On July 23, 2020, San Diego Mesa College’s Teacher Education Pathways Program was honored with a League for Innovation’s 2019-2020 Innovation of the Year Award. The Mesa Teacher Education Program (Program) and the recognition via this award, positions Mesa as one of the premiere colleges for aspiring teachers, and prepares the next generation of educators to bring necessary racial and gender diversity to the current teacher work force. The Program was awarded, in part, not only because of the focus on diversity, but because it also offers free tutoring, smaller classes, stipends and a direct path to earning a Bachelor’s degree - all to help ensure student success.

Each year, the League for Innovation in the Community College hosts the Student Literary Award competition, showcasing some of the best original poetry, fiction, drama, and personal essays composed by community college students from its 19 board member colleges. For the second year in a row, the San Diego Community College District has a national winner – Troy Bernardo – a Mesa College student whose One-Act Play entitled Three River Thieves has garnered him the first-place prize for a literary drama