February 21, 2023

Dear Peralta Community,

The Peralta Community College District has been engaged in negotiations since May 2022 with our faculty union, the Peralta Federation of Teachers (PFT). We want to provide the community with an update on these negotiations and provide some key context on a few important issues.

Berkeley City College is excited to announce Dr. Joya Chavarin, EdD as BCC’s newest tenure track Education Instructor. Chavarin is the first full-time faculty hired in the Education Program at BCC.

Berkeley City College’s ESOL Department Co-Chair Gabriel Winer was recently recognized for their work in implementing AB 705 to serve our ESOL students in an article published by the California Acceleration Project. The article focused on Winer’s success in creating a transfer-level English class using Socratic seminars to help students learn and practice the rhetorical moves, language, and norms of academic discussions. The class prepares students with practicing speaking and presenting in class with techniques that demystify class discussion language patterns and framing sentences to help structure and word their thoughts. “I am so grateful to work at BCC and to have the opportunity to participate in this work,” said Winer.

Welcome back to the faculty who were on break this summer! We were recently notified by the state Chancellor’s Office that access to Zoom via CCCConfer will be changing. On the evening of August 15, 2022, the CCC ConferZoom application will be replaced by a new and improved application called CCC Tech Connect Zoom.

How do you feel when you talk to a counselor that knows exactly what you are going through? How do you feel when you find out that your counselor is an immigrant like you? Fatima Shah is a Pakistani woman who immigrated to the United States with her family when she was still a teenager. Fatima went to Berkeley High School, applied for Berkeley City College, became a student employee, and now she has been serving her community as a general counselor at BCC.  

CoA Distance Education Team Tackles Fake Students Problem

As if teaching online during a pandemic wasn't difficult enough, 2021 brings California Community Colleges a new challenge: fraudulent enrollments and"fake" students. Authorities believe more than 60,000 fake applications for financial aid were submitted statewide, as reported by the Los Angeles Times, the Sacramento Bee, and the New York Times.