrina Lawrence, Distance Education Coordinator
Lawrence earned an AA in Liberal Arts from Cabrillo College, a BA in Liberal Arts w/ concentration on Computer Science and Technology from California State University, Monterey Bay, and an MA in Education, Instructional Technology, from San Jose State University.
Lawrence began her college years at Gavilan College when she was 16, eventually transferring to Cabrillo to complete her AA.