Welcome to the Fall 2024 Semester at the Peralta Colleges. I’m so glad you are here with us, whether you are a new or returning student, full or part-time faculty member, classified professional, or administrator. You are all part of our community, and you belong here!  I’m inspired by the Passion, Purpose, and Possibilities I saw at the Welcome Week activities at Berkeley City College, College of Alameda, Laney College, and Merritt College campuses last week.

 

 

I’m following up on the incredibly productive District Flex Day on Thursday, August 15th, at Laney. Kudos to Chelsea Cohen and Marla Leech – the District Professional Development Co-Coordinators – for organizing one of the most informative Flex Day programs in recent memory. Artificial intelligence is all around us, and we’ve got to learn to deal with it, as a helpful tool when appropriate and set boundaries for it when the emphasis should be on human creativity and critical thinking. The panel discussion and copious resources provided gave us much to consider.  

 

My “Passion, Purpose, and Radical Possibilities,” talk, is now posted on YouTube. In the interest of getting us all to the delicious Filipino-style barbecue lunch on time, I skipped over sharing two videos that I promised I’d share with you, so here you go.  

 

The first video is about the transformative power of love and gratitude. It is a recording of our beloved colleague Mary Shaughnessy of CoA and her winning speech at The Moth GrandSLAM at The Castro Theater in San Francisco. Mary brought the crowd to its feet with the story of her diagnosis of an aggressive form of stage four thyroid cancer and the transformative power of love and gratitude. Mary passed away in February, but I hope we all keep her and her powerful message of love and gratitude living on in our hearts.  

 

The second is a music video for “Brighter Day” by Michael Franti & Spearhead.  I wanted to close my talk with this wonderful music and its optimistic message.  I firmly believe a Brighter Day is ahead for Peralta.

 

 

Andrea Epps, Esq., and her transition from Director of Employee Relations and Diversity Programs to Interim Vice Chancellor of Human Resources and Employee Relations is a big reason for my optimism. She started her new role on August 14 after the Board of Trustees approved her appointment at their August 13, 2024, meeting.  Following the pattern set with Greg Nelson & Abdul Pridgen and with Melanie Dixon, I was able to chat with Andrea and get to know her a bit better, so please check out the video of our conversation here.  Thanks to the Peralta TV team, including Joe Sullivan and Bendi Yilmaz, for their help in producing this video.  

 

 

As part of the effort to be more open and transparent, leaders from the District Service Center will join me on campus visits after Labor Day. We’ll brief you about the adopted budget, provide updates on districtwide efforts, answer questions, and get your input. Here is the schedule with exact locations to be announced closer to the dates. 

 

I wish you all the best this semester and always! 

 

Tammeil 

 

Chancellor

Peralta Community College District