San Diego, Calif. —San Diego Mesa College has opened nominations for the 2020 San Diego Mesa College Distinguished Alumni Award. The Alumni Award program was established in 2011 to recognize former students who have made significant contributions to society, and whose accomplishments, affiliations, and careers have honored the legacy of academic excellence and equity at San Diego Mesa College. The award recipient will be announced in March and invited to be the guest speaker at Mesa College’s 2020 Commencement Ceremony scheduled for Saturday, May 30. Nominations are due no later than February 21, 2020. Anyone in the community is encouraged to submit a nomination.

On January 23, 2020, San Diego Mesa College student Hanan Dirirsa was announced as a semifinalist for the selective Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship, the nation’s largest private scholarship for transfer students. The scholarship supports select high-achieving community college students with up to $40,000 annually for a maximum of three years as they complete their bachelor’s degree at a four-year university or college.

San Diego, CA. — On December 25, San Diego Mesa College announced that donations to The Resiliency Fund reached $100,000, and has since raised over $1,000 more. This is historic for the College, as this is the highest level of giving ever reached in a fundraising campaign. The Resiliency Fund will be a sustainable long-term financial reserve used to assist students in need, and thereby decrease their risk of dropping out of class or college.

With the passing of each academic year, Mesa College continues to be honored by the academic and professional achievements of our past and present Olympians. Those include the merits and accolades of our developing scientists in the Bridges to the Baccalaureate Program, which supports scholars from historically underrepresented backgrounds as they plan to transfer and earn a bachelor’s degree in biomedical or behavioral science.

This summer, when the predictable June cloudiness sets in over San Diego, a group of adventure-seeking travelers from Mesa College will be heading north to Iceland – the land of fire and ice. The trip will be co-led by myself, Geology Professor, Don Barrie, and El Camino College Geography Professor, Matt Ebiner.

San Diego, CA. – Since its official launch in September 2019, the San Diego Mesa College Resiliency Fund Campaign has been receiving – on average - $1,000 per day in donations, with total donations up to $67,000 as of November 18, 2019. Leading donors who made this possible include California Coast Credit Union, which provided an Olympian Gold sponsorship, and a generous bequest from Mesa Alumnus Warren Rigdon.

On Friday, October 11 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., San Diego Mesa College Culinary will present Chef Travis Swikard from Callie Restaurant, who will be creating signature dishes for his upcoming restaurant debut. The dishes will be a combination of Italian, French, Turkish creations sourcing local ingredients from local farmers. Refreshments and appetizers will be served in the beginning of the lecture.

San Diego City and Mesa colleges have received a combined total of nearly $1.7 million in federal Department of Education grants supporting the academic achievement of Latino/a students as part of the schools’ designations as Hispanic Serving Institutions.