At an online reception on Tuesday, March 9, 2021, the Peralta Community College District celebrated the awarding of tenure to six dedicated educators. The event, hosted by Dr. Siri Brown (Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs & Student Success), began with welcoming statements by Dr. Cindi Napoli-Abella Reiss (President of the Board of Trustees), Dr. Carla Walter (Interim Chancellor), Dr. Donald Moore (President of the District Academic Senate), and Dr. Jennifer Shanoski (President of the Peralta Federation of Teachers). You can watch a recording of the event on YouTube below.
Educators from peer institutions across the Western Association of Schools and Colleges conducted virtual site visits of the Peralta Community College District and the four colleges last week, March 1-4. These peer reviews were conducted on behalf of the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) and were part of an accreditation process that included the Special Reports we submitted last November and the Institutional Self Evaluation Reports (ISERs) submitted in December 2020. The visits went well. We’re writing to share with you some preliminary good news that we received during the accreditation site visits last week.
According to the independent web-based research site, Intelligent.com, College of Alameda has been ranked in the top 50 nationally for the Best Associate in Psychology Degree Programs. Their comprehensive research guide is based on an assessment of 2,277 accredited colleges and universities. Programs are evaluated based on curriculum quality, graduation rate, reputation, and post-graduate employment. The College’s Psychology for Transfer AA-T Degree also was ranked as the best in the area of mindfulness training.
Dear Peralta Community,I’ve been reading a book entitled, The Alchemist. It’s by Paulo Coelho, an author from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It’s a really wonderful book. Here is a quote from the inside cover: "This enchanting novel has inspired a devoted following around the world. This story, dazzling in its powerful simplicity and soul-stirring wisdom, is about an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago who travels from his homeland in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of a treasure buried near the Pyramids. Along the way he meets a [fortune teller], a man who calls himself king, and an alchemist, all of whom point Santiago in the direction of his quest. No one knows what the treasure is, or if Santiago will be able to surmount the obstacles in his path. But what starts out as a journey to find worldly goods turns into a discovery of the treasure found within. Lush, evocative, and deeply humane, the story of Santiago is an eternal testament to the transforming power of our dreams and the importance of listening to our hearts.” |
CoA Music Professor, Department Co-Chair, and President of Academic Senate Foundation for California Community Colleges Silvester Carl Henderson was featured this month in Intelligent HQ’s Higher ED Thought Leadership Series.This thoughtful interview covered the breadth of Professor Henderson's career in higher education, including his numerous professional accomplishments and awards.
With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to cause challenges to our medical system's capacity, qualified nurses are in high demand.
NBC Bay Area news channel recently featured interviews about the College’s new Certified Nursing Assistant Program (CAN) with Dean of Career and Workforce Education, Customized Training and Community Education Eva Denise Jennings and Director of the CNA Program Genevieve Dace.
In addition, several publications also featured news about the new CNA Program, including Caring Magazine and the Alameda Patch.
The UMOJA Community at CoA is growing and evolving. This semester CoA UMOJA is offering three courses taught by three amazing professors, Dr. Khalilah Beal-Uribe (MATH 13), Stefanie Ulrey (ENGL 1A), and Jody Campbell (AFRAM 30).
The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) is visiting (virtually) the Peralta Community College District on December 16 and 17 to follow up on our Colleges’ accreditation submittals, specifically the Special Reports submitted on November 1, 2020.
While the Colleges remain fully accredited during a probationary period announced by ACCJC in January 2020, we are pleased to report that the District and Colleges are making progress on removing that probationary status.
As you may recall, the probationary status was not about academics or education, but solely about finances and organizational matters.
The ACCJC required the Colleges to provide additional evidence of financial improvement. That is exactly what College of Alameda, Berkeley City, Laney and Merritt Colleges have done, and we believe the reported results are excellent.
We are confident the colleges have addressed the ACCJC concerns and have demonstrated each campus meets the requirements to be removed from probationary status.
Each of the four Colleges reported growing enrollments and services to students through online winter and spring intersession offerings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, the campuses successfully conducted marketing and outreach campaigns to potential students seeking online instruction in California State University and University of California-transferable courses.
All of the four Colleges noted increases in their individual “Dual Enrollment Programs,” which offers high school students an early start on their career technical education and opportunities to earn units toward their college degree.
The Colleges partner with high schools in Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda to promote educational equity by offering empowering, transformative educational experiences to local high school students.
By increasing the Colleges’ offerings to high schools these new enrollments hopefully mean these students will have already begun their college experience by the time they graduate high school, giving them both a head start in college as well as saving them money.
The upbeat online celebration of CoA’s 50th Anniversary took place on December 1, from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. It opened with a cheerful greeting from the College’s Cougar mascot, thanks to Joshua Sanders, Student Athlete/Men’s Basketball team member, who donned the costume for the occasion. CoA President Dr. Nathaniel Jones III, gave the official welcome. Over 170 students, alumni, faculty, staff, and community members attended he gala, which featured heartwarming student testimonials and special guest presentations by Representative Barbara Lee, Assemblymember Rob Bonta, Alameda Mayor Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft, Interim PCCD Chancellor Dr. Carla Walter, PCCD Trustee Bill Withrow, and Chief Executive Officer of Alameda Alliance for Health Scott Coffin, among others.
ALAMEDA, CA – Today, the Peralta Community College District (PCCD) unveiled its latest accomplishment under an ambitious, multimillion-dollar capital improvement plan: completion of the New Center for Liberal Arts (Building H) at the College of Alameda. The nearly 54,000 square foot, building offers specialized facilities for programming in the divisions of Liberal Studies and Language Arts, and Career and Workforce Education, and Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math with classroom space in a variety of academic disciplines. This success was preceded by a successful bond refinance earlier this year that saved taxpayers $5 million and earned the District a higher credit rating from Moody’s.
