Women's History Month: Commemorating Women in Trades

Laney College's Career & Technical Education and Employment Services teamed up to commemorate women in trades, in honor of International Women's History Month. The event took place on campus today and featured the following panelists:

• Garage Girls
• Tradeswomen Inc.
• Frailty Myths
• 360 Total Concept
• Forough Hashemi (Laney Electrical)
• Cynthia Correa (Laney Carpentry)

The panelists shared their personal trade experiences while discussing what the future looks like for this career path, and how to attract more women.

One-Stop: Spring Festival 2.0

Mark your calendars for March 16, as Laney is planning for its One-Stop: Spring Festival 2.0 event. The hybrid event will take place from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm at the flagpole area, with a virtual option from 4 pm - 6 pm. Current and future students are encouraged to attend to learn all about the support services offered at Laney College and address any questions prior to the last round of late-start classes. All are welcome!

A2MEND 15th Annual Conference Focuses on African American Males in Higher Education

This year’s A2MEND conference theme was “A Radical Reimagination of Black Male Student Success”, and was held in Los Angeles on March 2nd -4th. Laney College was represented by Counselor Kimm Blackwell, Umoja Co-Coordinator Dr. Kimberly King, Umoja Program Specialist Shanice Millican, and (4) students.

The mission of the conference is to counteract the dismal forecast of the African American male in higher education, by centrally focusing on the role of the institution. Institutions of higher learning play a pivotal role in the education, leadership, support, and engagement of African American male students at the college.

Each year the event brings together nearly 1,000 participants throughout California community colleges which includes faculty, staff, program coordinators, and administrators with the opportunity to network, strategize and learn best practices of ways to support African American males.

Strategic Planning Event

On Friday, March 11, the Laney College Community will be coming together to have a critical discussion around its Strategic Goals and Objectives, as it prepares for work on its new Educational Master Plan in 2022-23. The College Community looks forward to welcoming Dr. Stephanie Droker, Deputy Chancellor, to speak at the hybrid event.

Additionally, there will be focused discussions on the College’s goals in light of our students’ needs of today, while taking into account work done through initiatives such as the Strong Workforce Project and Guided Pathways. Join us from 9 am - 1 pm in the Laney College Fieldhouse for a great breakfast and even better discussion.

Laney College Awarded Student Engagement and Innovation Grant!

Guided Pathways efforts at Laney College continue to multiply, as our college has been awarded the Student Engagement and Innovation Grant from the California Community Colleges Foundation.

Guided Pathways expenditure guidelines have not allowed the College to pay students for their participation in our institutional redesign efforts. The grant was created as an opportunity for students to be paid for their participation and collaboration in Guided pathways work — particularly to allow for an opportunity for undocumented students to be paid for their participation. We value student voices at Laney, which have served as the guiding light for our Guided Pathways work.

Laney's grant-funded Area of Interest Ambassador project will pay students to promote its eight Areas of Interest and the pathways on social media, while they help us spread the word about the many program opportunities that allow them to Dream, Flourish and Succeed at Laney! In addition, we will be awarding one student $1,000 to produce a video about our Areas of Interest that features our Student Ambassadors.

Laney College Welcomes New IT Director
Laney College is pleased to welcome Balamurali (Bala) Sampathraj as its new Acting Director of Information Technology. Mr. Sampathraj joins Laney as a longtime Peralta employee, having served in various Information Technology roles at College of Alameda since 2002, working in either coordinator or Senior Analyst/Administrator capacities since 2005.

A College of Alameda graduate, he also holds Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Network Design and Management & Information Technology Management, respectively. We look forward to welcoming Bala as a member of Laney’s management team and our great campus community!

This article is taken from the President’s Report, written by Dr. Rudy Besikof, Laney College President, that was presented to the PCCD Board of Trustees during their regular meeting on Tuesday, March 8, 2022. To view as a pdf, click here.