Lance Widman, political science professor – Employed since 1971

Q: When exactly did you start?

A: September 1971. Fall semester. That was back when the semesters were 18 weeks.

Q: Why did you choose to teach here?

A: Because I was offered a job. See, I worked for two years for an interest group in Southern California, L.A., and Sacramento, and frankly I just got tired of the travel. I had a family, fairly recently married. And also, I knew from when I was in high school I was going to get into education. So, when I was out, going to various meetings, i’d always try to hook it in with a community college nearby, find out what was going on, any job openings, because I knew I wasn’t going to go for a Ph.D. So that left out the UCs, as well as the CSUs, and I absolutely didn’t want to have to put up with somebody like me in high school, so that left out K-12. So there’s only that middle, little layer left – community colleges.

Q: It’s been a long while since 1971. What was the campus like when you started off?

A: Well, it was much more relaxed, much younger, whiter. *laughs* I mean, when I started, the district had defined boundaries that included the three beach cities, Torrance, Hawthorne, Lawndale, Inglewood, El Segundo. That was the district, and at that time, if you wanted to attend El Camino you had to live in the district. But frankly, the district wasn’t even acquainted with something called Inglewood, much less Hawthorne, so it was overwhelmingly a white Anglo campus. That was most of the population, and it has changed dramatically since then. The diversity of the student population is huge. And as far as I can recall, whereas white Anglos used to dominate the racial categories, not anymore. I think Hispanic is larger. Black, maybe a little bit smaller. It’s like California itself. So yeah, it’s a student body that has become much more diverse. In the early 70s, throughout the 70s, we had a lot of returning vets from Vietnam, and they were pretty intense, because having served in Vietnam, they felt unappreciated because of the protests that led to the election of Nixon and his re-election in 1972, and the Vietnam War was still alive and well. So there was a lot of anger about Vietnam everywhere. And a lot of those vets brought a lot of anger to the classroom too. But it was, frankly, in a way, much more laid back, much more relaxed. We used to have time to actually get to know each other, to socialize together. We even had a faculty room in the administration building up on the second floor where we could go up to and there’d be coffee and we could sit and chit-chat and get to know each other across campus. That’s gone. We used to have retreats in our division where we’d go off to a spot down at the harbor or something like that. That’s gone. So when they refurbished this building, this was the first time I had the chance to interact with a number of my colleagues whose offices used to be up on the second floor. I never saw them. That’s just on the second floor. If you were across the way on the third floor, who are you? But this has really been an improvement. But it was a much more relaxed atmosphere. There weren’t the huge stresses and demands on faculty time. It’s not as relaxed as it once was, because everyone’s racing in five different directions. So it is a different atmosphere for both the students and the faculty.

Q: Has there been anything you’ve learned from your time here?

A: Well, I learned a lot in the 7-8 years I was president of the federation of teachers. We’ve got a very diverse faculty here. I’ve got an outstanding group of colleagues that I work with. It’s not just this division. Academic Senate is a great way of getting acquainted with people over at natural science, which I never see. You don’t casually walk across campus. I’ve been on the Senate for 20 years, I think I’m the longest-serving, because I really enjoy it. I serve on the budget committee, I really enjoy that too.

Q: Is there any one moment while you were here that really impacted you or the campus in some way?

A: I do remember very vividly when I was president of the federation and negotiations were not going well. We pulled off an informational picket line at graduation. It was like a food fight, and all we were doing was handing out literature. The administration got so pissed off. There were other events, external to the campus: the Rodney King riots broke out all around there, the Challenger disaster, I mean, there were a lot of things outside. I mean, we didn’t have to go through the assassination of a president or anything like that, nothing like that, but there were enough things where you kind of just go “oh shit, not again, I don’t need this drama”.

Q: What’s one thing that you’ll always remember about teaching here?

A: Interacting with students and my colleagues, teachers and the students. I mean, every day I go into my the classroom, there’s something new, something exciting, something stupid that happened in the news. In my classes, we cover the basics, as I have for the last 40 years. What you can do to make it more entertaining, more relevant, more current… I just still enjoy the hell out of it, going on 45 years. I have this 10 hour day today, I’ll finish up four classes by that time, and I’m still ready to rock and roll.

Mike Botello, real estate law professor – Employed since 1977

Q: When did you start teaching here?

A: I started part-time in 1977 teaching one class at night, and started as a full-time instructor in January 1978.

Q: Why did you choose to teach here?

A: Well, I grew up in Gardena and I lived in Gardena. El Camino College was the natural choice.

Q: What was the campus like in 1977?

A: Vietnam was over, so the vets were dwindling but still here. There were many more engineers who taught aerospace here. There were breaks at night, and the students used to socialize with each other. It’s sad, in a way, because they helped each other find jobs, find dates. Now they’re tied to their phones. And the campus is beautiful now. I used to be more jealous of Glendale College’s library. You guys are lucky.

Q: Is there anything you want students to know about yourself or your subject?

A: I would hope more students understand that business is a good vocation. It’s an honest vocation. Students I’ve taught have their own businesses with their own employees now. It’s not easy.

Q: How do you feel when you see students you’ve taught become professionals in the field?

A: Oh, it’s fun! That’s quite a joy. Though I haven’t taught grandchildren of former students, I’ve taught children of former students.

Q: What will you most remember about teaching here?

A: My colleagues. The reputation of the faculty at El Camino is stellar. It’s quite an honor to be here, to be part of it. They’re dedicated, knowledgeable, engaged with students.