Over 400 High School and Middle Students Visit CoA ACCESO Center

CoA’s ACCESO Center hosted over 450 students from eight Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) and Alameda Unified School District (AUSD) high schools and middle schools in the past academic year. Participating schools included: Castlemont High School (OUSD), Encinal Middle School (AUSD), Oakland International High School (OUSD), Life Academy High School (OUSD), Alameda Community Learning Center (AUSD), NEA Community Learning Center (AUSD), and The Unity Council of Oakland (OUSD). In addition to visiting and learning more about the ACCESO program, students toured CoA’s FabLab, Auto, Diesel, and Apparel Design and Merchandising (ADAM) classrooms. The visits were a great success and Director of Hispanic Serving Institution Grant ACCESO/Puente Programs Horacio Corona Lira is planning more visits next year.

CoA Classified Professionals Appreciation Day Enjoyed by All

College of Alameda faculty, staff, and administrators celebrated the important work of Classified Professional staff on Thursday, June 8, 2023. The upbeat event featured games, music, and even Administrators providing a dance performance and serving food. A raffle, bingo game, and musical chairs made this a particularly fun way to celebrate together!

CoA Team Attends National Conference on Race & Ethnicity in Higher Education (NCORE)

A robust team of College of Alameda students, classified staff, faculty, and administrators attended the National Conference on Race & Ethnicity in Higher Education (NCORE) Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, on May 29 - June 2, 2023. NCORE offers a unique forum for discussion and critical dialogue about race, ethnicity, and its intersections in higher education. This forum allows people and institutions to find effective strategies promoting access, social development, education, positive communication, and cross-cultural understanding in diverse settings.

COA participants attended such sessions as, Advancing Anti-Racism Strategies on Campus, Bystander Intervention, Asian American Representation in DEI Work, and Undoing Racism/Community Organizing, and Hispanic Serving Institutions among others. Six students, including ASCOA President Natay Meyers, attended the conference. Student attendees described NCORE as a "transformative experience" in being able to listen to and meet speakers from across the nation as well as other student leaders. The College of Alameda's Hispanic Serving Institutions Grant Office sponsored this professional development opportunity for College participants.

Alameda Women Leaders Meet at the Karibu Wine Bar for a Conversation about Leadership & Creating a Winning Business Culture.

Interim Chancellor of Peralta Community Colleges District Dr. Jannett Jackson shared how to create loyalty at the workplace and invest in workplace culture. CoA Alumna and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Karibu Wine Bar and Wachira Wines Dr. Chris Wachira shared her experiences in building her successful brand and business Wachira Wines. Wachira Wines is a black-owned, woman-owned winery in Alameda County and is the culmination of the extraordinary vision and efforts of Dr.Wachira, who is the first Kenyan- born, winemaker, distributor, importer, and exporter in California. As a young immigrant working her way through college to earn her Doctorate, she fell in love with the science of winemaking and developed a deep appreciation for the sense of community built from sharing a bottle of wine with complete strangers.

CoA Academic Senate Elects a New Executive Council.

Effective July 1, 2023, Communications Professor Jennifer Fowler will serve as senate president, Dental Assisting Program Instructor Carla Pegues will serve as vice president. Mathematics Professor Rich Kaeser will serve as secretary, and Physics and Astronomy Professor Andrew Park will serve as secretary. The newly elected officers' terms run through June 2025. Other Academic Senators who were elected or reelected this year include: Sue Altenbach, George Cruz, Bruce Pettyjohn, Matthew Goldstein, Kwesi Wilson, Cady Carmichael, Andrew Fittingoff, Jacinda Marshall, Marissa Nakano, and Fathia Mohamed.

Puente Holds Its Annual Banquet at Pier 29

CoA’s Puente Program celebrated its annual banquet on Thursday, May 11, 2023, at the Pier 29 Waterfront Restaurant in the City of Alameda. Puente's Annual Banquet celebrates the accomplishments of the current Puente cohort of students and their families for having completed the one-year Puente course sequence. Additionally, Puente graduates were recognized and received a Puente graduation stole. The banquet dinner featured a welcome from CoA Acting President Dr. Diana Bajrami, and a keynote speech from PCCD President Dyana Marie Delfín Polk. Board President Delfín Polk shared her remarkable educational journey of persistence through community college and emphasized the importance of dreaming big and never giving up. The event concluded with a recognition of this year's Puente Champion of the Year Ms. Dominique Benavides and recognition of Puente graduates. A special thank you to CoA's Puente team for their year-long efforts in supporting Puente Cohort number three and Puente graduates.

This article is an excerpt from the President’s Report, written by Dr. Diana Bajrami, College of Alameda Acting President, that was presented to the PCCD Board of Trustees during their regular meeting on Tuesday, June 27, 2023. To view it as a pdf, click here.