The following article is written by Brock Drazen, Athletic Director at Merritt College and Head Coach of the Merritt College Track & Field team, and is use by permission from an announcement sent to all Peralta employees on March 29, 2022.

Even while on spring break, our students continue training and competing with a meet last Friday at Santa Rosa Junior College and upcoming meets at Stanford, Sac State, and Mt San Antonio College the next three weekends before our Big 8 Conference championships.

Merritt College awarded California Apprenticeship Initiative Grant

Merritt College is proud to announce that we have been awarded the California Apprenticeship Initiative Grant: New and Innovative Programs from the Workforce and Economic Development Division of the State Chancellor's Office. The grant award is for $416,509 and will be used to strengthen our Cybersecurity Apprenticeships and increase access to digital literacy for underserved and underrepresented communities.

Merritt College Day of Appreciation

Merritt College Addresses Student Enrollment

On Wednesday, February 15, Merritt convened a joint Strategic Enrollment Management/Educational Master Planning Task Force meeting to examine and address some of the prevailing and persistent challenges we face in terms of the recruitment and retention of students. We recognize that COVID-19 has had an obvious impact on our enrollment numbers and the way our institution will need to function going forward (including devoting more attention and resources to support the mental health of our students). But we also concede that some of the challenges were endemic even before the pandemic. It is important for us to acknowledge troubling issues if we ever hope to surmount them… we cannot skip that critical step. With that said, a few of the areas that we will address are:

Recognition of Faculty & Staff

I would like to begin by acknowledging the collective efforts of the faculty, classified professional staff, and administrators to make the first few weeks of the semester (particularly the on-campus instruction and delivery of in-person student services) more successful than many had anticipated.

February is Black History Month, and the Peralta Colleges will be celebrating all month long. Merritt College President David M. Johnson, in an email to the Merritt Community, described the history of this month of remembrance:

Image: 2020 lunar new year celebration at Laney College

February 1^st marks the start of the year of the Tiger and we at Peralta are excited to celebrate the Lunar New Year. The Peralta community is made up of students, faculty, and staff with connections around the world. 

Welcome to the Spring 2022 semester at the Peralta Colleges!  We are so glad to have students back in person and online this semester for classes and student services.

“Substantial Progress” in All Areas Leads to Reclassification by ACCJC

OAKLAND, Calif., January 27, 2022  -- The Peralta Community College District (PCCD) today learned that Berkeley City College, College of Alameda, Laney College, and Merritt College have received upgraded accreditation status by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC).

Merritt College:  Spring 2022

Merritt College appreciates everyone who has demonstrated a genuine commitment to heading into the Spring 2022 academic term with a renewed sense of hope and purpose. The Merritt community is all well-aware of the challenges that everyone continues to face, so please know that the dedication, circumspection, and sacrifice that Merritt faculty, staff, and administrators are bringing to bear on behalf of our students and each other does not go unnoticed.