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Spring 2024 Welcome Message
January 26, 2024
Dear Berkeley City College Community,
Welcome and congratulations on completing your first week of the Spring 2024 semester! I hope all of you had a restful and memorable holiday break. I have enjoyed hearing your stories about your vacations and special times with your loved ones, and I am grateful that I also had the opportunity to spend quality time with my family. Connecting with my three adult children and hearing about their experiences and fulfillment in their respective careers reminded me of how special and impactful it is to work in higher education.
One of the highlights of our return to campus is that we were able to welcome our students back through our beautiful new front doors. I would like to extend a special thank you to the Kitchell Corporation and VPAS Sean Brooks for their excellent work completing this project so efficiently, and just in time for the first day of classes. I also applaud everyone’s efforts over Welcome Week to create a sense of community and belonging for our new and returning students. Yesterday, I got to see the food pantry and free clothing displays set up through our Basic Needs Program, and it made me very proud of the work that BCC is doing to address challenges outside of the classroom.
In other exciting news, it is my great pleasure to announce that Professors Gabriel Martinez and Ari Krupnick have been selected as this years’ sabbatical recipients. Their projects below are not only timely, but also well-aligned with our Educational Master Plan and Equity Plan goals:
1. “A College Guide to a Student-Centered and Equity Focused Early Alert System,” Gabriel Martinez.
This project proposes to create a guide that “will provide our campus with crucial insight into the current challenges and environment our BCC DI [Disproportionately Impacted] populations face and will directly inform initial planning and decisions related to the development of an Early Alert/Intervention system.”
2. “Improving the Quality and Availability of Formal Logic Instruction for California Community College Students,” Ari Krupnick.
This project will “create a high-quality, zero-materials-cost, asynchronous online version of an introductory formal logic course, so that all of our students, as well as community college students across the rest of California, can have access to excellent formal logic instruction.”
I would also like to express my appreciation to the Professional Development Committee for their thoughtful engagement in the review process.
In closing, I want to thank each of you for consistently showing up for our students in meaningful and profound ways as you support their success with quality instruction and exceptional student services.
Have a great rest of the semester!
Warm regards,
Denise
Denise Richardson, Ed.D.
President
Berkeley City College
Collaboration, Equity, Community