This page is dedicated to the College Initiatives at Miramar College.
Bi-annual theme: Miramar College, as endorsed by College Council, has adopted the practice of having a bi-annual theme as a way to bring the campus community together and center our approach to fulfill our mission to serve our students.
The theme for 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 is: Cultivating a Campus of Care; Making the Invisible, Visible.
With this theme, we are striving to highlight our students, faculty, and classified professionals that are often times, not seen and bring them to the forefront. Every person, within our campus community, brings their own unique perspectives, experiences, and talents that should be celebrated! We are hopeful, through our efforts of bringing this theme to life, that we are creating a safe, inclusive, and welcoming environment for all who walk onto our campus.
Please reach out to the President's Office, miramarpresident@sdccd.edu, if you have any questions (or suggestions!) on the bi-annual theme.
Commitment to DEIA and Hiring Practices:
Servingness to DI Populations - Through the development process of our 2022-2025 Student Equity Plan, Miramar College has identified the following disproportionately impacted student populations under each indicator/metric:
- Successful Enrollment: White*, American Indian, Pacific Islander, Black/African American, Latinx
- Persisted from Term to Term: White*, Black/African American, Latinx, First Generation, Housing Insecure, Veterans
- Transfer Math & English: White*, American Indian, Pacific Islander, Black/African American, Latinx, DSPS, First Generation, Foster Youth, Economically Disadvantaged, Housing Insecure, Veterans
- Transferred to a 4-Year: White*, American Indian, Pacific Islander, Black/African American, Latinx, Foster Youth, Economically Disadvantaged
- Vision Goal Completion: American Indian, Pacific Islander, Black/African American, Latinx, First Generation, Foster Youth
*Includes Middle Eastern Students
Join us this fall as we begin the work for the 2025-2028 Student Equity Plan! Please reach out to Dean of LEAD and Equity, Nessa Julian, to get involved in this important work.
In Spring 2024, members of our campus community engaged in the "Servingness Campus Read" series. The series focused on Dr. Gina Garcia's book titled, Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs in Practice). The intention was to help build a framework to cultivate community through Servingness. Additionally, our annual College-wide Planning Summit welcomed Dr. Gina Garcia, as the keynote speaker, who spoke on "HSIs in Practice: Defining Servingness." She helped engage the campus community in conversations on how we can better support our Latinx student population. This event also included a number of breakout sessions, including a special session with President's Cabinet (PC) regarding Servingness Action Planning and community building time in the form of Loteria, yoga, and dancing. We are looking forward to our next Planning Summit!
Anonymous Screening - In October 2023, Miramar College deployed an Anonymous Screening pilot for all college-wide recruitments. While there have been hiccups along the way with this process, it has fostered an environment of open communication, and as such, we have been able to make adjustments and improvements to it. We are already seeing a difference in our new hires and plan to share some preliminary data at the upcoming "EEO Plan Presentation" this fall.
DEIA Related Grants/Funds - Miramar College received several DEIA-related grants including: HSI STEM Exito, MESA, AANHPI SAP, NASSSP, and CRPP. These grants will and are helping us meet the needs of our students.
- The AANHPI Student Achievement Program will launch the pilot AANHPI Learning Community this Fall 2024. The program pairs English 101 & Filipino Studies 100 and students will participate as part of cohort.
- The LEAD Office is excited to announce year two of the Culturally Responsive Educators Academy and Training for Equity or CREATE Program. CREATE is a paid two-semester professional development program for faculty. The purpose of CREATE is to allow faculty to engage in practices that embrace the unique experiences, perspectives, and needs of Miramar College’s diverse students by creating a learning environment that is inclusive and supportive and leads to student success.
- The MESA program is excited to launch its second semester, continuing its mission of supporting academically and educationally disadvantaged students in Calculus-based STEM majors. We look forward to further growth, which includes the renovation of S5-107 to become the new MESA center.
- The Native American Student Support and Success Program (NASSSP) is focused on serving Native American and Alaska Native students at Miramar College.
Guided Pathways & ACPS: At San Diego Miramar College, your Academic & Career Pathways are a great way to get information, stay engaged, and gather support.
Check out the Academic and Career Pathways to learn more!
Restorative Practices: Thanks to the amazing work of Dr. Laura Pecenco, Professor of Sociology and Rising Scholars Coordinator, and Jeanette Moore, Administrative Assistant in the School of Liberal Arts, Miramar College has embraced Restorative Practices as a college initiative. In the 2023-2024 academic year, Dr. Pecenco and Ms. Moore led a Community of Inquiry to explore and learn more about this important topic. Additionally, Dr. Dan Stacy, from the Office of Restorative Practices at San Diego State University, held a session title "Restorative Practices in Higher Education" at our Spring 2024 Community Day. He also presented this session to the Miramar Leadership team, which includes all of our managers and supervisors. In Fall 2024, we are looking forward to taking the next step, a Restorative Practices Community of Practice, which will focus on actions we can take to implement Restorative Practices, here, at Miramar College.
Please reach out to Laura Pecenco and Jeanette Moore with any questions or to get involved!
President's Goals: Each year, the College President develops his goals, as informed by the campus. These goals are shared with the Chancellor and presented at the annual Board of Trustees retreat held in the summer. Below is the President's Vision for 2025.
- Top Priority: Building Community at Miramar
- Continue work with Aviation Alliance; Miramar lead for federal funding request
- Continue work with HR on Anonymous Screening to address issues/concerns in the process prior to "roll out" any further than Miramar
- Continue to address staffing shortage issue
- Secure new funding model for Public Safety (e.g. Police Academy)
- Advocate for change in CAM for CTE differential funding
- CAM: Campus Allocation Model
- CTE: Career Technical Education
- Implementation of Restorative Practices (college has adopted this as a focus)
- Build-out of Kaleidoscope and affinity office spaces in I-Building
- Development of Bachelors in Paralegal
- Increase support for Miramar Athletics
- Establish Weekly President's Update
- Continue to increase a feeling of changing culture at Miramar; employees feeling valued and feeling part of a mission-focused community
- Continue increased use of Community Room (I-101A/B)
- Identify space for Basic Needs Center; develop plans and implementation
Please reach out to the President's Office, miramarpresident@sdccd.edu, with any questions regarding Vision 2025.
New and Changing Spaces on Campus:
I-Building (The Kaleidoscope) - Work has been underway to remodel the second floor of the I-Building and we anticipate the space becoming available in Fall 2024. This space will house our LEAD Office, Pride Center, Latinx and Native American Resource/Success Center, as well as the Black/African American & AANHPI Resource/Success Center, and a mindfulness room. We are excited to provide these spaces for our diverse student populations on campus!
Career Center - The Career Center will relocate from the K1-Building into the LLRC, on the first floor, in the former ILC space. Preparations are underway and we hope to share soon, when this move can be expected. The location change will help our Career Center expand their services and better serve our disproportionally impacted (D.I.) students. Check out the Career Services Strategic Plan for 2022-2025.
Please reach out to the Career Center if you would like to learn more.
Veteran's Resource Center (VRC) - Construction is officially underway (commencing on 7/29/24 and concluding by 10/25/24) on the first floor of the I-Building for the expanded Veteran's Resource Center. We also welcomed a new, full-time, Veterans Counselor this fall! Did you know that approximately 20% of our student population is military affiliated?
Please reach out to the Veterans Affairs office if you have questions or would like additional information.
Honors – The Honors Program offers highly motivated students an enriched learning experience. We offer both Honors sections and individual Honors contracts for students in non-honors sections. Both honors courses and honors contracts received the same “honors” designation on the student transcript.
Check out the Honors Program Website for more information!
Writing Center - The ASC Writing Lab is open for Fall 2024! Monday – Thursday from 10:00 am – 5:00 pm in Room H-103. Writing and English Language tutoring for all classes (not just for student taking English classes). Drop-in tutoring and tutoring available by appointment. Independent learning, collaboration space, computers, and printing.
Check out the ASC Website for more information!
Please contact Malia Kunst to request edits or additions to the College Initiatives webpage. The President's Office will update this page every semester and include applicable points of contact. An announcement will be made at College Council.