Tuesday, March 8th was International Women’s Day! This global celebration highlights the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women’s equality. This year’s campaign theme is #BreakTheBias. Its purpose is to inspire people to act against bias and discrimination towards women, and forge equality and inclusivity.
Campus Engagement
To celebrate International Women’s Day, as well as Women’s History Month, a wide range of online events are taking place. You can view the calendar of events here. This week I was able to attend two of the events. The first was focused on Title IX: Rights, Resources, and Responding to Sexual Misconduct. The presentation provided participants with extensive information about how Palomar College responds to sexual misconduct incidents and the gender nondiscrimination rights and resources that Title IX affords. Great job Shawna Cohen for presenting this topic in a sensitive and informative manner. The second event I attended was the Women in the Labor Movement presentation. This talk explored the crucial role of women in the labor movement in the past and present. I learned more about how women’s efforts in the labor movement brought about increased rights, pay, safety, and solidarity. Thank you, Barbara Baer and Teresa Laughlin, for an excellent and informative presentation.
To prepare for Haben Girma’s visit to our campus tomorrow, I attended the Disability Resource Center’s (DRC) screening of a recorded interview with Haben on Tuesday. If you are unaware of Haben Girma, she is a celebrated author, human rights lawyer, and advocate for people with disabilities. She is also the first deafblind person to graduate from Harvard Law School. She will speak during a special event in Brubeck Theater on Monday, March 14, at 4:00 p.m. During the event, Haben will share how she became an advocate and what communities can do to become more inclusive. The event is being co-hosted by Palomar College and MiraCosta College. The address will also be streamed via Zoom.
On Thursday, I was able to stop by the Puente Club sponsored movie night. We watched A Better Life, a film that explores the Chicano/a experience in America. For those of you unfamiliar with Puente, it is a national award-winning program that helps students transfer to obtain 4-year degrees. Thank you, Lisette Ordorica Lasater, Sonia Gutierrez, and Cynthia Cordova for the invite and creating a space for our students to come together and spend time with each other on campus.
Also, a big thank you to Jenny Ferrero, Rocco Versaci, and David Montoya for meeting with me this week and making progress on the faculty hiring process.
Community Engagement
My goal when it comes to community engagement is for Palomar to gain recognition for our amazing accomplishments and student-centered approach. I aim to be Palomar College’s best ambassador in the community which leads to increased visibility and garners potential financial opportunities. This week I was able to do so on a local, statewide, and national level.
I was also happy to attend the Celebrating Women in Business event hosted by the North San Diego Business Chamber. Thank you to our Foundation Executive Director, Stacy Rungaitis, foundation staff, and other President’s Associates members who attended the event and helped promote Palomar College.
This week I attended the American Council on Education Conference 2022. It’s always an honor to represent Palomar College on a national stage. The panel I served on discussed community college leadership and revolved around inclusive practices, institutional policies, institutional innovations, employee retention, student degree attainment, and student completion. I was honored to present with Dr. Julianna Barnes (President, Cuyamaca College), Dr. Carlos Turner Cortez (Chancellor, San Diego Community College District), Dr. Mark Sanchez (Superintendent/President, Southwestern Community College), and Dr. Ted Martinez (Superintendent/President Emeritus, Rio Hondo College).
My week ended at the USC Latino Scholarship Gala. The gala recognized students who displayed exemplary academic achievement, leadership, and community service. I felt honored to sit at the same table as the California Community Colleges State Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley where we were able to discuss about Palomar and our recent positive accreditation report. Other attendees included Dr. Mike Munoz (Superintendent/President, Long Beach City College), Dr. Mark Sanchez (Superintendent/President, Southwestern College), Dr. Annebelle Nery (President Santa Ana College), Dr. Pamela Ralston (President, Santiago Canyon College), Dr. Alberto Roman (President, East Los Angeles College), and Dr. Marvin Martinez (Chancellor, Rancho Santiago Community College District). It was great to see so many community college leaders in attendance. Community colleges serve as a gateway to higher educational attainment, and proactively strengthening the academic pipelines from the community college to the 4-year is paramount.
COVID-19
Thursday, we held our Weekly COVID-19 Update Meeting. We are aware of the constant changes happening in terms of mandates and we are meeting daily to stay updated. Our goal is to create a sense of stability for our campus. Our COVID monitor team members have distributed and shipped out antigen test kits and started working at the LRC to assist students with Cleared4 passes. To ensure that Palomar can provide support and resources to faculty, staff, and students with potential or confirmed exposure to COVID-19, the College is requesting that individuals (or a designee) complete this questionnaire. Our COVID website is updated with current onsite testing hours are noted. If you missed the meeting, please review the recording here.
Comet of the Week
The Comet of the week is Head Athletic Trainer, Flecicia Heise. On Friday evening, Flecicia won the California Community College Athletic Trainers Association’s Athletic Trainer of the Year award! This award is a tremendous professional honor, and we are very proud of Flecicia and her accomplishment.
Have a great upcoming week. Go Comets!
For pictures of the various events, follow:
Twitter: @palomardrstar
Instagram: @palomardrstar
