At the January 22nd, 2024 meeting of the California Community Colleges Board of Governors, the San Diego Mesa College Ethnic Studies Faculty Council was awarded the prestigious Exemplary Program Award.
Second-year student Zora Williams is using her voice to bring more mental health and nutrition programming to San Diego Mesa College. Williams was elected president of the college’s Associated Students (AS) for the 2024-2025 academic year and serves as the college’s student representative on the San Diego Community College District Board of Trustees.
Sometimes, you hear a story that makes you want to know more. Kevin Gonzalez has such a story. The last time this story was updated, San Diego Mesa College student Kevin Gonzalez was a 15 year-old heading off to Massachusetts to complete his high school education. In the ensuing years, he has travelled to the other side of the world, built houses, but remained in close contact with his Mesa College professors and connections he made while on campus.
The San Diego Community College District has appointed four new student trustees for the upcoming academic year. Dalia Ramirez (San Diego City College), Zora Williams (San Diego Mesa College), Hailey Hua (San Diego Miramar College), and Haydee Zuniga (San Diego College of Continuing Education), will be sworn in during the June 20 SDCCD Board of Trustees meeting.
May 1, 2017
A progress report of the last two years, Part I
It has been just over two years since San Diego Mesa College made a commitment to be the leading college of equity and excellence, and in such a short time period, more than 60 programs on campus have been developed to progress toward this goal.
Since adopting this concept, Mesa has established an Office of Student Success and Equity; hired Sade Burrell as a special populations counselor for former foster youth (Fast Scholars) and immigrant (Borderless Scholar) students; created The Stand to support students in need of food, toiletries and business attire; launched the Mesa Moves campaign to ensure that students have modes of transportation to get to campus and more.
In September 2014, Mesa received its first Title V Hispanic Serving Institution federal grant for $2.62 million – later named the Proyecto Éxito by Professor Leticia Lopez and Proyecto Activity Director Monica Romero. The purpose of the grant was to fund efforts for both student success and student equity to help students to meet their educational goals at equitable rates across various demographics, especially amongst Latino students.
Having previously worked with the Center for Urban Education at University of Southern California, Mesa President Dr. Pamela Luster had CUE come to Mesa at that time to assess where the college was in terms of equity.
A collaborative group comprised of the CUE and Mesa administrators looked for “equity barriers” and how the college could close equity gaps.
From that moment on, the idea of equity and excellence being married to one another in the campus’ goals became an integral part of the strategic plan.
“Without one you can’t really have the other,” Luster said. “For me, it’s kind of the perfect recipe, really. We want students to have an excellent experience in all facets, but we want to provide that in a way that’s respectful of their experience and worldview, what they bring to the table.”
A year of inquiry was then established to assess the equity needs on campus and how to best serve the student population, said Vice President of Student Services Ashanti Hands. Change agent groups of Mesa faculty and staff were created to look at documents, walk in students’ shoes and make observations of the status of equity on campus.
Stay tuned for a continuation of this story and weekly articles highlighting students, faculty and staff who are working toward the goal of making Mesa the Leading College of Equity and Excellence. For more information about Student Success and Equity at Mesa College, contact Dean Larry Maxey at (619) 388-5940, or via email at lmaxey@sdccd.edu.
Tags: Equity and Excellence
Jennifer Nichols Kearns
Director of Communications
jnkearns@sdccd.edu
(619) 388-2759
Larry Maxey
Dean of Student Success and Equity
(619) 388-5940
lmaxey@sdccd.edu
At the January 22nd, 2024 meeting of the California Community Colleges Board of Governors, the San Diego Mesa College Ethnic Studies Faculty Council was awarded the prestigious Exemplary Program Award.
Looking to address equity issues on campus, San Diego Mesa College sought out advice and expertise from the Center for Urban Education (CUE) at the University of Southern California. “We needed to have someone hold up the mirror to us because it can be difficult to change from within if you don’t know what you need to change,” said Dr. Pamela Luster, President of Mesa.
San Diego, CA — Today, San Diego Mesa College will host the Advancing Racial Justice and Equitable Outcomes in Community College Institute, scheduled for Sept. 12 at San Diego Mesa College, is the third such meeting organized by the University of Illinois Office of Community College Research and Leadership. Issues of race on community college campuses will be the focus of the conference.
