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Published on 10/05/1998 All articles from this issue

Foothill College instructor named California Professor of the Year'

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By Linda Taaffe

Town Crier Staff Writer

Elizabeth Barkley can remember a time when she had to hang posters around the Foothill College campus pleading students to enroll in the introductory music class she developed.

"I would sneak around because I didn't want anyone to know that I was begging for students," the music instructor said. "The posters said 'air-conditioned room' - I was certain that would get them." Barkley started with about 12 students in her "The Musics of Multicultural America" class, a course that traces the development of ethnic musics in the United States.

Since her class made its first debut in fall 1995, school officials say it has become one of the most popular and successful courses on campus, with more than 200 students enrolled in five classes this quarter - including students worldwide who take the course via the Internet. The class has long waiting lists. And enrollment in the music department has more than doubled.

Barkley received statewide recognition for her class and her performance as an educator last week as the only professor from California to receive the 1998 California Professor of the Year Award from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. She was selected from among 37 nominees from four- and two-year colleges throughout the state.

"This is quite overwhelming, very thrilling," she said during a reception last Thursday where she was presented with the award as well as proclamations from senator Byron Sher and assemblyman Ted Lempert honoring her achievement.

The Carnegie Foundation annually honors professors who demonstrate extraordinary dedication to teaching, a commitment to students and innovative teaching methods. Started in 1981, the program is the only national awards program that recognizes college professors for their teaching.

"I am convinced she has made significant contributions to education through her scholarly approaches to teaching," said Ronald Choy, Center for the Study and Teaching of American Cultures at the University of California at Berkeley, in a letter of nomination. He said Barkley teaches students "much more than what they want and need to know."

Barkley's class is one of the first classes to examine the roots of American music and one of nation's first online music classes. The class is so highly regarded that it is one of the select few community college courses that Berkeley, Stanford University and the University of California, Davis recognize as rigorous enough to meet university graduation requirements.

Barkley developed the music class in 1983 after a nine-year break from the classroom when she served as division dean. She was unprepared for the diversity of races, ages, backgrounds and learning patterns in her class, Barkley said.

"You need to find a common ground," she said. "It seems like most higher education music instructors are trained in Western classical music. These students weren't interested in learning about Beethoven. I determined that the single characteristic that unified the group was 'Americaness.'"

Barkley incorporated the developments of musics such the blues, jazz, gospel, urban folk, Country Western, rap, soul, Tejano, Cajun, zydeco and Asian -fusion into an introductory course on music.

She developed the course online to better fit her students' individual learning and scheduling needs. Students have the option of attending lectures, going to the media center for guided listening, participating in student discussions via the Internet or submitting assignments online, she said.

Barkley's online class recently earned her the title "Innovator of the Year" by the League for Innovation, a national consortium of community colleges.

Developing an award-winning class was no easy task. Barkley said there were few available resources to aid her. She would often have to wake up at 3 a.m. to study and plan her class content.

"I frequently found myself turning to my students and their families to find out more about their musical and ethnic heritage," Barkley said. Barkley wrote a course book, which is due out this year.

Barkley said the overwhelming student response has been her best award.

An accomplished pianist, Barkley's appreciation of music has been lifelong, she said. Both of her parents and all seven of her siblings were musicians, though Barkley is the only one to have played professionally.

Barkley earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in music at the University of California, Riverside in 1976 and 1977. As a student she received several honors research grants and was selected as a President's Scholar and awarded a Marius De Brabant Fellowship. She earned her Ph.D. in education at Berkeley, where she was a finalist in the American Association of Higher Education's "Dissertation of the Year" award. She began her Foothill career in 1977, during which time she established the Fine Arts Individualized Study Learning Laboratories to support music students. The center became a model for other colleges statewide. She also created the liaison program to enhance the college's relationships with businesses.

She later served as dean of the Fine Arts and Communications Division, during which time she served on several state arts and education boards and received a number of leadership and achievement awards.

In 1987 she was selected as an American Council on Education Fellow and spent a year in combined internship at Mills College and San Mateo Community College.

Barkley currently serves as music department chair and as executive director of the Performing Arts Alliance. She is a recognized leader in the state on incorporating American music into the curriculum and has been a consultant to teachers wishing to implement similar programs. on their own campuses.