Community college welcomes new professor
Guevara to teach child development at Cerro Coso
Cerro Coso Community College is pleased to announce that Dr. Frank Guevara will be joining the college as a professor of child development beginning in fall 2022.
He says he admires “Cerro Coso for being innovative in meeting the needs of the community and is excited to contribute to the expansion of the child development program to support Spanish-speaking students.”
Guevara is a father to nine children and a male role model to many others. He and his wife are foster parents, so they have many children under their roof and were fortunate to adopt several children to create a unique family. His wife holds degrees in special education and social work so the two have built a life around supporting children from challenging backgrounds.
He lives by the motto “the biggest room is always the room for improvement.”
“My philosophy of teaching asserts that students are entitled to quality instruction in an active and stimulating learning environment,” said Guevara. “My standards of excellence – set high, yet attainable – are used to facilitate optimal student learning and the development of tools which will enable students to be successful in the field.”
Guevara said he also encourage students to self-evaluate individual progress to facilitate the mindset of a reflective practitioner. An important component of his teaching philosophy is the commitment to serve as a mentor to future childhood professions, he said.
Two individuals stand out in helping Guevara achieve his own professional goals. As a studentteacher, Bev Hartman took the time to explain why certain strategies were effective when working with young children.
“She helped me become a more effective educator,” he said. Another mentor is Dr. Kelly Walter, because “she intervened when I was ready to drop out of my doctoral program and stood by me to get me graduated; since then, she’s been a mentor as he transitioned to higher education.”
When asked how he engages students in the classroom, he said… “often students are less motivated or disinterested when they cannot connect with the course topics. So, I look for opportunities to highlight the practical implications to their professional work – to demonstrate why this topic is meaningful to them as educators.”
Guevara said he believes students come to class with a different set of skills and unique goals for themselves, so success will take all shapes and sizes – from a student completing their first course, learning a new strategy to support children’s development, or overcoming a personal obstacle.
“It’s all about moving forward and not giving up,” he said.
He received his doctoral degree in early childhood education from Northcentral University, having completed his graduate studies in child development at San Jose University and a bachelor’s degree in human development from Stanford University. He recently completed an M.A. in special education from the University of Arizona Global Campus.
“As a family, we enjoy spending time outdoors, going on cruises, and volunteering in the community,” he concluded.
Cerro Coso Community College is one of three colleges in the Kern Community College District. The college is charged with the responsibility of providing educational opportunities for the widely separated desert, mountain, and valley communities within a sweeping 18,000-mile, four-county region of eastern California.
Its mission is to improve the life of every student it serves by prioritizing equity and supporting the attainment of educational goals. Through innovative delivery methods, Cerro Coso provides transfer preparation, workforce education, degree pathways, and comprehensive student support services to develop ethical and effective citizenry throughout its vast rural and online communities.
Fall 2022 classes begin Aug. 22. Register at www. cerrocoso.edu or call (760) 384-6219.