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.

Peralta TV, which celebrated its 40th Anniversary earlier this year (see Peralta Gems #9), continues to broadcast educational and Peralta community content 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Peralta TV is available on Comcast (Channel 27 in Alameda and Berkeley, and Channel 28 in Oakland, Emeryville and Piedmont) and on AT&T U-Verse (Channel 99). Here are some upcoming program highlights in September. 

Welcome students and educators to the Fall 2020 Semester at the Peralta Community College District! 

At their regular meeting on July 28, 2020, the Board of Trustees confirmed the appointment of Dr. Carla Walter as Acting Chancellor of the Peralta Community College District until an Interim Chancellor is hired. Dr. Walter, previously the Vice Chancellor of Finance and Administration at the District, assumed the role of Acting Chancellor on July 18, 2020 per the Board Policy on Chancellor succession.  

On July 28, 2020, the Board of Trustees of the Peralta Community College District (PCCD) approved the appointment of Mark Johnson as Executive Director of Public Information, Communication & Media. He will continue to manage the Department of Marketing, Communication and Public Relations (MCPR) for the District. Mr. Johnson had been in the interim role for the past year. 

The 12th Annual African & African American Graduation was held July 25, 2020, celebrating graduates from Berkeley City College, College of Alameda, Laney College and Merritt College.

On July 21, 2020, a community forum was held via Zoom giving Peralta employees including faculty, classified professionals and administrators the opportunity to hear about several exciting projects impacting the district.

Presenting were Dr. Leigh Sata (Vice Chancellor of General Services), Amy Marshall (Facilities Director, Laney College) and Keith Kajiya (Vice President, AECOM, the Peralta bond program manager). Mark Johnson (Marketing, Communication & Public Relations) moderated a Question and Answer period following the presentations. 

We are excited to welcome Marcus Creel as the new Graphic Design Specialist for the Peralta Community College District.

The coronavirus pandemic has had a major impact on the state of California budget, both in the reduction of funds available as part of the budget and also with regards to the timing of the budget, which has been delayed. On June 30, 2020 the Board of Trustees passed a resolution allowing the district to continue operations in the new fiscal year beginning July 1, 2020 while work to align the Peralta Community College District budget with the resources allocated by the final California budget continued. The District has made much progress on updating the Tentative Budget for Fiscal Year 2020-21 over the past few week. 

A special meeting of the Peralta Community College District Board of Trustees took place on June 30, 2020. During the epic Board of Trustees meeting on June 23, 2020 - the nearly six hour meeting that included a hundred public comments - the Board tabled the planned discussion of the Tentative Budget for Fiscal Year 2020-2021. That budget discussion resumed at the special meeting. Dr. Carla Walter, Vice Chancellor of Finance and Administration, gave a presentation on the proposed Tentative Budget for FY 2020-21.