Vote Kranenberg, Long for COM board

As an adjunct professor of mathematics at College of Marin, I would like to recommend Eva Long and Phil Kranenberg for re- election to the College of Marin Board of Trustees.

Long has served as a college trustee for 21 years and navigated COM through good times and bad, leading the college to be the award-winning educational institution it is today.

I have worked closely with Long on the college’s MiniMedical School program, one of her many innovations bringing medical experts to speak to auditorium-filled audiences.

Long maintains personal friendships with people from all backgrounds and is deeply interested in their needs and destinies. Once, I invited Long to speak to algebra students. She chose to talk about the “six principles of life.” The students were awestruck.

Long has been involved with education from the beginning, serving as high school principal, district supervisor and board member. Her achievements and qualifications in education are amazing. Long’s philosophy comes down to this: listen, learn and speak up.

Kranenberg will tell you he’s “a numbers guy.” Indeed he is. Kranenberg has a keen eye for spreadsheets, budgets, fiscal reports and proposals. He finds the strengths and the weaknesses buried in documents that would elude many.

I have worked closely with Kranenberg on technical projects. His nature is to be flexible and forward thinking, quickly recognizing improved solutions and easily putting aside his own ideas in favor of a better way.

We have had long talks about his ideas of “projectbased learning” and inter- disciplinary courses. Simply put, Kranenberg believes we learn best by engaging in goals and projects that challenge us to discover solutions to real-world problems that involve ideas from many fields of study. He is ahead of the curve on this idea.

Let’s give Eva Long and Phil Kranenberg four more years tomake the college the best it can be.

— George Rothbart, Novato