Surfing metal head biology profressor
Diana Casillas
Issue date: 12/7/04 Section: News
After four years of weekly commuting from Los Angeles to Oxnard, Michael Abram has settled down as a full-time professor at Oxnard College.
Abram grew up in the San Fernando Valley and attended Grant High School, where he claims he wasn't a science geek or a jock, but a rock-and-roller known as a "metal head". Not only was he into mosh pitts, but he also was a surfer at heart who would ditch first period with his friends to go surfing. At the age of 18, Abram served as a CPR instructor for the Boy Scouts, setting a great example for many of the young members. While attending Los Angeles Valley Community College as an art major, he realized what an important impact his professors were making in his education.
"It was a wonderful springboard for my education," Abram commented.
Two years later, he transferred to UC Santa Barbara where he met his wife Victoria; a "very popular Anthropology professor at Moorpark College", Abram said. Victoria volunteers at OC's ESPIGA and Matriculation offices, where she aims to help those who need a guide in their education.
Abram continued his chain of degrees and earned his doctor of chiropractic at Cleveland Chiropractic College. Yes, he knows how to adjust sore muscles, but before trying to schedule an appointment, his services are only once a week, to family and old patients.
An avid outdoorsman, Abram loves any water activities including fishing, scuba diving, hunting underwater, and kayaking. His favorite morning activity is walking the dog with his wife on the shores of his home, Silverstrand beach.
He confessed of a healthy rivalry between other OC professors as to which beach has the best waves, Silverstrand or Hollywood Beach. He says it's Silverstrand.
Abram is really happy to be a full time professor at OC.
"My roots are set and I hope they do nothing but grow and flourish. I really like it here," said Abram.
His classes have no tests or essays; they are full of outdoors activities for example, beach cleanups, bird habitat restoration and indigenous flower planting. Next semester he will co-teach BIO 170 and GEOL 178, a two-unit class that includes weekend fieldtrips and exiting experiences.
" I promise my students that they will have fun," Abram said.