Fall 2006VOL. 18 NO. 1

The Newsletter of theCenter for Teaching Excellence

Cover: Strategic Directions

2 Director’s Corner

4 Business, Mathematics,Engineering and Technology Division

5 Health and Natural Sciences Division

7 Liberal Arts Division

8 Journalism Prof. Logs Hours as a Cub Reporter

9 Sabbatical Research-Puerto Rican Steelworkers in Bethlehem

12 2006 NISOD Excellence Awards

STRATEGIC DIRECTIONSBy Dominic Latorraca, Vice President of Academic Affairs

In Spring 2006, the President’s Cabinet identified some external trends effecting the college and higher edu-cation in New Jersey, generally. In light of these trends, the Cabinet identified five strategic directions forC C M :

• Entrepreneurial in Scope• Responsive to Changing Markets, Demographics, and Community Expectations• Improvements in Operating and Service Efficiency and Expand Institutional Offerings

Through the Application of Te c h n o l o g y• Enhancements to Professionalism at all Levels• Committed to the Growth of the College in Both Enrollment and Resources

The Cabinet requested input from all college personnel regarding the trends and directions. Based on com-ments to date, all agree on the challenges CCM faces based upon external factors and the five strategic direc-tions identified.

Over the next few weeks, the Academic A ffairs Division will be finalizing a strategic report that details thespecific initiatives that the Division will focus on. In doing so, we can identify many of the future budget,equipment, and facility needs as well as identify other college departments that could assist us in these endeav-ors. Having a specific strategic plan from the division can also assist in presenting the Board of Trustees witha focus regarding future directions for CCM.

Two of the identified external trends are the increased competition for students and the shrinking of publicfunding for higher education. These factors reinforce the need for academic departments to identify specificways that they plan to move forward. With limited resources, funds must be reallocated to support the initia-tives that can best serve our students and community.

Therefore, please continue to discussideas and initiatives within your depart-ment with your chair and dean. T h i sstrategic report will be a working docu-ment that can always be modified inlight of changing circumstances andadditional creative ideas. By developinga divisional strategic plan with signifi-cant input from all academic depart-ments, I believe we can better focus ourresources and energies in ways that canmake us more eff e c t i v e .

CTE UPDATE

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Web 2.0 – What Is It? By Professor Joan Cook, Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence

Just when you thought you knew your way around the Web, you start hearingabout Blogger, Wikipedia, My Space, and You Tube. The technology isnow available to make the Web what was originally envisioned: a two-way process involving posting to the Web as well as getting informationfrom it. The common man is now actively contributing to the content onthe World Wide Web without needing to enlist the help of a web devel-oper or spend time learning to use a new software package.

The term Web 2 was coined in 2004 by Tim O’Reilly (author of manywell-respected technology textbooks). There is no precise definition, but

it is generally considered to include social networking sites (My Space,Facebook); wikis (collaborative, editable sites like Wikipedia); blogs (online

journals that may incorporate images, audio, and video); RSS/Atom news feeds and podcasting (automaticallybringing new content to you as it becomes available), and mashups (integration of two or more web applications).

Major characteristics include:

Delivery and use entirely through a web browser An environment for sharing Users providing and controlling the data Collaborative and participatory in nature User-friendly interface

Research Web 2 online and you will come across terms (mostly acronyms of course) such as OWL, AJAX, RDF, REST,folksonomy, and Ruby. (The common man may be contributing to Web 2, but the geeks are still creating the terminology.)

What does all of this mean for the education arena? We are already podcasting lectures. The latest application package for WebCTincludes blogging and journaling options. E-portfolios are quickly gaining in popularity. Teachers are using Web 2 opportunities toactively engage students in the learning process. These services allow students to create real-world applications and explorations ofthe topics covered in their courses. Web 2 also provides the vehicle for ongoing reflection by students on their learning. It allowsfor a learning community that goes beyond the individual section of a course.

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One interesting service, created specifically for educational social networking is Elgg. Learning management systems like WebCTfocus primarily on content controlled by the instructor. Elgg is a "learning landscape" focused on the learner (although it holds sig-nificant potential value for teachers as well). It can work from within WebCT to provide an environment for organizing e-portfolios,journaling, blogging, podcasting, receiving news feeds, etc. It allows groups to be created beyond the single WebCT section. Twofaculty members teaching the same course could have all of their students discuss a particular topic or work together on a project.We will be looking into this over the next several months.

We are always looking for ways to enhance the teaching/learning experience that do not “break the bank.” Just as we need to keepour eye on open source applications as they develop and mature, we also need to investigate Web 2 services (often open source andfree). If you would like to “put your toe in the water,” explore Google's Communicate, show & share section(http://www.google.com/intl/en/options/). With Docs & Spreadsheets, you can create a document using a simple word-processing(or spreadsheet) interface. You can access it from anywhere because it is online, it tracks your changes for you so you can always goback, and when you are finished, you can save it in HTML, Word, or PDF format.

Web 2.0 may not be totally mainstream yet, but it looks like the next step down a very interesting road.

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BU S I N E S S, M AT H E M AT I C S, E N G I N E E R I N G,AND T E C H N O LOGIES DIVISION

The B u s i n e s s , M a t h e m a t i c s ,Engineering and Te c h n o l o g i e sDivision began a transition in the

Dean’s office on September 15th. Theretirement of Dean Marilyn Ayres waseffective October 21st. Dean Ayres servedthe college since 1972 and her expertiseand experience will be missed. Dean Ayresworked closely with the incomingDivision Dean, Patrick Enright, tomake the change in leadership asseamless as possible. Dean Enrightis new to New Jersey having spentthe past twenty years at communitycolleges in Colorado. He reportsthat the traffic on Route 10 has notdiminished his excitement for beingin New Jersey.

The Electronics EngineeringTe c h no logy a nd Mechan i c a lEngineering Technology programsare in the midst of their reaccredita-tion process with the TechnologyAccreditation Commission of theAccreditation Board for Engineeringand Te c h n o l o g y. Both programssubmitted self-study reports this summerand a team led by James Harbach of theUnites States Merchant Marine Academyvisited the programs on October 2nd andOctober 3rd. The visiting team met withadministration, faculty and students duringtheir visit. The report of the site visit is duein January of 2007 and during the inter-vening months both programs will bepreparing additional reports to supplementthe self-study report already submitted.Department Chair Professor Ve n n yFuentes and the program faculty havedevoted many hours to the process and welook forward to a successful reaccredita-tion of both programs in the summer of 2007.At the time of this writing we are preparing

for the arrival of 200 high school studentsfor the event titled Technology andBeyond @ CCM. Nancy Binowski of theInformation Technologies Department isorganizing the event that will bring stu-dents from six area high schools. Studentswill attend two workshops during theirvisit and will choose from a wide range of

topics in Biology, Business, Chemistry,Engineering, Graphic Design, InformationTechnologies, Mathematics, Nursing, andPhotography.

A professional career certificate in Financeis in development in the BusinessDepartment. The certificate is currentlydesigned to be 12-credits and we hope itwill be very popular with both traditionaland non-traditional students. Coursestowards the certificate will be offered atboth the Randolph campus in a traditionaldelivery and at Headquarters Plaza using ahybrid delivery. In addition to providingthe most current information in the areas ofstock and bond markets, money and capital

markets, financial management, and finan-cial planning, the courses will enhance theofferings in the CCM Direct initiative atHeadquarters Plaza. The certificate isbeing developed and ushered through thecollege approval process by ProfessorPatricia Bernson and Business ChairpersonProfessor Alexis Thurman.

The Mathematics Department hostedwell-known textbook author, PatMcKeague on October 6t h. Mr.McKeague gave talks on teachertraining and after a lunch hosted byThompson Publishing spoke on his-torical topics in mathematics. Thefollowing day mathematics facultyJeff Jones, Joan Monaghan, LouiseOlshan and Margaret Wi l l i a m sattended a meeting of the New Jerseysection of the MathematicalAssociation of Two-Year Colleges atSussex Community College.

The Center for Assessment andLearning has recently taken on thechallenge of providing testing servic-

es for both online and hybrid testing.Center supervisor Kevin Chen reports asignificant increase in the usage but thestaff of the center is successfully managingthe increase. The Center for AcademicSupport and Enrichment is also experienc-ing increasing usage and Center DirectorDr. David Nast reports that over 700 stu-dents now access their services.

The CCM Planetarium continues its longtradition of serving the community withannual visits now topping 12,000 eachyear. Look for the announcement of thePlanetarium Holiday Show, an ever-popu-lar event, which begins December 1st.

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DIVISION OF HEALTH AND NATURAL SCIENCES

D e p a rtment of Landscape andHorticultural Technology

In August Professor Jan-MarieTraynor was named Chair of then ew ly formed department of

Landscape and Horticultural Te c h -nology. Professor Traynor has beeninstrumental in the development andpromotion of the LHT program. Sheserves as the Vice President for theN ew Jersey A gricultural EducationAdvisory Council and is an Associatemember of the New Jersey Nurseryand Landscape Association, theProfessional Landscape Alliance ofN ew Jersey, the Association ofProfessional Landscape Designers,and the New Jersey LandscapeContractors Association. She is rec-ognized as a Cert i fied NurseryLandscape Professional in NewJ e r s ey. The NJNLA awa r d e dProfessor Traynor the DistinguishedService Award for her contributions tothe landscape profession. She is amember of the New JerseyA gricultural Education A s s o c i a t i o nand is active with the New Jersey FFAand serves as a Career DevelopmentEvent Coordinator for the LandscapeDesign CDE. Professor Traynor pre-sented at the Association ofProfessional Landscape DesignersConference in Philadelphia. InSeptember she met with representa-t ives from the NJ Department ofEducation and the NJ Department ofA griculture, Office of A gr i c u l t u r a lEducation, to discuss deve l o p i n gcompetency testing for high schoolhorticulture students in NJ as a directresult of the success of the competen-cy testing performed by ProfessorsTr aynor and To l l ey at CCM.Professor Traynor will be guest speak-

er for the NJ Chapter of theA ssociat ion of Professio n a lLandscape Designers in October andis a regular contributing writer to theGardener News and has written forseveral national landscape trade journals.

Professors Craig To l l ey and Jan-Marie Traynor attended the monthlym eetings of the Profess i o n a lLandscape Alliance and the NJLandscape Contractors A s s o c i a t i o n .They attended the NJ Nursery andLandscape Association (NJNLA)meetings in June and July. ProfessorsTolley and Traynor hosted 20 studentsfrom Newark High Schools, allinterns at the Newark Conservancy inJuly. As part of a retention effort,Professors Tolley and Traynor con-ducted summer seminars for CCMstudents and brought in several gradu-ates to conduct hands-on seminars.

On October 19th they will host theR egion 6 meeting of the NJLandscape Contractors Association.

Department of Biology/Chemistry

Professor Janet Johannessen has beenappointed the Middle States SteeringCommittee, Co-Chair. She is alsoteaching a course for the Gifted andTalented Program at Headquart e r sPlaza. The department hosted speak-er, Dr. Pranela Rameshwar, AssociateP r o f e s so r o f M e d i c i n e - H e m -atology/Oncology at UMDNJ-NJMS,in October. She spoke on currentissues in stem cell biolog y. Dr.Rameshwar has pioneered the devel-opment of a series of graduate cours-es in stem cell biology. The depart-ment offered a laboratory trainingcourse for Bell Arts, Inc. in June. Thecourse covered laboratory safety and

The division has reorganized, expanded, and created relationships with the MorrisCounty community since the last CTE Update.

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basic laborator y techniques .Professor Sharon Kapica, Chair of theD e p ar tment of Bio logy andChemistry, developed courses in biol-ogy for a Dover Public School Districtpilot program. The courses will betaught at the Dover High School dur-ing the 2006-2007 academic ye a r.Professor Kapica will provide addi-tional laboratory sessions for the highschool students on the CCM campusduring the year.

Department of Nursing

Professor Kathleen Horan has beenappointed to the position of AssistantChair of the We e kend NursingProgram. The program began thissemester with the first cohort of 30students. The three-year program issupported by three regional hospitals:Atlantic Health, St. Clare’s HealthSystem, and Chilton MemorialHospital. Professor Monica Maraskaand Barbara We d i n g e r, LaboratoryCoordinator, attended simulator train-ing sessions and meetings at LaerdalC o rporation in New York andConnecticut during the months ofM ay, June, and July. In JuneProfessors Michelle Beckford,Celeste Wayne, and LaboratoryCoordinator Barbara We d i n g e rattended METI training forEmergency Care Simulation at METIheadquarters.

Department of Allied Health

In A ugu s t P r of e ss or Deni s eVill’Neuve was named Chair of thenewly formed department of AlliedHealth. Professor Vi l l ’ N e u ve hasbeen instrumental in the developmentand promotion of the Radiographyp r ogram at CCM. ProfessorVill’Neuve is a registered Radiologic

Technologist and has a New JerseyState license in diagnostic radiogra-phy and radiation therapy. She alsohas advanced certification in comput-er tomogr a p hy and mammogr a p hy.Professor Vill’Neuve is a practicingcomputer tomogr a p hy technolog i s t .She is an active member of the fol-l owing professional orga n i z a t i o n s :American Society of Radiolog i cTechnologists, New Jersey Society ofRadiologic Technologists, New JerseyEducators in Radiology Imaging, andA s s o c ia t i o n o f E d u ca t o r s i nRadiologic Technology of the State of

New York. She served as presidentand president elect for the New JerseyEducators in Radiology Imaging andr ecording secretary for th eAssociation of Educators inR a d i o l ogic Te c h n o l ogy of SNY.Professor Vill’Neuve has been a guestspeaker at various state, regional, andnational meetings. She is currentlyd eveloping a program in NuclearMedical Technology.

The N o r t h we s t N e w J e r s eyC o n s o rtium for Respiratory CareEducation was reorganized, and the

program will be based on the CCMcampus. Dianne Adams, M.A.,R.T.T., has been hired as ProgramCoordinator.

D e p a rtment of Health, E xe rc i s eScience, and Dance

The Associate in Fine Arts Dance pro-gram under the direction of ProfessorJo Ann Staugaard-Jones initiated twoevents last spring: the Dancers’Health Conference and the SummerDance Intensive. Both were extreme-ly successful with excellent participa-tion and added income of over $3,000to the annual dance budget. Eachevent will be repeated in spring 2007.

Professor Frank Doto is continuinghi s r o l e o f A m e r i can HeartAssociation Co-Chairperson and isinvolved in the oversight, design, anddevelopment of all instructional mate-rials for AHA CPR and AdvancedLife Support courses.

Professor Armona attended the four-day annual meeting of the AmericanCollege of Sports Medicine in Denverthis past spring. She received furthertraining as a site visitor for theCommit tee on A c c r e d i t a t i on of the Exercise Sciences (CoAES).Professor Armona attended the CTEWebCT CE6 Course in June and cur-rently is using the course as a supple-ment in the fall 2006.

O n a f ina l no te , D r. J ane A.A rmstrong, Dean of Health andNatural Sciences, gave a presentationat a regional meeting of the NewJ e r s ey Association of Wi l d l i f eRehabilitators on October 15, at theRaptor Trust in Millington, NJ. Shespoke about Avian Influenza Virus (AIV).

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LIBERAL ARTS DIVISIONThis Fall has been an active time for the Liberal Arts Division

Dr. Jack Bernardo has joinedthe faculty. Dr. Bernardobrings a doctorate in Political

Science and a wealth of both teachingexperience and real-world experienceto CCM.

Prof. Maria Lee is now Dr. Maria Lee,having been awarded her doctorate inhistory from Carnegie-MellonUniversity. Congratulations, Maria!

Continued enrollment growth, result-ing from the tireless efforts ofProfessors James Howard and KeithSmith, has forced us to convert twoclassrooms (C130 and C132) to Designworkshops. The freed space in C212has allowed us to add a ceramics kiln,and to bring back ceramics classes.Happily for us, the ceramics classesfilled on their very first run. We’relooking forward to doubling the num-ber of sections in the spring.

The Performing Arts program contin-ues to shine. This fall, CCM stagedGrease and The Last Days of JudasIscariot. Prof. Marielaine Mammonalso coordinated a CCM Idol competi-tion at the Morristown Festival on theGreen, which allowed us anotheropportunity to show the communityjust how good our students are.Through the heroic efforts of ProfessorMammon, CCM was also privileged tohost Tony-winner John Lloyd Young ofJersey Boys, who gave a talk on “HowI Won My First Tony”.

Dr. Bernardo, Professor Gina Serafin,

and Professor Joe Bristow coordinatedtwo current-events themed public pre-sentations. The first was a studentdebate on the constitutionality ofGuantanamo Bay, moderated by VicePresident Latorraca. The second was apost-election panel analyzing the out-come of the election and the likelyimplications for the future. I’m per-sonally delighted to see the facultyengaging students in public questions,and preparing them for their roles asactive democratic citizens.

Professor Stuart Siegelman gave anexcellent and well-attended public lec-ture in the LRC for Hispanic HeritageMonth, focusing on the work of Kahlo,Neruda, and Guillen.

The Youngtown Edition was awarded agold medal by the Columbia ScholasticPress Assocation. The P rometheanwon the American Graphic DesignAward from GraphicDesign USA.

Professor Robert Hale took over ascoordinator of the Teacher Educationprogram. Bob has assembled a strongcore advisory team, includingProfessors Marcia Picallo and GailWatson from the Liberal Arts division.In a short time, the team has alreadydramatically increased the number ofobservation slots for our EDU courses,allowing us to accommodate more stu-dents in a popular and growing pro-gram. It has also restructured the stu-dent advisement procedures in the pro-gram to better ensure that studentsreceive the information they needwhen they need it.

The English department ran a sectionof Composition I at Dover HighSchool this fall. The department is tobe commended for its willingness tojump through some unanticipatedhoops to make this course happen. Iam hopeful that this will be the begin-ning of a new relationship with Dover High.

For my 2006 sabbaticalfrom County Collegeof Morris, where I

have taught English andjournalism for 36 years, Ipacked away my red pensand began scribbling in ar e p o r t e r’s notebook as ageneral assignment reporterand copy editor at the DailyRecord.

Briefly, the staff was help-ful, encouraging, andpatient; I learned much; andthe entire experience willenrich my teaching andwork as adviser to our cam-pus newspaper.

From the first day, I churnedout articles, often two a day,a rate that is not unusual inthe Daily Record news-room, but was the first ofmany surprises.

The frenetic pace of thenewsroom was another.Although I’ve spent myprofessional life in a quiet

o ffice, I loved the news-room: people darting about,phones ringing nonstop,editors calling out info andcorrections to staff, and TVsflashing overhead, monitor-ing world news.

F or six weeks I wrotea rticles ranging f ro ml o n g er pieces on the firstopenly gay mayor in NewJ e r s e y, job pros-pects for thisye a r’s college grads and afeature on a local a r b o r e-t u m, to typical short oneson the aftermath of a flood ina local nursing home, a cele-bration in a vetera n ’s home,and weather s tories.Copy writing was the most

difficult stint. I’m a solidgrammarian (my doctorateis in English and I’m actual-ly a med-ievalist), and knowQuark-XPress, but editingand w r i ting headlinesunder pressure in to thewee hours tested my mettle.

My salary was paid by thecollege, so for the D a i lyR e c o r d this was a win-winsituation.

Jack Bowie, managing edi-tor, said, “For us, the sab-batical was nothing short ofa gift. We got an experi-enced person to work onseveral fronts — from staff

reporter to copy editor tobusiness writer — formonths. And it was free.Every paper should be solucky.”Most importantly, however,the sabbatical at the DailyRecord gave me the oppor-tunity to refresh my skills sothat I can produce top-notchjournalists, ones the DailyRecord will be happy to hireas cub reporters.

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JOURNALISM PROFESSOR LOGS HOURS AS CUB REPORTERBy Dr. Noel Robinson, English Department

“From the first day, I

churned out articles, often

two a day, a rate that is not

unusual in the Daily Record

newsroom, but was the first of

m a n y surprises.”

The graphic below has beenmanipulated for the purposeof this newsletter.

Iwas awarded a sabbatical springs e m e s t e r, 2006 in order to pursueanthropological research for my dis-

sertation on ex-steelworkers in Bethlehem,Pennsylvania. As a part of this largerresearch project, I studied the history ofrec ruitment of Puerto Rican men to work inthe enormous South Bethlehem steel wo r k sin the 1950s. In this short article, I willdescribe a bit of that history, a historywhich is ve ry important in understandingc o n t e m p o r a ry class and ethnic relations inBethlehem, Pe n n s y l va n i a . B e t h l e h e mt o d ay has a gr owing Puerto Rican andLatino community, centered in the old steelwo r ker neighborhood of the South Side, andaugmented by in-migration from New Yo r kCity over the last 25 ye a r s . This Latinocommunity began as a small community ofP u e rto Rican steelwo r kers in the 1 9 5 0 s .

During WW II, with the heighteneddemand for labor at the South Bethlehemworks created by men leaving for militaryservice as well as the increase in steel pro-duction for war materiel, Bethlehem Steelrecruited women and rural workers fromsurrounding communities as steelworkers(Morning Call 2003). Bethlehem Steeldid not recruit either African American orPuerto Rican workers to work at its SouthBethlehem works during WW II, eventhough the company did so for itsSparrows Point works in Baltimore and itsfacilities in western Pennsylvania and NewYork. The steel industry heavily recruitedAfrican American wo r kers in we s t e rnPennsylvania during WW II and the per-centage of African American steelworkersin Pennsylvania almost doubled (risingfrom 3.5% to almost 7%) during the war(Dickerson 1986). In Bethlehem, howev-er, even African American labor was seenas too permanent—as being potentiallyunwilling to vacate their industrial jobswhen veterans returned from the wa r(unlike women who could be encouragedto return to “traditional” roles as home-makers). In addition, racist attitudes in

the wider community in Bethlehem, and,most likely, within steel management atBethlehem Steel deterred the companyfrom recruiting African American workersto the South Bethlehem works. SinceBethlehem Steel was headquartered inBethlehem, and the top management livedin the city, management’s racist beliefs

probably affected hiring patterns at theSouth Bethlehem works. As a result ofthese patterns of recruitment, there is onlya small African American minority inBethlehem today (3.6% of the total popu-lation) (Census 2000). Puerto Ricanworkers were also seen as too “perma-nent” by the War Manpower Commission,as it stated it was “unable to enforce thereturn of the migrants to the island” due totheir U.S. citizenship. (Centro de EstudiosPuertoriquenos 1979:124). As a result,U.S. agricultural and industrial employerswere discouraged from recruiting PuertoRican wo r kers during the wa r.

After the war, as steel production contin-ued at fairly high levels, instead of recruit-ing black steelworkers, Bethlehem Steelbegan offering jobs to Puerto Rican menworking as farm laborers on surroundingfarms in western New Jersey and north-eastern Pennsylvania. These Puerto Ricanagricultural workers were hired on season-al contracts developed as a partial “solu-tion” to high rates of unemployment inPuerto Rico. In Puerto Rico the economicdevelopment plan of Operation Bootstraphad, by the late 1940s, become a strategywhich focused on industrial developmentin Puerto Rico. The economy came to beseen as a dual economy, in which econom-ic development would occur through thedynamic, industrial sector of the economy,not the export-oriented agricultural sector.The plan included major incentives for pri-vate capital to locate on the island, taxexemptions for U.S. businesses, the rentaland construction of industrial buildings,recruitment of personnel, negotiation oflabor contracts, and the establishment ofCommonwealth offices in major mainlandcities. These incentives attracted U.S. cor-porations to set up shop in Puerto Rico, asthey could also “manufacture goods inPuerto Rico tax free and ‘export’ thosegoods to the states without having to pay‘ i m p o rt ’ duties” (Whalen 2001:29).

A problem with this plan of development,however, was in emphasizing developmentof the industrial sector, at the expense ofthe agricultural sector. High levels ofunemployment were generated in the agri-cultural sector of the Puerto Rican econo-my. This model for development assumedthat the urban, industrial sector wouldabsorb this excess labor, but it was inca-p a ble of doing so. A n a lysts all agree thatas successful as Operation Bootstrap wa sin many ways: as measured through risingG N P, rising standard of living, increasedl i t e r a cy rates, and improved health care;the development program was n ever a ble top r ovide sufficient jobs. In fact, it was dur-

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SABBATICAL RESEARCH – PUERTO RICANSTEELWORKERS IN BETHLEHEMBy Professor Jill Schennum, Sociology and Anthropology Department

A work force divided

by race and ethnicity

served the interests

of Bethlehem Steel

in their ongoing

battles with their new

union in the 1950s, and

the company worked

to ensure a segregated

and fragmented

labor force.

ing the period of most rapidgr owth in GNP (during the late 1940sand 50s, for example) that Puerto Ricoexperienced its highest rates of emi-gration (Dietz 1986:227).

As a solution tothis problem ofs t r u c t u r a lu n e m p l oy m e n t ,the U.S. andC o m m o n we a l t hg o v e r n m e n tworked togetherto encourageP u e rto Ricane m i gration tothe mainlandand to establishlabor contractsthat provided temporary laboroptions for emigrating PuertoRicans. A gricultural laborcontract programs allev i a t e dthe growing rural unemploy-ment in Puerto Rico wh i l es i m u l t a n e o us ly prov i d i n gcheap labor to fa rms in then o rtheast U.S. During the peri-od from 1951-1964 an ave r a g eof 13,000 Puerto Ricans eachyear participated in the agr i c u l-tural contract laborer progr a m(Centro de Estudios Puer-toriquenos 1979). Ruralm i grants from the tobacco ands u gar regions in Puerto Ricor e c e ived contracts as laborersat fa rms in we s t e rn New Jerseyand nort h e a s t e rn Pe n n s y l va n i a ,a l l owing rural wo r kers tom i grate directly from ru r a lareas in Puerto Rico to themainland for work. Oral histo-ries document Puerto Ricancontract laborers working ontomato farms, chicken farms,and potato fields nearBethlehem (Antonsen 1997).

Once Puerto Rican farm labor-ers moved to the area, theyfound that industrial work inthe steel industry broughthigher wages and more perma-

nent work than fa rm wo r k .Rather than returning at theend of their farm labor con-tract, Puerto Rican farm work-ers stayed through the wintersto work in the local factories.

T h ey left their “low pay i n gseasonal jobs” as agriculturalworkers for the “more remu-n e r a t ive and perm a n e n te m p l oyment of Bethlehem’sindustrial sector.” (Antonsen1997:27). The steel jobs atBethlehem Steel, althoughthey were on the lowest rung inthe hierarchy of steel work,nonetheless offered betterwages and opportunities thancontract fa rm labor did.

Although steel work off e r e dhigher paying, unionized, per-manent jobs, Puerto Ricanshired at Bethlehem Steel expe-rienced serious discriminationin the 1950s and 60s. Theywere brought into steel at thevery bottom, hired in the worstjobs at the steelworks. They“were usually assigned to thehot, dirty, and hazardous Cokeworks, which was the leastdesirable area to work in thesteel plant.” (Antonsen1997:13) David Kutcha, as t e e lwo r ker at the SouthBethlehem plant, states that inthe early 1950s, as the Ko r e a nWar led to increased demand forsteel, “the steel company hiredP u e rto Ricans, right from Puert o

Rico. Many didn’t even speakEnglish. The Steel was desper-ate for laborers for their CSLlabor gang, chippers for theIngot Mould Fo u n d ry, and forpeople to work the coke ovens atthe Coke Work Division”(1995:11). These were the hard-est, most dangerous jobs in theworks, and “the whole rest of theplant looked at you as low life”( Kutcha 1995:12). The upwa r dm o b i l i t y, within steel, of wh i t eethnic wo r kers in the post WWII period left openings at thebottom of the industry forminority wo r kers (inBethlehem, for Puerto Ricans).

A work force divided by raceand ethnicity served the inter-ests of Bethlehem Steel in theirongoing battles with their newunion in the 1950s, and thecompany worked to ensure as egr egated and fragmentedlabo r fo r c e . T he Un i t ed

Steelworkers Union was alsocomplicit in the reproductionof gender and ethnic hierar-chies in the workforce throughseparate departmental seniori-ty lists (Davis 1986:95).Minority interests were not we l lrepresented by the union —

there were “few Puerto Ricansin position of leadership” in theUSW in south Bethlehem.(Antonsen 1997:71) Separated e p a rtmental seniority listsm e a nt that Puerto Ricans hiredin the more dangerous, unpleas-ant, lower wage depart m e n t swere promoted within thesed e p a rtments, generally spend-ing their entire careers in theseless desirable jobs. This senior-ity system was corr e c t e d, bu tnot until 1973 when, in thewa ke of leg i s l a t ive changesbrought about by the civil rightsm ovement, Bethlehem Steelbecame the largest industry tobe ordered by the LaborD e p a rtment to correct discrimi-nation. Bethlehem Steel wa sforced to come up with a planwhich corrected inequities intheir seniority system, a casein i t i a l ly related to discriminato rytreatment of African A m e r i c a nwo r kers at their Lackawa n n a

plant, but extended to allplants and to Hispanic andwomen em p l o ye es .

The Puerto Rican commu-nity in Bethlehem wa salso active in advocatingfor better treatment atwork, and they demandedresponse from BethlehemSteel, the U.S. gove rn-ment, and the Puert oRican Commonwe a l t hgovernment. Through theP u e rto Rican Benefi c i a lS o c i e t y, a community-based support orga n i z a-tion founded byBethlehem Puerto Ricans( m o s t ly steelwo r kers) in

1952, representatives of thecommunity met withBethlehem Steel and the USWin the 1960s to discuss dis-c r i m i n a t i on against Puert oRicans in the wor k p l a c e .P u e r to Rican Benefi c i a lSociety representatives also met

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with Luis Fe rre, gove rnor ofP u e rto Rico, in 1970 to advo-cate for island gove rn m e n t a ls u p p o rt for Puerto Rican steelwo r kers (Antonsen 1997:48).

The Beneficial Society advo-cated for open training pro-grams with standardizedtests, so that steelwo r ke r swould be promoted on thebasis of merit, rather thanra c e o r e t h n i c i t y.

Ironically, in the late 1970s,just as Bethlehem Steelentered its period of declineand layo ffs, Puerto Rican

s t e e lwo r kers in Bethlehemfi n a l ly gained greater accessto promotions. It was onlyas hiring freezes we r eimplemented and promo-tional tracks were curt a i l e ddue to layo ffs that PuertoRicans attained access tos a f e r, higher wage jobs.This is important in under-standing the trajectory offamilies of industrial wo r k-ers during the process ofdeindustr ialization peak-ing in the 1980s, as thecapital with which fa m i l i e senter unemployment (i.e.the size and availability ofpensions, healthcare cov-erage, trans fer opt ions)impacts stra tegies andoptions for “dow ns i z e d ”s t e e lwo r kers and t h e ir fa m il i e s .P u e rto Rican steelwo r kers andtheir families created orga n i z a-tions in the 1950s and 1960s tocombat discrimination withinthe wider community as we l land to support members of theP u e rto Rican community(through mutual assistance andinsurance programs, socialn e t works of support, etc.).Organizations created by these

m i grants include the Puert oRican Beneficial Association,the Council of SpanishSpeaking Organizations, and as h o rt - running new s p a p e r, L aVoz Hispana. In addition,Puerto Ricans participated inand transformed existing insti-tutions in the community suchas the Holy In fa n cyChurch (known as the“Irish Church” in the early1950s), the UnitedS t e e l w o r k e r sO rganization, and the pub-lic school system toaddress the needs and con-c e rns of the Puerto Ricanc o m m u n i t y. These orga n i z a-tions, as well as informal socialn e t works of kin and friends,local businesses (for ex a m p l eb o d egas that extend credit), andc u l t u r a l ly constructed publ i cspaces provided a strong feelingof community and practicals u p p o rts to the Puerto Ricancommunity in the 1950s and60s, and many continue to beimportant organizations withinthe Latino community today.

In conclusion, analyses of con-t e m p o r a ry class and ethnic

relations in Bethlehem mustinclude an understanding ofthis history of migration. Thishistory is shaped by processesof political and economicchange in U.S. relations withPuerto Rico and in the power-ful U.S. steel industry; politi-cal, economic and ideological

orientations of regional elites;and the interplay of race, eth-nicity, and class in the structur-ing of the labor force inBethlehem. It is within thisc o n t ext that Puerto Ricanwo r kers and their fa m i l i e ss t ruggled for opport u n i t i e swithin the community. Andthis history contributed to theways in which processes ofdeindustrialization of the1980s affected and were real-ized through class and ethnicrelationships.

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References

Antonsen, Peter J.1997 A History of the Puerto Rican Community in Bethlehem, PA: 1944-1993. Bethlehem: Council of Spanish Speaking Organizations of the Lehigh Valley, Inc.

Centro de Estudios Puertoriquenos, History Task Force1979 Labor Migration Under Capitalism: the Puerto Rican Experience. New York: Monthly Review Press.

Davis, Mike1986 Prisoners of the American Dream. New York: Verso.

Dickerson, Dennis C.1986 Out of the Crucible: Black Steelworkers in Western Pennsylvania, 1875-1980. Albany: State University of NewYork Press.

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2006 NISODExcellence Awards

Congratulations to:

• Joseph Bristow, Professor, Political Science• Louise Olshan, Professor, Mathematics• Joseph Bilotti, Assistant Professor, Music• Kevin Chen, Adjunct, Business• Stan Wasilewski, Adjunct, Information Technologies• Ildy Boer, Professor, Biology/Chemistry• Bruce Kahn, Adjunct, Biology/Chemistry• Kalyan Ray, Professor, English• Sonia Malloy, Adjunct, Languages

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Dietz, James1986 Economic History of Puerto Rico: Institutional Change and Capitalist Development. Princeton, NJ: PrincetonUniversity Press.

Kutcha, David1995 Memoirs of a Steelworker. Easton, PA: Canal History and Technology Press.

Morning Call2003 Forging America: the Story of Bethlehem Steel. Allentown, PA: the Morning Call.

U.S. Census2000 City and County Data Books.

Whalen, Carmen Teresa2001 From Puerto Rico to Philadelphia: Puerto Rican Workers and Postwar Economies. Philadelphia: TempleUniversity Press.