Friday, March 6, 2020

Greetings Peralta Community!  Welcome to issue #10 of Peralta Gems. Thanks to everyone who provided story ideas and photos, and thanks to Didi Fitzgerald for help assembling this issue.  Send your suggestions to Mark Johnson at markjohnson@peralta.edu. Much appreciated!

Laney Students selected for the 2020 Phi Theta Kappa All-California Academic Team

Congratulations to Yalili Naranjo Chavez (left) and Jacob Miles and from Laney College who have been selected for the 2020 Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) All-California Academic Team.  The All-USA program is widely recognized as the most prestigious academic honor for students attending community college. Each college may nominate two students for showing intellectual rigor and for demonstrating academic achievement, leadership and civic growth. The program also recognizes students who extend their community college education to better themselves, their schools and their surrounding communities.

The All-USA Academic Team recognizes high achieving college students who demonstrate academic excellence and intellectual rigor combined with leadership and service that extends their education beyond the classroom to benefit society. Twenty team members are named annually with each receiving a $5,000 scholarship, a total of $100,000 in scholarship awards. In addition to scholarships, team members are presented at the annual President’s Breakfast held during the American Association of Community Colleges Annual Convention.

The program is sponsored by Follett Higher Education Group with additional support provided by the American Association of Community Colleges and Phi Theta Kappa.

Nominees to the All-USA Academic Team may also be considered for the Coca-Cola Academic Team, New Century Scholars Programs, and All-State Academic Teams when applicable.

Thanks to Brandi Howard, District contracts & legal affairs coordinator and the honors advisor at Laney College, for submitting this story. 

Jacob Miles

Coronavirus Update from March 6, 2020

The District issued three updates on COVID-19 this past week including a statement from the Peralta Health Services team on Monday, March 2; a statement from Chancellor Stanback Stroud on Wednesday, March 4; and an update from the Chancellor's Office on Friday March 6.  You can always find the latest updates from the District as well as information about preventing the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19 at the Peralta Health Services site: https://web.peralta.edu/health-services/coronavirus/

Chancellor Stanback Stroud’s Open Office Hours

PCCD Chancellor, Dr. Regina Stanback Stroud, is sincerely dedicated to listening, learning, and fostering collegial relationships.   To encourage the development of relationships and increase opportunities for her to support each department, she will be conducting office hours in the Chancellor’s Office throughout the Spring 2020 semester. An appointment is not required to meet with the Chancellor.   The first session of office hours will be an open house on March 9, from Noon – 1 p.m. Light refreshments will be provided. Please feel free to visit her to say hello, share your thoughts, ask questions, or express concerns.

District Schedule for March:

Chancellor Stanback Stroud Office Hours at the Colleges

Can't make it to the District Office for the Chancellor's Office hours listed above?  Not to worry, Chancellor Stanback Stroud is coming to a campus near you very soon!  Appointments are not necessary, please drop by, say hello, and share your thoughts. 

PCCD Strategic Plan Progress Update

Dian Harrison discusses strategic planning at PGC

The Peralta Community College District Strategic Plan is coming along, and we just wanted to give everyone a short update.

While there are some interviews planned for next week, most of the Chancellor’s cabinet and constituent leadership members have been interviewed about the strategic plan. Multiple documents have been reviewed, including those documents that were recommended, but not a part of the initial review process. Additionally, research has been completed relative to recent trends in community college education, including online education.

The next step is the student focus groups, which are scheduled for the following dates:

• Tuesday, March 10^th at Laney college from 12:00pm – 1:30 pm in room T-801. 
• Wednesday, March 11^th at BCC from 12:15 pm – 1:15 pm in room 57. (Students have already been identified).
• Tuesday, March 24 at COA – time and location to be determined.

If you know any students you think would like to be a part of the focus group, please have them email Dian Harrison at Dian.Harrison@peralta.edu. Lunch will be provided for the first 25 students to sign-up!

The District is excited about talking to students about the strategic plan and obtaining their guidance and feedback about their needs and about how the District might meet those needs.

If you should have any comments or questions about the process, please don’t hesitate to contact Dian Harrison at dian.harrison@peralta.edu.

Great Place to Work For All Summit in San Francisco

Last week we announced Board of Trustees approval of two new collective bargaining agreements at the District. Chancellor Stanback Stroud stated, “Peralta Community College District is a great place to work.  We want to attract talented faculty, staff and administrators with excellent and fair conditions of employment while being responsible stewards of the precious and limited public resources we have.  We will remain focused and vigilant as we work together to provide outstanding educational opportunities here in the East Bay.”

On March 4, 2020, Dr. Stanback Stroud attended the Great Place to Work For All 2020 Summit in San Francisco. The Great Place to Work For All Summit is the can't-miss event for culture, people and business leaders who are passionate about creating amazing workplaces for all.

Some of you may know that Dr. Stanback Stroud served as a presidential appointee on the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans for President Barack Obama. While at the Summit, the Chancellor was able to connect with another Barack Obama advisor...none other than the esteemed Valerie Jarrett!  Ms. Jarrett was the longest serving Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama. She oversaw the Offices of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs and Chaired the White House Council on Women and Girls. Ms. Jarrett worked throughout her tenure at the White House to mobilize elected officials, business and community leaders, and diverse groups of advocates. She led the Obama Administration’s efforts to expand and strengthen access to the middle class, and boost American businesses and our economy.

2020-21 Budget Planning

The Planning and Budget Council (PBC) met in the District Board Room on Friday, February 21, 2020. Among the many important items discussed was the planning process for creating the fiscal year 2020-21 budget.  PBC had input into 2020-21 Budget Calendar Development dating back to a meeting in October 2019.  The Budget Calendar was approved by the Peralta Board of Trustees on January 21, 2020. Adil Ahmed, Budget Director at the District, presented the Budget Calendar at PBC on Feb 21. The Budget Calendar is posted at https://web.peralta.edu/business/budget-development-calendar/ and the PDF is available here. 

Women's History Month Kicks Off at Berkeley City College

On Tuesday, March 3rd the BCC Women's Leadership Club heald a Women's History Month opening celebration and leadership panel with the theme: "Breaking Boundaries: Experience of Women Working in Male-Dominated Fields." Professional Development chair Susan Kahn gave the opening speech and PCCD Board of Trustee member Dr. Karen Weinstein made a guest appearance to be a part of what was not doubt a lively discussion.  We look forward to more Women's History Month Activities.

Credit and gratitude to Dr. Felicia Bridges and BCC's newsletter, The Messenger, for this item. 

PCCD Department of General Services: Getting Stuff Done!

The HUGE 85" TV Monitor has been installed in the Photography Lab and is up and running. 

Before the installation...

...and after installation!

More good news for those that attend Laney – the large broken glass windows and series of doors at the Theater have been replaced!

Status of HVAC Project at COA’s Aviation Campus – Trane has completed all work associated with Hangar A. AHU’S 1 and 2 are fully functional and in operation. The exhaust flue and sewer vents have also been relocated.

Sankofa Workshop at Merritt College – “How to Complete a Graduation Petition"

Marisol Roque Chaves, a PCCD Admissions and Records Technician, facilitated an awesome workshop at Merritt College on March 3rd called “How to Complete a Graduation Petition".  She explained in-depth: Graduation Requirements, Major Requirements, Graduation Petition, Substitution Waivers, the difference between AS-t, AA-t, AD-t, and Certificate of Achievements.

Marisol also described how Honors, High Honors, and Highest Honors are indicated on your transcripts and went over Commencement Ceremony procedures and which students can participate, such as:

1. Students who were granted a degree from Summer and/or Fall preceding the graduation ceremony
2. Students who have petitioned for the Spring semester who are designated as eligible or eligible pending.
3. Students who have petitioned for the Spring, but are missing 2 courses (up to 6 units) and are enrolled in them during the Summer session following the graduation ceremony.

• These students will be designated as ineligible, but may participate provided they petition to graduate by March 15.

Additionally, “Ineligible but may Participate” students will need to resubmit a new graduation petition during the Summer term in order to be granted the degree and/or certificate.

Lastly, Marisol recommended that students attend the Graduation and Commencement Mandatory Information Sessions that will be held on April 21st, April 22nd, April 25th, and April 27th at Merritt College in the Huey/Seale Student Lounge R-110, so they can learn details about the commencement ceremony, so be sure to share this information with students.

Thanks to Tauheeda Anderson at Merritt College for providing this information. 

International Studies: Faculty Members visit Ireland

In February, four Peralta district faculty members were among a group that paid a visit to Ireland! The aim of the visit was to explore opportunities for developing short, academic faculty-led trips for students, in the areas of environment and science, civil rights and social justice, landscape and identity, nursing and healthcare. For a detailed synopsis of the trip, visit: https://isaireland.com/spring-professional-development-site-visit-for-faculty-2020/

Thanks to Drew Gephart for the photos and information. 

On-Campus Immigration Legal Services at COA

Amy H. Lee, Ed.D., Dean, Enrollment Services at College of Alameda has some exciting news to announce: 

COA students now have access to free ON-CAMPUS immigration legal services. An East Bay Community Law Center’s Immigration Law Clinic Staff Attorney will begin serving students on March 26^th. Details on dates and how to schedule an appointment are on the flier, below.

Please share this information broadly with our students.

What’s more, if you would like EBCLC to present to your department or your students, contact alamedalegal@ebclc.org with your request.

Peralta Foundation receives $15,000 from Grey, Greer, Shelby & Vaughn

On February 23, 2020, Chancellor Stanback Stroud and Trustee Linda Handy attended the Black History Month Luncheon sponsored by Gray, Greer, Shelby & Vaughn, a local Oakland-based consultancy group. The event included the presentation of $15,000 given to the Peralta Colleges Foundation.  Thank you Gray, Greer, Shelby & Vaughn for your generous donation benefiting Peralta students!

Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Andrew Gottscho

The Peralta Community College District is full of amazing people who have dedicated their lives to education, helping students, and making our community a better place. If you'd like to be featured in this "Faculty Spotlight" section, please send photos, a brief bio, and information about your class(es) to Mark Johnson at markjohnson@peralta.edu.

In this issue, we shine a spotlight on Dr. Andrew Gottscho, part-time faculty at Merritt College.

"I am currently a Software Field Operations Engineer at 10x Genomics in Pleasanton, California, where I support bioinformatics software for single-cell genomics. Teaching herpetology is a bit of a "moonlighting" job for me right now, I'm doing it because I love introducing students to field natural history. Before that I was a Peter Buck Postdoctoral Fellow at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, and my PhD at San Diego State University, where I studied the biogeography and speciation of lizards in southwestern North America. See: http://gottschoresearch.com/"

Andrew is a prolific researcher, and recently discovered a species of lizard brand new to science.  Says Andrew, "I can't take credit for discovering the new species -- a genetics study 19 years ago by other authors suggested it was a new species -- however we did go through the effort to collect additional specimens, examine their morphology and genetics in much greater detail, and formally describe and name the species. I am second author, the first author is a former intern of mine, Lizzie DeRycke, and the other authors are Kevin de Queiroz and Dan Mulcahy of the Smithsonian Institution (I was a postdoc there 2015-2017, Lizzie was an intern in summer 2016 when we started the project)."

Andrew teaches BIOL 60C. "I introduce students to the wonderful world of herpetology. Lectures consist of an overview of the evolutionary relationships and basic biology of salamanders, frogs, turtles, crocodiles, lizards, and snakes, in that order. Lab sessions allow hands-on time with preserved specimens representative of California and especially the bay area, generously loaned from the Ken Norris Center for Natural History at UC Santa Cruz: https://norriscenter.ucsc.edu/" For the field trips, three trips are local in the bay area, and the last trip is to the Mojave Desert (overnight travel recommended). Last year most of the students camped out with me in Red Rock Canyon state park and loved it. For more information, check out the class website at https://www.merritt.edu/wp/nhs/spring-2019-biol-60c/.  Thanks to Andrew Gottscho and Brad Balukjian for information and photos for this profile.