Connie Renda, MA, RHIA, CHDA, Program Director and Assistant Professor for Health Information Technology and Management, was recognized by the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) with the prestigious Leadership Award.
We are excited to share the members of Generation Hope's California Presidents Circle, the first in a new national initiative designed to equip higher education executives with tools, data, and peer support to truly champion parenting students and their families.
Women’s volleyball at Mesa College is on a spike. In the spring, the Olympians won the state beach volleyball title after winning the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference title for a fourth straight year.
August 24, 2021
Paintings by Gloria Muriel, sculptures by Aida Valencia and a collaborative ceramic installation by Beliz Iristay and Irene de Watteville
On Thursday, August 26, for the first time in over 18 months, the San Diego Mesa College
Art Gallery will host a Reception and Open House featuring four international artists.
The Reception and Open House will be held from 11:00 am – 7:00 pm., and feature outdoor
refreshments. From 12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m., artist Gloria Muriel will be on-site at
the gallery creating small drawings, which will be available for purchase for under
$100. Masks are required in the Gallery space, and attendees must register in advance
using the following link: https://forms.gle/H3uFLQLqFsxr86Uz9. Attendees can park for free.
Notes from Gallery Director Alessandra Moctezuma
Our Sleeping Beauty awakens! We are finally able to open the exhibition that was set
up for March 2020. The work remained undisturbed for the pandemic year and is ready
for visitors. Enter a magical environment of Nature nymphs painted in Talavera colors;
wander among graceful trees with dazzling mosaic flowers; feast on a sensuous banquet
of surreal delights in porcelain and clay.
Visit the artists' websites: www.gloriamuriel.com, www.beliziristay.com; www.aidavalencia.com
Gallery Hours: T, W, TH, 11:00 am – 4:00 pm.
Closed Mondays, Fridays, Weekends and School Holidays.
(Please email [email protected] or call 619-388-2829 to reserve a time.)
Parking in STUDENT spots is FREE during Fall 2021.
Gallery website: www.sdmesa.edu/art-gallery
In the exhibition Ludicrous Tales: A Topsy Turvy Quartet four international artists residing in our region create an enchanted environment.
The luscious paintings of Gloria Muriel pair beautifully with a succulent ceramic
banquet by Beliz Iristay and Irene de Watteville and wondrous mosaic trees by Aida
Valencia. Visitors are invited into a space dripping in decadence and more than a
dash of whimsy as magical creatures and fantastic beasts break bread.
Beliz Iristay and Irene de Watteville are both ceramic artists, from Turkey and France
respectively. In 2019, the pair collaborated in a provocative and ludicrous sculptural
feast. In this joint installation, each artist showcases their strengths; Iristay
has extraordinary mold-making expertise and de Watteville a keen interest in detailed
brushwork and intricately sculpted clay. Both share a joy for cooking and the use
of blue in their work; the traditional blue in Iznik tiles from the Ottoman Empire
and the classic French blue glaze. Their piece-de-resistance is a tall ceramic centerpiece;
a stacked concoction of playful polychrome tiers created by both artists. Humor, sensuality,
and passion permeate the surreal installation transforming the gallery into a place
for communion and exchange.
Gloria Mulriel’s vibrant murals of fairy-tale characters can be seen on urban walls
around San Diego. Her canvases and drawings pulsate with dazzling colors, fluid sinewy
lines, and mysterious iconography; inquisitive faces with wide-set eyes emerge and
peek out from lush backgrounds woven from leaves and flowers. Muriel’s subjects emerge
from her imagination and are based on the artist’s experiences and emotional states
of mind. These young girls, mermaids, and nymphs honor the power of the Feminine and
women’s spiritual connection to Nature. For this exhibition, Muriel utilized the brilliant
cobalt, ultramarine, and turquoise blues of traditional Talavera ceramics in florid
symmetrical compositions to respond to Iristay and de Watteville’s porcelain pieces.
Standing in the midst of the gallery, metal tree sculptures by Aida Valencia are
adorned with flowers and birds in multi-hued mosaics. The colorful forest of shiny
cutouts titled Nature Response is part of a larger series called Fragmentada.
Tags: Press Release
Jennifer Nichols Kearns
Director of Communications
[email protected]
(619) 388-2759
Alessandra Moctezuma
Gallery DIrector
[email protected]
(619) 388-2829
San Diego, CA — September 15, 2025 — Today, San Diego Mesa College received the 2025 Higher Education Excellence and Distinction (HEED) Award from Insight Into Academia magazine. The annual HEED Award is a national honor recognizing U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to academic excellence, belonging, and community-building across all levels of campus life.
SAN DIEGO, CA — The U.S. Department of Education has awarded San Diego Mesa College a TRIO Student Support Services (SSS) grant totaling $1,762,655 ($352,531 annually over five years) to increase retention and graduation rates among low-income, first-generation college students, and students with disabilities.
SAN DIEGO, CA – San Diego Mesa College will celebrate the grand opening of its newly developed CommUnity Spaces—student-centered support and affinity spaces designed to enhance engagement, learning, and a sense of belonging on campus—on Thursday, April 24, 2025, from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. in Room I4-202.
