Native American Heritage Month
The month of November marks an opportunity to celebrate National Native American and Alaska Native Heritage Month. What started at the turn of the century as an effort to gain a day of recognition for the significant contributions the first Americans made to the establishment and growth of the U.S., has resulted in a whole month being designated for this purpose. We at Palomar College are honored to highlight, support, and celebrate, this national designation!
The Week in Review
Over the last week, I hope you were able to enjoy at least one of the many opportunities provided by our colleagues to honor our veterans. On Saturday, the Veterans Resource Center (VRC) participated in Escondido’s VetFest designed to provide veterans and active-duty military with resources made possible through various community organizations and businesses. Palomar’s participation in this event was made possible by the sponsorship of our Palomar College Foundation, and a big thank you to Jessica Horn and Adrianne Lee for taking the lead on this great event.
Campus Engagement
Congratulations to our entire Palomar TRIO family for planning an outstanding event to celebrate National First-Generation Student Day. I was honored to share my experience and to learn from the many panelists who presented. Panelists included former Palomar students, employees, and community leaders as they shared their experiences of being first-generation students. The overriding themes of resiliency and perseverance were prominent.
I also had an informative discussion with our Sociology faculty this week. Thank you to Jose Briceno, Amber Colbert, Kathleen Grove, Kalyna Lesyna, Susan Miller, and Devon Smith for providing the outstanding overview of the department. I also met with faculty members Eduardo Aguilar, Cynthia Anfinson, Cynthia Cordova, Dr. Mireya Gutierrez-Aguero, and Dr. Hossna Sadat Ahadi to discuss what it means to be a true Hispanic Serving Institution in practice. I also met with the talented Michael Mufson to receive an update on the Chainge Reaction project and other interesting upcoming initiatives. I am always appreciative of these opportunities to learn more about our programs, explore potential collaborations, and to identify institutional needs and priorities.
I had the opportunity to visit our Palomar Disaster Recovery Center and was very impressed by the measures we have in place to assure the uninterrupted functioning of the college.
The Palomar Black Faculty and Staff Association (PBFSA) hosted a mid-semester check in breakfast for our students on Saturday. Our colleagues Amber Colbert, Cheryl Kearse, Rich Carr, Kyle Owens, Kristie Hill-Cummings, Marlene Forney, Derrick Upson, Christina Harell, Mercedes Tiggs, Terhea Williams, and James Kearse were responsible for making this student engagement event a success. It was great to connect with students at this in-person event. Thank you to Dr. Jack Kahn who also joined me at the breakfast.
This week I attended two athletic events. I was able to experience two exciting victories by our men’s baseball team and men’s basketball team. Congratulations to Head Baseball Coach Ben Adams and Head Basketball Coach John O’Neill for their hard-fought wins and stellar team leadership.
Community Engagement
The virtual Pack the Pantry campaign to support the Anita and Stan Maag Food & Nutrition Center continues. You can donate here. Also, this Tuesday, November 16th, the Student Life and Leadership team will be holding a food distribution drive-thru from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the San Marcos campus. This event is only for currently enrolled students. Dried food, canned goods, fresh produce, feminine hygiene products, and diapers will be distributed. This upcoming Saturday, November 20th, there will also be a community food distribution event sponsored by the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, PFF, CCE, and Palomar College.
Accreditation
We are actively addressing edits to the ISER and sprinting toward delivering a final formatted version to our Governing Board on Tuesday, December 7th. A digital version of the ISER will be posted to the accreditation website next Friday, November 19th. Our participatory governance structure is an evident theme throughout the document and reaffirms our commitment to a decision-making process that involves students, faculty, staff, and administration. During this semester, we have been engaged with our new governance structure, which is also addressed in the ISER. You can learn more about the structure here.
Comets of the Week
Congratulations to the women’s water polo team! They finished conference play undefeated and participated in tournament play this past week. These dedicated student athletes are led by Head Coach Mandy Simon and Assistant Coach Lucy Gates – a job well done by all! You can check out the whole story on Palomar News.
Have a great upcoming week. Go Comets!
For pictures of the various events please follow:
Twitter: @palomardrstar
Instagram: @palomardrstar
