Skip to content
  • Students
  • Online
  • Staff
  • Search
  • Current Students
  • Online Students
  • Faculty & Staff
  • Visitors & Community
  • Athletics
search
  • Apply Now
  • Login myGav
  • iLearn

Gavilan College
  • search
  • Apply
  • ACADEMICS
    Degrees & Programs

    Information:

    • Schedule of Classes, Dates and Deadlines
    • Catalog
    • Directory
    • Online Classes

    Other Classes

    • Community Education
    • TJ Owens Gilroy Early College Academy (GECA)
    • Continuing Education Instruction
    • Service Learning

    Departments:

    • All Departments
    • Allied Health
    • Business
    • Child Development
    • Communication
    • Computer Science

    More Departments:

    • Cosmetology
    • Digital Media
    • English
    • English as a Second Language
    • Math
  • ADMISSIONS
    & Records

    New Students

    • Homepage for Admissions
    • Enrollment Information
    • Math and English Placement

    Just For

    • High School Students
    • International Students
    • Veterans

    All Students

    • College Catalog
    • Fees / Costs
    • Forms

    More:

    • Parking
    • Schedule of Classes, Dates and Deadlines
    • Transcripts
  • FINANCIAL AID
    Pay for College

    Information

    • Financial Aid Home
    • Forms

    More

    • Making a Budget
    • Questions & Answers

    Programs

    • Current Scholarships
    • Enrollment Info

    More Services

    • Staff and Contact Information
  • STUDENT SERVICES
    Counseling & Support

    Core Services

    • Counseling
    • Health Services
    • All Other Core Services

    Support Programs

    • AEC (Disability Services)
    • All Support Programs
    • El Centro (Basic Needs)
    • All Student Services

    Support Resources

    • Student Parent
    • Tutoring & Writing Center
    • Technology Help & FAQ
    • All Other Support Services

    Student Life

    • Clubs
    • Associated Students (ASGC)
    • More Student Life
  • LIBRARY
    Research & Resources

    Research

    • Library Homepage
    • Books
    • Library Research Guides

    Databases

    • eBooks
    • Articles Databases
    • Full List of All Library Databases

    Library

    • Ask a Librarian
    • FAQs
    • Library Services

    More Services

    • Faculty Services
    • Selected Websites by Subject
  • ABOUT GAVILAN
    Now & History

    College Information

    • About Gavilan
    • Administration
    • Board of Trustees
    • Budget Information
    • Campus Safety

    Information

    • Community Education
    • Guided Pathways
    • Institutional Learning Outcomes
    • Maps & Directions
    • Office of the President

    More

    • Personnel Directory
    • Research Office
    • News
    • Outreach & Recruitment
    • Measure X

    Community

    • Alumni
    • Community Spirit Awards
    • Events
    • Facilities Rental
    • Foundation
camerawork
Home > Headlines > 2016 News > Leah Halper, Visionary Organizer

Leah Halper, visionary organizer, melds academic and real world experience

by Jan Janes on Oct 7, 2016

A storyteller from early childhood, a poet during high school and an essayist in college, Leah Halper joined the Gavilan faculty in 1990 to teach journalism and history.

During her 27 year tenure, she has built collaborations, developed new programs and organized change to benefit students, faculty, the college and its surrounding communities.

Leah Halper instructs student
Student Matusala Berhe gets guidance about paraphrasing and quote blocks from instructor Leah Halper.

Creating value-based change

"I see much of what I have done in the capacity of social entrepreneurship," said Halper.

Recently she launched a new program designed to fund student needs. The 2014 premiere gala, "Sowing Seeds, Nurturing Dreams," raised funds through ticket sales to a food and wine event with live and silent auctions. Proceeds funded student scholarships, emergency assistance for transportation, food and textbooks.

The event was just one of many enterprises Halper launched at the college, informed by a sense of equity through a lens of social justice.

Two decades ago she brought together faculty and staff, including the registrar, on a student retention task force, a process she attributed to informing her own teaching. In 2001, she and other faculty toured the Holocaust Museum in Los Angeles, leading to curriculum highlighting tolerance and equity. Following that shared experience, she worked to found the Stand Together Group promoting multicultural recognition. Activities included environmentally friendly events, promoting bike days, attracting guest speakers and sponsoring the first LGBTQ coming out day.

Sabbatical leads to new degree programs

Approved for a one-semester sabbatical in 2007, Halper focused on service learning. She visited other programs, conferred with Gavilan faculty and staff and reviewed available literature. Her efforts culminated in new degree programs when the college added the Community Studies AA degree and certificate and the Social Science AA degree with emphasis in global studies.

During her time with Gavilan, Halper has taught 25 different classes and developed new ones, notably conflict resolution. Students invest their education in real life situations with local community service agencies. As they learn the background of the client population, students develop a greater understanding and empathy while interning as support staff. The agency clients benefit by interacting with college students who serve as role models.

The conflict resolution group also offered a 'reality tour' of local communities. Staff – many of whom live outside the district's communities – visited three agencies in each city, shared a meal with clients of the agencies and listened to their life stories.

"Understanding communities translates to understanding your students," said Halper. Any class can incorporate service learning as part of its curriculum.

Grant-funded service learning and mentoring

Halper and English instructor Scott Sandler are expanding the service learning program utilizing Title V grant funding, thanks to the efforts of Dr. Kathleen Rose, Gavilan's new president. New engagement tiers are being implemented for student and faculty involvement. Over the years, service learning projects have supported the efforts of more than 70 community agencies.

Questioning equity across full time and part time status led to Halper's leadership with Gavilan College Faculty Association (GCFA), the union negotiating contractual arrangements between instructors and the administration. She was instrumental in securing union membership and representation for part time faculty, served as GCFA president 2011-2013 and initiated new faculty positions overseeing student learning outcomes, professional development and mentoring.

"My first year of teaching was challenging, even though the journalism faculty I was coming in to replace was always available," Halper reflected. Currently she oversees the mentoring program, with a goal to set up the mentoring process to do things differently, try new styles of engagement to attract people who want to teach at Gavilan.

By turns youthful storyteller, enterprising collaborator and avid writer, Halper once groused to a friend, "It's so hard to publish fiction." Met with the response, "Why don't you turn it into a play?" she gravitated toward playwriting, describing the collaborative nature of theatre as nourishing. Her work, described by critics as quirky, humorous, sophisticated and compelling, has been produced in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. As she continues teaching students, mentoring new faculty and engaging communities, no doubt they, too, will inform her themes.

QUICKLINKS

  • Archived Newsletters
  • Archived Headlines
  • Achievements
  • Athletics
  • Events
  • Publications
  • Community Spirit Awards
  • In the News (Google)


CONTACT

Rosie Zepeda

Public Information Officer
(408) 848-4724
rzepeda@gavilan.edu



Hours

Monday - Thursday
8:30am - 5:30pm

Friday
10am - 2pm

STUDENT RESOURCES

  • Admissions & Records
  • Bookstore
  • CARES Act Emergency Grant
  • College Catalog
  • Counseling
  • Financial Aid
  • Just Report It
  • Library
  • Schedule
  • Student Services
  • Student Tech Support

QUICKLINKS

  • A-Z Index
  • BoardDocs (Meeting agendas and minutes)
  • Board of Trustees
  • Calendar and Deadlines
  • Employment
  • Gavilan College Educational Foundation
  • Maps & Directions

Board Docs

 

OTHER INFO

  • ADA Transition Plan
  • Accreditation
  • Associate Degrees For Transfer
  • Campus Drinking Water
  • Campus Safety Information & Disclosures
  • Office of the President
  • Register to Vote
  • Student Success Scorecard
  • Student Learning Outcomes
  • Title IX

CONTACT US

  • Accessibility
  • Contact Form
  • Employee Directory
  • Office / Department Directory
  • Public Records Request
  • Report an Incident
  • Website Feedback

Gavilan College
5055 Santa Teresa Blvd
Gilroy, CA 95020
(408) 848 - 4800