Mayor Ashcraft’s State of the City Outlook Is Optimistic
The Alameda Chamber and Economic Alliance hosted City officials for the Alameda State of the City 2023 aboard the USS Hornet on Thursday, March 30, 2023. College of Alameda and Peralta Community College District participants included PCCD Trustee Bill Withrow, Professor Andrew Park, Dean Eva Jennings, Director Stefanie Bradshaw, President’s Office Staff Services Specialist Chungwai Chum, and Acting President Dr. Diana Bajrami.
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.
Merritt College Honored by Campaign for College Opportunity
Merritt Colleges recently learned that the Campaign for College Opportunity named Merritt College a 2023 Champion for Excelling in Equitable Course Placement. The organization’s mission is to ensure that all eligible and motivated students in California have an opportunity to go to college and succeed, and with the passage of AB 705 they have focused on increasing access to and success in transfer-level English and math courses across all racial and ethnic groups.
OAKLAND, Calif., April 18, 2023 – Course registration fees are being waived for the Fall 2023 semester at all four of the colleges within the Peralta Community College District (PCCD) for a second year. Available to all California residents regardless of documented status, the fee waiver has no minimum course requirement.
A very interesting article mentioning the Peralta Community College District was published last month in Educause Review. The article, “A DEI Course Design Rubric: Supporting Teaching and Learning in Uncertain Times” by Kim DeBacco and Nick Mattos, explains the process the University of California Instructional Design and Faculty Support community of practice went through to develop a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Course Redesign Rubric for sharing across the UC system. Guess what? They based the UC system rubric on one created right here in our community college district.
Peralta Community College District recently received three awards from CCPRO, the Community College Public Relations Organization (http://ccprocalifornia.org/). The CCPRO 2023 Annual Meeting took place in Los Angeles on April 12th - 14th and was attended by Thomas Rizza (Public Information Officer at Berkeley City College), Marcus Creel (Graphic Design Specialist at the district) and Mark Johnson (district Executive Director, Marketing, Communication & Public Relations). The conference awards ceremony took place on Thursday, April 13, 2023.
Registration is now open for 2023 Black Student Success Week, scheduled for April 24 through April 28. This year's theme is "Vision to Action: Building Systems and Structures for Black Student Success."
Laney College ASLC Student Government leaders Meaghan Connor, Joshua Kofo, Nicholas Rothman, and Director Atiya Rashada join Student Boday President Omolola Atolagbe and their Peralta counterparts at the Student Senate for California Community Colleges (SSCCC) General Assembly, which took place from March 30th to April 2nd in Long Beach.
College of Alameda’s Learning Resource Center Coordinator Johanna Carranza, and Director of Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) Grant Horacio Corona Lira, presented a workshop during the 15th Annual Alliance of Hispanic Serving Institution Educators (AHSIE) Best Practices Conference on March 13, 2023, in San Francisco, California.
Berkeley City College is thrilled to have a new Assistant Chief of Engineering at BCC, Mr. Felix Smith, who has been with the Peralta Community College District (“PCCD”) since 2008 and at BCC since February 2023. Mr. Smith has a storied and progressive background beginning his PCCD career as an hourly custodian, progressed to Permanent Custodian, then Senior Store Keeper, and then placement as Head Custodian.
