County's colleges offer variety of fall schedules and courses

Fall semester begins at Moorpark College, Oxnard College and Ventura College on Mon., Aug. 20, and students may still register for courses at all three campuses and satellite centers. Students can apply, register and complete their orientations either online or in person.

In addition to full semester day and evening courses, the colleges offer weekend courses, short-term courses, one-day seminars and online courses. Hundreds of courses begin in September, with others starting in October and November. Offering more than 3,000 courses in 100 majors and programs, the three colleges provide general education, transfer preparation, career programs, skills' enhancement and lifelong learning classes.

•In addition to many evening and online courses for the working adult, Moorpark College offers day students interested in transferring to a university a new way to take general education courses. These courses, called Learning Communities, combine two three-unit courses taught by two professors from different disciplines for a total of six units.

Relative Truths, Absolute Truth is the philosophy/anthropology learning community. Enroll in introduction to philosophy and cultural anthropology to explore knowing and believing by considering the differences and similarities between people and cultures.

Students interested in film and psychology can explore The Psychology of Fear in the Cinema. Some of the scariest contemporary American films are examined against basic psychological principles. Enroll in introduction to psychology and humanities: contemporary American film to become part of this learning community.

•Among the new courses at Ventura College are tai chi, hiking for fitness, personal fitness training (can lead to certification as a personal trainer), conversational French, conversational Japanese, Spanish for law enforcement and Spanish for teaching personnel.

Two newly redesigned courses in agriculture are pest management and landscape plant identification. A new program, Environmental Science and Resource Management, offers introduction to environmental science, conservation of natural resources, and environment and natural resource management.

The Ventura College Promise, a program sponsored by the Ventura College Foundation, pays the enrollment fees of all recent Ventura County high school and GED graduates, regardless of family income, during their first year of attendance at Ventura College.

There is no minimum/maximum number of units that must be taken and no minimum grade point average or assessment score that must be met.

To qualify, an applicant must identify an educational goal, take an assessment examination, work with a counselor to develop an education plan, complete a Financial Aid Application, apply for the Ventura College Promise and be enrolled within 12 months of high school or GED completion. Interested individuals can contact a Ventura College counselor at (805) 654-6448 or the Ventura College Foundation Office at (805) 654-6461.

•Several new web courses at Oxnard College include introduction to cultural anthropology, introduction to business, introduction to computer information systems, introduction to sociology, intermediate composition, college composition, composition/ESL emphasis, history of California, elementary Spanish, elementary algebra and first half Cisco certified networking professional prep.

The new Dental Assisting Program at Oxnard College offers introduction to dental assisting, beginning radiology, introduction to chairside dental assisting and dental specialties

The Environmental Partnership Program enables students to develop entrepreneurial skills in science through oceanographic coursework aboard the research vessel Shearwater in partnership with Channel Islands National Park marine biologists. Qualified students receive $2,500 upon completion of projects and eight units of required coursework.

Oxnard College recently opened its new Student Success Academy, providing open-entry basic skills instruction in math, English and reading. The new Computer Skills Center provides an array of courses from introduction to the Internet and introduction to Windows MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access).

A new Life Fitness Center with stateoftheart fitness equipment is now open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday with physical education faculty helping students develop fitness and weight reduction plans.

A complete listing of fall courses for each college is available online at the websites ww.moorparkcollege.edu, www.oxnardcollege.edu, www.venturacollege.edu and www.vcccd.edu.