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Berkeley City College President’s Report – April 26, 2023

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Give a Dream, Make a Reality for UCRC Scholars

Berkeley City College hosted its first “Give a Dream, Make a Reality” event on Thursday, April 13th to support students with the Undocumented Community Resource Center. Donations collected from the event will go toward funding workforce development programs for undocumented scholars, emergency grants to assist with basic needs, and school supplies. Attendees included UCRC students, BCC faculty and staff, PCCD Board President Dyana Delfin Polk, and representatives of the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce. Over 50% contributed by direct donation, check, or signing up for PCCD monthly salary contributions with the Peralta Foundation. 

The event began with a brief talk by UCRC student Alumna Kayanna Harris. Kayanna is a senior undergraduate majoring in Chemical Engineering and minoring in Bioengineering at the University of California, Berkeley. Kayanna graduated from Berkeley City College with Associate Degrees in Analytical Chemistry, Biology, and Mathematics. During her time, she was an advocate for student enrichment through the BCC Undocumented Community Resource Center.

The program moved to a “fireside chat” between BCC Vice President of Student Services Dr. Stacey Shears and special guest Sarahi Espinoza Salamanca, Founder & CEO of Dreamers RoadMap, a software application that assists undocumented students with enrolling and financing their higher education goals. Dr. Shears led an engaged conversation with Sarahi exploring her story as an undocumented high school student. She discussed her experience working through the gauntlet of barriers transferring to a 4-year university and confronting the realities of no funding for her legal status as an undocumented student. The experience inspired her to develop the Dreamers RoadMap to assist students with overcoming those barriers.

“It was an amazing demonstration of the value BCC places on supporting the undocumented students!” said Luis Chavez, UCRC Counselor.

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BCC UCRC Founder, Carolina Martinez closed out the evening with a special presentation of thanks for the many years of support and dedicated attention by Dr. Stacey Shears and Dr. Martín De Mucha Flores.

 

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Principals and Partners Breakfast Strengthens BCC’s K-12 Bonds

Berkeley City College invited K-12 educators and administrators from across its service area to its Principals and Partners breakfast on Friday, April 21. 25 representatives from Berkeley Unified School District, Oakland Unified School District, Emery High School, and Albany Unified School District, the Berkeley Public Schools Fund and Berkeley Community Scholars were in attendance. The program was an opportunity to network with BCC’s K-12 partners, many of whom we’ve only interacted with via email and Zoom meetings through the pandemic and inform them of the growth and support of BCC’s Dual Enrollment efforts.

The focal point of the meeting was a presentation led by the Dual Enrollment 4 Equity Leadership Team with Dean Lisa Cook, English Faculty Kate Koelle, and Dri Regalado, CLC Puente Counselor and Instructor. The presentation covered the history, growth, and data of advancing DE4E at BCC, and looked forward to the launch of the new DE landing page, outreach efforts, Dual Enrolled Student Club, and swag apparel coming this summer. After the presentation, Dr. Garcia opened the floor to questions and feedback from the audience.

“I’m excited because we are building. This event is happening because of a collective commitment on BCC’s part to invest in dual enrollment as a priority, and we’re grateful for that,” said Leslie Hsu Freeman, Manager of Dual Enrollment & Early College Credit at OUSD.

“The mission in developing BCC’s educational master plan is uprooting generational poverty in our community,” said Dr. Garcia. “Dual enrollment is central to achieving this goal, so students can access a quality higher education in this zip code, leading to higher wages in this zip code, and buying a house and staying in this zip code.”

 

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NY Times Best Selling Author Javier Zamora Visits BCC

On Wednesday, April 19, New York Times Best Selling Author Javier Zamora visited Berkeley City College to discuss his recent book Solito: A Memoir. The event was organized by
the Berkeley City College Library in partnership with the Berkeley Public Library. The free, sold-out event filled the BCC Auditorium with over 200 people made up of BCC students, Berkeley High School students, and community members.

Zamora shared the unforgettable story of his harrowing migration from El Salvador to the United States at only nine years old. Accompanied only by strangers and a hired “coyote,” he left his beloved aunt and grandparents to reunite with his mother and father in the United States. The three-thousand- mile journey is supposed to last two weeks, but after their guide abandons them in Oaxaca, it stretches into two life-altering months spent among strangers turned guardians as they travel from El Salvador to Guatemala and to Mexico before arriving in the United States.

Zamora took part in a question-answer period after the moderated discussion, and also took part in a book signing. The BCC Library thanks Javier Zamora for visiting our campus and engaging with our community, and the Berkeley Public Library for their partnership in organizing the event.

 

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President Garcia Appointed to White House Committee on Arts and Humanities

On Thursday, April 13, The White House announced Berkeley City College President Dr. Angélica Garcia will be serving alongside educators, philanthropists, and nationally recognized artists, including Lady Gaga, George Clooney, and Kerry Washington, on the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities (PCAH).

The PCAH was founded in 1982 by Executive Order to advise the President on cultural policy. In her role as a committee member, Dr. Garcia will contribute to advising the President and the heads of U.S. cultural agencies on policy, philanthropic and private sector engagement, and other efforts to enhance federal support for the arts, humanities, and museum and library services.

“I am deeply honored to be included among brilliant, global-minded champions of the arts, humanities, museums, and libraries,” said Dr. Garcia. “Community colleges across this country are anchors of democracy that often serve as the cultural centers of diverse communities, in many cases being the only spaces where the arts, humanities, and libraries are accessible. I am humbled by this appointment and am eager to be both learner and teacher on the committee.”

 

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PCCD Brings Home Marketing Awards at CCPRO Conference

Berkeley City College Public Information Officer (PIO) Tom Rizza, joined PCCD Marketing Director Mark Johnson and Graphic Designer Marcus Creel at the Community College Public Relations Organization Conference from April 12 – 14 in Los Angeles. The conference provided networking and professional development workshops exploring cutting-edge techniques in social media marketing, program-specific micro-marketing campaigns, and navigating crisis communications. PCCD Marketing Director Mark Johnson gave a presentation on the District’s migration of web content and outreach efforts to the HubSpot platform.

PCCD brought home three awards, including First Place in the Media Success Story for 2022’s Fall is Free program, silver for website content update and migration, and third place for class schedule design.

“This was my first conference, and I couldn’t have had a better experience meeting my comms and marketing colleagues at community colleges across the state,” said BCC PIO Tom Rizza “I’m looking forward to continuing to participate in professional development opportunities to better serve students in our community.”

 

 

This article is taken from the President’s Report, written by Dr. Angélica Garcia, Berkeley City College President, that was presented to the PCCD Board of Trustees during their regular meeting on Tuesday, April 25, 2023. To view it as a pdf, click here.

Tags: Berkeley City College

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