Jeff Welsh

Class of 1978

Jeff's success story, in his own words:

"I started taking classes at Cerro Coso when the college was in temporary trailers at the Burroughs High School campus, where I was a student. I completed the AA in psychology, the EMT program, the LVN program (when it was still in the upstairs classroom at Drummond Hospital, as it was then called) and took all available music classes.

"After Cerro Coso, I went on to study at UC Riverside, CSU San Bernardino, the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant University, and several other institutions, where I completed bachelor's, Master's and doctoral programs .While my formal graduate training is in clinical psychology, I have worked as a paramedic and lead therapist on Loma Linda University's flight medevac team, a registered respiratory therapist and a physician's assistant. Along the way, I have also worked as a computer programmer, hypnotherapist and psychotherapist.

"Education has always been a passion for me. I have taught clinical critical care medicine at Loma Linda University, respiratory therapy, other allied health disciplines and nursing at a number of institutions. I have served as program director, dean, and vice president at several institutions and have been a college president at 2 different institutions for nearly 20 years. I still teach music theory and composition, guitar, voice and audio technology. I have published several books and released an album of original music (more on the way).

"I have done multi-institutional medical research, culminating in peer-reviewed publications and national speaking engagements. I have been the CEO of three corporations and have worked as a consultant for educational institutions in the US, England, Scotland, the Bahamas, Turkey, Taiwan, and others.

"I have been a professional musician for most of my life and have owned music recording studios, a degree-granting music technology program, and have worked in several major studios, including Abbey Road Studios in London.

"I am currently living in Ridgecrest again temporarily, and working as a counselor and adjunct professor of psychology at Cerro Coso, where it all began."