College Report: February 2023
Trustee Tour
On February 2, a multi-campus tour was held for the two newly elected State Center Community College District Board of Trustee members, Robert Fuentes and Destiny Rodriguez. The day included tours of the construction sites of the First Responders Center and the West Fresno campus. On the main campus a comprehensive tour was given that included: the Dream Center, Library, Tutorial Center, newly remodeled theatre, Art Space Gallery, Anthropology, Applied Technology areas, the Ram Pantry, athletic venues and Allied Health programs.
Lee Herrick Poetry Reading Event
Fresno City College proudly celebrated the appointment of Lee Herrick as California’s 10th Poet Laureate with a special evening of poetry readings on Thursday, Feb 9. The Celebration of Poetry was held in the OAB Auditorium and was followed by a reception and book signing. The event included readings from current and former students, colleagues and a community member. English colleague David Campos emceed the event celebrating Lee’s two-year appointment.
Black History Month
Opening Ceremonies for Black History Month were held on February 1 in the OAB Auditorium. This year’s theme for Black History Month is “Showcasing Black Excellence. Other events in the month of February include topics about wellness, the performing arts, and Black leadership with speakers, performances, a business panel and a closing ceremony. To see all the events for Black History Month, visit their webpage at www.fresnocitycollege.edu/blackhistorymonth.
African American Museum Honors
The African-American Historical and Cultural Museum is honoring two Fresno City College counselors at this year’s Black History Month Celebration on Feb. 24. Dr. Arrie Smith is being recognized as a 2023 local trailblazer and Rodney Murphy is receiving the Jesse McDonald Jr. Award. In addition to this recognition, Dr. Smith, president of the FCC African American Faculty and Staff Association, is being profiled by ABC30 for Black History Month. The profile will run during the news and a shorter spot is running during local programming.
Ram Pantry in the Spotlight
The Fresno City College Ram Pantry continues to make a difference in lives of our students. It was featured in a news story by Alyssa Flores from ABC30 after the news that some emergency food benefits may be eliminated in California. The story highlights the good and necessary service the Ram Pantry is providing to our students. ABC30: As certain CalFresh benefits are set to expire, food banks already inundated
High School Journalism Conference
More than 200 high school journalism students attended the High School Journalism Conference on Feb. 24. The students from more than eight local schools attended workshops conducted by local professional journalists from broadcast news, radio, print and online publications. Topics included investigative, multimedia, multicultural and community reporting, photography, podcasting and social media.
Faculty Accomplishments
Congratulations to welding instructor Brett Camacho, the recipient of the inaugural LEEPS Instructor of the Year Award. This award honors a welding instructor who exemplifies commitment to the Lincoln Electric Education Partner Schools (LEEPS™) welding certification program. The LEEPS program was formed in partnership with the National Coalition of Certification Centers (NC3) to provide schools with instructional materials and resources to help the next generation of welders.
FCC sculpting instructor, Caleb Duarte is one of three new members appointed to the California Arts Council by Governor Gavin Newsom. He will be serving with 10 other members who will set priorities and policies for the agency’s local assistance grantmaking. Caleb has been an instructor at Fresno City College since 2018. He is Co-Founder of E.D.E.L.O, an experimental art practice of diverse disciplines that was initiated in Chiapas, Mexico in 2010. He earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Caleb has also been selected to create a mixed media mosaic mural for the Fresno Yosemite International Airport.
Dr. Angelica Gil, a career counselor in the Career and Employment Center has been appointed to the National Center Development (NCDA) Leadership Academy. Every two years, approximately six to eight NCDA members are selected to join this hands-on, highly experiential leadership development opportunity designed specifically for promising national and state career development association leaders.
Dr. Donna Cooper, Dean, Student Success & Learning, has been selected to participate in the 2023 Aspiring CEO Program which is organized by Community College League of California and the Association for California Community College Administrators. The CEO program is designed to prepare future leaders in the California Community College System.
International Institute for Astronautical Sciences Academy Selects FCC Student
Amarisa Gonzalez, a molecular and cell biology student has been accepted into the Project PoSSUM at the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (IIAS) at Florida Tech in Melbourne. She is currently in the Leon S. Peters Honors program, president of the Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society’s FCC Chapter and Vice President of FCC’s Science and Engineering Club. The first-generation student plans to transfer to UC Berkeley in the fall. A GoFundMe account is set up to help her raise the funds for her trip.
Cybersecurity Program $2.4M Award
The Fresno City College Business Division will play a major role in the SOFT START: IT-Cybersecurity Workforce Education program to prepare low-income communities for entry into advanced cybersecurity classes at community colleges and/or increase access to higher-paying entry-level workforce positions. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration has awarded $2.4 million dollars to FCC and Fresno State to design and launch the program to provide “soft start” training in basic digital skills and digital literacy leading to the more advanced courses. FCC will develop and teach the curriculum and materials.
Speakers Forum Presents Culinary Historian
In conjunction with Black History Month, the FCC Speakers Forum and Building Healthy Communities will bring culinary and cultural historian, Dr. Jessica Harris to speak on Thursday, Feb. 23. Her book, High on the Hog, was the basis for the acclaimed Netflix series of the same name. Using food as a starting point, Dr. Harris examines the cultural connections that bind the countries of the hemisphere to the African continent. She will speak at 10 a.m. in the OAB Auditorium.
Dream Counselors HS Conference Held
FCC hosted the fourth Dream Center Counselors High School Conference on February 3, in the Old Administration Building Auditorium and room 251.The keynote speaker was Dr. Ghada Al-Masri, FCC Vice President,Ed Services & Institutional Effectiveness. A student panel was held alongwith workshops on registration, Dream Center services and financial aid.
Cash for College Event
As the March 2 deadline to submit the 2023-2024 FAFSA or Dream Act Application approaches, the FCC Financial Aid Office is offering a special event to help students complete the process. They will host Cash 4 College, on Saturday, Feb. 25. Students are invited to come to the Financial Aid Computer Lab located in LI-123, 9:00 am to 1:00 pm to receive assistance completing their appropriate application. Students can also complete the FCC Scholarship Application which also has a March 2nd deadline for next school year.
Welding Competition
On January 27, eight central valley high schools with over 30 students, participated in the Ram Ag Welding competition. Students were tested in welding, written exams and interview training for career ready skills. A second-high school competition will be held in March focusing on welding fabrication.
Art Space Gallery
The first exhibit this spring semester in the Art Space Gallery is now open. Hiromi Iyoda’s exhibition, Devourer of Nightmares is a solo exhibition that highlights Ms. Iyoda’s incredible talent as our newest full-time studio art faculty. The work of the Curator, Elena Harvey-Collins is also part of the exhibit. The exhibit runs through March 3. The Art Space Gallery is located in AH101 and is open Monday – Thursday, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm.
Sports Update
National Women in Sports Day
February 1 was National Women in Sports Day and the women’s basketball team celebrated the day by inviting all FCC women’s teams to their home game against Porterville. They also invited several high school teams in the Fresno/Clovis area who got into the game free by wearing their team jersey. All the athletes were recognized during halftime. The team is hoping to make this an annual event. FCC beat Porterville 103-41.On January 30, Alex Fletcher, the head coach of the women’s basketball team, and Robert Haynes, the head coach of the men’s basketball team were special guests in hour 2 of the Jose Gonzalez show on 1430 ESPN radio. Listen to the interview at The Jose Gonzalez Show. Scroll down on the page and look for Hour 2 on 01-30-2023.
FCC Soccer Players Named All Americans
Each year the United Soccer Coaches selects the top 22 Junior College All-American players across the country and this year 2 players from the women’s team were recognized. FCC Ram Jazmin Mora (Buchanan) was selected for the Division III Women’s All-America First Team along with Bre Mello (Hanford High) who was named to the Division III Women’s All-America Second Team. They attended a special ceremony last month in Philadelphia to receive their award. In addition, Roman Gonzalez from the men’s team was named to the Division III Men’s All-America First Team.Two other women players were named United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-Americans: Peyton Bever (Clovis North) with a 4.0 GPA for two straight years and Mariah Contreras (Hoover High). At the end of their seasons, the women’s team was nationally ranked #7 and the men’s team #9.
In the News
Here are some of the news stories about Fresno City College or people from Fresno City College that have been featured in the media.
KSEE24/CBS47: Karraker wins first game as FCC head baseball coach
The New York Times: Lee Herrick’s class at Fresno City College, surprising him with the news that he had been chosen as California’s 10th poet laureate.
