After an in-depth review and consideration, Professor Maurice Jones has been appointed as the Acting Vice-President of Instruction at College of Alameda in accordance with AP 7123.

Berkeley City College’s ESOL Department Co-Chair Gabriel Winer was recently recognized for their work in implementing AB 705 to serve our ESOL students in an article published by the California Acceleration Project. The article focused on Winer’s success in creating a transfer-level English class using Socratic seminars to help students learn and practice the rhetorical moves, language, and norms of academic discussions. The class prepares students with practicing speaking and presenting in class with techniques that demystify class discussion language patterns and framing sentences to help structure and word their thoughts. “I am so grateful to work at BCC and to have the opportunity to participate in this work,” said Winer.

Berkeley City College’s “BCC in the Community” is about meeting students where they are. We visited student Carla Appleberry at her dance studio, Creations Berkeley. Appleberry is a Berkeley native and returning student to BCC who was inspired to enroll in BCC’s Multimedia Arts program to support her 8-year-old daughter in creating professional social media videos and promoting her business. “I took the class and I really figured it out. Love my classmates, love the program, and now I want to get the AA in multimedia and transfer to Berkeley for my master's,” said Appleberry. “I’m here to fulfill my dreams and move forward and bring the community along with me.” Appleberry is expecting to graduate from BCC in Fall 2023 or Spring 2024.

On Wednesday, October 12, the Berkeley City College library hosted an exhibition of artwork featuring book jackets created by students in the Beginning and Intermediate Figure Drawing class. Students used free books provided by the library and gave them their own flare, drawing from inspiration for projects they may want to create in the future. Molly Anderson used the opportunity to create a cover for Vaulted Sky, a graphic novel they have been working on and hope to publish one day.

Sixteen BCC team members, including classified professionals, faculty, administrators, and scholar leaders, attended the annual HACU (Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities) conference in San Diego, CA. The theme of the conference was “Championing Hispanic Higher Education Success: Rebuilding a More Resilient and Inclusive America”. Aligned with the mission of our Title V DHSI grant, Conocimiento Los Caminos (CLC), the team engaged in a series of workshops centering strategies and frameworks for transforming our institution to more intentionally serve our Latina, Latino, Latinx, and low-income scholars.

Peralta TV continues to bring you exciting new programming throughout November as this month's selection highlights stories of forgiveness & understanding, resilience, and the importance of keeping cultural traditions.

CoA Aviation Maintenance Training program was invited to participate in Hayward Executive Airport’s Open House Salute To Veterans & First Responders on September 11th. Esther Cheng, AMT facility supervisor, along with 14 student volunteers of the aviation maintenance program tabled on this special day for the outreach opportunity. Students were excited to share their AMT experiences with all who were interested. In addition, student volunteers took turns walking around the event with a large aviation flag answering questions and directing individuals to our booth so that Esther can give more details about our college.

At the end of September, Merritt College had the honor of hosting the Native American Health Center’s Golden Anniversary Powwow. Founded in San Francisco’s Mission District in 1972, and now located in East Oakland, NAHC’s mission is to “provide comprehensive services to improve the health and wellbeing of American Indians, Alaska Natives, and residents of the surrounding communities with respect to cultural and linguistic differences.”

In honor of Latinx/Hispanic Heritage Month, the Latinx/Hispanic Heritage Month Planning Committee, CoA Ethnic Studies, and the Office of the President have invited students and colleagues to enjoy the activities and celebrations of the culture, achievements, traditions, contributions, and struggles of Latinx/Hispanic people in the U.S. and beyond. The theme this year is De Corazón a Corazón (From Heart to Heart).