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.
March 13, 2019
On Wednesday, March 13, 2019, Mesa College held the Grand Opening of the newly remodeled Fine Arts Building. The redesigned building includes an art gallery, an art history lecture room; studios for drawing, digital graphics, sculpture, ceramics and painting; and workshop spaces to support the shared used of art equipment, material, and supply resources.
“The new facility provides an artistic environment that is responsive to student needs and industry trends,” stated President Pamela T. Luster. “The entire building was carefully designed in ways to encourage creativity and inspiration, and to best showcase student success and artistic engagement with the community.”
The Fine Arts Building, constructed within the former I-300 Building, has become a highly visible and thriving hub for Fine Arts students, with a modern and spacious new art gallery, and state-of-the-art facilities and equipment for highly-acclaimed programs in drawing, painting, digital art, sculpting and ceramics. The facility includes an art history lecture room; studios for drawing, digital graphics, sculpture, ceramics and painting; and workshop spaces to support the shared used of art equipment, material, and supply resources.
The new facility provides an environment that is responsive to student needs and industry trends. The entire building was carefully designed in ways to encourage creativity and inspiration, and to best showcase student outcomes and artistic engagement with the community.
“This building is so much more than a new facility to make art. It represents an understanding
that Art matters,” stated Mesa College art studentAlbert Cartagenes. “In a time where it seems education and the arts have been put in the backburner,
I feel that the Art department has not been forgotten. Instead, it is bein
g elevated to further the education for all of those who desire to obtain it.”
The Program included introductions from Mesa College President Dr. Pamela Luster, Chancellor Dr. Constance Carroll, Dr. Maria Nieto Senour, and President of the San Diego Community College District Board of Trustees. Dean Leslie Shimazaki, Art Gallery Director Alessandra Moctezuma, MFA, and fine art student Albert Cartagenes shared stories and discussed the development and impact of this newly renovated building.
The event concluded with a ceremonial ribbon cutting. Guests then took tours the facility and viewed the current art gallery exhibition,entitled Mario Torero: Artivismo Loko, featuring the works of San Diego artist Mario Torero, an internationally renowned muralist and a legend in the Chicano community.
The renovation or the Fine Arts Building was funded through the $1.555 billion Propositions S and N construction bond program provides new state-of-the-art instructional and career training facilities, major renovations, and campus wide infrastructure projects at City, Mesa and Miramar colleges and six Continuing Education campuses throughout San Diego.
Please visit the Mesa College Fine Arts Program webpageto learn more. Information on upcoming Mesa College Art Gallery exhibitions can be found on the Art Gallery webpage.
Tags: Grand Opening, Fine Arts Building Project
Jennifer Nichols Kearns
Director of Communications
jnkearns@sdccd.edu
(619) 388-2759
On Wednesday, March 13, 2019, Mesa College held the Grand Opening of the newly remodeled Fine Arts Building. The redesigned building includes an art gallery, an art history lecture room; studios for drawing, digital graphics, sculpture, ceramics and painting; and workshop spaces to support the shared used of art equipment, material, and supply resources.
Today, San Diego Mesa College hosted a start-of-construction event for the future of Fine Arts Building. The event was attended by nearly100 administrators, staff, students, faculty, construction partners and others. Guests were invited to sign or draw a picture on one of two large canvases to symbolize their connection to the new facility. Once the building is open, the mementos will be put on short-term display in the building.
On Thursday, Sept. 20, San Diego Mesa College debuted their new STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Center, located on the first floor of the Learning Resource Center (LRC). The new center, which is part of the STEM Conexiones Program, will support students, particularly full-time Hispanic and low-income students, and provide them with resources to succeed in various STEM majors.
