Olympian Endeavors
Personal Accomplishments & Achievements
“Cycling Match” James Romeo and Angela Liewen-Romeo
"A Real Olympian" Manny Bautista
"Political Lunacy" Carl Luna
"Speaking Out for Cedar Fire Victims" Carlynne Allbee
"Volunteer in the Spotlight" Bruce Underhill
Cycling Match
Cycling is a passion for Mesa College Professor of Music James J. Romeo (pictured at left) and his wife, Angela Liewen-Romeo (pictured below), an Instructional Lab Technician. The two took up racing only 24 months ago, but have quickly advanced into the cycling winners' circle to take home some of California's top honors.
In the past year, Romeo participated in more than 20 races. He took home silver and bronze medals at the State Masters Track bike championships, competing in the Matched Sprint and 500 meter sprint events. He is member of the San Diego Cyclo-vets masters race team and is coached by Eddie B. (Borysewicz), 1984 United States Olympic bicycling team head coach and current Polish National team head coach.
Liewen-Romeo is a member of Bicycle John's, an all-women's team based out of Burbank, Calif. She scored her first win at the Ontario Grand Prix Criterium in July and competed in nearly 40 races during the 2006 cycling season. She went on to receive enough points to lead her category in the prestigious SoCal Cup, ranking number one over 160 riders.
The couple train five to seven days a week, during lunch, after work, and especially on weekend rides in the Ramona backcountry or at the Velodrome at Balboa Park. "It's taught me about setting goals, and reaching and attaining them," says Liewen-Romeo.
A Real Olympian
Professor of Physical Education Manny Bautista spent two weeks this past September in Athens, Greece with the USA Track and Field Team. Team USA competed in the 10th IAAF (International Association of Athletic Federations) World Cup, which was held September 16-17.
Bautista served as the Head Women's Manager for the USA Track and Field Team. It was the fifth international team appointment for Bautista, who has been a fulltime faculty member at Mesa College since 1989. He also served as Mesa's Head Cross Country Coach and Assistant Track and Field Coach from 1989-2002.
The World Cup is the first step toward the 2008 Olympic Games.
"My job is to arrive before the team and organize everything from transportation to finding a store that will sell us Gatorade, to finding places for the athletes to train," said Bautista. "I most proud of the fact that I am the only Community College representative selected to the staff," he added. "The hours are long and the work is a grind, but every time one of our athlete's stands on top of the podium and you hear our National Anthem and watch the Stars and Stripes being raised, you know you played a small part in their success."
Political Lunacy
"Upon reflection, I find myself greatly tired," Carl Luna, Professor of Political Science and Academic Senate President noted following a request for a recap of his Nov. 7 election-related activities. Luna is a popular political analyst for virtually all of the local broadcast news outlets. He's even expanded his profile to the blogosphere and keyboards "Political Lunacy," an election-related blog for the Union-Tribune's on-line newspaper.
Luna was featured in pre-election reviews, day-of analysis, and post-election analysis, including KPBS' "Full Focus." Election-related short news interviews included KFMB, KGTV, San Diego Union Tribune, Los Angeles Times, and Congressional Quarterly (also printed in The New York Times). His stories, distributed by Associated Press, have been picked up by 20-plus newspapers worldwide, including the San Francisco Chronicle, Forbes Magazine, CBS News, and the UK Guardian.
Speaking Out for Cedar Fire Victims
Business Professor Carlynne Allbee is a spokesperson for the Cedar Fire Rebuilding Resources support group that is based in Lakeside. Allbee, who lost her Flinn Springs home to the fire, has been an outspoken proponent for increased public awareness regarding the setbacks many residents in the unincorporated areas of the county continue to face as they struggle in the rebuilding process. Due to many different factors, less than half of the homes have been rebuilt. Albee has been featured in several segments on Channel 10 and News 8, including a “My Story” segment on Sept. 27, and since then has been featured on most local broadcast news channels.
Volunteer in the Spotlight
Math Professor Bruce Underhill was thrilled to hear that Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh was named a 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner. Underhill (l) has worked side-by-side with Yunus (r) through the non-profit organization RESULTS. Bangladesh's Yunus and the bank he founded, Grameen Bank, which created a new category of banking by granting millions of small loans to poor people with no collateral -- helping to establish the microcredit movement across the developing world -- won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. Since 1984, Underhill has volunteered for RESULTS, an international organization that advocates bringing attention and resources to microcredit, especially for the very poor. Yunus is a member of the RESULTS Board of Directors. Underhill was instrumental in bringing Yunus to San Diego in 1988, where he spoke at several gatherings and addressed community leaders. Says Underhill, "What has been quite amazing personally as a volunteer with RESULTS is to digest that just a few people, sometimes as few as two or three ranging up to may 15 or so in each of maybe 50 cities around the country can have such a staggering effect on the policy decisions of our government and thus on the lives of so many people around the world."
