Sacramento, CA ---- This week, San Diego Mesa College Professor Dr. Veronica Gerace received the prestigious 2023 Regina Stanback Stroud Diversity Award from the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC). As the official voice of California community college faculty in academic and professional matters, the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) is committed to equity, student learning and student success. The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges acts to empower faculty to engage in local and statewide dialog and take action for continued improvement of teaching, learning, and faculty participation in governance.

San Diego Mesa College has been named a 2021 Equity Champion of Higher Education by The Campaign for College Opportunity for awarding Associate Degrees for Transfer (ADT) to Black and Latinx students. Colleges are recognized due to their actions to intentionally ensure that Black and Latinx students who have a transfer goal earn an ADT. This is determined via the percentage point gap (PPG), which identifies campuses, such as Mesa College, that are excelling in awarding ADTs to Latinx and Black students, relative to their campus wide ADT conferral rates. Across all California Community Colleges, Mesa is recognized as having a high proportion of degree or transfer seeking Black and Latinx students who received an ADT in the 2019-2020 academic year. This is achievement is indicative of the equity work in which Mesa College engages daily.

In a campus-wide equity effort to help students succeed in their Spring 2021 classes, Mesa College is providing supplies and kits for over 20 academic courses and programs. Students taking science courses such as microbiology and botany will have access to microscopes and seed kits, fashion students can get sewing machines, fabric and dress forms. Music students can access electronic music studio kits and electronic keyboards, dental students can receive various dental instruments, and astronomy students will receive supplies to build their own Galilean telescopes. Spring 2021 classes start on Monday, February 1, and supplies distribution will take place during the first several weeks of classes.

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.

San Diego, CA. — Tomorrow, Thursday, August 15, 2019, San Diego Mesa College will host an event entitled "The Impact of Privilege on Equity in Higher Education", featuring speaker Tim Wise. Mesa College is hosting this event as a testament to their commitment to access, success, and equity. Mesa College is a diverse community of faculty, students, professional staff, and administrators who collaborate to foster scholarship, leadership, innovation, and excellence in an inclusive learning environment. By promoting student learning and achievement that leads to degrees and certificates, transfer, workforce training, and lifelong learning, Mesa seeks to empower students to reach their educational goals and shape their future.