Berkeley, CA (November 4, 2021) – Excelencia in Education, the nation’s premier authority in efforts accelerating Latino student success in higher education, announced today President Angélica Garcia has chosen to be part of Presidents for Latino Student Success (P4LSS) and the Excelencia in Action network. 

This important national network is comprised of college and university presidents and chancellors who commit to making their institutions learning environments where Latino students thrive and excel. The institutions in Excelencia’s network are transforming higher education. 

Of the thousands of colleges and universities across the country, the 135 leaders of the 170 institutions in the network enroll one in four of all Latino students in higher education. More importantly, these institutions account for one in three of all Latino graduates.  

Excelencia professionals, the Presidents for Latino Student Success, and their campus teams actively collaborate to put evidence-based practices and strategic analysis of student data to use supporting and advancing the talents, skills, and contributions of Latino students and the institutions.  

Sarita Brown, Co-founder and President of Excelencia, said, “Higher education leaders with skills and vision are fundamental to our country’s strong recovery. Those prepared to engage and intentionally serve Latino students, while serving all their students, will lead the way.”  

Excelencia is honored to work with the trendsetting presidents and chancellors who have accepted this challenge. The leaders in the network have made common cause with Excelencia to accelerate Latino student success in higher education. 

“I recognize the liberatory and transformational potential of higher education and am looking forward to working with Excelencia in Education and the P4LSS network to hone our ability to center on and serve our Latinx students.” 

“I am looking forward to building partnerships within the Presidents for Latino Student Success network to propel and accelerate Latinx student success and completion for the East Bay and Bay Area,” shared President Garcia. 

Through the network, President Garcia will collaborate with Excelencia to leverage collective expertise and resources, foster partnerships, and amplify current efforts at the national level. To learn more about Presidents for Latino Student Success network and the other institutional leaders across the country affiliated with Excelencia, visit : https://www.edexcelencia.org/leadership/presidents-latino-student-success 

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About Berkeley City College  

Berkeley City College’s mission is to promote student success, to provide our diverse community with educational opportunities, and to transform lives. Just two blocks for the University of California, Berkeley, the energetic campus of the Berkeley City College stands on the cutting edge of community college education. University preparation and occupational training classes form the core of Berkeley City’s curriculum also features model programs in fields as diverse as American sign language, biotechnology, and multimedia. To learn more about Berkeley City College, visit www.berkeleycitycollege.edu 

About Excelencia in Education 
Excelencia in Education accelerates Latino student success in higher education by promoting Latino student achievement, conducting analysis to inform educational policies, and advancing institutional practices while collaborating with those committed and ready to meet the mission. Launched in 2004 in the nation’s capital, Excelencia has established a network of results-oriented educators and policymakers to address the U.S. economy’s needs for a highly educated workforce and engaged civic leaders. For more information, visit: https://www.edexcelencia.org/ 

BCC President Dr. Angélica Garcia Selected for Aspen Institute’s New Presidents Fellowship to Advance Student Success

The Aspen Institute College Excellence Program today announced that Dr. Angélica Garcia, President of Berkeley City College, is one of 25 leaders selected for the 2021-22 class of the Aspen New Presidents Fellowship. This program supports community college presidents in the early years of their tenure as they aim to achieve higher and more equitable levels of student success. The Fellowship’s philanthropic partner is JPMorgan Chase.

“I’m honored to receive such a prestigious fellowship,” said President Garcia. “I believe pursuing higher education is an act of liberation, especially for historically minoritized communities. Berkeley City College students are part of a thriving community which mirrors the Bay Area’s ethnic, cultural and socio-economic diversity. I am energized by the prospect that this fellowship will support the advancement of student success, completion, and building an equitable and racially just community at Berkeley City College.”

The 25 Aspen Fellows, who lead colleges that collectively serve more than 280,000 students, were selected through a highly competitive process. Starting later this year, the Fellows will engage over nine months in residential sessions and virtual learning to develop strategies to meet their goals for student success and equity with data to assess challenges and progress.

“We continue to learn how the best community colleges improve outcomes for students and close persistent race- and income-based equity gaps,” said Josh Wyner, executive director of the College Excellence Program. “This year’s fellows have demonstrated their commitment to achieving excellent and equitable student outcomes, and we are eager to work with them as they join Aspen’s network of more than 100 fellows who serve as community college presidents.”

“Congratulations to Dr. Garcia for her selection to this prestigious Fellowship. Her leadership at Berkeley City College here in the Bay Area’s diverse Peralta Community College District as well as her unique lived experiences that are representative of many of the students we serve will undoubtedly contribute a great deal to the Aspen New Presidents program. We are proud of her. Her peers in the program are lucky to have her,” said interim Chancellor Dr. Jannett N. Jackson.

As community colleges grapple with the impact of COVID and enrollment declines, turnover among presidents remains high. Aspen is committed to helping prepare the next generation of exceptionally capable and highly diverse leaders through its fellowship programs for new and rising presidents. This new class of Aspen Presidential Fellows is 52 percent female, and 64 percent are people of color. Located in 17 states, their institutions too are diverse, from a tribal college with fewer than 500 students to an urban college that educates more than 35,000 each year.

“Community colleges play a critical role in helping to prepare young adults and incumbent workers for in-demand jobs of the future,” said Monique Baptiste, Vice President and Head of Jobs & Skills for Global Philanthropy at JPMorgan Chase. “Ensuring that the leaders of these institutions are equipped with the support and training they need to develop equitable student success is an integral part of building capacity over the long-run. JPMorgan Chase is proud to partner with the Aspen Institute to build the next generation of exceptional college leaders as they work to advance the prosperity of the diverse communities and students they serve.”

JPMorgan Chase’s philanthropic support for the Aspen Presidential Fellowship is part of the firm’s New Skills at Work initiative to prepare young people for the future of work and meet the growing demand for skilled workers, and the $30 billion commitment to advance racial equity and drive an inclusive economy. 

Link to full article …

CIRM AWARDS BRIDGE GRANT “SPECIALTY IN STEM CELL BIOLOGY” TO BERKELEY CITY COLLEGE

Image by Leticia Luna, Managing Editor

September 4, 2021

by Ivan Chairez

Berkeley City College recently got awarded a little over 2.8 million dollars for Stem Cell Biology from CIRM. CIRM or California Institute for Regenerative Medicine is a company which was founded in 2004 after proposition 71 passed in California. Proposition 71 granted three billion dollars in stem cell research in California. CIRM mission is to fund institutions and companies that involve themselves in stem cell research in hopes to further and improve medicine for diagnosing and treating diseases more accurately.

The CIRM Bridges to Stem Cell Research Award for Berkeley City College will help minority students who are underrepresented in health sciences, enrolled in biotechnology by funding hands-on research, hands-on training in laboratories and internships programs at BCC. In an interview with Berkeley City College President Dr. Angélica Garcia said “From now on moving forward the deans, the instructional leadership team, and the faculty know that my focus is that the students who are getting access to these high quality programs are representative of the students that are in the community.” This grant award also includes training at the UCSF shared laboratory, as well as a nine month research internship in stem cell laboratories around the Bay Area. CIRM hopes that this grant will encourage students to pursue their occupation in stem cell research. Some students will have the opportunity to work with scientists and bio technicians in the field. Students will also have the opportunity to involve themselves in industry seminars and workshops. 

Dr. Angélica Garcia explained that Berkeley City’s College’s new building will focus on expanding their science lab floor, with plans to make space for a STEM center. Garcia says  “We’re looking at expanding the possibility of taking almost an entire floor and getting a significant chunk of it to extend to biotechnology and broader sciences, such as programs like computer science, computer Information Systems, and also mathematics”

Companies such as CIRM are teaming up with Colleges such as BCC to help diversify and attract more students into STEM programs in hopes of improving medicine. Dr. Angélica Garcia goes on to say “Our communities have been our best teachers, often diverse communities have higher rates of medical conditions because the system doesn’t give us access to the preventative health care, and the preventative medicine, and the preventative medical studies to become informed to be better about it I would tell students who are interested in something like biotechnology to look at yourself, observe yourself, study yourself and then ask yourself what are the stories that need to be told what is the research that needs to be done, what are the social problems that need to be solved here.

Berkeley City College continues to pave the way for its students to pursue their dream careers.

Read the complete article here.