The future is a fog that is still hanging out over the sea, a boat that floats home or does not.
Anne Sexton
ASSC Latinx/Hispanic Heritage Month 2022: Dia de la Mission
“…Celebrate San Francisco’s historic and beloved Mission district, famous for their Latinx presence & community. This year, our students chose to pay homage to the Mission’s beautiful culture of lowriders, food & art… old school cars in the Quad, free Aguas Frescas & Churros, and vendors from the Mission district with a featured guests: Studiotwo24 photo booth“. (Credit belongs to ASSC’s description of the event on their web site). A little known fact about me is I love cars and I recognized some of these on sight. Here are the cars I drove as a teenager into my 20’s: an old Corvair from the 60’s, a Buick Riviera (I think 1972-3) that my uncle gave us, a 1976 2-door Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme with 5 on the floor and swivel bucket seats (!), and a 1988 Lincoln Town Car. (The Chevy Chevette is not even worth mentioning. Ugh. Terrible car.) So, I absolutely LOVED this event and learning more about the lowrider culture. I stand ready to bring more cars to campus!
Our First College Governance Council (CGC) Meeting of the Academic Year
Our first CGC meeting was very informative as we heard updates from each of our constituent groups. I remind you that everyone is invited! We send campus wide invites when the agenda is posted on the Friday before the meeting. We took one action item: to approve the voting structure of the new Enrollment Strategy Committee. I also remind you of the significant strides we have made to center the “voices of the people”. At CGC, only the constituent leaders vote to make recommendations to the President for action – no more double dipping with the President and the President’s cabinet voting! As we move through the year, we will have much more action to take. Toward the end of the year, we look forward to annual updates from each of our governance committees.
Equity Institute Launches the Equity Academy Reimagined!
By Guest Blogger Oyame KenZoe Brian J. Selassie, Ph.D.
I’m really excited about the Equity Institute at Skyline College’s first submission to the Skyline FogBlog. This is a great opportunity for the Equity Institute to gain greater visibility and reassure those who may be uncertain about our efforts and commitments to advancing equity. In a short time, only a year and a half since my arrival, the Equity Institute at Skyline College has conducted an inaugural Equity Master Class event, contributed to the content development and facilitation of the IDEAL leadership training program, designed and facilitated a boutique equity and leadership program in support of our sister-college (Cañada College) and its partnership with the Sequoia Union High School District, launched the inaugural Executive Equity Roundtable event, developed its EI Advisory Group, and secured the technology necessary to ensure our reimagined Equity Academy is sustainable and scaled to meet the equity and transformative & inclusive leadership needs of internal and external stakeholders.
These efforts made have been possible with so much support, cooperation, and encouragement from so many people throughout the District and here at the Equity Institute’s home at Skyline College (hence the new logo tag, Equity Institute at Skyline College.
Now that the greater hurdle of developing enough program content to have a steady flow of program service offerings is well underway, we can focus more of our small team’s efforts on marketing as an addition to the support we’ve solicited and received from our departmental partner MCPR.
So now the even better news! The Equity Institute at Skyline College is offering its Equity Academy to the entire District — excitedly for FREE!
Our flier has plenty of the details such as the start date of October 17th for the first cohort (November 17th is the end date as it is a 4-week training program) and I have embedded this link: http://equityinstitute.com/equityacademy/ to registration for ease of access.
We are managing up to 20 employees from each respective college as well as the District for this and likely following semesters. We also accommodate requests for department, division, unit, office, and/or committee teams to learn and grow together! If there is greater demand, we will indeed attempt to respond promptly to ensure service to all whom are interested in participating so people should sign up without hesitation.
I’m clear that there are many different perceptions about the Equity Institute. However the greatest and most important perceptual truth about the Equity Institute at Skyline College is that it belongs to all of us and we all deserve to be elevated by the resources it offers to more positively reshape our collective experience and impact.
I look forward to welcoming the first of hopefully numerous Equity Academy cohorts starting October 17th!
Industry Leadership Council Convened In Person
Dean Russell Waldon and his wonderful team from the Strategic Partnerships and Workforce Development Division brought back Industry Leadership Council to our campus again. It was a great meeting, hearing feedback from our local industry to ensure our pathways for students from college to career are relevant and just-in-time. What we heard loud and clear is that there are lots of good local jobs available for our students. And, that communication and employability skills are essential to our students succeeding in the workplace.
The Fog Fest: We Were There!
By Guest Blogger Jeramy Evangelista
The Pacific Coast Fog Fest each year promotes the City of Pacifica, attracts visitors, celebrates our community and raises funds for local community groups as well as the “Gift for Pacifica Fund.” Now over 50 groups benefit and to date, an amount of $1,000,000 has been donated to back.
The Fog Fest was created in 1986 to promote Pacifica and to celebrate our marvelous coast. The last full weekend of September was chosen because historically the weather is unbeatable. The Fog Fest kicks off Saturday morning at 10 am with the Parade Honoring our Health Care Heroes and Essential Workers and Marching Band Competition. Then stay and enjoy our Arts and Crafts booths, Food and Beverage booths, Music & Entertainment, Family Fun Fest and a variety of other activities.
The outreach team participated in this year’s Fog Fest in Pacifica and connected with many prospective students, families, and members from our community. Campus ambassadors shared the myriad of opportunities offered at Skyline College including degrees and certificates, services, and on-campus resources. Many colleagues were among attendees that visited the Skyline College booth – all excited to see that many of our community events are back in action in-person. The team enjoyed spending the weekend with beautiful sunny weather (a rarity in Pacifica) great food, music and being alongside a variety of other vendors and booths. We look forward to many more fog fests to come!
2021-2022 Annual Report is In!
Banned Books Week Event
I was able to catch some of the Banned Books event and what I did catch was very moving. I joined as Luciana Castro was presenting about Marielle Franco, a politician, feminist and human rights activist from Brazil who was speaking out against police violence, and was assassinated in 2018. Two quotes of hers were shared for some deep contemplation and reflection: The roses of resistance are born in the asphalt… and Being a black woman is to resist and survive all of the time. I hope you are inspired to reach out to Pia WalaWalkar, our Outreach and Equity Librarian to learn more about banned books.
Free Form Fridays with the President is intended to provide us with a virtual space to connect. Anyone is welcome to join throughout the session which keeps the conversation interesting! Next one: October 7, 2022.
Upcoming dates: 10/07, 11/04, 12/02, 02/03, 03/03, 04/07, 05/05. Zoom In!