Merritt Partners with Sacramento State's Black Honors College

Merritt College has entered into a partnership with Sacramento State University to create a pipeline to their Black Honors College! This educational opportunity is designed for students who are interested in Black history, life, culture, and contributions. For the period beginning January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2030, Merritt College students will be provided guaranteed admission into the Black Honors College if they satisfy the following requirements: 1) have a 3.8 GPA; 2) have successfully completed their general education requirements for admission to Sacramento State; and 3) have demonstrated a commitment to learning about Black history, life, culture, and contributions. Merritt College commits to identifying potential applicants to the Black Honors College and arranging field trips to Sacramento State so that students can get a first-hand experience of what the opportunity has to offer them. Merritt President David M. Johnson will be attending the Juneteenth Celebration in Sacramento this week to announce the partnership and support the California state legislature’s bill that would establish the Black Serving Institution designation for qualifying community colleges in the state.

Merritt Enrollment Sees Continued Improvement 

With the Spring 2024 semester having drawn to a close, Merritt takes a look back and offers an assessment of their enrollment for the term. In general, this last semester was relatively successful in comparison to previous academic terms. For Spring 2024, the College reached 93.1% of its enrollment target (which was the highest in the District). For context, it attained 85.5% of the enrollment target for the Fall 2023 semester, and only 83.8% for Spring 2023. Productivity for the Spring 2024 semester was 14.13—a dramatic improvement from their productivity figure for Spring 2023, which was at 12.90. In summary, Spring 2024 compared to Spring 2023 produced a 12% increase in unduplicated headcount, a 14% increase in total enrollment, and a 16% increase in Resident FTES. The Summer 2024 enrollment picture will come into sharper focus in the next few weeks.

Merritt Honors Classified Staff

This past Thursday afternoon the Classified Senate held its Appreciation Luncheon to recognize and honor classified professional staff members. What made this event particularly special is that it was planned for classified staff by classified staff, as the emphasis was on colleagues honoring their own (managers are planning a celebration of classified professional staff members as well). Classified Senate President Marisol Mateo (Admissions and Records) provided opening remarks and Ron Perez (Business Office) was the emcee for the event. Merritt welcomed Tachetta Henry (Executive Assistant to the Chancellor) back to Merritt as the keynote speaker, and she shared heartfelt words of encouragement and affirmation. Another highlight was each classified professional staff member was recognized for their years of service (with awardees grouped by years of service), with Jane Fong, Patricia Rom, and Walter Johnson having the longest tenure in PCCD (over 35 years)!