A City Council meeting at the Pittsburg Marina Center on Oct. 2 gave out five different proclamations that would highlight aspects of what the month would represent.
Los Medanos College art professor Ken Alexander was one of the recipients to receive the city of Pittsburg’s Proclamation for National Arts and Humanities Month and explained his first thought was “I’m flattered but I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it.”
“It’s nice to be recognized for the time I put in over there,” said Alexander. “But it’s coincidental because it’s the month for arts and humanities so it involves the whole department.”
For this month’s proclamation, Alexander was invited to accept the award as he helped found the humanities program at LMC, which was implemented into the arts program in 1999. The arts program was founded in 1975, but Alexander wasn’t at LMC then. He also seemed appreciative of the hard work that was recognized by the city.
“It’s nice to know that we have reached somewhat of a recognition for our services for the community,” said Alexander. “We serve all of East County, but we are Pittsburg and so you want to make sure the people of Pittsburg feel connected to us. One of the ways we could do that is to say ‘thank you Pittsburg for being a good home for the arts and humanities!’”
He was honored to accept the proclamation from the city even though he didn’t think it should be represented in such a significant manner.
The other proclamations that were given out were California Clean Air Day which would take place on Oct. 4, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, National Filipino American History Month and National Italian American History Month.
The council meeting went by smoothly with each proclamation being handed out and pictures being taken. The City of Pittsburg showed its appreciation for each part of October and it left all the recipients thankful.
In addition, Alexander plans on retiring after this academic year in mid-May 2024. He has “mixed feelings” surrounding it because he didn’t want to do the paperwork but now feels like it’s time to do so.
“It just came to a point where it seemed right to do it because I was having some health issues and I was concerned about that,” said Alexander.
There is a plan to find a replacement for Alexander, but the interviews won’t begin until around March. However, he will be stepping down as Chair of the Arts and Humanities program after the fall 2023 semester.
“We couldn’t be more proud,” LMC President Pamela Ralston said, “Professor Alexander is a founding member of both the Arts and Humanities departments. He has mentored countless students in their pursuit of arts. It is especially meaningful that he was recognized this year.”
