The City College community mourns another loss.
The death of Disability Services and Programs for Students (DSPS) faculty member Janet Hose was announced in an email from Interim Superintendent-President Kindred Murillo on Friday, Sept. 24. As of now, there are no current details as to the date or cause of death.
“Janet shaped our culture and our success in our department,” said DSPS Director Jana Garnett.
Hired in 2015, Hose worked for the department as a Learning Disability Specialist and Disability Counselor. As a Learning Disability Specialist, she evaluated students for learning disabilities, providing them with eligibility and access to accommodations and services.
Garnett said that many City College students go through K-12 without knowing they have a learning disability. When they do finally find out after being tested by a Learning Disability Specialist, the DSPS program can offer accommodation plans that apply to their time both here at City College and on to four-year universities as well.
“To me, her legacy is this pathway she gave to so many students in her six years here by testing them, evaluating them and then determining their eligibility for services,” Garnett said.
Hose also played a second role as a “generalist” or a Disability Counselor. Generalists meet with any student who has any type of disability to consider their individual needs and develop a plan to support and advocate for the student while they study at City College.
Garnett said that, on top of assisting students in her full-time position, Hose improved DSPS’ structure and services by working alongside third-party resources that are used by the program. Her impact has been felt by several parts of campus, with different departments sending their condolences via emails and phone calls.
Hose also regularly met with engineers and coders for the software program ClockWork, which is used by City College and “3,123+ student service professionals across the globe,” according to ClockWork’s website.
She trained with the company that developed the software, TechnoPro Computer Solutions, and coordinated weekly meetings between engineers from ClockWork and City College’s IT department to resolve questions and discuss constructive feedback on how the software can improve.
Hose’s contributions not only advanced the software for the DSPS program here at City College but in other learning institutions that use the program as well.
“When I had to inform those wonderful people that she had been meeting with now for a few years, they were devastated and they said, ‘we are really going to miss her, she was such a contributor to our ability to improve our product for other colleges’ that says it all,” Garnett said.
When Hose was given tenure for her work at City College in 2019, she wrote the following statement, “The most rewarding part of my job, of course, is working with Santa Barbara City College students. I’m constantly inspired by their motivation, persistence and kindness.”
