Meticulous by Weekday - Mud Boots on Weekends; LBCC Instructor John Aikman

On weekends, vacations and summer you will find him tending to his 50-acre farm about 70 miles north of Albany. He makes hay, raises alfalfa, has 60 fruit trees, has a booth at the farmers market and sells organic produce or meat to friends and family. He has had horses, cattle, sheep, chickens and ducks. His finds his solace in farming.

John Aikman may be farmer by weekend, but on the weekdays, he is an instructor for LBCC. You would never know this was the same man.

Dressed in a orange-colored shirt and dress slacks, Aikman is the Graphic Arts Department chair and an instructor at LBCC. For the past 30 years, Aikman has taught and mentored students in the graphic arts program.

Not only has he been an instructor here since the fall of 1980, he also has built the graphic arts program from the ground up. Today it is a thriving program that produces students who are prepared for employment in all areas of graphic design.

Friend and coworker, Gary Westford, has known Aikman for 12 years and describes him as intelligent and self-assured. “John is a tough task master, if a student doesn’t do a project right, he will expect them to redo it, until it is right. Or at least to his standards, he has very high standards,” said Westford.

Third-year graphic art student Jasper Hostler said, “Aikman is like a father figure, he definitely is the kind of guy you can go to with any kind of issue.”  Hostler is the president of the Visual Arts Club, a club that Aikman started.

Another attribute that Aikman is well known for is the Yearly Graphic Arts show. The show is the combination of three years worth of work by way of students. The show opens on a Monday night and the shortest amount of time it takes us to put it up is 12 hours. Hundreds of people attend. When talking about the show Aikman said, "We have music and food but the best part is I get to meet my students’ parents, husbands, wives, kids, boyfriends, girlfriends, and sometimes even their dogs!"

Whether it be student, friend or coworker, the phrase most used in describing Aikman is "nurturing and caring individual who will do anything to help you succeed."

Q&A with Aikman;

What made you decide to become a graphic arts instructor?

John Aikman: I graduated from Oregon State University. After graduation, I went to work for a couple of advertising agencies in Portland. It was a good experience. There came a point where I thought, “I am not so sure advertising is where I want to go.” I did some checking and found out the University of Wyoming needed someone to teach typography and photography, and by and large through grants and assistance they helped in paying for my education. So I decided to get my master’s degree in fine arts. I learned so much there. In general it was a well-rounded education. What it had done for me was put me in the classroom for the first time. I remember standing in front of the mirror for the first time at the age of 22, wondering “can I do this?” They had a brand-new facility and the kids were excited. It didn’t take long to “turn the lights on” for those individual students and they were excited about their potential. It was definitely the right choice for me.

C: What brought you to LBCC?
A: After teaching at University of Wyoming and finishing school, I was fortunate to get a position teaching junior graphic art students at Cal Poly University in San Luis Obispo, Calif. I was only about three years older than most of the students, but the experience was one of the best experiences of my life. My position as the associate professor of graphic design was a one-year appointment because the faculty member I was working for was on an exchange program in Europe. After my one year was up in the spring, the college offered me the great opportunity to teach summer school.

During the summer, a faculty member in San Luis was talking to a newly-retired faculty member here in Albany. This person knew of a position open for a graphic arts instructor at LBCC. I flew up and interviewed and got the position. Ken Chaney, the division director at the time, said, “John, we haven’t had much of a program, make with graphic design as you will and we will be as supportive as we can.”

So I had a chance to build it from the ground up, and I must admit, I have been really happy. I have always felt really supported by faculty members, division directors, and the college in general.

C: Do you have a teaching philosophy?
A: I have lots of them. One of them is reminding the students that we are a team – the student and I are working together to accomplish a common goal. I caution them, I remind them don’t push me to the opposite side of the desk. I tell them I want to sit down next to you and work shoulder to shoulder to accomplish your goals. I also encourage a learning community, where third-year, second-year, and first-year all know each other and help each other. I also established the Visual Arts Club about 28 years ago. It is another vehicle to help the different strata to get to know each other. They do social events, bring in speakers and go on trips and do fundraisers.
I see my mission as reminding students we take what we do here very seriously but do not take ourselves seriously!

C: If you had a legacy to leave, what would it be?
A: I think it would be that the graduates are seen as highly capable and in essence are design specialists that can fit into lots of situations. It has been my job to help the students gain the information to successfully gain employment at an entry level, but a lot of them get better jobs than entry level. Hopefully what I would be leaving behind is a benchmark for the next instructor that the students will be as well prepared or even better than in the past.
By and large I feel really good about my role. A great deal of my students have gone on to run and operate their own businesses in our area. I even have students who have gone out into the world of advertising and have worked in great positions with companies like Nike.

C: Do you plan on retiring soon?
A: I am thinking the way it looks now, I may retire the year after next year, which will be 32 years of teaching here – if I can figure out something to take the place of teaching. Because this program has gone so far, it makes the idea of retirement a difficult one. As a teacher, you feel like you are making a contribution to help people reach their potential or follow their dreams. Maybe the farm will be enough for me, I don’t really know.

John Aikman

LBCC Graphic Arts Department Chair/Instructor

Advisor for Visual Arts Club
http://cf.linnbenton.edu/artcom/graphic_arts/aikmanj/web.cfm?pgID=67
Office: SSH-116
Phone:541-917-4545
Email:aikmanj@linnbenton.edu
Office Hours:
Monday and Wednesday 2-3 p.m.
Tuesday 5-6 p.m.
Thursday 10-11 a.m
Family:Born in Portland, Aikman has two siblings, a brother who is 10 years older that lives in Alabama and younger sister who lives in Salem. His mother who lives in Oregon just turned 91. Aikman does not have any children, but had a partner for ten years who passed away in 1995.

Creator of the Yearly Graphic Design Show   
Type as Design
Where: SSH Gallery
When: May 17 to June 2
Opening Reception:
May 16 from 7-9 p.m.

Photojournalism Project; Photographers choice

Dimitri Menkiena 5 of Corvallis, chooses a mothers day flower at the LBCC plant sale. The LBCC Horticulture Club had its annual Mothers Day plant sale May 6.

Vitamin D Deficiency; The Most Common In The World

Did you know that 50% of children living in the United States are at a high risk of being vitamin D deficient? And that three out of four Americans are deficient in vitamin D.

In fact, vitamin D deficiency is the most common deficiency in the world.

Understanding what vitamin D is and how it affects us, is the first step in understanding how to combat vitamin D deficiency.

According to Michael Holick Ph.D., M.D., the author of “The Vitamin D Solution,” vitamin D is actually a hormone that plays a central role in metabolism, muscle, cardiac, immune and neurological function.

Holick has devoted over 30 years to studies on vitamin D deficiency. He also states that vitamin D deficiency is not about the absence of drinking milk or taking supplements. While they help, those alone cannot give us adequate levels of vitamin D.

Vitamin D deficiency mostly stems from the lack of adequate, regular, and sensible sun exposure without the use of sun block.

No sun block? What about the myth - skin cancer is caused by the sun?

Studies have shown that Melanoma “the deadly form of skin cancer” can occur in people who don’t spend time in the sun. Some other factors are; having a defective DNA repair system, weakened immune system, heredity (two or more people in the family with Melanoma,) people who have a large number moles and have had excessive sun exposure (sunburns).

How much time is sensible sun exposure?

First you must estimate the amount of time it takes in the sun to get a mild pinkness without sun block. Then expose your arms and legs for about 25-50 percent of that length of time. Do this two to three times per week. After getting this amount of sun exposure, then protect your skin with the use of a SPF 15-30 sunscreen. This will prevents over-exposure and lessen the risk of skin cancer.

In addition to sun exposure, taking an oral form of vitamin D is suggested. The over the counter supplement “D3” can be taken daily depending on how low your vitamin D levels are. Those who live in low sunlight areas like the North West need higher amounts of supplementation. 

Vitamin D deficiency has its role in increasing children’s and adults’ development of deadly cancers, diabetes, autoimmune diseases, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, and rheumatoid arthritis.

Don’t increase your chances, educate yourself, be preventative, have your vitamin D levels checked, and always consult with a physician before taking any supplements.

At A Glance

The Vitamin D Solution;
http://www.drholicksdsolution.com/
Vitamin D myths facts and statistics;
http://www.naturalnews.com/003069.html

Vitamin D3 safe dosage table:

Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) for Vitamin D Set by the Institute of Medicine
Age Group	mcg/day (IU/day)
Infants 0-6 months	25 mcg (1,000 IU)
Infants 6-12 months	37.5 mcg (1,500 IU)
Children 1-3 years	62.5 mcg (2,500 IU)
Children 4-8 years	75 mcg (3,000 IU)
Children 9-13 years	100 mcg (4,000 IU)
Adolescents 14-18 years	100 mcg (4,000 IU)
Adults 19 years and older	100 mcg (4,000 IU)