“SPECIALTY IN STEM CELL BIOLOGY” GRANT AWARDED TO BERKELEY CITY COLLEGE

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.

BCC 2021 SUMMER SESSION Writing Center Drop-In Tutoring

Drop-in Tutoring for essay writing in all disciplines will be
available for the 2021 Summer Session semester held virtually through Zoom. Please use the following link information to receive one-on-one support with your writing.

Drop-In Tutoring Sessions will begin Wed. 6/16

Monday through Thursday 12-2pm:
https://cccconfer.zoom.us/j/93958564671

Monday Evening 5-7pm:
https://cccconfer.zoom.us/j/93958564671

Berkeley City College: Removing Barriers on the Transfer Pathway

Dr. Angélica Garcia, president of Berkeley City College, said the beauty of the ADT is that it focused on organization systems doing the work so that students didn’t have to continue to navigate the transfer maze.

“We have to be student-ready,” said Garcia. “ADT took the institutional and the organizational responsibility for us to get our stuff together so students could focus on being students. … AB 928 is going to further support that by additional streamlining.”

Berkeley City College accounts for over 55% of all transfers from the Peralta Community College district (East Bay) to four-year institutions. The college is recognized among the top producers in CSU transfers. There is intentionality behind this success, said Garcia, which also includes students transferring to UC Berkeley and UC Davis.

“We work very hard to recognize students who identify transfer as their goal regardless of their prior academic preparation,” Garcia said. “We now think how we provide comprehensive intervention with academic and student support.”

Read full article

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Passport/PROMT Scheduled System Maintenance – Unavailable March 9 at 5 pm through March 11 at 5 pm

Please be advised that all PeopleSoft systems will be unavailable Friday, March 9th, 2018 at 5 p.m. to Sunday, March 11th at 5 p.m. for scheduled system maintenance.

 

Passport and PROMT will not be available during this time.

 

Also, Data in BI will NOT be refreshed for a week following scheduled system maintenance Friday, March 9th 2018 to  Friday, March 16th 2018.

 

The District Information Technology team appreciates your patience.

 

If you have any issues following the maintenance window, please email the IT Help Desk,helpdesk@peralta.edu.

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Peralta Colleges Foundation: Spring Scholarships – Application Deadline March 12 @ 5 pm

The Peralta Colleges Foundation is so excited to announce the Spring 2018 Scholarships are up and running on Monday February 5th at 5pm and closes March 12 at 5pm.  We want to get the word out to as many students as possible to apply for the scholarships available and really need your help!

There are over 25 scholarship opportunities available for students this term. There are scholarships for entering freshman, transfer students, first-generation college students, foster youth, graduating students, and more. Scholarships are awarded based on many different factors including merit, need, achievement, athletics, majors and more. All degree and certificate program students are eligible to apply!

Award amounts vary from $250 to $4,000 so pass the word along to your students. They can apply by using this link: https://pcf.scholarships.ngwebsolutions.com.

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions!

 

Nikki Lasley

Interim Executive Director

Peralta Colleges Foundation

nlasley@peralta.edu

510.587.7890